Kennedy Space Center

    I wasn't going to blog because I feel too tired to function. But that feeling transported me back to a time I went to the Kennedy Space Center. That day NASA stood for Nap And Sit Around. I did accidentally tell a child it stood for Nap And Sleep Around, but I don't think they understood the connotations.

    It was the point in the jam packed holiday where we succumbed to collective exhaustion. Even if we had packed some actual jam I doubt our energy levels would've increased. Our back-to-back days of park exploring and our breakfast-shopping-Cirque-Du-Soleil free day caught up with us.

    I began my day walking around some sort of room with interactive things. The real appeal of this room was the seats. They were only benches with no backs, but at this point in the day I was ok to support my own back. In that room I did manage to email my mum a picture of my head photoshopped onto an astronaut suit. Even a mother couldn't love that photo. She brought it up with a great deal of confusion when I arrived home a couple of weeks later.

    Our day was about finding the best place to sit. The next seat I found was in an IMAX theatre. All I remember is seeing some sort of starry thing and feeling like I was being sucked into a black hole. I sunk so low in my seat I'm surprised I didn't find the floor. I have never fallen asleep sitting up (slumped in a cinema), but I came close to a seated nap that day. I think the only thing preventing me giving into the nap was the sound of my old love, Leonardo Dicaprio's voice, and the occasional rocket blasting into space.

    I saw another film later that day. While waiting to go in to see it there were these seats that looked a little like this from the front ~~~~ (I do realise I could find a photo of a seat that looks similar to the one at the Space Center, but the thought of opening a new tab is just too much right now.) My guess is that most people would've sat in the "valleys". Not me, I laid across the whole thing. I told myself if other people were there and wanted to sit down I would've sat up, but just quietly, I don't think I would've.

    The next place I sat was at a table for lunch with an astronaut. I can not remember his name or much of what he spoke about.

    After the unmemorable lunch most of the group found seats on a bus tour. For most of the tour we struggled to keep our eyes open, so we didn't. We slumped in the bus seats with our eyes closed. Occasionally I would open my eyes to strange looks from fellow bus tourees and to snap a photo of a building. I now look at those photos with more confusion than my mum looked at the photo of me as a fake astronaut. I have no idea what those buildings and structures are.

I think the first and last pictures are just different angles of the same building, but I can't be sure.

    The highlights of the Kennedy Space Center came later in the day. One was when Ashlea and I decided some of the spacecraft looked like giant foil balloons and she decided to ask one of the workers about it. Turns out they actually are made of foil.

    I also tried Dippin' Dots for the first time. I could really go for some right now. When we got back to the resort Ashlea and I (mostly me) finished off the left over dessert from California Grill. Once again my appetite for the sweeter things in life betrayed me. I knew that betrayal had a one way ticket to my thighs, but there was no sorrow in that sweetness.

     I don't want to say I hated the Space Center, but if someone told me they liked it, that would make one of us.

Universal Studios

    What's this? A second blog post within the space of a few days? You may think a ghost writer has been hired or you've accidentally clicked on an old blog post. On the contrary, I can confirm it is just the same old me and this is a new blog post.

     Our day at Universal Studios began with an early wake up. It was time to prepare for our first performance. I can't tell you how early I got up, but as a night person any time before midday seems early to me. The next task for the morning was figuring out how much of my costume I could wear underneath my studio tracksuit. To be honest, I can't even remember what I decided, but I do know I spent at least a day thinking about it. I should've spent more time thinking about all of my costumes. I forgot the shorts of one of my costumes. Forgetting pants or even completely neglecting to wear pants happens a little too often with me. Luckily I was not sans pants that performance as another dancer generously lent me a pair. I had to compete with my hair that morning too. My hair is always challenging (I have been compared to Hagrid). The braid at the front of my hair went quite well... if you looked at it from a distance with your eyes closed. Up close, you would notice a part more crooked than a criminal with an attractive mugshot and more bobby pins than the bottom of my dance bag. After the hair and make-up had been done it was time for all the excitement of sitting on a bus.

    There isn't much worth saying about the performance. We performed at CityWalk at 10am. The shops at CityWalk opened at 11am. Our audience consisted of the family members that had travelled to Orlando with the dancers. In their completely unbiased opinion, we were all amazing. Our spectacular performance was in spite of the stage we were on. It was like those bumpy Maseur sandals. Yes, it was a bumpy stage... for dancing. I can only assume they forgot to put the top layer of the stage on. The stage had also forgotten to have its Red Bull. There were no wings. In place of wings were some stairs. We were informed we were the first people to use that stage. And what a privilege it was not. Despite the stage, it was still ridiculously fun because dancing always is. And apparently it's always worth writing about because I managed to pump out an entire paragraph.

    Following the performance I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I'd spent most of the previous day by myself. Would I be forever alone? I'd been to Universal Studios in California a few years ago and didn't think too much of it. Would the rides here be as disappointing as the stage? I'd never been to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter before. Would I have a chance encounter with my kindred hair spirit, Hagrid?

    I could not accompany all my photos from that day with #foreveralone. I spent the day with Ashlea, Gemma and Jess and part of the day with Anni and Brooke. Our first task was to conquer The Hulk. Jess courageously conquered the bag minding task. Gemma, Brooke, Anni and I stayed in one line while Ashlea went into the line for "single riders". We heard later that the line was not Universal's answer to matchmaking.

    The Hulk was a great introduction to the rides. It certainly was not as disappointing as the stage. There was one ride I could've done without. Doctor Doom's Fearfall was nowhere near as exciting as I was led to believe. It sounded like Doctor Doom had all the qualifications to really freak me out. That ride was like working myself up for a tertiary level physics exam only to open the paper and find a kindergarten maths exam.

