Orlando trip

We took our kids to Orlando to visit Disney and Universal Studios a couple of times when they were young but always had to go during school breaks because I taught and the kids were in school. I have always said that I would love to go when schools were in session to take advantage of the smaller crowds. Just one more advantage of retirement! The kids and I are all big Harry Potter fans so Universal Studios Harry Potter world was high on our list. We decided not to take the RV to Florida but instead rented a cabin in Fort Wilderness which is a Disney Resort. It sleeps 6 and has a small kitchen which allowed us to order breakfast foods and have them delivered to the cabin right before we got there (thanks Jamie). This enabled us to have a quick breakfast in the cabin before we hit the parks each day.

We put the camper in storage near Austin and flew out of Austin with Lori and Kate. Jared and Preston flew out of Dallas and met us at the Orlando airport. We spent two days at Universal Studios and Universal Islands of Adventure, one day at Magic Kingdom (which truly is magical) and one day at Animal Kingdom. Jared took some amazing pictures so most of the pictures I share are from him.

Let's start with Universal. We had a 2 day 2 park pass which meant we could ride the Hogwarts Express between the two parks. It looked just like the real thing inside and out and was amazing! Notice how empty Hogsmeade is in these pictures. My niece, Jamie Holman McLain, was our travel agent and she gave us so many great tips. One of which was get there early to avoid crowds. We were at the gate of Universal Islands of Adventure at least an hour before the gates opened and this is what it got us! Hogsmeade was pretty empty and we just walked onto the first 4 or 5 rides without waiting in line. Later in the day the streets here were packed.

Diagon Alley

There was so much to watch while waiting in line for the Gringott's ride. 

The Hogwarts Express was amazing! It felt like we were riding the train with Harry and the gang.

Inside the cabin of the Hogwarts Express!

Of course, wands were purchased!

Here we are at the end of our first day, tired but still having fun!

Our second day was spent at Magic Kingdom and it was magical. Once again, we listened to Jamie and got there early for the "rope drop" and once again we rode a lot of rides without having to wait in any lines. It was great. Unfortunately, we were having so much fun and moving so fast that we didn't take many pictures. The one below was taken on our very first ride, Dumbo. I am not sure what Dad joke Pat had just told but clearly it didn't impress me too much!

The iconic castle is incredible both day and night.

Our third day was spent in Animal Kingdom. The Flight of the Avatar was absolutely amazing, as was all of Pandora. And I was pleasantly surprised by the number and diversity of animals  that we were able to see on the Safari ride. There was even a momma giraffe in labor who had her baby the next day. Again we were so busy watching for animals that none of us took pictures. You'll just have to go see for yourself. This was the one day that we didn't heed Jamie's advice to arrive early and it was very crowded by the time we got there. Something I learned that day is that you should always check to see which Disney park opens early and avoid that park because everyone staying in a Disney Resort likes to take advantage of the added hours so those parks tend to be more crowded. You need to visit Pandora both during the day and at night. The pictures will tell you why.

Daytime Pandora

Night time Pandora

We had dinner at Tusker's where we were greeted by several Disney Characters. Eating there also included tickets for the night time light show in Animal Kingdom. It was great to sit down and enjoy a delicious buffet in a relaxing atmosphere after a busy day in the park.

The light show on the water was beautiful and thanks to our dinner at Tusker's we had great seats (thanks again Jamie)

Our last day was spent back at the Universal Parks so I won't post anymore pictures from there. It was Tuesday and the Parks were not at all crowded. We only had to wait in one line for more that 20 minutes all day. We rode and saw everything we wanted to do by about 4:00 p.m. Since we were all feeling the four days of walking we went back to our cabin and napped until dinner. It was a fabulous trip. The weather was great, the crowds (other than Monday at Animal Kingdom) were small and every park had great attractions. If you are thinking about an Orlando vacation I highly recommend that you contact jamie@onceupontimevacations.com. She can book both Disney and Universal tickets and she has a lot of tips that will make your trip better.