Performance and Islands of Adventure - Saturday

On Saturday, we got up and loaded the buses to head to Wakiva High School, about an hour from our hotel. This was where the concert contest was held and we had to be there for the band to warm up at 10:30. We met Linda, the tour manager we had met this summer when we were down there. The band wore black polo shirts embroidered with a Pioneer band monogram and khaki pants. It looked nice on stage.

This high school was HUGE!!! Well, in Arkansas terms anyway. Someone from Florida guesstimated that there was probably 3000 students in their high school. That's about how many students we probably have K-12. There was this nice court yard in the middle of ALL the buildings. Eli enjoyed running around for a while before he had to sit through the concert. He sat well - maybe all thanks to Memaw's Skittles! Whatever works, I say.

After the band performed, they took a group picture. We were headed to Universal/Islands when we realized that there were about 6 people who had left their tickets at the hotel. So, we drove back to the hotel and then to Universal.

We had spent the entire day Friday at Universal, so we headed to Islands of Adventure for this day. It was almost 1 when we finally got there and we were starving. We ate lunch at Circus McGurkus Cafe Stoo-pendous. It was this very cute little cafe in Suess-ville. Pizza, burgers, hot dogs - same ol' same ol', but not a bad cheese pizza. Above us was a train that came through the restaurant, so we figured that would be a good place to start riding. It's a very high trolley train type ride. Quite a long wait, but Eli really liked it. You got to see all of Seuss-ville and that was definitely one of my favorite areas of these 2 parks. Very cute.

The Cat in the Hat was experiencing technical difficulties, so we decided to skip that one. I'm never fond of rides that experiencing technical difficulties, you know? So, we bought Eli one of those huge lollipops and headed to the Caro-seuss-el. I haven't been on a merry-go-round in quite a while, but this was cute!

If I Ran the Zoo was another little play area that Eli, of course, loved - and didn't want to leave. It also had a water area, so Eli put his suit on and played there until we forced him to leave.

As we were heading back to Universal for the awards presentation from the contest, we stopped off at Super Hero Island for a photo op with Spider Man. I thought Eli would be so pumped to meet Spidey, but he just stood there staring at him. He wouldn't go near him. Spider Man is standing there waiting for the picture and Eli refuses to get close to him. Finally, Spider Man dropped the macho-routine and convinced Eli to go see him. We got a quick picture and Eli picked out a stuffed Spidey of his very own. I felt sorry for Mark (the stuffed alligator he had bought on Friday), but Eli assured me that Mark and Spider Man could be best friends.

We ran to Universal and sat at a cafe table until it was time to get ready for the awards presentation. By then, we had done just about everything we cared to do, we were exhausted, and Eli was asleep. I had a fruit plate ($7 worth - not very tasty but when Eli woke up, he ate all the rest of it) and Keith had a piece of black forest cake while we waited.

The awards were presented on the stage where Beetlejuice's Review usually takes place. I was glad Beetlejuice was no where to be seen. The Blues Brothers performed a few songs - which the kids really enjoyed - especially the big band director kid that was behind me (Keith). I'm not sure the students knew who the Blues Brothers were - but it was still fun. We were so excited to get first place in our class and very surprised to get the Highest Score overall! There was a very large, very good band who played right after us, so it was a nice treat to win overall. The band didn't get to perform at Region this year b/c of the weather, so it was great for them to get to play their music for others and hear how well they're playing!

It was a madhouse leaving Universal. They have been having Mardis Gras celebrations and parades and there were crazy people everywhere. We all made it to the bus just fine and even got back to the hotel just in time for a little swimming (for Eli and the kids anyway).