Our first family vacation
Dec. 7th to Dec. 16th
Myself (mom)
Son, Chris 15
Daughter, Katie 12
Daughter, Bailey 7
My friend, Missy
Missys daughter, Kelsey 12
I will break this down in 3 parts. We did 2 Disney parks, a 4 day Carnival cruise, then back to Orlando for the 2 Universal Parks.
Disney parks
Cruise review
Vacation Day 7
We loaded the van after our cruise from Miami and headed back to Orlando. It was a quick trip and we were pulling into the Hard Rock Hotel at 2:00 p.m. My kids grew wide-eyed and couldnt believe we were going to stay there. What a beautiful hotel! The bellman helped us unload the bags and we were checking in right away. This was a quick process and we were off to find our rooms. We were right down the hall from the lobby (garden view $99 per night fan club rate). The rooms were very convenient and we dumped our bags and went off to Universal Studios. We had key chains that are stretchy coiled plastic (like a phone cord) that you wear on your wrists so we had them punch our room keys and put them on our key chains. This was so convenient for the express access!
We took the short walk over to Universal Studios around 3 p.m. on Friday. We had limited time at the parks so we kind of went commando style! We just worked our way around the park in this order:
ET, MIB (I beat everyone in our group thanks to the tips from MIB999999), Back to the Future (one of my all time favorites), Jaws, King Kong, Earthquake, Twister and Hannah Barbarra. I had been on all of these before so I knew what to expect. Bailey was a little scared by Jaws, King Kong and Earthquake. She later said that she thought these were all real. Having been through a real Tornado I thought Twister was really cheesy! We didnt stop and do much else but were able to get all this done by 5:30 thanks to Express Access. We decided we were hungry so we headed over to City Walk. We just wandered around and settled on Margaritaville for dinner. I wasnt really impressed with their menu choices, but really enjoyed the crab and shrimp appetizer. I could have made a meal out of this!
We then took the water taxi back to the hotel. The girls were dying to go swimming so we went down to the pool. I relaxed in the hot tub while they swam. What a great pool this is! They were showing Scrooged on the movie screen by the pool. The kids had a great time swimming and going down the slide. The pool water was so warm! We stayed until the pool closed then went back to the room and collapsed!
Vacation Day 8
We woke early and went to Dennys for Breakfast ( I had coupons). Nothing special then we were off to Islands of Adventure. We took the water taxi over and were there within minutes. None of us had ever been to this park and we were really impressed with the theming and decorations. We started with the Hulk. My kids and I decided this was our favorite coaster. What a rush! Express Access was great for us all day! The park was relatively crowded by noon but we had any wait using Express Access. Then we went to Spider Man. We decided this the best ride in any of the parks we had been to. Then we went to Right Ripsaw Falls. This was a really fun ride but I really wish I had my poncho with me! We had to stop so mom could get a hat (glad I took the time to do my hair that day!) then we were off to Jurassic Park. I had been on this in California but the kids liked it. My 7 year old was a little scared though. I was surprised but she thought it was real. We then went on the ride the Unicorn rollercoaster. Nothing too exciting but enjoyable. The older kids and I went to Fire and Ice. On both rides we were in the second row. I didnt really find Ice very thrilling but Fire got my stomach a couple of times. Then we were on to Seussville. They are really into the Christmas spirit here. The Grinch line was really long and no one really wanted to wait so we just skipped this. The girls played in the play area while I sat and had a snack. We then went to The Cat in The Hats House and enjoyed this. Bailey played in the fake snow but wasnt very impressed. We get lots of the real stuff here so it wasnt anything really thrilling. They rode One Fish Two Fish. This was the only ride that had a line even with Express Access.
We had made our way around the park so we decided to go back and hit some rides again. We went back to the Hulk, Spiderman and then rode Dr. Doom for the first time. I didnt think this was very thrilling. We have a ride similar to it at a park in Iowa and it seemed ours went higher and faster. It was fun anyway. We rode Ripsaw Falls again then went to Popeye. We were absolutely soaked! I recommend ponchos for this ride! It was now 2:00 and we had done pretty much all we wanted to so we went back to Universal.
We went back to Terminator, ET, MIB, Back to the Future and Hannah Barbarra then decided we were tired and to call it a day. We had to be at the airport at 7 a.m. so we got to bed early for the trip home. We didnt see any shows but considering we were only in the parks 12 hours I thought we did a lot. The parks were very clean and all the staff was very helpful! The highs were in the lower 80s all week and the crowds were almost non-existent. We couldnt have asked for better weather
Dec. 7th to Dec. 16th
Myself (mom)
Son, Chris 15
Daughter, Katie 12
Daughter, Bailey 7
My friend, Missy
Missys daughter, Kelsey 12
I will break this down in 3 parts. We did 2 Disney parks, a 4 day Carnival cruise, then back to Orlando for the 2 Universal Parks.
