#destinationdeadpool

Here we are again, in Florida! This time is a little different, though! We're going on a 4 night Disney cruise followed by 5 nights on property. And this time, my amazing Mother-in-Law Ann is along for the shenanigans. Nothing exciting happened today. Nathan came down and drove us to the airport. He's being so kind as to watch our animals while we're away. Of course, we had to take the obligatory pre-trip selfie.

We landed in Orlando late, grabbed some subs from the airport, and Ubered to the hotel we're staying at tonight until the cruise shuttle picks us up tomorrow morning.

Today was our last day in the parks (and I'm TOTALLY not posting this after we got home, that would NOT be a thing that I would do). Today's agenda was Universal Studios. After all the rain yesterday, we were glad to be dry, but it was COLD. Jenn and I had hoodies and Kelly was wearing her Gryffindor robes, but Andrea and Nathan didn't bring anything warm. By the end of the day, even Andrea was cold and she's NEVER cold.

Universal was starting to get all Christmas-y too!

We had to see what Kelly could ride again LOL

We left Andrea and Kelly looking for a place to get Kelly's name on her stocking she bought at Islands of Adventure and took Jenn on The Mummy coaster, then we hit the Jimmy Fallon ride and took Andrea over to meet an old friend of hers.

She FINALLY got her shark drink at Chez Alcatraz too!

https://youtu.be/USDdqmTILlY

Then it was off to Diagon Alley! We found the Knight Bus

And then we headed into the Alley proper for a bit of shopping and so Nathan and Jenn could ride Escape From Gringotts.

I have a bit of a bone to pick with Universal in general here. Americans in general are on the larger side. MAKE YOUR RIDE VEHICLES MORE INCLUSIVE!!! I fit on everything at Disney JUST fine, not to mention everything at our local amusement park as well. Universal, not so much. It's extremely frustrating and upsetting when you pay a ton of money to go somewhere only to find out that you don't fit into whatever arbitrary size they've made their ride vehicles.

It rained today. Oh dear LORD did it rain today. I have never been so thankful for a 99 cent plastic poncho in my life. We did spend the day being highly amused by my shoes though. Andrea had cleaned them for me a couple months ago, and apparently didn't get all the cleaner out. As soon as my left shoe got wet, it started foaming out the side.

We ended up buying Genie+ again today which came in handy. We started out at Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway since everyone and their dog had headed to Rise of the Resistance first. When we got off of there we saw Rise had dropped to a 60 minute wait so that was our next stop. To our surprise, we waited just under 11 minutes to get to the first preshow room.

I even managed to get a good pic of the stormtroopers this time! After that, Andrea wanted a snack so she peeled off for a Ronto Wrap while the rest of us hit up Smuggler's Run. It's a small world. I was scrolling Facebook while in line and telling Jenn we should probably avoid Powers and Constitution for awhile since the new In-N-Out just opened. The girl in front of us in line overheard us talking, turns out her and her friend were from the Springs too! We ended up riding together which was a lot of fun.

By the time we got off the ride, our mobile order was ready over at Woody's Lunch Box so we huddled at a table under an umbrella in the rain and ate. The grilled cheese was good, but I've made just as good at home.

Next on the agenda was Slinky Dog. Pro tip: riding that coaster IMMEDIATELY after lunch is probably not the best idea. But our pic turned out really cute. Kelly sat that one out, we learned last year that she cannot handle it in the least.

We did Toy Story Mania right after, and Jenn kicked our BUTTS!!! I do love that ride though! We wanted to get in from the rain for awhile so we did the Frozen Sing Along (IT SNOWED INSIDE Y'ALL)! Then I managed to score a Lightning Lane for Rockin Roller Coaster for Nathan Jenn and I. That was another really cute pic. Jenn's face is kinda my favorite thing.

Then we headed out for a snack at Backlot Express and to just be DRY for awhile. The food was meh, just standard theme park fare, but we weren't out in the rain. We had just enough time after that to go on Smuggler's Run again with Andrea and then make our reservation at Oga's Cantina.

We started off today with breakfast at Boma, over at Animal Kingdom Lodge. I can see why it's rated one of the best breakfasts in Disney World. Everything was delicious!

Note the Simba shaped waffle!

