Wednesday, June 6
Legoland
Legoland didn't open until 10am, so we got to sleep in a little. After breakfast, I sent a text to Angel, the condo caretaker, letting him know one of the toilet seats were broken. He texted back, saying he would get it replaced for us. Then we headed toward Winter Haven, which wasn't as far away as it looked on Google Maps. It's actually a pretty easy drive. We paid at the parking booth, found a spot, and...I discovered I left our tickets back at the condo, along with Jacqueline's free coupon. So we had to drive all the way back, and I was thinking thoughts of pure hate for myself the whole time (although per my promise, I will spare you the details.) I ran in the room, grabbed the folder with the tickets, double and triple checked that we've got everything this time, and then headed back to Legoland. Since I saved the parking receipt, at least we didn't have to pay to park again. As we made our way to the gate, the sky started looking kind of dark and cloudy. I gave Julie and Jordan their tickets while I took Jacqueline to buy my ticket and use her coupon. The line was short but moved extremely slow. When it was finally my turn, I requested one adult ticket and presented the coupon for the free child admission. The cashier warned me that a very big storm is in the forecast and that once I buy the $100 ticket, there is no refund. Two of us already had their tickets, so I accepted the risk. She had to note on the ticket that she issued the warning. With tickets in hand at long last, all four of us entered the park.
So here we were at Legoland, and everything was...well, not exactly awesome, but at the very least interesting. It was now past noon, so of course the kids started asking about lunch. Julie had grabbed a map at the front and started naming off the restaurants listed. As soon as she said pizza buffet, she needed go no further. Before we found the place, the rain began to fall. Then the severity of the downpour increased to the point that I pulled out our ponchos, and we put them on while finding the end of the line going out the door of the pizza place. These are the same ponchos that "Santa" had left in our Christmas stockings in anticipation of our first trip to Disney World, but we had had no rain at all that trip. Fortunately there was just enough of an awning that the people in line could stay mostly out of the downpour. A few people gave up and left after a few minutes, so we were able to move up some. At long last, we paid for our meals and got seated. The pizza was a lot like Cici's, which is not everyone's cup of tea, but I liked it. There were also salads and dessert pizzas.
By the time we were done eating, the rain had let up a lot. We began to explore the park. The first ride we came to was the Legoland double-decker carousel. Jacqueline wanted to ride, so I got on with her. At that point, we didn't even know if we would get to ride anything else.
We walked around the park some more. We found life-sized minifigs of Wyldstyle and Emmett from The Lego Movie. Jacqueline of course had to have her picture with each of them. Behind them was a scrim with graphics announcing the new Lego Movie World opening next spring. This would probably be a cool thing to see. Too bad we probably won't be back to this park.
When we got to Lego Kingdoms, a medieval area, it started to rain again. We ducked into a gift shop and did some browsing. We wanted to ride the Dragon coaster, but it was closed. Three of us rode Merlin's Challenge. It goes around and around (a big no-no for Julie) and reminded me of a ride from the very early days of Six Flags called the Rotoriculous. The next ride we came to was the Royal Joust, and Jacqueline was the only one young enough to ride it. It looked like a pretty tame ride, but she seemed to enjoy it.
Land of Adventure was next. The kids and I got in line for what we thought was an Egyptian-themed roller coaster. But it turns out the Lost Kingdom Adventure is one of those shooting ride/games, not unlike Buzz Lightyear, except you couldn't spin your car. I wasn't impressed. The rollercoaster we saw right next to the Lost Kingdom building must have been Coastersaurus. When Jacqueline said she wanted to ride Beetle Bounce, it started raining again. Fortunately, the queue is mostly covered.
From here we went to Miniland, which was most impressive, and I'm not just saying that because of all the Star Wars stuff. We spent a long time looking at all the Lego constructions. We also caught a glimpse of the Lego Wizard Merlin, who was on his way to a show at the Heartlake Town Hall. The rain had substantially cleared up by this point.
Near Miniland, we saw a big advertisement for the Great Lego Race, a virtual reality coaster. Jacqueline really wanted to ride this, so we set off looking for it. Along the way, we discovered Ninjago Land. We messed with the Spinjitsu tests for a bit, and then the kids and I rode the Ninjago Ride, which is a target game with no gun. When encoutering enemies on the ride, we had to wave our hands over a sensor in front of our seats, which caused Spinjitsu power to shoot out. It was actually fun. When we disembarked, we passed by a photo stand with ride pictures available for purchase. In addition to special souvenir photo frames, you could also order a kit with your photo printed on Lego bricks, like a puzzle. The kids wanted that, so we ordered it. They told us to pick it up at the photo station near the front gate on the way out. Jacqueline also got a souvenir coin from a vending machine.
We continued our search for the Great Lego Race. We passed Coastersaurus, and since it was actually open, we rode it. It was pretty cool. At long last, we found the ride we were looking for. The wait was longish, so Jordan didn't want to ride. While in line, I met with a very excited Star Wars fan who admired my Star Wars shirt and Boba Fett ballcap. Jacqueline asked me who that guy was, and I told her I had never seen him before in my life. We just liked the same movies. When we got near the top, an employee passed out VR headsets and told us to be careful how we held them. There was a delay due to some mechanical problem (again!!) but they got it straightened out without having to shut down. Then it was our turn to ride and...it was quite an experience. Through the VR lenses, I was transported into the Lego equivalent of Hanna-Barbera's Wacky Racers. But it wasn't just a motion simulator; I was really moving! It was cool the way I could look to the sides and up and down and see other parts of this virtual world besides just dead ahead. It was enough to make my insides do flipflops at certain points. Jacqueline enjoyed it too.
It turned out to be a good thing Jordan didn't ride with us. While waiting, Julie sent me a text saying that Jordan had gotten sick while in the bathroom. So it was time to go as soon as the ride was done; No big deal since it was almost closing time (6pm) anyway. He did okay on the ride back to Windsor Hills.
Naturally, it wasn't until we were back at the condo that I found the photo receipt in my wallet and realized we forgot to pick up the souvenir item we had already paid almost $40 for. Julie tried to call them, but their website only listed a number for their hotel reservation system. There was an email feedback form for everything else. So she alerted them to our problem using that.
Jordan did not ask for any supper that evening, but as for the rest of us, Julie was on Yelp.com looking for ideas for dinner. She found a highly rated place near Target called Burger Craft. Julie called in an order for two burgers for me and her and chicken strips for Jacqueline. I picked it up. When I got back to the condo, i discovered they had left out Julie's bacon cheese fries. So I went back, and they quickly corrected the error. The burgers were very good. Jacqueline ate every bite of her chicken, so it must have been good as well.
While Jacqueline was taking her bath, Jordan got sick again. The mess was such that Julie had to go to Target and buy some cleaning supplies. There were some in the condo, but not enough to handle the task before us. We made him go to bed and leave a bucket nearby in case he got sick again. I finished up the cleaning and did some more laundry while everyone else went to bed.
