BEST vacation EVER!!! Part 4 - Universal's Islands of Adventure

This post includes days 2 & 3 of our visit to Universal - Island of Adventure! Today's dress code: the Thing family! 

It started pouring as we entered the park, long enough for me to decide the $8 poncho was worth it, stopped five minutes after my purchase, and didn't rain again the rest of the trip. Oh well! I have a nice souvenir poncho that I'll probably never wear again.

 Of course we headed straight to Harry Potter World Hogsmead! Our complete nerdiness totally came out, but we were far from being the nerdiest there! 

M made sure to bring along her interactive wand. Although at first I cringed at the idea of spending $50 for an interactive wand, it was extremely fun and everybody wanted a turn! The wand came with a map of both Hogsmead and Diagon Alley (at Universal). Each map was labeled with the locations of "spell casting" spots and the spell (pattern) to make something magical happen. When you found the correct spot (marked by a medallion on the ground), and moved your wand in the correct pattern, cool things happened! A box of chocolate frogs opened, a flower bloomed, rain fell from an umbrella, a book came to life, etc. It was awesome!!!

The Hogwarts castle was amazing! Inside is the Forbidden Journey ride which is incredible! It is definitely not for people with motion sickness. At all. I think my desire to ride it helped me make it but I was a little ill after and I had to close my eyes several times to block out 3D effects. However, it was totally worth it for this Harry Potter fan!

Next it was on to Jurrasic World where Papa and T were attacked by a T-Rex!

Oh look! More Harry Potter!

The frozen butterbeer was amazing!

We also made sure to get our monies worth of spell casting!

T's favorite ride was Jurrasic Adventure which was much like Splash Mountain.  Matching shirts also made it easier to take pictures of your crew on a ride! 

The splash zone of Jurrasic Adventure was more of a hit with P and M. They were drenched after one splash! That's them in the red shirts about to get hammered by the wall of water.

P and M stood in line together for an hour to ride the Ptyranedon Flyer. To ride you had to have someone shorter than 48" and only one person could ride with them. This was the longest line at the park, but both declared it well worth the wait!

On to Dr. Suess World for a quick ride on Red Fish Blue Fish before we left the park for the day!

I had to have a picture of the this awesome VW van outside the Mexican restaurant we ate at in Universal's City Walk.

Day two at Island of Adventure called for tie dyed shirts again! My selfie skills are horrible so I only got half of T!

And... Of course we headed back to Hogsmead first! We ate lunch at Three Broomsticks and it was awesome!!! We ordered the platter for four ($50) and it was enough food for at least 6 people! The platter consisted of a large bowl of salad, four rotisserie chicken quarters, four barbecue rib quarters, roasted potatoes, roasted veggies, and four ears of grilled corn. It was the best food we ate the whole trip!

                                     

A quick photo with the conductor of the Hogwarts Express.

 Gene and T loved Rip Saw Falls

P and M tried a little rock climbing while Gene and T rode Jurrasic Adventure for a third time

We rode the Bilge Barges ride four times (a group raft ride), got completely soaked, and then all crammed in the people dryer in an attempt to not drip everywhere for the rest of the evening! Gene's favorite ride was Hulk which he rode three times and begged me to ride with him. Not. Happening. Ever. I did manage to thoroughly the Spiderman 3D ride and Flight of the Hippograff - which I might add is a roller coaster! A small one but still a roller  coaster!

I know I've said it before, but Universal's parks were our absolute favorites! We can not wait to go back!!!

BEST vacation EVER!!! - part 1 Disney's Hollywood Studios

We recently had the privilege of taking our kids on the BEST vacation EVER! It would not have been possible without my awesome parents, AKA Nana and Papa! They gifted the whole crew with park tickets and rented the house for all 10 of us to stay in. This was our first vacation where all three kids were old enough to remember everything we did, tall enough to do anything they wanted, and didn't require all the "stuff" needed when traveling with little ones. We loved every minute of our time together!!!

I wanted to document our trip, as well as the pros, cons, and hacks we discovered along the way. However, a trip this awesome was too large for one post so here is part one - Disney's Hollywood Studios!

After a 12 hour drive from Mississippi to Orlando, Florida, what could be better than Joe's Crab Shack?!?! (complete with a selfie and photo bombers)

All four grands!

The next morning we headed to Disney's Hollywood Studios! This was our favorite Disney park. The Great Movie Ride, the stunt car show, and the Frozen sing along were awesome! Fantastmic (a night time light and water spectacular) is incredible!!! I'm sure some of the other rides were equally or more awesome, but I don't do many rides. Neither does T. Poor Gene loves them! Motion sickness stinks!

P and M decided they wanted to ride their first roller coaster here. I'm not sure that the Rock 'n' Roller coaster was the best choice for first timers! They were a little more hesitant about rides after that one.

 The Frozen Sing-Along was awesome! What could be better than 300+ kids, moms, and dads (some dads tried to be cool and act like they didn't know the words, but not this awesome dad!) singing along at the top of their lungs with Anna and Elsa??? Snow falling from the ceiling while you sing Let It Go!!!

My own little collection of action figures!

This park's parking lot was close enough to the entrance that we were able to walk to the car for a picnic lunch.  We also took advantage of the free cups of ice and water fountains. Every bit saved means more fun later! 

Part two - Magic Kingdom coming soon!

BEST vacation EVER!!! - part 3 Universal Studios

Universal Studios was by far our favorite!!! I cannot express what an awesome time we had at these two parks!!! This was our third day of vacation and our first at Universal. 

The guys were totally against matching shirts from the moment they heard that they were being made. However, in crowded places like theme parks, it was awesome to be able to easily find the rest of your group! This was camo day and if we heard the jokes "I can see your heads but not the rest of your body" or "I can't see you" once we heard them a thousand times!

