Vacation 2012 recap.

My goal was to finish blogging our big Florida vacation before the one-year anniversary of that trip. Just days shy of our departure date this time last year, I have FINALLY posted the last recap!  The 2012 vacation daily summaries are all posted and back-dated:

July 5: The saga begins... (lost dog, New Orleans)
July 6: No place but NOLA (French Quarter, Cafe du Monde, wax museum)
July 6: Road to Orange Beach (Mississippi welcome center, beach hotel, fireworks)
July 7: Orange Beach (beach time, LuLu's)
July 8: Florida (Universal CityWalk, dinner with friends)
July 9: Universal Orlando (Wizarding World of Harry Potter)
July 10: Wild About Harry (return to Islands of Adventure)
July 10: Universal and Disney resort
July 11: Epcot
July 12: Magic Kingdom (park, Disney, resort arcade)
July 12: More MK
July 13: Hollywood Studios
July 13: Even more MK (Extra Magic Hours)
July 14: Animal Kingdom
July 15: Homeward bound (Tallahassee, Destin)
July 16: Texas! (Tyler, Chuy's, cemetery)
July 16: Survivor encounter

Whew! What a great trip!

I'm so thankful for our health and safe travels. I'm also thankful for the loved ones who made this trip possible. This vacation never could've happened if it weren't for some invaluable help. We are indebted to Brett's parents for taking care of our pets while we were gone and checking on the ol' homestead for the nearly two weeks we were gone. We were also blessed to have friends and family checking in on Memaw throughout our absence. They visited, took her gifts, sent us photos and texted updates. Because of Mom's dementia, we were so afraid she would forget why we were gone (and she did), but her many visitors did a wonderful job reminding her how much she's loved.

Of course, everyone's efforts to care for Mom showed us how blessed we are, too. Thanks to our "angels" here at home, we were able to take a break from the world of nursing homes and hospitals and escape to another world. It was MAGICAL.

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Vacation 2012: Universal Studios and our Disney resort.

Day 6, part 2: Universal Studios (again) and our Disney resort

As we walked from Islands of Adventure to Universal Studios, we made a pit stop. When I emerged from the rest room, I found my family engrossed in communication (just not with each other).

Hey, SCOOOOB!

Rip Ride Rockit: Too much fun to
choose your own soundtrack

This ride stretches the length of Universal Studios. Ryan and
I had a blast singing "I Will Survive" the whole way.

As promised, we rode The Mummy again
so Ryan could join us this time.

Outside that ride we found
this really tall dude.

Make that a scary tall Egyptian dude!

Blues Brothers show

The Simpsons' RV (next to autograph area)

Barney, a real blast from the past

But of course, Ryan bought a donut
at the Kwik-E-Mart next to the Simpsons
Ride (Oooooh! Doooooonut!)

This time technical difficulties didn't get in our way!
What a fun motion simulator ride! Super funny and
just perfect for fans of the series like us.

Speaking of fans, we followed up on our plan to eat lunch at the Classic Monsters Cafe. The line was super long, but it was worth it to dine with the monsters.

The Creature from the Black Lagoon
followed us from New Orleans, I guess.

Closest I've been to San Francisco

The Jaws ride was closed late last year, but this massive shark display remains.

Like many tourists, Ryan posed inside those massive jaws...

...just like he did way back in 2006 at Universal Hollywood. (The pictures from that visit make me so sad! I can't believe how little the kids were!)

We enjoyed the Beetlejuice show, in spite of the cheesy monsters-as-rockers theme:

We also made a super quick visit to the Lucy tribute, much as we did back in '06.

Model of the I Love Lucy set

Making a Lucy penny
(I was just a little obsessed
with souvenir pennies.)

By mid-afternoon, fatigue was setting in, so we bid adieu to Universal Orlando. After a stop at an Orlando Walmart (cheap T-shirts! padded inserts for Katie's shoes! breakfast and other food!), we drove to Walt Disney World.

Because we missed our exit (my failure as a
navigator), we got to see the big sign twice!

Once we found our resort, we were checked in and in our room in no time. Our resort: Port Orleans French Quarter. (In WDW lingo, it's a moderate resort.)

Mickey towels

Mickey toiletries

Birthday button

Our room! I wish all hotel rooms had ceiling fans like this.

When we started talking about this trip, I figured we would stay at a value resort like Pop Century (wouldn't that fit us?) or one of the All-Stars.

And what a treat to have a corner room with the extra window.

But when I realized that a moderate would get us queen beds (as opposed to doubles), a larger room and wifi, I decided it was worth the few extra bucks. We also had a fridge under the TV, so that made our in-room "breakfast picnics" much nicer.

Double sinks! Some of the Port Orleans rooms have
pedestal sinks, but I was glad to have the counter space.

AND we had double sinks! And a curtain to separate the vanity area from the bedroom! And did I mention double sinks?!


Oh, yeah. This works for us!

Vacation 2012: Wild about Harry.

Day 6, part 1: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (again)

So we kinda LOVED the Wizard World at Universal's Islands of Adventure. That's why on our second day in the Universal parks we just repeated our Monday plan.

Riding a wave at City Walk

Surfin' City Walk

Again, we arrived early enough
to be first in line at our turnstile.

Up early for Harry

Waiting, waiting...

...And we're in!

First stop: Hogwarts and the Forbidden Journey ride

Once again our early start paid off. We were able to ride without too much waiting and do a little shopping, too.

We had skipped Flight of the Hippogriff on Monday because I thought it was a little too "Mini Mine Train" for us, but on Tuesday, Ryan noticed the short line so we gave it a go. We're so glad we did! Not only did we get to see the Hippogriff, but we also saw Hagrid's hut (above) and got a great view of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade while riding. (Check out this video from another visitor to get an idea of the view.)

Entrance to the Dragon Challenge,
which we had ridden the day before

We really liked the butterbeer, so we
bought some more, frozen this time.

I caught Katie trying to get a perfect picture of her beer.

Not all of the Hogsmeade storefronts open to actual stores,
but most (like this one) have some magical element.

For instance, outside the quill window you could see a quill
magically writing and hear the "scritching" sound.

Inside Honeydukes

Brett with his pumpkin tart
(No, not Katie! The treat in the box!)

Pumpkin Tart

After spending a second morning in the Wizarding World, we knew it was time to move on to the Studios side of Universal, but even a muggle would admit that it's hard to say goodbye to this magical place.