After coming back from Mexico, I was itching to plan another trip to a warm destination to escape the Chicago winter. What better place then the sunshine state: Florida! We got into Orlando pretty late the first night, so unfortunately we didn’t do much except pick up our Chrysler Sebring convertible and check into our hotel: Meliá Orlando Suite Hotel at Celebration. Our first day in Orlando, we decided to go to Epcot, and do an around the world food and drink tour. We had an amazing day, to say the least. The weather was great, we got to try food from all around the world, and we had our fair share of drinks! That weekend also happened to be the International Flower & Garden Festival so we were able to see beautiful floral sculptures all throughout the park.
After our food/drink crawl around the world, we decided to jump on the monorail and go to Magic Kingdom. Unbeknownst to us, our tickets didn’t allow us access to that park, but we found out it is only $5 per person to upgrade our tickets. At the end, we didn’t even end up paying, because their card reader wasn’t working. We got to spend the evening at Magic Kingdom for the sunset. Unfortunately, we left right before the parade because there was a storm coming in that evening.
After walking over 7 miles, our day finally came to an end. We spent the evening at our hotel and had dinner at 360 Bistro Bar. Their menu is inspired by American family meals, and they have an amazing brick oven pizza!!
The next morning we were off to Universal Studios. One piece of advice: BUY THE UNIVERSAL EXPRESS PASS! We bought the pass from the beginning, and it was well worth it. Without the pass we would have probably done 30% of what we did. The highlight of the morning was going to Springfield USA (aka Simpsons World), drinking Duff Beer at Moe’s and eating a Krusty Burger.
Our next stop was: THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER! We had to take the train to get to another part of the park. Waiting in line to get on the train was well worth it…unfortunately, the express pass doesn’t work here. After we went on a few rides, we went to Jurassic Park, which was a water ride, and got soaked! Our last ride of the night was the HULK roller coaster, while we were in line for the ride, the ride broke down, and exactly when we decided to leave, it opened back up again. We essentially stood in line twice for the ride but it was worth it: especially to take the ride in the dark!
After another day of walking over 7 miles, we were ready for bed! The next day we spent visiting some family friends and grabbing lunch at Chuy’s. The rest of the afternoon was joy riding in the convertible, and exploring downtown Orlando. We even had time to relax and squeeze in a movie: I Feel Pretty. When we got back to our hotel, we relaxed at our hotel pool.
Our flight was not until later that evening, so we woke up that morning and had brunch at Holler & Dash, a Southern biscuit house.
After brunch, we went to the Orlando Outlet Mall for a few hours to kill some time. Our last and final stop after shopping was J-Petal, for a late afternoon snack and bubble tea. We ordered a savory Japanese Crepe, and the marinated beef on it was absolutely amazing! The bubble tea also came in a light bulb bottle that you can keep.
By this point, we were exhausted. We decided to return the car early and spend the evening at an airport lounge before our flight home. We got back to Chicago late and ended the night with some late night food at Devil Dawgs!
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Living My Best Life 