Block Leave Part II: Orlando

We left Houston a day early to head to my sisters in Florida. She was so surprised and it was a great way to start off our time there.

Bright and early Sunday morning we hopped in the car and headed to Orlando. We arrived at our hotel the Cabana Bay Beach Resort and was instantly impressed. It's a resort on the Universal Property and it's amazing! Not only did they have two pools, water slide, bowling alley, restaurants, lounges, and arcades but the service was impeccable. I was able to get a really great military rate by calling them directly.

As soon as we took our stuff to the room, we put on our swimsuits and headed to the pool. The kids loved the water slide and it was nice for the adults to just relax.

Since we were staying at a Universal Property we got 1 hour early admission to the Harry Potter areas of both parks. We also decided to purchase the Unlimited Express Pass for all 3 days (we received a military discount on the tickets as well as the express passes, always check your travel place on base first) and boy was it worth it. Being able to walk right to the front of the line with the kids was a lifesaver, the majority of the time at an amusement park is spent waiting in lines. Not having to do that was amazing and also the child swap option was great! 

It was fun going back and forth between both parks, the Hogwarts Express train made it much easier. 

We had a blast for all 3 days! We explored the new Harry Potter lands, rode all of the rides, and enjoyed the relatively nice weather. My two favorite areas were Daigon Alley in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Simpsons Land. The majority of the rides are 3D and 4D motion rides which was awesome. The graphics were amazing.

One of the days we left the park a little early and decided to go bowling at the hotel. It was an exact replica of the bowling alley in The Big Lebowski, which if you know me you know that is one of my favorite movies! We bowled two games, enjoyed some drinks and had a blast.

Our third day at the park was our nephew, Grayson's 4th birthday. He got a special button and even got to meet Spider-Man, which is exactly what he wanted.

One of my favorite pictures is of me, my sister and niece with Betty Boop. My Mom loved her and my parents used her as their signature image on my Dad's race car. I have to say that after taking the picture I got really emotional. It was pretty cool!

Our 3 days at the park were amazing! I highly recommend a trip to Universal, both parks are amazing!!! The Universal City Walk is also full of restaurants, 2 miniature golf courses, and a movie theater. It was so nice to go on a vacation with family and just have fun. I hope we get to do more trips like this because it was so worth it.

Our last night in Orlando we headed off to Medieval Times. We have been a few times before but this was the first time everyone else got to go and we thought it would be special for Grayson's birthday. Kyle set up for Grayson to be knighted in a public ceremony and it was so special, we also had front row seating. Kylie even received a flower from our Knight during the show.

After we returned to my sister's we decided to take the kids for a day and have fun. We took them go-karting, miniature golfing and for frozen yogurt. Little did I know this was all staged.

After getting home I was surprised with a party for my birthday (which is Thursday ahhhh the big 30!!). It was so special! Kyle, Lisa, and our friend Jessica planned a wonderful party for me and I'm so grateful.

While I loved Houston, I would definitely say that this week was my favorite!

We had a great 2 weeks of leave. Now it's time to get back to normal and get ready for my in-laws visit at the end of the week.