The water temp shouldn’t change. But January may be too cold to be wet and often out of the water. Kayaking in January would be nice through.
I was thinking kayaking too. Interesting idea.
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I was talking with DH about this trip. I’d been thinking this would be our last hurrah in Florida. DH said he was a little sad it will be our last trip. So, we’ll leave the door open. DD is 15, so it still might be our last trip there.
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Speakeasy Murder Mystery Show
I’ve decided we’ll do this. It is a two-hour murder mystery with dinner included. I found them on Groupon. Audience votes on who did it.
https://www.groupon.com/deals/speakeasy-murder-mystery-show-2
If you buy the ticket from Groupon, you only get the Herb Roasted 1/4 Chicken or Pasta with Marinara included. There are other options but there is an upgrade cost. BUT, the most expensive upgrade is the Filet, but the Groupon plus that upgrade is still cheaper than buying direct from them. The Groupon is even cheaper than the Black Friday sale.
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Because I know us, I’ve been trying to figure out someplace for us to relax if we arrive early, i.e. before check-in. We drive and we tend to plan to leave at X time, but we tend to get the car packed early and then leave when we are ready. We once drove to CA and between leaving early and skipping the expected 8-hour-nap-in-a-cheap-motel, we arrived an entire day early. This time we are having a kids NYE party, and the plan is to leave at 7pm on NY Day. I can totally see us leaving hours early. I just can’t sit around doing nothing, while the car is packed and ready to go.
We are staying at an airBnb. I asked about early check-in. He said that would be fine, as long as the place was ready. When I looked at its calendar, the day before looks booked. In case we arrive before it is ready, he recommended Icon Park. Looks like chain type places. But, someplace with seats and no waiters will be fine.
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Thought you guys might be amused. I mentioned my trip to someone in messaging, and they responded.
”I heard all about it already. When I went to the movies I sat next to someone that was very excited to tell a stranger all about it and show pictures of how he was there the first day”
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I have reached a milestone in trip planning. I am past the time when I can order something on Amazon and know it will arrive before we leave.
We don’t leave until the 1st, but we live far enough out that 4 hours or guaranteed next day isn’t for us.
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Yay!
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We have arrived!
This is our view.
We got the airBnb for a little over $100 a day.
We left at 6:30 pm yesterday and arrived at 2:30pm. Drove in.
This is the listing for it.
Our rule is that as a parent, I pick the parent’s bedroom first. I think I got confused by the identical bedcovers and picked the wrong one. Ours doesn’t have a closet. My original thought was that since she had more clothes than DH and I together, I would let her keep it. Then I noticed that our sink counter is smaller and our bed is smaller. So regretting that. Oh well.
The red folder thingy is her jewelry
The drive had been overall quite nice. I had originally thought that leaving for a long drive the day after a NYE party was not the smartest idea. But it worked out. The party was just with one family that is friends of ours. The mom was sick, so I didn’t have anyone to drink champagne with, so I didn’t. It is called a Burning Man party because that is the main focus. I buy cheap shirt and pants at Goodwill in natural fabrics. I sew them together. Then the day of the party the kids stuff him with straw and we mount him over the fire pit and the kids light him on fire. It sounds horrible, but they love it. We had to restrain one of the little girls from dancing around it. That was just too much. The idea started for the first party when DD was kindergarten, and we didn’t think she could make it to midnight so we looked at what other cultures east of us did. Then after burning the man, we do fireworks in the fire protected area around the firepit.
Back to the drive, normally I can only manage a long light dose. But this time I got genuine sleep in the car. I think because I was tired. That was great.
Slightly amusing story. We needed to replace our main toilet and it could only be shipped. First one arrived shattered, and the second arrived just before the party. So DH was installing that literally while the other family was driving over. As I texted them, “There is cussing coming from the bathroom”. We got a Toto Drake toilet with a toto bidet seat. I mandated that seat. After the party was over as I was climbing into bed I heard DH go into the bathroom. Then I heard this contented sigh. Then he shouted “I love you Honey”. I knew he had discovered the heated seat.
Rest of today we are just going to relax. Tomorrow we are going to Epic. We aren’t going to do the EA BotM thing. We will mostly meander and admire. Family has been deliberately ignoring info on the park to be surprised.
ETA we hadn’t had one of these parties for a few years. A couple of months ago one of their little girls about 4 years old came up to me and asked very sweetly, “Can I go to Burning Man?”. I thought of the festival which I’d never attend and my mouth fell open. Then someone else said that she meant our NYE party and they had been talking about it.
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I’m so excited to follow along. Reddit and the touring app have said things are busy at epic due to it being a holiday weekend. I wish you much success!
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Hope you have a fantastic time! Eagerly following!
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Hanging out in the condo. It started to rain a little and the cake we bought at the grocery store was calling to daughter. So we left Epic with the plan of coming back. We snacked and relaxed and when we left the condo it was really pouring so we decided to stay in.
