Florida- Cocoa Beach, Universal, Disney, and Sea World
I haven't updated in nearly two months... time for a quick recap! Besides, you guys know where to find pics I've posted!
Florida- 7/21-25
I went to Florida for 5 days with my sister, aunt, cousin, and my cousin's classmate. We went to Cocoa Beach the first day and found a sea turtle nest. It just looks like piled up sand, but it's roped off so no one steps on the nest or anything. It did feel good to relax on the beach after flying all morning... same went for checking out the hotel pool before dinner! Put it this way, the pool area was more like a water park, complete with a water slide and lazy river. There was a huge family pool, a quiet pool, and a hot tub. Oh, it was awesome! I liked the hot tub in the mornings b/c I'd relax before running around all day and wouldn't be sore and stiff like everyone else. Nothing like being in a hot tub at 8am, haha! Hey, the pool area closed at 11pm, about the time we got back from wherever we were for that day!
The second day, the 4 of us ran around Universal's Island of Aventure, with the main purpose of this visit to check out the Harry Potter addition to the park. It was so cool! They pulled out the stops for Hogsmeade Villiage and Hogwarts Castle was very realisitc. The movie ride in the castle was awesome! You were harnessed in a hanging roller coaster car and went on a pretty long flight through the castle, participating in a quidditch match, a dementor encounter (and your image is your patronus), the basilisk, you name it. The Duelling Dragons roller coaster was cool, too! The two different coasters came within mere inches of each other at one point... less than a foot as you fly by to the loops! Overall, it was awesome! Maybe I'll make it to Universal Studios at some point, Orlando or Hollywood's fine by me!
The next day, we headed to Disney and made it to Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (MGM), and Animal Kingdom. The one-day hopper pass is well worth it if you plan to visit multiple parks in a day. We didn't see many of the shows this time... saw them before and only had a limited amount of time to get in our Disney fun! Too bad we couldn't have spent another day there to see the shows and make a stop at Epcot... next time, hehe! The Pirates of the Caribbean ride was altered to incorporate the POTC franchise, complete with Jack Sparrow at the end of the ride, awesome! At Animal Kingdom, we went on probably the coolest coaster, the Expedition Everest. If it wasn't for the fact that Disney is a family park, the coaster might've been able to go upside down and that would've been awesome! Once we finished going forwards on the course, we went backwards on the track and eventually went forwards on a different track! Definately an adrenaline rush! I might be a dork, but I loved Hollywood Studios! I found the street lamp and umbrella from Singin' in the Rain, went on the backlot tour and saw how they pull off some awesome special effects, notably one of the battle scenes from Pearl Harbor, and checked out a cool AFI exhibit on For our evening activity, we saw the Nightastic fireworks show at Magic Kingdom... awesome!
Day 4 was spent out by the pool, taking pics around the hotel, souvenir shopping, lunch at a pizza buffet, and Sea World at night for a luau! The dance performances at the luau were cool, food tasted like BBQ, and by going to Sea World at night, we avoided most of the daytime crowds. One of the coolest things there is the stingray touch tank! The shark tank's cool, too! They swim over your head as you walk through this tube-like aquarium! We didn't see Shamu on this trip, but we've seen him before, and Marineland's just aross the border in Canada. Besides, the real Shamu's dead, and Kiki said to see any other Shamu is like teasing a little kid.
Our last dayi wan't a full day in Orlando, and while my aunt was in class and the girls slept, I headed down to the pool to get in some swimming and hot tub time. I also went camera happy around the pool, hehe! Afterwards, we headed to Sizzler's for lunch, and since there was nothing else that we had time to do, we headed to the airport. Since we checked in online and only had carry-ons, we killed a good hour or so shopping at the satelite store from the places we visited. Since I have a camera with me whenever I travel, I went camera happy!
Overall, the trip was awesome! I have lots of great memories and more space on my computer filled with photos, hehe!