There comes a point in every young adult's life when they are approaching the big decade switch to the "dreaded" thirties. I guess I hadn't put too much time into thinking about it until I was about a month out. I'd say jokes or comments like, "I think I'm finding more gray's instead of blondes," or "I wonder what's going to quit on me as soon as I hit 30" and
Clay had his cute and funny comments as well.
Clay had his cute and funny comments as well.
A while ago we had talked about going on a cruise for the big day but we have several weddings coming up and needed to take more days off than we could afford for a cruise. SO we decided to go to Universal Studios in Orlando - the first major theme park since we've moved here! It ended up working out PERFECTLY. We got a deal through Hilton to stay in one of their hotels or resorts for 3 nights for $150 and attend a "timeshare" presentation where we would have the "opportunity to invest" in some Hilton property (more on that later.) In exchange, we got a ton of Hilton Honors points and a majorly discounted trip! Umm...yea we took the deal. It was a fantastic decision AND AAA had a deal going on Universal tickets - buy a 2 day pass (1 park per day) and get a 3rd day free! Since my actual birthday was on a Tuesday, we left the Friday before & took Monday off to celebrate.
Our itinerary looked like this:
Friday - get off work and drive to Orlando (2.5 hours)
Saturday - Universal all day
Sunday - Islands of Adventure all day
Monday - whatever park we wanted to go back to, outlet shopping & drive home
The whole week before we went, we just couldn't get over how excited we both were! We got all packed up on Thursday and left right after Clay got off work on Friday - 5ish. It takes about 2.5 hours to get there which is totally doable. We checked into the Doubletree which is a block away from the park, got our warm chocolate chip cookies, dropped our bags, and headed out to CityWalk which is right outside the parks. It's a huge area with tons of restaurants, shops, and more "adult" nightlife. We found the perfect place for dinner: MEXICAN!
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| Clay's stuffed poblano pepper with yummy sauce |
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| My chile braised pork shoulder with taco shells |
It was SO delish! So please note in my dinner photo the small grilled green PEPPER...which I totally thought was a green bean. Don't ask why - I was having one of those "thirty" moments! I picked it up and bit it...and immediately regretted this decision. My mouth was literally on fire and I was grabbing at every drink and chip I could fit in. It was one of those eye-watering/red face moments and all Clay could do was ask if I was OK and poke fun at me for biting the "green bean."
Eventually I was fine and dinner resumed.
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| I only chomped on 1/2 the pepper! And yes, I spit it out. |
After dinner, we walked around, popped in a few more places, and headed back to the hotel.
DAY 1: Universal
Saturday morning, we woke up around 7AM and Clay walked down to the lobby to get us tickets to ride the free shuttle over to the park entrance before we had breakfast. We got there around 9:00 AM and the weather was definitely iffy. Luckily Universal has a ton of indoor rides and only 1 coaster, so it worked out just perfectly! It was still around 75 degrees and overcast and if a storm came through, we just ran into the closest ride and got in line.
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| "Hollywood" |
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| Our first ride of the day! |
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| Then we headed to Simpsons world...which we saw in L.A. when we went to visit Clay's cousin Jaime & James when they got married. A tad disappointing but still fun. |
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| exact same ride in LA...but still SO fun! |
MIB was super cheesy but kinda fun at the same time. You're in a little car with laser guns and have to shoot as many aliens as you can for points. Will Smith is there to give pep talks and let you know if you passed or not. Clay got the high score in our car of course.
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| A storm started so we dashed into this Disaster! studios where they "cast" members to be in a movie trailer and piece it together and show it at the end. |
Since the rain stopped, we headed to the "Rock and Roll" coaster where you can pick your own music that plays in your headrest while you ride. Clay and I were in THE FRONT ROW.
It was an awesome ride! I chose Daft Punk and he chose Cypress Hill.
RIGHT as we got in and got strapped down, I tried to snap a selfie of us and then shove my camera in my sports bra but the ladies running the coaster kept yelling at me to put it away and Clay never even looked at the camera. :( Guess he was nervous!
