The Magical World of Disney

Disney is truly a magical place. Every time we come home from there, I'm ready to book our next trip. We had such a fantastic time. The picture above was pretty neat because notice the massive crowds! It's practically empty. The park technically hadn't opened yet but we were able to get in because we made breakfast reservations at Belles castle. That was super neat. 

Not to mention, Delicious. So fancy too, and it was quick service so we were able to use our meal plan. We stayed at Pop Century, which wasn't my favorite hotel there, but for the amount of time you actually spend in your room, who cares. Overall it was nice, and we were really close to the main building which was a major plus. 

We met a lot of princess's. 

And a Fairy too! 

We wanted to meet Anna and Elsa, but did not get a fast pass for it, so an hour and a half wait.. nope.. Aubrey wasn't having it. I would have waited for her, but she said she'd rather go on rides. 

And the rides were a blast. It wasn't too bad as far as lines. The big ones we wanted to get on, we were sure to get fast passes for. Particularly Test Track. The last two times we went to Disney, it was down, and we couldn't get on. 

Now that is a gem. My family will forever make fun of me for this one. Since we went down with my in laws, we bought the Photo Pass package. It was so worth it with all the photos you get. Included the ones on the rides. Below is the Terror of Terror. As you can see, Aubrey was a huge fan. lol. 

Unfortunately, it pretty much ruined her for any scary ride for the rest of the trip, but don't worry. She talks about it like a badge of honor and has told everyone and their mothers how she survived it. lol

We didn't just go to Disney though, we went to Universal as well. We caught a shuttle over. 

That was such a fun day! Every day was fun. The Harry Potter sections though.. incredible. The amount of detail they put into it is crazy. It's just... wow. I'm still blown away. I will leave you all with a few more photos from the trip. 

I hope you all have fun vacay's planned for this summer! 

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Labels: castles, disney, harry potter, princess's, terror of terror, Universal, Vacation

The Happiest Place on Earth

…is maybe not the happiest place on Earth, at least not for my particular family. But I'll get to that. ;0)

This is my first week back after vacation, and it's been rough, man. I need a vacation to recover from my vacation! But I wanted to share a little of what we did before I start forgetting the details. I'm including some pictures, too, which you may have already seen if you follow me on Instagram, but I haven't had a chance to upload the pictures from my good camera yet so I couldn't share any of those. :(

When my older sister Kat found out we were going to Universal Studios, she wanted in. She figured this was going to be her only chance to see The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, as she has no kids of her own and no Potterheads as friends. (I know!) So, while we drove the 16+ hour drive to Florida, she met us there after a quick plane trip.

Since we were driving, we took it easy on the way down (over?) to Florida, and made a few stops along the way before stopping for a couple nights in Pensacola. I'd read somewhere that Pensacola Beach is rumored to have the whitest sand in the world, and my goodness, it was definitely pretty. Much more picturesque than my last visit to a beach, that's for sure.

It wasn't very warm yet in Pensacola, only in the mid-60s, so it was a little too chilly to play in the ocean for long. And even though the hotel had a heated pool, the heater wasn't working while we were there, so that wasn't gonna happen. But that's okay because Katie had a blast playing in the sand and splashing around in the Gulf for a bit. We spent some time building sand castles and Katie buried herself in the sand and made volcanoes in the sand. We've only been to the ocean once before, when Katie was four, but I think she was even more fascinated by it this time around. She just stood there as the waves crashed to shore and stared out at it, entranced. I'm sure I got a shot of that on my other camera. :)

We left Pensacola on Monday morning and had to pick up Auntie Kat from the airport as soon as we got into Orlando, so we didn't have much time to explore when we got there. But we were less than two miles form Universal Studios, so we could see it from our hotel room, which was kind of awesome. I'm not going to lie…the biggest draw for us at this amusement park was definitely the Harry Potter-related attractions. We could not wait to get there and get our wands and drink our first butter beer.

We spent our first day at Universal mostly exploring The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, visiting Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade and casting spells using our interactive wands. Katie got totally outfitted as Hermione, complete with her wand, and we rode the Hogwart's Express between the two parks, which was fun but a tad disappointing. For some reason, I had it in my head that I'd see majestic hills and travel over bridges like they do in the movies. It was entertaining, though, especially considering my unreal expectations. :P

Katie and Kat both also really enjoyed Seuss Landing, too, both being fans of the silly books. Fun Fact: Kat's birthday was actually on March 2nd, which also happens to be Dr. Seuss's birthday. :) Jerrod's favorite part of the park was probably Superhero World or whatever it was called. He doesn't really like rides, but he enjoyed the Transformers and Spiderman 4D rides quite a bit.

Which was another reason I was glad Kat was on the trip with us…she likes roller coasters as much as I do. We rode the Dragon Challenge twice in a row because we lucked out and there was, like, ZERO line either time. Plus, the fact that you get to pick either a Chinese Fireball dragon or a Hungarian Horntail meant we had to try out both. I think the Fireball was better, but that might be because I rode it first and in the very front. Kat said she thought they were the same. *shrugs*

Our second day at Universal was pretty much dedicated to rides. We rode every ride we could fit in plus some that just had really short lines and ended up being pretty fun anyway. Kat and I also rode The Hulk, which was even more intense than the hanging Dragon Challenge. Kat and I both agreed there was no way we were riding that one twice in a row, lol. No clank-clank-clank up to the top for that ride…it just shoots you outta there! So freaking exhilarating!

