The slightly updated plans to date:
Thursday, April 30th:
We will clean the house in the morning (not sure why I am bothering, especially with Jake home all week…..but yet, some ingrained tendency forces me to do so. Old habits die hard), then leave for Syracuse in the afternoon. We will have dinner at Cracker Barrel before checking in at our park and fly hotel, the Holiday Inn Express. Once we check in, we’ll probably just enjoy a swim in the pool and relax. We’ll be turning in early since we’re up before the crack of dawn for our early morning flight.
Friday, May 1st (our actual anniversary):
We’ll grab breakfast at the hotel, since it’s included (having an unpredictable tummy when flying, I will definitely be dining light…..for Steve’s sake!!). While I’m showering and fussing over the final packing, Steve will be the sweet darling he is and grab us coffee from Tim Hortons across the street from the hotel (our last good take out coffee for an entire week). Our current flight time is 7:50 am….Jetblue has now changed it twice, so we’ll see if this is the “final answer” (still plenty of time for another adjustment to occur).
Upon arriving in Orlando, we’ll pick up the rental car from Dollar make our way toward Lake Buena Vista. We plan to try Sweet Tomatoes for lunch (after an early and lighter breakfast, we should be mighty peckish by then, and have appetites worthy of a noontime buffet) then see if we can check in early at the Vistana.
Once we get settled in as much as we care to (not sure if we’ll feel the need to unpack or just drop the luggage and go), we will head to Universal. Even though the parks close early (6 pm) that day for Grad Bash, we will activate our annual passes, purchase our lanyards, activate our PhotoConnect AP, and hopefully enjoy at least a few attractions before they shoo us out. We’ll have one-time-per-attraction Express after 4 pm with our Premier AP’s, so that should help us maximize our time. I’d like to get us some “we’re celebrating” buttons as well from Guest Services.
After the parks close, Steve-o’s request for dinner is Bubbalous’s Bodacious Barbecue. I hear it’s a short drive from Universal, so that’s where we shall dine. After dinner, we’ll enjoy the evening in the pools and hot tubs, perhaps with a fun beverage from the Tiki Bar or Zimmies.
Saturday, May 2nd:
Following a hectic arrival day, we plan to take it easy on Saturday. Whenever we’re fully rested, we’ll head to Waffle House for breakfast (always been on our to-try list, but not yet visited). After breakfast, if the weather is favourable, we’ll take a drive to the coast and soak up some sun and surf at Daytona Beach (the rental car companies must HATE us….all that sand!). On our last trip, Steve spotted a place called “Hog Heaven” just a street over from the beach (they were actually dragging an advertisement for the restaurant from behind a small plane) so we’ll probably grab our lunch there, if for no other reason than it has an appealingly silly name. We may spend the whole day at the beach, or we may head back early enough to catch another couple of hours at the parks to utilized our after-4 pm Express (both IOA and the Studios close early again that day for grad bash….so once again, we’ll be escorted out no later than 6 pm). Dinner is planned for The Knife, conveniently located in the Crossroads just a hop, skip and jump from the Vistana. More swimming and hot tub time in the evening…..something tells me we will need it after all that food.
Sunday, May 3rd:
Our first FULL park day. We plan to be up at the crack of dawn, showered and out the door in time to arrive at the park before rope drop. We’ve opted to do Universal Studios this day…..yep, we can’t wait to experience everything Diagon Alley has to offer. We’ll likely grab a breakfast to go at Vistana’s Marketplace (they have some great breakfast sandwiches) and enjoy our Tim Horton’s coffee (brought from home, brewed in the villa and poured into travel mugs) as we make the journey up the I4 . Lunch will be at the Simpson’s Fast Food Boulevard, and we’re planning on dinner at Finnegan’s. Somewhere during this day, I plan to enjoy my first Flaming Moe and a D’Oh-nut sundae. Steve will be getting his first Butterbeer of the trip. Goodbye, diet. I shall purchase a wand and become the newest muggle-turned-wizard. We hope to spend the entire day, open to close (9 am to 9 pm).
Monday, May 4th:
Today will be Islands of Adventure all day. A repeat from the day prior, we plan to be up and out the
door in time to arrive for rope drop. We’ll grab a quick breakfast to go with our coffee somewhere along the way, likely either the Marketplace or at the park itself. Dining plans include 3 Broomsticks for lunch, and Thunder Falls Terrace for dinner. IOA closes at 7, so if we’re not parked-out by then, we’ll hop over to the Studios for a ride or 2…or 3…or more…before we call it a day.
