Florida: Universal Studios

Day 2 in Florida was at Universal Studios (Island of Adventure.)  The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is actually spread out across two theme parks; Diagon Alley/Gringotts is in one park and Hogsmeade and Hogwarts is in the other park.  Since I had to pick one or the other, Hogwarts won out.  (If you get a two-park pass, you can ride Hogwarts Express between both, but alas, it wasn't in the stars for us.)

Hyrum was a little relieved when we more or less drove ourselves into the parking garage and no one smiled or waved at us. The day overall was less 'happy' but fun in a different way.  

Universal is definitely geared towards an older crowd, and there weren't nearly as many strollers as at Disney. We decided Disney is whimsical in a realistic way (ie: everything is pretty much to scale and as it would be in a make-believe world) while Universal has more over-the-top stuff, like a 2-story Titon hand or an enormous elephant on top of a building.  I thought Universal offered a bit more to see for those of us not going on many rides, although we certainly missed out on a lot of what the park offers.  

We walked through Universal Boardwalk to the main gates, and we actually arrived 10 minutes before the park opened.  As soon as we were in, we ran to the back to see Harry Potter.  I think most people had the same idea, but it was still worth it.  By the time we parked the stroller, took the girls out, and got in line, there was a 45 minute wait for the main ride (through Hogwarts).  Universal doesn't offer (free) fast passes, so there's no way to avoid lines.  Later in the day the wait was around 2 hours.

The line for the ride takes you through the castle.  Unfortunately, right after we entered Hogwarts Tiago got scared and was pointing to the exit trying to get us to leave.  Sorry kid, not happening. I spent most of our time in line holding him, covering his eyes, and trying to bribe him with candy while not getting a sticky mess in my hair.  And I had Mila in the baby carrier.  Being a mom is quite glamorous at times. But I did catch glimpses of the talking portraits and Dumbledore's office with the looking glass or whatever it's called.  (I actually haven't read the books in over a decade.)

For people with kids, there's a rider swap program.  Right at the ride entrance is a small room where one parent waits with the kids while the other rides, then they swap.  The kids enjoyed being free to crawl around, and they were even showing a Harry Potter movie which definitely entertained Tiago.  Hyrum initially wasn't going to even ride it (he isn't into roller coasters or thrill rides.)  But when I came back I told him it was the best ride I've ever been on and he needed to go.   

Here's a pretty good description of the ride: Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, the wilder of the attraction's two signature rides, employs 3-D technology and wraparound screens to whisk passengers away on an immersive airborne adventure. As described by the Los Angeles Times, riders are seated on benches that move around, as if guests are flying behind Harry himself. Simulated dragons, spiders, and other obstacles swoop in and out along the way. 

So overall, worth the hype, and worth the wait.  When Hyrum came back, we were getting the kids together to leave, and another parent told me she wasn't going to ride it, and asked if I wanted her ticket.  Yes!  So I hopped on the ride for a second time with no wait. Score.

After the ride, we enjoyed more of Hogsmeade. It's charming!  Crooked chimneys, store facades from the book, and Butterbeer!  (If you were wondering, Tiago and I thought it was delicious.  Sweet, for sure, but delicious.  Hyrum was less enthusiastic, but then again, he doesn't even like Harry Potter, so there's that.)

Above, there are owls in the rafters.

We bought a treat in Honeydukes, which of course was over priced but also really adorable.

There's a shop to buy wands, and places around town where you can use the wands to perform 'magic.'  (For example, one of the stores shown in the picture below is a tailor shop. Kids waited in line to move a tape measure up and down in the window display.)

So long Hogwarts. Our second priority for the day was Seuss-landing, which was only one theme section away. 

They say there's no straight lines here, and I believe them.  It's fun and colorful, and had a lot to entertain Tiago.  

I wish Disney had more 'play areas' like this.  He found a lot to climb on, without waiting in line for rides, and there weren't crowds.  (In the second picture, you can see how hard he was trying to get that darn bike to move!)

No horses on this car-seuss-sel!

We thought lunch at Circus McGurkus cafe would be a good idea--quick and lots of space.  Wrong.  The lines were so so slow.  That's one area Disney excelled at; even with long lines they at least moved quickly. I waited 40 minutes for sub-par food. Fortunately, Tiago was distracted by everything going on, including swinging acrobats on the ceiling (not real) and a train (real) that circled the ceiling (part of another ride.)