First day impressions. Universal really got the message that uber-theming pays. I don’t know what area is my favorite. They didn’t just add lots of decorations, they got the feel right. Nintendo has the frantic feel of a video game. Berk has the viking feel. Darkmoor feels like an old horror movie. HP land feels as perfect. Plus Paris location allowed them to use wider streets.
For anyone wondering about wait times, we only did two rides and we did time them. Prediction was pretty close. For example the barrel roll ride predicted 37 and we waited 45.
We entered Epic about 9:30am on a 10am opening day. Mostly meandered and looked around. We went clockwise All three of us got the bands. We enjoyed the games. We got competive on the points. Proud to say I eventually passed DH and went from last to second.
The manor in Darkmoor is awe inspiring. The equal of the Forbidden Journey. I realize that is saying something. Loved the Frankenstein ride and the queue. Also loved that the line kept moving at a slow pace. I think I love it more than Grighotts.
Next was Ministry of Magic. Weirdly, while I thought it was awesome I wasn’t as blown away as I had been in the other lands. I think it is that my expectations were so high. We got DD a wand 2.0 and daughter enjoyed doing some spells and mostly looked at stuff. We ate at the Sirene Cafe and loved it. Loved the French Onion Soup. We had to wait about 30 minutes for a table but we did go at 1pm.
Then we moved onto Berk. I really loved it there. We mostly meandered. They thought it was cool when I told them about the benches being designed originally for one of the shows and how they are chainsaw sculpted from one log.
We saw the Untrainable Dragon show and then rode the flyer training ride. DH and DD were uninterested/bored until I told them you could barrel roll. As a kid, DH actually went all the way around on the swingset once. So I knew he would make it a mission. Both DH and DD got really close.
That was around when DD got hungry. I do like that Celestial Park is calming. It allows the lands to contrast.
Tomorrow we are going to try for BatM during EA. Also watching the weather for VB afternoons. The weather today was perfect! Gets a little chillier tomorrow.
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You guys have probably seen all this before and better elsewhere, but here are some photos.
I loved the video game feel of the escalator
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The giant shoes on the Berk characters is brilliant. Reminds me of the giant shoulders on the non-evil Star Wars character clothing.
DH went from saying “Who cares about the sheep” to appreciating them.
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Love all the detail! What a great day!!!
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We are relaxing in the room 6pm. Will head back shortly. Not sure which park.
We started out trying to do the EA BotM plan. Didn’t work. Family took too long getting ready. Line was long when we got there, but like I told them the line wasn’t getting any shorter.
I totally mangled the queue time entry (see chat). Posted was 150, we waited 77.
I am sure you guys have seen these before, but here are a couple of photos.
Those supports amused me for some reason.
DH was blown away by the queue. Particularly how the offices in the big room were real rooms and not a projection.
We had vastly different opinions on the ride. I loved and adored it. DD liked it, but would be fine with never waiting in a long line again. DH liked it, but prefers Hagrids.
We decided to head to one of the other parks.
At the city walk parking gate the lady said, “You have been to Epic?” when we showed her the parking receipt. I wonder if we were the first people she had seen do that at or before noon to do that? We told her we had 14 day 4-park tickets. Even the employees seem to think that is neat.
I realize I might sound like a paid promoter as much of a mucho Universal fan as I am. BUT, I am not happy with the parking! I had thought it was a bit odd at Epic that they parked far to near within a row. Employees spent a lot of time telling people to not walk where the cars were approaching. Seems dumb but I thought there must be a reason. At City Walk parking they had us park in Cat In The Hat parking on the roof. The roof! I thought the parks must be super busy yesterday. But nooooo. They started the parking on the roof! None of the interior levels beneath us had any cars . We went to take an elevator but it was closed. But that was fine since farther away was an escalator. But then that was the only escalator that worked. I was not happy.
I also resent the walk through City Walk. I understand why they have it that way but I don’t like it.
DD wanted to play with her new wand. So she took my phone with the app. I love Grighotts so DH and I went there. Didn’t even check wait times. Line was long but it went down while we were on the middle of it. Still love that.
Then we met up with DD. She thought her wand battery was dead. A CM in the wand repair shop explained that the wand only vibrates when the spell is mastered.
DD has become spoiled by the annual flash passes at Six Flags and doesn’t want to wait in lines. She looked up one with a short line. I had thought we were going to Minions, but it was Villians. We walked on the ride. We loved it. Might be my new favorite Shoot-Em-Up.
ETA: When I went to complain in Universal chat about the parking the chat AI sent to where I could Prepay for parking and save $3. Trying that out tomorrow
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You still made really good time on BatM! Sounds like it’s going well. I too am bothered by the walk through CityWalk. But, I like our 2 bedroom suites and price at Endless Summer too much to do anything different.
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I get what you are saying on the two-bedroom. As a get older my minimum standards have gotten a lot higher. In college I did the Eurorail thing. In 7 weeks the only time I slept alone in a room was when I visited some Norwegian relatives. Otherwise it with 5+ strangers in a hostel or on a train. Now 6 days is the max I am willing to be in a regular hotel room with DH and DD.
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