Our hotel was very nice and a 10 minute walk from the main parks. This really allowed us to come and go as we pleased without having to take a taxi or wait for the free shuttle, which had to be booked in advance and only ran at certain times. The only downside was I had picked the hotel for it's three restaurants inside hoping we could utilize them more. Needless to say after spending $40 on a subpar breakfast the first day we realized we would need to dine elsewhere for the remainder of our stay if we wanted to stay on our budget. Our breakfast fund was greatly saved by the discovery of a Golden Corral in a 3 minute walk from the hotel.
Our first stop was Island of Adventures, I would rank it as my 2nd favourite park of the trip (Seaworld stole my heart). I loved how immersed in each area you felt as you walked through. Naturally Harry Potter World was one of our biggest highlights and we made sure to visit multiple times. I was a big fan of the big-as-your-head turkey legs at the Three Broomsticks. The Boy was a big fan of butterbeer.
To avoid buying too many overpriced snacks we loaded up on fruit, veggies, beef jerky and grain free granola to keep our energy up during the day. We learned quickly that a lot of the in-park places to eat, that weren't full restaurants, would not offer substitutes. I found myself having to pay extra for little more that a few pieces of iceburg lettuce, a cucumber hunk and a wedge of tomato. Since we had the all access passes it allowed us to enter and leave the parks as often as we wanted, so we made a habit of leaving to hit up the food court in the city walk where I could get a super large salad with all the fixins' AND grass feed beef on top.
Universal Studios was neat but not nearly as much fun as the other parks. I liked all the movie stuff, but found as far as rides and activities went there wasn't as much to do if you didn't want to shop. Still a good time though.
We took big time advantage of the all you can eat buffet at Aquatica that allowed us to go back as many times as we wanted through the whole day. It didn't have the most food choices but it definitely kept us fed and went easy on our wallets.
Now let's talk Seaworld.
Seaworld was by far my favourite park on our trip. Filled with rides and all sorts of aquatic life there was so much to do that we didn't even get through it all in one day. Naturally the shark encounter area was the best where we got to go through a tunnel with sharks swimming all around us. Right outside it there was a restaurant where there was a big aquarium full of sharks to look at while you ate. It was one of our splurges but allowed us to eat a really hearty meal in the middle of the day, got us out of the heat for a while and allowed me to stare in childlike wonder at the sharks. I think the one "complaint" of the day was that I would run off the minute I saw something interesting, leaving The Boy to try to grab my backpack to keep track of me. I had warned him I was going to be a 6 year old all day.
Overall the trip was just fantastic and, despite our financial constraints, we managed to optimize our time and funds to ensure the maximum amount of fun was had by all.
G.
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