Next up: Marvel Super Heroes.  This was much more interesting for Hyrum.  I don't know much about comics or super heroes (illustrated by the fact that Tiago is wearing a Superman shirt, which apparently isn't a Marvel.)

That is a chocolate fudge caramel sundae Hyrum is carrying (above) and it more than made up for lunch.  It might be the best thing I ate the whole trip.  (It was funny finishing Whole30 right when we went to Florida because I felt like I was in food heaven.  And I think I was.)

The last area we went was full of comic strips and water for Tiago to play in.  His shoes and pants got soaked, but he was so happy to be able to run around and play.

The kids were exhausted by about 3.  The girls wouldn't stop crying, I think because they were tired. They never took more than a 30 minute nap in their strollers, and don't sleep well on-the-go.  So we made our way back to the entrance, looking at more details that we rushed by that morning.

That's the Universal globe behind us on the right... not really visible.

We were in Orlando over Valentines Day and marked the occasion by walking to Dunkin' Donuts by our hotel.  It's hard to stay inside when it's beautiful weather outside.  Unfortunately, the selection there was weak (why is this always the case?!) but we got to try the new brownie and cookie dough filled donuts.  Like I said, Whole30 was over and I was thoroughly enjoying food.

The ride home was uneventful.  There was no traffic.  As soon as I got home, though, my body felt like it was giving up.  My shoulders, neck, and back started cramping and I have had a pinched nerve and tense muscles for the last two weeks. I guess a person's body can only be stressed out for so long before it's done.

Throughout the trip I kept asking myself, "Was this worth it?  Would I do the trip again if I knew what it would be like?" My answer is yes, but not a resounding yes.  Before the trip, about 55% of me thought it was a great idea, and the other 45% thought I was crazy.  It might have gone up to 60%, so I'm glad we went, but it was a lot of work and energy, and we didn't get to see many rides.  Plus, our kids certainly won't remember anything.  But for $1000, it was filled with enjoyable moments for me and Hyrum that I'm sure we won't forget anytime soon.  And the kids can enjoy the pictures.  And we'll tell them, "See!  We do love you! We took you to Florida!"

Florida trip: the beach and Disney

Disney World!

Even before we moved to South Carolina, we talked about taking a trip to Florida.  It's about 7 hours to Orlando, driving.  It's been hanging out in the back of my head all this time, and I had countless debates with myself about whether or not it was a good idea.  On the one hand: Disney World!  And showing Hyrum somewhere he's never been!  And warm weather!  And we'd never live this close again!  And the military has discounted tickets!  But on the other hand: three little kids... strollers... money... long car ride... not enough time... we'll go when they're older... crowds. 

You can tell which little voice in my head won.  And the deciding factor was when I realized we could see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  My logic was that even if we went back to Disney when the kids were older, we may not also want to do Universal Studios, so now would be our time to do a trip that I wanted to do.  [Hyrum absolutely doesn't get the hype of Harry Potter, and is somewhat bored by the movies and never read the books... but he went along with my plan anyway because he was in favor of the trip.]

We originally were going to do two days in Universal Studios, because they have a buy-one-day-get-one-free ticket for military personnel.  But in the end, we decided to pay a little more money and do one day at Universal Studios Island of Adventure, and one day at the Magic Kingdom.  Unfortunately, most of the good discounts available are for people staying 3+ days, and we only had two days for parks.  Looking back, seeing both parks was definitely the right decision for us.

The drive wasn't bad.  Once we hit Florida, we decided to detour a little and drive along the ocean.  Does it get better than that?  While most of the country was snowy and cold, we had blue skies and a beautiful breeze.  We parked for a bit and let Tiago run around.  

By the time we got to the hotel, it was not quite warm enough to swim, but close.  (Traffic in Orlando can be craaazy, by the way.)

Day 1: Magic Kingdom

We had a blast on day 1.  We arrived right when (we thought) the park opened, but possibly it opened sooner than publicized because things were already up and running. The kids wake us up really early on trips, so leaving the hotel by 7:30 is no big deal.

At Disney, everything is happy and well-planned.  From the minute you pull into the parking lot, there are dozens of employees waving you in and showing you exactly where to park.  And everyone smiles.  There are employees pointing you to the monorail that takes you to the park entrance, and we saw several people whose only job is to smile and say, "Welcome to Disney World!"  After all, it is the happiest place on earth.  But it turns out, it's not Hyrum's happiest place on earth.  (I'm almost certain that would be a soccer stadium).  He got a little tired of all the happy, and by day 2 was ready for people to stop smiling at him.

