Make-a-Wish Trip Day 6: Islands of Adventure, Downtown Disney, & Christmas at GKTW

This morning we grabbed an Express start breakfast from the Ice Cream Palace and ate in the car on the way to Universal Studio’s Islands of Adventure. We first visited Dr. Seuss world meant specifically for kids. I took the girls on the Cat in the Hat ride which was just like other Fantasyland rides, but they wouldn’t let Annie ride it because she couldn’t support her trunk by herself, even though she’s in a supportive chair. After getting off the ride, I told Justin that Annie could have EASILY ridden it and she probably would have loved it! Toy Story Mania was more jerky and spun more than The Cat in the Hat!

Had to grab a quick picture with Spiderman!

And Molly's goofiness continues in full today.

We went on another ride like the Dumbo rides and it was marked on the map as having a wheelchair accessible vehicle, but when we got there, they told us that vehicle was gone today and getting serviced. It was pretty disappointing.  But the girls loved it.

Little did Justin know how wet he'd get on that ride!

We next made our way to Harry Potter world which was pretty neat, but incredibly crowded! It was rather difficult to push our way down the street of Hogsmeade. We skipped the two huge roller coasters there since none of the girls could go on them and the area was so crowded anyway, and headed into Hogwarts for the ride in there. Molly went on it with me and then Justin went with Molly. I thought she’d be a little scared from it with the dementors flying down on us and other scary things, but she liked it and wanted to go on it twice.

I was convinced earlier this year to read all the books, so the whole Harry Potter world was much more interesting than it would have been otherwise. Molly and I rode Flight of the Hippogriff which was a smaller roller coaster. We saw the store where you could go in and have a wand experience—finding a wand that chooses you like in Harry Potter—but the line was huge and the wait time was 2 hours. That wouldn’t have mattered for us with Annie’s pass that allowed her to the front of all the lines, but I told Justin that Annie doesn’t really care about Harry Potter, and we moved on. I think Justin was really just wanting his own wand. So we did look at them later in a different store. He kept saying we should pick one for Annie, but I just couldn’t imagine what Annie would do with a wand, especially since she’s not a Harry Potter fan, but I do agree that they were pretty cool to look at.

Entrance to Hogsmeade

Hogwarts Express

Quality Quidditch Supplies Store--the Bludgers were actually moving around and rattling in their trunk!  So fun!

Lexie is ready to take off!

Hogwarts

Hogwarts--the ride inside takes you on a true Harry Potter experience!

 

So then we moved on to Jurassic Park world. They had one kids ride that was pretty fun—the Pteranadon Flyers—which I rode on with Molly and Lexie several times—just staying on the ride over and over. There were some other big water rides that looked fun, but after seeing how incredibly soaked everyone was getting off of them, we opted out. Although thinking about it now, we had our rain ponchos with us and probably could have stayed somewhat dry with them on on the ride. Instead, Molly had fun watching one big water ride and found the nerve to go get a little (or a lot) wet!

Waiting...

Waiting...

About to get wet!!

 We finished wandering around the rest of the loop of the park and were a little disappointed how little there was geared for younger kids. And the music even just walking down the sidewalks, as well as in rides, was just so loud that both Justin and I started getting a headache and sore voices from having to speak so loudly to one another! However, no headache could have held me back from riding the tower ride there! Justin waited with the kids while I rode it and it was awesome! Unlike most tower rides that slowly take you up to the top and then drop you, this one shot you up to the top super fast and then dropped you! It was great! I wish I could have stayed on it and gone a couple more times, but I knew everyone else was waiting for me.  We took turns going on a couple other rides like Spiderman.

The girls got rather impatient (and silly) waiting for Justin and I to take turns going on some of the bigger rides.

We headed back to Dr. Seuss land for the kids to ride the carousel—the only ride that Annie was able to go on in the park. The girls also wanted to ride the little train ride again too. Then we headed out of the park around 2:30.

It's amazing how fast all the carousels go in Orlando!

Molly really wasn't upset.  I think she was just running out of silly faces by this time of the day!

Of course each of the girls had to catch a wave on our way out of the park.

We stopped at Subway for a quick lunch and then went to Downtown Disney to do our shopping. We were given an incredibly generous amount in gift cards to spend at Disney stores, so we spent the rest of the afternoon shopping. Justin and I got zip-up hoodies, a hat, a picture frame, and some cookie cutters, while the kids got stuffed animals/dolls, a cute collection of 12 dolls of the Disney princesses, a shirt and frame for Annie, and art kits for Molly and Lexie. They got several other souvenirs as well. I wanted to make sure we used up our gift cards tonight so that we can figure out how to pack it all before we have to check out tomorrow morning!

Molly had to try on some more Mickey ears.

We thought these displays were fun with the dresses made out of dolls.  There was one for Cinderella and Belle as well.

More posing silliness.

It took us til 7:00pm to pick out all the things we wanted to buy, and finally got back to GKTW around 7:30 for dinner at the Gingerbread house. Tonight it was a turkey dinner with stuffing and mashed potatoes and all the fixings of a Christmas dinner because tonight’s party at the village was a Christmas celebration!

The Gingerbread House is really neat because there are hundreds, if not thousands, of stuffed animals and dolls on shelves around the ceiling!  It became a great place to play "I spy with my little eye..." while we ate dinner.

After dinner we went to see Santa and got our picture taken, then were ushered to a gift area with shelves full of toys for each girl to pick out. Lexie got a really cool My Little Pony set with a remote control car, Molly got a Strawberry Shortcake doll and toy, and Annie got a board game. Tonight we were again overwhelmed with all the generosity we have received on this trip. We are in awe of all the selflessness of others in granting so many wishes to all the children here. And they do this every week! In addition, the Star Fairy visits our villa every day while we’re away and leaves presents on our kitchen table. We’ve received board games, stuffed animals and other toys every single day. I’m beginning to understand why they told us to bring an empty suitcase with us!

Julie's Safari Theater where we met Santa (and other characters earlier in the week).

Julie's Safari Theater

Waiting to see Santa!

Waiting to see Santa.

Christmas is every week at GKTW!

Picking out toys from Santa

After seeing Santa and picking gifts, we went to the Castle of Miracles to see where Annie’s gold star was hung up by the Star Fairy. A volunteer helped us locate the coordinates and we found her star up there with all the others—over 126,000!! It was so awesome! It’s neat to think that her star with her name on it will hang there forever.

Annie's star

The Star Tower entrance--where Annie's star is hanging.

Annie's star is hanging in the Star Tower of the Castle of Miracles.  It is near the bottom-right of the round "constellation" I'm pointing at.

The constellation with Annie's star near the bottom right.

Looking up in the Star Tower of the Castle of Miracles.

We were lucky to catch the Star Fairy coming out of the Star Tower of the Castle of Miracles just after we found Annie's star.

On our way back to the villa we had to stop for ice cream one last time. Then we got the kids to bed and we started packing everything up. We opened all the packaging from all the toys in order to condense them. The family room of our villa looked like Christmas morning! We had two empty suitcases that had carried all of Annie’s diapers, formula, and medical supplies on our way to Florida, so since we’d used up all those supplies, we filled those two suitcases with toys and gifts, and then had to use the extra empty backpack that we brought along as well. I was impressed that we were able to pack everything in all our carry-ons and still not have to check any luggage! We got everything organized and crashed into bed just after midnight.

Trying to fit all our gifts in our suitcases!  We are truly humbled and overwhelmed at all the kindness and generosity that has been shown to us on this trip.  It was truly a trip of a life-time!