Magic Kingdom

Magic Kingdom is the most popular of the Disney World parks and it is also my favorite. It is the park that is the most like Disneyland. It was very similar but yet there were enough differences to make it unique. To me, it was like someone picked up Disneyland, shook it around a bit, took out a few attractions, and added a few. It seemed very familiar and I knew my way around the park. But it also was different enough that I found myself walking in the wrong direction outside of Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. It's in a totally different place in Tomorrowland than I'm used to!

Fast Pass+
Magic Kingdom has more fast pass+ rides than any of the other parks. You can choose any 3 of the following:

Ariel's Grotto
The Barnstormer
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
Dumbo the Flying Elephant
Enchanted Tales with Belle
Festival of Fantasy parade
The Haunted Mansion
It's a Small World
Jungle Cruise
Mad Tea Party
The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
Main Street Electrical Parade
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Mickey's PhilharMagic
Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor
Peter Pan's Flight
Pirates of the Caribbean
Princess Fairytale Hall: Meet Cinderella and a Visiting Princess
Princess Fairytale Hall: Meet Anna and Elsa from Frozen
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Space Mountain
Splash Mountain
Tomorrowland Speedway
Town Square Theater Mickey Mouse Meet and Greet
Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid
Wishes Nighttime Spectacular

As you can see, there are many choices. You can choose form most rides and also character experiences and parades.

I would recommend getting fast passes for some of the bigger rides like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Space Mountain, or Splash Mountain. The lines for those rides usually get pretty long so it's always good to have fast passes for those. If you have a princess fan in your family, it's a good idea to book fast passes to meet either Cinderella or Anna and Elsa. Without a fast pass, you're looking at a wait that's at least an hour on a good day.

When we went to Disney World last year, I booked my fast passes 30 days before our trip. All of the fast passes to meet Anna and Elsa were already booked! Crazy, right! With me being the persistent person that I am, I was determined to get fast passes. So I checked every day and I split our family up a little. It's hard to book 6 fast passes at the same time, especially for something that goes quick. Somehow I ended up booking all 6 fast passes to meet the Frozen sisters within the same window. They weren't all at the exact same time but there was about a half hour that overlapped with all of our passes. So we only had to wait 10 minutes to meet them! The wait time posted was over 2 hours!

The best thing I can recommend with the fast pass+ at Magic Kingdom is to book the rides or attractions that you really want to experience first thing in the morning. Once you've used those fast passes, check the wait times on your My Disney Experience app to see which rides have the longest wait. Then go to a kiosk and book a fast pass+ for one of those rides and then head to that ride. Once you've ridden that, do it again. We did this over and over. We probably used about 10 fast passes in one day. The longest we had to wait in line that day was about 15 minutes. Keep in mind that it was raining that morning so that affected the crowds. But I'd say we had a very successful day!

Here are some of my favorite things about Magic Kingdom:

Enchanted Tales with Belle
If you get a chance, you definitely need to do this. It's a character experience and a show combined. They choose volunteers to act out the story of Beauty and the Beast. Belle comes into the room and all of the volunteers retell the story. It only takes about 5-10 minutes for the show and then Belle takes pictures with everyone who participated. My husband was a lucky "volunteer" who got chosen. Anyone who knows him knows that he hates being the center of attention or doing anything like this. It was so fun and we loved it! The wait for this is sometimes pretty long so if this is a priority then I would recommend getting a fast pass+ for this.

Festival of Fantasy Parade
This was a really awesome parade. We really loved it! It featured most of the Disney characters including Elsa and Anna. You definitely need to check this parade out if you get a chance.

Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor
This was one of the highlights of our trip. This is an interactive show with the characters from Monster's Inc. You're watching the characters on the screen but they're interacting with the audience and choosing people to pick on. They pick a few people from the audience to give a hard time to throughout the whole show. It's really funny! The best part was when they showed "Boo" from Monster's Inc. and I looked up at the screen and saw my adorable little girl! Who wouldn't want their child featured as one of the cutest characters ever? They also picked my son from the audience to tell him some jokes. This was definitely a really fun show, and not just because my kids were featured!

Talking Mickey
Have you ever met a Mickey Mouse who talks? Well in Town Square you can meet talking Mickey. It was kinda crazy to hear him talk but it was so much fun. Definitely worth waiting in line for.

Favorite food at Magic Kingdom
We ate at Columbia Harbour House and ordered a Lobster Roll which was really good.

