Monday, December 15, 2008

Our Vacation to Florida - Day 1

Imagine my surprise when Ray called me on his way to work in April telling me he won a trip for 4 to Florida. I thought he was just entered into a drawing for the contest, but it turns out he did win a trip! It was a 4day/3night trip to Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure, 3 night stay at the Hard Rock Hotel, and roundtrip airfare on Southwest Airlines. THANKS WMGK 102.9!!!!

We decided to take the trip in December when Sean was finished his first semester at Shippensburg and it wasn't extremely hot in Florida. We figured since we were already going to be down here we should extend the trip and go to SeaWorld and Aquatica (their new water park).

We got a 7am flight on Saturday morning out of Philly. Having to be there at 5am was no picnic, but getting to watch the sunrise as we were taking off....PRICELESS!















Our pilot's name was JR. He was very nice. On our way out he let Katie sit in the cockpit for a picture.














We got to the Orlando airport in good time and the flight was smooth. We hopped a ride on a shuttle van (Mears Transportation - also part of the prize). John, our driver, was awesome! He was very knowledgeable and shared a lot of info. He even took us past the upside-down house. (It's called the WonderWorks and it has interactive exhibits) We got to the Hard Rock and it was very impressive! The palm trees were gorgeous! Since we were early, we kept our bags there and walked over to Universal (yes, it's that close!)














We went over to Universal to "check things out" and ended up going on a few rides. (Shrek 4-D and Jimmy Neutron). The best part was having the Express Passes because we were staying at the Hard Rock. You get to bypass the LONG lines and go right to the beginning of the line. It is AWESOME!!!
We then went back to the hotel to chill out. It had been a very early day for all of us. Ray and Sean took a nap and Katie and I went to the pool. Katie went down the 260 foot water slide! She LOVED it!!!







We ended up just chillin' out by the pool, relaxing in the hot tub, and the kids played guitar hero and ping pong. It was a great beginning to the vacation!!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It was such a lovely start of your vacation trip.