MAW Trip Day 3 - GKTW Morning & Universal Studios

Our morning started early. Drew was up about 2am with a tummy ache. I had him climb into bed with us and rubbed his tummy. He rested off and on until about 5 am and then was able to sleep peacefully for the next few hours. When the alarm went off at 7:30 I wanted to chuck it out the window.

We got everyone up and ready and off we headed to breakfast at the Gingerbread House.

Everyone was so kind there. The food was yummy too. We were all really tired so we took our time. Mom & Brittany had decided to take a day off and would stay at the hotel until MVMCP that night.

A couple "wake up" rounds on the Carousel.

A quick stop by the car outside the House of Hearts
Our first stop was Universal Studios Island of Adventure. We couldn’t wait to get to Seussville. The plan was to see the attractions here that we wanted to see and then we would head over to Universal for the ET ride and to see Scooby.

We parked and made the trek into IOA.My big boys love Forrest Gump and though this was just way too cool.

First stop was to see Spidey.

Seussville was amazing. I love Dr Seuss. There were so many little details I wanted to capture. Meagan told me “Mom, lets actually have some fun instead of just pictures of us having fun” :)

So after a few more pics they rode the carosel. Drew didn’t feel like riding so I sat with him. Then we headed off to the Cat and the Hat ride. It was too cute!

As we were walking over to see the Grinch Wholeo the Who stopped us. He was so funny.

Wholeo: Raise your right hand and repeat after me. I promise
Drew: I promise

Wholeo: to clean
Drew: to clean
Wholeo: my brother’s room
Drew: NO WAY!!!! His room is a MESS!

Wholeo: Alright! Which one of you has the messy room?
Ryan: UM… I do. BUT my mom and dad cleaned it.

Wholeo went on to read Ryan the riot act about cleaning his room. Ryan told him it was too hard to clean by himself so Wholio told him what he needed to do.

Wholeo: OK I’m going to tell you how to get your room clean by yourself.
Ryan: COOL
Wholeo: Take everything on the floor and shove it in his room (pointing to Drew)
Ryan: (laughing) Cool!

Zander: But then mom will tell him to clean our room.
Wholeo: Then shove it back in his room (pointing to Ryan).
Zander: Mom will check both rooms (smart boy).

Wholeo thought for a few minutes and then said: “OK so the mess from his room went to your room and then back to his room and now, shove it in MOM’S room and then say “Mom, you really need to clean your room”

They all laughed and thought that was great fun. By this time a huge crowd had gathered around us to hear the conversation. It was hysterical. The kids still talk about it now, almost a month later.

Next up was a visit with the Grinch. They boys were so excited to see him. He was GREAT! He made sure to out burp Ryan LOL

Then we ran into Sam and Guy. Meagan was standing back with us while the kids had their books signed so they asked Meagan if she was too good to be in pics LOL So she’s in the picture with Sam and Guy too.

We walked over to see the rest of the superheroes. I am so not up on them all. The kids like visiting with each one and all of them really took time with the boys. Madilynn made sure she got all their autographs, as that was the number one thing she wanted to do on this trip. It was all about signatures for her.

A little fun along the way....

Then we headed to Popeye’s Barge Ride. We love Grizzly River Run at California Adventure and figured this was close to it. I had read you get wet but had no idea! Of course Madilynn cried the whole ride. Meagan & her were sitting where they got the most wet. Every turn we took the water would come up over my shoulder and the girls heads. Meagan held tight to Madilynn and the boys all laughed it up. They thought it was great us girls were soaked. Then just before the ride ended the boys got their share.

Water was dumped from shoes and we made our way to Rip Saw Falls. I had wanted to ride that ride too but Ryan and Madilynn wouldn’t hear of it. They had had enough of getting wet. So we sat in the sun while the rest of the family rode.

"RYANKYLE GetOffThatDirtyGroudRightNOW!" "WAIT, let me take a picture first"

I can not believe how incredibly wet you get on those two rides. Definitely end-of-day rides.

After we got the picture from Rip Saw Falls the kids all wanted to go back to the villa. They were all soaked and tired. I told them that meant no ET or Scooby – they didn’t care. I was a bit bummed but understood.

As we were walking back to the entrance a man handed this to Madilynn as we walked by. He had won it at one of the games we were passing. She thought it was great. Another small act of kindness by a stranger.

Steve went to get our Grinch picture and the kids and I headed for the van. We stopped to have a Cinnabon while we waited for Steve to catch up.

Finally we were loaded up and headed back to the villa.