Florida Escape

Our busy Feb. ended with a much needed (mostly wanted) trip to Florida to escape the cold. We stayed at the Lowes Portofino Bay Hotel which I highly recommend if you are planning a trip to Universal Studios. They have two fabulous pools with a water slide and beach area, perfect for little kids and then another more adultish pool with everything you could possibly want in a pool area--shade, no shade, beautifully manicured lawns, pool service of food and drinks, etc. It was very nice. We were really lucky that this is where Richard's conference was held. You also get Express Pass to all rides with your room key and there is a boat shuttle that goes directly from the hotel to Universal. It was really nice. We got on every ride with NO WAIT, which makes for a very nice 4 days of ride whatever you want and then go back to the hotel for swimming as long as you want.
The WORST ride was the Pteradactyl Swing. There is no express pass available and they warn you beforehand that it's not worth the wait. But Lauren absolutely insisted that she had to ride it. So we waited in line for a full hour for the 80 sec. (that's what they claim. I can't believe it lasts that long) ride, which actually was a pretty fun little ride, but soooooo not worth the line--even Lauren admitted it in the end. Oh well, not a big deal when you consider that we didn't wait for anything else.
Favorite rides were the Incredible Hulk, and The Mummy. Kids liked Men In Black and Fish ride in Seuss Landing. We all went on the Jurassic Park dinosaur water ride. It was pretty fun until the big drop at the end which scared Lauren and Ellie (and Richard) silly. Most nausiating ride has got to be the Simpson's Adventure (simulated ride). It's a cartoon roller coaster and it seriously made me want to barf and I don't usually get that. Not for the queasy at all! Lauren got scared to death of the Jaws ride, but had to try it again the next day just to prove to herself that she could handle it. It was much better the second time around.
We had such a great 4 days and returned to beautiful weather in Chicago. But don't be jealous yet. It has been a constant downpour for the past 2 days. I'm ready to go back to Florida. I'm realizing that having "all four seasons" isn't really all that important to me.