The end of July, my parents took my kids to Florida to visit many sites. They told us we could tag along if we would like. The week was very busy and quite tiring. The trip started out at Magic Kingdom. Having two girls, we were quite excited to start visiting princesses. Of course, the rides were fun too. We even convinced my mom to go on Splash Mountain again. Elayna was borderline height on many rides, but was able to go on Splash Mountain. We ended the trip at Epcot. It was nice to finally get to see Spaceship Earth from the inside!
The second day of the trip wasn't quite as long. We went to Kennedy Space Center and learned about many Apollo missions. Quite interesting to learn about the events of the past. We often hear of the success, but we rarely hear of the failures. The history of it all was quite impressive.
Day three we made it over to Universal Studios. With Diagon Alley opening up at the beginning of July, I was extremely excited to get there. I wanted Hannah to understand my excitement, so I gave her the first book to read. She devoured it in less than three days and was also extremely excited to go. She even opted for a Hermione wand as her souvenir. We bought VIP Express Passes and were able to enter at 6:00am...although we didn't know it. We thought we would have to enter at 8. However, we took the early bus over anyways, and at 6:45 we walked through the gates! As we marched with the hundreds of other Harry Potter fans, we reached Diagon Alley to a small 30 minute wait. Once inside, we kept with the crowd and waited another 2 hours to ride their brand new ride Escape from Gringotts! Elayna was about a half inch taller than the minimum, so we were all able to enjoy it.
After the initial morning Harry Pottering, we spent the rest of the day utilizing our express passes and bypassing the long lines. Most of the rides were 3D and Elayna truly enjoyed it! She actually started screaming at the top of her lungs when she thought that we were truly falling from a building in the transformers ride. Very convincing effects. Hannah, Ed, and dad were able to enjoy some of the roller coasters they have at Universal while Elayna, mom, and I explored Dr. Seuss land.
Days 4 and 5 were a little more laid back. Wednesday, Ed, dad, and I went fishing for Red Fish and Sea Trout. It was a slow morning, but we eventually started catching some. They put up a decent fight. We were able to keep many of them for dinner although most were too big. I guess there are worse things than catching fish that are too big. On Thursday, we took an airboat tour to look for alligators. We actually saw four in the wild. They were only about 1.5-2 feet tall, but still cool to see.
After fishing and the boat tour, we went down to the pools to relax. Once again, not being allowed to get in the pool, I was able to just chillax on the side of the pool and take some photos. The water was rather nice and the kids loved the opportunity to relax and just swim.
Here are a couple of other pictures that I liked, but couldn't find a place to put them. These are from the entire week, including the initial plane ride.