After the coaster, we headed to lunch at Finnegan's - an Irish pub. Perfect timing again, because while we ate, another huge storm came through and ended right before we left!
After lunch we walked around to let our food settle before we got on another ride. We ended up going to Fear Factor LIVE where they hold auditions from park visitors and cast them in a live show. I haven't seen Fear Factor in forever but it was definitely entertaining.
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| This picture is for Clay's mom! |
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| This girl from the audience had scorpions put on her head while it was enclosed in a glass box...ewww! |
Then we walked to a Horror Makeup Show and saw the Dora the Explorer parade. The cat in the back of the Jeep (second picture below) reminded us of Cheeto and we were laughing so hard about it that we were in tears. We couldn't stop laughing about it for quite some time. In fact, as I am looking at it and typing this right now, I'm giggling uncontrollably once again.
(YEP...insert nerdy cat lover joke here. We have no shame.)
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| CHEETO! |
Then we rode the rest of the 3D rides: Transformers, Shrek 4D (which we saw at Busch Gardens in VA,) and Despicable Me, which had the longest wait consistently all day long.
It had been a while since both of us had eaten here.
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| Clay's ribs and brisket. |
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| My mac&cheese stuffed burger...yes it was incredible! |
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| delicious!!!!! |
DAY 2: Islands of Adventure
Sunday was a GORGEOUS day! It was 80-85 degrees and sunny for the majority of the day! We had breakfast and headed to the "timeshare" presentation at a Hilton resort for about 2.5 hours. It was relatively painless and managed to get to the park by noon, without a share of their properties.
Since the weather was significantly better, we were worried about lines being too long so we bought the Fast Pass. This pass allows you to go in a totally different line from all other riders and skip straight to the front, saving you TONS of time. The big thing here is Harry Potter World which everyone says to head straight there in the morning since the lines fill up fast. The Fast Pass doesn't work in HP World, so we figured we'd be back on Monday to see it. I also went to guest services and got a birthday button! Staff and others would shout out "Happy Birthday" all day!
First ride: The HULK! (our fave)
Then we were in Marvel Comics Heaven! I kept thinking about my Dad and nephews who all LOVE Marvel superheroes!
Clay forced me on Dr. Doom's Fear Fall...which I HATE the feeling of free falling. It's one of those things that I'd be happy never doing again - I get to the point where I'm not screaming, just managing to get out some painful sound and saying over and over again "oh no, oh no, oh no."
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| this appropriately captures our feelings about this ride. I did it. Only once though! |
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| THE BEST 3D ride there!! |
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| snapped a photo at the end of the ride! |
Dudley Do Right's Ripsaw Falls was one of the best "log flume" type rides we've ever been on. It was super long, super fun, and we got super soaking wet. Clay decided to put his poncho on at the LAST MINUTE in line and when we hopped in, he was in the front of our log. Since his poncho wasn't totally in the seat with him, it started flapping around in my face and when I realized just HOW wet we were about to get, I grabbed the flap and shoved it over my head on the way down the mega hill.
Since we were already wet, we went to Jurassic Park, put on the ponchos,
and got in a boat that was COMPLETELY full. It was like a wave to the face and we had no chance of staying dry even with our ponchos!
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| The boat dropped from the top of that building all the way down with T-Rex roaring at you! |
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| wave to the face time |
Then we walked around to dry off and headed to HP World just to see what the lines were like. Sidenote, I have failed to recognize just how in awe we were at how well everything was done at both of these parks. They were incredibly detailed and every section was extremely intricate.
I'm not a majorly obsessed HP fan (read only the 1st book) but it was really well done. We checked out "the ride" and it was closed down for the first time ever (we heard an employee say.) WHAT? So we had a butterbeer and rode one of the coasters in this section. Butterbeer is a non-alcoholic caramel flavored icy drink...and it was incredible! I wish I could get those somewhere other than Universal.
