Daytona Beach

When we decided to stay in St Augustine for the week, we started looking at things to do near us and Pat found a waterpark in Daytona Beach. We weren’t sure what the plan was for the week, but we kept it in mind. Yesterday we decided that we needed a beach day, so we decided to head down to Daytona Beach. However, we checked the weather and a thunderstorm was coming through. We did not want to repeat Atlantis, so we decided to skip Daytona Lagoon.

We drove down to the Daytona Boardwalk and when we parked we realized that we were right next to the Lagoon. Instead, we headed down to the beach. Pat had to run back to the car to get something and while Gabe and I were waiting, a balloon man came by and gave Gabe a hat and a doggie on a leash. The hat didn’t last too long, but the doggie made it all day!

We couldn’t find a place to change and the water was a little rough, so we decided to ask the water park about the storm situation. It was about one and we hadn’t eaten lunch yet, plus they said that a storm was supposed to come through at 3, so we decided to wait. They also said that if we wait until 3, then tickets would be half price.

Daytona Lagoon also has a massive arcade, so we let the kids wander a bit before we went to lunch. Luckily Gabe doesn’t understand that he’s not really playing the games and Bella doesn’t care...

After lunch, we were still stalling when the lady at the restaurant took a liking to Gabe. She brought him another balloon and tried to teach him to hoolahoop.

It was harder than I remembered, but it has been at least 20 years...

We waited out the rain and then headed over to Daytona Lagoon, where they said that the storm had passed and they were open. Sweet!

Once we got inside, Gabe and I splashed in the wave pool while Pat and Bella headed for the big waterslides. I watched them take an inner tube up the giant staircase to the waterslides. Then I watched them carry the innertubes back down. (They’d grabbed the wrong inner tubes.) Then I watched them go back up the slides with the right tubes. Then I watched them walk back down again.

There was another lightning storm coming and the slides were closed before they even got down once. They weren’t happy...

But they didn’t close the whole park, so we played in the lazy river until they opened the whole park back up and everyone was able to go on the slides. It was a lof of fun and a perfect way to spend the day.

Then on the way home, we were waiting for the parking attendant on our way out of the parking garage and a little voice pipped up from the backseat “I can get burger?”