Florida Vacation Part 1- Beach and Harry Potter World

We just got home from a whirlwind trip to Florida. It was seriously so fun and so exhausting. 
I really can't believe how smoothly it went and that we pulled it off. 

We left Friday, the 22nd of April, to drive to Florida. Poor Tucker spent his entire birthday in the car, but he didn't seem to mind. He was so excited to be going to the beach. 

When we got close to the beach, we found our first Buc'ees. The kids were pretty excited.

Of course we had to stop and get some treats and we grabbed some dinner. It was as delicious as always.  

From there we drove to Gulf Shores, Alabama. We were excited to check another state off our list and the beach was beautiful. 

Tucker told me it was the best way to celebrate his birthday. We played for a few hours until it got dark. It was so fun. The kids all enjoyed searching for seashells and playing in the sand. 

I got these shelling pans at the dollar tree and it was the best $4 I have spent in a long time. 

Benson really loved the water this time. It's been a while since we've been to the gulf coast and Benson has grown up so much since then. 

Tucker had a great time shelling and running from the waves.

Tanner played in the water and made sand castles. It was such a nice evening. 

How gorgeous is the sunset at the beach. 

I feel like my family is the happiest at the beach. Everyone is happy. Everyone gets along. 
We just love the beach. 

After playing at the beach until it got dark and then drove over to Pensacola and checked in at the navy lodge on base. We got such a great deal on the room and we love staying at this base because there are hammocks outside the rooms and a private beach. It's perfect. 

We ate breakfast and then headed back to the beach. We played all morning. Tanner tried skim boarding, Benson enjoyed boogie boarding and Tucker and Bailey played in the sand and searched for shells. 

After a few hours, we were hungry and we headed to our favorite oceanside restaurant, "Sunset Grill" and ate a delicious lunch. While we ate we got to see some dolphins playing in the water next to us. It was such a fun treat.  

The food was as delicious as ever. 

Look who I found....Florida Chris came with us on this trip. 

Oh and we had to get some kiddie coladas. They were delicious and refreshing. 

After lunch, we went back to the beach to play again. 

Tucker and I built a massive sand castle and it was so fun. 

There was more boogie boarding and more shelling. It was the perfect day at the beach. 

Oh and you better believe I made good use of the matching swimsuits I had ordered originally for Hawaii. I know not everyone loves matching swimsuits, but I love it. 

Seriously, it never gets old. 

I sure love these kids of mind and I love our time at the beach together.

Saturday night we took family pictures on the beach. I love them. It was a little more difficult because I was using my tripod and timer and the wind was blowing. But I still love how they turned out. 

I sure love these kiddos. They are such beautiful little souls. 

And this man is my favorite person of all. 

My almost teenager- Tanner age 12 1/2

Tucker- newly turned 8 year old.

My one and only girl- Bailey- age 10 1/2.

And last but not least, Benson- my almost 5 year old. 

That night we went to our favorite wood-fired pizza place in P-cola. It was so delicious and just what we all needed. 

We went to bed happy and exhausted that night. 

The next morning was Sunday. We did our best to get going early and we drove down to Orlando. 
We met our Herb cousins from Oregon and our Universal Studios resort and had a sweet reunion. We stayed at Cabana Bay Resort and we loved it.We got all checked in and went to explore CityWalk. It was crazy busy but eventually we got some food and then headed back to the hotel. We wanted to get to bed early so we could wake up early for our first day at Universal Studios the next day.

Monday Morning found us at the gates of Island of Adventure, bright and early. 
Because we stayed on site at a Universal resort, we got early park admission. We were able to ride a free shuttle to the park and we got in line early with the rest of the crazies before the park opened. 
Here is the whole group ready for a full day of fun at Harry Potter world.  

We had decided to make our first day only Harry Potter world and it was the best. 
I made us all matching shirts and I love how we all looked. Plus it was easy to find our group throughout the day. 

We entered the park and went straight to Hogsmeade. We had to get some group shots outside of the Hogwarts castle. 

 

 

Then we went to ride "Hagrid's Magical Motorbike" . This was probably my favorite ride and we were able to walk right on. It was perfect. We did have to kid swap with Benson because he wasn't quite tall enough, but he didn't mind and it worked out great. 

Then we were able to ride the "Harry Potter Forbidden Journey" ride. This ride has you walk through the entire Hogwarts castle and it was so fun. The kids loved the moving portraits, getting to see the herbology greenhouse and all the other little details. It's seriously so immersive. We loved it. 

Here are the ride photos from the Forbidden Journey. The big kids loved it.

Tucker was pretty nervous. Aunt Stephanie got sick, Phillip and I loved it.

Then Chris took some of the big kids again, once we swapped with Benson.  