Then we were off to Epcot to eat and drink our way around the world. I pretty much failed at taking photos today, but we ate, we drank, we rode Ratatouille and Soarin. Once we made it around the Showcase for the second time (We made an attempt for Frozen Ever After, but the wait was long and our Ratatouille group got called) we stopped in the Epcot experience for a cider flight and a rest. Test Track actually dropped to a reasonable wait at that point so we left Andrea to guard our stuff and went off to ride! I love this photo, because all you can see in the backseat is Kelly's hair LOL

Then there was shopping, and a stop at Club Cool so that Kelly and Jenn could try Beverley...

After a stop to ogle the ball and bother a nice stranger to take a photo of us it was home for adult beverages and Jackbox!

Today was our rest day. We REALLY needed it. We had a super lazy morning, ran a few errands, then hung out at the house watched TV and played video games for a while. Jenn and I ran over to Walmart and the outlet mall since my poor suitcase won't survive this trip. Then we came home and got ready for our dinner reservations.

First stop was Wine Bar George for drinks and tapas. We got a really yummy cheese board and the Saganaki on Fire, a melty Greek cheese dish that they literally flambe in front of you!

We did some shopping and then headed over to The Edison for a late dinner. The Edison has a really cool steampunk 20s vibe with live entertainment and really good food! There was live music while we were there and it was awesome! We also found Jenn's twin!

Today was Magic Kingdom! It was still Halloween when Andrea and I were there last week, but now, it's CHRISTMAS!!!

We sprung for Lightning Lane access today and let me tell you, for Magic Kingdom it's worth the $15 each. We actually got to go on everything we wanted to, and didn't have to spend all day in line. We finally managed to get Andrea on Jungle Cruise (like a ten minute wait with LL, versus 80 minute standby)! Even THAT was themed for Christmas!

We even got to meet Aurora!

After dinner at Casey's Corner (corn dog nuggets and plastic cheese FTW) we did a little shopping and then settled down at a table to wait for our last lightning lane before fireworks: Big Thunder Mountain. We made some adorable fowl friends (I'm pretty sure they just wanted popcorn), but they started getting a bit too bold so we got up and headed for Adventureland. Andrea's pretty sure one of them peed on her whilst begging for popcorn.

Then, it was time for fireworks! The dessert parties can be a bit spendy, but they're totally worth it to not have to stand elbow to elbow with people on Main Street.

Today was Islands of Adventure. We have Express Pass for both Universal parks, but the crowds were so low today, we didn't really need it. We started the day out with Jenn and I going on the Hulk coaster since the rest of these guys are coaster wusses. On our way in, we had to stop and check the sign to see what Kelly was tall enough to ride LOL

Then we did the Spiderman ride. Andrea loves that one! Then we took Jenn into Hogsmeade. I think she liked it there!

Jenn, Nathan and I hopped in the line for Hagrid's which was listed at a 45 minute wait and we only waited like 30 which was AWESOME! That coaster is SO much fun and I'm glad we got a chance to go on it. Then we headed up to class at the castle!

Andrea came through the queue with us, but didn't ride. I'm glad she got a chance to see it though, because the theming is on point!

After that, we were all a little hungry so we stopped at the Three Broomsticks for lunch. Andrea and I split fish and chips, I had a hot butterbeer (SO GOOD!!) and Andrea had pumpkin juice which was pretty good too.

We headed back to Superhero Island to start actually using our express passes and ran into Wolverine and Cyclops on the way. They saw my shirt and said I'd been dumpster diving LOL. Andrea said that Wolvie was just grouchy since Cyclops has Jean Grey, to which they very grumpily informed her that Jean was dead. Jenn and I did Hulk again and then we all did Spiderman on our way to Seuss Landing. They had a spot there dedicated to my FAVORITE Dr. Seuss book, McElligot's Pool which most people don't even know exists and it made me happy!

We ended up leaving Andrea there (I wouldn't mention One Fish, Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish to her for a while) and ran back over to Hogsmeade. The Hagrid's line was still posted at 50 minutes but I clocked it and we were OFF the ride in 38. Then we did Forbidden Journey one last time before we headed off to City Walk to shop and have dinner at Toothsome Chocolate Emporium. They have this AMAZING chocolate bread with salted caramel butter as an appetizer and we devoured two loaves of it.

We had to leave Yacht Club today. Cue the pouty faces, and Andrea hugging the cloud bed.

Nathan came and picked us up, and we went to Homecomin' for breakfast. It was, as advertised, DELICIOUS!!!

After brunch, we went and got in the virtual queue for Gideon's Bakehouse (again) and then shopped until our number was called. We even did the international Cokes at the Coca Cola store. This is Nathan's Beverly face (that stuff is NASTY!!!)