So.  We left Boca in the early after noon and headed for Orlando.   This time I was smart and took the turnpike rather than I95…or ‘the highway of nuts‘ as I affectionately call it.  The turnpike was nice, hardly anyone on it.   And I was shocked there was not one single dead animal on the side of the road, not one piece of trash either.  (so NOT Ohio)

We arrived at our hotel, the Best Western Orlando Gateway.   Great choice this time!

Great service, great rooms (I felt fine taking my shoes off in this room!), great pool and hot tubs, great everything!  They also have an entire smoking floor which is great for smokers and hard to find in any hotel these days.   It was within minutes (walking) of the main strip that had a lot of places to eat and shops, Wet & Wild, etc.   A beautiful thing!  Actually, you could literally walk to Universal Studios because it was right down the street.    But we ended up taking a cab (their free shuttle was booked even before we arrived) and it was only about $6.  Which is a good thing because our rental car from Dollar Rental SUCKED.  Squealing breaks….tires needing air every couple hours.  BAD CAR!

This is the view from our 5th floor window.   The pool was a great point of relaxation in the Orlando heat.  It was about 96 degrees the whole time we were there.  Which….didn’t help with the kids attitudes.   But throw them in some water and it was bearable.

Our goal was to get into see the new Harry Potter attraction at Universal.   We arrived at the park opening and went straight there.  There was already a 45 minute wait.  But…we waited because we heard a lot about the lines just getting longer.  Some people having a 2-3 hour wait just to enter.   So we waited.  My hair was soaked from sweat by 9:15am.   Within a half hour of entering the park, I plunked down $15 on 4 Icees.    Ahhhh, capitalism.

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HP land was really quite awesome and well worth the wait.   There was even an hour wait to get IN the main GIFT SHOP.   That wasn’t happening with us…so we meandered about instead.   MC was in her glory….she’s the one who can recite every movie word for word.   It’s quite annoying cute.  ha ha.   Then we got in line for the Hogwart’s Castle.  Which once we got through THAT hour wait,  we walked through the castle which was air conditioned and then went on the ride in there.  It was a simulator ride and WELL worth that wait!  By the time we exited, the wait was well over 1 1/2 hours.  It looked like those lines that cattle stand in.  Smelled like it too.

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We did go in the Sweet Shop and browse.  And….we bought a Chocolate Frog for $10.   And quickly realized it was like 120 degrees in that park so we had to eat it.   I thought of the guy in front of me who bought 7 of them and wondered how pissed he was gonna be when they all melted.   Sap.

Of course, MC had to get a Butterbeer…which was a cool glass of cream soda with a shot of butterscotch.  It was DELIGHTFUL! We browsed a less stressful gift shop in there and got some cool HP stuff.  But OMG….talk about outrageously expensive.  $16 for a mug.   $25 for a lousy t-shirt.   Crazy. But I must add that all the workers were VERY friendly!

We proceeded to go around to the rest of the park with attitudes between my girls totally aflare.  Oh, it was great fun.   Poor Alan suffered through it and I must have said “I’ve HAD IT” a bazillion times without anyone caring.   There comes a point when that’s a mute statement.   So I figured, well….if they do kill each other….it would be a lot quieter.  They went on something called Poseidon’s Fury.  It was a 40 minute wait.  The girls went together.  Alone.  Without a referee.   Alan and I sat in the shade and sipped lemonade wondering if they’d make it out intact from being together.  Alone.  40 minutes later they walked out the entrance.  The thing was shut down for difficulties.  lol.   Oh, plus?  It wasn’t a ride at all.  It was a stunt show or something.  HA HA!

They went on rides and coasters.  I held the ‘stuff’ and tried to regain some sanity and remind myself that all mothers love their young.   Sure, some eat them, but it was just too hot…plus... I had just spent $40 on lunch.

So we spent the day there and also saw the other Universal Park (Harry Potter was in Universal Islands of Adventure – two separate parks!)  It was quite a hike in that heat to get to the other park.   It was on the corner of Get me the F outta here and Holy Shit is it hot! *It was so hot…our camera’s actually died out many times!*  By the time we got to the other park the wait times for everything were well over an hour.   So we just sweated and complained like everyone else.    We went in a lot of shops and refilled our $7 souvenir cups about 10 times (only .79 cents for a refill).  We even got cups of ice and stuck cubes in our bra’s.   So many fun things in there though!  I loved the gift shops for Dr. Seuss land and the Simpsons.   Very cool.

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If I had a nickel for all the gross people in there I’d be rich.   This lady talking for 20 minutes while resting her hand on a garbage can.   And, later eating with that hand.  Y U C K!  And OMG…I saw NO ONE cover their mouth when sneezing!  SO GROSS!  Open mouth sneeze and just keep walking with a cloud of nasty trailing behind.  Yuck, yuck and YUUUCK.

There were groups there from all over the world.  Many from Brazil.  In fact, most people didn’t speak English at all.   I was beginning to wonder if our plane went off route and we were no longer in the US. Check out Orlando vacation packages to plan your own trip!

All in all, we left the park tired, full of food and drink, sunburned, bloated and happy.

We got back to the hotel and went right to the pool.   Later in the room we turned on the t.v. and as I scratched a mosquito bite, a report came on about 8-10 confirmed cases of Dengue Fever.   Caused by…mosquitoes.   I thought OH NO!  Then I thought…Wait…this could be a couple day stay in the hospital without any kids fighting!

We had thoughts of visiting either Cocoa or Daytona Beach in the morning before leaving….until a news report came on about those beaches being closed for bacteria.  Apparently from too much seagull poo in the water.   Weird!  So we spent the last day walking for miles going gift shop to stinky smelly gift shop.  You know…those ones that are like $1.99 ones.  My kind of shop.  Then to the Florida Mall before heading to the airport and coming home to what we thought would be a cooler Cleveland.  Til we got to the airport and saw it was 91 degrees.   Whatever!

On the way to the airport the kids were having a conversation….. “That was a great trip even though we argued a lot.”  They all agreed….”Mom, wasn’t it great?”  (Thinking for a minute….or 5…..) “Yep.  It was great!”

Shane picked us up.  I was glad to be home.   Plus…the bathroom needed to be cleaned.  The carpets vacuumed and the dishwasher that I loaded before I left…needed to be started.   Ahhhh yes, great to be home.

And so, this concludes our trip!
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*I’d like to thank Universal Orlando’s Media Dept for a greeeeaat media discount!* No other freebies or discounts were provided, all opinions are my own.