We also ate at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe. Their selection includes hamburgers, barbecue pork sandwiches, and chicken sandwiches. My daughter fell down outside of this restaurant and started crying. One of the employees felt bad for her so they gave her a free brownie. That's one of the things I love about Disney! They make everyone feel special.

You also need try to a Dole Whip at Aloha Isle. This was the first time I've ever had one even though I've been to Disneyland multiple times. I thought it was good but my daughter got the Dole twist with orange and I liked that a little better than the Dole Whip Float.

Favorite Rides
Hands down, my favorite ride at Magic Kingdom is Splash Mountain. There's something very nostalgic about that ride that brings me back to my childhood. We love all of the rides at Magic Kingdom but some of our other favorites include Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Space Mountain. Unfortunately, Seven Dwarfs' Mine Train was not open yet when we were there so my kids were super bummed about that. That just means we need to go again, right?

Animal Kingdom

 

We loved Animal Kingdom! This was one of our favorite parks. If it had more rides it probably would've been our favorite for sure. This really is an amazing place!

This park was separated into 4 sections: Dinoland, Discovery Island, Africa, and Asia.

Dinoland
We loved Dinoland! The atmosphere was so much fun! It was almost like we were in the middle of the Flintstones. There were a few rides here: Dinosaur, Primeval Whirl, and TriceraTop Spin. My favorite of these rides was Dinosaur. It was a lot like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland but with dinosaurs everywhere. So much fun! Primeval Whirl was a bigger ride with a height requirement of 48". It was fun but it was a little too jerky for me. TriceraTop Spin was just like Dumbo except it had dinosaurs instead of elephants.

Discovery Island
This part of the park has a lot of fun attractions like The Tree of Life, Discovery Island Trails, and It's Tough to Be a Bug.

Asia
Asia has Kali River Rapids and Expedition Everest. Unfortunately, we didn't go on Kali River Rapids because it was raining all day but I'm sure it's similar to other rapid rides at other theme parks. Expedition Everest was probably one of my favorite rides I've ever been on at any theme park. This ride had everything, including big drops and riding backwards. It was so much fun!

We ate lunch at Yak & Yeti Local Food Cafe. It was Asian food with choices like honey chicken, teriyaki beef bowls, and egg rolls.This was our favorite meal we ate at Disney World. I would definitely recommend eating here. So good!

Africa
In Africa was Kilimanjaro Safaris which was my favorite thing about Animal Kingdom. You get on a big safari bus that takes you through "Africa" to look at all the animals. I was so surprised at how many animals we saw and how close they were. It was amazing! Way better than a zoo.

 

 

Fast Pass+
There aren't a lot of rides here but these are the Fast Pass+ choices:

Dinosaur
Expedition Everest
Festival of the Lion King
Finding Nemo-The Musical
It's Tough to Be a Bug!
Kali River Rapids
Kilimanjaro Safaris
Primeval Whirl

If your family is into rides, like mine, I would recommend booking fast passes for Expedition Everest, Dinosaur, and Kilimanjaro Safaris. But it just depends on your preference.

If you book fast passes for other rides or attractions, you'll want to get in line early for Kilimanjaro Safaris because the line gets long pretty early in the day. We kind of lucked out because it was raining all day and there were no lines. We rode everything multiple times. The downside of the rain is everything here is pretty much outside so it was very hard to stay dry.

Shows
We only saw two shows here: Finding Nemo-The Musical and It's Tough To Be A Bug. I really loved Finding Nemo-The Musical! It's a big theater musical production of Finding Nemo. It's goes through the whole story with the addition of music. It really was so cute! This is also a great way to stay dry if it's raining! It's Tough To Be A Bug is a 3D movie that is also played at California Adventure.

Characters
The characters here are really fun. Mickey and Minnie are dressed like they're going on a safari. You can also meet a lot of the animal themed characters like King Louie and Baloo, Rafiki, Russel and Dug, and Pocahontas.

 

Hollywood Studios

Hollywood Studios is a really fun park with such a fun atmosphere. It kind of reminds me of California Adventure at Disneyland. But if I have to choose, I think I like California Adventure a little better mostly because there's a little more variety there. At Hollywood Studios, the theme throughout the whole park was the same. Most of the rides and attractions are based on movies. But having said that, we definitely had a great time here and I'm sure we'll come back some day.

