Travel Memories: Florida

Now that I have filled you in on the time I saw Oprah, the first part of our vacation last year was to Orlando, Florida.  This trip was part of promotional travel from buying a timeshare.  The main focus was Disney World and Universal Studios.  We had some other fun thrown in there too.

 

What would a trip down memory lane be without also looking back at our 2012 Florida Vacation?  I love reading over my travel blog posts and reliving all the fun experiences.  Travel really does feed my soul and is 100% my happy place.  Our 2012 Florida vacation, including a NCL cruise to the Bahamas was amazing.  I really enjoyed this trip.

 

February 2020 was also one for the record books.  This was the year we visited five theme parks and the Kennedy Space Center, which I have never been.  Oh boy were our legs absolutely aching.  But we were also smiling from ear to ear with all the fun.  I’m also not used to such high humidity living out west.  That is an adjustment for sure.  Kennedy Space Center was amazing.  Kenyon booked us an extended tour on the military base which was well worth the money.  While we had the opportunity to see a rocket launch, it would have meant making the 1.5 hour drive back up in the evening time.  Thinking back now, we should have done it.  Maybe we will be lucky on a future trip.

 

We visited Disney Hollywood Studios, which was a new-to-us park.  I really enjoyed being among movie magic and I think Tower of Terror is my new favorite ride.  Kenyon didn’t love it as much as I did. 

 

Epcot is always fun.  I really enjoy all the sights and food as you tour around the world.  The also added a new Frozen ride which was really fun but very popular.  The wait was long!

You can read about the first half of our trip here ß

 

Universal Studios and Island of Adventure were where the real movie magic happens…Harry Potter.  We have been to Island of Adventure but since they opened the addition to include the Hogwarts Express, we knew we would need to spend the money to go to both parks and have the park hopper option.  It is really expensive but totally amazing!  I loved Universal Studios and would go back for sure.  Island of Adventure is just okay.

 

During my travel research, I found a dinner/theater show called Capone’s which was amazing.  We had a blast and I even had my debut onstage with the performers.  Yep, that is how I roll!

 

We saved Magic Kingdom for our final day.  After all, you must safe the best for last!

 

You can read all about the second part of our trip here ß

 

All this travel reminiscing makes me miss it so badly.  I am so thankful we have had the travel opportunities we did.  Life is short and it is meant to be lived!

Florida Vacation: Universal Studios, Universal Island Of Adventures, Capone's Dinner Show, and Disney Magic Kingdom,

If you didn’t read the first part of our Florida Vacation recap, you can read it here: Florida Vacation: Kennedy Space Center, Disney Hollywood Studios, and Disney Epcot

Despite feeling really tired from our evening at Epcot, we decided to start our day early and arrive at Universal Studios & Universal Island of Adventure when they opened the park.  We were hoping for cooler temps, shorter lines, and an early evening.

On our last trip to Florida, we only visited Island of Adventure, which at that time had the only Harry Potter attractions.  Since then, they have also built some Harry Potter at Universal Studios along with the Hogwarts Express, but you have to purchase the park hopper pass to ride the train.  So, we navigate two parks.

I loved Universal Studios.  It is movie magic and was super adorable.  Plus, it has significant shorter lines, some as low as 10-20 minutes.  That was a nice break.  

We rode the Hogwarts Express to Universal Island of Adventure and walked around the Harry Potter area.  We had lunch at one of the restaurants and then rode the Jurassic Park ride, which we didn’t do last time.  I also rode one of the Harry Potter rides as the newest ride to open had a wait time of over 120 minutes all day.  No way!  

Since had been to Island of Adventure before and didn’t really want to wonder around all day, we rode the train back to Universal Studios and I rode some rides while Kenyon sat out.  We loved the new addition of Harry Potter Diagon Alley and I rode one of the new rides.  Harry Potter magic is always so neat to see.

We visited Chocolate Emporium outside the park before we left and enjoyed a very yummy dessert.

Part of deciding to wrap up early was so we could go to this local dinner show called Capone’s.  I am so glad we did.  We had the best time and I even got on stage (by accident).

The show has a full buffet and drinks, alcohol too, are included in the ticket price.  The staff are in character all evening and when you arrive early, you can play blackjack our roulette in the bar area for a prize.  I didn’t win but our ticket also included two shot glasses as a souvenir.  We also took a photo upon our arrival and purchased the magnet.

The show was set during prohibition and we were supposed to be part of the Italian Opera Society Group when the cops showed up.  We were given family names, our group the Marinara Family.  When the cop was talking to audience members I introduced myself as Lindsay Marinara, which got a few laughs and ended up with me and other lady on stage to join the performance number.  

I suppose I could blame it on the alcohol.

Our final park was Disney Magic Kingdom.  By this point we were flat out exhausted.  We went for another early day and got there when it opened so we could have cooler temps.  The lines weren’t shorter though and the one ride I really wanted to go on had a wait of over 120 minutes all day.  There was another ride I’d been wanting to go on that was over 90 minutes all day.  I just didn’t have it in me.  

We still had a good time but after all the park days strung together, it was a lot.  We ended walking a ton of steps over our days in Florida.

I am thankful for WW, my weight loss journey, and the ability to be able to push through this much activity.

We had an early flight the next morning and left the 85 degree temps in Florida arriving to 35 degree temps in Dallas.  You can read about our Dallas adventures here: I CAN. I WILL. WATCH ME.