When we asked Katie which park she wanted to go to first, she picked "Harry Potter", and so that's what we did since this was technically her birthday trip. (It was sooo nice how everyone -- and I mean everyone -- told her happy birthday when they saw her pin. :D) Which meant that left Disney World's Magic Kingdom for our last full day in Orlando.

Here's the thing. We didn't hate it. It's just…when you come from the awesome that was Universal Studios and go to Disney, where people were less courteous, much pushier, less friendly and there were generally just more people, it's a bit of a disappointment. The wait times for rides there were double or triple what they were at Universal. And the big kicker: they don't serve alcoholic beverages in Magic Kingdom. I don't know why we were so surprised at that, but since Universal did, I guess we kind of just expected that Disney would. Not that we have to have beer to have a good time, but we were on vacation and we were cabbing it all the way.

Once we got past our initial disappointment, though, we had a good time. We rode the rides we could tolerate to wait for. No Seven Dwarves Runaway Mine Train, though…that line never got down to less than an hour-and-a-half wait. We kept forgetting to set up our Express Pass rides, and by the time we remembered, that one was full-up. :(

Disney is mostly about the kiddos, though, so we let Katie navigate for the most part. She wanted to ride the teacups every time we passed them. We flew around in Dumbo. We saw Ariel under the sea. And I had to basically tell Kat the story because she's never seen The Little Mermaid.

We had time to relax when we got back to the hotel after Disney, so we had some pool time and played some board games, but we had to get Kat to the airport early the next day and head back to Texas ourselves, so we called it an earlier night than we had the rest of the week. :) We were going to stop and grab a hotel in whatever city we were in when we got too tired to go any further on our way back, but we got a fire lit under our asses to get back to our own beds, so we ended up driving straight home.

We didn't get here until 4am, at which point we immediately crashed. But it was worth it. The hotel beds weren't bad, but they didn't compare to that expensive ass bed we bought at the fair last year. :P And we made it without incident, so there's that. :)

I feel like there was so much more I wanted to tell you about our trip, but as I said, I'm still recuperating from our travels. I may do a second part to this post with more details and more pictures after I get them all uploaded to my computer. Just depends. ;0)

If you've never been to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, I suggest you add it to your Bucket List if you've enjoyed any part of the franchise. It's such an immersive experience, like you're truly walking the streets of Diagon Alley. I can't wait to go back, and I hope they just keep adding to the attraction so I can experience more of Harry's world.

April's taking the same trip in May, and I can't wait to compare stories and pictures with her. I really wish we could've worked it out so we'd be there at the same time. :( Regardless, we had a great time and I'm sure April and her family will love the new additions since they were last there. :)

Happy reading & safe travels! :D

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Labels: disney world, happy birthday, harry potter, katiebug, resolutions, road trip, spring break, universal studios, Vacation

Cruise to Bermuda : Photo's Galore!

I'm back!!!! Okay, well I've been back for a week now but I've only been semi-around. I think sometimes you need a vacation, from vacation. Seriously. lol. I've been doing a lot of catch up done this week, just getting settled back in to our routine with work, school and such. I hope you all had a great week, and I'm sorry that I have been MIA lately. This will change! I promise. 

So this post is basically just to share some pics with you all! I felt bad sharing all of these on my STS post, because maybe some people don't want to see all our personal photos.

But if you do... behold all the beauty! I really wish New Jersey and New York had pretty blue water like the islands. :) I'd drive there every weekend if it did. 

Our Cruise left from NYC. It was actually delayed leaving because it had hit a whale that morning coming into port. (no lie) lol.

My little diva all dressed up for the Cirque dinner show. So fun!

Ahh, the open seas! Having a balcony room was awesome. I don't think I can ever got back to just a port hole. It was so nice to sit out and look at the ocean without going out onto the deck and dealing with people.

It was a bit windy in Bermuda. lol

<3

Look at that water!! We took this picture from the aquarium/zoo.

We also visited some caves. They were beautiful.

Horseshoe Bay Beach. So pretty, and the sand really has pink in it! :)

Family photo! I'm one lucky girl <3 And you cant tell from the pic, but holy shit that coral was hurting our asses. It was so pokey. 

Striking a pose.

I love this little girl more than words could ever express

There were all these neat little pools of water all around the beach. So cool. 

This is one of my favorite pictures. So gorgeous.

Bermuda Sunset 

ahhh, can't forget all the cruise food. I probably gained 20 pounds that week. This was the oreo cheese cake. Aubrey was a fan! lol

Now you didn't think I would forget Cardboard Jen, did you? lol. Now I didn't take her everywhere, because honestly I had my in-laws there with us, and they think I'm weird as it is :P 

Watching the other cruise liner come in! 

We let CB Jen sleep right in the middle. #kinky

Enjoying the Bermuda Sunrise. :) 

Taking a swing.. ( you should have seen my husbands face when I pulled her out of the bag in public like that. lol. )

An after dinner stroll with her fav co blogger. It really was right after dinner, so I'm going to say that's why I look pregnant, but really I just eat too much. 

Saying goodbye to the Island. :o( 

It was such a great trip, but I'm glad to be home. Bermuda is beautiful, but I missed my own bed. 

And I've missed all of you! :) 

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Labels: Cardboard Jen, Pictures, Vacation