Here are some highlights of Hollywood Studios:

Rides
We loved all of the rides here. My favorite was Tower of Terror. My boys loved Rock 'n' Roller Coaster with Aerosmith. We also loved Star Tours, Toy Story Midway Mania, and The Great Movie Ride.

Fast Pass +
The Fast Pass+ is tiered so you can pick one from the first group and two from the second group.

Group A:
Beauty and the Beast - Live on Stage
Fantasmic
Rock 'n' Roller Coaster
Toy Story Mania
The Great Movie Ride

Group B
Disney Junior - Live on Stage!
Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!
Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show
Muppet Vision 3D
Star Tours
For the First Time in Forever - A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Voyage of the Little Mermaid

From Group A, I would recommend picking either Rock 'n' Roller Coaster or Toy Story Mania and getting in line early in the day for the other ride. If you're kids aren't into big roller coasters, I would definitely go for Toy Story Mania. That's a really fun ride and you'll probably want to ride it more than once. The line always gets really long for this ride. However, we got in line for Toy Story Mania at the very end of the day and we only had to wait about a half hour and the wait time that was posted was over an hour.

From Group B, we picked Star Tours and Tower of Terror.

Try to schedule your fast passes as early in the day as you can. Once you've used your 3rd fast pass+, you can go to any kiosk in the park and book another. You can keep doing this as long as you've used it or your allotted time frame is expired. After we got off a ride, we checked the wait times on the My Disney Experience app to see which ride had the longest wait. Then we went to a kiosk and booked a fast pass+ for that ride. We did this multiple times throughout the day and it decreased our wait time by a significant amount. Keep in mind that the fast passes for some of the more popular rides go fast so you probably won't be able to book them at the kiosk. That's why it's important to book them as your original fast pass+.

Shows
There are a lot of really fun shows at Hollywood Studios. We loved the Lights, Motors, Action stunt show! We also loved Muppet Vision 3D which is also at California Adventure. One of my favorites was the Voyage of the Little Mermaid. It was a live show with Ariel and all of her friends singing all of the songs form The Little Mermaid. It definitely took me back to my childhood and my kids also loved it! Unfortunately these were the only shows we saw because my kids just wanted to ride rides.

I've heard that the Indiana Jones stunt show and the Beauty and the Beast show are also really good. The Frozen sing along was not at Hollywood Studios when we were there but I can guarantee that we would see it if we were there now.

Characters
Hollywood Studios has all of the main Disney characters like Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, and Chip n Dale. They also have a lot of the Disney Jr. characters like Sofia the First. My 4 year old was so excited to meet her and then she didn't say a word when she finally got to meet her. My 8 year old was really excited to meet Sorcerer Mickey. This is the only park at Disney World that you get to meet him. My kids also met Phineas and Ferb and that was a huge highlight for them.

 

Epcot

I really liked Epcot but it wasn't my kids' favorite park. There aren't a lot of big rides here and most of the things here are geared towards older kids or adults. But I think Disney has done a great job in making the things that are here a little more kid friendly. To me, Epcot didn't have the same magical feeling that the other parks have. But it definitely was a fun place to go.

Here are some of the highlights of Epcot:

World Showcase
I really loved World Showcase. There are 11 different countries represented in World Showcase and it was so fun to walk from country to country. I really felt like I was actually in that country. I could've stayed there all day because it was such a fun atmosphere but my kids were kind of bored because there are no thrill rides in World Showcase. You can meet a lot of characters in Epcot so that's a great way to keep the kids entertained. There's also an activity for kids called Agent P's World Showcase Adventure where they get to be spies like Agent P.

Rides

Our favorite rides were Soarin', Test Track, and Mission Space. We also thought The Seas With Nemo and Friends was really cute. It was a lot like the Ariel ride in Caifornia Adventure and Magic Kingdom. Turtle Talk with Crush was also really fun but it's more of a show than a ride. The rest of the rides were more educational.

International Flower and Garden Festival
If you go in the springtime, you can be there during the flower and garden festival. This was one of my favorite things about Epcot so I would definitely recommend going in the spring. They have topiaries made out of almost every Disney character. It was so fun to look at all of them and take lots of pictures.

 

Club Cool
This was a fave for sure! In this store, you can get free samples of Coke products from all over the world. It was a hot day so we kept going back. My kids were in heaven because they could drink as much soda as they wanted!