Getting your picture made with a character at Universal is a breeze! You wait in line a few minutes, get one pose, chat for a second, and move on to the next fun thing! J wasn't too sure about Dora.

The animal show was great! This handsome little guy was in Men in Black. We also got to see "Marley" as well as other movie star critters! My little future vet loved every minute of it!

And then there was Harry Potter World. We are complete nerds when it comes to Harry Potter and loved EVERY. SINGLE. MINUTE. of it!!! Seriously. It was fantastic!!! Even better is that there is a Harry Potter World at both Universal parks! Universal Studios featured Diagon Alley. First stop, Number 12 Grimmauld Place!

And the night bus!

Of course we had to try Gilly Water with an added potion of peace! All three kids got wands from Olivander's Wand Shop. M chose Hermione's interactive wand (more on that in the next post), P chose Serious Black, and T chose He Who Must Not Be Named. (as the lady corrected me when I requested Voldemort-I should have known better!)

 Nana stared in a Disaster movie as the HOT NANA that featured the Rock!

More Harry Potter World with the phone booth and the Wesley's Joke Shop!

Bumblebee played a different song as each person came up to get their picture made just like the movie! P loved it!

Last but not least, my favorite, E.T.! It was with much grumbling that the kiddos joined Gene and I (they weren't given a choice) for the last ride of the day. They loved it! Everyone wanted to ride again! The best part was E. T. telling each person thank you for helping him and calling you by name!

We had 3 day tickets to the two parks. We didn't get the park to park add on, which would have allowed us to visit both parks in the same day and ride the Hogwarts Express. We had to choose which park to spend two days at and chose Islands of Adventure. Next time we will have park to park included! 

The deal of Universal was the refillable cups! You could get threee cups for $30 which could be refilled as often as every six minutes at any Coca Cola Freestyle station. You could also add up to two days of refills for $6 a day. Our family has no problem sharing drinks so this was a great deal for us!

BEST vacation EVER!!! - part 2 Magic Kingdom

Day two of the BEST vacation EVER took us to Disney's Magic Kingdom!  While fun, I'm sad to say this was by far our least favorite park. Everyone one is at this park to give their child the most "magical" experience possible. However, it seemed that many felt their child/children deserved that experience more than anyone else's and acted accordingly. Fast Passes are a must, but be sure to start booking them months in advance as passes for the major rides were unavailable. This resulted in 60-90 minutes of standing in line for each ride.

 This is Marie from the Aristocrats. We didn't stand in line - for an hour and 20 minutes - to meet Marie. We were actually in line that long to meet Minnie Mouse! However, multiple groups of adults and families, during their turn, were allowed to take numerous photos, in numerous poses, while adding and removing people from each photo. This continued until there was only one family left in front of us. Minnie left for a quick break and was replaced with Marie. Seriously?! Needless to say, my little girl (who had every intention of getting her picture made with all of the princesses) did not stand in another line to meet another character because she was worried it would happen again.

And now I'm off my soapbox and on to the fun we had!

We loved Pirates of the Caribbean and the pineapple whip in Adventureland is so yummy! 

The Jungle Cruise was very fun and our boat tour guide was hilarious! "Welcome to Disney World. Where 25 year old actors come to retire." - Jungle Cruise guide

My kids had no idea who the Swiss Family Robinson were but thought their tree house was awesome. I see watching this movie in our near future!

Here are the non-roller coaster riders waiting on those who went to ride Splash Mountain. That ride resulted in this epic photo!!!

Although M loved driving the race car at the speedway, thank goodness she won't be driving for several years!!!

The night time show was awesome! Especially the movie clips shown on the side of the castle followed by fireworks! Just be sure to not try to stop in the road or on the sidewalk near parade time. Those people are intense about keeping you moving!

We had planned to picnic again at the car but that wasn't feasible. The park is not near the parking lot (a tram AND monorail ride away) so we opted to eat in the park for lunch. While in Orlando we discovered a brick oven pizza place called Flipper's. It's amazing!

Our favorite days are coming up next- beginning with part three - Universal Studios!

Summer 2015 Bucket List

The summer of 2013 was awesome! The kids and I made a summer bucket list and had a blast checking things off. As the summer of 2014 grew nearer, I couldn't wait to begin working on making our new list! However, after breaking my foot on Memorial Day, those plans sadly came to a halt. We still managed to enjoy the summer, but the kids and I missed having a list of activities to look forward to! Although we are getting a late start due to our fabulous vacation (post coming soon)... I just completed our 2015 Summer Bucket List!!! I can't wait to get started! I'll be posting updates on our summer adventures!

For anyone who lives with someone who pees standing up

If there is anyone who lives in your house who pees standing up... Then you know exactly how I feel! No matter what their age, there is going to be pee AROUND the toilet... On the floor... On the baseboard... etc. I'm not sure how one doesn't see that they are missing the target and clean it up... But I've never had to do it, so maybe it's impossible to see from that angle. Who knows! What I do know is that it stinks and is gross!

In my quest to find frugal ways to clean, I came across a pin from a mom who, like me, was looking for a way to get rid of the "boy pee potty" smell! I decided to give it a try because let's face it: It couldn't get any worse! Here are her instructions in my words:

Mix a small amount of baking soda in a bowl with lemon juice to form a paste. Spread the paste on the grossness on the floor around the toilet. Let it sit 15 minutes. Spray lightly with vinegar and watch it bubble! (This step was cool and gross all at the same time! Ickyness that you couldn't even see started coming from underneath!) Then wipe up with paper towels.

That's it! It worked! No stinky icky ring around our toilet! (At least until the next stander has to go!)

Here are some pictures I snapped... Please don't judge the grossness!!!