a magical vacation

Life can be hard sometimes.

And a little Disney magic can help a lot.

Which is why Mike and I just went on another whirlwind trip to Disney World and Universal Studios down in Florida. There have been some changes since the last time we went- like the new addition to Harry Potter World. And this time we stayed in a pirate themed room. So it wasn't an exact repeat of our last trip.

But did I mention the pirate themed room??!?! I love themes. A lot. Too much probably. But whatever. I also love sweet husbands who will do anything to make their wives happy. Which is how I got Mike to wear matching shirts with me and dress up like a pirate for a photo shoot with me. He pretends to do it just to make me happy but I know he enjoys it. At first he wasn't totally into the matching shirts but then we got about eight thousand compliments on them and he could see how it made people smile and made their day and so he grew to like them and even agreed to wear more matching shirts in the future- but only when we are at Disney. No matching outfits in Chicago.


Here is our amazing pirate themed room. The floor was carpeted but made to look like wood.

We even ran into some old friends. Here is Mike fist bumping Goofy.

You might notice that we are a little wet. We had two lovely days and two days where it just dumped buckets on us. It wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for our feet being soaking wet.

The magic more than made up for the rain. We ate at the Sci-fi Drive-in where you ate at tables that looked like cars and there was a screen showing shorts clips from old sci-fi movies and some cartoons. Plus the food was great.

This is Mike standing with the Tower of Terror in the background. I told him to make a "terror face." We sadly did not go on the Tower of Terror because we saved it for last and one side of the ride broke down so the line wait time went from half an hour to well over an hour and we decided it wasn't worth it. Next time! 

This is our new friend Eric. He is the host at Be Our Guest restaurant (the Beauty and the Beast themed restaurant at Magic Kingdom) where sadly we did not have reservations (I did try, they were booked) but they do occasionally take walk-ins. He said that we should just check back every couple of minutes to see if something opens up. Well, I was bound and determined to go there for lunch. So we stood right next to him and literally asked every other minute if something opened. And we watched him turn away so many people who also didn't have reservations (they just started taking reservations a few weeks ago for lunch so it's a new thing.) But we just stood there and kept asking, but were slightly out of the way so that people who did have reservations could make their way in. And we were talking and joking with him. And then this group came up who did NOT have reservations but right at that moment something opened up (he had a iPad in his hands that tells him) and so he told that group that they could go in and I just shouted "Eric! How could you?!" and Mike said that he could see the fireballs coming out of my eyes. So whether it was because enough space opened that he could get us in too, or because he did not want to sit there and deal with me fuming, Eric finally let us in!!!! Yay!

The longest wait in line we had the entire trip was actually for Dumbo. Which I had never been on. It was actually more fun than you would think. And it was a classic.

The pool at our hotel was pretty awesome, and the perfect back drop for some pirate-y pictures. And I love my husband. He makes an amazing pirate.

But we're not the only freaks! There was a girl just randomly taking some mermaid photos on the beach near our room.

Wands at the ready! The new addition to Harry Potter world was worth the trip all by itself!

And butterbeer was just as good as I remembered. I tried all three kinds- hot, regular and frozen. Hot was probably my favorite. 

Luckily Mike was there because he was more adventurous and tried some of the other drinks like the Fishy Green Ale. Here is what they say about it... "Fishy Green Ale This murky pale green drink is certainly a head turner. Don’t be surprised when you get lots of inquisitive looks from fellow guests or when you’re asked “what is that?” as you sip on your specially sized, wide black straw. On its own, the intriguing combination of mint and cinnamon would be enough to make this an interesting drink, but then the component of pearl-sized bubbles bursting with blueberry flavor that rest at the bottom of the cup makes this one of the most unique beverages offered in either Wizarding World. (Note: this is a non-alcoholic beverage.) " 

It was tasty but really sweet so we couldn't finish it, but the little "fish eggs" that you suck up the straw explode in your mouth are really fun. I kept giggling every time I got one. I don't remember the last time I giggled. The trip was worth it for that alone. 

This is me taping the brick to let us get into Diagon Alley. Unfortunately a lot of muggles snuck in too. 

And now we're back in Chicago. I'm doing laundry. Mike is at work. It's gloomy and rainy. There's always a little bit of that post-vacation letdown. But at least I still have a whole week before I have to go back to school!