This is the McLife!

Thursday, October 15, 2015

McD Universally Days 4 & 5

The last day we had in the parks, we went back and rode the rides we wanted to ride again and looked around at everything one last time. It rained a lot while we were in the parks that day, so I had some of the fun foods and drinks I wanted to try. This was fishy green ale (aka mint juice with blueberry bubbles), and it was...interesting.

I think Escape from Gringotts was my favorite ride. Because of the time of year, we rode it several times...a day. The wait lines wove through the bank, and it looked just like the movies. It was pretty awesome.

A few more shots of Diagon Alley...

I see Kreacher!

I'm up there somewhere.

One more ride over to Hogsmeade

I had to try the shepherd's pie jacket potato in "London."

Since I ate the potato, I decided to just get dessert at lunch. I ordered the "kitchen sink." They weren't lying. This thing was HUGE and had every kind of layer you can imagine. You know it's about to get real when they bring you a steak knife to eat your dessert. I only made it through maybe 1/8 of it. If that.

Movie marathon for our last night...

Goodbye Universal!

At the airport. We had the BEST time, but it was time to get back to the real world.

I mean how can you be sad to go back home to this???

Monday, October 12, 2015

McD Universary Day 3

Universal Studios is actually made up of two separate parks, so the majority of our third day was spent at Islands of Adventure. We spent a good part of the morning checking out Hogsmeade before heading into the rest of the park. One of the neatest parts of Universal (to me anyhow) is the ability to travel between the two on the Hogwarts Express, so we did that a lot too. I was definitely in my Potterhead happy place!

Hogwarts Castle

Hagrid's Hut

Hogsmeade

The Conductor...It's hilarious how well all these people stay in character!

Finding the McDonough crest on the map of Ireland

No caption needed

Hanging out in Jurassic Park

Later in the day we took the Hogwarts Express back to Universal to catch a Blues Brothers show.

And grab some ice cream with Florean Fortescue in Diagon Alley.

Headed back to Hogsmeade on the ol' Hogwarts Express.

When we got back to Hogsmeade it was raining, so we were able to ride some of the rides again with zero wait. It was a great day!

Friday, October 02, 2015

Our McD 10th Universary Days 1 & 2

Mike and I celebrated our ten year anniversary in July, but we decided to wait until September to celebrate. We headed to Universal Studios in Orlando (thus the Universary...get it?), and we had the BEST time! At this stage in life, we don't exactly get away a lot, so we definitely tried to make the most of our time. We went to the parks, ate some great food, and even managed to see several movies. We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel, so everything was right there in walking distance...restaurants, movie theater, shopping, the parks...Starbucks. That's the way to do it!

Up bright and early (I think this was about 5:45 at the airport) for our flight! We actually drove to Texas to leave the kids with family and flew to Orlando.

Proud of ourselves for getting seats together even though we boarded in group C. We weren't so lucky on the way back...

We ate lunch at the Cowfish (burgers and sushi) as soon as we got there and then checked out the stores. Minions are so hot right now. Ha!

You know I bought this lanyard.

Day 2...Starbucks again. Apparently I have a problem. You give me and app and tell me I can earn stars, and I'm all over that.

I researched this trip for ~~weeks~~ months, and I knew when to get to the gates, what routes to take...I have a problem. But it's an efficient problem to have! So, after Starbucks we went to get in line at Universal. Just a little tip: they usually open the gates about 20-30 minutes early.