We Flew Down to UO for One Day But it Was a MARVEL-ous 50th Birthday!

[wdwrule]

Haha I’m still laughing about how crazy we are! First off, my philosophy of my birthday is just another day… especially once I hit 40. I don’t shout out when my birthday is, I just take it in stride

But once my 50th was coming up we thought it might be a good idea to do something nice to lighten the blow. I know it’s just another number but I was kind of dreading this number. Oh to be 40 again.

Anyways, it was all hubby’s idea to plan something. Kids were still home from college on holiday break so he looked into a fancy dinner somewhere or maybe a train ride to NYC which we’ve done several times before.

Because it was last minute, the train ride for the 5 of us was around $1300. So off he went looking for cheap Frontier/Spirit flights. A few moments later I hear… “wanna go to Universal on your 50th for the day?” For the day??

One, it was cheap for the same day arrival and departure (around $55 round trip per person). Also, we all have APs. Second, DS and his GF needed to drive back to college the following afternoon since this was the last weekend of their break.

At first I was like… dang that’s a lot in one day and I’ll be a zombie with a 6:00am flight. On the other hand, what a memorable day that will be!! You’re only 50 once right??

So we booked it. 6:00am flight and then a 10:30pm return flight. I figured since we’re already being crazy with this idea, I’ll go all out and get some kind of 50th birthday shirt from Amazon.

To be continued…

 

[christophfam]

What a great way to celebrate! Can’t wait to read this. I’m going down the end of February for a week for my 55th celebration. Actual birthday was Dec. 28th, but not the best time for the parks. Just bought myself a shirt because well why not.

 

[wdwrule]

What a great way to celebrate! Can’t wait to read this. I’m going down the end of February for a week for my 55th celebration. Actual birthday was Dec. 28th, but not the best time for the parks. Just bought myself a shirt because well why not.

Love that! It’s so much fun! Good call on end of February versus end of December.

Again, I’m not one for being in the spotlight at all, but that shirt brought on some pleasant happy birthday greetings from some TMs.

 

[wdwrule]

So we were up and out the door around 3:30am It was quiet and peaceful out.


Oh and here was my birthday shirt!


And complete with celebration pin :

This shirt ended up being such a fun purchase to make the day all the more memorable.

At MCO, we caught a Lyft XL (SUV) to HRH around 9:00 ($45). Then took the peaceful walkway from there.

Since we were here for one day, I thought I’d finally try out a Fanny pack/bum bag/belt bag… whatever you’d like to call it. I usually wear a crossbody bag that has a little more room for an umbrella and a few other things. I’ve always wanted to try this to bypass the lockers but love having an umbrella handy… and, haha, didn’t think it would look so cool. The weather forecast had a minimal chance of rain so I figured why not? I ended up loving it!! Nothing weighing down my shoulder and most of the rides allow them, just so they have the three-prong clasp.

Because we arrived in Florida with nothing but small park bags, I did bring along a backpack to store miscellaneous stuff and we rented out a large locker for the day at the front of Studios for that bag. This was very convenient because later in the day, some of the kids wanted to ditch their hoodies so they just added them to our locker. I think this locker was $15 for the day if I’m remembering correctly. I probably could’ve gotten away with the smaller locker ($12 I think) but the big one was good piece of mind.

Then we hit up Starbucks for some caffeine and ordered some leaky cauldron kids meal breakfasts which came with lemon squash or butter beer, etc. Such a great deal and I’m always full after that portion.

I believe this is the kids traditional that I had on another trip. All of the kids meals are basically the same as the adult meals… just smaller portions. The hot butterbeer only comes in one size so you can get a regular sized hot butterbeer with a kids meal


Then we took the SR line on Gringotts and waited just about 5 minutes.

I don’t remember seeing these lockers at the exit by the photos??


Then we headed to MiB and got on multiple times (and got the celebration pin on way). This arcade seemed newer too unless I never noticed it before at the exit.


Then we went on F&F (SR only on this one). It’s so insane it’s funny! Vin Diesel hanging onto the drone-sized helicopter gets me every time! Then some of us went on the SR line on RRR. I love Christmas so I was sad the Studios Christmas tree was taken down but while on RRR, I saw the dismantled tree over in a lot so that was cool.

Since we were still full from our breakfast, we were able to push our Margaritaville noon lunch reservation to 1:30 on the website.

We also meandered around Kidzone since it was closing soon. We’ve had fun in the ball play area.


We then headed to Citywalk to look in shops before our lunch reservation at Margaritaville.

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Then it was time for mamma to get her Perfect Margarita!

To be continued…

 

[erinch]

AWESOME, and looking fab!

 

[wdwrule]

AWESOME, and looking fab!

Thank you!

 

[RogueX]

Nice! You've got me beat, I can't do it in one day, the shortest we've done it is like 36 hours. Still had a fabulous time. We just did this for my birthday this past January.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Loving this report! What a great birthday memory!!

I'm going in a few weeks myself, so it's really getting me excited for my own trip too.

 

[wdwrule]

Nice! You've got me beat, I can't do it in one day, the shortest we've done it is like 36 hours. Still had a fabulous time. We just did this for my birthday this past January.

