Splish Splash!

Memorial Day dawned bright and clear in Lake Buena Vista.

We were still enjoying the hotel view!

Before this was Fulton's Crab House, this boat was called the Empress Lilly; 

it was named for and christened by Walt Disney's wife Lillian.

I used to come here every year as a child with Camp Patriot from Grace Christian School 

for a Disney character breakfast on our annual campout at Fort Wilderness. Great memories.

Everyone slept hard after all our Sunday adventures. 

But we managed to be up by 9 and out of the room by 9:30am. 

We were headed for Sea World's Aquatica Water Park. 

The boys have been begging to go for the last few years, but we had never made it there. 

We bought a combo pass last August when we went to Sea World 

and our Aquatica day was getting ready to expire. 

The park opened at 10am and that's when we got stuck in a massive traffic jam half a mile from the entrance. 

We didn't make it inside the park until 11am. 

But we made the most of our day and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. 

It was the first time the boys had been to any water park besides Wild Waters in Ocala. 

One of the largest rides is called Roa's Rapids. It's a huge "lazy" river with a very fast current.

Most everyone wears a life jacket and floats along. 

This was hands down the boys favorite ride. 

You could stay in as long as you wanted and we certainly got our fill throughout the day. 

In the middle of the Rapids was an island where we reserved some chairs - 

our spot also came with towels and a locker. 

And a sneak peek at Roa's Rapids all around.

We did the Wahalla Wave as a family - 4 people can ride on a giant inner tube. 

It got dark in a few places and scared the boys a bit, but this was one of Daryl's and my top rides.

This was the big kids play area, Walkabout Waters, complete with nets and smaller water slides. 

The boys had fun playing in here for a while. 

We also did the slower lazy river in inner tubes (Loggerhead Lane) and the Wave pool a few times. 

In addition, Daryl and I did the Tamauta Racers and the Dolphin Plunge 

right through the Commerson's dolphins exhibit in tubes.

One of the other highlights of our day was actually the food. We bought the all day buffet pass at Banana Beach Cook-Out. We came for an early lunch and then right again before they closed for dinner. The boys were in heaven - all you can eat pizza, macaroni and cheese and hot dogs, soda and chocolate cake, and the grownups enjoyed some of those things plus the chicken and barbeque pulled pork.

When the park closed at 5, we changed clothes and then headed for the car. 

The traffic wasn't quite as bad getting out of the parking lot, but still pretty slow. 

We headed east for a quick trip through Ikea and then it was time to point the car north towards home again. 

This was the scene in the backseat on the way home. 

We think that means it was an excellent weekend!