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| Double Coaster in HP world |
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| excited to ride! I LOVE when your feet hang! |
Then we went to a super-cheesy indoor "tour" called Poseidon's Adventure
where we laughed the whole time.
Seuss Landing was also very well done and super cute! I was in teacher heaven!
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| riding the "Seuss" train - awesome view! |
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| HULK smash |
For lunch, we went to the #1 Theme Park place called Mythos Restaurant. It's a MUST DO if you ever go! It does not seem like you're in a theme park at all - so fast and delicious!
After lunch, we went to another show about Sinbad the pirate. OMG...it was terrible. About 10 minutes in, we got up and left and JUST as we got up during the performance, they announced on the loudspeaker that they were having "technical difficulties" and suddenly started blowing things up to keep people entertained. It was hilarious and again, we couldn't stop laughing.
We snapped some obligatory dino photos on our way back to Marvel Comic Island to ride a few of our favorites one more time. The Harry Potter ride was shut down all day so we decided to return on Monday for day 3!
And then this happened...she was REALLY upset.
Who could be upset with Captain America by your side?
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| Doctor Doom...another angle so you can see JUST how high up it was! YIKES! |
We had a fantastic day! It was one of our favorite parks that we've been to! OH...and remember it was Sunday? I failed to mention that it was Superbowl Sunday (not that we cared about either team that much) but we wrapped up the day and headed back to the hotel to shower and get ready to see if we could go watch the game somewhere.
In our hotel parking lot, there was an Orlando Ale House, so we tried it out hoping that it wasn't already way too crowded. Things just kept getting better for us that day - they were selling $25 tickets for the AYCE buffet. They calculated how many seats they had available and sold tickets that way, asking where everyone wanted to be seated as they arrived. It just so happened that they had 3 tickets left...2 of which were at the SAME TABLE! WHEW! It was actually a pretty good buffet with lots of seafood and wings and we cheered on Wilson & the Seahawks! (GO STATE!)
DAY 3: Islands of Adventure take 2
So on day 3, we got up early, packed the car, and headed over to the parks in hopes of getting on the Harry Potter ride that everyone was talking about. We hit the entrance and booked it to the ride which was ALL THE WAY in the back of the park!
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| Clay bought me this awesome HULK hat! |
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| Post-ride...I think Clay is tired of our "selfies" |
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| I'm at the bottom - LOVED this ride! |
We rode all of our favorites again (with hardly any wait time) and were out of the park by noon. We stopped at Bubba Gump for lunch before leaving for home.
Of course I was wearing my birthday button again (1 day before my actual birthday) and here they do things a little different. Instead of coming and singing to you at the table, they made me go into the bar area (which was more crowded) and dance to a song they sang. I was a tad embarrassed.
Then we renewed our vows with Forrest and Jenny.
After lunch, Clay took me to the Columbia outlet to get a pair of pants I'd been eyeing for all of our outdoors stuff we do! YAY - how awesome!
MY ACTUAL BIRTHDAY: BACK TO WORK!
My amazing coworkers Katie & Michelle and my 2 interns decorated my ENTIRE room and I was totally surprised when I got there on Tuesday morning! It was so awesome! These pictures seriously don't do it justice - balloons, confetti, streamers, and presents were EVERYWHERE. All the kids either had a party had or a noiseless party blower on their desks to celebrate! It was fantastic. I'm so lucky that I work with some great people!
I was also super excited because I got a KINDLE paperwhite from my parents and accessories from my brother and sister-in-law. I am halfway through my first book, Orange is the New Black and really love it. I thought I'd miss an actual book, but it has so many great features that I'm totally hooked!
For dinner that night, my coworkers also arranged for dinner at one of our favorites, The Great Outdoors. A lot of people from my school came and we really enjoyed our evening eating outside! It was the perfect ending to perfect day!
WHEW! So if you're already 30, I've heard it's the new 20. And if you aren't 30 just yet, it's not as bad as everyone makes it seem. It's been an incredible start and I know it'll just keep getting better!
LIFE IS GOOD. Actually...LIFE IS THE BEST IT'S EVER BEEN.
