September 20-October 6, 2024
We had such an awesome time on our two week trip to Florida to do amusement parks (universal, volcano Bay, Busch gardens, and sea world) and then on a week long Royal Caribbean cruise on freedom of the seas.
Theme park highlights:
We were there during hurricane Helene so we got some rain at the parks and one of the days the park closed at 3 rather than 5 but the nice things is we had very little people in the parks and didn't have to wait more than 15 minutes for just about anything but lots of rides we were able to walk right on so I'd say that's worth it!
This was our first time at Busch gardens and volcano Bay-we really loved both! One highlight at volcano Bay was the Aqua coaster that we got to ride 7 times in a day most of which we didn't even have to get off since no one was in line.
We got a refund for sea world since they had blocked off half the park for their scary nights and also blocked the bridge so we couldn't go to the orca show plus had rides closed-it was great to get a refund.
We had all day dining at Busch and sea world for two of us and could eat every 90 minutes-it fed us plenty for our family of 7 and it was awesome!
Cruise highlights:
Ice cream all.the.time
Rachel and Austin danced their hearts out at the stage by the pool on the first day for half an hour-it was the cutest!
Rachel sang "let it go" on family karaoke night so cute and brave
The ship had flowrider, rock climbing, two waterslides, an ice skating rink, mini golf and laser tag!
We stopped at Coco Bay, Puerto Rico and St Thomas. We went snorkeling as a family at every stop which was fun. The ocean water temperature was wonderful and we had amazing weather the whole cruise. Lots of jellyfish at both the first and last stop too. Spencer and Caden both got stung by jellyfish. Darrin felt one brush him on his swim shirt and then saw it but didn't get stung because of his shirt 🙌.
In st Thomas they had a water obstacle course and no one was there to take money so we just played on it and it was extra risky to fall with the large jellyfish!
Parker and Spencer got invited to be in the 360 boogie board competition on the last day. They had 5 contestants and had 90 seconds to see how many 360s they could do. Parker and Spencer both got 20, two others got 14 and another got 7. So they had a tie breaker and in 60 seconds Parker got 37 and Spencer got 17. It was intense!
June our waiter was so good to us and did a magic trick for the kids every night.
Of course dinners were wonderful and so fun to try the foods and be waited on.
The ice skating show was amazing!
I lost my fanny pack for a few days and checked at guest services and they didn't have it but checked again later and they did 🙌. So grateful it had some important stuff.
Darrin played soccer, volleyball and pool volleyball and it was so fun to watch
The kids enjoyed kids club and spent a lot of time there. Spencer was bummed that he didn't quite make the cutoff for the teens club but it was nice that Parker could pick up and drop-off for kids club and Spencer and Caden could check themselves in and out freely.
We spent A LOT of time at flowrider-especially Parker and Spencer.
Darrin and I got to have date nights every night after the kids got to bed. Dinner was at 7, then we'd put the kids to bed and we'd go to a show and then out to hot chocolate and to play a dice game.
We played a lot of dice games (yatzee and quixx mostly)
On the last day Parker got a girls phone number (Hayden from Orlando)
Bummers of the trip: our rental car breaking down in less than 24 hrs of having it, our flight home originally bring at 7 and didn't actually leave until 1am didn't get home until 4:30am
Day 1
https://photos.app.goo.gl/viPydxVPfiEF2mAa6
We made it to Florida! Honestly getting here was really smooth and I'm so grateful. The kids were great and we had a direct 3.5 hour flight and then we were here! Arrived at midnight, found a shuttle to pick up the turo rental car and drove half an hour to our VRBO near Kissimmee. Went to bed at about 2am local time (midnight at home).
We went to the Orlando science center which was awesome! We spent close to 6 hours there and only left because they closed. So much to do and see.
Right after the museum we were looking for a place to eat and the car (2017 Chrysler Pacifica) was lurching strangely, the church engine light came on and then we were stranded in the middle of the road for several minutes without it starting back up. We called turo, finally got the car started and parked at a nearby Greek restaurant called The Greek corner. There was a nearby playground too 🙌🙏. I was in the phone with turo for about an hour while we worked things out. They sent a tow truck to get the car, sent a Lyft to pick me up (and I brought Parker with me) and take me to a new car (25 minutes away) and then to drive back to pick up Darrin and the kids. The new car is a 2022 Chrysler
Day 2
https://photos.app.goo.gl/VvAuK3XczXMCyi1p9
Sunday here in Florida. We went to church, did come follow me and spent the rest of the day relaxing at the pool and hot tub here at the resort which was lovely.
Day 3
https://photos.app.goo.gl/a8skQGNbRyqoQxwH7
We decided to go to Busch Gardens today. It was a little over an hour drive to get to Tampa. We left the house at 8:30 since the park opened at 10. We bought two all day dining passes too which was awesome. We honestly liked every ride and they had a lot of unique ones too. Lines weren't bad at all maybe waited 20 minutes at the most.
They closed at 5 so when we got back we went swimming and hot tubbing before bed which was great.
Day 4
https://photos.app.goo.gl/hq3gQopFguW3KUb66
Today we went to universal studios we have gone back and forth SO MANY TIMES about how many days to do universal because we've never done volcano Bay (their water park) and they have buy 3 days get two free... Anyways last night we pulled the trigger and did the 5 days 3 Park pass... despite the rainy forecast... Then woke up today to a hurricane warning... We'll see how this plays out.
