Central Florida

A Central Florida trip is not for the faint of heart. Tackling theme parks sunburns your nose, bruises your feet, tries your patience, and drains your wallet. I knew all of this going in because I lived in Central Florida during my twenties and not only did I visit the parks for entertainment I also worked in the parks managing sign/graphics projects. I've logged many hours in Orlando's theme parks and ended up viewing them as overcrowded concrete jungles teeming with visitors from countries who have different cultural norms about personal space. Theme parks can be accosting. At this point, you're bound to be asking yourself why on Earth I went. That answer is easy, because my kid wanted to go and he earned this trip. It was his trip, not mine.

Garrett worked very hard in school last year, as a second grade student, and was near completing 2nd grade math by Christmas. As an incentive to keep him working hard I told him he would be rewarded with a trip to Harry Potter World if he also finished 3rd grade math before the end of the school year. He loves Harry Potter, as do my mom and I, so we both kept encouraging him to finish. He got it done and earned his trip. I want him to understand that good things come to those who work hard and achieve above and beyond what's expected. 

Day 1: Getting there

My mom, Garrett and I took a direct flight from OKC to Sanford, FL, which is a town just North of Orlando, on the discount airline Allegiant Air. (Allegiant Air Review.) After landing we stopped for lunch at Gator's Dockside in Oviedo, FL, and at step 2,986 Garrett tried fried gator tail for the first time. Our family has a tradition that we must try new foods while on vacation and this has led me into various culinary adventures, like haggis in Scotland. I didn't love the haggis but G liked the gator tail. 

Gator's Dockside, Oviedo, FL

We bee-lined to my friend Rebecca's house after lunch because I was excited to see her. Rebe and her daughter Nicole were gracious hosts for most of our trip. Rebecca, Kelly and I all lived in the same small apartment complex in the early 2000's and had loads of fun together. We also sat and watched the terrifying scenes of 9/11 together. We've got history. Rebecca and I spent time catching up and I was reminded that she is one of the most authentic people I know. I enjoy being in her presence. My mom is friends with Rebecca and Kelly also. Once, the three of us  hosted a dress up, chocolate covered strawberries and champagne party and I amateurishly bought strawberries without hulls so my mom, who was supposed to just be a dressed up party-goer, whipped up some paraffin wax chocolate covering magic for the strawberries and saved the day. Rebecca is also one of the most stylish people I know. Her house is adorable, here's a picture of her dining room to give you a taste. I will be shamelessly stealing ideas from her.  We ended day 1 at 5,050 steps.

Day 2: 

Friday was our first full day so we scheduled the most exciting adventure for our "fresh feet day." Fresh feet are an important consideration for theme parks and perhaps for any type of travel for those of us in the over-40 crowd. 

We spent a small fortune on tickets that gave us access to both parks because  and 

 are located within Islands of Adventure while  is in Universal Studios. Additionally with the two park pass you get to travel between them via the Hogwarts Express. 

Garrett was super excited to buy a new wand with the money he'd been saving all summer so he led us into the first gift store he found and a shop worker told us about the interactive wands at 

This is such a cool experience for young magicians. Using each child's birthday, the shop workers help the children pick out a special wand that's just for them. Garrett actually ended up picking a random date to get his personal wand because he didn't like the wand associated with March. These personal wands are all from the interactive wands section which means the kids (and some adults, mom & I) get to perform magic within  Remember, magic is forbidden in muggle world. The wands come with a map showing the locations of interactive displays where the magic happens.

Performing magic!

We explored Diagon Alley and rode the Escape from Gringott's ride, which is a 3-D multi-dimensional ride and it's AMAZING. There are videos of it on YouTube but, if you're planning a trip in the future, don't spoil the ride by watching those videos. After we escaped Gringott's we walked around Diagon Alley a bit more and at step 9,034 G drank some babbling potion mixed in Gilly Water.

A little later he tried some butter beer which he didn't love but mom and I did. The frozen butter beer is even better. (Thanks Nicole for that tip!)

We then went back to the Hogwarts Express so we could explore Hogsmeade but the train was down so we walked through Universal Studios and rode the Minions ride, which is also pretty cool. Universal has done such a good job making Harry Potter World seem like separate areas that when Garrett was walking through Universal he said "I have to get out of this muggle world!" At one point, later in the day, we did take the Hogwarts Express from Diagon Alley to Hogsmeade and I'm so glad we did because going through the wall at platform 9 3/4 was G's favorite part of the whole trip!

