Day 2 meant a return to Islands of Adventure. Staying at an on-property hotel earned us entry to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter an hour before it opened for everyone else. The original plan had us enjoying most of the Wizarding World attractions on this day – but with Ollivander’s, Forbidden Journey, and Flight of the Hippogriff already taken care of, we really only had two things left to do in Potterland: Dueling Dragons, and some shopping.

We woke up early and ate a light breakfast from Emack & Bolio’s Marketplace at the Hard Rock Hotel. We went ahead and checked out of our room, and checked our bags at the concierge desk. We took a boat from the hotel to the theme park. It seemed that the Wizarding World – at least the attractions – actually seemed more crowded during Early Entry than they did the afternoon before. The stores, however, were almost empty. Mikaela hadn’t quite worked up the courage for Dueling Dragons yet, so we decided to do some shopping. We picked up some candy at Honeyduke’s, and then told the kids that they could each pick out one thing from Zonko’s Joke Shop. Surprisingly, they each picked a pink pygmy puff. Jonathan instantly became incredibly attached to his. It seems he decided that the pygmy puff reminded him of one of his favorite Jimmy Neutron episodes – he immediately decided that his pygmy puff was actually a twonky (you’ll have to take my word for it that the pygmy puff really does look a lot like a twonky in its “cute” stage. The only pictures I could find were of twonkies in attack mode). You’ll see pictures of Jonathan and his twonky (that he calls “Libersnaps” – just like Sheen did on Jimmy Neutron) in future installments.

After shopping, and sharing a chocolate wand, Mikaela was ready to take on the Dragon Challenge. We had been relieved when, at a doctor’s appointment just a couple of weeks before the trip, Mikaela had been measured at 54″ tall – just tall enough for all of the rides in all of the theme parks we’d be visiting. Unfortunately, as we approached the Dragon Challenge line, the team member at the front of the line measured Mikaela — and she measured about 1/2″ too short for the ride. Mikaela was devastated. After building up the courage to go on the ride, she was inconsolable. We decided that was the sign that we’d had enough Wizarding World, and it was time to check out the Marvel Super Hero Island.

I thought an exciting ride on The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman would bring Mikaela out of her “too short” funk. She was all gung ho for it. Our timing was impeccable – we entered Marvel Island just as it was opening. We walked up to Spiderman and our Express Pass was completely unnecessary. We were poised to be among the first riders of the day. But about 50 feet into the queue, she heard Green Goblin’s mad laugh echoing through the ride, and she decided she didn’t want to ride after all. Instead, she wanted to ride Hulk (upside down was cool with her, as long as there were fewer than 10 loops. According to Mikaela, 10 loops would be too many). Unfortunately, as we approached Hulk, we discovered that it has the same 54″ height requirement as Dragon Challenge – and Mikaela measured the same 1/2 inch too short. Once again, she missed it by THAT much. The last thing we wanted to try and do at Marvel Island was to get Jonathan a chance to meet his favorite superhero – Spiderman. We found a shady spot near the superhero meet and greet area, and confirmed at the Spiderman shop that Spidey should come running by in about 15 minutes, then set up in the back of the shop for a meet and greet. Unfortunately, after Spidey ran by and Jonathan got a look at him from the meet and greet line, he didn’t want to get any closer.

At this point, we decided that we’d had enough of the Islands, and decided to move on to the Studios. At Universal Studios, it was Jonathan (and Miriam’s) turn to get to choose what to do. They’d both been excited to ride E.T. Adventure, ever since we spent a family movie night watching the movie about a month ago. Mikaela was less excited about E.T. – she didn’t really like the movie. The crowd was light – we used the ExpressPass line, but we really didn’t need it. I thought the ride itself was fun, sort of a Forbidden Journey light. Miriam loved it. I took that picture in the shop right after the ride – you can decide for yourself what the kids thought of the ride.

Next, Jonathan and I spent some time playing on Fievel’s Playground, while Miriam and Mikaela headed to Woody Woodpecker’s Nuthouse Coaster. We finished up our morning at Universal in Production Central. Both kids were excited for Jimmy Neutron’s Nicktoons Blast. Jonathan complained that he didn’t like that the seats moved, but the rest of us enjoyed the ride. Then Mikaela had fun meeting (and goofing with) Shrek and Donkey.

