florida trip

i went on a trip to florida a few days ago! i had been looking forward to this ever since my summer break started. i was going to be visiting a couple of amusement parks such as disney, busch gardens, universal, and seaworld. having my fujifilm instax camera, 3DS, and phone, i took many pictures during my trip. i will share some here along side my experience but most of them will be @ my photobook!

this will be the 2nd time i go to these parks! i went to these back in december 2023 so i was pretty excited to try out all of the water rides i had missed!

day 1: arrival

took the plane to florida on this day. i brought along one of my little guys for the trip to keep me company and share some moments with.

other than that, i didn't do much this day! when we arrived to florida we rested at our hotel. the room i got for me and my girlfriend was so nice specially because it had a hot tub in the very same room! i love taking baths very much which and i rarely get to do it nowadays because well... i can't bath with the shower i have! so i was indeed very happy because of this.

miles walked: 3.25

favorite things: the hot tub right in our room

day 2: disney

we went to disney magic kingdom on this day.

disnay parks are very pretty to look at but i WISH they had some wall-e merch. i have looked endlessly the 2 times i've been to disney parks and there is not a single trace of wall-e anywhere except in the parking lot....

nonetheless i had been looking forward to going to the winnie the pooh store (i also got on the baby ride for winnie the pooh btw i laughed so much when i saw this) and got a winnie the pooh keychain :3 i originally wanted to get a shirt but the designs that i liked the most were used in long sleve THICK shirts which i would NEVER use because i live in a tropical island where it's never cold.

i feel like disney has this particular smell to it everytime i go... but it's probably the turkey legs they sell.

miles walked: 6.73

favorite things: the many adventures of winnie the pooh, space mountain

day 3: the rest of the disney parks

on this day we went to epcot ball, animal kingdom, and hollywood. my god did i walk SO MUCH this day.

we ate at san angel inn restaurante in the mexico section (wish they had more latin american places but i know that ain't happening) of epcot ball and OH MY GOD... when i say this must have been the best meal i had eaten in my entire life.

i really liked walking around the epcot park. there were lots of nice scenery there.

we later went to animal kingdom, i mostly just remember getting on splash mountain here and the little safari tour. oh and i got a super cute snow leopard plushie that hangs on to your backback! can't wait to bring him into my classes.

and for the last thing we went to hollywood. let me tell you, i was SO pooped this day my god. when i arrived to this park i barely had any energy.

remember when i said that i bought a winnie the pooh keychain? i was wearing it on my bag and TWO separate disney employees told me you have poo(h) on your shirt... at first i was so tired that it for real took me a solid minute to realize the employee was referring to my pooh keychain. brilliant. the 2nd time was on a star wars rise of the resistance where the employees were roleplaying as the bad guys (i think i don't really go here.) and while they were putting us in line one of them said to me oh my goodness she even got poo on her shirt! LIKE ARE YOU SERIOUS SDKSDJKDJ. i loved the roleplaying bit they were doing btw. some of these employees take their job very seriously but they also look like they are having fun. i hope they are getting paid well.

miles walked: 10.67

favorite things: guardians of the galaxy ride, my awesome meal at that epcot restaurant, everyone and their mothers saying i got poo on my shirt

day 4: busch gardens

each park has a unique charm to them and while this park does not have my favorite rollercoaster will get to that in a bit!, i think this day was my favorite one of them all. i just love rollercoasters. we had some extra company on this day too so that made it even more special!

inside of busch gardens there's a build-a-bear workshop a store that was once in Puerto Rico... oh how i miss it. and i did not get a build-a-bear but i did get an adorable mushroom plushie keychain! will also be taking him to uni. his name is pinni.

miles walked: 8.89

favorite things: getting fucking splashed by sheikra, montu

day 5: free day!

after days of walking and walking we didn't go to any parks on this day.

we went to a mall and i got some new crocs (they were on clearance and i thought they were sooo cute) with 2 new charms. while looking for charms online i saw that people would make like "bracelets" for their crocs with beads and all of that. my friend i was with with was like wait we can do that at my house! so she helped me out with making bracelets to my crocs... they turned out so so cute.

