Hollywood Studios ... day 5

We still had lots of fun to be had at Disney.

On Monday we went to Hollywood studios. This is another place that I used all of our Fast Passes for some shows.

When I asked Nick what he wanted to do at Disney, he said he wanted to see Elsa.

So I booked For the First Time in Forever, which is a 30 minute show.Of course the place was at the far end of the park, so we raced through to get there in time (and then wait in line waiting for the show to let out)

The accessible seats were right up at the front and we had a fantastic view.

We got to take some pictures while we were waiting and the kids played while we waited for the theatre to fill up

(This is Katheryn's smiling face)

Grandma and Papa weren't really sure what Frozen was about. But they liked it too

It wasn't a whole show of the movie, but it was a fun flash back.

And a sing-along (and we all sang along)

But they missed my favorite song (Reindeers are better...)

And there was even real snow at the end!

One of the other meals that I had booked was a character meal with the Disney Jr characters. When I originally booked (in January) the kids were still watching Disney Jr. But by April, they weren't that interested, and they were easily one of the oldest kids in the room as well.
It wasn't horrible, but I'd cap the age of the kids at 4-5 if I was going to recommend it.

We used our disability access pass for the big ride at Hollywood Studios. (90 minutes)
The Toy Story Ride. It was a carnival shooting game that was also 3D

It was the same kind of games as the Toy Story wii game that we play at the cottage. Except it is a 3D ride and you shoot the bad guys and collect points.

While we were walking around the kids saw this green army man and really wanted to get his autograph and pose for a picture

We also booked the Indiana Jones show as a Fast Pass. I was really excited to see this one and so I was hoping the kids would like it too.

We had the choice to sit at the very back in the accessible seats, or sit right at the very front.

Nick picked the front (which was good for me, but too loud for him). The show is set up as a stunt show, so right off the bat you know that no one gets hurt (they are stunt-men), but of course the fire and explosions are real.

They had some of the key scenes from the first Indiana Jones. Nick didn't watch any of it. It was too loud for him and he spent the time looking into my shoulder. My suggestion (for actually most of the Hollywood Studio shows) is to have ear plugs or noise-dampening headphones. So that Nick could still have enjoyed watching the shows but not be startled with the loud noises (which is common with hydrocephalus)

One of the other things that I really wanted to do was the Star Wars ride. It was a virtual reality star-ship ride, similar to the Soarin' ride from Epcot, only Star Wars style!

There was hardly any wait, and so we went on it a couple of times. Of course the ride ends in the gift shop, so we got the kids some light sabers

For the kids... really

We got to pose on a speeder bike!

My last fast pass was for the Fantasmic show at the end of the night. There is only one show, so it was really busy. The Fast Pass did let us in earlier, but the accessble seats were all at the very back (and centre). People who arrived closer to show time didn't even get seats.

We got there as soon as the doors open (about 90 minutes early) and ate and entertained ourselves until the sun went down

It was a really long day, so some of us didn't make it

And Katheryn had some glow in the dark jewelry to play with

The Fantasmic show was Mickey Mouse with fireworks (which scared Nick) and glow in the dark characters. Nick spent most of the time sleeping anyways, but headphones would have been great.

They had all of the different princesses floating on boats on the water around the stage (in the dark, so not any great pictures). and music, Mickey fought bad characters and the dragon was really well done.

When the show was over the park was closed. So every single person who was in the show with us, was now leaving with us as well. It was really busy, but Katheryn still had her glow-in-the-dark necklace and giant mickey hat on, so we didn't lose her.

It was another great day! Busy, but full of fun for both adults and the kids.

Ninja Turtles!... Day 3 and 4

We had some totally awesome surprises in store for Nickolas!

First there was some pizza from Antonio's, and some masks

And then they came out...

The Ninja Turtles!

Visiting from New York City

Nick was a little unsure at first. But they had a show with learning ninja moves, and all of the kids got to go up to their favorite ninja turtle and learn some ninja moves

   

While everyone was eating, the Ninja Turtles made their way around the room, visiting, posing for pictures and signing autographs

  The didn't talk, but Nick asked if Ice Cream Kitty was left in New York.
Mikey nodded yes

We had a quick visit with Nick's favorite, Leonardo, and afterwards he came back around to see Nick.

The kids got some time with every Ninja Turtle.

Nickolas was in heaven!

Nick wanted to pose for a picture in front of Antonio's!

Nick was so so excited that he got to meet the Ninja Turtles!

It was his favorite part of the trip

There was still some more surprises for Nick the next day

We stayed at Nickelodeon Hotel for 2 reasons, the first was to have dinner with the Ninja Turtles. And we rescheduled our whole weekend because they had one time for a meet and great before going back to New York.

We waited in line for about 45 minutes to get this picture!

And of course we had to make sure that we got everyone on the picture!

They remembered Nick from the night before and Nick got his own special little meet and great!

He was so happy! He got actually meet the Ninja Turtles!

