To Hogwarts we go---The Hat Returns

[samheatherwhite]

We were getting hungry and had decided on Simpson's fast food blvd. for dinner. As we headed that way we heard the music for the HOP parade meet and greet start up so we grabbed a great front row spot to check it out. This was mainly for me because who does not need a picture with Carlos the angry Chicken.

There were not very many children around so my kids got a ton of attention from the characters which was really fun.

B wasn't feeling characters when the little musical show ended so G and I went to grab some pics. The pink Berets were really fun.

I was ridiculously pumped to take this picture, lol.

Nearly every single candy dancer came up to G and chatted with her and asked if she would like a photo. She is not a huge girly girl but loves anything dance related and she really had fun visiting with these sweet ladies.

The characters were still out so we headed over to see EB and the Easter Bunny himself. I didn't realize until later that while B and Sam were waiting for us, B decided that he would like to meet EB after all and Sam sent me the pic later. B is not usually as interested in characters as G and he is very rarely willing to meet one without his sister.

Now famished we headed over to Simpson's for supper. There was a short line for food but everything was efficient and moved quickly.

B went with the hot dog meal. Sam said that the server in that line overheard B ask him if his meal came with tomatoes, which were visible I am assuming for people that ordered hamburgers, and he dished him up a ton of slices. It was very nice of him and a totally unexpected kindness.

Sam went with a giant chili cheese dog. He really enjoyed this. Both of the guys food came with curly fries.

G and I shared the chicken and waffle sandwich. It came with tator tots. She was a little unsure about this but she ended up loving it as much as I did. That thing is delicious. The chicken coating is so crunchy and delicious and the chicken itself is so big it is hard to get a bite.

We really like the setup here. It works well for families in that it is easy to split up and get everyone what they want.
G really wanted to show Sam the Animal Actors show and the timing was perfect. We walked in right before it was about to start. Most of the tricks were the same but several were a bit different and a few were the same trick but with a different animal preforming it. This viewing was rather interesting in that several animals did not do what they were supposed to and I found it neat to watch how the trainers handled it.
As we were leaving the Animal Show we decided to watch the Minion parade show.
Plus I really wanted a picture with Gru's 3 girls in it.

One of the human dancing minions grabbed the kids and led them out to dance. It was so cool. G loved it and B was hilarious because he had n o idea what to do but went for it anyways.

This was a really fun meet and greet!

We knew that we would be meeting Gru on Thursday at our character meal and his line was huge so we skipped it and went to see Vector.
He is a hoot.
We had a super early morning planned for the next day so we decided to call it a night.
As we were leaving the Transformer arrival alarm sounded and B was ecstatic to see Bumblebee coming out. Meeting him was on B's must do list. I had carried his toy Bumblebee transformer in my bag all week as B insisted that he had to show it to the actual guy.
We were first in line

As he came out to music B was jumping up and down waving his toy shouting, "Bumblebee, I'm your biggest fan."
The transformer responded by singing I'm so Excited and totally made B's day.

You can see the toy in our pic
On the way I thought that it would be fun to stop at a bakery and get something fun and vacationy for breakfast the next morning.
I cannot remember the name of the bakery but it was on the main street headed out of the studios on the left. I'll start the next update with our choices and food reviews followed by our day at Clearwater.

 

[schumigirl]

Yep, Shrek and Donkey are fantastic! Interaction with them is always so funny........

Beverly Hills Boulangerie is on the way out of the Studios.........nice place!

More lovely pictures again today........the parade is sweet and it's nice when it's quiet and your kids get a lot of attention. Glad you enjoyed food court at Simpsons........we do. Never had the chicken and waffles yet, but plan in that this year. Sounds so good!

Looking forward to reading about your Clearwater trip too......love it there!

 

[zebsterama]

Great TR, with a lot of great pics and detail!

Thank you for sharing!

 

[samheatherwhite]

I will start this update with a little background. G has been in love with dolphins for as long as I can remember. She is especially enamored with Winter the dolphin with the prosthetic tale. As I was planning our trip I decided to look into tours that could take us to Clearwater to visit the Clearwater Marine Aquarium so she could finally see Winter. She loves HP and Jurassic Park and Universal but she was looking forward to this day the most.

