Laughing Lindsay

Travel Reviews, Giveaways, & More!

A Look Back at 2022

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Wow! I can’t believe that the year is ending! Years ago, I enjoyed doing a little year in review post at the end of the year. So, I thought I would do a look back at 2022!

Look Back at 2022

Look Back at 2022

I swear this has to have been one of the shortest years ever! Ha! Personally, I always felt like time was slipping by me this year. It seems like it was just March and then all of a sudden it was September! I don’t know what happened to summer at all. Although, I do think traveling and planning trips (looking forward to stuff) seems to make time pass quicker for me. That being said, here’s a look back at 2022!

2022 Travel

For the past couple of years, I’ve been a Dollywood Annual Passholder. I decided not to renew my pass for 2023, but I visited the theme park 4 times in 2022! That allowed me to experience Flower & Food Festival in the springtime (I plan on blogging about it in 2023), Smoky Mountain Summer Celebration, Harvest Festival, and Smoky Mountain Christmas! I truly enjoy the seasonal festivals and celebrations that take place at Dollywood. My favorite is the summer one with the drone show, which is shown in the collage above!

Back in February, my mom and I made a last minute decision to visit SeaWorld Orlando to dine with the orcas and Universal Orlando to experience Mardi Gras! We had so much fun that we decided to become annual passholders at UO! I also became one at SeaWorld, which came with bring a friend passes. So, we were able to visit each park 3 times this year! My favorite festival at SeaWorld Orlando is the Christmas Celebration with all of its festive shows and entertainment. I simply love every season at UO. I even enjoyed Halloween Horror Nights! However, Christmas at Universal Orlando is wonderful too! We already have a trip to UO planned for February 2023, so stay tuned for some Mardi Gras posts next year! We may also be heading to a different SeaWorld owned theme park in 2023!

Return to Blogging

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the biggest event in 2022, as far as this site goes. After being away for years and years, I returned to blogging! I had been thinking about returning for a good long while, but just never did it. In fact, the mere thought of returning made me nervous! I actually wasn’t sure how to even write a post since my site had updated versions and plug-ins so many times. Ha!

I was also concerned that it was silly and no one cared what I had to say. To get around this, I no longer look at analytics much. That way, I can simply be proud when I’ve produced a post I feel is good. Writing has always been somewhat therapeutic for me. I also enjoy keeping a content calendar and being organized. It definitely gives my life more purpose and makes my trips seem more meaningful now. I suppose this is more of a travel diary now.

Personal Life

I guess the one big event from my personal life in 2022 was the loss of my mom’s mom. I wasn’t close to her since she tended to be mean. However, she was my last remaining grandparent and I know it makes my mom sad. Loss can be difficult, even when the relationship is complicated.

2023

As I look ahead to 2023, I hope to continue blogging about my travels. I haven’t decided what I will do if/when I run out of travel post ideas to write. Although, I hope to travel at least a few times a year. So, that alone should give me a few posts to write. Do you have any places you’d like to see me visit and blog about?

Breakfast with The Grinch Universal Orlando

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Last week, I mentioned that there are two add-on experiences taking place during the holidays at Universal Orlando Resort: the Universal Holiday Tour and Breakfast with The Grinch. You can click that link to read my review of the tour as today I’m focusing on the delightful breakfast!

Breakfast with The Grinch

Breakfast with The Grinch

Everyone who comes to Universal Orlando at Christmastime wants to meet The Grinch and Whos. There is a free virtual queue you can join to meet The Grinch for free at Islands of Adventure. However, those spots go almost immediately and are really difficult to get. You may also run into some Whos wandering around Suess Landing. The only way to ensure you meet them both at the same time is by booking a breakfast with The Grinch!

The Characters

My mom and I paid $41.99 (plus tax) each to attend The Grinch & Friends Character Breakfast. We both had a great time with The Grinch and Whos. Everyone is really into character and fun to interact with. I wore a fun holiday cookie dress, which the Whos liked. The Who we took pictures with even told me that I could move to Whoville with my holiday spirit! Then, they told me that I would grow into my nose! The Grinch, however, informed me that my dress was too festive and happy! Besides, he doesn’t like sweets, such as cookies! He likes onions! Ha! Such good memories!