While the other adults recovered from the 3D effects from that ride, I took all the kids on the Hippogriff ride. Tucker, Benson and Paige loved it. It wasn't thrilling enough for the older kids.  

I love these shots of the kids exploring Hogsmeade. And I love all the snow covered rooftops. 

 

After the rides we got to talk to some cast members and this little lady was the cutest. She talked to Bailey for a long time. 

Then we hopped on the Hogwarts Express and rode it over to the Diagon Alley side at Universal Studios. 

Depending on which direction you ride the train, the experience is different. We loved it both directions and it was so fun with the kids. 

After leaving "Kings Cross Station", we went to see the Nightbus. 
The kids reluctantly changed into their Hogwarts robes so we could really get into character. 

Then we found "Kreature" at 12 Grimmauld Place. It was fun to see him peaking through the window.  

This kid was in Harry Potter HEAVEN!

Next up, we got in line for the Ollivander's Wand experience. 
Luckily, Tanner was chosen for the wand experience. It was so fun to see. 
We let all the kids buy wands and that was a crazy experience on it's own. The wand shop was so full. But with help from some shop workers, everyone got the wand of their dreams and Tanner's wand chose him. 

Bailey LOVED the walls full of wands inside the shop. It was so cool. They really do think of every little detail and it's what makes the magic so real. 

These cuties loved their wands and we used them all over the park to cast spells. 
Their wands are interactive and there are dozens of spots around Harry Potter world where you can cast spells and different things happen. It was so fun. 

 

We also got to see the dragon that's perched on Gringotts Bank roar fire. It was awesome. 

 

We also rode "Escape from Gringotts" and it was so fun. We loved walking through the bank on the way to the ride. Seriously, the amount of detail is incredible. 

 

We all ate lunch at "The Leaky Cauldron" and it was yummy. Our kids all ordered the fish and chips and they all devoured it. So good!

  

I just love this restaurant. It's so well done. 

After lunch we went to the Gringotts money exchange and the kids all took out a deposit from Gringotts. 

The wizarding money is pretty cool and the kids then used it at some of the shops around Diagon Alley.

  

Our kids spent all their wizarding cash at the sweets shop. 

Tanner got a chocolate wand, Tucker and Benson got Bertie Botts Beans of every flavor and Bailey got a chocolate frog. Yummy!

 

We also explored the "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes" joke shop. It was so well done and I wish she could have explored every floor. It was so cute!

After shopping, we rested in the shade and watched some wizarding shows. 

First we saw "Celestina Warbeck and the Banshees" perform. 

Then we watched a play of the Tales of Beedle the Bard. They acted out the Deathly hallows and it was awesome.

We made sure to grab a family picture in Diagon Alley before leaving to go back to Hogsmeade. 

We got so many compliments and comments on our matching shirts. 

Then it was back to the train station. 
This is my favorite way to travel between the two parks. But this side of the train station is the best. It looks just like Kings Cross and you get to vanish through platform 9 3/4. It's so cool. 

 

Here we are waiting to board the train. 

I sure love these cousins. They had so much fun exploring Harry Potter world together. 

This picture doesn't really show the whole process. But it was so fun to watch people "disappear" onto the platform. We had to record it because the effect was so cool. 

 

After arriving back at Hogsmeade, we took a picture with the Hogwarts Express Conductor and then we were off to find some butterbeer so we could cool off. 

We got some as normal cold butterbeer and some as butterbeer slushies. They were all delicious and so nice and refreshing. 

 

I couldn't love this kid and his butterbeer mustache more if I tried. 

After cooling off with our butterbeers, we watched the frog choir perform. They were awesome!

At this point the cousins left to go back to the hotel, between the heat and the time difference from Oregon, they were exhausted. We decided to stick around a while longer. 

We watched the "Triwizard Rally" and it was pretty cool. 

 

Then we got a family picture in front of Hogwarts castle. I love this picture. 

We had the best time exploring Harry Potter world together. It was seriously such a fun day and we all had a blast. I will never forget this trip. I love this family of mine and I love vacationing together. 

I feel like the months I put into planning this trip paid off and the entire day went so well. We walked on to all our rides. We ate all the delicious food and just got to really be immersed into the whole magical world of Harry Potter. SOOOO FUN! I really can't recommend it enough!

At this point, we headed back to our hotel. We were hot and tired but happy. 
We caught the shuttle and went back to our room to change into our swimsuits. We grabbed some dinner at the diner inside our resort and then went to the pool to swim and relax with the cousins. 
This became a habit and we ended each day at the pool hanging out with the cousins. It was so fun. 

Stay tuned for days 2 and 3 at Universal. The days were jam packed and there is just too much to fit it all in one post.