Redemption: Merkley Family Vacation 2012

I've been wanting to post about our family vacation for days. But since this trip was filled with jam packed days at theme parks and super late nights, I was left utterly exhausted. I'm just now getting around to moving photos from my phone to my computer, and subsequently, my blog.

The theme for this trip was appropriately title the Merkley "Redemption" Vacation. Last year, at exactly this same time, we were in Anaheim, CA for another work conference / DisneyLand family vacation. This particular vacation (if you can't remember) was plagued with pneumonia and turned out to be miserable... mostly for Brielle.  We weren't about to let anything get in the way of enjoying our time in Florida (even when Chris decided to get bronchial pneumonia just two weeks before we left AND Brielle and I had a short stint with the stomach flu). Cursed?  It's possible.

We were lucky enough to have our good friends, the Clonts family join us on this adventure. So if you see a few random kids you don't recognize, you know why...

DISCOVERY COVE, ORLANDO

Discovery Cove is an aquatic park where literally, the ocean has been brought inland. Here, you get to interact and swim with dolphins, wade in the water with sting rays, snorkel with exotic fish and enjoy the beautiful beaches. This place was pricey... but included in our day was all we could eat food, snacks and treats, wetsuits, snorkel gear, towels, showers, etc.

First things first... snorkeling with Sting Rays.

Some where small, and others quite large.  I told Brielle not to worry, that they wouldn't hurt her, but I found myself wincing each time one would pass me and it's long tail would slither past my legs.  I get the creepy's just thinking about it again.

Above is Brielle... floating while the seas creatures swam beneath her. And below, you would be correct if you guessed that was a shark.  Multiple sharks, actually. Underwater, there is a glass wall to give snorkelers the illusion that they are also swimming with sharks (or near, rather).

So many places to explore.

I think we could easy say that the highlight of this day was the interaction with the dolphins. When you arrive, you are given a scheduled time to meet with a dolphin trainer for your 45 minute dolphin experience.  It was SO fun.

We met up with Stella (or dolphin) in the water, and learned about her unique characteristics, abilities and other fun facts about his friendly creature. For example, did you know that when dolphins swallow fish, they have the ability to not swallow sea water at the same time? Cause is hurts their tummies? I had no idea.

We were all staring into her mouth as he showed us how she swallowed food, showed us her teeth and let us feed her fish. The trainer taught us hand signals to different tricks, like singing, clapping and splashing. And... the signal if we wanted a dolphin kiss.

Cutest picture EVER.

 And then it was time to ride.

The kids loved this place! And so did we.

THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER

Universal Studios Orlando

The first item on the agenda for our second day in Orlando was Universal Studios, namely, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I will say that this portion of the theme park was a lot smaller than I had expected, however, they went all out on every little detail. You would have thought you were an extra in one of the movies.

From the costumes of the cast members, to the the Hogwort's Express, to the specialty shops -- they pulled out all the stops and created Hogsmead just as you'd picture it in the books and see it on the movie screen.

We found the Weasley's car... crashed in the trees, Hagrid's house and the drink made famous in the books...

Butterbeer. The only way that I can describe this deliciously sweet, way over-priced ($10 bucks a piece!) drink is this... it was like drinking liquid, slushly, creamy butterscotch. Oh man, it was good. We each had two. I'm currently scanning Pinterest for Butterbeer knock-off recipes.

I think I forgot to mention that it was topped off with frothy whipped cream. And that it was really, really, good. Did I mention how yummy it was? And came complete with multiple brain freezes.

Amazing, really it was.  If it didn't cost so much to get back into Universal, I would have gone back every day.

We wandered through the familiar corridors of Hogwards School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, passing Dumbledore's office, the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, the Gryffindor common room and the Herbology greenhouse on our way to the Forbidden Journey ride. It was pretty awesome.  Everything was so recognizable!

We stopped at HoneyDukes Sweet Shop and Brielle (or course) chose the chocolate frog, which included a Dumbledore trading card. Sadly, the frog did not leap out of the box, but did disappear in her mouth.

Another request on Brielle's list of places to visit was Ollivander's, the Maker of Fine Wands. You can tell by the look on her face that she had a tough decision to make. Will she choose the wand that "chose" her? Or choose a wand that was unique to one of the characters in the book?  In the end, she went with the wand that chose her.

We spent 2 entire days at Universal Studios Orlando, but it's funny, I really only took pictures in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The rest of Universal was pretty to similar to the one found in California. But even still, we had a great 2 days!

SEAWORLD, ORLANDO

SeaWorld was not on our list of things we wanted to do, however, entrance was FREE with the purchase of the Discovery Cove ticket, and you can't beat FREE in Orlando. With that said, SeaWorld was not nearly as big and as tiring as the first 3 days, so we welcomed a day to chill and catch some fun shows.

I love this next picture... I have this exact picture of her at SeaWorld San Diego when she was two years old. Sniff, sniff. It's like she went from 2 to 10 instantly!

We saw the famous Shamu show, we loved the Seal and Otter show, but if you ask Brielle about her favorite activity at SeaWorld, she'll tell you it was finding the pearl in an oyster.

