For the last couple of years, we've had a plan for a Spring 2021 vacation with the kids to Washington D.C. Really up until early 2021, that was still our plan. As we started to get closer to Spring though, things were still pretty shut down in D.C. and so we pivoted and decided to push off D.C. until the Fall (which also contributed to our decision to homeschool for another year for schedule flexibility). We still wanted/needed a vacation for the Spring though, and I got to thinking about possibly taking the kids to Universal Studios in Orlando.
Originally, we had thought that we'd take the kids back to Disney World sometime in early 2022, and during that trip planned on tacking on a day or two at Universal Studios. Universal was offering some great discounts for this Spring, and I told Matt it would be fun to be able to have a full experience at Universal and then do a full Disney trip next year. And unlike Disney World, Universal has very few attractions and experiences that have been modified or canceled because of COVID. It didn't take much to convince Matt of it, and we had a new vacation plan, yay!
We spent the weeks leading up to our trip researching touring plans, crowd calendars, reading/watching Harry Potter, making shirts and getting excited! Nathan finished the final Harry Potter book with a couple weeks to spare before our trip, and I rewatched all the movies during my treadmill runs. Matt was able to reread most of the Harry Potter books too, and Samuel finished up the third book/movie before our trip too. We were ready and very excited!!
Based on flight prices, we decided to drive to Orlando and left early Saturday morning and drove to Atlanta. The kids always do great in the car, and this trip was no exception. They slept for the first part of the drive, and then we listened to the first Harry Potter book during most of the trip. Although Elisabeth is a little young for it, we wanted her to have a more full experience at Universal and be familiar with the characters/setting/plot.
We made it to town around 2:00 and checked into our hotel. We stayed at the Cabana Bay resort, and we were super impressed with it. We got a suite, and the room was perfect for us. Everyone had a place to sleep and we had a little kitchen area to eat breakfast (and sometimes dinner) and store all our stuff.
The kids were so excited about our room. I missed the beginning of the room reveal, but I think you can still tell they were happy with our room (or at least happy to be out of the car).
We unpacked a bit, and changed clothes, and then drove to Disney Springs for the evening. I told Matt I was worried about going to Disney Springs because I thought it would make me sad to be so close to Disney World but not get to go. I ended up being okay and we had a fun evening, but I'm itching for things to get back to normal there, so we can have some more Disney magic in our life. Knowing that we're planning on a trip there in the next year helped me not be too disappointed.
We walked around and shopped for awhile.
We had fun in the big World of Disney store. Katherine was enamored with everything. She couldn't decide what to buy, kept changing her mind or getting distracted by another toy. I'm ready to get that princess loving girl to Magic Kingdom soon!
After dinner we drove back to our resort, and Matt took the kids swimming for a little while. I stayed back in the room to get things settled/packed and ready for an early morning at Universal!
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