And so begins another trip to Orlando, this time trying out Universal Studios for the first week, then leaving Magan and the girls for Disney on a second week. Since the girls had Disney in their plans, I made sure I ordered some pins early, and they had fun doing some pre-trip selecting and trading. We had not visited Universal since 2019, and were excited to get back and try out the Velocicoaster. But little Ruby one night before going to bed asked "Dad, which one would you be most excited about if you were my age?" And I replied it would probably be for Disney. She just smiled, and said "Yeah, me too!" Which reminds me of another pre-trip story as this adventure was just getting planned. At Granny's house, everyone started talking about Ruby going to the Bibbidi Bobbodi Boutique at the Magic Kingdom, and I said we need to think about the money...really thinking that 1. She might not want to do this, and 2. I would be a surprise for her. Well on #1 I found that I was 100% mistaken, and on #2 it requires planning for a magical day like that. And as I said my normal Dad stuff, I could see her tearing up (ugh, my dad heart was hurting), and had to take her into the other room to explain #1 and #2. And really, once I knew how much she was excited, it was no question.
We woke up early Saturday morning, and began a trip that is pretty normal these days, me and the boys last drove it in reverse from Miami the previous summer...so I silently remembered all of our stops for me to nap on that long journey. And of course, we hit our normal Burger King breakfast in Opelika, and the Wendys/Gas station in Tifton. And of course after filling up, and no one needs a stop at all, we arrived at the Florida Welcome Center. I don't know about the girls, but for the boys...this tradition is well planted within them, and I am pretty sure they will be doing the same with their families that granddaddy would do for us...stop at the state rest areas. And in Florida...Free Orange Juice! How do you beat that?
We just slightly beat Granddaddy and the camper as we passed I10 about 15 minutes in front of them. Then Ocala was just a stop and go nightmare of traffic for a good while. But about the turn into the Floridas Turnpike toll road, I started thinking that this good time we were making could turn into an extra day in the parks. So it became our mission to grab a quick bite at one of the tool road stations, then to the Cabana Bay Resort as soon as we could. At the hotel, the checkin process was very efficient, and we were in our room by about 5PM. The hotel was great. From our room, we could see Volcano Bay, and well, one side of the Volcano. The kids will remember me saying "everyone just get out in the hall if you are ready", then slowly our group became 5...then we just wait for mom.
Our first day in the park was really just to scope things out. We rode Cat in the Hat as it had no wait, then we waited about 20 minutes in Seussland for some rain (the last rain we would see all week) to end. We next made it to Harry Potter Hogsmeade area where we tried some butterbeer, tested out our wands, passed on a 60 minute Hagrid's wait, and rode the HP Forbidden Journey. And we made our way around the Islands of Adventure loop ending at Hulk, where all 6 of us made it onto Hulk. And while it was short lived, this coaster was at the top of Ruby's list...at least for another day. Magan got us some special seats in the very front row of Hulk, which was pretty awesome, even tho we had to wait a little more.
So we pretty much closed the park that day, on a day that we never planned to be in the park. Which means a little big grumpy dad, everyone making fun of grumpy dad reminding him of the mac and cheese, and dad getting not enough sandwiches at the cafe so everyone had to share a bit. Haha, the kids are used to this by now. I do remember that the cafe had cold 2 L cokes, which was about the best thing ever to me. I remember wet shoes and socks on this first night. All will remember my horrible cough that just would not let me talk well, and only now, many weeks later, has calmed down a bit.
I threw some pictures from 2019 into the group below so all can see how much we grew in 4 and 1/2 years. And while it shows up more in many of the pictures throughout the week, I was so thankful that Sam was with us on this trip. He is an amazing brother to Davis, Belle and Ruby, and more patient with them than either me or Magan most times. It reminded me of a trip to Disney I took with my family the summer after my freshman year at college, and I am thankful that Sam made a lot better decisions this past year than I did that first year. So it has begun...the notes for this week are not as complete as in previous times, but I purchased the Universal Photopass equivalent on this first night, so at least we got those. What a fun time...the pictures just make me smile.
No comments:
Post a Comment