Characters
There are a lot of characters to meet at Epcot. You can meet the main Disney characters like Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald. You can also meet a lot of the Disney princesses in the country they're from. My favorite character was Mary Poppins in England. My 6 year old asked her to say "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" backwards and she did! Then she said, "Now I do think that's going a bit far, don't you think? Come along children. Spit spot!" I was loving it! She was totally in character and she made our experience so much fun. I also loved Aurora in France and the way she interacted with my girls. My oldest son's favorite character was Duffy the Bear because he's a big fan.

 

  

 

Fast Pass+ recommendations
The fast passes here are tiered so you can choose one from the first group and two from the second.

Group A:
IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth
Soarin'
Test Track
Living with the Land

Group B:
Captain EO
Journey Into Imagination With Figment
Mission Space
Spaceship Earth
The Seas With Nemo and Friends
Turtle Talk with Crush
Epcot Chracter Spot

I would recommend getting a fast pass+ for either Soarin' or Test Track from group A and getting in line for the other ride as early as possible when you get to the park. Both of those lines get long pretty fast. This didn't work out for us because our shuttle didn't get us there until a while after the park opened. So we had to wait in line for about an hour at the end of the day for Test Track. But it was worth it because it was a pretty awesome ride.

Disney World Tips

Last year we took our kids to Disney World for the first time. We have been to Disneyland 3 times with our kids but this was our first time going to Disney World. Since I had never been before, I did A LOT of research before our trip. It kind of took over my life for a while! It really paid off because I felt like I knew the park inside and out. We had such a perfect trip!

Whether you're going for the first time or you've been before, I hope these tips will help you plan a magical trip to Disney World!

When to go?
Typically, the best time to go is the same for Disney World and Disneyland. September usually has less crowds. October, November, and December are great with the exception of Thanksgiving week and right before and after Christmas. January and February are usually less busy but a lot of rides are closed for refurbishment (check the Disney website to see which rides are closed). We went the end of April to the beginning of May and it was a great time to go.

There are a few different websites that have crowd calendars that tell you how busy the parks will be on specific days. They use years of statistics to come up with these calendars so they're pretty accurate.

The first crowd calendar I looked at was at Your First Visit. This website has a calendar for the whole year and tells you what the crowd levels will be for each week. They even have the weeks ranked in order from best week to worst week.

Touring Plans is a great website with a very accurate crowd calendar. If you want full access to the crowd calendar, you can subscribe for 1 year for $12.95. They will also create a touring plan for you to do everything you want to do in the most efficient way possible. If you want to view the crowd calendar for free, make sure you look 30-60 days before your trip. They only show 30-60 days from the current date for free. To see more than that, you have to subscribe.

Some other crowd calendars that I also like are Easy WDW, Dad's Guide to Walt Disney World, and Undercover Tourist.

I checked all of these calendars and compared each one to decide which days we would go to each park.

 

Where to stay?
There are a lot of lodging options in Orlando so it kind of depends on your preference. Do you want to stay in a Disney hotel or stay off-site? The advantage of staying in a Disney hotel is you're very close and you have easier access to the parks. But they're a little more expensive than staying in some of the off-site hotels.

We booked an extra vacation through RCI and it only cost $349 for a week. Our condo also had a shuttle that took us to the parks. The downside was that the shuttle only came at certain times and we couldn't get to the park as early as I would've liked to. But it was a sacrifice we were willing to make since our lodging was so much cheaper. Plus we didn't have to pay for parking at the parks.

How many days to go/which parks to go to?
If you've never been before I would recommend going to each park at least once. So you would need at least a 4 day pass. There are 4 parks: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. They also have a few water parks which we have never been to. I did a post for each park so I could talk about each park in detail:

Magic Kingdom
Epcot
Hollywood Studios
Animal Kingdom

Park hoppers are more expensive than one park per day tickets. In my opinion, I think the one park per day tickets are better options because a) it's cheaper, and b) Disney World is so big that it would take a lot of time park hopping.

The advantage of park hopping is you can go to another park if the park you're at closes early. Or maybe you're planning on going to each park once and you want to park hop on your last day.

We bought 5 day one park per day tickets and I thought it was perfect. We went to Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom once and we went to Magic Kingdom twice. 

