Day 5, Water Park Day

June 4, 2012
We woke up early and ate another character breakfast called Ohana at The Polynesian Resort.  Lilo and Stitch, Mickey Mouse, and Pluto were there.  Anthony, Taylor and Emelia participated in the parade around the restaurant.  Anthony begrudgingly participated because we needed him to watch over Taylor while Tony took Emelia around.  Breakfast was very good with scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuits and gravy, fresh fruit and Mickey waffles and sweet bread.  They served a tropical juice blend for the drink which the kids downed and kept getting refills on.  We figured out after eating breakfast at The Sizzler on Sunday with Taylor and Jackson that if we wanted them to eat a hearty breakfast to last them until lunchtime and not to fill up too quickly, they needed to eat their carbs/grains first.  So that meant they had to start with their Mickey waffle and afterward Taylor could move onto eating eggs and her breakfast meat; Jackson could then move onto eating his breakfast meat and then finish his milk since he doesn't eat eggs.  If we didn't make them eat in this order, they would get full on the protein (eggs, milk and breakfast meat), their stomachs would hurt and then they wouldn't eat anything else and be starving about 2 hours later.  By the time lunch would come around maybe 4 hours after breakfast, they'd be cranky and starving.  Anthony and Emelia eat everything and can eat their food in whatever order they wanted.

After breakfast we drove up I-4 towards Sea World and spent the remainder of the day at Aquatica.  That water park was awesome!  It also helped that we prepaid for an all day cabana that had towel service, water bottles, was shaded all day long and had a ceiling fan.  It made our day long stay very relaxing and enjoyable.  So enjoyable that Emelia, Anthony and I napped in the cabana while Tony took Jackson and Taylor around on the rest of the water rides/pools/slides.  Aquatica provided life vests for whomever needed them.  We immediately put one onto Emelia which took a little bit of time for her to get used too.  We also put one onto Taylor.  Even though she can swim, this helped her quite a bit and it helped her not tire out so quickly while she was in the water.  After settling in, Tony took the boys on some slides while I took the girls to the little kid's splash area.  Both girls got to slide and swim around in the wading pool.  Emelia still had issues with the water from the play structures pouring onto her head but she got used to it as the day wore on.

We then reconvened and I took the older 3 on a raft slide while Tony kept Emelia entertained in the larger kid area.  This location had a LOT more water features, a little larger slides for Taylor and Jackson's size/age and much more kids running around.  It definitely took some getting used too.  Then we did another kid switch and Tony took the boys back onto the larger slides while the girls and I stayed in the larger kid area.  Then the meltdown occurred...poor Emelia was so tired and so hungry that she didn't know if she wanted in the water or to be out of the water.  She didn't know if she wanted to be held or wanted to walk.  But we pressed on and did one more ride with her before going back to the cabana to get our food tickets.  She was such a trooper!  On our way to our lunch spot from the cabana she immediately fell asleep in the stroller.  Fortunately, I packed a bunch of snacks and she was able to nosh on pretzel sticks before her nap.

After lunch we all went back to the cabana to rest for about 30 minutes and reapply sunscreen.  Then Tony took Taylor and Jackson back out for more slides and water fun while Anthony, Emelia and I napped.  And then Taylor got into trouble.  She started getting so tired that she stopped listening while in the wave pool and freaked out because she swam away too far and lost sight of Tony.  So he brought her back to rest and chill out for a bit.  And then he took both Jackson and Anthony back out again but returned again so Taylor could come out and play too.  After Emelia woke up, she and I met up with them in the wave pool area.  Every 12 minutes the motors turn on creating waves in the pool so the kids got to ride several sets of waves before we had to pack up and leave.  Even Emelia was happy to return to the water and the waves didn't seem to bother her too much when they splashed her face.  But as all good things have to come to an end, Emelia hit her water park stride and almost refused to get out of the water.  She had a blast floating on her back allowing us to pull her back up towards the shore by the handle of her life vest.  Then she would get onto her stomach and try to swim back towards the shallow end of the pool.  We then ate an early dinner at the waterpark and changed into dry clothes in the cabana and headed towards the exit.  We had so much fun that we ended up staying until almost closing time and then headed back to our timeshare.

When we got back, Jackson still had a ton of energy so Tony took him and Taylor back out to attempt the miniature golf course that we have here on property.  He loved it...especially his 2, almost 3 hole in ones.  Emelia and I slept some more and Anthony stayed behind playing and watching TV in their side of the timeshare.  It's currently 1:05 A.M. the next day as I type this and Emelia is still asleep, I think we wore her out!