Anniversary Trip Coming Up Soon!

[Azure]

One week from today we will be airborne! On our way to a week in Florida. And judging by the frost on the windows this morning, it's not a minute too soon ;)

This will be our first vacation in over 20 years without children in tow. And our 25th anniversary. When I suggested to DH that we postpone the trip for a few months he looked at me like I had 2 heads and neither of them was speaking English lol

We will be spending 3 nights in Orlando. So we have a hotel & rental car booked. We have 2 day, 2 park passes to Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure. Going to Hogwarts! Yay! We are keeping our other arrangements loose with only a rough idea of what we will do. We're thinking of going up to St. Augustine on Wed. We will probably take a sunset sail on the Schooner Freedom. But beyond that just do what we want when we want to do it.

Then we plan to go somewhere on the west side of the state. I want to walk on those beaches that have sand that is like baby powder but doesn't stick to your feet or get hot. Not sure yet where we'll go for that. Suggestions?

Back home on Sunday. We timed this trip to come before the store has it's holiday-no-time-off-for-anybody time and when Ian will be home so he can dog/house sit. Our Anniversary isn't until December 3rd. We are getting very excited!

[Valley]

Sounds like a wonderful trip and plan! We will be leaving the middle of the month to spend the winter in place near Clearwater Beach on the gulf side. It's a beautiful area and there are all kinds of pretty beaches to see. The ride over Tampa Bay is a beautiful one. We plan to drive to St Augustine for a few days in February. Have a great time...and Happy Anniversary!:cool:

[iris lilies]

Happy 25th! I'll bet you have a great time, you deserve the time off form child care duties.

We had our 25th anniversary 2 weeks ago. DH was gone, out of town due to the death of an elderly relative. We had planned to celebrate when he got back with a very nice dinner. One thing led to another and we didn't get that scheduled. But then--our friend threw us a surprise 25th anniversary party! It was funny and such a surprise! And it was the perfect crowd, not a huge one, but a gathering of a dozen of our closest friends. My friend the organizer said that she put this party together because one day I groused to her about surprise parties and how no one is over surprised" and she took that as a challenge to surprise us.

[Tussiemussies]

Hi Azure, Happy 25th Anniversary! So nice that you will be able to get away with just the two of you. Hope you have a special time in Florida!

[Azure]

Thanks for the Happy Anniversary wishes, everyone!

Valley, we are currently on Siesta Key. I think I am in love! The white sand beaches are so gorgeous. If feels like walking on corn starch lol It was pretty cool today and the wind was high. But the gulf is still warmer than Lake Michigan in August. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer with a temp of about 79. Have and safe and wonderful trip to Clearwater.

Iris Lilies, you friend is very sneaky! What a nice thing for her to do. Happy 25th to you as well.

We spent 2 days at Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure. We sure picked a great time to come. The weather was not too hot and the lnes were minimal.

Wizarding World of Harry Potter is so amazing. It is a small area with only 3 rides. But what is there is really cool. The costumes the employees wear are fabulous.

The best ride was Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. To get to the ride you wind your way through the herbology greenhouse and the castle. There is so much too see that it doesn't not feel much like a wait. Though I'm guessing when the crowds are huge there isn't much you can do to make the wait seem shorter. Anyway, it is really fun making your way to the ride. And the ride itself is so much fun. It is pretty acrobatic but there isn't a lot of jerking and jolting like on a lot of rides. And the visuals and effects were stunning. When I sat in the last seat of the bench, a dragon breathed right in my face. Mike couldn't ride because he didn't fit into the seats but the lines were so small this week that I rode this ride 2 times in less than 20 minutes.

I think Mike liked the Universal Studios park better because there were a lot more rides and things he could do. We both loved the Despicable Me ride. It was just as much fun the 2nd time as it was the 1st.

We recommend paying extra for the Express Pass. We used it but it didn't really save us that much time because the crowds were so small. But on a busy day - Oh Yeah you WANT that pass. Though there are some rides you can't use the pass on. Including the Forbidden Journey. You can also usually get on a ride faster by going as a single rider and not sticking with your group or partner.

We also saved quite a bit of money by buying the refillable souvenir cups. You can get refills all day for $.95 or $.99 instead of $2.69. Mike really got his money's worth! They also filled my cup with water and ice for free!

[Tussiemussies]

Hi Azure,

The beach sounds just beautiful...glad you are having fun and being frugal at Disney! chris

[Azure]

We had a wonderful trip. Nice weather most of the week, though we got very wet in St. Augustine & missed out on the sunset sail we had planned to take. Rained out 2 evenings in a row. bummer

We spent 2 days in Siesta Key. We stayed in a hotel where our room was only 30 yards from the beach. Beautiful, soft white sand beaches. So gorgeous. We had a very very nice & relaxing time here. Would have loved to have stayed longer. .

Then we spent 1 1/2 days in St. Augustine. Rained most of the time we were there but we enjoyed the hop on/hop off trolley ride. I love the HO/HO buses! So we stayed dry and learned a lot about the city. It was a nice time. Hope to go back again some day and get my sunset sail.


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[nswef]

Thanks for sharing the trip with us. It sounds grand. Leaving soft white warm sand is very difficult.