Wonderful!! Makes for an adventurous memorable birthday for sure! Glad you had an awesome time.

 

[wdwrule]

Loving this report! What a great birthday memory!!

I'm going in a few weeks myself, so it's really getting me excited for my own trip too.

I’m so excited for you!! Mardi Gras there is a blast!

 

[Robo56]

Sounds like a fantastic 50th Birthday celebration.

Great start to your one day celebration.

Looking forward to more of your trip report.

 

[wdwrule]

Sounds like a fantastic 50th Birthday celebration.

Great start to your one day celebration.

Looking forward to more of your trip report.

Thank you!! Yes it was totally a fantastic birthday celebration.

 

[wdwrule]

So off to Margaritaville at this point and I was really looking forward to a relaxing lunch with the Perfect Margarita. This is the actual name of the drink… and oh is it perfect! It’s basically a lot of tequila with a little bit of lime juice.

I kept forgetting to take pics on this trip but here’s one from a previous trip of the Margarita. You can also get this from their side window or from the Lone Palm Airport bar (tiki-like hut right across from Margaritaville).

Lunch included a split Cuban sandwich and fries; jerk chicken pasta which was very spicy and a few other dishes. We sat outside as the weather was glorious and live music was happening. It was a wonderful birthday lunch.

Then we headed to IoA which was very busy. We rode SR Spider-Man and then had to meet Capt America of course! Great interaction and he offered me to hold his shield since it was my birthday

Then SR FJ and meandered a bit as it was so busy at this point. Our after 4:00 express kicked in and we used it first on Cat in the Hat. Haha yep, a classic with creepy Thing 1 & Thing 2.

Then we got one of my favorite fudge flavors: Chocolate sea salt caramel fudge and headed to Studios.

We never did ride VC or Hagrid’s since it was steadily busy all day. Saturdays are always the busiest. But that’s ok, we’ve ridden both so many times and although we love those (probably our two favorites) we knew we were coming back in a few weeks to a trip that was already in the books.

ET was even busy, even with EP so we never rode that either… same with transformers: both SR and EP very busy and long waits.

Trusty MiB though, we rode multiple times in the SR line.

We did EP Mummy so that was great!

We accomplished so much on this one day trip and it was soon time to think about dinner and then heading back to the airport. My favorite burger so far on property is at Jakes from RPR.


I usually get this with Jakes Original Red Lager. My daughter and I split this meal and it’s plenty. At Jakes, they split the meals on two separate plates with individual portions of fries (at least for the burger meal) which is a nice touch. This has become a popular departure routine for us lately: Jakes with great food, service and atmosphere while reflecting on the trip.

Sad the birthday trip was ending but we were all so pleased with our decision to go for the day basically on a whim and of course thanks to cheap flights. We grabbed a Lyft XL (minivan) back to the airport which happened to be only $37 at 8pm. Lol weren’t we just there??

Was it crazy? Yes. Were we tired? Yes… well after the adrenaline wore off but we were pumped just about the whole day. Was it worth it? For a big celebration, I’d say yes in a heartbeat and would do it all over again in that case. It’s been about a month now and we talk about it often with huge grins. I’m so glad hubby suggested it for my 50th and that I agreed. To celebrate my 50th with the closest peeps I love, in a place with fun, happy vibes was truly Marvelous!

 

[musika]

That's an insane trip and I love every second of it. Way to go and happy birthday!

 

[wdwrule]

That's an insane trip and I love every second of it. Way to go and happy birthday!

Glad you loved it! Haha it was insanely fantastic!

 

[PollyannaMom]

So glad it was a great day!

 

[wdwrule]

So glad it was a great day!

Thank you! Yes everything went smoothly and was memorable for sure!

 

[kittylady1972]

I just LOVE day trips like that one. We've done a few, usually me and my daughter. People think we are nuts but with the cheap flights you can get from our area for the day it's a no brainer. Yours sounded fabulous! We have an upcoming combo Universal and EPCOT trip next week, started out as one night that has evolved to 2 nights but still looking forward to the go-go-go and then come home and return to normal life!

 

[wdwrule]

I just LOVE day trips like that one. We've done a few, usually me and my daughter. People think we are nuts but with the cheap flights you can get from our area for the day it's a no brainer. Yours sounded fabulous! We have an upcoming combo Universal and EPCOT trip next week, started out as one night that has evolved to 2 nights but still looking forward to the go-go-go and then come home and return to normal life!

Yes I agree!! We have always been go-go-go. Lol it’s in our blood I guess. Sometimes we stay for a week, but mostly just weekends and with this trip… about 14 hours in Orlando!! At any rate, I enjoy going frequently with shorter stays with the ability to experience the different seasons, weather and events going on. Like you said… thanks to the cheap flights from our area.

Enjoy your trip!!! We love Epcot as well!! The food and atmosphere is fabulous there. Love World Showcase! During a trip to UO last weekend, we stayed at Aventura on an high floor and I could gaze at Spaceship Earth all lit up at night. Enjoy!!

 

[nycdisneygal]

SO insane and fantastic! Love this! Happy belated birthday!!!