Disney parks
Cruise review
Vacation Day 7
We loaded the van after our cruise from Miami and headed back to Orlando. It was a quick trip and we were pulling into the Hard Rock Hotel at 2:00 p.m. My kids grew wide-eyed and couldnt believe we were going to stay there. What a beautiful hotel! The bellman helped us unload the bags and we were checking in right away. This was a quick process and we were off to find our rooms. We were right down the hall from the lobby (garden view $99 per night fan club rate). The rooms were very convenient and we dumped our bags and went off to Universal Studios. We had key chains that are stretchy coiled plastic (like a phone cord) that you wear on your wrists so we had them punch our room keys and put them on our key chains. This was so convenient for the express access!
We took the short walk over to Universal Studios around 3 p.m. on Friday. We had limited time at the parks so we kind of went commando style! We just worked our way around the park in this order:
ET, MIB (I beat everyone in our group thanks to the tips from MIB999999), Back to the Future (one of my all time favorites), Jaws, King Kong, Earthquake, Twister and Hannah Barbarra. I had been on all of these before so I knew what to expect. Bailey was a little scared by Jaws, King Kong and Earthquake. She later said that she thought these were all real. Having been through a real Tornado I thought Twister was really cheesy! We didnt stop and do much else but were able to get all this done by 5:30 thanks to Express Access. We decided we were hungry so we headed over to City Walk. We just wandered around and settled on Margaritaville for dinner. I wasnt really impressed with their menu choices, but really enjoyed the crab and shrimp appetizer. I could have made a meal out of this!
We then took the water taxi back to the hotel. The girls were dying to go swimming so we went down to the pool. I relaxed in the hot tub while they swam. What a great pool this is! They were showing Scrooged on the movie screen by the pool. The kids had a great time swimming and going down the slide. The pool water was so warm! We stayed until the pool closed then went back to the room and collapsed!
Vacation Day 8
We woke early and went to Dennys for Breakfast ( I had coupons). Nothing special then we were off to Islands of Adventure. We took the water taxi over and were there within minutes. None of us had ever been to this park and we were really impressed with the theming and decorations. We started with the Hulk. My kids and I decided this was our favorite coaster. What a rush! Express Access was great for us all day! The park was relatively crowded by noon but we had any wait using Express Access. Then we went to Spider Man. We decided this the best ride in any of the parks we had been to. Then we went to Right Ripsaw Falls. This was a really fun ride but I really wish I had my poncho with me! We had to stop so mom could get a hat (glad I took the time to do my hair that day!) then we were off to Jurassic Park. I had been on this in California but the kids liked it. My 7 year old was a little scared though. I was surprised but she thought it was real. We then went on the ride the Unicorn rollercoaster. Nothing too exciting but enjoyable. The older kids and I went to Fire and Ice. On both rides we were in the second row. I didnt really find Ice very thrilling but Fire got my stomach a couple of times. Then we were on to Seussville. They are really into the Christmas spirit here. The Grinch line was really long and no one really wanted to wait so we just skipped this. The girls played in the play area while I sat and had a snack. We then went to The Cat in The Hats House and enjoyed this. Bailey played in the fake snow but wasnt very impressed. We get lots of the real stuff here so it wasnt anything really thrilling. They rode One Fish Two Fish. This was the only ride that had a line even with Express Access.
We had made our way around the park so we decided to go back and hit some rides again. We went back to the Hulk, Spiderman and then rode Dr. Doom for the first time. I didnt think this was very thrilling. We have a ride similar to it at a park in Iowa and it seemed ours went higher and faster. It was fun anyway. We rode Ripsaw Falls again then went to Popeye. We were absolutely soaked! I recommend ponchos for this ride! It was now 2:00 and we had done pretty much all we wanted to so we went back to Universal.
We went back to Terminator, ET, MIB, Back to the Future and Hannah Barbarra then decided we were tired and to call it a day. We had to be at the airport at 7 a.m. so we got to bed early for the trip home. We didnt see any shows but considering we were only in the parks 12 hours I thought we did a lot. The parks were very clean and all the staff was very helpful! The highs were in the lower 80s all week and the crowds were almost non-existent. We couldnt have asked for better weather