Tuesday, May 5th:
We have built this in as a recuperation day. We’ll sleep in as long as possible, then have plans to try Ihop for breakfast (their menu looks divine). We have a reservation for 12 noon for the Orlando Eye (it will have celebrated its grand opening the day prior), then we’ll have lunch at Red Robin (which is in the IDrive 360 complex, where the Eye is located). We hope to enjoy some downtime at the resort in the afternoon (read: pooltime) then drive to 4 Rivers for dinner. We’ll either hit up the parks in the evening or just relax at the resort again. We’ll see what we feel like.
Wednesday, May 6th:
A second full day at the Studios. Since we should be rested up again from our less hectic day on Tuesday, we’re aiming for park-open-to-park-close (or close to it). We’ll dine at Leaky Cauldron for lunch and probably delay dinner until after we leave the parks for the day (we have gift certificates for TGI Friday’s that we’ll like use that night….an I’m Sorry gesture from the management of the Syracuse location after a disastrous experience in August 2014). We plan to enjoy some snacks in Diagon Alley this day as well….Butterbeer ice cream is high on my agenda.
Thursday, May 7th:
A second full day at Islands of Adventure. Arriving before park opening and riding the day through to close will be our plan once again. We hope to hit up Mythos for lunch, and Millers Ale House for dinner after leaving the park (IOA closes at 7). Pool time, hot tub, and a Tiki Bar drink are the evening plans.
Friday, May 8th:
Today, we will (eventually) be homeward bound. Check out at the Vistana is 10 am. We are thinking we might head to Downtown Disney for lunch....we haven’t been there in several trips, and we have heard that some of the walls are coming down and its getting to feel less “under construction”. Tentative plans call for lunch at Earl of Sandwich….we want to see if it lives up to all the Disboards hype. Our flight is not until 7 pm, so we don’t need to be at the airport until around 5, so we have a whole afternoon to fill. We may head back to Universal for a few more rides, or to the beach for a few hours, or do some shopping. All I know is that we will do
something, because my emotions get rocky if I’m idle on that last day.
If everything goes according to the above- plans, then the following restaurants will be new experiences for us:
Breakfasts: Waffle House and IHOP
In the parks: 3 Broomsticks, Thunder Falls Terrace, Mythos, Finnegans, Leaky Cauldron, and Simpson’s Fast Food Boulevard. Possibly also Croissant Moon and the Beverly Hill Boulangerie (or something similar) for a quick breakfast. And various snack places as well….Florean Fortescue’s, Moe’s Tavern, and Lard Lad for sure!
Outside of the parks: The Knife, 4 Rivers BBQ, Bubbalous’s Bodacious Barbecue, Red Robin, Millers Ale House, Earl of Sandwich, Sweet Tomatoes, and Hog Heaven.
55 days to go!
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. It seems it doesn't get a lot of love on the transportation board at times, but I guess if truth be told, there's usually at least SOMEONE with a negative review of any given rental agency. 
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Definitely on our radar for July. Sweet Tomatoes was also tasty, they gave us BOGOF even though we didn't have a coupon, so no complaints there.
) challenges for me and hubby in the last seven or eight months. Hard to believe that these challenges actually started when we were on a trip to BC in June....gotta take another trip to remove the jinx!! 
) Day. The only problem is once I start doing that, then I have a harder time giving my full attention to work because it is really easy to let all those trip planning details take over your life! 
). Its really easy to get to the Amway Center, too....much less stressful than we anticipated. We are hoping we might luck out again this Christmas, and have the Raptors be in Orlando during the time we are, too. We are not so patiently waiting for the 2015-2016 NBA schedule to be released (sadly, it will probably be a while yet).
). I am looking forward to giving it a try. If we like it, we plan to take the kids there in December because Sweetie has yet to experience Downtown Disney (or maybe it will be officially Disney Springs by then? I'm not sure).
). It also allows us to make sure that we get all of our must-do's in as conveniently as possible.....yep, we like to be "efficient" while having fun. We are so lame!! 
....that milk carton would have really wigged me out. You would have thought the darn thing would have started to smell in the summer heat!!!! I will be sure to check under the seats before we drive away...just in case 
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. I can’t say I have ever used Touringplans as a reference before so perhaps I am a bit off in my interpretation of the numbers. I guess time will tell!
, with a balmy +7 projected for tomorrow (and highs above freezing all week….fingers crossed!). If the weatherman’s original promises hold true, we should rid ourselves of a substantial amount of snow by the end of the week. Can I hear a halleluiah from the crowd? 
. I may not sleep Saturday night. Please keep your fingers crossed for me….with the current exchange rate, I need these tickets to be somewhat affordable.
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