Isn't it great to live where everyone wants to vacation? I think it is! It means we have all this amazing fun, within just a short drive!
My family recently experienced a "staycation" at Universal Orlando Resort. We spent three nights at the amazing retro Cabana Bay, visited Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and the brand new Volcano Bay water park! I have lived in Florida for a long time, but I haven't been to Universal Orlando Resort in so long, I had forgotten how much fun it is!
Since I had visited it as a teenager and young adult, I didn't realize how much fun it can be for younger kids too! My girls are ages 7 and 3 and they had a blast! There was so much for them to do while we were there!
At the resort they enjoyed the pools, the lazy river, the fire pits for s'mores, the water slide and the arcade!
We were in love with the multiple choices of water play! Once we were done trying out the lazy river, we had 2 pools to choose from to take a swim in! When the kids were ready for a little excitement, they tried out the water slide! There is also a really awesome splash pad to play on!
If you can pull the kids away from the water attractions, the fire pits are really fun! We brought the ingredients and skewers for s'mores but they also have kits for sale at the resort! We did s'mores 2 of the 3 nights we were there because my kids had so much fun with that!
The best part is, there is fun indoor stuff too! One of our nights there brought a Florida thunderstorm, so we went to check out the arcade! There is also a bowling alley inside, but we ran out of time to play! It looked really fun though! My girls had so much fun playing the games and won some really awesome prizes!
Not only is the resort fun, it's pretty cool too! I love the retro decorations and theme. They had it down to the soap in the rooms, V05 and Zest! 
Luckily, we had an amazing time visiting the parks too!
There was so much for them to do at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventures. We tried butterbeer - check out our live video here - when we visited the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We road Flight of the Hippogriff and my 4 year old loved it! We had an interactive wand which was really cool for casting spells throughout the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!
They loved visiting the Ball Factory in the Curious George Playland and my oldest daughter got to be part of the Animal Actors on Location show! 
I was so impressed with the character meeting process. The lines were manageable and the characters come out often so if you missed them, it wouldn't be long before they were back out.
Camp Jurassic was also a favorite stop as we learned about dinosaurs! We saw hatching dinosaurs, played a game show about dinosaurs and explored caves in the playground. This was a perfect indoor area to take a break and cool off from the Florida heat! We had express passes and I have to say, it made the day so much easier! It was so cool to skip the lines and go right to the front of the rides!
On our last day we had the opportunity to visit the brand new Volcano Bay water park. I was taken aback by the beauty and detail that went into this water park! The best part was, since we stayed at Cabana Bay, we were able to enter the park an hour earlier than everyone else! Plus we were able to walk from the resort to the water park! It was so convenient and that extra hour with a smaller crowd was a huge benefit!
I was worried that my younger daughter wouldn't have any fun since she is too short to ride any of the slides but I was excited to find an amazing toddler area that she played in almost the entire day!
She was also able to enjoy the wave pool, which she really enjoyed! I would have to say that her favorite part was the lazy river, since she didn't want to get out of it once we got in!
My older daughter was tall enough for the slides so her and Brandon went off to enjoy those! It was so awesome that they could "wait in line" with the Tapu Tapu while doing other rides or hanging out with us at the lazy river, wave pool or toddler area. When they got the alert that it was time to get on their slide, they could just go back over to it and get on. This really extends your day in the park because you can have fun while waiting to ride a ride!
None of us were brave enough to ride the Ko'okiri Body Plunge but we did venture underneath the volcano and that was really neat! This park is perfect for all ages!
We didn't want to leave and we can't wait to go back! How lucky are we to live so close to something so amazing, right here in Central Florida! I've been to a lot of theme parks but I do have to say this was one of the least stressful ones! It was easy to see the characters, the express pass made it extremely quick to ride rides and things like child swap made everything simple! It's perfect for families! 
Disclosure: I received complimentary park tickets for myself and my family to facilitate this review. No additional compensation was received and all opinions are true and my own.