We had to be up super early this day to meet our tour group. Our meeting spot was the Universal Bus Loop which worked out well since we could just take the CBBR bus there just like we were going to the park. Our pick up time was at 7:10am.
We had gotten breakfast for today the night before at the bakery so we had sweets for breakfast. The kids were thrilled.

G and I decided to get two things and split them. She chose the cream cheese danish. It was really big. We enjoyed it but both wished that it had a little more flavor. It was a bit bland.

I went with the caramel cheesecake. This was great. It was dense and sweet and just right. We ate the danish first so we both only had room for a few bites of this. We saved it in the fridge and I ate it as a snack later in the week and it was still good.

B really surprised with his choice. He ordered what I am pretty sure was called a black forest cheesecake. He loved it and ate on it for 3 days until it was gone. I tasted it and thought it was really nice but not what I would call a cheesecake. It had layers of chocolate cake with layers of flavored cream in between, one chocolate and one maybe cream cheese. He loved this!

Sam went with an apple coconut turnover. He really liked the filling but felt that it too was a bit dry. He said a glaze drizzle would have made it just right.

We could hardly contain G's excitement.

I had gotten a promo code in the mail from the CMA website before our trip so I ordered the kids shirts to wear and surprised them with them.
We wore our swimsuits under our clothes since we were going to the beach after our aquarium visit.

We went with Florida Dolphin Tours for our trip. I would recommend them highly except for one thing. Their customer service on the phone was absolute junk. When I called to book the girl was nice but clueless with details. I asked if we needed to bring B's carseat and she was totally confused. She said probably yes so I went ahead and emailed the same question closer to our travel date along with a few other questions. I got back a form letter that literally was copied straight from the website and answered none of my questions. So...I called back and talked to a real jerk who basically made me feel like an idiot. I would have canceled on the spot but didn't want to disappoint G. So we carried B's seat with us. (We didn't need it)
The bus driver was named Nicki and he was wonderful. I'll go into more detail later.
We were picked up right on time. We were the 2nd to last pick up so soon we were on the road. G was thrilled to see that the movie on the small bus was Dolphin Tale.
There were several other groups with us bit nobody else was going to the aquarium. One group had reservations for the Sea Screamer tour which was a speed boat and another group went on the pirate cruise which looked totally cool. Everyone else was just going to the beach.
When got to Clearwater 2 hours later Nicki took us on a fast tour of the beach area so we would know when and where to meet. He showed us the restaurant where we all had lunch vouchers and where to meet for any reservations. It was so easy. He even dropped everyone off wherever they would like to be on the beach. We stayed on the bus and he dropped us off at the aquarium. He let us choose how long we wanted to stay and set up a meet up time and location.

We were dropped off right next to the house boat that Hazel lives in from the movie.
G was beyond happy at this point.

As you enter the staff takes your picture in front of a green screen and they offer some cool pics for you to buy later.
I was aware going in that CMA wasn't built to be a tourist attraction so the set up was odd. What I wasn't prepared for was the fact that you could not really see a lot of the animals. Especially Winter!
We started off in an area where they rehab turtles. We had to pick up both kids so they could look through the viewing areas and you still could not really see anything. Then we went to find Winter. The set up there was ridiculous and I am hoping that we went on a day or time where the Dolphin was shy or tired or something because she looked very sad to me. Her area has two pools, one in front with seating and a back area where they can separate her from Hope. She never moved from the back area corner, just floated. Hope was playing and zipping around but Winter never moved. Trainers tried to interact with her and were totally ignored. The area she is in is all flat, even with the water so you could not see her at all. Our best view was holding my phone over my head and taking a blind pic and all you can see is her back. G was disappointed but trying to hide it. A little height so that you could look down into the pool would have made all the difference. We literally spent 45 minutes trying to get G a glimpse of Winter with very little luck. She stayed in the back pool so the 2 teeny tiny crowded viewing windows from below did not look into the pool she was in.

Here is a pic of Hope interacting with her trainer. She was really cute. You can see the pool that Winter stayed in behind them.

Hope again. I felt really sorry for Winter and I sincerely hope that she was just tired or not feeling it that day. To be clear, I am not griping that the dolphin didn't move. I just wish the viewing area was better for kids like G. It was disappointing but we made the best of it and moved on with the plan to come back later to see if she might venture into the forward pool.