The Food

As for the food, we were pleasantly surprised here. It’s an all you can eat buffet, which usually means mediocre to bad food. However, that’s not the case here! I loved trying Who Hash, Green Eggs and Ham, and Green Eggs and Ham Pizza! The Grinch Punch was also tasty! I also appreciated that they had The Grinch cookie here so I didn’t have to wait in line and purchase it later in the day.

Learn From Our Mistake

The only negative thing I have to say about breakfast with The Grinch is the organization beforehand. We didn’t realize that we needed to retrieve paper tickets prior to getting in line for breakfast. So, we stood in line for several moments before having to head back to the front of the park to get physical tickets printed. Then, we headed back to the restaurant to stand in a long line outside. This line wrapped around the building and blocked the path to the Grinch show. It seems like this could be handled better. Perhaps, nix the paper tickets and have somewhere for people to sit while they wait? Once we entered the breakfast though, everything was well worth it. If I ever go back during Christmas at Universal Orlando, I will definitely book this breakfast again!

Book The Grinch Breakfast Early

It appears that breakfast with The Grinch is filled up for the year. So, I highly recommend booking it early next year if you want to experience this amazing breakfast! It’s definitely worth the money.

Christmas at SeaWorld Orlando Review

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Having just returned from a fabulous 5 days in Florida, I am ready to give an overview of Christmas at SeaWorld Orlando! For starters, it’s a special event held on the weekends mid-November through early January. The nice thing about this event is that it’s included with your regular park admission! So, you don’t have to pay extra to enjoy the seasonal offerings, unlike at Walt Disney World where you have to purchase tickets to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party to really enjoy the holidays at the Magic Kingdom.

Christmas at SeaWorld Orlando

Christmas at SeaWorld Orlando

Being a 2022 passholder to the park, I’ve been lucky enough to experience SeaWorld Orlando Spooktacular Halloween and now Christmas at SeaWorld Orlando! Christmas is similar to the Halloween festivities, but with a holiday spin. You can expect special foods, shows, meet and greets and décor around the park! As a passholder, I also appreciated my free ornament (seen in the second photo in my Instagram post below). It’s a great way to remember this trip as it hangs on my tree.

Festive Food Offerings

One of the big things SeaWorld advertises for their Christmas Celebration is their food sampling lanyard. However, it’s not worth it if you are going for just one day or with just a couple of people. We discovered that the food booths did not open until 4 or 5 PM. So, that does not leave much time to actually use the lanyard. We tried the Doughnut Chicken Sandwich, which was a tasty blend of spicy and sweet!

Another odd thing with the food offering add-ons is the very limited availability of those events. They advertise a Sesame Street Christmas Breakfast as well as Dinner with Santa. However, neither of those events were offered on the Sunday we went. In fact, it appeared to be a mostly Saturday or late December offering. So, I can’t speak to either of those events and was disappointed to learn of their very limited days.

Meet and Greets

Another thing they advertise is the ability to meet certain special characters during Christmas at SeaWorld Orlando. You can get photos with Santa or meet Rudolph and Friends! We didn’t meet Santa. However, we did visit Rudolph and Bumble, which had a huge hiccup. They don’t post an estimated waiting time for the meet. We showed up and saw a relatively short line. We incorrectly assumed it might be as long as half an hour wait. Long story short, it took us an hour to finally meet them! Some employees apologized, but did nothing to make up for lost time or the terrible waiting experience. So, I would caution you before getting in line for this. Is it a neat experience to meet Rudolph and Bumble? Absolutely! Just make sure you’re ok giving up an hour of your park day to do it!

Holiday Entertainment

Christmas at SeaWorld Orlando has several holiday shows to enjoy. In fact, I would consider this to be its biggest strength. However, most of the shows don’t start until sundown or so. We enjoyed watching “Elmo’s Christmas Wish” during the day as it’s a cute and really short show held at various times all day long. Sea of Trees is a nighttime show held several times on the trees in the water synchronized to music. It’s a must see and easy to view.

