Florida Days #6-7: Fun Spot & Universal Studios

2019-02-25Friends, Us, USA Standard

[Photos from 25-26 February 2019, posted online 07 08 August 2019. Tomorrow Today we started work after four weeks of summer vacation. I’m I was not ready!]

We’d decided that one day would be enough for our kiddos at Universal Studios (we were advised against taking Emma there, is it would go over her head), but our fellow travelers decided they’d go there for two days.

On the first Universal day, we therefore opted to visit a local amusement park instead called Fun Spot. There were VERY few people there, so we went on tons of rides as there were no lines whatsoever.

On the second Universal day, Finnur took our big kids there, while I took Emma to the second Fun Spot park, a hop and a skip away from Universal Studios. That Fun Spot park was even emptier than the previous one (!!!), so Emma and I again went on tons of rides! The others got to see all the cool Universal stuff though, so in the end I think it was about equal. 🙂 (60-ish images total)

Monday 25 February 2019

Anna and Emma on the Ferris Wheel at Fun Spot Kissimmee.
It was such a cute Ferris wheel!
The view confirmed that Florida is insanely flat! Oh, and those big poles are a huge human slingshot. It was a relatively small amusement park, but it had what we needed.
Bjarki went off with Finnur for a bit to ride the big wooden roller coaster, and they bumped into this rather large car on the way there.
Emma insisted on taking me on this contraption, which she loved, and I tolerated.
Going up!
Finnur took the kids onto this thing. Note all the empty seats.
Animated gif version!
Emma’s can-I-go-again? face.
There was almost nobody there, so some of the staff were supervising an area with four rides, and would open them as needed!
In front of the go-karts. They weren’t super powerful, mostly they were very smelly glorified lawn-mover motors. We also decided that multilevel tracks are less fun than dual layer tracks as the cars barely make it up the hills and complain loudly on the way down!
Soon energy was low, so I took the kiddos to the adjacent ‘Old Town’ shopping street to hunt for ice cream.
We ended up at an old style diner, where the very patient attendant let the kids taste just about every single flavor of ice cream before they made up their minds. I discovered much to my horror that their card machine did not support tipping, so we found an ATM and returned with a tip for her troubles!
Diner seats. Very atmospheric!
These red washing brush trees reminded us of California!
The bumper cars were a big hit, and we went multiple times. There really were no lines!
Idyllic swinging. After this, Bjarki somehow tricked Anna into going on some crazy contraption. We still wonder how he managed that feat!
Emma, yet again the sole rider but enjoying it nonetheless!
Did I mention the bumper cars were a hit?
Whoa! TWO kids on a ride!?!
We managed a smiley family selfie before walking to the Red Lobster next door.
Well, almost walked. The kids got to go on one more ride while we waited.
The food at Red Lobster was edible, but not very scrumptious. We’ll have to remember not to go again.
Post dinner, Bjarki wanted to go on the Ferris wheel before leaving.
All the lights had been turned on by then (8 pm).
We witnessed some people actually getting launched up in the air and bouncing repeatedly up and down in this other human slingshot. It looked nuts.
Emma and Bjarki just haaaad to take one more round on this one, while Anna patiently waited, and then we drove home.

Tuesday 26 February 2019

Cheating a little on the time-line as this was taking when they exited the park around 5 pm, but at least it shows they went, and there were smiles! 🙂
So yes, Finnur and the rest went to Universal Studios, while I took Emma to the Fun Spot America practically next door! The parks were not equal in size by a long shot though!
Doesn’t that look appetizing?
A snap telling the Universal folks where we’d gone as it had been a bit of a spur of the moment decision.
Meanwhile I got a few snaps of fancy things.
Cooool!
Fun photo by the Hogwarts Express.
Hard to believe but that thing’s real!
Another size reference.
Posing in front of one of two big coasters.
One of the reasons I chose this park was that I read that Emma would be able to drive her own go-kart. Sadly, the track for the kids was super narrow, and the attendants kept having to wiggle the cars free, as some corners were almost impossible to navigate without getting stuck. She did not want to try again.
See that crazy sharp turn? It was impossible to navigate around.
Her own private mini-coaster.
The had a small alligator area, and Emma thought I was nuts when I asked her to smile for a photo. She might die!
She did agree to take a photo of me in front of the very old very anti-social albino dude.
Big go-kart time! Emma was revealed as an adrenaline junkie during these outings of ours.
The Ferris wheel overlooked the go-kart tracks, and the coasters, and I think I saw Universal Studios in the distance.
Yet another human slingshot that I never saw used.
Hey, lets ride the carousel again!
We were getting hungry, just like Halli.
I didn’t fancy any of the food they had on offer at the park, so we drove a block to a kosher restaurant, which actually had decent food. Emma was super happy with her (kosher) hot dog at least.
I think we went on this coaster five times or something. Emma loved it Every. Single. Time. I could feel the blood pool in my seating area… 🙂
Appropriate!
Emma coaxed me onto the wooden coaster three times before I told her my neck (read: my nerves) wouldn’t take any more.
This was her face after one of the wooden coaster rides. Pure happy thrill!
This machine was crazy. It spun super fast, and Emma hung on for dear life (as you can see), while laughing maniacally. I think she went three times in a row! There were actually a few other peeps on this one, and the attendant asked if they wanted to go again, and just pushed the Go button when the all shouted yes!
The weather forecast kept saying it was about to rain, and I heard the staff saying that the park might even close early if it did. It did start raining around 5 pm.
Solo-Emma upside down.
I tried to tell myself that us being essentially personally assisted by the few staff that were there was making their day go by faster. I’m sure some people pay good money to have an amusement park to themselves, but we got admission with a Groupon discount!
By 5 pm, we were all tired, and began moving ourselves in the direction of home. It took a while in all the traffic. By 7 pm we’d reached this steakhouse that was very close to our house.
Yay, buzzers! We had to wait a bit, but then got tables for each family. The food was actually good, but it was very loud in there, and we were all tired, so we were glad to finally reach home after an eventful day.