Day 3, Part 2: Kickin’ it Old Skool, Gracious Superheros, and Snow in Central Florida

I forget exactly what made us leave Universal Studios and head over to Islands of Adventure next door. I think it was the prospect of finding Spider Man. And I think Aria wanted to meet him too.

Anyway, it worked out well, because we met Dora and Jimmy Neutron on the way out of Universal Studios:


We wandered into a section of Islands of Adventure where all of the characters from days gone by were hanging out, complaining about their gall bladders, and smoking Lucky Strikes. Just kidding. Aria had a great time, although I doubt she knew who many of the characters were. Like Woody Woodpecker:

Betty Boop:

And Popeye and Olive Oyl:

Ah, the good old days. I was more of a Tom and Jerry kid myself (which should explain a lot), but still…

So Carla and Aria stopped off at an arcade, and I went to find a place to regroup for a minute (no matter how much fun I’m having, prolonged exposure to theme parks and/or costumed characters makes me a little twitchy). I’m hiding in a recycling bin, singing the theme song from “Yentl”, when who do I see? Spider Man!

Now, dragging Aria out of an arcade is normally a task I wouldn’t undertake without shin guards and a sturdy helmet. But for Spider Man, I was willing to risk it.

Thankfully, she was more excited about meeting Spider Man than playing another round of Whack a Mole, so I escaped the situation unharmed (albeit with Barbra Streisand’s voice permanently wedged in my frontal lobe).

Here, I should mention just how great the Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure people were. When Spidey noticed that Aria was here on a Make A Wish trip, he arranged for us to meet all of the superheros there that day. We got to go backstage and meet Captain America, Rogue, Wolverine, Cyclops, and Storm:

They were all wonderful to Aria, and took a lot of time out for her. It’s just amazing to see that much compassion from people who probably get pretty tired of dealing with kids day after day.

We ended the Islands of Adventure trip with a visit to Dr. Seuss-land, where aria got to play with all sorts of Dr. Seuss-like gadgets, and got to experience the book-turned-ride The Cat in The Hat (thankfully, without any references to Mike Myers).

Back at the GKTW village, we headed over to the ice cream shoppe, where Aria slathered herself with chocolate ice cream. This is the “before” shot, when her clothes were still clean and the sugar buzz was just beginning to set in:

Thursday was also the Christmas party at GKTW. Aria got to decorate gingerbread men, dance, and consume even more sugar. Then, Santa stopped her and asked her to ride in the carriage with him in the parade. Sorry, I’ve got video of that, but the video camera, the software, and I are still not getting along. Plus, I take lousy video.

Oh, and a snow maker on top of the theater made it seem like it was snowing during the parade. For the kids who had never seen snow, it was a pretty amazing experience. For us, it just made us glad we weren’t in Ohio. J

Ok, that’s enough blogging for the time being. Until next time…

Lee