I would say the highlight of the night for us was the Winter Wonderland on Ice show. My mom and I have watched ice skating on tv ever since I was a little girl. I surprised my mom by not telling it was an ice skating show and she was very pleased with the surprise! We loved seeing all of the different skaters and tricks. It was a lovely way to end our day at the park.

They also do a Holiday Reflections: Fireworks Finale. However, we’d been in the park for 8 hours and decided we were too tired to stay for it. I’m sure it’s a great show. However, it was just a little too late in the day for us. We also didn’t get to experience Snow Flurries at the Waterfront, but it looks cool online.

SeaWorld Christmas Celebration Overall

While I really appreciate that everything is included with regular park admission, I wish things started earlier in the day. My advice would be to sleep in and show up later in the day to fully experience Christmas at SeaWorld Orlando. Then, pay attention to the park schedule to see the shows that interest you the most. It’s a nice event with some high points and some puzzling ones. Overall though, it’s a good family event.

Universal Holiday Tour Review

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Having just returned from Florida to enjoy Christmas offerings, I am ready to write several new posts. Today, I am reviewing the Universal Holiday Tour at Universal Orlando Resort! It is one of two add on options offered during the holiday season. The other is breakfast with the Grinch, which I also did. I will provide a look at it next week as well as a post with an overview of Christmas at Universal Orlando. However, this tour was a whopping 5 hours and I felt it deserved its own post.

Universal Holiday Tour

Universal Holiday Tour

As stated above, this is a 5 hour walking tour crisscrossing between the two parks! What the tour includes appears to change from year to year. However, it is held every night of the Christmas season at Universal Orlando. My mom and I paid $79.99 (plus tax) each for the tour but the price appears to go up with time. So, pro tip: book early before it goes up or sells out!

Beginning the Tour

One of the emails we received mentioned allowing 45 minutes to check everyone in. However, it also said to arrive early. We left the parade early and lined up about 10 minutes before our scheduled tour time. I think we should have just finished the parade and lined up afterwards as almost the whole first hour of the tour was spent standing in line waiting to check in. It felt like a huge waste of time. I know in previous years, there was a special roped off parade viewing area for the tour. I wish they had included that this year.

Everyone began the tour by watching the Grinchmas Who-liday Spectacular with reserved seating. You can catch the show several times throughout the day. However, it was nice to have the reserved seating. Also, the show is really good. I love the music with Mannheim Steamroller and story that combines both familiar movies.

Universal Studios Florida

After the show, the tour groups went their separate ways. Mine went to Universal Studios Florida while some other groups went to Islands of Adventure. We proceeded to spend even more time waiting around. It seemed like maybe there were too many tour groups and not enough for them to do. We looked at some holiday decor in the park. Then, we went upstairs in the building of the Jimmy Fallon ride and looked down on an empty park.

Next, we met Santa! This is the only way you can currently meet Santa at Universal Orlando Resort, which is odd to me. Nonetheless, we did it. I believe in previous years they gave you a physical photo and souvenir ornament at this point in the tour. However, we received a digital download and no ornament. So, that part was a touch disappointing. After meeting Santa, we went back downstairs and into the park to look at the huge Christmas Tree. We took photos in front of the tree with a nearly empty park.

Next, we were ushered into the Holiday Tribute Store. While I love the Tribute Store, I didn’t find this to be a very beneficial part of the tour as you can visit the Tribute Store anytime. Upon exiting, we stood around waiting some more. Our tour guide ended up asking everyone their favorite Christmas movie/song, etc. and then looked up some Home Alone trivia.

Our last thing in Universal Studios Florida was a ride on the Jimmy Fallon ride. It was very unfortunate that a member of our tour group couldn’t get a seat belt to go around them and had to exit the ride. I felt really bad for them and their group ended up leaving the tour early. I believe they were extremely embarrassed and it left the group with a weird mood.

