Orlando

Nothing in Orlando is even close to 2 cents so this post is a bargain. I may sound a bit crochety in this post but please don’t mistake it for dislike of theme parks or regret that we visited.  I am frugal.  A tight wad.  Maybe even cheap.  So I am a foreigner in this land of the hemorrhaging wallet and will share some of my thoughts from our visit.  We had a blast in Orlando and the kids were overjoyed to do the parks so I’m happy we were able to share the experience as a family.

They get you even coming into the city on the toll roads…and I’m pulling 2 extra axles so my price is double.  Welcome to Orlando!  We were totally stoked to score a VERY reasonably priced campground in close proximity to Universal and Disney World…this would be our only bargain and we were grateful for it.

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At Disney world I saw Elsa, Anna, Merida, Alice, Mad Hatter, Tiana, Jasmine, Aladdin, Daisy Duck, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck, Ariel, Rapunzel (she kissed my  autograph  book), Cinderella, Tinkerbell,  Belle, and  Mickey Mouse.  It was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!  We saw more then we thought!!!!!  I wanted to see more characters but mom said the rest of the characters we didn’t see were gone.

The rides were fun!!!  Mad Tea Party and the Ariel thing where you ride in the clam sorta thing.   But not Goofy’s roller coaster.  I was getting tired so we went home.  We love Disney World!!!!!!!

 

Universal Orlando. We went to Universal in Orlando, Florida. We had a choice of doing 2 different parks Islands of Adventure and Hogsmeade or Universal Studios and Diagon Alley. Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade are both from Harry Potter. Both parks had pros and cons but after lots of research we decided to go to Islands of Adventure and Hogsmeade. Sadly, a really fun looking ride, The Incredible Hulk, was having a major update.

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After our full day of riding rides at the Magic Kingdom, we had a rest day on Wednesday (“brilliant mom!”). On Thursday it was off to the Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando for the boys. We went on basically every thrill ride there was, and some of them were absolutely genius. Oooh goody! Here comes another haiku!

We spent some big bucks

So we could have tons of fun

BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!

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Mission – Find the Magic

Today’s mission as declared by Brielle – meet as many princesses as we can find! Meanwhile, the boys are finding their own magic in Harry Potter World at Universal Studios. You should have seen the strategy sessions going on last night designing plan A and plan B in order to maximize rides for the boys and princess meet and greets for the girls.

With one vehicle and two locations the plan: Brielle and I drop off the boys at Universal and then head to the Magic Kingdom and hope we get there as close to opening as possible. In the end, no worries – we even got to help open the park 15 min early! Yay!

So many things I didn’t know. The park opens at 8:45, not 9 like they advertise. I didn’t find out until 2 days ago that I could have booked Fast Passes up to 30 days ago. Well that made me panic a little thinking the princess FP were all gone. The line for Elsa was an hour long the other day, so of course I tried to get a Fast Pass for Elsa. No luck. (Luckily I found out while in line that a lady tried to get FP 30 days ago and couldn’t) Ok, plan B. We ran straight to Elsa and bingo – the line was only 15 min long! And we got to see both Elsa and Anna! The day started out awesome and only got better! While standing in line I realized we didn’t have an autograph book – doh! Of course in the gift shop AFTER we met the princesses we bought one. Why didn’t that catch our attention the other night when Brielle was shopping??

We decided it was worth standing in line again to get the autograph of Elsa and Anna, even if it meant an hour wait. Luckily, I mentioned it to a cast member and she told me they could take the book back and have it signed so we didn’t have to stand in line again! We didn’t get to go in again, but atleast she got the signatures! Whew.

    

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We started researching where to stay while in Orlando.  “Everybody” seems to stay at Di$ney’$ Fort Wilderne$$.  If you are on a week long vacation and you are blowing a big wad of cash in a short amount of time then this probably makes sense, or at least Disney-cents.  But we are on a rather long adventure and need to make our small wad of cash last for awhile…so we were looking for other options.

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At Disney World we rode a ton of rides. It was so much fun! I feel a haiku coming on actually…

We traveled afar

The happiest place on earth

I had so much fun.

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Oh the kids were so excited they could hardly stand it! We were finally going to Disney World! Oh the choices! Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. We decided to do the good old traditional Magic Kingdom.

We conquered mountains and deep space. We tamed pirates and beasts of the jungle. We rode magic carpets and visited haunted mansions. And of course we had fun!

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