Florida Finds...

Well surprisingly I didn't really do much shopping while we were in Florida! (Shocking, I know!) I wasn't really in the mood, I was more looking forward to the theme parks with Cupcake... and the short time I was at shopping places I didn't really find much that called me to me and said "you must take me home!". So that was that!

I did go to the Premium Outlets one of the days I was there to also meet up with a friend for lunch. (Such a great time!) And enjoyed being able to walk around outside without a winter coat on! Although I looked in a number of stores, Dior... Coach... Juicy Couture... I just didn't really see anything of interest! Finally at the last store we went in, Banana Republic - I grabbed a couple of cute clothing items that I liked.

My two lone Florida purchases from the Banana Republic Outlet

I ended up getting a tan cardigan with twist edge details, and a orchid colored top with a cute ruching on the sleeves.

I think my loss of interest in the Orlando outlets might be because the area that we live in now has all of the same stores at an outlet mall close to my house, and all of the same stores at Mall at Millenia can be found at my local mall, Somerset Collection. So there really isn't any appeal of "new" stores to browse through, when I can pretty much get anything down there near home now. In any case, it's still fun to be walking outdoors amongst palm trees, instead of stuck indoors because there is snow on the ground!

Florida Fun! - Part 2

We were only in Florida a few short days, because we were also visiting the two other grandparents in Illinois in the later part of the trip. (We're dubbing this the Grandparent Tour 2011.) So one of the days in Florida we knew we had to schedule time to see the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter. As I became a huge Harry Potter fan when I was pregnant with Cupcake...

There was a lot of anticipation in the morning, because none of us had seen the new Harry Potter World yet...

Cupcake at breakfast wondering what exciting things were in store for her today!

Once we got there, we headed straight back to the Harry Potter area (as did most people in the park), the scenery was fantastic, and my pictures just don't do it justice.

Hogsmeade entrance, "Mind the spell limits"

"Have you seen this Wizard?" moving poster from my all-time favorite HP movie!

Hogwarts Express

Hogwarts Castle and also the home of the Forbidden Journey ride

It was a fantastic day, and my camera battery was dieing after not being charged... so shamefully I took more pictures of the Harry Potter scenery than Cupcake. (Ha!) Luckily my father takes great pictures and made a point to get some good shots of Cupcake.

Cupcake enjoying the sights!

And a my favorite group picture (taken by my father) of me, hubby, and hubby's mom.

Love the Hogsmeade background in this one!

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is definitely a must see if you liked the movies, and the rides are pretty good as well. 'The Dragon Challenge' ride has two intertwining roller coasters that already existed in the park (used to be called 'Dueling Dragons') and it is the best roller coaster I've ever been on. The two tracks wrap around each other and at points in the ride, the cars from each track go around loops coming towards each other - it's a great thrill. The entrance of the ride has been redone with Harry Potter themed decor and has a lot of items of visual interest when you're in line, like floating candles in a dark corridor.

'The Flight of the Hippogriff' also was a ride that existing in the park already and used to be a Jurassic Park themed ride. It's a tame roller coaster for children that don't meet the height requirement for the larger coasters to have a good time on.

'Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey' is the new ride and main attraction featured in the Hogwarts castle. Waiting in line may be the most extraordinary part of the ride though, seeing the details of the castle like walking through Dumbledore's office and the images of Harry, Hermoine, and Ron talk to you in a classroom. The detail inside of the castle is fantastic, right down to the talking portraits of Salazar Slytherin and Rowena Ravenclaw.

I think the Harry Potter Wizarding World is a great addition to the Islands of Adventure theme park and I can't wait to go back to Orlando soon!

Florida Fun! - Part 1

Well, I'm still in catch up mode after getting back from our trip and just now getting around to blogging about the trip itself! Suitcases are still yet to be unpacked... my house is a wreck... but it was a fun week and worth all of the disorganization going on around here right now!

The first part of our trip was in Orlando, Florida, and of course you cannot go to Orlando without heading over to Disney World!

Personal picture taken from the Ferry Boat dock

Personal picture of Mickey & Minnie in front of Cinderella's Castle

Cupcake was excited (albeit tired) going into the park on the tram, because she could tell that something special was going on today!

Mommy & Cupcake on the tram into Walt Disney World

Watching Cupcake take in all of the new sights and sounds at Disney World was an absolute joy! I have to say, I think that going to Disney World with a child, may be even more fun then what it was like to go as a child. (Maybe.) In either case, watching her reactions and seeing what rides she liked the best was good fun! Two of her grandparents that live in Florida (my dad and hubby's mom) were also able to go into the theme park with us and take part in seeing their granddaughter's first Disney World experience!

Cupcake's first Disney ride! The Tomorrowland People Mover

Unfortunately, we did go during Spring Break season and there were quite a few long lines in the park... so we opted to go on just a few "Cupcake friendly" rides this trip, and save standing in the longer lines for the rides that were more for the "big kids" (i.e. us). Luckily the grandparents on hand were more than happy to go find a shady spot and hang out with Cupcake for 45 minutes, while the big kids rode Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, and so on.

We also took in a few shows while we were there... we went in 'Carousel of Progress' during Cupcake's first nap time and it put her to sleep!

Cupcake asleep on Daddy after the 'Carousel of Progress' Disney show

The highlight of the day though, was Cupcake on 'It's a Small World', without a doubt - it was her favorite ride in Walt Disney World. She giggled and danced her way though it.

Cupcake bouncing her way though 'It's a Small World'

All in all, it was a great day at Disney and we all came out exhausted.... Cupcake crashed on the monorail on the way back to the parking lot.

After a long and exciting day, Cupcake was ready to call it an evening!

The next day we went to Universal's Islands of Adventure... primarily to see the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter! In tomorrow's blog post I'll share the experiences we had there!