Recap of My Whirlwind Weekend: 48 Hour Fast-Paced Adventure

If you follow me on my social media platforms, you have probably seen the several posts I’ve made recapping my whirlwind Labor Day weekend. If you don’t, well you should! JK…If you don’t follow my socials, this post is for you.

This weekend was not just your typical three-day weekend celebrating Labor Day. No, it was also the opening weekend for the Florida Gator football team. More importantly than that, it was the Florida Gator v. Miami Hurricanes game. 

FLORIDA RIVALRY

If you know anything about college football or even Florida football, then you know that these two teams have a HUGE Florida rivalry. Several Floridians have divided houses consisting of UF, UM, and FSU. In my house, my aunt is a lifelong UM fan and my sisters, brothers-in-law, and I are Florida Gators. 

I’ll never forget my first UM v. UF game at the Swamp. It was 2008 and I was living in Gainesville for school. A bunch of my friends came up and stayed with my roommate and I, who was a friend from my high school, for the weekend. My aunt got me and my boyfriend-at-the-time tickets to the actual game, so we got to experience the madness firsthand. 

More recently, the last time UM played UF was in 2019, and the game was held in Orlando (a total shit show of a weekend). UF ended up beating UM by 4 points in the last like four minutes. It was INSANE. 

The 2013 game was in Miami, and I had just found out I was pregnant with Enzo a few weeks before. I actually have the cutest pictures of my sisters and I, tailgating, during that game. 

Last year, when we planned the logistics for the game, I told my aunt we should stay in Orlando. Gainesville was going to be full of people (several of which were also from Miami) and the hotel rooms were going for an exuberant amount of money. Orlando is only 90-ish minutes away and a quick drive, so I didn’t mind driving. 

Alexa flew in from Indiana for the game, so having stayed in Orlando made it easier for her to fly down. 

WEEKEND RECAP.

Friday

Since I knew we were going to be going to Orlando, I took Friday off of work. My aunt and I left mid-morning so we could go to Disney while we waited for Alexa to arrive. The drive was relatively smooth, until we got closer to the Ft. Drum rest stop. It was when we were passing the rest stop when Waze informed us that there was an accident adding an extra 95 minutes to the commute. 

We decided to stop to see if we could figure out WHERE this accident was and if there was a way around it, there wasn’t. Thankfully, by the time we got to the mile marker where the accident was it was only a 45 minute delay. 

When we finally got to Orlando, we went straight to Disney Springs for some shopping. After Springs, we headed to Epcot for the Food & Wine festival which had opened the day before. I actually hadn’t realized that it was only the second day, otherwise I probably would have swapped which park we headed to, but the Fray was playing and I really wanted to see them.

After we ate a bit and listened to the Fray, we went to ride Guardians of the Galaxy. I had pre-purchased the Lightning Lane Single Pass for the ride (you can read my post about the new Lighting Lane systems here).

Of course, the ride broke down as we approached the loading zone, so we were not able to ride it. This was actually the first time since the ride opened that it broke down on me. The attraction gave us a lightning lane to use the next day, but since that was the game day we had to stop at Guest Relations to get a refund instead.

Since that was all we wanted to do, we left for the hotel and to wait for Alexa to arrive.

Saturday

Since we were in Orlando and the game was in Gainesville, we had to wake up early to get a head start. Everyone woke up before me, but I was done before everyone so I went to pick up breakfast while they finished. Once we were done, we left for Gainesville and arrived around 10 AM (this worked out perfectly since the bars were starting to open up). 

Alexa barhopped and met up with friends, while my aunt and I walked around, passed by tailgates and hung out. By game time, Alexa and her boyfriend met up with us and the madness started. There were so many people getting into the Swamp at the same time and I actually lost the group, so we just met up inside the stadium. 

Sadly, the Gators got their butts whooped by the Hurricanes and it was time to head back to Orlando. Alexa and her boyfriend had an early flight, so we wanted to get back to eat something and rest up. BOY DID THAT NOT WORK OUT.

Instead of being able to leave back to Orlando after the game, we had a two-and-a-half hour delay. My car, along with several others in the parking garage where we parked, were booted and left citations. The property managers had our cars booted, despite us having paid a lot for the spot, and the towing company was a nightmare to get through to. The parking situation was, unfortunately, a scam and we were one of the several victims. 

Eventually, (roughly two-and-a-half hours later) we were unbooted and I was able to drive us back to Orlando. Of course, we had been in the blaring heat for hours and completely exhausted from the day so we just went back to the hotel to shower and sleep off the day. I’m pretty sure we all knocked out faster than ever (myself included).

Sunday

Sunday morning was less chaotic. Alexa and Cam left for the airport early and my aunt and I stayed back, packed, and headed to Animal Kingdom. I had wanted to pick up the new Annual Passholder magnet and ride Everest, so that’s what we did first.

After Everest  we ate lunch at Pandora and then headed back to Disney Springs for some more shopping. After Disney Springs, we did one more stop at the Outlets and headed back to Miami.

BACK TO REALITY.

The weekend was insane and I was so exhausted I slept until 1:30 in the afternoon (WHO AM I). I’m grateful that we came back on Sunday, not Monday, so I was able to have Labor Day off to recuperate. I was so tired that I actually did not wake up until mid-afternoon and proceeded to spend the rest of the day in bed. 

You can check out my recap videos from this weekend on my TikTok and Instagram accounts, if you’re interested in seeing more!