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[mommapants]

Thank you everyone for the pixies. Evan and I are adjusting to the new quieter routine. My other dog Trixie is missing Wrigley too. She is deaf and blind in one eye and really relied on him. She is enjoying NOT having to protect her food however...

Well my memory is starting to get a little fuzzy as to what we did on each day but I’m going to plug away on this TR.

Saturday morning we got up early. It was going to be a really long and busy day. Our first order of business was breakfast at Chef Mickey’s. We drove over and for some reason we ended up parking out in the middle of what seemed like nowhere. The last time I ate here and we drove the guard at the gate told me where to park. This time it was like c-ya, have a nice day. We found our way alright but it was just odd.

We checked in, took the obligatory photo and then were seated almost immediately. We were seated at the table exactly next to the one we ate at last time we were here. Evan is not a big breakfast eater but he managed just fine. We had our fill and met all our buddies. Really nothing spectacular to report, we had some cute interaction with Donald when Evan told him how much he loves Mickey and I told Donald he is my favorite.










Sorry some of these look washed out. The window behind was very glary and I tried to adjust the setting and edit the picture but I'm not very good at that so this is what I have.

We took a bathroom break and then it was off on our road trip to Legoland. It was smooth sailing all the way to Winter Haven and right into the parking lot. We were there before rope drop as I had planned. We had plenty of time to use the facilities and upgrade our tickets to include the water park and grab the park maps and get in line. I had studied the map and had a general idea of where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see. But still found it hard to maneuver from one area to the other.

We entered the park and began to just follow the crowd into the park and it just felt like nothing was open. We wandered past closed shops and restaurants. I was beginning to think that this was just a rope drop opening and that the attractions would open later. I felt like we really passed basically nothing when we entered into the Miniland section. I thought this odd as this appeared to be in the middle of the park and I just felt like we hadn’t seen or done ANYTHING.

Minilands is the section of the park that has all different landscapes and buildings and cityscapes all made out of Lego. I really wanted to see this area but knew the crowds at the attractions would be super low right now and that we could come back to the Minilands later. We looked at a few areas and then pushed onward.

We arrived into an area that had a few rides but they didn’t look like they were running. One was like a wild mouse/Primeval Whirl coaster type ride. There were a few people waiting in line but I didn’t see any cars moving. I asked Evan if he wanted to do it and he said no. across the way was another ride that was over a pool. Again I didn’t see it running. It didn’t say closed but I didn’t see anyone in line nor did I see a ride attendant. I was getting a little annoyed thinking what the heck is going on. Then I saw an employee sort of just sitting on this little stool out of view of everything and I asked if the ride was open and he said yes, so we got in line. The ride was AQUAZONE wave racers. You stand in a cart type thing and they go around a central hub but the racers also whip out as you go around the corners and then passer-bys can fire water cannons. Evan really liked this and we went on it about 5 times in a row before anyone else even got in line. Then we got off and manned the water cannons for a ride or 2.

I knew Evan would love the LegoCity section of the park so that was our next stop. He LOVES the Lego City building sets. As you may guess these sets all have to do with things in a city so there are lots of trucks and things. We must have about 50 different building sets from this collection and most of them are Fire Trucks or Police vehicles. This area of the park had boats and firetrucks and a driving school.

We got in line for the boating school and this is where I could just really see the difference from Legoland compared to Disney. The queue line was covered but there were no fans or anything to help cool you off. Every line does have a little play area with Legos but that is really it. There were about 15 parties in line and maybe 7 boats in the water. The staff was just totally going thru the motions. No smiles and barely any talking it was like open the gate point to the boat close the gate. The boats could hold a few small children and one adult and there were signs up all over about no party could ride alone but then there was a height limit of when you could ride alone and when you needed an adult. What I took that to mean was that if you have 2 children they must ride together to speed things along rather than each one riding by themselves and therefore causing the line to slow down. Since Evan was by himself I figured he may have someone else in the boat with him or he may be able to drive himself since he met the height requirement to drive alone. So when it was our turn it turns out I have to go with him. I was sort of thrown off by that as I figured he could go by himself. Me going with him doesn’t speed up the process at all and the woman (I say women but it was really a girl) that was working the line was rather rude in the way she told me I HAD to go with him. I have no problem going with him but then why have signs giving a height requirement to ride alone? This just left a bad taste in my mouth.

The boat in front of us had a father and his son about 3 and then there is Evan and I. There is no rail or track of anything in the canal it is totally on your own. So the boat in front of us is “launched” into the canal and the little boy immediately gets off course bumping into the wall. Then our boat gets launched and we smack into the back of them and completely turn them around. So this poor little kid hasn’t moved 2 inches off the launching deck and is already backwards. I felt bad for them but wasn’t really much I could do. Evan steered our boat flawlessly around the course. Now we come into the unload area there are 2 kids that have to hook ropes up to the boat, guide them into the docking area and then haul the boat up to where the conveyor belt is. OMG what a horrible job that is. I never saw the cast members switch up like they do at Disney so I think these poor kids were stuck doing that all day. When we got off there was about 30 parties in line for the boats. They still only had out 7 boats and I there was about 25 boats just sitting there waiting to be used.

At this point I was glad we were done with that ride and was really just disappointed in how the day was going. Evan on the other hand was having a great time so that is what was truly important. The experience at this boat ride was not an isolated incident. I felt this happened over and over again [hot queue lines, unenthusiastic employees, disorganization.]

Coming up next: Things do get better – I promise [and if time Evan’s favorite part of the entire trip]