Orlando Vacation- Day 5 Condo Day & Sea World

 Day 5 was spent at the condo swimming, playing, studying (that would be Dave), playing "Cover Your Assets", sleeping, simply catching our breath from 5 days of long days of adventures!

In the evening, we went to Sea World to walk around and then watch the Shamu show.  The older kids wanted to ride some roller coasters at Sea World, which was a great idea!  Another wonderful day in Florida!

Orlando Vacation- Day 4 Discovery Cove

 In retrospect, Discovery Cove was a highlight of our trip to Florida! It was an extraordinary experience for our family to have an up-close encounter with dolphins, snorkel for the first time over breathtaking reefs and ocean sea life, and float in a warm, tropical river through a bird aviary, waterfalls, and tropical forests! 

We arrived at 7:30am, checked in, got our wetsuits and animal-friendly sunscreen, chose beach chairs that we didn't use the entire day, and headed to the Great Reef for snorkeling!  After only 20 minutes of snorkeling, we headed to our meeting place for the dolphin adventure!  For an hour, we got to learn about dolphins through touch, stroke, and swimming with them. We went out to the deep, treaded water and then the dolphin took us to shore where we could touch again.  We loved the adventure!

The lazy river was incredible too!  It took about 40 minutes to float it but we just loved it.  Around 4:00pm, a crazy rainstorm came blasting through so we had to close down our day a little early.  At the end of the day, we went home grateful for the experiences shared together.

Orlando Vacation- Day 3 Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach

On Monday, we spent the day at 2 Disney waterparks: Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach!  Both were extraordinary.  Gratefully, it was a 2 for 1 day so we only had to pay 1 admittance ticket and could access both parks.  We arrived at Typhoon Lagoon right as it opened.  It was a hot day so we got right to the rides!  We loved all of the family rides but the real hit was the tidal wave in the lagoon.  A 15 foot wave came every 2 minutes to sweep us all away.  Dave and the kids LOVED it!  Taylor and I weren't quite as fond and tired out of getting hit by a massive wave before they did!  Typhoon was lush with flowering trees, every size and shape of green plants, and white sands.  It was simply wonderful!

We left Disney to eat at Taco Bell ($47 vs $147 for lunch for 6) and then went to Blizzard Beach: a winter-themed waterpark with crazy-high waterslides! Dave, Jaxson, and Alyssa experienced all of the tall slides, but not without some great bruising on bums and thighs. As a family, we raced down some of the slides and just enjoyed our time there until the park closed.  What a day!