Right beside Winter's home is an area for 2 otters. One is paralyzed from the waist down and another that was a pet and cannot be released into the wild. A staff member there was wonderful and chatted with G about why Otters are bad pets and answered a ton of her questions. It was amazing how Cooper the injured otter looked completely whole in the water. His enclosure was just right for him and was wonderfully made to accommodate his needs.

Here is a picture of Hope and Winter

Here is Winter

The staff here was amazing with kids. This tank had a huge turtle in it that floated along the top really awkwardly. The staff member the kids talked to said that it had air caught in its shell so it had buoyancy problems. He made the strangest sounds.

 

[schumigirl]

Have to try the apple coconut turnover.......haven't noticed that before!!! Dessert for breakfast now and again is always good...

Nice pictures again.......

 

[samheatherwhite]

Here is a picture of Ricky who played Rufus in the movie.

Here is a picture that shows Cooper's enclosure and how there is a little furrow for him to use to pull himself into and out of the water.

We checked out Thelma and Louise the resident Nurse sharks and then B surprised us all by participating on the touch pool. He would normally refuse to join in on that.

G really loves sting rays and we spent quite a but of time with them. The largest one likes to hide so his name was Waldo.

One of my favorite parts of our visit was an informative talk about the aquarium's third dolphin, Nicholas. He was beached with his mother on Christmas I believe 11 years ago. His Mom died and he has severe scarring from the sunburn he got. You could tell that he really liked people and he responded to the audience. The talk was very interesting as the trainer explained how they take care of him.

He was very playful and decided to splash the audience all on his own. The kids loved it.

Nicholas was also much bigger tham Winter and Hope.

Here is a decent pic of Hope that I took in the underwater viewing area.
We had decided on 3 hours at CMA and that was plenty as it is quite small. We went around and revisited anything the kids wanted to and then we met Nicki. Unfortunately Winter hadn't moved.
We ended up buying the souvenir photos as they turned out really cute.

The kids enjoyed holding and examining one of Winter's old Prosthetic tails.

The tour provided a lunch voucher but the kids were starving at around 12:30 so we grabbed them a snowcone to fill the void and cool them off. (I promise we eat much healthier at home!)

Then we took a few more scenery pictures before we met our ride to lunch/the beach.

We had a nice time at the aquarium but I left feeling a bit disappointed for G. They could really do a better job setting up the viewing areas.
Up next lunch and then some fun at the beach.

 

[macraven]

Again, gorgeous pictures !!

 

[tinkerbell1112]

We are driving from TX in a week and a half and I was trying to convince my DH to leave a day early so we could swing through Clearwater. I'd love to make i there! Loved seeing your pics from there Fun report. Thanks for sharing!

 

[samheatherwhite]

We are driving from TX in a week and a half and I was trying to convince my DH to leave a day early so we could swing through Clearwater. I'd love to make i there! Loved seeing your pics from there Fun report. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks, you could easily cover the whole aquarium in just a morning or afternoon and the drive was only about 2 hours to Orlando. The beach is nice too but since that was our first beach trip I have nothing to compare it too!

 

[samheatherwhite]

Unfortunately for this TR I do not have any pics from the lunch that was included by our tour. I know that Sam got a burger, G got fish, and B got a grilled cheese and they all thought that their food was good. I got the chef's salad and it was weird. Lots of weird stuff on it including onions and bell pepper and topped with a chunk of sandwich ham and a square slice of cheese. We noticed after we ordered that most people seemed to go for the pizza which looked really good. So, if you tour through Florida Dolphin Tours you might look into the pizza for lunch. Sorry to be of so little help...review fail.
We ate lunch quickly so we could get in some nice beach time. Our bus was set to leave at 5pm.

We decided to head toward the pier which was near to where the bus would pick us up. That way we would not have to stop playing early to get ready to go.
We stopped at one large store on the way and bought souvenir tshirts for me and G. They did not have any children's shirts so B missed out. Sam decided to go all tropical and he bought an ugly Hawaiian shirt to wear on the beach.

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon. It had been a bit cloudy in the morning but the weather turned out just right.

It wasn't overly crowded where we chose near the pier. It worked out well. Very convenient to the bathroom to change before we got back on the bus.

Sam didn't bring his swim suit. He is not into swimming and did not want to have to change clothes. I tried talking him into it before our trip but he would not buy any beach shoes. I think that he wished he would have though. Jeans on the beach is weird, lol. I gave up a long time ago trying to overcome all of his weird clothes issues!

