Sunday, June 15, 2014

the most magical place on earth

Finding an entire week during the summer for a family vacation takes some impressive pre-planning (thanks, mom!) and a touch of Disney magic. We (my husband, parents, brothers, sister, and brother's fiancee) spent a week in Orlando, with a 5-day Disney ticket and 2 additional days at Universal Studios. I made t-shirts for the family, but got all different color shirts to avoid being too matchy-matchy. My friend Julie designed a graphic of Cinderella's castle to go on the back, and they turned out great! We got several compliments, and a few people were even disappointed when they realized they were group t-shirts and they couldn't buy them in the store.

cozy birdhouse | disney world t-shirts

cozy birdhouse | disney world t-shirts

Sorry for the picture of our butts; we had to show off the back of the shirts!

We visited all 4 Disney parks, Epcot twice. Dan and my brother's fiancee were either impressed or horrified by the volume of ice cream consumed by the rest of us. I won't say we planned our day around it, but we strategically ended up in France for dessert both nights! Our trip coincided with a Star Wars weekend at Hollywood Studios. A bunch of actors were there, including Mark Hamill and Billy Dee Williams. We didn't wait in line to see any of the famous people, but it was fun to witness the occasional Storm Trooper marching through the park.

cozy birdhouse | storm troopers at disney world

I finally visited the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios... check that off the bucket list! However, the Diagon Alley addition is set to open later this summer, so I will need to make a return trip soon. The butterbeer was delicious.  It tastes like a butterscotch soda with a creamy, frothy topping... and it was even dairy-free so Dan could enjoy it!

cozy birdhouse | drinking butterbeer at the wizarding world of harry potter, universal studios

Sometimes I worry that my Harry Potter obsession might be getting a little out of hand when the books/movies/games/park make me happy, but then afterwards I am depressed that it's not real. Then I go to the theme park and witness two people dressed in their replica Gryffindor/Slytherin robes mouthing the words along with the actress introducing one of the performances in the stage area. At least I am relatively normal (key word: relatively).

Thanks for the great vacation, family!

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