We just got back from a truly magical week in Florida! We'd been looking forward to this vacation for over a year and part of the excitement was that we got to take a week off of school!
We flew out on Saturday morning
Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Mike, Aunt Jess, and Hailey were all waiting for us when we arrived at the awesome house we rented.
We took some time to explore the 9 bedroom, 7 bathroom beauty before calling it a night!
After only a few hours of sleep, we were up early to head to our first park, Epcot.
We got there in plenty of time to get a great parking spot, take our time entering, and see the park's opening show.
Their newest ride, Frozen Ever After, is known to have super long wait times so we headed there immediately. I loved how empty the place was on our walk to the back of the park!
There were so many beautiful details inside, that I didn't mind the measly 20 minute wait.
After a fun boat ride through Arendelle, we headed back to the front of the park and straight to Mission: Space. There were 2 "training" options: Orange (high intensity) and Green (lower intensity). Dad took us straight to orange (despite the green lighting you see below) and we quickly learned that you, Colt, have my susceptibility to motion sickness!
Jax, on the other hand, you thought it was awesome : )
Jax, you decided to ride again - this time trying the green side with Grandma and Grandpa. Colt, you took it easy with me instead at the nearby gift shop.
Then it was time to use our FastPass for Test Track. Designing the car was so fun but the lighting made it tricky to capture.
We ate lunch and then went to the Nemo section of the park. Their aquariums were fun to check out while we waited for the Turtle Talk with Crush experience.
It was such a cute show and it was made even better when Crush chose YOU, Colton, to talk to first! He made you laugh and you made him laugh too!
Luckily, this was our only encounter with Bruce!!
We then tried to make the most out of what was kind of a lame ride - Journey into Imagination...
Then we got to do some character meetings!
We took our time taking it all in on our walk to "China" where we had dinner reservations for all 11 of us (Grandpa and Grandma had their friends there too).
You both hit a wall at dinner time and we could tell that the travel and excitement caught up with you. Instead of staying for the fireworks show like we had planned, we called it a day and went "home" in hopes of getting a little more sleep than the previous night. But I just had to get one last picture on our way out as the geosphere looked so neat lit up!
It was an even earlier morning on Monday because it was MAGIC KINGDOM DAY!!
Just like the day before, we were there with plenty of time to slowly enter, take in all the sights along Main Street, and get some pictures with the castle.
We watched the opening show at the castle.
First ride: the cars at the Tomorrowland Speedway.
Then it was next door to the Seven Dwarves Mine Train. At 45 minutes, it was one of the longest waits of our whole vacation but it was totally worth it! Not only does Disney make waiting in line fun with games and neat details, but we also got seated in the very first car of the roller coaster! The sounds of excitement that came from y'all made every minute of waiting worth it!
We met up with the family for our first FastPass, Big Thunder Mountain.
And then it was time for a break at the Dole Whip stand! Some people lose their minds over these treats. Us Rabaduexs only gave them 2 out of 4 pineapples though. Maybe they're better when it's sweltering outside and you've been waiting in lines all day.?.?.
We rode on Pirates of the Carribean before slowly making our way back to the beginning of Main Street. We ate lunch with Grandpa and Grandma and watched the mid-day parade.
The afternoon was spent hitting all the greats that Magic Kingdom has to offer:
It's A Small World
Peter Pan's Flight (soaring through a dark room wasn't a great photo opp)
The Haunted Mansion
(We took another snack break -- this time for Mickey ice cream)
You little ones took a technology break while us adults worked out some more FastPasses
Prince Charming's Regal Carrousel
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
Dumbo
The Barnstormer
Mad Tea Party
Under the Sea with the Little Mermaid
We then got an awesome seat at Casey's Corner for dinner. If you're reading this 20 years from now wondering why we dined on ballpark food instead of a character meal, let me assure you -- this is "us". We aren't into people dressed up as characters (Don't tell Walt!) and paying a ton of money to hang out with said characters. We took our time, enjoyed the castle views (they were actually way better than this picture looks), and "only" spent about $50 to do so.
We had some time before the grand finale of the evening so we rode the Jungle Cruise (no pictures??), bought our souvenirs at Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe (no pictures??), and hit our final ride of the day - Aladdin's Magic Carpets.
Then we found a spot for the Wishes nighttime spectacular. I heard there was a "bedtime story" before the fireworks but that didn't sound that interesting to me so I didn't worry about having the best viewing spot. However, as soon as it started, I realized I was wrong and we were all very interested!! Turns out, the park has only been doing this projection show for a few months so that's why I hadn't heard much about it. Mrs. Potts tells Chip bedtime stories and they're shown beautifully on the castle. As you can see, our view was a bit obstructed but it was magical nonetheless!