Islands of Adventure

Finally, we headed back to Islands of Adventure. We were led to Circus McGurkus Cafe Stoo-pendous for some food and meet and greets. Unfortunately, there were several other groups in here at the exact same time. So, there was not enough time to meet The Grinch, Max (the only time you can do so), and grab a bite to eat. Thankfully, we met The Grinch at breakfast. So, we focused on Max and the food. I appreciated the addition of Pizza Tots, Who Hash, popcorn shrimp, and chicken and waffles as previous years had only cookies.

Following our allotted 45 minutes there, we headed over to a closed Hogsmeade. It was neat to see it almost empty. However, it would have been awesome to have some additional shops open. We were able to grab some Butterbeer at Hog’s Head, which was great. However, there was a somewhat long line for it.

We hurried with our Butterbeer over to the castle for an after-hours showing of The Magic of Christmas at Hogwarts Castle. It was nice to have some room between us and other guests as we watched the beautiful show. It was a great way to end the long night.

Universal Orlando Holiday Tour Conclusion

As you can imagine, this tour involved lots of standing and walking. Unfortunately, I saw a few people who clearly weren’t physically ready for this type of tour and I felt for them. As such, I don’t recommend this tour for anyone who can’t walk and stand for long periods of time. Being an add-on event, it’s up to each person to decide if the money is worth it. However, the only things you don’t have to access to as a regular park guest included in the tour are: Santa meet, after hours park, after hours castle show, meeting Max and access to some food, and reserved Grinchmas seating. So, if those things sound like something you want, then sign up quick!

Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party Review

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I just got back from a very busy trip to Orlando on Wednesday. One of the highlights of our trip was visiting Walt Disney World for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party! Having attended the party a few times in the past, I feel like I can give a fair review of the event and provide a few tips.

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party

Just in case you don’t know, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party is an add-on ticketed event held at the Magic Kingdom after normal park hours to celebrate the holiday season. Typically, it’s held from early/mid-November until right before Christmas. The party includes special character meet and greets, a Christmas parade, holiday stage and fireworks shows, ride overlays, as well as free cookies and drinks!

Party Entertainment

One of the main draws of the party is the unique entertainment options. One key difference between this party and the Not So Scary Halloween Party though is that these shows will eventually be included with the regular park admission as you get closer to Christmas. However, if you are visiting before that time, then you can only experience the holiday parade, stage show, and fireworks show at the Christmas Party. Personally, I absolutely adore seeing the toy soldiers marching down Main Street, USA!

Food

During the Halloween Party, you can trick-or-treat for candy. During Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, you can go around the park for free cookies and beverages! These treats are only available at the party. However, this year they were pre-packaged Cheryl’s cookies. So, if you want to try them outside the party, you can order some for yourself.

Now that you have an adequate understanding of the party itself, allow me to share some tips with you!

Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party Tips

  • Arrive early. The party starts at 7 PM, but your ticket allows you to enter the park at 4! Use this time to eat dinner or get in line for any big characters you want to see.
  • Get a spot for entertainment early. Stake out your spot for the parade early. In previous years, the second parade was less crowded. However, this year it appeared that this advice has been read by everyone and it’s no longer the case. My mom and I sat on Main Street for the first parade and it was less crowded than the second parade! So, just know that if you want a prime spot, you need to get there at least 30-45 minutes early.
  • Pick up an event guide. When you first enter the park, pick up an event guide that features a map with treat locations as well as times guide. I highly recommend picking one up to reference throughout the night.
  • Make a list of must-do’s. You aren’t going to be able to see and do everything at the party. It’s just too short/too crowded. So, do your research and know the things that are priorities for your group.
  • Enjoy the ambiance. You could be annoyed that you have to stake out a spot for the parade so far in advance or that you have to be so close with so many people. You can also choose to enjoy just being in the park while it’s decorated for the holidays and snowing! I truly believe your attitude impacts your experience. Make the best of it and you will enjoy it.

Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party can be a delightful holiday addition to your Disney World trip. I promise that there’s nothing else like it!