just a couple of muggles

The first day of Florida was a success!

I’m usually a fairly nervous traveler (remember what happened with my friend’s wedding?), but that’s because I always feel like I have to “be in charge” when I travel alone or with the Husband. However, with my mom, I kind of feel like a little kid, so I didn’t have too much nervous energy going into today’s traveling. I didn’t get much sleep on Tuesday night, but what I got was pretty restful!

We were up bright and early at 3:00 in the morning so we could be at the airport at 4:30. We both planned ahead and packed a quick breakfast to eat once we were waiting to board the plane. I packed cinnamon raisin bread (which was kind of blah because I guess it was freezer burnt) with peanut butter, banana slices, and chia seeds. On the side, I had my other half of banana.

I also was lucky enough to get some coffee from a shop that brews Starbuck’s coffee and had soy milk. Hallelujah.

Once we got to Olando, the first thing we noticed was that it was COLD! Apparently a cold front came through a few days ago, and the temperatures are slowly creeping back up – not fast enough.

My mom and I had plans to go to Universal Studios today with one thing in mind – Harry Potter World!

We arrived around lunch time, and to say we were starving is an understatement. We had eaten breakfast around 5:30, so by the time 12:30 came around, we were ravenous. We quickly found some food before we even headed into the park, so we were limited on our choices for something fast and fresh. We found a Moe’s Southwest Grill, which is no Chipotle, but it did the trick and kept our stomachs from growling any longer.

I had a burrito bowl with rice, black beans, tofu (so surprised to see this on the menu!), grilled vegetables, a variety of veggies, and guacamole. It was meh.

We quickly headed over to Island of Adventures so we could be with the other zillion people who were in HP World this afternoon. Seriously.

Upon first glance, Harry Potter World is without a doubt the greatest thing I have ever seen. And upon further glance, it is just that. Honestly – how freaking cool is this park? I went on a roller coaster by myself first thing, and I always forget that my stomach doesn’t like roller coasters as much as I remember liking them when I was a teenager. Yikes, it makes me feel old.

After, my mom and I looked around and found some pretty great finds – pumpkin juice!

We even waited twenty minutes just to get into a store to see the merchandise – these people were crazy!

And unfortunately, we soon became the crazies when we waited in line for two hours to go on one of the rides – Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. The two hours felt like four hours to be perfectly honest with you. It did not go quickly, and we really felt like the line was never going to end. However, I have to say it was worth the wait. It ended up being a really fun ride, and we had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, we both felt a little queasy after it – we are such wimps.

We ventured over to the other side of Universal Studios to visit the original park for a few hours before we both felt our energy levels waning. By 7:00, we were both ready for dinner and to sit for a few hours. We ended up going to Hard Rock Cafe in hopes of finding something that we could both eat on a gluten free diet. We ended up with THE WORLD’S BEST SERVER! Sam is also gluten free, so she knew exactly what we could and couldn’t have and made our experience amazing. My mom and I both ordered the same meal, and we loved it.

We started with house salads and drizzled them with olive oil and vinegar.

For the main meal, we both ordered the grilled vegetable sandwich on a gluten free bun with a side of gluten free fries (!!!) on the side. Typically when we go out to restaurants, I never order French fries because 1) fryers are usually contaminated with gluten ingredients and 2) I don’t like to make a habit of ordering fries because they aren’t the healthiest.

These could have been the best fries I have ever eaten – maybe I was just really hungry?

Whatever the case was, my mom and I were back in our room by 9:00 watching Modern Family and relaxing with some late night snacks. Time to hit up the Disney parks today!

PS – I’ll try not to make future posts this incredibly long.

Tagged as: breakfast, dinner, disney world, lunch, travel, universal studios, vacation