How Universal saved our vacation...DAYS 1 & 2 & 3!

[Jennasis]

 

[Jennasis]

And then this happened...

 

[JaxDad]

View attachment 274611 And then this happened...

Oh no! I am so sorry. My son broke his foot shortly before a trip to DC. I got him a knee scooter, and it worked out pretty well.

 

[Jennasis]

Oh no! I am so sorry. My son broke his foot shortly before a trip to DC. I got him a knee scooter, and it worked out pretty well.

This morning, one of my horses stepped on me in a rather epic fashion. I actually heard and felt something snap. It was one of those moments where I channeled my inner Yosemite Sam as I cursed under my breath dragging that infernal equine back to the barn....the only thought in my head being "this better not mess up my vacation" LOL. X-ray shows a possible small fracture but the doctor thinks I probably popped the tendon. Boot for a few weeks.

 

[macraven]

Did a double look as wondered how my foot pic got in your thread

Broke my left foot in 3 places 28 days before this vacation at UO

It is icky walking in the parks with it but I'm testing the waters today and going bootless or renting park scooter

Hope you start to feel better and heal fast!

 

[Jennasis]

Fingers crossed y'all! With 28 days to go I see the doctor tomorrow for a follow up x-ray on the foot. Luckily, I am fairly certain that even if there are some hairline/stress fractures, the treatment will be to continue wearing the boot for a few more weeks. I'd even wear it around the park if need be but darn it

As God is my witness, I WILL be going in the pool and to Volcano Bay!

 

[schumigirl]

Oh my goodness......just catching up on your rollercoaster plans!!

You’ll have a fabulous time.....even in the boot if necessary........

I’m so looking forward to reading all about it! Hope you’re not in too much pain either........

 

[Jennasis]

Oh farts...

Went all all the way to the doctors office this morning...only to be told the x-ray machine is broken. This was of course after waiting 20 minutes past my appointment time, getting all the way into the exam room, and then sitting down with the doctor. So now I have to make an appointment to see the orthopedic specialist instead tomorrow. Because apparently it may be a severed nerve in my foot causing the numbness which would need surgical fix. However there is a two week window in which the surgery would need to be performed after the incident otherwise there's no hope of saving the nerve. It's already been one week since the injury. And I'm certainly not looking forward to needing surgery and the recovery from that right before my trip. Dang it!

 

[macraven]

Sending mummy dust it all will
work out for you!!

Hope the surgery will happen soon and you have a speedy recovery

Make plans to rent a scooter for the trip so you will have break times in resting your foot

 

[Jennasis]

GOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!

T-minus 21 days and I got, trepidaciously, on the scale this morning and found that I've hit my goal weight! At least the goal I set to be at before our trip LOL. You see, I had two back surgeries. One in 2010 and a repeat of the surgery in 2014. The surgery had a long layup that caused me to balloon like Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade float due to having to be so sedentary. I hit 200lbs. Even at 5'7" that's still quite a bit. Fast forward to today and I'm a "svelte" 165! I guess I need to revise my goal to 160 and see if I can hit that before November 6th...

 

[macraven]

Hooray for hitting goal weight before your trip!

I'm sure you'll feel more comfortable doing the parks being lighter
Even with the cast/airboot on your foot, it will be smoother walking

Do you feel more comfort in your back now ?

You have over two more weeks till vacation
Hope you hit your new goal

 

[Jennasis]

Hooray for hitting goal weight before your trip!

I'm sure you'll feel more comfortable doing the parks being lighter
Even with the cast/airboot on your foot, it will be smoother walking

Do you feel more comfort in your back now ?

You have over two more weeks till vacation
Hope you hit your new goal

My back has been better since losing the weight. I still get the occasional twinge if I over do something, and running a farm tends to have plenty of opportunity to overdo lol. The 2 surgeries I had were discectomies of my L5-S1, so there is very VERY little disc left in that space.

Luckily, I am out of the aircast! I had a follow up with the orthopedic specialist and it looks like a bad bone bruise rather than a break. So as long as I'm careful not to get stepped on again, I'm doing good!

 

[macraven]

I had another week of the airboot and took mine

The first day without it in the parks
A person in front of me in line, stepped back on the foot

Ouch

Take the boot !

 

[Jennasis]

So here's where you guys can help...what should we watch to prep for the trip. We've never seen ANY Despicable Me movies at all and same for The Secret Life of Pets. Anything else we should watch. I definitely want to bone up on the Harry Potter movies before we go. DH and I are HUGE...HUGE Simpsons fans. The Simpsons Ride may be our favorite park ride there.