The water was nice, cool but not cold, and the sand was so white. I enjoyed this way more than I expected to and the kids loved it.

B and I both tend to sunburn and the caps helped a lot. I had a small burned spot on my shoulder and one on my leg where I missed with the sunscreen and everyone else was fine.

B enjoyed building sand castles and G preferred splashing in the small waves.

When it neared time to go we headed to the pier area to get a snack and change into dry clothes. Iknew that supper was going to be late for us so I am really glad that we filled the kids up before we got on the bus.

There was a little building that had two small snack areas and a place to change clothes.
G and I went with ice cream. G got mint chocolate chip.

I got coconut and both were pretty good.
Sam and B went with pretzels and w all drank some powerade to make sure that we stayed hydrated.

After we got dressed and fueled up we took some pics while waiting for the bus to return.

Overall we really liked the beach and would love to come back. Sam was intrigued by the sea screamer and B was really eyeing the pirate boat.

Now for the ride home. It was so long! We got stuck in traffic in Tampa forever. We were supposed to be back in Orlando by 7pm and didn't make it until 8:15. I am so glad we took the time to get a filling snack. The kids would have starved to death by then. The traffic was a zoo! We were also the last set of folks to be dropped off. That actually turned out to be to our advantage though. Instead of taking us back to the bus loop and us having to take the CBBR bus back to the hotel he dropped us off at the lobby. Totally kind and unexpected.

 

[smiley519]

Looks like a great day at the beach! Love all of your pictures! That ice cream looks so delicious!

 

[samheatherwhite]

We were hungry and tired, though our feet really appreciated a light walking day, by the time we got back to the hotel. Sam ran up to the room to take our stuff and get our refill cups and I handled two tired and starving munchkins dinner.

G wanted a grilled cheese so we got hers first. It was just like Bs from before, hot and tasted just right.
I wanted the empanadas but they weren't on a menu that night and I didn't notice until after we got G's food or I would have gotten something from the sandwich station. I figured that I would just grab something to eat at whatever station B chose to save time. He surprised me by wanting the mac and cheese. I should have just shared his because we think that they made a mistake and gave him the adult portion and it was massive. I just went with another pizza.

The entire take out container was full. This was not the best mac and cheese ever but was pretty good. All four of us tasted it and the verdict was positive.

Sam and I should have coordinated better because he chose a pizza too. If I would have known what he wanted I would have just shared with him and B. As it was we wasted quite a bit of food which I try not to do.

The pizzas were both really good.
Tomorrow was going to be a sleep in day (if we could convince B not to get up with the sun!) so Sam and G decided that we needed dessert so they trooped back down to the food court for treats.

G wanted to try the frozen yogurt. The flavor she chose was cake batter and she loved it. That looks like a tiny portion but the cups are huge. She regrets not getting this again on our trip.
B snacked on his black forest cheesecake from breakfast.
Sam and I split a lemon meringue tart.

This was the perfect mix of tart and sweet. We both liked this a lot and would definitely get it again.
Soon after dessert we took baths and went to bed. We had another fun day planned.

 

[samheatherwhite]

This was the day that I had reserved the Superstar Character Breakfast at Cafe LaBamba. I was ridiculously excited. I decided that after our beach day that we might want to sleep in a bit so I chose more of a brunch timing. I think that it was 10:30am.
We all wore our minion shirts this day.
Of course B still got up pretty early so we took our time getting ready and the kids ate a granola bar in the room to tide them over. Then we wandered over to the Studios to play until our reservation time.

I made the kids take a pic outside with Hello Kitty since they wouldn't go in the new store with me. They both hate the character and were not very cooperative, lol.

Along the way we spotted Scooby Doo coming out for meet and greets so we followed him over. B had to touch his collar, luckily he didn't seem to mind an overly friendly 4 year old.

Scooby was really sweet with the kids.
Just down the street Marge and Bart Simpson were also hosting a meet and greet. Even though the kids had no idea who they were except what G saw from the ride they both wanted a pic. There was nobody else in line. I learned later that B wanted to meet them in hopes of touching Marge's hair. I am relieved that she didn't lean down so he didn't get the opportunity. Crisis averted!