But today's weather was perfect and our day was AWESOME. We were some with every show and ride (some multiple times) by 4:30 (they closed at 6). Most every ride we walked right into with the most we waited for anything being 15 minutes! We wore our matching shirts I made and recreated a family picture from 4 years ago. We also tried hot butterbeer for the first time and really liked it (along with frozen butterbeer).. So at 4:30 we repeated another ride, watched the parade which was excellent and then rode a couple more rides before heading home.
We stopped at Walmart on the way home for more food and water.
Day 5
https://photos.app.goo.gl/M3NqB8QiFuyyWxo66
We hit up Universal Studios VOLCANO BAY for the first time. It was AWESOME!! What a wonderful family water park! Things I loved about it:
-How many waterslides Austin got to ride
-Awesome variety of slides
-3 epic trap door slides
-We really didn't feel cold due to the humidity even though it rained a bit
-Rachel was so adventurous and did all the trap door slides!
-The Hawaiian vibe
The Sandy Beach
-Wristbands you wear that hold your place in line even though we hardly had to wait for anything
-How many times we got to ride everything-so many times-especially the drop slides, trap door slides and the aqua coaster (rode 7 times!)
On the downside, holy crap I got 12x my stairs goal-imagine climbing that volcano over and over and over 😝.
Day 6
Universal's Islands of Adventure and we had a great time! We only waited 11 minutes on Hagrid's Motorcycle adventure at the start of the day (my all time favorite!) and got to ride the velociraptor coaster for the first time and loved it! We had done everything- some things multiple times by 3:30 and they closed everything down for weather at 5 (2 hours earlier than close) . Since we ended early we went back to our place and watched a movie with popcorn which was perfect ❤️.
Day 7
SeaWorld-I was very impressed with all the rides they have now-some really good ones especially The manta Ray one and the shark one. We had the all day dining pass here too which was great. There were some issues today though like no help with child swap (it was very confusing), rides closing left and right, they were quite inefficient making it so we'd be late to the orca show and we were running to get there and they closed down the bridge to get there so we couldn't go, they closed down half the park (literally) two hours early so they could prep for their haunted night thing etc. So, although it was a fun day still, there was a lot that went wrong. Darrin went to customer service and ended up getting three of our tickets refunded (that included Busch and our all day dining totalling about $400 back!) he really had to push though they didn't give it easily.
The cherry on top was getting to go out for ice cream after with Kalli and Braiden who live here-we sure love them and loved catching up.
Day 8
We decided to go back to volcano Bay today for a few hours after we packed up and left our VRBO (it ended up being great with three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a kitchen, swimming pool and hot tub). At volcano Bay we discovered the "crazy river" (not to be confused with the "lazy river") that we didn't even know about last time-we did it so many times- you get on life jackets and head into the rapids. We did a bunch of water slides and the lazy river too. It started raining a lot and we eventually headed out.
We drove three hours to get to fort Lauderdale and we're staying in a suite (sleeps 6) at the Hyatt for just tonight before our cruise. The port is only 11 minutes from here so we'll head there in the morning after breakfast.
Drove the the port today and paid to park there with our Turo rental for the duration of the cruise. Got aboard and ate :).
Today was Coco Bay, Royal Carribean's private island. We had such a great time! We went snorkeling, ate at the full buffet which was really good, swimming at the fresh water pool and finished at the free water park area which had some water slides and an awesome splash pad area. It was a beautiful island and beautiful weather.
Today we went snorkeling and Rachel and Austin really struggled the first attempt-Rachels snorkel was hurting her canker and her legs have owees that were stinging and Austin got salt water in his eyes-both of them were so sad and not enjoying it. I stayed at a dock in the middle with them for a long time and then they both were willing to try again and it went SO WELL! we saw tons of fish and a stingray. It was a lot of fun.
Side note, Caden got a little jellyfish sting. The workers put vinegar on it which helped. There was actually a ton of people who got stung. Darrin and Parker saw a jellyfish too and said it was beautiful.
After getting back on the ship we did rock climbing over and over and over.
Day 11
Sea Day. Spent time at flowrider, ice skating, did a paper airplane contest at kids club and formal dinner tonight.
Day 12
San Juan Puerto Rico port. Took an uber to Escambron Beach (only $6 total) and snorkeled. It was a lot of fun. We found a cool sand crab, fed the fish (they came in swarms) and it was a nice bay area that was protected from big waves. Ended the day with rock climbing after dinner.
Day 13
Charolette Amalie, St. Thomas Port. Taxi's were really expensive and we didn't have enough cash so we decided to WALK to Megans Beach. It was quite a long walk with all our littles some of which were extra tired but we ended up having a great time there. There were a lot of jellyfish in the water which made it kind of scary though. There was a giant blow up obstacle course in the water. We couldn't find anyone manning it/anyone to pay so we ended up just telling the kids to go play on it and if anyone said anything to get off. We all ended up playing on it and having the jellyfish around us just added extra scariness lol. Spencer did get stung on the swim back to the beach though. Back on the boat we played laser tag which was a big blow up maze on the ice rink.
Day 14
Sea Day. Lots of flowrider, pool and hot tub time, formal dinner and a show
Day 15
Lots of time at flowrider, the pool and hot tub, and Parker & Spencer were invited to a 360 boogie boarding competition in the evening. 5 contestants and they had 90 seconds to see how many 360s they could do. They ended up tying at 20! Two others got 14 and another got 7. In their tie breaker they had 60 seconds and Parker won with 37!! Spencer got 17-it was intense!
Day 16
Travel day home. Major flight delays causing us to not get home until wee hours of the morning.
