Universal Orlando

By the way... Last FALL we went to Orlando to see Universal.  And it's now Spring.  And I just noticed that I totally forgot to post the pictures for oh, 5, no wait, 6 months... What's even worse is that I didn't even look through the pictures until I was working on my 2013 Calendar.  In January, or was it February?  I have pretty much decided I am going to run my future Calendars from like May to May for Mother's Day so I actually have some time to work on them.  Because basically from October 1st to December 31st life just goes in fast forward. 

So we went to Universal.  Hung out with the minions, saw our favorite sleuth - Scooby Doo!, and rode every.single.ride we were tall enough for.  And at a whopping 42, and 44+ inches that was just about everything.  ;)

In the interest of full disclosure here, vacations typically revolve around the munchkins, but this time... I can admit... It was mostly about me.  See, despite having gone to Orlando 3 times now that I can remember and having gone to Disney for what most people would consider insanely long amounts of time I have never, ever been to Universal.  And Harry Potter World was calling my name.

And I have to say it more than lived up to expectations.  From the castle, to Olivanders to the town of Hogsmeade I couldn't have been more impressed.  The butterbeer was awesome as was the Hippogryph coaster which we rode no less than 20 times.  :)  The only thing that I wasn't crazy about was the actual ride in the castle.  For those prone to motion sickness it isn't the ride for you.  Ironically I had no problem with the fighting dragons - just the castle ride.  :)

Though the rest of the park was pretty awesome, too.  And I am glad we had at least two days to really do it justice.  The boys really loved the Jurassic Park section.  The pteranadon flyers and playground as well.

We ate at the revered Mythos, got drowned at Ripshaw Falls, repeatedly... and found the one and only ride in the entire park that boys NEVER, EVER want to do again - Poseidon's Fury.

Not only did we visit both Universal parks - we also hit up the Wet N Wild water park.

And SeaWorld Orlando.

And Aquatica.

And even headed over to the west coast of Florida to the beaches at Clearwater.  And while a day at the beach was wonderful, it was the food recommendations that my mom and Kevin dug up as part of their homework assignments that really won me over.  The Grouper sandwiches from Frenchy's, and a nice sunset dinner looking out over the beach from the 2nd floor deck at Crabby's.

Needless to say it was a wonderful trip.