You walk up to the divers in the water, request an oyster, and they will bring several to the surface. You pick your oyster and take it to the shop to say a "good luck" chant and have it cracked opened. Now, the first time we did this, Brielle ended up with a pretty pink pearl. However, it had something on it that made it look dirty, so they asked her to pick another oyster.

We were told that it's really rare to get a black pearl. Well, Brielle ended up with something even more rare...

A chocolate colored pearl. It's small, but it was beautiful! She had it set so she could wear it on a necklace.

EPCOT / DISNEYWORLD RESORT, ORLANDO

As a kid, I thought Epcot was totally lame. I didn't think that Brielle would enjoy it, but we agreed to go for Chris. This day turned out to be one of our favorite days. We purchased a 1 day hopper pass (to jump between Epcot & the Magic Kingdom, knowing we would be rushing through the parks in an effort to see everything! In the end, we didn't have to, and it was perfect.

By the way, Brielle kept calling it Ep-a-cot. It was even more hilarious when we heard other kids on the train calling it that, too.

This particular day happened to be one of the final days of the Food & Wine festival. If you are not familiar with Epcot, I'll tell you this... it's not full of roller coasters and rides. Epcot is twice the size of the Magic Kingdom, and showcases the World. Small replicas of international cities line the lake, giving you the chance to experience places like Mexico, Japan, China, Italy, France, Ireland, and others, without ever leaving Florida.

Along with the Food & Wine festival, they had food vendors in each "country" with 3 samplings of the local cuisine, each costing about $5. That gave us an idea for lunch. What if we visited multiple countries, try a sampling from each one, and eat our way around the world?

Best idea ever!

We had a Bratwurst in Germany, Ravioli in Italy, Cheese Tartine in France (along with a Napolian because we could NOT pass that up), Belgian Waffle in Belgium and so much more!  If I hadn't been so full, I would have continued with the Empanadas in Mexico and Fish & Chips in Ireland. YUM.

Another thing that we loved was the Phineas & Ferb: Agent P's Showcase Adventure. Brielle got to go under cover as "Agent B" along with Agent P on a quest around the World Showcase at Epcot. Complete with a cellphone in hand, she received clues and messages that connected her with Phineas and Ferb, in an effort to stop the evil villains.

Being that we were in Mexico at the time, her clues took her through the Mexican ruins and local markets. She was determined and did successfully completed her mission. She took her assignment very seriously, and it ended up being pretty fun. Had we had more time, we could have taken additional assignments in Norway, China, France or Germany.

Another important assignment that Brielle was given was to seek out Grandpa Bert's girlfriend, Snow White. Now, I should mention that all week, I begged Brielle to take photos with Minions and other random characters, but no. She wasn't interested. Grandpa Bert asks, and she gladly stood in line for 30 minutes waiting to meet Snow White.

Then it was time to hit the Magic Kingdom. And before I begin, here is my disclaimer... It's way more expensive and not as great as the Magic Kingdom in California. The End.

Wait.. I will say that DisneyLAND is just not the same anymore without Cinderella's castle. Now the end.

We spent all of about 3 hours in the Magic Kingdom. Space Mountain, the light parade and Thunder Mountain were the highlights. Do not -- I repeat -- DO NOT ask Brielle about her Nascar driving experience. I attempted to record her first attempt at driving on video, and it ended in tears.

This girl, always so serious. But when Mickey & Minnie are speaking to the crowd, I guess you listen.

Earlier in the day, I asked Chris why Cinderella's castle was covered in nets? Now I know. And clearly, it wasn't nets.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER

I don't have much to say about this day, because I wasn't able to participate in all the fun. My meetings had started and I was stuck in a 40 degree, enormous convention center than spanned nearly two full blocks.  If my feet hadn't hurt after walking around theme parks all week, they certainly did now.

Here is a collection of the pictures Brielle text me from her phone...

I do know this about the picture above.  That is the space shuttle Atlantis and this day was the very last day you could see it. It is now being bubble wrapped and stored somewhere until they can build a new museum type building to hold it.

Later that night, Chris and Brielle picked me up and we headed to Downtown Disney to meet up with the Clonts family. They had spent a 2nd day at DisneyWorld while Chris & Brielle hit Kennedy Space Center. As soon as Brielle hit the Lego store, she just had  to show me "Lego Friends." I was completely unaware that Lego had finally entered the market with their version of Lego's for girls.

It's a bit dark, but this is one of the Lego Friends built entirely out of Lego's. Thank heavens, I know have ideas for Christmas gifts.

And that, my friends is the conclusion of the Merkley Redemption Vacation of 2012. Unless we mention that Delta was almost successful at not letting Chris and Brielle on the plane on their return to Salt Lake. Oh, and that they landed during the giant snow storm (thank the Lord I wasn't with them, or I would have had a full blown panic attack on the plane). Oh, and that someone forgot to put the snow scraper in the car, so Chris had to scrape 9 inches of snow of with his bare hands. And then drive back to Logan during the worst of the storm.

There, now that is the conclusion of the Merkley Redemption Vacation of 2012. Where we'll go in 2013, I don't know, but I can't wait. Traveling is the best with my two favorite people!