OctoNovember Birthday Vacation: Gryffindors Going Home

Gryffindor makeover our bed at Cabana Bay Beach Resort

All aboard everybaadaaay! 

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! The vacation Sara and I just had (it's fresh! ended November 1st) is a story so cozy warm it is going to make your toes tingle with warm fuzziness in this Fall chill. Sara's writing about it too. Her first post "The OctoNovember Birthday Vacation ~ The Road Trip Begins" is up - do read! I make comments on her as I write.

OctoNovember celebrations (two birthday months of all ladies of the family) became official this year as the newest addition, my niece Gubbers, was born last year to add to our crew! This year, apart from the fact that Universal Orlando gave me a lovely package, we decided to have our annual Orlando bash in October. And WERE WE GENIUSES! Because since this is an off-season before the November Thanksgiving rush and December Christmas rush, we actually got smaller wait lines at the park.

Universal Orlando should crown us both as their royalty customers and give us free annual passes or something. We drive an 11-12 hour drive from Maryland to Orlando (breaking for the night in Florence, SC) and we have been doing that for 4 consecutive years now. Trust me! Each time we swear we won't do this again and will take a plane but this is so much easier/cheaper. I mean we get temporary multiple hour butt shocks and cramps when the road trip ends but it is way better than going by plane and working extra hard on luggage restrictions. Like we find ourselves stuffing four pairs of shoes in the trunk to match our outfits (even if I have sworn my life to my black boots). Sara and I are pretty cramped up in the absolute backseats, but we don't complain.

ROAD TRIP SHENANIGANS

Road trip shenanigans included: Kabab Karhai lunch service (Sara & I being experts from 4 years practice), praying at the rest stop, snacking on chips (UTZ crisps and onion rings) from a paper cup (our medium of snack serveware), 2nd day's lunching at Burger King (onion rings, fish burgers, and deadly sundae and Hershey ice cream pie desserts), playing around with Gubbers (feeding her biscuits during a traffic jam), and dining at the end of our 2 day road trip at BBQ Tonite in Orlando. Gubbers attacked the menu!

Cabana Bay Beach Resort Hotel is the ultimate love-of-my-life hotel. It gives Sara and I the same feels as Harry returning to Hogwarts. We decided to up our Potterhead game a notch and re-did the queen bed of our family suite like Gryffindors. Those Mischief Managed pillowcases are from Hot Topic and we found them just at the right time! We also got some warm full-sleeved sweatshirts with the Hogwarts logo and they read "Wizard In Training". Those, we took as our bedtime suits! Of course, there were the Gryffindor hoodies (Universal merch), Hogwarts backpacks (Hot Topic), and Hogwarts wallets (F.Y.I.).

We were finally all set for bed to get rested for a fantastic return to our Hogwarts home the next morning. Cabana had given us free breakfasts, and complimentary Starbucks drinks. The next entry would be about the amazing goodness and setting foot back again into Hogsmeade and taking our first sips of the vacation's Butterbeers!

The Adventure Continues ...