The Good ...and the Awesome: our trip to Disney and Universal!

Equipping Catholic Families has been pretty quiet lately…as we have just returned from our first ever trip to Disney with the kids, along with my brother and mom!

Just a few surprises on our trip!

The good …and the AWESOME!

1. Free car seat and booster check on US Airline flights. Yippee!

2. Dinner and breakfast offered to us at the Homewood Suites, everyday that we were there.

3. Meet and greet with some key characters 9am at Hollywood Studios

(Uncle Steve and friends)

4. a FREE giant chocolate fudge brownie Family Sundae was was presented to us at Storybook Treats as we dodged the rain and prepared to order some treats for a pick-me-up. I still don’t know WHY they gave it to us, but it was AWESOME!
Sorry that the picture is a little fuzzy…I guess I was distracted by the Giant Chocolate Fudge Brownie Sundae Goodness.

3. Awesome walk through Hogwarts! Aren’t the lockers at the Forbidden Journey at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter cool? Secured by a fingerprint…I guess not THAT sophisticated these days, but I liked them. The ride was AWESOME!

6. Favorite rides at Magic Kingdom: Haunted Mansion, Buzz Lightyear, Monsters Inc show!, Philharmagic in 3D:
LOVE Fastpass! Why don’t more people use this?

7.Favorite Rides at Universal: Forbidden Journey, Spiderman

8. Favorite Rides at Hollywood Studios: Toy Story Midway Mania, Star Wars, the Great Movie Ride, awesome shows: Animation Studios, Ariel, Beauty and the Beast, Muppets, Walt Disney:
LOVE Fastpass! Why don’t more people use this?

9. Universal City Walk…very cool! Very cool themed sections of park: Harry Potter, Dr Seuss, Marvel!
Even parking was good: covered and premium option, walking sidewalks

10. Restaurants: a little pricey but as expected for a good amount of food, efficiently fast and AC seating…especially Three Broomsticks (Universal) and Pizza Planet (Hollywood Studios)

11. Ocean Pointe Suites was a great place for us to stay in Key Largo…we were sad that Hurricane Isaac chased us out of there a day early without any snorkeling with the kids. We would love to stay here again, with their nice big, full laundry and kitchen-equipped suites, giant pool, little beach, pier, boat rentals, tennis court, DVD player, and ocean-view balcony!

12. Happy to get a little swimming at South Beach, (stomping ground of Michael Westen of Burn Notice) and very happy at our hotel in Miami: we stayed at the Embassy Suites with plenty of room for all of our kids, an awesome free Sunday breakfast and evening cocktail hours, beautiful pool (even if it was raining) and a kind shuttle driver who made an extra trip to the airport when we missed the 4:30am shuttle!

…and the not so awesome…

-1. Problem with online ordering and printing of Universal tickets

-2. Long phone call to switch to Will Call pick-up tickets at Universal

-3. Closed Will Call Kiosk imposed a 1 hour wait at the Universal gate. Not cool!

-4. Whole party couldn’t ride the Forbidden Journey…and then I (the Mom) was separated from my 3 kids needlessly at the last second before boarding the 4-person car

-5. THREE hotel shuttle times in and THREE shuttle times out of the park …from Homewood Suites (to Epcot only) …just took a little planning …and waiting in the rain

-6. Kelly lost her ipod…if you see a tangerine colored ipod nano with the words
“I have just met u and I luv u” on the back, let me know! =)

…but still didn’t put a damper on our fun!