Fast Pass+
Disney World has a fairly new fast pass system. It was implemented in the park about a year ago and all guests can have access to it. It is different than the paper fast pass system at Disneyland. The Fast Pass+ is used electronically. You can book your fast passes 30 days in advance if you're staying off-site and have park tickets and 60 days in advance if you're staying at a Disney hotel. You book them through the My Disney Experience page or on the app. You can pick 3 fast passes in a day and you can choose from most rides, shows, and character experiences. After you've used your 3rd fast pass+ you can go to any kiosk in the park and book another fast pass+. Once you've completed that one, you can choose another, and so on.

I really liked this new system. It was so nice to know that all of my fast passes were already booked when I got to the park and I didn't have to run around getting paper fast passes and then returning when it was time to ride. We were able to walk onto so many rides using the fast pass+.

Magic Bands
If you stay in a Disney hotel, your Magic Band is included with your tickets. If you're staying off-site, you have to pay extra if you want a Magic Band. You can use a Magic Band as your park tickets, fast passes, room key, and you can also link it to your credit card for purchases at the park. We stayed off-site and did not purchase Magic Bands. I didn't feel like they are totally necessary. Our tickets were also used as our fast passes so I felt like we had everything we needed. But a lot of people really like them so it's all about your preferences.

How old should your kids be?

I think Disney World is fun for all ages but I would recommend going if your child is at least 40" tall. My youngest was barely 40" and she was tall enough for almost all of the rides except one or two in each park. She also was at the perfect age for all of the magic of Disney. She wanted to meet every character, see every show, and she loved every ride. She rode on Tower of Terror 4 times!

If your child is smaller than 40" they can still have a great time. Just plan on splitting up and using the child swap pass so you're whole family can ride. I've taken my kids to Disneyland at 10 months, 20 months, and almost 3 and it was always so much fun for the kids even though they don't remember it. I remember seeing the look on their faces and to me it was priceless!

Disney World vs Disneyland
A lot of people have asked me which I like better, Disney World or Disneyland. After going to both parks, I feel like it is totally even. I love them both! There were things that I like better about Disney World but there are also things I like better about Disneyland. Disney World is huge! It's like its own city. A lot of people like that it is so big and you feel so removed from real life. Disneyland is all close together. You can easily walk from Disneyland to California Adventure. I like that about Disneyland but it all just depends on your preference.

Other Tips

*Prepare for rain: Florida weather is unpredictable. I had read many things about being prepared for rain before our trip and unfortunately I didn't follow through. It ended up raining 3 of the 5 days at Disney World. Not just a little rain. It rained all day! We only had two rain ponchos and we had to share, holding them above our heads as we ran through the park. I'm sure it was quite the sight! We ended up buying rain ponchos before our last day but I wish we would've had them the whole time. The good thing about the rain was the lines were super short. We were able to ride everything multiple times.

*Plan some down time: Disney World can be exhausting and you definitely need some time to recover in between days at the park. We were there for a total of ten days so we planned a swimming or beach day in between each day at the park. We also spent some time at Downtown Disney and Disney's Boardwalk. Both of these places were really fun! If your schedule allows, you definitely need to plan some time to relax.

*Wear good shoes: You're going to be walking A LOT so it's good to wear shoes that you can walk in. I'm actually more comfortable in flip flops so that's what I wore the whole time and that worked out perfect, especially since it rained the whole time!

*Bring lunch and snacks: Disney food can be really expensive so it's a good idea to bring your own. It's fun to buy a few snacks here and there but if you buy every meal and snack at the park, you'll go broke!

*Hit the beach: I love the ocean so I take advantage of every opportunity I can to see it. Daytona Beach is about an hour to the east and we love that beach! If you want to go to the west coast of Florida and see the Gulf of Mexico, Clearwater is also a great area. There are a lot of really cool beaches there and it's about 1 1/2 hours from Orlando.

*Buy Disney gift cards: Before our trip I bought some Disney gift cards from Smith's to pay for our food while we were there. I bought the gift cards while they were doing 4x fuel rewards points so I saved some extra money on gas. See my post How I Save Money on Gas.

*Have a plan but be flexible: It's a great idea to go in with a plan. Know which rides you want to ride first and which attractions are a priority. But things don't always go as planned so you need to be flexible. Maybe you don't get there as early as you'd like to, or maybe it rains all day. (Both of these things happened to us!) Don't get upset when things don't go as planned. You gotta just go with it. You're in the happiest place on earth and you need to enjoy just being there!

If you're interested in planning a Disney World vacation, contact Mandy at thetravelingcircus39@gmail.com. 

