Disney 2018

A month before R1 graduated from high school Hubs and I thought it might be a good idea to take a family vacation. We wanted to recognize his accomplishment. So we asked him where he wanted to go and one of his answers was Disney World and Universal Studios. 

We had been to Disney before in 2014 and thought well this time we could also go to Universal. So the planning began and let me say nothing like waiting till the last minute to plan a Disney vacation. I will also say this, Hubs did an amazing job. We got the hotel we wanted, the fast passes we wanted, and even the restaurants at the time we wanted. 

Hubs and I also decided not to tell the boys that we were going to Disney but rather that we were going to Gulf Shores, Alabama. We had been there before too so we thought that might work for a surprise. 

We left Saturday, June 16th and got halfway down the street before I blurted out that I needed to see I remembered to pack the box with all of the supplies. I made R1 get out and check and bring me the box. Actually the box contained our Magic Bands for Disney. R1 retrieved the box and got back in the car. At that point Hubs told them to open the box because it contained items needed for vacation. The boys were so shocked. R2 just kept saying over and over, WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY! R1 was a little more low key but he was just as excited. 

If you can't tell, we drove to Florida. Yep, drove. We stopped just outside of Tallahassee to spend the night because well we had made several stops along the way and we were all a bit tired of being in the car. Lets face it 12 hours in the car no matter how many stops you make is just to long. 

Anyway we rolled into Orlando early Sunday afternoon and then the fun began. 

 

We spent two days at Universal Studios and completely geeked out Harry Potter World. I can't even explain the attention to detail they put into this park. It is just like the books and the movies. If you like Harry Potter and you haven't been, YOU HAVE TO GO! R2 was so funny, while we were standing in Ollivanders Wand Shop he looked right at Hubs and said, "I've never felt so nerdy in all my life." But that nerdiness didn't stop him from wanting to buy a wand.

Escape from Gringotts with R1 and R2

 We spent the following three days at Disney. Since we had been before we knew what we wanted to see that we missed the last time and what we wanted to do again. We also had park hoppers so we went from park to park to park.

Traditional picture with a green army man from Toy Story.

Anything Toy Story and Peter Pan are my favorites. One of my favorite rides is Toy Story Mania located in the Hollywood Studios park. The ride is designed so you play virtual carnival games in 3D. There are 5 different games in all. We all rode it and I ended up wrecking my guys on the scoring part. So much so that I also ended up with the high score of the park that day.

Breakfast at Chef Mickey is a standard. There is no better way to start the day.

It was an fabulous vacation and I enjoyed all of the family time and the memories we made.