We still had some time so we rode ET, twice.
Then we went to Cafe LaBamba to await our breakfast. There is a nice courtyard area with a fountain where we waited for our name to be called. They were running a little behind but not much.
We were seated on the left hand side of the restaurant which was the exact opposite of where we sat in 2014. I was interested to see how this meal had changed especially the difference in food. It was n ow a buffet which was a huge improvement. I was also lucky to have gotten tickets before the price went up dramatically.

We weren't even seated when Spongebob ran up to play with the kids. He is so cute....even if his show is super annoying.

B greeted most characters with a huge hug which totally melted this Mommas heart!
The kids felt VIP seeing a character so fast.
The room we were in was not overly full which I really appreciated and it was even more enjoyable after the huge table right next to us left almost as we sat down.

Squidward was nearby so we waited to get our food until after we saw him too.
He was the best interaction we had last time and he was really good today but did not take the number 1 spot today.

We never felt rushed with the characters. The actual characters let B talk to his hearts content (bless them) and the handlers were awesome as well. The handlers took pics and offered advice and talked to the kids about the characters and other fun stuff to do at the park. They were perfection.

I loved how Squidward rested his hand on top of B's head.

Next the kids and I ran up to get plates. I think this is Bs. He got bacon, scrambled eggs, fruit, a mini cherry danish, a croissant, and some shredded cheese. He didn't care for the croissant but I ate one and it was fine. He ate quite a bit considering how excited he was. I think that the kids and I all got apple juice and Sam got coffee. They were refilled often.
Next update I will try to add more food pics and the rest of the awesome characters.

 

[macraven]

I always find food and character posts so exciting!

I love how much info you put into your report

It is like you are reading my mind on what I enjoy in your reports

 

[smiley519]

Another great update! I love the meet and greet photos with Spongebob and Squidward. Can't wait to see which character took the #1 spot!

 

[Lynne G]

great pictures. We did that meal when it was cheaper too, though already plated food. My younger DD loved all the characters, but older teen conveniently went to the bathroom when some of the characters came around. Dora and Diego in particular. We too had a late breakfast, as giving up early touring is not the best idea, and well, on vacation, my teens like to sleep late too.

 

[samheatherwhite]

I always find food and character posts so exciting!

I love how much info you put into your report

It is like you are reading my mind on what I enjoy in your reports

Thank you so much for your kind words. My type A self always likes details so I hope to help people like me that need to know

 

[samheatherwhite]

great pictures. We did that meal when it was cheaper too, though already plated food. My younger DD loved all the characters, but older teen conveniently went to the bathroom when some of the characters came around. Dora and Diego in particular. We too had a late breakfast, as giving up early touring is not the best idea, and well, on vacation, my teens like to sleep late too.

G wasn't impressed with Dora and Diego either but promised to be a good sport for B who loves Diego so much! She was only slightly mortified to play peek a boo with Dora which made it so much funnier for me !!

 

[samheatherwhite]

I will start off with a bit more about the food. The buffet was simple but well executed. The food was hot and replenished often. I think that we tried everything. Here is our breakdown. Sausage and bacon were good, a bit above quick service quality. The pancakes were a funny texture, they tasted fine but were nobody's favorite. The fruit was good and fresh and the pastries were great, especially the danish. The croissant was good if a bit dry and the oatmeal flan thing was delicious. Eggs were done just right and the biscuits and gravy were both good as well. G was pumped to see roasted potatoes that were similar to the ones that she loved from the lunch we had at the Three Broomsticks.
Overall the food was way better served as a buffet as opposed to plated like we had previously.
Ok, time for more character fun!
B has loved Go Diego Go forever and he was really looking forward to meeting him. The whole interaction was so cute. B hugged him for a long time, even the character handler said, "AWE."
Diego was patient and very sweet with B.

B was almost too excited to speak.

He showed B how to pose and then worked really hard to convey to B that he could meet Baby Jaguar during the parade show and he showed him what time.

Needless to say we now had a definite plan for the afternoon.
G was such a good sport for B's sake. She was a little embarrassed to pose with the baby characters (Dora and Diego) but jumped right in when B asked her to.
Dora came next and she was super playful and cute. She snuck up behind G and tapped her on the shoulder. G thought it was Sam and was quite startled when Dora did it again and she turned around.

She then played a kind of peek-a-boo game with B around a pillar near our table. He thought that it was hilarious.

We were having so much fun. The music was really jazzy and the character interaction was phenomenal. Sam, who wasn't with us last time, was super impressed.

 

[macraven]

Looks like the kids had a blast