Florida~ St. Petersburg/Clearwater

My husband recently had a work trip in Tampa so I decided to fly out at the end of the week to spend the weekend in Florida with him. My wonderful parents watched our kids for 4 nights and I am so grateful to them. They make it possible for us to go on fun trips together.

I had enough points from my rewards credit card to get my flight for free. I highly recommend getting a travel rewards credit card because you can save so much money on flying. See my post on the best travel rewards credit cards.

My husband had enough Marriott Rewards points from previous work trips to pay for two nights at a hotel so we just had to pay for one night. All we had to pay for was a rental car, one night at a hotel, food, and whatever we decided to do. All of my husband's travel was payed for.

Before I travel anywhere, I always research the area to see what kinds of things we want to do and where we want to eat while we're there. When I researched Tampa, I realized that there are a lot of things to do like museums and shopping but we mostly just wanted to go to the beach. We live in Utah so we take advantage of any opportunity we can to hit the beach!

We decided to stay in the St. Petersburg and Clearwater area so we could be closer to the beaches. We spent one day at Universal Studios Orlando, which was an hour and a half away. It was a blast! I love Universal Studios. It's definitely a must-see! The rest of the trip was mostly spent at different beaches in the area.

The beaches we went to were Clearwater Beach, Madeira Beach, Treasure Island Beach, and St. Pete Beach.

All of these beaches were so beautiful! The sand was very white and super fine. None of the beaches were too busy but it was January so it wasn't really peak season. I'm sure in the summer these beaches get pretty busy. The temperature was about 65-70 degrees so it wasn't exactly swimsuit weather but I thought the weather was perfect.

I think my favorite of all of these beaches was Madeira Beach, even though I read that Clearwater Beach was the most popular. Across the street from Madeira Beach was a place called John's Pass Boardwalk. There were lots of shops and restaurants right on the pier. It was one of my favorite places we went on our trip. It was such a fun atmosphere!

We also ate a lot of really yummy seafood while we were there. I always research restaurants and read the reviews and menus before we go on a trip. These are the restaurants that we ate at:

Frenchy's Rockaway Grille- Clearwater Beach:
This restaurant was right on the beach so it was a really fun atmosphere. A lot of people recommended this restaurant so I had high expectations. My husband and I shared a Grouper sandwich and we each had a bowl of crab soup. The soup was amazing but the sandwich was just okay. There are a few other Frenchy's locations in the area and I'm wondering if one of the other locations might be a little better.

Crabby Bills- Clearwater Beach:
My husband and I both ordered a bucket of crab legs, shrimp, mussels, and clams. I've never had mussels or clams before so it was a new experience. The mussels were good but the clams were interesting. The crab and shrimp were good but I've had better at other restaurants.

The Hut- Madeira Beach at St. John's Pass
This restaurant was right on the dock. It was such a fun experience. We had shrimp tacos and a shrimp caesar wrap. The food was okay. It was kind of generic food, nothing special. But the view was amazing, the weather was perfect, and we had so much fun.

The Oyster Shucker- St. Pete Beach
My husband and I both ordered all you can eat crab legs. Oh my goodness! They were so good! This was probably one of the best meals I've had in my life.

Chevy's Fresh Mex- Orlando
This is where we ate after Universal Studios. We usually don't like to go to chain restaurants on vacation because we like to try the local food. But we don't have a Chevy's near us so we decided to give it a try. The chips and salsa were delicious. I ordered fish tacos and they were probably the best fish tacos I've ever had. It was made with mahi mahi and topped with a pineapple salsa. Seriously so good!

Fourth Street Shrimp Store- St. Petersburg
This was probably one of the best meals of our trip. My husband and I shared a lobster and shrimp roll and peel and eat shrimp. The lobster roll had so much lobster meat and whole pieces of shrimp. It was heavenly. Peel and eat shrimp is also one of our favorite things to eat and it was so good here because it tasted so fresh. I would definitely come back here if we are ever in the area again.

This was such a fun trip! I would definitely recommend visiting this area if you've never been here. I love Florida and I love the beach. It was such a perfect little getaway!

Universal Studios Orlando~ Islands of Adventure

My husband recently had a work trip in Tampa, Florida so I flew out at the end of the week and we spent the weekend in Florida together. While we were there, we decided to go to Universal Studios in Orlando, which was about an hour and a half away.

