Kennedy Space Center & Cocoa Beach
We decided to take a break from Disney on this day even though the original plan was to visit Epcot.
We hit up the only non-Disney restaurant on Disney property, McDonald’s (I bet Disney gets a huge cut of those profits) for breakfast before heading toward the coast to visit Kennedy Space Center. It’s funny how just like on our last visit, we were flabbergasted by the short distance between the tolls on the toll road. It’s a total of $4.25 to get between Disney and the coast, by the way. That’s $8.50 round trip!
We thought the admission to KSC was high ten years ago at $38? It’s $50 now! On top of that we splurged and paid $25 more per person to go on the special explore tour to see the Vehicle Assembly Building and launch pads up close. We reasoned that we probably wouldn’t visit again for a long time, if at all. Even so, plopping down $150 stung a little.
I must admit, it was pretty interesting, although I was more into seeing the dolphins swimming near the causeway when we stopped to see one of the shuttle launch observation points. Joe and I ignored everything our tour guide was saying as we watched the family of dolphins swimming in the distance. That is so us!
We spent a good six hours at KSC and didn’t even see everything, but were burnt out on space stuff and hungry, so we left around 3 pm. One thing I did not like about the place is how the only way to see some of the exhibits was to endure films beforehand. Yes, they were interesting, and provided additional context to what you were viewing, but I wish they were optional.
Also, it would have been helpful if they were better about communicating where to line up for the special tour since there’s a regular bus tour without stops that leaves from the same area. Overall I’m glad we went to see it, but I can’t see us going back again for a very long time, if ever.
We went to the same restaurant we visited last time we were in the Cocoa Beach area – Florida’s Seafood Bar & Grill. I was really looking forward to the rock shrimp and was so disappointed when we arrived to learn that they were not available. Part of me wanted to just leave but I was starving so I looked for something interesting on the menu. We ordered the lobster bites which were incredible! I’m not sure which of the dipping sauce was better because they were both so yummy.
For our main entree we both got tacos. Joe got fish tacos and I got Dynamite Shrimp tacos. OH MY GOD, were they delicious! The sweet & salty combo was perfect.
Mmmmm…. I wish I could go back right now and get them again. The meal was fantastic and it was only $40 which was awesome.
After our early dinner (it was about 4 pm by that time) we went to Cocoa Beach Pier where we walked on the beach and in the surf.
There were some big waves and a lot of surfers out there taking advantage of it. One of the locals came up and was telling us the waves have been bigger than normal which is why it was so crowded. There were a lot of cute little seabirds hanging out and I got some video of them because I was fascinated by them.
We also saw a dead baby sea turtle wash up on shore which was sad. Other than that, it was a lot of fun. There’s something so relaxing about the ocean. I would love to drive to Florida one of these years and just bring our beach gear so we could make a whole day of it.
We spent at least an hour just hanging out before making the drive back to our resort. We decided to visit the huge pool on property closer to the main entrance (there are three total pools – one by us, the huge one called the Big Blue Pool, and a small one by the Cars section). We visited their Drop Off Bar and shared an alcoholic drink poolside, but didn’t end up going in the water. It was rather crowded, so we went back to our pool and sat along the side of the pool with our feet in the water.
I must say, the lifeguards at the pools are impressive – they don’t take their eyes off anything for a second. They have a whole procedure when one of the lifeguard’s shift is finished. Joe likened it to the changing of the guards. They also call into management whenever they have to jump into the pool even if the person is fine, like this one lifeguard did to check on a little girl who went under the water momentarily earlier in the week. By the time he got to her she was already out of the pool and by her family poolside. We missed what prompted him to jump in but the whole thing was very interesting.