Our Universal attraction for the road was Shrek 4-D. Jonathan refused to go in – he was suspicious of shows after the Jimmy Neutron moving seats incident. So he and I walked around while Miriam and Mikaela went into the show. That’s probably the one attraction that I didn’t get to ride and that I was disappointed I missed, because both Miriam and Mikaela thought it was really good. Finally, we grabbed some lunch at the Beverly Hills Boulangerie.

Everyone was ready for a rest as we headed back to the Hard Rock Hotel to pick up our bags and our car to move on to the Disney World portion of our vacation.

It’s amazing how easy the drive to the airport is at 4:30 in the morning. We managed to get a full row, plus the aisle seat across from that row, so all of us got to sit together (gotta love boarding card A30 on Southwest). The flight was pretty uneventful. We had a brief stopover in St. Louis, during which Mikaela got to go up front and visit the cockpit – a rare treat these days that appears to only be available during those times when the plane is on the ground, passengers are not in the process of boarding, and passengers currently on the plane are not in the process of deplaning. We even landed in Orlando a bit early.

We picked up our rental car and headed for the Hard Rock Hotel (thank you GPS). We got there around 12:30 p.m. Our room wasn’t ready yet, but we were all starving anyway, so decided to get lunch there at the hotel at The Kitchen restaurant. The decor was fun, and our waitress was friendly and attentive. The kids got a kick out of ordering from the kids’ menu printed on a kid-sized oven mitt. They both chose the Mac & Cheese. Unfortunately, the kitchen at The Kitchen was one of the slowest I’ve ever encountered. In the time it took to get two starving kids their lunches, they could’ve made both the macaroni and the cheese from the raw ingredients. I had a crab cake sandwich and Miriam had a turkey sandwich. My sandwich showed up without the remoulade the was supposed to accompany it, and I was in no mood to wait for it. All of our meals were OK, but hardly worth the wait.

Our rooms still weren’t ready after lunch, so we checked our bags with the desk and headed to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We got there at about 2:30 p.m., and it was HOT. I was nervous about what the crowd would look like on a Friday afternoon, but it really wasn’t too bad. On the way in, we stopped for a picture with the Hogwart’s Express and its conductor. You can see from the picture just how intense the sun was – it was so bright that photographer me didn’t even notice that I was cropping the shot tighter than I should have, and leaving out distinguishing marks of the train. Jonathan refused to get out of his stroller (which he quickly began referring to as his “rollercoaster”) to have his picture taken with the conductor. It quickly became apparent that, for this day at least, it was all sensory overload for him. He was just going to sit back, observe, and absorb it all.

Introductory picture out of the way, we headed for the thing Mikaela had been most looking forward to – Ollivander’s Wand Shop. Ollivander’s is actually a small, brief, show. Ollivander’s presents several touring challenges. First, only 20 guests get in at a time, so the line is ALWAYS long. Second, even after you get into the shop, only ONE guest gets to have a wand choose them. Third, there is very little shade along the line, and as I mentioned, it was HOT. Our strategy was to get into that line immediately.

If Mikaela didn’t get chosen the first time through, we figured we could just keep going through the line until she got her chance. Of course, we also did our best to improve her chances of being chosen, but more on that in a moment. Miriam, Mikaela, and Jonathan got into the Ollivander’s line and I dashed off to get some butterbeer to keep them cool. I went with the frozen version to help combat the heat (and because the non-frozen butterbeer – according to the bartender – can’t be drunk with a straw, it keeps fizzing out of the straw once you draw it through).

continue reading "Vacation Day One – All Aboard the Hogwart’s Express"

It was over a year in the planning. And on the day before the big reveal, we needed an assist from Grandma Marcia to keep the kids occupied for an evening so that we could get us all packed up. I didn’t sleep much myself the night of September 30. I was too excited about how Mikaela would react to being awoken early the next morning and informed that all four of us were going to spend a couple of days at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, followed by a week at Walt Disney World.

Sorry, the sound is a little low. But Mikaela’s reaction was wonderful.

We run into this question every year. What to do with the kids for those few days after camp is over and before school starts? It just so happened that Miriam had a brief hearing already set for Monday, August 16 in Sedalia, Missouri, and that the Missouri State Fair would be taking place in Sedalia at that time. So the kids got to go with Miriam for her hearing, and then spend the rest of the day enjoying the Missouri State Fair.

