Orlando Trip: Walt Disney World

Wednesday was our rest day and boy was it needed!  After 2 full days in the park, we were all excited to sleep in a bit and take it easy.  We took the bus over to Disney Springs and ate lunch at the Boathouse before doing some shopping.

Late afternoon we headed over to the Polynesian, by way of the Magic Kingdom monorail, and ate an early dinner at Kona Cafe before going on a Magic Kingdom firework cruise.  This boat tour was so fun despite it being pretty cold outside.  Thank goodness for the blankets that were provided!  We spent an hour driving around and hearing about all kinds of interesting Disney history before parking right in front of Magic Kingdom and watching the fireworks.  I was a little sad that we weren't going to Magic Kingdom on this trip, but seeing the fireworks and listening to the music made it easier.

Thursday morning we were up early yet again and heading to Hollywood Studios.  With the new genie + and lightning lanes, we spent a lot more time in lines than we had at Universal, but were still able to ride everything we wanted to.  There were a lot of new rides since we had been to Hollywood Studios with Star Wars land, Toy Story land and the Mickey runaway rollercoaster.  I think slinky dog may have been my favorite ride of the day though.

Dinner was at Rodeo Roundup in Toy Story land and it was a favorite.  I loved the food and the atmosphere.   It was pricey, but I'd definitely eat there again. 

We were originally scheduled to go to Animal Kingdom on Friday, but on Wednesday we noticed the rain chances kept going up for Friday, so Courtney and I made the executive decision to switch our park reservation from Animal Kingdom to Epcot.  I think this ended up being a really smart decision.  It rained most of Friday morning, but with Epcot having so much to do inside, it really didn't impact us.  It definitely kept the crowds lower in the morning.  Our only mistake was heading to Soarin first instead of Frozen.  But with the rain and Frozen being on the other side of the park, we chose the closer ride.  We'd pay later for that decision when we waited in the longest Frozen line!

Again, despite the crowds, we were able to ride just about everything we wanted.  We even got to ride Galaxy of the Guardian's twice. . once by buying the lightning lane and then again by getting in the virtual queue.  I'd say that was the fan favorite of the day, but I also enjoyed Remy's Ratatouille ride.  Both were new rides since we'd last been to Epcot.  We ate dinner at Biergarten, which we had eaten at before, but I think I liked it better this time.  The food and entertainment make it a good choice with kids!

Saturday was our departure day.  We had a late afternoon flight due to it being marathon weekend and us being worried about getting to the airport with road closures.  We slept in and got all packed up before taking the bus over to the Boardwalk area and having brunch at Trattoria al Forno.  It was the perfect way to wrap up a busy trip.  

I love going to Disney and getting to experience Universal for the first time was so fun, but this is never a relaxing trip.  Disney tired is on another level.  I slept so good that first night home! 

Orlando Trip: Universal Studios

We surprised the kids on Christmas Day with a trip to Disney World and Universal Studios.  They got their second part of the surprise at the airport. . . we were going with The Gists!  

We left on New Year's Day and arrived in Orlando late afternoon.  We were doing a lot of hotel hopping this trip.  Our first night we stayed at the Doubletree right near Universal since it was cheaper and we wouldn't be there for long.  After checking in, we headed over to Universal's City Walk to eat dinner and walk around.  We ate at Vivo Italian Kitchen.  It was delicious.  

We packed up and checked out of the Doubletree bright and early on Tuesday morning.  We were planning to stay the next night at the Royal Pacific hotel.  This hotel was super expensive, hence why we only stayed 1 night, however, it also came with the coveted express passes.  We were able to check in to the hotel starting at 6 am and get our express passes and park tickets.  Staying just 1 night got us express passes for 2 days.  I don't think we'd ever do Universal without these passes.  With the exception of 2 rides, they allowed us to get in the express pass line which significantly cut down on our wait times!

We walked over to Islands of Adventure about 30 minutes before the park opened to hotel guests and got in line.  Since Hagrid's was 1 of the rides that didn't take the express pass, we decided we'd make our way there first.  That turned out to be a really great decision.  I think we only waited about 30 min for a ride that later in the day had over a 2 hour wait.  It was a super fun rollercoaster with several surprises.  I don't think any of us were expecting it to be as intense as it was.  From there we spent the day riding just about all the rides at Islands of Adventure. . .some we even rode twice.  Em loved the big rollercoasters.  Velocicoaster and Hulk were some of her favorites.  Thankfully Shawn was willing to ride them with her because I was not! 

Evan loved the Harry Potter area, unfortunately, it was the most crowded area!  He got a wand and was able to use it to complete different spells and tasks.  We all enjoyed the frozen butter beer.  Late afternoon we rode the Hogwarts Express over to the Universal Studios and rode a few of the rides there before eating dinner at Finnegan's Bar & Grill.

The next day we slept in a bit and got to Universal Studios shortly after it opened at 9:00 am.  We spent the day riding all of the rides at that park.  I think the Mummy ride was a crowd favorite.  With the express passes we rode it 3 times in a row.  Em really wanted to ride Rip Rock It, but with the 90 degree incline up to the top of the hill, none of the rest of us were interested.  Thankfully,  after a whole lot of convincing, Courtney finally agreed to ride it with her.  She sure took 1 for the team and made Em one happy girl!  

We took the Hogwarts Express back to IOA for dinner at Mythos this night.  We hit up a few more rides after dinner before heading back to the hotel to get our bags.  We were making 1 more hotel transfer!  This night we moved over to Coronado Springs on Disney property and were thankfully staying there for the next 4 nights!