Our summer 2019 vacation took us to Florida. First stop was Orlando for all the touristy things to satisfy our kids but actually ended up being fun for us too!
We've gotten to be pros with red eye flights. A melatonin gummy, a neck pillow and waking up to begin a new adventure makes you forget about the sub-par sleeping situation.
Our first couple of nights we stayed at the JW Marriott Grand Lakes Orlando.
Hello lazy river!
We headed straight to the pool with our Starbucks to work off the red-eye hangover.
Sugar is the answer when you are on vacation.
We were the only ones to arrive to the pool early. 🤷♀️
Lots of lizard friends in Florida.
Water obstacle course.
It's one big amusement park driving through Orlando.
Arrived to the CityWalk. That's us!
The sudden torrential downpours were actually really fun. It's warm rain, tropical and humid—it's fun to experience weather completely opposite from California. And the people watching in Orlando is off the charts! Check out the minion. 🤣
We also realized shortly after this that trash bags weren't a bad idea. 🤓
Todd embracing it!
Dinner at Antojitos.
Interesting wall of art.
Everything in Orlando seems to be larger than life. It's like walking through one big fairytale.
Back to the hotel early, settled in watching the Norris Nuts (anyone else's kids obsessed with this family?!).
The Grande Lakes hotel truly is grande which goes along with the theme of Orlando I guess.
Long hallways, huge pillars, you walk about a mile to get anywhere including the gym.
After some gym time, our first destination was Gatorland. I beg you not to skip this wacky place if you are headed to Orlando. Fit it in. I promise you will be thouroughly entertained. It was a highlight of our trip. The entire time you can't believe a place like this even exists. But it does.
Lot's of these gems like this around the park.
And then lots of this. It got weirder and weirder as the day went on. We were fascinated by the people who worked there, the animals and the exhibits. Now that I've seen Tiger King, this type of place makes more sense. It was wild!
After a crazy day of Gatorland, we headed down to recover at the pool.
Only to find out that the pool was closed due to lightening and thunder storms but Thatcher did find a cute tiny frog.
We found a semi-indoor activity that did not disappoint.
And then back to the hotel to attempt to do some night swimming!
Cozy robes and room service.
More Norris Nuts.
Kids that were too hyped up to go to bed in anticipation of Universal Studios the next morning.
And an update from Brady that Lollipop was happy with her buddy Otis!
An early morning boat ride from our next hotel (a perk to staying there which also got you into the park an hour early) to Universal Studios.
Sam mapped out our day and had a plan!
Her plan was to head straight to Harry Potter World which was way more impressive than the one in California.
Sam was beaming the whole time. She is obsessed with the Harry Potter series (still is at almost 14 now).
Boarding Hogwarts Express.
😂
The Hulk! This ride was so fun!
She brought her Harry Potter wand to cast spells.
We opted to skip the trash bags again. 🤣
Bumped into NBA player Kenyon Martin!
After a long day of visiting two of the Universal Parks, we headed back to our hotel for dinner. We stayed at the Loews Royal Pacific Resort. It was a beautiful hotel. It even smelled really good, they pumped a plumeria scent throughout. You also get some perks when staying at one of the Universal Studios affiliated hotels like express passes (this is a must!), early entry, the boat ride and I can't remember what else. However, it's all crazy expensive and the service and rooms were just kind of eh.
Our daily step count in Orlando was pretty darn good!
Thatcher's favorite breakfast at hotels.
A gloomy next day by the pool.
Alone pretty much at the pool because I'm sure everyone else was back for another day at the theme park. One day is 100% enough in our book.
The landscape of this hotel was beautiful.
Packed up and ready to head out to the second part of our Florida vacation...
Here's some video from Orlando.
Also, in looking back at this trip, I'm glad we fit this one in before the pandemic happened. 🙃
