Florida/Islands of Adventure

When I found out that my cousin Natalie was getting married in Florida, I knew I had to do whatever it took to make it. After talking with my siblings we had joked about how fun it would be to stay a few days and hit the Florida theme parks. Then David decided to share his 31st birthday present with us! You see, my family has this tradition that started when I turned 31. My parents wanted to give me an extravagant gift for my birthday and I said I would only take it if they did the same thing for everyone elses' birthdays, which they said they would! Jonathan and I got to go to the Porsche Sport Driving School in Birmingham, Alabama and Bethany got to go to a surf camp in Nicaragua. It was David's 31st birthday year and he wanted to go to an amusement park with the family. My parents decided to pay for all of our park tickets and the house in Florida. We just had to pay for our flight out there! It was super generous of David to use his gift to benefit all of us. I'm so glad he did because it was such a magical week. We were positively giddy over it. The only downside was that Michael and Paul couldn't join us. Michael had just started a new job and Paul was taking care of Ally. Knowing that we had a limited amount of time, I put together a schedule that left no downtime. We had to work around the obligations we had with the wedding and both Bethany and Jonathan leaving a little early.

Leaving the airport, the shenanigans begin!

 First up was Universal Studios! We started at Islands of Adventure, took the train over to Universal Studios, just for Diagon Alley and then back.

We started reading the Harry Potter books when three of them were out. We were the family that would be at Barnes and Noble at midnight to get the newest release. Being here was just everything.

We went on this ride like 6 times. The wait was almost non existent so we just kept going. 

I had been waiting YEARS to try Butterbeer

Inside Olivanders. We knew that they would pick someone to go through the wand choosing process. What we didn't know was that I would get picked! After this kind man called me a witch, I was instructed to try some spells with several different wands. I moved things that weren't supposed to move, killed some flowers and knocked over things. He finally handed me a wand that worked perfectly. It was such a cool experience! I hadn't planned on buying a wand but I had to now, it chose me! David and my mom bought one as well. We then found out that our wands would work at certain spots in both parks. We would have to stand on a seal and move our wand a certain way and something would happen. Sometimes it was things moving or water fountains spraying. It added a whole other element to our day. We felt like little kids, running all over the park, doing spells.

The wand that chose me :)

Hogwarts! The ride inside here was beyond cool. We walked through the castle where it felt just like the movies and then went a realistic feeling, flying adventure. I can't even describe it.  

We had a yummy, British lunch inside the Three Broomsticks. I wish I had taken a picture of the inside. The details the builders put into it were unreal.

We headed over to the train station to catch the train to Diagon Alley.

The train ride was so cool! We were in an actual car and the "window" showed scenes of the countryside. It even showed Dementors! When we got off the train it was pouring. We went inside Gringotts (where the dragon is) went on the ride there, wandered around Knockturn Alley and then took the train back. We were going to come back another day and wanted to do the other rides at Islands of Adventure.

 We left Diagon Alley and headed back to do as many roller coasters as we could until the park closed. First up, Jurassic Park!

 

Chris and Mom are not fans of roller coasters but agreed to go on the Jurassic Park one. None of us knew what to expect. In the beginning, we were just floating down a river, listening to facts about dinosaurs, then the boat got diverted and all of a sudden, there was a T-Rex and a monster drop! The photo we got was classic.

After this super fun ride, Mom and Chris weren't really keen on going on other rides. The rest of us went on Spider-Man and Doctor Doom's Freefall, then David, Dad and I braved Dudley Doo Right falls. We got absolutely drenched! 

 We got in one of those heat/dry machines to try and dry off but it didn't help a ton. Once we hit all the rides we wanted to we headed back to Hogsmeade to go on the Dragon Coaster as many times as we could until the park closed. After that we got some dinner and went back to the house. We were all exhausted and were going to have an early morning the next day!