JACT Magic and Motors in FL 2021

James & I flew down to Florida to visit family in December. A couple of the many highlights of our vacation were visiting Daytona Intl Speedway and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Magic is in the air at Universal Studios in Orlando! There are two parks in this world, Daigon Alley & Hogsmeade, so we dedicated two days to fully immerse ourselves.

This adventure begins on a Friday, day seven of our Orlando vacation (see previous blog JACT at Disney World 2021 for the first half of this adventure). We reserved a timeshare exchange at The Berkley in Kissimmee, keeping us close to all the parks. It was huge (sleeps 8), and we had hoped to share it all week with James’s son & Fiancé and my daughter & granddaughter, but work schedules made that impossible. Plus, timeshares don’t allow pets, and both families had dogs needing to be cared for. If there was one thing I could change about timeshares, I would allow pets!!

My daughter Krishna did stay with her daughter Mikaela one night at the resort with us to enjoy two days at Universal. It was such a joy to have my 7-year-old granddaughter unpack her suitcase, share her dolls with me, and cook us all scrambled eggs for breakfast! I haven’t been able to spend much time with Krishna as she has lived in Arizona, Michigan, and now Florida, but I can truly see what a great mom she is, and I am immensely proud of her!

They arrived at The Berkley early Friday morning, unpacked suitcases for the night but loaded up backpacks for the day. We then all headed out together in one car to Universal, where there are three separate parks in Orlando. One is a water park called Volcano Bay, which we did not visit. Then there is Islands of Adventure featuring the Wizarding World of Harry Potter “Hogsmeade” and last but not least, Universal Studios Florida featuring the W.W. of Harry Potter “Diagon Alley .” Of course, we went to Diagon Alley first to go wand shopping!

We made it to Ollivanders Wand Shop, where the wand chooses one wizard or witch out of the crowd. None of us were picked, so afterward, we shopped for an interactive wand for Mikaela. She decided on the Hermione Granger wand with its beautifully carved vines and leaves. It is “activated” upon purchase (about $55) & then you search throughout the two parks for emblems on the ground showing spells to be used at window fronts to perform magic. You must perform the proper movements for your wand to work! We all tried it with Mikaela’s wand, but of course, it worked best for her (after some practice) Here’s our YouTube video, with a tour of the resort followed by our magical day at Harry Potter World!

Living in the moment, we didn’t capture how fun the rides were. Escape from Gringotts, Hogwarts Express, Forbidden Journey, Flight of the Hippogriff, and Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure were as exciting as they sound (the motorbike one was my favorite!) Just like Disney, expect to wait in long lines, but at least you are immersed in the Harry Potter world as you maze your way to the front.

We went to the Islands of Adventure early on Saturday to catch some other featured rides before meeting James’s son Ryan and Alyssa. The day flew by with Mikaela braving most of the rides with us, although she closed her eyes on the intense ones. Even though they scared her, she still begged and pleaded to go on the roller coasters, but she wasn’t tall enough (to her protective mom’s relief LOL).

They could have scarred her for life, but for us bigger kids, the Jurassic World VelociCoaster is the best roller coaster ever! In fact, it WAS chosen as USA Today best new theme park attraction for 2021.

Two days at Universal was fine for this trip, as we had already spent time at Disney World. Six parks were almost too much for one week, but when you live in WA, you fit as much in as possible because FL is so far away! For our final day, we chose to drive an hour and a half to Daytona. We toured the international Speedway and added the Daytona 500 to our bucket list. Then we joined Ryan & Alyssa at Lighthouse Point Park, where we enjoyed the beach and getting to know their fur baby, Daisy! Here’s our YouTube video highlighting our day:

Florida did not disappoint as the sun shined for our entire vacation while our home state hid in a blanket of dreary winter clouds. Despite the cool weather waiting for us, we looked forward to going home to celebrate Christmas… and plan our return trip! Ryan and Alyssa had set a May 2022 date to get married in The Keys!

This concludes our magical theme park adventure - thanks for tagging along. If you have never experienced Disney or Universal, I suggest you go at least once. Plan it, prepare for the costs and make it happen even if it takes years to accomplish. Adventure awaits, go do it! #JACTventures