    We visited Harry Potter World a couple of times. I still haven't come to terms with the epic Diagon Alley expansion that will be opening at the beginning of next month. We had a bit of a chat with the train driver.

    We came across some younger friends in Seuss Landing. Rides on both the carousel and one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish saw me waving, blowing kisses and fist pumping to the audience crowd.

    Ash blended in with the Jurassic Park locals. 

    Ashlea, Gem, Jess and I ventured back to Harry Potter World. It took some convincing, but Ashlea managed to get me to go on one of the Dragon Challenges. There were two choices. The red or the blue. We'd heard some reviews from other people we'd seen in the park. We opted to meet the most difficult challenge. I can't remember which colour we chose, but it wasn't until we reached the front of the line when we realised it was the wrong choice. Not only because people were now saying that was the easier one, but also because we kept seeing carriages file past with empty seats. I had encountered another ride malfunction. Eventually we got on the challenge and I was definitely glad I had spent most of the walk to the ride awkwardly bending over and tightening my shoe laces. The real challenge came when we got off the ride. They don't tell you the exit of the ride is in a different location to the entrance. If only it had been easy to go back around (that is indeed a reference to a previous blog post. 10 points to Gryffindor if you can find which one). Our inability to apparate left us wandering aimlessly for a little while until we decided to ask a staff member for directions to the entrance of the Dragon Challenge as if we wanted to ride it for the first time.

    Ash, Gem, Jess and I stayed in the pub with our delicious butterbeer until close. I was finally able to replace my sister's mug that I had previously stolen claimed ownership of.

    I left Harry Potter World without swapping hair care strategies with Hagrid, but I was still scheduled for another visit to Universal Studios. Perhaps there was still a chance I would meet my kindred hair spirit.

Hollywood Studios

    I said I'd be back, but you might have to wait and true to my word... I made you wait. Oh, and I'm also back. Many of the three readers who have been staying up-to-date with my blog may be wondering, "How can you write about a holiday you went on 6 months ago? I can't even remember what I had for dinner two days ago." Thank goodness this blog isn't titled "Meals I Ate Two Days Ago" because I'd have no idea about that. But never fear, my type A personality made sure I wrote a few notes about each day of my holiday. Somehow I just knew it would take me 6 months to get around to blogging about it. The pain of my holiday being over is still very real, but I will push through it for the sake of my three readers.

    My day at Hollywood Studios began with a sleep-in because, if you may remember (I forgive you if one of my blog posts from 6 months ago hasn't been on your mind) I had stayed at Magic Kingdom until 1am. I still managed to rock up at the park at a respectable 9am. Upon arrival was the infamous Tower of Terror malfunction, which, oddly enough, I blogged about the day it happened. (You can read all about that here.)

    According to my notes and hazy memory, a few other things happened that day.

    The Rock 'N' Roller Coaster was my next challenge. Haylee and I saw the Browns there. I was still a little frightened of the whole roller coaster thing, so I sat next to Caiti and we challenged each other for the title of "Loudest Scream."

    Haylee, Jess and I also saw the Voyage of the Little Mermaid. I didn't know what to expect, but when the show started one little girl kept vocalising what we were all thinking, "Wow!" Her little whispers were filled with such delight and surprise. Haylee, Jess and I also saw Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage. It was amazing! Don't believe me? Ask the dishes.

    Jess and I also saw today (I use that term liberally) as an opportunity to meet some characters. We challenged ourselves to fill all the assigned spaces in our autograph books. (Stayed tuned to following blog posts to see if we fulfilled our challenge.) This challenge meant meeting characters we had never heard of before. I'm still not sure exactly who Phineas and Ferb are, but they've got a special place in my heart autograph book.

    The roomies and I ate linner/dunch at a lovely little Italian restaurant called Mama Melrose. I'm not sure if it would be classified as dinner or lunch because it was 3:10pm,which is right in the middle of afternoon tea territory. I certainly consumed more than would be considered afternoon tea and of course ate more desserts than just my own.

    The next big event that day was The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. Part of Hollywood Studios is lit up with lights that are timed to Christmas Carols. It was certainly more incredible than the lights timed to Christmas Carols at the Time Warner Center in New York.

    Fantasmic! was next. Fantasmic! was awesome! No, I don't keep writing short, grammatically incorrect sentences, the exclamation mark is the official way to present the word. So even if you were indifferent about it, you would still seem like you had strong feelings. Fantasmic! is a show the consists of Mickey, some villains, some pyrotechnics and other magical devices. It was the place to be at Hollywood Studios at night. Missing that would've been like missing an awesome party that you knew everyone would be talking about the next day at school.

    Haylee decided to call it a night, but Jess and I stayed to Disney on. I bought a bag of cotton candy (see I know how to speak American). I promised myself it would last a few days. It did not. We checked out a few of the shops and then... then we turned a corner and came across a... dance party. It was a Disney dance party with a Disney DJ playing awesome music. My buddies Raffiki and Chip (or Dale) were there too!

    Jess and I also went back to the Osborne Lights. We had to find all the hidden Mickeys. We didn't. I guess they were too, ummm.... well, hidden?

    We explored the shops a little more and then decided to leave the park. This difficult decision was based on the park closing.

    I can't guarantee my following blog posts will be as amazing as white spotted, red mickey head silhouettes holding hands in front of a shiny silver backdrop. Nor can I guarantee you will only have to wait a short time for the next post, but what I can guarantee is a free set of steak knives there will be at least one more blog post in the near (please note the subjectivity) future.