As part of my resolutions for the new year, I am trying to get back on my regular blogging. Does that mean I have about a year of backlog I need to catch up on? Yes, yes it does. But I caught up once before so I am going to try to do it again. What would be helpful is if I had a timeturner, but sadly, they don't actually sell those at Universal Studio's Wizarding World!
As I mentioned in our last post, the MPS Conference this year was the traditional "Disney" conference taking place in Orlando. We had attended the last Disney conference in 2019 and then the world shut down 3 months following due to Covid. Little Sweetie had been in Kinder and Will in 4th grade...it feels like a lifetime ago!
Although we really wanted some down time this holiday (I feel we have gone nonstop since Little Sweetie and I's choir trip to Rome last Christmas), we had decided to go to this conference so that we could take our Harry Potter-loving Little Sweetie to the Wizarding World at Universal Studios and so we could have a quick visit with Mimi and Pop Pop.
Due to school schedules, we only planned to attend the last day of the conference, but that got messed up thanks to plane delays for a broken closet door. Ay yi yi. We did manage to see a few Sanfilippo friends though!
Ready to travel...but ended up sitting on the plane for a few hours (with a deboarding and reboarding and a new flight plan) before we finally were able to take off.
Finally made it to Orlando!
Will was so happy to see Ms. A!
Thankfully, our hotel room was comfortable and Little Sweetie was excited about the fainting couch and decided to sleep there.
We enjoyed breakfast and got to see our friend, J, and Santa and Mrs. Claus!
And then we were off to Universal Studios! We only had one day in the park so we worked to make the most of it.
Ready to start our adventure!
Will was getting excited while Little Sweetie rode her first roller coaster of the day!
And now, for the main event, Dragon Alley!
Very magical watching Little Sweetie take it all in!
The first dragon fire might have startled her a bit!
"You're a wizard, Will!"
It was bittersweet to be back at Universal nine years after's Will's Make-A-Wish trip. He's changed so much since then and it's hard not to focus on the things he's lost. But I am grateful he could visit again!
He did still enjoy Dr. Seuss Land though!
Now, Little Sweetie was beyond excited to pick out her own wand from Olivander's!
Hogwarts and chocolate frogs!
Waiting in line with Momma! Even with fast passes, we had to wait quite a bit for the Raptor coaster and for Gringott's because it kept breaking down (and broke down with us on it! Thankfully, we were at the end of the ride when it happened).
Platform 9 3/4 and the Leaky Cauldron (along with her new owl, Snowball)!
It was a long day, but so worth it!
We spent the next morning packing up and getting ready to head to Palmetto. But first a quick walk around Disney Springs!
Fueling up!
Enjoying all the sites and decoration at Disney Springs!
We then drove over to Mimi and Pop Pops for a quick visit and an early Christmas. It was so nice to enjoy family time, swimming, and holiday fun.
Will checking out the pool!
Lots of fun opening presents and building gingerbread houses!
Headed home on Christmas Eve for our first Christmas in our new house!
It was a very quick trip, but worth it. I am so glad we got to give Little Sweetie the Harry Potter experience and that we got to spend time with Mimi and Pop Pop at the holiday. I wish we could have had longer, but I am glad that we made it safely home to start making Christmas traditions in our new house. What a year it has been!
Good night and Merry Christmas!
LSM