Since we were only there for a short time, we opted to just go to one park for one day. If you have more than one day, I definitely recommend going for two days or more and going to both parks. My husband and I came here for our 10th anniversary four years ago and we went to both parks. This time, we decided to go to Islands of Adventure because we liked that park a little better. But they're both amazing.

The pass we bought was $96 and it was a one day pass and could only be used in one park. It's definitely not the best deal but we were short on time so that's what we chose. If we were to upgrade to a park to park pass, it would've been $136. For the same price of $136, you can get a two day pass that's one park per day. I think that's the best deal. However, if you want to ride the new Hogwart's Express which takes you from park to park, you'll need a park to park pass. So if that's a priority to you, then you'll need to get that pass.

It's a good idea to look at crowd calendars before your trip to decide which days are the best days to go to the park. These crowd calendars are based on years of statistics so they're actually pretty accurate. Here are some links to crowd calendars:
Orlando Informer
Undercover Tourist
Touring Plans

The park is divided into sections: The Lost Continent, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, Toon Lagoon, Marvel Super Hero Island, and Suess Landing.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

This was by far my favorite part of the park. Whether or not you're a Harry Potter fan, you'll love being here! It feels like you're right in the movie. The details were amazing! It's something that you have to experience, especially if you're a die hard Harry Potter fan.

They recently opened a new area called Diagon Alley, which is located in Universal Studios. Unfortunately, we didn't get to experience it because we only went to Islands of Adventure but if it's anything like this part of the park, I'm sure it's awesome!

There are 3 different rides in this section of the park. They are Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, Dragon Challenge, and Flight of the Hippogriff. They were all so much fun but my favorite was Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. The line goes through the caste and it looks just like it does in the movie. Even the pictures hanging on the wall move! The ride itself is so much fun because you're flying with Harry Potter and it feels so real. The effects are amazing!

You can also go to the gift shops and buy Harry Potter memorabilia such as wands, shirts, candy, etc. We tried Butterbeer for the first time. It was good but it was a little overpriced for what it was. But that is to be expected in a theme park, right?

 

Jurassic Park

We loved Jurassic Park! There are only two rides in this section of the park. They are Pteranadon Flyers, which is only for kids, and Jurassic Park River Adventure. They also have a section with interactive activities that remind me a lot of the movie. (We just happened to watch the movie a few weeks before we came here.)

Suess Landing

This is the only section of the park with kiddie rides. It was so cute! Just like you're walking through the pages of every Dr. Suess book. So much fun!

 

Marvel Super Hero Island

This was a really fun part of the park. My boys would love it! Everything is super heroes! There are four rides here. The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman, Doctor Doom's Fearfall, The Incredible Hulk Coaster, and Storm Force Accelatron. My favorite was the Spiderman ride. It's in 3D and it feels so real.

Toon Lagoon

 

This section of the park is comic book and cartoon characters. It's really cute! There are only two rides and they're both water rides. We decided to ride one of them even though it was a little chilly that day. I'm not sure if it was the best idea. It was so much fun but we got soaked! It took us forever to dry off. They had drying machines that you could use but they cost $5! Kind of a rip off, in my opinion. But the ride was really fun even if we were cold for the rest of the day.

Overall, I really loved this park. I am a huge Disney fan and this park is the closest theme park to the way a Disney park feels. It felt magical just like Disney. But I still prefer Disney to Universal Studios and this is why. Both parks cost a small fortune but at the Disney parks I always feel like I'm getting special treatment. Here I felt like they were just trying to get more money out of me. For example, at the Disney parks, fast passes are included with your park tickets. It's on a first come first serve basis, but everyone has access to them. At Universal, you can purchase an Express Pass that will allow you to wait in certain lines that will put you in front of everyone else. Prices for an Express Pass start at $34.99 and go up to $59.99 depending on the option you choose. We also sat through a magic show that felt more like a sales pitch. The tricks he showed us were really cool but I felt like they just wanted our money. When I spend this much money to go to a theme park, I don't like feeling like I have to spend more. But it is a really fun park and I would definitely go here again. 

If you have small children, I would probably recommend waiting until they're a little older to take them here. Almost all of the rides have height requirements so you would be spending the majority of your time in Suess Landing and you would have to get child swap passes. I'm sure my four year old would love Suess Landing but there's not much more she would be able to ride. If I'm going to spend that much money, I want to make sure my kids can enjoy everything.

This place is awesome and I can't wait until I can take my kids here. They will love it! Especially my son who is a huge Harry Potter fan.