There was a 15 minute break before Wishes began so we hustled over to a better viewing area.
And then it happened! Tinker Bell flew, the castle went through dozens of "costumes", the fireworks exploded, you two stood in awe, and I cried. While watching the two of you listen to Jiminy Cricket encourage everyone to believe in their wishes, my heart was bursting!
We cuddled on the couch when we got back to our rental and tried to let our this-was-the-perfect-day-adrenaline wear off.
The next day was Valentine's day so we started our day with chocolate! <3
The plan for Day 3 was to watch a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral. Unfortunately, weather conditions weren't "astronaut perfect" so the launch didn't happen. Luckily, we found that out before we drove all the way out there. Then we decided to hit up Legoland as our Plan B. Turns out, Legoland is closed one day each week so we took that as our sign. The day quickly turned into a day of relaxation. The adults sat poolside reading and chatting as you kids played for hours in our backyard's pool.
After lunch, we made the short walk to the neighborhood's clubhouse and enjoyed their impressive setup.
The whole gang got together again for another big dinner that night. Of course, getting 11 people ready to go leaves a lot of time for being super silly with Grandpa.
We ate at Universal's City Walk at a place called T-REX.
It was even fun for the grownups!
We walked among the shops there before getting dessert at Ghirardelli.
Universal - Day 1 - was up next and I went into the day having very little background knowledge. In preparation, I had researched and planned out Epcot and Magic Kingdom but not Universal. No expectations pretty much guarantees success : )
We immediately went to Happy Potter world and I was in awe right away! (And for the first time in my life I felt a tiny bit of regret for not reading the books or seeing any of the movies.)
Luckily, everyone else in our party had a plethora of Harry Potter knowledge and kept us up to speed.
First ride of the day? Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Was it cool walking through Hogwarts during our 10-15 minute wait? Yes! Did the ride make Colton cry and me want to vomit? Double Yes!! :(
The park is smart though and they put a butter beer cart right next door. So we calmed our nerves and bellies with deliciousness!
The Frog Choir was pretty entertaining during our rest too.
The only other ride we tried before lunch was the High in the Sky Seuss Train.
It ended up being one of my favorites because it gave such great views of the park!
After lunch at the Circus McGurkus, we went to Poseidon's Fury. Jax, you were picked to lead the expedition which was darling and exciting!
We then boarded the Hogwarts Express and it took us to the other Universal park. Once there, we explored Diagon Alley and, again, I marveled at how much detail was put into recreating this series.
We hit up a few more unphotographed rides before making our way to dinner.
The 11 of us enjoyed a dinner together at my new favorite restaurant, Cow Fish. And now I'm on a mission to get them to open up a location in Dallas! Cheeseburger Sushi? Probably the best thing we ate all week! I guess I was too busy devouring dinner to snap a pic though.?.
We packed up on Thursday morning before taking off for Universal - Round 2.
I think I was seriously over picture taking at this point as I only have 3 pictures from our time in the park. Thanks to being on the cusp of Presidents Day weekend, the park was decently full this day. Rides that only had a 10 minute wait time the day before, now had almost an hour wait so I really wasn't too sad to call it a day around 5:00.
We made the drive to Sarasota and y'all reminded me that you a truly perfect road-trippers!
We met up with Great Grandpa for dinner before falling into our hotel beds.
According to our pedometers, each of us walked almost 100,000 steps in the last 5 days so we were TIRED!
Friday morning we fulfilled your vacation dreams when we took you.............. to play putt-putt. Seriously. We planned a Disney vacation yet the two of you wanted putt-putt more than anything else! The putt-putt place happened to house some gators and they let us feed them before we played!
It was a fun course and our scores were all very close, but, Jax, you won by one stroke.
From there, we fulfilled Dad's vacation wishlist -- ocean-side dining. We ate some fantastic seafood as we overlooked Sarasota Bay.
Afterwards, we spent our afternoon at Siesta Key Beach, therefore fulfilling my vacation "must". And, now that I type this recap, I realize that all of us loved our last day of vacation so much that it seems like we could've just skipped all of the expensive parks! LOL!
The water was too cold for adult blood, but you kids had no problem riding the waves!
We went out for one more big group meal before flying home.
For a cliff notes version of this post, I asked everyone their favorite memory:
Colton's: "The ride that made me sick....or the Simpsons ride that we all rode together."
Jackson's: "I have a bunch! Mini-golf, Buzz Lightyear, trying all the different flavors of Coke, going to the beach, and Harry Potter land."
Dad's: "Having a relaxing lunch while overlooking the bay."
My favorite: I'm taking the Jackson approach and going with a few favorites -- I enjoyed spending time with the family we don't see often enough, I loved our day at Magic Kingdom, and the beach was great!
