Disney World

On Day 3 we visited the "happiest place on earth".

I asked a man to take our picture. Once we all got gathered he said, "There's a lot of you.". Yep, there is. It was a very chilly day. As soon as we could we found jackets for Retta and Adam.

That castle had my attention ALL day!

Poor Dex was tired of all the fun we were having I think. He was wonderful everyday. He's such a happy, easy baby.

We found tea cups! Adam wanted to spin and Retta and I didn't.

These two thought they were so cool to be riding all by themselves.

Here is one of the many stroller parking spots. It was crazy! I Think there were more people here than at Universal. People were everywhere.

Adam was chosen to be a pirate with Captain Jack Sparrow. He's so talented he can fight with one hand in his pocket.

Magic Kingdom was more family/child friendly than Universal. The two littles were able to ride almost everything they wanted. We did more together because of that. I love my family!

We happened to come upon this parade.

I loved the lights! It really was magical.

Orlando family vacation ~ Universal Studios

Universal was our first stop. Since we were staying on the resort we could enter the park an hour early each day. That made a huge difference in lines.

Day 1

 Our first line was entering the park. We were excited! Adam is making a plan.

 We made it to Diagon Ally! So exciting!

 Ollivanders was very cool! Carson was the"chosen one". Here he is getting sized for his first wand.

This moment gave me chills! All of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter gave me chills.

 All three boys got an interactive wand. Which meant there were locations around both parks to do a little magic.

We got butterbeer ice cream EVERYDAY! It was sooo good. Bailee tried frozen butterbeer. Kind of like a slushy.

 We road the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade.

 Hogsmeade!

 WE loved all of it!

 Suess Landing was so cute. Although, Rettta hated the carousel. I found out she hates pretty much all rides. This could have been a long week with her. Luckily we found water! Poppi and I hung out with Retta and Dex while the others went on rides.

We went to watch a play about the Who's and Dex didn't like it. Retta sat perfectly still for the whole show.

We decided to leave around 8 and before we could get out of the park it started to rain...HARD! The water taxi's don't run in the rain so we chose to take the path home. We struggled to find the path. We were more than slightly wet once we arrived at our hotel. Oh the memories we were making.

So nice to be home again.

Day 2

We found a ride that Retta liked and we all went on it, except Dex and Poppi. Retta is sitting next to Bailee.

Our treats from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

The picture below was the expression I got in most pictures. I tried to roll with it.

My back was giving me grief so there were many rides I couldn't go on. I was ok with not riding with everyone else. Often the littles hung out with me. I had fun, I hope they did too.

Retta hug every character we came in contact with. Adam stood next to Curious George only because I asked. She's such a friendly girl.

As we were finding someplace to have fun we came across Dru, Vector, and Minnions! So fun!

We found this pint size restroom. Retta thought it was just for her. Everything was her size.

We also found this water/splash area. It wasn't a warm day though. I told them they could go check it out but I made them promise they wouldn't get wet. They agreed.

 Another treat from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, a cauldron cake.

Waiting for the character parade. Bailee is aching to make her usual face, but I was too quick this time. ;)

 Then we watched the Macy's Parade and called it a night.

Day 3 was spent at Magic Kingdom.

Day 4, our last day in Orlando.

Everyone agreed that this was our favorite day. We went on a couple rides that we hadn't been on plus we rode maybe 3 or 4 of our favorites again.

 Our last butterbeer ice cream. It will be greatly missed!

Man it's hard getting all of us in a selfie! We were in line to ride Hogwarts Express and we were having more fun than everyone around us, AKA loud.

 Platform 9 3/4 was cool how it worked.

 Besides butterbeer ice cream, The Three Broomsticks had the best food. We loved everything about our lunch, ribs, rotisserie chicken, corn on the cob, broccoli, carrots, YUM!

WE had a wonderful vacation!

Let's see if I can sum it up for you.

3,367 miles

12 States (Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisana, Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri.)

6 Shuldberg's

4 McRae's

3 amusement parks

2 siblings visited

1 walk for fuel*

AND memories to last a lifetime!

*I may not have shared about running out of fuel on the toll road through Oklahoma. Well we ran out of fuel. It was around 1 AM and Brian thought he had maybe 20 miles left. The nearest gas stations were either 9 miles ahead or 3 miles back. He walked back and bought a gas can for $30. He ended up walking 6.4 miles and it took about 2 hours. As we were putting the fuel in the Yukon a police officer pulled up. We made all kinds of memories on this trip.