Staycation

A few months ago, we received two promotional fliers in the mail each for one free park hopper ticket to Universal Studios. At the time, we just had the baby so we were not sure if we were going to use them. Then, with the expiration coming up at the end of September, we deicided at the last minute to treat ourselves to mini vacation or "staycation" since we were vacationing in our area. Rob took a half day off last Thursday and we all picked up Jack from school and headed to the Hard Rock hotel--one of the Universal resorts. The florida resident rate for the resort was actually pretty reasonable and if you stay at the resort you automatically get a park express pass which means no waiting in lines and with three young kids that seemed like a necessity. When we arrived at the hotel Thursday afternoon, we headed straight to the hotel pool. Hudson and I relaxed in the shade and Rob and the kids swam and enjoyed the big water slide.





We stayed at the pool until it was almost dark and afterwards ate at one of the hotel restaurants and then went to bed. Overall, the hotel was really nice but loud. There was music playing everywhere you went and a very LOUD live band in the lobby. If we ever stayed there again, I may want to try one of the other resorts for a little bit more peaceful experience.

Jack and Callie loved staying in the hotel and even did great sharing the bed. They also loved their complimentary inflatable guitars that they received when we checked in.
On Friday morning, we woke up early and headed to the parks which was just a ferry ride away. We started at Universal and rode almost everything that the kids were tall enough to ride and took turns waiting with Hudson. Callie had to have a little boost to get to 40 inches which was the height requirement at several of the rides. But her Hello Kitty sandals gave her the extra half inch she needed so she was not left out.

Jack's favorite rides at Universal were Jaws and Men in Black.

He loved getting points shooting all the aliens and was excited that he beat Daddy.
Another favorite of both of them at Universal was the ball factory. A huge area where foam balls are flying everywhere and dropping from the ceiling. The kids loved collecting them and taking them to the second floor and shooting them out of the guns to down below.
Callie collecting balls and sucking them up with the giant vaccuum hose.

Jack with a full bag of balls he collected.

Shooting off the balls at everyone below.

After Universal, we walked next door to Islands of Adventure. First, the kids rode the spiderman ride and met the "real" spiderman which Callie says was her favorite part of the day.

By this time, it was late afternoon and everyone was tired and getting a little cranky. So instead of rushing around, we spent the remainder of the time in Suess land. There the kids got a chance to run around and play, ride the carousel at least a dozen times, and drag Rob on the fish ride where you get soaking wet over and over.


We ended up staying in that area until the park closed because the kids were having so much fun. Even Hudson had a fun day even though he didn't get to participate much.

It turned out that we could not have picked a much better day to be at the parks because it was actually during one of the first "cold" fronts to come through the area so the high was only in the mid 80s and the parks were not crowded at all.

As we were leaving, we still had not had dinner and were debating what to do. I had wanted to try one of the restaurants at a neighboring resort but we knew it was a nicer restaurant and wondered if it would be a place to bring the kids. Well, the hunger and the 12 hour day at the park must have clouded our judgement, because we decided to go. When we got there, we knew we were a tad more underdressed than most of the other diners and one of the handful of families with kids and the only ones brave enough to bring three kids but at that point we were too hungry to take the time and go somewhere else. Also, Rob and the kids were still a little damp from the fish ride. We felt like we were definitely being watched and everytime Jack or Callie would play with their silverware or move it at all, a waiter would come out of nowhere and move the silverware back to exactly perpendicular with the table. The kids actually did ok but were so tired and had a really hard time waiting for the food. Callie finally curled up in her chair and went to sleep. We knew that this was probably frowned upon
and sure enough our waiter found a way to entice Callie to sit up at the table again by constructing a napkin rose and waking her up to give it to her. Callie loved it and stayed sitting up in her chair the rest of the time.


Jack did so good and even ate all his food but he too finally gave into his exhaustion and put his head on the table and went to sleep.

We tried waking him up but had no luck. The sight of him asleep at the table did seem to amuse the other guests or maybe they were just talking about us. Who knows? We survived and it was definitely an experience. After dinner, we drove home and our short but needed vacation was over.