miles walked: 1.81

favorite things: the breakfast i had at cracker barrel, my awesome crocs

day 6: helios hotel + universal studios

on this day we did a check in at another hotel that is part of universal called helios, and the entire point of this was to get into epic universe an hour earlier. the family i was with did this so we could speedrun the rides at super nintendo world. at the end of the day this wasn't very worth it... but maybe it was because in the lobby of this hotel they had a little gelato place and a nice big cup was only $5. this was honestly the highlight of this hotel after spending absurd amounts of money on food at these parks. i will forever will the $5 gelato.

we ate at a minion themed place and jesus... the food there was kinda crazy good. we kept saying that the minions in that kitchen were puerto rican af because i ordered some mac n cheese and it had bits of carne frita in it. amazing. world's colliding.

at the end of the day as we were leaving we stopped at a store in the park that had nintendo merch and i saw the SICKEST yoshi shirt ever. you will see it in the coming pics i took the next day!

miles walked: 5.09

favorite things: the mummy ride, the puerto rican minions

day 7: epic universe

you know at first i wasn't very excited for the super nintendo world part of this park until my girlfriend showed me pictures of the area and told me there would be pikmin around it... i got REALLY hyped at the thought of seeing random pikmin around. the day came around and oh my lord... this had to be the best looking park i have ever been to. and yes i took LOTS of pictures with my 3ds.

besides the mario stuff, there was also a donkey kong area but there's wasn't a lot going on in that area (as far as i know) except for the rollercoaster there. i hope in the future they are more nintendo stuff to the park. i would love to see a pikmin area. like imagine you have a ride where you are riding oatchi.... OMGGG!

we ate at toadstool cafe once we were done with the rides in nintendo world. the food was really good and it looked super good as well! i ordered a mushroom soup and a mario burger.

we were able to see mario and luigi taking pictures with kids around the day but i didn't see anyone else (like princess peach and toad) that day :( though it must have been because it was hot as hell. i would have loved to take a picture with toad though since he is one of my favorites.

later, we went to dark universe where i got a really nice dress!

miles walked: 9.64

favorite things: stardust racers, curse of the werewolf, hiccup's wing gliders, the tacos al pastor i ate at a mexican restaurant in city walk

day 8: islands of adventure

i LOVE islands of adventure because it had my favorite rollercoaster! velocicoaster!!!! not only that but i got to get on a couple of water rides on this day so it was very fun for me because of that. i love water and getting wet on a hot day.

we went to eat at universal studios at the end of the day and while i was eating i wondered how the process of getting hired in these places was. do you apply for a specific area / attraction or is it more broad and general at first? my girlfriend actually asked our server right at the end of our meal and we had such an interesting conversation with him!

miles walked: 8.73

favorite things: velocicoaster, the water rides at toon lagoon

day 9: seaworld

and for our very last part we visited sea world. we were honestly very tired at this point so this is probably one of the parks where we spent the least amount of time on.

on of their newest rides was like a penguin baby ride so we got on that but when you get out of the rollercoaster they IMMIDIETLY put your through their penguin area which is SO DAMN COLD and there was no other exit. it was really funny because literally everyone going in there wanted to get out so badly.

miles walked: 4.86

favorite things: manta, mako, the kid who fist bumped my gf at the end of mako

day 10: departure

and for the grand finale... everyone got sick... but at least it was our very last day. we had to check out of our hotel at 10am so we mostly spent the day going around stores and at the theater. we all started showing symptoms of a cold on this day but at the very least it was the last day of our trip. thank god because i am struggling right now.

we stopped at a barnes & noble (another store that does not exist here in Puerto Rico. wish we had one) and i got myself a beautiful 500 piece jigsaw puzzle. which i finished building recently :p

i will forever miss the hot tub at the hotel but at the end of the day i was missing my silly little cat (steve minecraft) the most. i had a lot of fun and i am happy for the opportunity of going to this trip!

times i got asked to cover a shift while in a whole other country: 4

written with love by des, 12.aug.24