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In the Simpsons area, Natalia and I had to get a photo of Moe's Tavern.
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The boys needed a photo with the Mystery Machine since they're such big fans of Scooby Doo.
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Because it was actually pretty warm, we were happy to be able to eat inside, even though it was
Whoppers all around.
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Big kudos to the voodoo doughnuts folks for getting themselves into Universal. The line-up was just
silly, so glad to see they're fleecing tourists too.
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I took this photo for my brother who had a death fear that ET was living in his closet.
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Henry and I taking a breather with Walter still shopping to his heart's content.
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Walter with his chocolate frog from Universal Studios Harry Potter World.
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And with his baby Hedwig, chocolate frog, and metal toy. Walter's money was burning a hole in his pocket
and he pretty much wanted to buy everything in every store.
Visiting Kennedy Space Centre
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Henry thought unlocking the Tesla was pretty cool.
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Me and the boys outside Kennedy Space Centre.
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Our family at Kennedy Space Centre for Christmas-y time.
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This 6 ton granite ball was a big draw for the boys. It's floating on water so they got a big kick
out of stopping it from spinning one way and re-turning it the other way.
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The bottom of the shuttle showing the damaged heat shields. Each one of these had to be replaced prior to
the next launch. It's obvious now when you see how SpaceX operates that being able to re-use all of the
rocket is the key to getting the costs down, but this was not as obvious when the Shuttle program started.
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Since the Falcon Heavy launch got scrubbed, we decided to drive down to Cocoa Beach for a
look about. It's pretty kitschy, but still pretty neat.
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Natalia and Walter at Cocoa Beach. Both boys saw both oceans within 5 months of each other. That's cool.
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Eat pie first Natalia says, especially when it's key lime.
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We ordered an Uber to take us back from the airport where we dropped off the rental car and this was
my text message from Uber. I said no way. Just wait.
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The boys got to have dinner at the Dino cafe, which Natalia loved since she got a mushroom ravioli
dish that she said was better than at Olive Garden (high praise - I know).
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The lego Ogopogo in the lake at Disney Springs.
Epcot Centre
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Mommy and the boys at Epcot on Henry's 10th birthday.
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The boys got to spend Henry's birthday at Epcot Centre.
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Outside the Lego store. See the last time we took this photo HERE
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Because Natalia was full time parenting the whole trip, this was basically her first drink at the
Rainforest Cafe. Naturally, they weren't clear on the menu and they charged us a silly amount of
money but then told us we got the glassware for 'free'.
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Henry inside the Rainforest Cafe for his birthday dinner.
Rainforest Cafe is LOUD
Henry's birthday song
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Walter and I enjoying the 'volcano' cake at Rainforest Cafe - the first time I've ordered a $25 USD dessert.
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Outside the Rainforest Cafe with the volcano and alligators. Note Henry's drone that he bought with his
birthday money that we had with us after a detour to Target.
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Quite a dark photo, but a neat one of a huge Lego project of a massive dragon.
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Henry with his birthday cupcake from the hotel.
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All three cupcakes and Henry's balloon. Nice work Hilton Bonnet Springs.
Hollywood Studios
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Walter, Henry, and I with more storm troopers the first time we rode this ride.
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The boys and I at the Star Wars land inside Hollywood Studios.
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The boys and I with the Millennium Falcon. A pretty neat piece of movie lore for sure.
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The whole family and the Millennium Falcon.
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The 'Smugglers Run' ride is about flying the Millennium Falcon and the extent to which the ride
designers made the waiting experience feel like you were in the movie was impressive.
Note the insulation with wires/piping visible.
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Walter and I chilling just before we went on the ride.
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As we came into Toy Story land from Star Wars land, it was quite a striking contrast. One looked
rusted and rust-belt-trader-town-in-the-Galaxy and the other looked bright and playful from a kid's
playroom. Check out these Tinker Toys before we went on the Alien Twist and Twirl ride.
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The slinky dog dash was definitely a favourite of both boys and Natalia as it was a gentle roller coaster
with enough surprises to be enjoyable and fun. Henry liked the board games and old toys that were
memorialized along the waiting area. One comment about Disney is that they try really hard to make you
think the waiting area 'isn't so bad'. They also consciously make the lines circuitous and done in rooms
so that you never really know how long is left to wait. This is 'Mr Strong' who joined us on the trip for
one of Henry's school projects.
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C3PO giving us a sense of what's going on while we waited for the 'Rise of the Resistance' ride.
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Mr Strong with the Millennium Falcon behind him.
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The boys got to have warm pretzels and cheese sauce at the microbrew stop in Hollywood Studios. This was
definitely a good stop and a nice break from the rain.
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Henry with a Star Wars space ship outside the 'Rise of the Resistance' ride.
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Outside the Millennium Falcon the second time we rode it.
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Henry and I inside the Toy Story Mania ride - a fun shoot-em game with 3D glasses.
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Our respective scores in the second round.
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The Mickey and Minnie railroad. What was awesome about this ride was that the 'vehicles' weren't on a track.
They were programmed autonomous ground vehicles, kind of a like a really big version of a roomba.
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Outside the droid building area. Thankfully, we did not bring the boys in to customize droids or I'm
pretty sure we would have taken a few home.
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The 'Smugglers Run' ride was pretty awesome since the ride itself changes depending on how well you pilot
the ship. There were two pilots, two gunners, and two engineers, and both boys enjoyed being the gunners.
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Henry was an engineer with me the first time we went on 'Smuggler's Run'.
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Inside Star Wars land. It's telling how much effort Disney put into this when you actually didn't know that
you were inside the cafeteria until you saw a Coke machine. Very neat and very easy to believe you're in
a small trading village on a distant planet.
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After we went on our last ride of the day - the excellent Rock'n Roller Coaster - the boys got ice cream
as an appetizer before dinner. And we got massively rained on. I managed to keep my shoes dry up until
this point of the day.
