The Grand Bro Trip (Orlando, Florida) - Day 15

This summer holidays, my Bro and I went on the trip of a lifetime! 2 weeks of amazing times on the Grand Bro Trip in Orlando, Florida.

Day 15, 9/8 (Sunday)

The Final Day!

We were flying home today. We had prepacked most of our things before bed last night so we were able to stay in bed as late as possible before taking our luggage downstairs and checking out of the hotel. We left the bags there and headed over to Disney Springs. We just wanted to have one last Disney experience before we had to go home...

We started off at the same place we did last time - Earl of Sandwich. This time I knew better and only ate had my sandwich so it was not so crazy filling. Still delicious though! We went back through all the shops again (well, all the Disney ones anyway and a bunch of others) for a last browse. We realised that we had not bought any 50th anniversary merch, so I picked up a pin and a teeshirt and Bro also picked up a pin. Bro also picked up some cute ear for his travel agent as a thank you for her helping organise and book all his flights. Apparently once she received them she pit them straight up on display!

We toyed with the idea of buying more Gideon's cookies to take on the plane with us, however decided against it as the line was quite long. I did pick up another menu though so that I would have it for a souvenir.

We also headed over to the part that we hadn't explored yet, over near the Cirque du Soleil theatre. There was a Star Wars store and a Marvel one, where I finally succumbed to a mystery set of pins and actually managed to get the one I wanted! Very pleased about that. By this point it was raining quite a lot and didn't seem like stopping so we headed via yet another Uber to the hotel.

We checked the weight of our luggage and mine was just under, thank goodness. While I had that third bag, it seemed that I wouldn't need to use it - although my big suitcase was terribly heavy in the end! Then we headed off to the airport. We were very early but passed the time with one last browse in the Disney and Universal shops, one last meal together, and we even had time to share our favourite podcast before we had to say goodbye. We were headed off from opposite ends of the airport so we had one last hug before going through our opposite security checks and off to the gate.

My flight left at 8.40pm and I was lucky enough to not have anyone next to me for the flight home. I put some stuff on my chair, spread myself out and slept pretty much all the way! Then my lovely husband was kind enough to pick me up from the airport as it is a much faster drive than it is by train now that we are in Epsom (I flew in to Gatwick).

Home, and a bit sad about it.I now wear my merch as often as I can, use my Loungefly bags every day (my mickey ears one is my everyday handbag and my HP one my fancy bag!) and even had my favourite of the photos we took on the trip printed! Stickers to go on my work diary and fanfiction notebook, and actual photos for a frame I want to get for my sewing room wall. I even moved my furniture to make a space for it! Just need to put it up. 

What an amazing trip - we'll both remember it forever,

The Grand Bro Trip (Orlando, Florida) - Day 14

This summer holidays, my Bro and I went on the trip of a lifetime! 2 weeks of amazing times on the Grand Bro Trip in Orlando, Florida.

Day 14, 8/8 (Sunday)

Day 3 of Universal!

For our final day in Universal we had no express passes and no particular plans. We wanted to make sure that we had done all the things, so we started with a wander through the rest of the parks. We hadn't really done much with them as we were really only interested in the Harry Potter sections. We didn't do any other rides but enjoyed the vibes of the other lands and made sure we checked in every shop that we passed!

We also made sure on this day that we had things for the family - something for Mum, Dad, Grandad, the Husband, Bro's friends, mine... Either we got things at Universal or we made a list of what to get at Disney!

We did get back over to Diagon Alley to see the Tale of the Three Brothers show which was really awesome. They used puppets and told the story in a super imaginative way and the puppets were amazing! We also wanted to catch the Frog Choir but it rained in the afternoon so we didn't get to go and see it, sadly.

We had one final night left in the Aventura hotel which we whiled away after dinner packing and making sure everything would fit. I flew in premium economy which meant I could have 2 checked bags and had only used 1 on the way over, but I had packed an extra bag in my suitcase. However, I just managed to squeeze everything in, and we had plans to check our luggage weight the next morning before we head to the airport. Good thinking, for sure!

The Grand Bro Trip (Orlando, Florida) - Day 13

This summer holidays, my Bro and I went on the trip of a lifetime! 2 weeks of amazing times on the Grand Bro Trip in Orlando, Florida.

Day 13, 7/8 (Sunday)

Day 2 of Universal!

We had express passes again today but we accidentally hit snooze and slept in. We were feeling super worn out by this part of the trip - if I did it again, I'd like to have more park days, but with some breaks in between! In the end we got into the parks around 1pm ready for some rides. We headed straight to Diagon Alley and the Escape from Gringotts ride.

Bro had said that I could hack the Gringotts ride, so on I went. He is such a tolerant bro, reminding me that I can do it and I was so glad that I did. It was super! It was such a great mix of ride, which was almost too fast, then it would stop and there would be a screen section. I did take the 3D glasses off because that was a little much, but I really enjoyed the other aspects of the ride. Just enough adrenaline in the end!

After that I decided I wanted to do another ride before eating, so we jumped onto the Hogwarts Express over to Hogsmeade again and gave the Flight of the Hippogriff ride a go. It was the most traditional roller coaster that we rode the entire time we were there, including Disney! It was fast and rather furious, going around and around in a circle and only going for a minute but that was plenty for me!

With those few rides done I felt comfortable eating and was hungry so we headed over to the Three Broomsticks for lunch. I had a fish and chips and a(nother) frozen Butterbeer, and the Bro had the pasties and salad. More very nice pub food!

After that we headed over to the stage to watch the Triwizard Spirit Rally which was very cool. I loved seeing the costumes up close and in movement and the Durmstrang boys were really fun to watch jumping and spinning around. After the show it was time for more wandering and making sure we were buying all the things we really wanted to buy. Had to make sure we saw absolutely everything and we had lists to make sure we didn't miss anything we had to have!

By the time it got to dinner time we had decided that we didn't really want any of the CityWalk options (we found generally that the Universal options were not as good as Disney), and we weren't super hungry after a late lunch. So we actually popped into the cinema on the way back to the bus and picked up a nice big popcorn and some slushies.

We headed back to our room, cosied up in our beds and tried to watch TV. However the channels were quite hard to negotiate, so we ended up watching most of the Spongebob Movie while we ate our popcorn. Only one day left and then a free day before heading home. We were definitely experiencing some fatigue but also already some post-trip sadness. Just a few days left to go!