The kids had a blast! Jonathan, who is usually a completely fraidy cat about rides, found several he liked.

He rode the kiddie motorcycles at least three times, but his favorite was the bumblebees. He said he liked them because they went up high! And speaking of high, Mikaela managed quite the personal accomplishment at the rock climbing wall. It took a few tries, but she toughed it out and climbed all the way to the top and rang the bell. The kids were exhausted from it all when they got home for dinner, but it was a great way to say goodbye to summer. And big bonus points to Miriam for braving the State Fair solo with both kids.

We got together at Mom and Dad’s for brunch to celebrate Matt’s 39th birthday (Ed. Note: How is it possible that my baby brother is almost 40 years old? I’m not old enough for that). The kids had a great time playing together. And Jonathan remains completely enamored of his cousin “Fuzzball” (a/k/a Ella).

We saw an excellent performance of Beauty and the Beast at the Jewish Community Center. Mikaela was spellbound by the show – her only complaint was that she sometimes couldn’t see well over the person in front of her. Even Jonathan watched most of the show. He thought the dancing was pretty cool, though the Beast was scary. He was somewhat placated by the promise that the Beast would learn some manners and be a good guy by the end of the show.

After the show, Mikaela was interested in the opportunity to meet some of the actors and actresses at the front of the theater. Jonathan, on the other hand, only had eyes for the orchestra pit. Unfortunately, the ushers/theater security folks weren’t so keen on Jonathan checking out either the orchestra pit or the instruments.

Overall, both Mikaela and Jonathan behaved well and we all got to enjoy an excellent show. The choreography was especially good, and Cary Mock was outstanding as The Beast/Prince.

Sunday, July 4 brought the annual pool party at the Rooks’ house. The weather was looking a little dicey going in, but the rain cooperated and stayed away while the kids swam. Jonathan brought his favorite camp swimming activity to the party, jumping into the pool from the side over and over again, shouting, “Buzz Lightbeer to the rescue!” Mikaela spent most of her time on the slide, or enjoying the “waterbed” she created by filling a rubber raft she was laying in with the cold water running down the waterslide.

Going in, we were a little worried about what we were going to do about fireworks. The usual plan is to walk from the Rooks’ house, up 115th Street to Antioch, then South on Antioch for a couple of blocks to a little hill that gives us a great view of the fireworks from Corporate Woods. Except that the construction along Antioch had already taken out both the sidewalk we would use to get to our viewing spot, AND most of the viewing spot itself. Just as we decided to drive over and try and find a spot so we could see them, the skies opened up and it started pouring rain. The City of Overland Park cancelled the fireworks show, but the kids were still really disappointed. Telling them that it was raining and the show was cancelled didn’t even seem to register with them.

I had to head back to Kansas City for work, but Miriam, Mikaela and Jonathan got to stay the rest of the week and have fun with Grandpa Steve, Grandma Sali, Uncle Gabe and Uncle Eli. They played at the House of Bounce; enjoyed the Fair; and even got to go fishing.

A quick nap back at the Hotel Ivy was just enough to get us ready to meet up with one of my best friends back at KU, Michael Kleber-Diggs, and his wife and daughter. After a brief discussion, we settled on the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner, which was walking distance from our hotel. All of us parents grinned when, as we walked, Mikaela and Mike’s daughter Elinor were instantly walking hand-in-hand. They hadn’t seen each other in a year, and really had only spent a couple of hours together then, and they were still fast friends. When we got to the Hard Rock, Jonathan was instantly smitten with the guitars mounted on the walls all around the restaurant. He kept “escaping” from his chair to go and explore them all. He was especially drawn to an acrylic-bodied bass guitar than once belonged to Jack Bruce (bassist for Cream).

After dinner, we all stopped at ColdStone Creamery for ice cream on the way back to the hotel. Overall, we had a great time catching up with Michael, his wife Karen, and Elinor. We’re hoping to connect with them again when they make their usual trip “home” to Kansas this Fall. Mikaela was already talking about how she couldn’t wait to see Elinor again as we were heading up the elevator to our room.

On Sunday morning, we packed up and checked out of the Hotel Ivy. But before heading on to Rochester, we walked over to our favorite Minneapolis breakfast spot, Hell’s Kitchen, for a Father’s Day breakfast. The Manhomin Porridge, lemon-ricotta hotcakes, and especially the pecan cinnamon roll were wonderful once again. The kids each got the temporary tattoos they had been looking forward to (and Miriam and I each got a couple of cups of very good, piping hot, coffee). After the walk back to the hotel, we packed up the car and started on our way to Rochester, Minnesota.