Right after he went through the wall

Back in we trekked up to to ride  Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. I loved the Gringott's ride but I may have loved this ride even more. Getting on and off is tricky because the seats keep moving and there's a people mover under your feet but, setting that aside, the ride is nothing short of spectacular. Again, skip the YouTube videos and experience it firsthand.

Waiting in line for Forbidden Journey

Garrett also really enjoyed the Hippogriff ride and rode it three times. It jerked me around too much so I was once and done. These are the pics from my one ride.

Hagrid's House

Buckbeak

We spent 10 hours at Universal and ended our day with Cheeseburgers in Paradise at Margaritaville. It was a great day and we ended it at step 19,243.

Day 3: 

At zero steps for the day Garrett crawled in bed with me and said "Mama, I learned a lot about Jews and work camps this summer." This summer he watched half of the movie The Boy with the Striped Pajamas and he became engrossed in the novel Prisoner B-3087. I let him because the current "us versus them" rhetoric scares me. He went on to tell me that he thinks it is terrible that the Jews were treated so horribly and he doesn't think God was too happy about it. (For sure He wasn't.) As I cuddled my 8-year-old boy part of me was sad that his innocence is trickling away while another part of me was happy that he possesses a great deal of compassion. 

Garrett and I met my dear friend Kelly and her kiddos, Ryan and Katie, at Disney's Hollywood Studios while mom hung back at Rebe's and chilled for the day. Garrett immediately recognized what a sweet person Kelly was and told me "she's so nice." She really is, she's definitely one of the top five nicest people I've ever known. Sometimes you have to spend time with someone to understand how much you missed them. I missed this girl! Garrett loves Star Wars right behind Harry Potter so we chose Hollywood Studios as our starting point because it's got the Star Tours ride. We started at the Star Wars Launch Pad and watched a movie telling us about the upcoming movies in the Star Wars franchise and we saw some conceptual art of the new Star Wars parks Disney will be adding. I am a huge Star Wars fan and I can't wait to geek-out at the new attractions! Um, so anyway, we also ran across some Jawas at Launch Pad.

  

and we narrowly avoided Storm Troopers

after which we perused the Star Wars artifacts

Millennium Falcon's Chess Board

Then we walked over to ride Star Tours, which is a simulator that's been around for quite a while and is still pretty cool. On the way, Kelly pointed out that one of our graphics projects had been taken down the year before. (Kelly works at Disney, so she's in the know on all things Disney.) I'm posting a pic of it here to memorialize it. It was pretty cool.

The 122' Sorcerer's Hat.

We saw C-3PO and R2D2 at the Star Tours ride.

Kelly treated Garrett to Kylo Ren's light saber and I got him a Jedi robe. He's a full-on youngling now.

My youngling

After a quick lunch we rode Tower of Terror, an oldie but goodie. G loved it and decided it was his 3rd favorite thing on this trip.

Ryan, Katie and Garret in line for Tower of Terror

G & K being scared before T of T

Kelly and kids took their leave of us to get weekend organizing done and we tooled around Disney for a little while longer before heading back to Rebe's. We ended day 3 after 24,353 steps.

Day 4: Cocoa Beach

A beach day is a relatively inexpensive way to enjoy Florida and, in theory, relax. We chose Cocoa Beach, visited Ron Jon Surf Shop and lunched at the Cocoa Beach Pier. We stayed at the Hilton Beachfront hotel and rented G a boogie board. This had to be the best $10 I've ever spent. He loved it and never came out of the water. It was his 2nd favorite thing on this trip.

I spent a lot of time in the water making sure Garrett was good with the waves. He is a strong swimmer thanks to Dr. Nancy Obsorn and crew at USAO's swim lessons. I am so glad we went year after year for his lessons. As I was in the water fighting the waves over and over again a theory dawned on me. People who live at the beach are stereotyped as being laid-back. I think this may be because they swim in the ocean and fight the waves. You get a lot of frustration out fighting those waves and it exhausts you so you sleep well. A method for expelling frustration and an abundance of good sleep almost has to be a recipe for laid-backness.

We logged another 6,792 steps in Cocoa Beach ending the day at 31,145.

We flew back to OKC early Monday morning and on the flight home G told me this was the Best. Vacation. Ever. I ended the trip with a renewed interest in theme parks, these new rides are fantastic and I really enjoy my kid having fun. My inner-geek simply cannot wait for the new Star Wars adventures!