Summer Review: Universal Orlando and Kennedy Space Center

Long overdue post but we had a packed summer of fun!

Here are a few highlights from our summer:

3 nights at Universal Orlando Resort (Hard Rock Hotel and park days at Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida
Day trip to Kennedy Space Center – (This is an excellent add-on experience if you are arriving and staying a day or two before or post cruising at Port Canaveral. It does require some logistics and planning but definitely worth the adventure for the space curious!)
A few days in the South Florida sun!
Cooking, Baking, Fashion, Soccer and Art Camps!
Trip to Walt Disney World with extended family (8 days of all the WDW fun and excitement!)
Time at the pool(s)
Playing tennis and tennis lessons
An adventure (or two, or three) to the family farm
Fireworks
Church picnics and festivals

While I could spend countless posts recapping our summer adventures, I am going to focus this article on Universal and Kennedy Space Center. These destinations are rarely mentioned on my site but are highly recommended for families who love adventure, learning and exploring!

As you can see, we definitely maximized every minute of daylight and summer sun! Our trip to Universal Orlando Resort was our kids first trip to Universal and we were all able to enjoy Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure AND Velociocoaster! Everyone’s favorite: Definitely MORE TEETH! The dinosaurs won these thrill seekers hearts! Next request: Universal Studios, Hollywood, of course! 😉

Shown above are images from Universal Orlando Resort: Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios parks. We stayed at the Hard Rock Orlando resort which is walking or water taxi distance from the parks and City Walk. We utilized the walking paths daily. We also took full advantage of the Unlimited Express Pass that was part of our resort stay. The Unlimited Express Pass allows guests visiting the parks to have unlimited express pass access to almost every ride in each parks (some exclusions apply). Since we were staying at a Premier category hotel, we did not have to pay additional fees to have this benefit; it is a benefit, or perk, of your Premier category resort stay. This benefit can be a huge savings for family in time and money while also staying in very close proximity to the parks.

There are a lot of great dining options in City Walk, as well as a Hard Rock Cafe and Toothsome Chocolate Emporium. Our family definitely made the stop to Toothsome’s for the amazing oversized treats!

Yours truly at the entrance of Universal Studios Florida

After departing Universal, we spent a day touring Kennedy Space Center. I would 10/10 recommend this destination for school age children. Be prepared to spend the entire day at the center as it is packed with activities, many included in your admission (very few up charges- a parent win!). Hours are typically 10am-5pm. When we visited, we were there from 10:30am -5:00pm and still had so much more we didn’t get a chance to see! If you have a space loving family member, make plans to check this place out. You will not be disappointed!