Tuesday we made our way to Lakeland Florida. We planned to do the Sun N’ Fun Air show on Wednesday to see the night show. So after checking into the hotel we grabbed dinner at Ford’s Garage. They took the car theme to the extreme! Every door handle was a gas pump, the napkins were oil rags and the bathroom sink was set in a tire. It was a little over the top but kinda neat at the same time, and thankfully the food was pretty good.

That evening we went to see John Wick Ch. 4, which we really liked. But not the previews! John Wick being rated R, I’m assuming because of all the shooting, but it wasn’t really bloody, there wasn’t any swearing (okay one word at the end) and everyone kept their clothes on, so?? Anyway, because the main show was rated R so were all the previews. Which were for these disgusting horror movies that looked gory and gross and stupid. Not at all similar to John Wick, so that part was kind of annoying.

Wednesday we went to the air show. We knew it was one of the largest air shows in the country but it was beyond what we could have expected. Taking over almost the entire grounds of the Linder International Airport. We first stopped by the medical center to say hello to our Looper friend Margo from Rambler. She is the head nurse and medical organizer for the event. She then directed us over to the flying club where we could find her husband Bob. He has been a pilot for a long time and they’ve both been involved with the air show for many years. We said hello to him and Oreo, their Portuguese water dog who is also enjoying the Loop. He gave us a quick run down and told us where the must see areas were.

We caught a golf cart ride to the far side of the show where the helicopters and military aircraft were. Part of what makes this event so huge is the number of people who fly in on their personal aircraft and camp out. The majority of the field was airplane camp sites.

There were a lot of really interesting aircraft you could get right up to and look at. We were able to go into the cargo hold of a C130 and a Chinook, which were really cool to see up close. The only one we couldn’t get close to was the newest F-35, but we would see it fly later. We caught some of the afternoon airshow and walked around checking out the expo booths.

That evening we found a good spot to enjoy the night airshow. Then we got to see the F-35 in action. It was really cool, and very loud!

As it started getting darker they started incorporating lights into the show. The T-6 Texans put on a really good synchronized performance.

When the sun was completely set, after waiting for a few Amazon planes to take off, one of them put on a fireworks display while ground crews set off pyrotechnics. It was a long but fun filled day.

Thursday we headed back to Titusville. We bumped into Chuck, from Rival, on the dock when we got back and made plans to meet him and Kerri for dinner later. We were going to check out the American Space & Walk of Fame Museum. Chuck told us to walk the back way along the water where they have consistently seen some alligators.

We saw two! These were actually our first sightings of alligators.

When we entered the Space Museum we were greeted by a docent who was actually a former NASA engineer and worked on many of the shuttles. He led us around the museum and had a lot of interesting inside information to share.

From there we met Chuck and Kerri at Playalinda Brewing Co. They had a very unique strawberry banana sangria, and the best BLT I’ve had! Loaded with bacon, arugula, tomato, onion jam, and chipotle mayo on toasted sour dough. It was sooo good! 😋

Friday we were up early and off to Disney! We started the day at Animal Kingdom. The world of Pandora was super detailed, it was like being transported to another world, and Avatar flight of Passage was amazing. It really felt like you were flying on the back of a Banshee.

We then grabbed a quick and delicious lunch from Flame Tree BBQ and went to see the Tree of Life. With over 300 different animals carved into it you are always spotting a new one.

Then it was on to the Kilimanjaro Safari. The ride has changed a bit over the years but the views of the animals are still great.

Afterwards we walked the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail where we got to see even more animals.

Over on the Asia side was the Maharajah Jungle Trek, where two of my favorites could be found. The flying fox and tiger!

Last stop was Dinoland. The Dinosaur 3D ride was really good and then it was over to Hollywood Studios.

We started off at the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, which is always exciting to watch.

From there it was on to Star Wars Galaxy Edge. Once again you are transported to another world and feel like you are part of the story. The new Rise of the Resilience ride was awesome. Super interactive with many different sections, hard to explain, but really cool.

We walked through Toy Story Land last. It was also extremely well designed. Made to feel like you are toy size with everything being larger than life. And if you see any toys walking around, be sure to warn them that Andy’s coming 😉.

After an event filled and exhaustive few days, we decided to make Saturday our errands and bum around day. I took a trip to the grocery store and Don picked up pizza from Hungry Howie’s. Although it is a somewhat national chain it was my first time trying it. For a non Buffalo pizza place it was pretty good. They have custom flavored crusts with personal sized build your own. I got a butter garlic crust with sesame seeds which was very good.

That evening we met up at the picnic shelter for docktails with Loopers Gemma, Yachts of Fun, Rival and Shoreline, who we met for the first time. They were just a few years older than us and excited to meet people close to their age.

Sunday we got up early again and went to Universal’s Volcano Bay water park. Definitely one of the bigger water parks we’ve been to. The giant volcano in the middle was really impressive and had several slides coming down and through it.

Having got there right when it opened we were able to ride many of the slides with little to no wait. For the busier slides you get a wrist band that gives you a wait time to come back and ride, while in the meantime you can do other things. So you are waiting, but not standing in line.

The water coaster was a lot of fun and very unique. Allowing you to have multiple drops like a regular coaster and going through the volcano which was cool. We grabbed lunch while waiting our turn for the drop slides. Two quite quick body slides that dump you into a pool 4-6 feet above the water. They were really fun!

This morning I went to return the rental car while Don got the boat ready to go. Right away when we left the marina we saw dolphins all around. As we went through this one channel where our kayak tour was, we kept seeing manatee the whole way.

There were tons of them! While they were cool to see it was kind of nerve-racking because we didn’t want to hit them. We pretty much were at idle speed or just floating with the current through there. We also saw a bunch of ray, one swim right by the boat, the others kept their distance but you could see the tips of their wings break the surface of the water.

There was even another alligator. This was the first one we saw while underway.

We were aiming to get to the Daytona area but a little before there we saw a nice looking anchorage. It was well off the main ICW channel in between some islands with plenty of sandy landing spots for the fluff. We decided to just stop here and enjoy the nice location 😊.