After a pretty good night’s sleep Friday night, we woke up Saturday morning and the kids were ready to head to what Jonathan had been referring to for weeks as the “amazement park” – Nickelodeon Universe at Mall of America. I’d scored four unlimited rides wristbands on EBay for $71 – they’re usually $39/each. Rather than try and find an inexpensive breakfast downtown, we headed toward the Mall of America (even though we were a couple of hours early for opening). I pulled into a parking lot near the Mall, whipped out my new iPad (my anniversary present from Miriam), and looked to Yelp! again for breakfast suggestions. The most interesting thing that came up was a place that it said served breakfast and brunch called Patrick’s.

We had some difficulty finding Patrick’s at first, even with the help of GPS. Then, we saw the Patrick’s catering van in the parking lot of a huge lawn and garden store. It turns out that Patrick’s Bakery & Cafe dining room is essentially in a greenhouse. The food was outstanding. We got a huge almond croissant, a huge chocolate croissant, an immense cinnamon roll, and a small (about 6″ round) but VERY rich and tasty four cheese quiche. We shared all of the goodies, Miriam and I got wonderful, fresh, french roast coffee and the kids had orange juice. It was like eating breakfast in the garden of a French hotel.

After breakfast, we loaded back up the car and headed back to Mall of America, arriving shortly after the Mall and Nick Universe had opened. With a wink to Miriam, I dropped a subtle hint to the kids about our fall vacation, by parking the car on the 4th parking level of the Mall of America. As you can see from the picture I took of the parking location sign nearest our car, the levels are identified by states.

Our trip to Nick Universe essentially confirmed what we already thought we knew about each of the kids’ reactions to amusement parks. Mikaela is an adrenaline junkie. The first things she and I rode when we entered the park were The Fairly OddParents coaster (featuring free-spinning ride vehicles) and the Pineapple Plunge (starring a straight vertical climb, followed by a straight vertical drop and several upside down loops). I’m all for the coasters, but she rode things even I won’t get on. In this picture, Mikaela is the girl in pink. The apparatus she’s strapped into is part of the Avatar Airbender ride. And this is the one ride on which she started to get nervous while waiting for the ride to begin. I asked her three times before she got into the ride line whether she was sure that she wanted to ride it. She insisted she was, and once she was strapped in it was too late to get off the ride. But her trepidation turned to joy as soon as the ride got underway, I watched as the ride vehicle whipped by and her frown had been replaced by a huge grin. It’s difficult to pinpoint Mikaela in this short cellphone video, but it gives you an idea of what the ride does.

If Mikaela is the amusement park superfan, Jonathan is the opposite. He rode a few rides. The bumper cars were the only one he didn’t hate, and he didn’t really like that one much – he got frustrated at getting stuck against the wall. He didn’t like rides that took him up in the air and didn’t like rides that moved “too fast.” Despite Nick Universe featuring three of his favorite TV characters as costumed characters – Dora the Explorer, Diego, and Blue from Blue’s Clues – Jonathan refused to have his picture taken with any of them. He didn’t want to be that close to them. He would nervously watch them from afar, Even after watching other children hug and have their pictures taken with the characters, he stood his ground and refused to get any closer than about six feet. He explained that, though they looked like the characters he liked, they were “TOO BIG!” Finding things for Jonathan to enjoy this Fall may be a bit of a challenge.

We took a lunch break in the Mall foodcourt, opting to sit down at Noodles and Company, rather than fight the huge crowd around the food court McDonald’s. While eating lunch, we noticed that a showing of Toy Story 3 in 3D was starting soon at the movie theater upstairs, so we extended the break a bit to catch Toy Story on opening weekend. Mikaela was enthralled. It was Jonathan’s first movie in a theater, and he did pretty well for the first 2/3 of the movie or so, but then got bored. He ran laps in the hallway just outside the theater, while Miriam kept track of him from the doorway (so that she could still watch most of the movie).

After the movie, we did a quick circuit of Mikaela’s five favorite rides and then headed back to the hotel to wash up and relax a bit before meeting my college buddy and his family for dinner (he’d finally managed to get back in town from Chicago).