We were able to get three fast pass tickets, meaning we basically skipped the lines.  That was about the extent of our planning.  We wanted to take the day easy and not be racing from ride to ride, especially since the kids couldn't ride very many.  And... you can't take strollers in line... and carrying babies through the line for hours on end didn't sound like fun.  Our plan was to walk around, enjoy the food, and go on a few rides.  In a travel book I read, a complaint was that these days you have to over-plan Disney to get the most out of it-- from restaurant reservations to rides to meeting the characters. There's little spontaneity left, and I felt that to be true.  These days, you don't just bump into Mickey.

(On the way to ride #1, we passed by Mary Poppins and a penguin from the Jolly Holiday scene... you may remember Tiago looooves this movie and I have it all memorized from watching 1 million times, including on the way to Disney World.  We knew before going that Tiago might be freaked out by the people in costume, so we kept a safe distance.)

Our first ride was Pirates of the Caribbean.  It was a fun one that we could all go on.  Tiago's first crying of the trip was as we were leaving the ride and passing through the gift shop.  Not sure what caught his eye and made him cry, but it was the first of many times during the trip I'd have to carry him, while carrying a baby in the carrier.

The guys looked pretty quick at the Swiss Family Robinson tree house.

Then we headed to Space Mountain, where we had another fast pass, and no wait. That was the only ride we went on alone (ie: no kids.)  I managed to take zero pictures in Tomorrowland.

We caught a show at the Palace.  Tiago was loving it, until he wasn't.  Malificent came on stage and scared the poor kid to death.  We were in the front row, and he was screaming to leave.  I tried to calm him down and cover his eyes, but he was pointing the opposite direction, practically begging to get out.  So, I carried him through a huuge crowd and we explored Fantasyland.  [There was no way Hyrum could push through the crowd with the stroller, so he waited until the end to leave.]  There was no wait for the carousel so we enjoyed that by ourselves.  Gotta love the carousel.

Since the last time I came.... about ten years ago... they added (I think) rapunzel's tower, the Little Mermaid's under-the-sea world, and the Beast's castle from Beauty and the Beast.  Unfortunately, most of them required you to wait in line and go through the 'ride'.

We ate at Pinnochio's haus, which was fairly German and cute.  

We had a fastpass for Winnie the Pooh, but it broke right after we got in line.  Tiago didn't seem to mind though and spent about 30 minute splaying in this little tree house replica of Pooh's house.  Then we went on Dumbo instead.

I took this picture because this area of Fantasyland was SO colorful, but ironically my camera switched to B&W mode.

We walked across the park to buy Dole Whip (pineapple soft serve.)  Worth it.  (Except it was quite hollow inside that big swirl!)  Tiago decided the spoon was completely unnecessary. 

There was a parade in the afternoon we went to, and were lucky enough to get front-row seats. (Ie: a spot on the ground.)  It felt so good to sit for a while that we didn't care where it was.

To wrap things up, we took a train ride around the park.  Our train-obsessed son was thrilled.  And he showed his excitement by being very stone-faced, but the girls were all smiles to be out of the stroller.

By the end of the day the park was significantly more crowded than during the morning hours.  Look at all those people!  It wasn't nearly as fun in the afternoon to walk around because lines were so long and there were people everywhere.  We wanted to get a picture of the girls in front of the castle, which was a quite-near epic fail because they wouldn't sit still.  It's not at all what I had pictured in my head: two delighted babies excited to be in front of the castle in the Magic Kingdom and looking right at the camera with perfect smiles.  That's life.

Once that picture failed, we tried taking a picture of Hyrum throwing Mila in the air. After many failed attempts, it paid off when we got the picture we wanted.  (It is a reminder to me that phone cameras are quite inferior to DSLR cameras, where there's no 3-second delay between hitting the button and capturing the picture.  But there was no way we were hauling the big camera around.)

As we were about to exit, we realized we hadn't eaten enough delicious food during the day, so we poked our heads in a candy store for one last hurrah.  Disney really knows how to do pretty.  Look at these caramel apples.  They cost a fortune, but they're adorable.  We went with fudge and cupcakes instead, though, because I like to get more bang for my buck.

We ferried back to the parking lot and loaded up in the car.  The kids went right to bed; in fact, Tiago probably fell asleep on the car ride home.  And I bet they had visions of Mickey Mouse and Cinderella dancing in their little heads.