When Two Become One: October 2012

My family and I have not been able to go on a family vacation in a few years because of everyone's schedules so my sister decided we needed to take one this year before I get married. This was the last vacation with just the four of us. We left on Friday Sept 28th and stayed until Monday Oct 1st. We have been to Universal Studios several times on family vacations. We stayed at our usual spot at Universal, The Portofino Bay Hotel. It is a wonderful place to stay. It has an Italian feel to it. There is a person that sings songs in Italian every night on the main balcony. There are several restaurants at the hotel that offers many Italian specialties. The best thing about staying at one of the Universal Studios hotels is the fact that your room keys are fast passes to all the rides at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventures. It is worth it to stay at one of the three hotels at the resort. Keep this in mind if you plan on booking at trip to Universal. :)

We spent the few days we were in Orlando, going back and forth between Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. At Islands of Adventure, there are a lot of fun things to do like The Hulk, Spiderman, Dr. Seuss Land, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and Jurassic Park. I think my favorite part had to be the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It was as though you were walking into the movie. It is amazing how real they made everything look. The best ride in that part of the park is Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. It is a simulation ride that makes you feel as though you are flying throughout various things from the movie. It was pretty neat.

Universal Studios has opened a few new rides since I was there last. There is now a Despicable Me 3D ride. It was so cute. That had little minions walking around. (Obviously you will understand what that means if you watch the movie). While we were in line for the ride, Andrea tapped me on the shoulder and said hey look there is Vivi-Annie and Cathy Stien from Dance Moms. (for those of you that know who that is). So we can say we saw at least two "celebrites" while we were in Orlando. haha There is a roller coaster at Universal called the Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket. It was cool because you could choose what song you want played while riding it. I am glad I rode it because I will NEVER get on it again. haha. I got a little sick after riding it. One of my favorite things to do while I'm at Universal is seeing the Beetlejuice Graveyard Revue Show. It is a show with Beetlejuice and all his monster friends singing rock n roll songs. It is a pretty cute show. While walking around, we got to see a lot of characters and get our pictures taken. Sunday night we went to the Halloween Horror Nights at Universal. There were seven haunted houses and the Universal workers dressed up in costumes. I learned the trick is to act like they don't scare you and they leave you alone. If you start screaming a lot and running from them, they will continue to follow you. ha ha. I made sure my daddy was with me at all times. :) It was a lot of fun.

Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios are both a lot of fun. We really enjoyed spending this time together as a family. These are the moments where you make memories and cherish them for the rest of your life. I am so glad we got to take this trip. Next year we will be adding a fifth person to the Medders family. We just have to get him use to riding roller coasters. haha.

Here are a few pictures from the trip. They are in random order.

Our Airplane