Wesley's new best bud Reece from church got to come with us, along with his mom Tammy and his brother Hayden & Hayden's friend Bryce. Wesley was beside himself. We thought we were going to have to wait in line for an hour at guest services to redeem our free waterpark entry vouchers, but after about 10 minutes we spotted an employee talking outside the line to someone holding the same kind of voucher. I flagged her down and she directed us to the group sales window where we were able to walk right up and redeem our vouchers. We left 100 people behind in the long line. After a 10 minute trek to the very back of the park, we finally arrived at the waterpark! It actually wasn't too bad back there and the kids went wild...
My little swimmers! Anna Kate is our biggest water baby... she'd rather be swimming than just about anything else.
This was their favorite part! The waterpark actually hasn't changed much since it was part of Cypress Gardens. They just Lego-ized it. This big play area was there when we had Cypress Gardens passes back in 2006, and so was the tidal wave pool, the lazy river, and the big water slides. I think the only addition was the little toddler area, which the girls really enjoyed. I remember trying to walk around this same play area with Wesley when he was only about 18 months old, but that giant bucket at the top fills and dumps a forceful waterfall on the whole area every 5-10 minutes. I remember getting caught up inside when the bucket fell one time and desperately trying to shied Wesley from the onslaught of water! It was too nerve-wracking so I didn't venture out on it again with him. This time it was great because a 7-year-old would be hard pressed to figure out a way to drown in this play area, so Tammy and I could relax and let the kids go wild! -BELOW- That's Wesley in the white top and Anna Kate close on his heels running up the stairs. Carigan played at a nearby Lego water table while the big kids let loose in here. We'd try to get a visual on them every few minutes but we were able to relax a little because lifeguards were on duty, and like I said - they might get choked up with a face-full of water, but I doubt they could manage to drown themselves.
I packed a lunch for my kids and for Michael, but since I'm pregnant (I can't have lunch meat that's not been nuked in the microwave), I was planning on buying a $5 kid's meal. Tammy planned to buy food for her kids as well. The one and only food stand in the waterpark had a line extending to the park exit at 1:30 p.m.! We stood in line in the heat for over an hour! It was absolutely crazy. Tammy got light-headed near the front of the line and I had to cut to the window to ask for some water before she hit the ground. And by the time we got our food back to the kids, I could only eat three bites of my burger and then I handed it off to Michael.
At least the kids stayed nice and cool! Due to the water, it was difficult to get many pictures of the kids playing in the waterpark. I took Wesley and Anna Kate on the lazy river, where they now have tons of big foam floating Legos you can grab and built onto your tube. I rode in a double tube with Anna Kate and had a hard time keeping up with Wesley's tube. He missed the exit and had to go around twice! Wes was disappointed that he wasn't tall enough to ride either of the big water slides, although my guess is that if he actually got up there he would have chickened out anyway! Tammy took her boys to the water slides (I never realized Reece is so much taller than Wes until he passed the 48 inch requirement and Wesley didn't), and some of them backed out last minute. -BELOW- Bryce, Reece & Hayden with their hard-earned lunch! The boys initially got in line with us but I walked them back to Michael when I realized it was going to be a long wait. The poor guys thought we were NEVER going to come back with their food!
Around 3 p.m. the kids were ready to move on from the waterpark. Reece, Hayden and Bryce had never been to Legoland before, so they were eager to check it out. The lines for rides were really long when we first left the waterpark, so we spent some time cooling down in the Lego Heroes play area and watching a Lego 4D movie in the theater. By then the crowds were really thinning out. The park was supposed to close at 5 p.m. and even though they extended the hours to 7 p.m., many people left around 5:00 anyway. So we got to ride quite a few rides there at the end. Hayden rode Wesley's beloved Beetle Bounce a few times. They all rode Lost Kingdom Adventure several times, and Merlin's Challenge was a big hit as well. Reece wanted to ride coasters, so we hit Coastersaurus first. Wesley wouldn't ride but we did get him on the dragon coaster right before we left the park. I got to hang with #3. Michael said #2 rode all coasters alone and with her hands in the air the whole time.
All the kids enjoyed trading out their minifigures. That's AK's new minifigure on the tip of the dino's horn. They liked sticking their minifigures on all the Lego creations throughout the park. If you study the photo of the boys above you can spot all 4 of their minifigures on that dino. :o) -BELOW- My kids love Hayden... can you tell?? Anna Kate is always literally hanging off him. Hayden is so sweet - every time I looked around he had his arm around Wesley. Such a great big kid mentor for him!
Reece and Hayden posing with Darth Maul before we officially threw in the towel for the day. Tammy had to get Bryce home to his mother (since we had thought the park was closing at 5 p.m. and we ended up staying until close to 7:00!), but after the food line craziness at Legoland, my crew was ravenous! We stopped at CiCi's pizza just down the road from the park and I was shocked how much my kids consumed off that buffet! I think even Tammy didn't make it home without having to hit a drive-thru right outside the park. There's nothing like good food after a long day in the heat!
