As 2018 comes to a close I wanted to write a short year in review post of all the excited things Mike and I got to do this year. We definitely did a whole lot. Some new experiences, some old but all were amazing. Let’s get to it!
January
We went to Aruba to witness my brother and his now wife get married in THE MOST beautiful location ever.
We got to experience the International Festival of the Arts for the first time! It did not disappoint but let’s be real we only really go to these festivals for the food & drinks 😂.
My birthday was in January but we didn’t do anything special other than going to eat breakfast at Trails End but that’s not new or exciting. We eat there all the time.
February – March
The only thing we did during this time that was notable was Florida’s Biggest Party, Mardi Gras!! This is one of our all time favorite events of the entire year. It’s so much fun and happens inside of Universal Orlando so we can go as many times as we want. The best part about Mardi Gras is riding the floats. It’s free for guests and is honestly some of the most fun you’ll have inside of the parks all year. I also want to add that we saw Macklemore during their concert series and it was the most fun I’ve ever had at an event at a theme park.
Aboard King Gator 
Aboard Riverboat 
Aboard Andromeda
My friend Ashely and I started a podcast! Parks & Wrecked Podcast was a fun project we created to add a female voice to the very male saturated theme park podcast market. It’s super fun and we have a blast recording.
April – May
We did some exploring during the parks “down time.” We visited a lot of the Disney Resorts and Universal Resorts.
Loews Portofino Bay Hotel
Met some characters at 1900 Park Fare for the first time and tried the famous Strawberry Soup!
Strawberry Soup Recipe Card
Flower and Garden came and went. This festival is my favorite form of Epcot. It’s so beautiful and colorful. I wish it looked like that year round.
And I started my blog series called Brewery Tours, posting my first visit to a local Florida brewery. I really enjoy writing these because I really like breweries and find new local businesses to support.
We also visited Universal’s Volcano Bay for the first time and it did not disappoint.
June
Started June off with our first trip to Megacon! We are total nerds and have been to many cons. Wizard World in Philadelphia, New York Comic Con and Heroes and Villains Fan Fest are just a few on our list. But Megacon was a must when we found out it comes to the Orange County Convention center yearly.
I added to my Brewery Tour series by visiting Dunedin Brewery which is one my FAVORITE breweries in Florida. The only sucky part about it, is that it’s located 2 hours away from me in Dunedin, FL. So, I can’t just go there whenever I please.
We ended June with the opportunity to go to Disney’s H20 Glow Nights, at Typhoon Lagoon, which was one of the most fun things we got to do this year. The park was empty. Like literally empty, I’m not just saying that. We walked onto every ride, had a basically empty wave pool and delicious food.
This was also the month that I showed everyone how much I truly love Disney. I got the tattoo I always wanted, Steamboat Willie! My wonderful and extremely talented sister did my tattoo and I basically cried when she was done.
July
July was a month of us starting new things. I’m pretty sure this is when we started vlogging. It was a decision we both made and we are still trying to figure the whole thing out but we’re going to get really into it come 2019 so watch out!
Surprise! We went to another food related event. This one was at Morimoto Asia in Disney Springs. It was called Pigs and Pints and it was a pork and beer event, if you didn’t get that from the name of the event…
August
The biggest thing we did, well really Mike did in August was learn how to surf at TYPHOON LAGOON. Yes that’s right, in their wave pool. It was amazing. I got to tag along and just witness the event. We were 2 of maybe 20 people in the ENTIRE park that morning.
We finally made it into Sanford to check out one of the MANY breweries there. We picked Sanford Brewing which has become one of our faves.
We took a nice leisurely drive up to Wildwood, NJ to visit family for the week. We ate a lot of pizza. Like, a lot of pizza.
And we made many visits to Food & Wine.
September
September, you were a good month. We stayed at Universal’s brand new hotel Aventura in an upgraded room with the most amazing view.
Halloween Horror Nights started the 15th and little did we know it was the start of the most amazing month and a half of the whole year. We basically lived at Universal during HHN this year. Really sad it’s over, still, and it’s December.
And I attended one of the new V.I.Passholder Nights at Epcot. It was fun and I would love the opportunity to do it again in the new year.
I cannot forget about sitting FRONT ROW at Disney On Ice. Never ever did I think we would go to a Disney On Ice show but we did and it was pretty amazing.
October
October is our Anniversary month so it’s always going to have at least one really cool thing that we do. This year we decided to finally go on the Behind The Seeds tour at Epcot. It was totally worth the money and I suggest you go partake in this tour at some point if you love the ride Living With The Land.
November
November took us to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. I really love this event. It was our second year going and I think I will keep going for years to come. It’s the most Christmasy you can feel in Florida.
We also got to experience Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s Christmas Town for the first time (thanks Dad!). We took a trip to Virginia for Thanksmas and had to visit Busch Gardens. It’s one of our favorite theme parks.
December
December was full of visiting theme parks to see all of the Christmas goodness. I didn’t write a lot this month because we were just so busy all month. But we did vlog about the Disney Resort decorations!
We took a trip home for Christmas and that was about it!
Oh and the WALT DISNEY WORLD Instagram account featured one of MY PHOTOS. They asked me to use the picture below from their Once Upon A Christmas Time Parade and I nearly fainted.
The last thing we’re going to do this year is see what Universal has to offer for NYE tonight. It’s their first time doing something in the parks so we are really curious!
I hope everyone had an amazing 2018, I know we did. 2019 is going to be even more amazing. One word. DISNEYLAND.
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