Orlando 2013!

My internet friends have started a tradition of having a big meetup at least once a year.  This year we went to Orlando.  It was a smaller group than previous years, but that ended up being perfect because we rented an awesome house for a fraction of what a hotel would have cost.

The first night we went to Ceviche for tapas, which was amazing.  

The next morning we got up and made pancakes!  The house came "fully equipped" but some of their kitchen items were questionable.  We had a hard time getting going with the pancakes but they ended up turning out great in the end.

We started the day wandering around a little neighborhood checking out some antique stores and getting snacks. MMM SNACKS.

Then we drove to Lake Jesup for our first big adventure, an airboat ride to see alligators!  It was super windy but not too bad once we were actually on the boat in the swampy areas.  We saw tons of babies and a few big alligators, too.  And a turtle.

Afterward we each got to hold an alligator!  She was about three years old and much mushier than you would expect.  I felt a little uncertain about holding her.

Then we drove to the beach for dinner!

The next morning we started off with a delicious mimosa!

And then headed to Universal Islands of Adventure to see Harry Potter World.  Universal was INTENSE.  It took ages to get through the ticket line because they were upselling each customer on all sorts of expensive options and then Harry Potter World was completely packed with people.  Still, it was very well done and you felt like you were walking right down the street in Hogsmeade!  

We got some butterbeer which was 100% as delicious as you would imagine.

And went to Honeydukes!

There are only three rides in Harry Potter World.  We went on two of them (the grown-up rollercoaster and the big castle ride) and both of them were pretty serious rides, definitely aimed at adults.  We noticed more adults than kids in the park, too, maybe because it's during the school year.

After Harry Potter World we went out for dim sum, which I had never done before.  Dim sum is AWESOME.  You order a million different things and they are all like $3 each and every bit of it was delicious.  There is a place here in Raleigh I'm going to make Ben go soon.  

Orlando 2013 was a huge success!  It was a great trip and I am already looking forward to Milwaukee 2014.