The Ninja turtles were definately Nick's favorite part of the whole trip, he got to meet them and talk to them, he got to see what their weapons look like, he got their autograph and we got lots of picture!

He was sorry they would have to go back to New York, but we had lots more fun to be had in Florida too

Luggage! And Pool days 3 and 4

9am in the morning and we had luggage!
We immediately got out our bathing suits because this was a pool day!
We were spending the entire day at the Nickelodeon Hotel.

We had gone to a nearby grocery store (got lost on the way back of course) so we had some breakfast and snacks at the room.

So we lathered ourselves in sunscreen and went out to find some room by the pool.

I helped Nick go right into the pool
He wasn't all that sure about taking his walker in.

We had Nick's old braces on with swim shoes so he could walk around everywhere himself, and it protects the top of his feet from the pool bottom.

When I was in the pool with Nick a little girl came up to me and asked if Nick had spina bifida. She told me that her baby brother was just born with spina bifida as well and was at home with her mother.

There were all kind of rules posted in the pool.
No arm floaties, no food, don't  use the emergency exit door (which was right by our room), don't bring outside food, don't bring towels ect. I left Nick's floaties on and no one said anything.
And after learning that the emergency exit was used by everyone, we didn't have to walk around the whole pool and back when we went back to the room.

Katheryn did not need her floaties (and we didn't actually bring them at all). I kept a much closer eye on her, but she stayed in the shallow end and she is able to swim on her own.
The pool also have at least 5 life guards on duty in the busy pool (we found that there were 2 pool, the busy one and an adult one, the adult one is all deep, so the kids didn't like it as much).

Katheryn really liked helping Papa 'bob for apples'

But don't feel too bad for Papa, he knows how to play it up for the camera!

And he did make it home, so it's all good!

Katheryn eventually wanted to check out the slides. Which is good because she has been nervous with water slides other times we've gone to water parks.

She was a little hesitant at first

But really soon was running around

After running around she wanted to try to slide.
The little one first...

And then that was it!
She was hooked and wanted to go up the highest slide!

There are 4 slides all together, and Katheryn eventually made her way onto all of them!

Nick didn't have any desire to go on the slides, and stayed in the pool.
When I was running around with Katheryn on the slides, Grandma and Papa had pool duty

Katheryn loved the slides, just around and around and around
I didn't have to worry or watch her all the time on the slides, like I do in the pool. There are life guards everywhere. At the top of each slide and at the bottom of the slides

I did go up with Katheryn and try out some of the slides. Katheryn thought it was hilarious that I got water dumped on me!

Grandma came in the pool and played with the kids, but spent time out of the pool and relaxing as well.

After the water got too much, Papa and Nick did some mini golfing. They had a little course and just had some golf clubs and golf balls lying around for when anyone wanted to play.

When we found out that we were going to Nickelodeon Hotel, one of the things that the kids really wanted to do was to slime Papa!

They do have mass sliming, where they dump a whole bucket of slime on all of the willing participants... They do it a couple of times a day, but somehow we just kept missing it and Papa managed to go the whole week without being slimed!

After a day at the pool, the kids were so tuckered out that there was no problem getting them to sleep.
Now if only we could have stayed that way...

I had slept in the front room with the kids when they didn't want to sleep in the bunk beds. So the 3 of us slept on the pull out couch. I was going to sleep on the bunk bed by myself, but we were on the ground level and it was noisy and the kids were afraid.

Good thing I slept with them. Because at 3 am we had a wake up call.
Flashing strobe lighting and a blaring fire alarm in our hotel room! I kept bumping into things with the strobe lighting (we were in an accessible room, so I think the strobe lights were for people who were hearing impaired). But I finally got my glasses, my phone, turned on the lights, grabbed Nick's walker and both kids and left the room.
My mom kept trying to wake up my dad, but after a couple of minutes it was every man for himself!

We went across to the far side of the parking lot until we got the all clear!
Kids weren't scared or anything, we talked about how it was a fire drill just like at school (and it was actually the kids who asked us to go across the parking lot to the sidewalk).

The next day we decided to try out the quieter and more adult pool.

It was less busy, and it was also deeper. So Katheryn could do some underwater swimming

And if you have an underwater camera, you  need to take some underwater pictures!

After all of us getting some redness after the day at the pool we had all of our hats on to keep the sun off of our face.

I told the kids not to get it wet...
Good thing it only cost $2!
Really it was pretty indestructible!

After lunch (and a little meet and greet) we switched back to the kiddy pool
Katheryn was all for jumping right in!

And Nick just wanted to have fun!

After already spending the day before, they knew what they wanted.
Nick didn't really like going under the rain part, but when we dragged him in, he still had fun!

Nick and Katheryn did some walking together.
The water gave Nick enough support that he could walk by himself.
Nick had his swimming braces on to protect and support his legs (even if they did weigh him down a bit)

Katheryn really liked that her and Nick could walk and hold hands and they kept doing it over and over again!



A great couple of days at the pool!

Of course our 2 pool days we did do some other really fun things!
They deserved their own blog post though...