 

[HM]

Definitely watch Despicable Me.
I'd also choose to watch The Mummy (Brendan Fraser one, not Tom Cruise), Kong (the recent one), ET, Shrek, Terminator, Transformers and Men in Black.

 

[solfan68]

Pondering our first-ever Universal trip this summer, a shortie, before an extended-family gathering at The World. I'm in.

 

[bobbie68]

Hello fellow Hufflepuff I am a proud Hufflepuff and love to tell everyone. I have 2 Slytherins and a Ravenclaw in the house...Glad to see you were able to do a Uni vacation now. We love it there and will be back in June. I think you got a good line up of movies to watch. We always watch HP before we go. I also love the transformers movies and rides so that is a must too. We just stayed at CBBR in July/August and enjoyed it very much. I am working on my trip report now. Happy planning!

 

[Jennasis]

Only 2 weeks to go! We are just losing our minds 'round here! So I thought I'd share with you guys a bit about how we do when we travel down to Orlando from NC..

It's a roughly 9ish hour drive for us from our home in mid-NC to Orlando, and frankly it's a part of the trip we look forward to almost as much as the roller coasters and character meets. Yeah, we're weird like that. The drive is time for DH and I to just be together and chat, which is hard to do while screaming on a ride or watching a show. We'll also listen to podcasts, Howard Stern or even comedy shows on Sirius while we look forward to each driving milestone. Like...

Milestone #1: Breakfast at Chik-fil-A! Nothing beats those chicken bagels in the morning...unless of course we happen to leave for our trip on a Sunday when they are closed. Then it's Mickey D's. We typically hit the one just after Rock Hill, SC.

Milestone #2: Hitting I-26 in Columbia, SC for the 55 minute ride east to I-95. This is probably the worst stretch of the trip as I-26 is possibly the ugliest, most boring stretch of road on the planet. Luckily we only have to endure it for about an hour.

Then we finally hit Milestone #3....I-95!! and just a little further down, the Georgia State Line!

We really enjoy Georgia, but especially the stretch of 95 that really hugs the coast. The marshlands are really beautiful! Of course, this brings us to milestone #4 which is less beautiful...the stinky paper mill. If you've ever EVER driven on 95 through Georgia, you know exactly what I'm talking about LOL. It is so awful. I remember on one trip, I MAY have farted at the exact moment we hit that spot and DH yelped "Is that YOU???" to which I replied, gagging "if it is, you'd better pull over and find a hospital quick! Cause clearly I'm dying!"
SMELL BAD!

We also tend to stop for gas around the same place in Port Wentworth, GA (and I'm not ashamed it's because I've got a mad school-girl crush on Wentworth Miller)...

From here, it's just a hop skip and a jump to Milestone #5...The Florida-Georgia state line!

And this is where the atmosphere shift in the car turns from "hanging with my best friend" to:

OMG we're in FLORIDA!!!!!!!!!!




This is also MY time to shine. You see, DH tends to drive for the entire trip down...except for that magic time we cross over in the lawless wild west...beyond Thunderdome...Florida...and I get to take over behind the wheel! Muwahahahahaha!!

Onwards to Milestone #5...J-ville! Ahh, lovely Jacksonville and the scenic 295 bypass. This route around the city has one of the most beautiful bridges that goes over the water right by where the big container ships go. We discovered this bypass for 95 a few years ago when our Waze app made us go this way instead of sticking on 95, to avoid some traffic. It's quite serene, and for the most part empty. Fun tip, if you have the WAZE app pleas PLEASE try taking your next long haul on the "boy band" setting. There is nothing more hilarious than having your GPS sing every turn to you. We discovered it by accident a few trips ago in the middle of Florida and we were crying by the time we hit Orlando!

Then it's a bunch of nothing until we hit I-4...and then it's full on FREAK OUT as we pass a few more milestones:

And then we slam right into the horrible Orlando tourist corridor traffic...at which point we know we are "home" LOL. This year it's going to feel a little strange to get off I-4 at Universal instead of continuing on to WDW, but we are so looking forward to having a whole new vacation experience! So there's a little insight into how our journey will unfold in just 2 weeks...come on November and get here!

 

[schumigirl]

I love the sound of your journey!!!

We enjoy travel time too and just passing the time chatting........and that is a beautiful bridge!

I`m looking forward to hearing about your trip......

 

[HM]

We drive from NC too, but it's I40 to I95 only.
Georgia is definitely the best part of 95. I love the salt marshes.
We drive right through Jacksonville every time. The first time we did the bypass, but it takes longer, so no more.