1st anniversary

May 16: We left from Rochester at 10 :30 am and had a layover at Washington Dulles Airport at 11:40 till 2:40 from which we boarded the plane to Orlando International Airport. All flights were smooth, fast and, fun. We both don't like flying but it was our first time on a plane together. He was much more nervous than I was!

We arrived in beautiful Orlando in amazing 80 degrees weather. The airport is huge and very organized. We picked up our car rental, and to our surprise got a better car for the price we paid. Yay! After checking into the Econo Lodge, first stop was International Flea Market on International Drive. It was on the same street as our hotel. It was a lot smaller than I expected but we got great deals on glasses and hats.

1. I made my own itinerary months prior to the trip. Yes I am very detailed and organized. I wanted to head to Festival Bay Mall, about 10 minutes away from the hotel. A pretty mall, but unfortunately very dead. Many stores were closed and hardly any people were inside.  We didn't stay long just for pictures and a snack.

2. Me sitting on a well.

3. Churromania! I never had churros in my life. I remember finding a picture of it in my spanish book in 6th grade and asking my teacher, whoa what is this! 

4. With many flavors to choose from, we settled on guava and cinnamon sugar. Delish!

5. Arriving earlier than expected we had more time in the night to make another stop at Orlando Premium Outlets on International Drive. The outlet stays open till 11p.m.  I definitely recommend coming here. The plaza itself is beautiful with stores enclosed in an outdoor walking circle.

6. James wasn't too sure how much fun shopping would be, but he ended up buying more things than me! Tilly's was one of his favorites store.

May 17th: We went to bed around 11. I wanted to arrive to Islands of Adventure as soon as it opened at 9 am. I've never been to the theme parks let alone Florida, so I was super excited. Again, the weather was perfect, and we made our way onto the walkways leading to the park which were so useful.

Islands of Adventure is such an amazing theme park. All the mini parks within the park makes is so different. We had a lot of fun here. We ran straight to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Doing research prior to coming, I knew that would be the most packed area, so I wanted The Forbidden Journey to be our first ride. The line kept on moving non-stop, so fast we couldn't savor the work they put inside the castle. The ride itself was so much fun, it left us dizzy, but happy.

The scenery was exact to the books and movies. Many little shops got crammed fast. We didn't even bother going into Ollivander's Wand Shop. It had a very long line and I already knew what show were they were putting on. [Intended for children] The butterbeer tasted like cream soda and caramel whipped topping. Tasty for a hot day. I didn't get it frozen because I heard it would be sweeter. We also rode The Flight of the Hippogriff. That was our longest wait for such a short ride. We didn't do Dragon Challenge for fear of getting nauseas but it looked fun.

In Seuss's Landing , the display of their art was just amazing. Felt like you were in the imagination of the books. We rode The Cat in the Hat Ride which would have been more fun if we were prepared to be spun around for the 3rd ride in a row. The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride was a easy slow-paced ride that took you around and let you see from view tops. The other rides in this section of the park were for kids so that was it for us.

James is a huge comic book reader /collector, so he was super excited to walk around there. Marvel Super Hero Island was a blast. We had pizza at the Fantastic 4 Cafe. We rode The Incredible Hulk Coaster which was crazy fun and James took a cool picture with Spiderman. The Amazing Adventure of Spider-Man was really good and I hear next year they are making it in HD format, for even better quality.

:}

I've never seen a palm tree till I came here -  so big!

More cinnamon churros

Biggest disappointment was the the Jurassic Park River Adventure Ride. It was closed for maintenance. The Discovery Center wasn't much to look at either. In another section of the park, we enjoyed Poseidon's Fury and The Eighth Voyage of Sindbad.  Both were dramatic shows. For a snack, the turkey leg was too much and the pumpkin juice was too sweet for us. Our last ride was Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls, and that was the best log ride we've ever been on.

So, that night I got to pick which restaurant we were going to and I chose Bahama Breeze. When we were just dating 8 years ago, it closed where we are from, and I never got to try it. Oh man, it was so good!

May 18th: This day we were going to Universal Studios. James went here when he was little but not I. This park was noticeably quieter than Islands of Adventure. Both parks opened at 9 but over here some rides weren't available till 10 am. I don't know why either since this park closed an hour earlier. We had short lines again and rode The Simpsons' Ride first. Again, a lot of detail went into this ride.

Park was like a big movie set.

We took motion sickness pills this morning and the rides felt a lot smoother. Intense but fun rides! Afterwards we walked along and rode the Men in Black Alien Attack ride. Just like the movie and scary aliens. I was a little nervous for Jaws but the actors did such a good job, it was fun watching the children scream. Haha. Disaster! was the next stop and it started out slow and the wait was long but the interactive ride had some laughs. We were most excited about the Revenge of the Mummy  rollercoaster. The ride was AWESOME. I wished all of our family was there to ride it with us. Twister...Ride it Out , like Disaster!  was slow-paced at the beginning, I didn't care too much for it. Shrek 4-D  was cute. James didn't care to much for it. He said it felt like watching another Shrek movie. Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast was closed for maintenance, again I don't know why since these parks close so early, why not not take advantage when everyone goes home. E.T. Adventure was delightful because it was so pretty and mystical inside. Terminator 2 3-D, I was a little frustrated because while we were waiting we had to stand up for atleast 15 minutes waiting for it to start and we both felt it was outdated. Our last ride was the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster. We were looking at it throughout the park, wondering if we could face it, but we were so glad we did. It shoots you up vertically and you choose your own music that comes from the speakers behind your head seat. Best ride of each theme parks we visited. James chose Golden Corral for dinner...it was okay. :}

We have a thing where we like to put on hats and take pictures of ourselves. Well more like I make James put on these hats. =}

May 19th and 20th: Thursday and Friday got super hot in the 90s. We went out to eat at Pollo Tropical, a fast food spot James used to go to when he lived in Florida. MMMmmM. We went to The Florida Mall and Mall at Millenia, both beautiful malls.  

After shopping we walked around Downtown Disney, took a boat ride across the whole area and cooled off.

All made out of legos.

That night I suggested Cafe Tu Tu Tango. I didn't know it was tapas style so we left after for more real food at Bahama Breeze. The following day, was our last day in Florida, so we made another stop at Pollo Tropical to savor the yummy food, visited their Supertarget, Ikea, Krispy Kreme Donuts and left for the airport. That concludes our 1st year Anniversay. I love my hubby!!!!