After breakfast we tried to get on the E.T. Adventure ride again but the wait was too long so we went to the kids area for a little bit. The kids area had a Barney and Curious George theme. According to my mom I was Barney's #1 fan as a kid.
Friday, June 5, 2015
Universal Orlando: Day 4, The last day in Florida
After breakfast we tried to get on the E.T. Adventure ride again but the wait was too long so we went to the kids area for a little bit. The kids area had a Barney and Curious George theme. According to my mom I was Barney's #1 fan as a kid.
Universal Orlando: Day 3, More rides, Seuess Landing and possibly an earthquake
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Universal Orlando: Day 2, Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley and the luxurious Hard Rock Hotel
Today was an early day today. Because we're staying on property we got early admission to Islands of Adventure. We passed through Suess Landing and went straight to Hogsmeade. There was still snow on the buildings! It must always be winter over here. We hit the feature ride first, "Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey." There's absolutely no space to bring any belongings on the ride so we put our bags in lockers. This first hour for the lockers was free and they charge you for time after that. Luckily we didn't have to wait longer than an hour to ride the ride. The line cue for this attraction is impressive. You go through Dumbledore's office, the defense against the dark arts classroom and the room of requirement. During the ride you get to tour Hogwart's campus and flirt with a little mischief. After the the ride we hopped on the Hogwarts Express to Kings Cross Station and checked out Diagon Alley.
Diagon Alley is the newest attraction at Universal Orlando and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. There's mostly shopping and dining but we were there for the main attraction, "Harry Potter and The Escape From Gringots." We grabbed lockers as quick as we could and headed to the line cue. The line cue for this ride was impressive as well. You start In the bank's grand marble lobby where there are many grumpy goblins hard at work. These guys look bigger in person. Then you shuffle to the back, around the corner, into a lift and down into the carts. My sister and I made a Haunted Mansion reference while in the elevator, "is this haunted room actually stretching, or is it just your imagination?" I don't think it was appreciated.
After the ride we took a bathroom break and went down the dark passages of Knockturn Alley. In Rowling's books Knockturn Alley is described as a shady shopping area associated with the dark arts and that's exactly how Universal portrayed it. One of the most notable shops is the infamous Borgin and Burkes where they have a very well rounded collection of dark arts objects, clothing and accessories.
The Weasley twins also have their own store in Diagon Alley called, "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes." It's a colorful novelty joke shop with everything you need to cause any type of mischief. It was crowded so I didn't spend much time there.
We headed out of Diagon Alley into the main part of the park and walked through a small part San Francisco. There was a burger place, seafood restaurant, Ghirardelli factory and a replica of the Fisherman's Wharf sign. I took more pictures of the Fisherman's Wharf sign at Universal Studios than I ever have at the actual sign in San Francisco and I've been to San Francisco numerous times! I don't even think I have any pictures of the actual Fisherman's Wharf sign. Funny how things work out, I had to go all the way to the other side of the country and got a picture of the replica sign.
The next few rides we went on were, "Transformers: The Ride- 3D," "Despicable Me Minion Mayhem," "Shrek 4D," and "The Revenge of the Mummy." The Transformer ride was really cool. You get mixed up in a battle between the Autobots and Decepticons and have to fight to keep the all spark from getting in the wrong hands. The Despicable Me attraction was a cute one. Gru needs new recruits for his latest scheme and he chooses you! But something isn't right... You're not a minion and you're not trained! So you get morphed into a Minion and go through a crazy training course with the girls-- Margo, Edith and Agnes. After you leave the attraction there's a minion dance party where you can take pictures with minions. The Shrek attraction was lame but the Mummy one was awesome! At first I didn't think I'd like the ride because I haven't heard much about it. This ride is a lot like the Indiana Jones ride. It's a super dark ride with a lot of sudden drops and movements. This evil Imhotep has awaken and you have to escape his wrath.
After those rides we went back to Diagon Alley and explored Olivanders Wand Shop, Diagon Alley's premier wand shop and saw the show they had there. They took a group of people into the back room, chose a spectator at random and helped them find a wand. There was lots of theatrics involved. We also got lunch at the Leaky Cauldron while we were there. I ordered a cottage pie which, to me, was just like shepherds pie. I had bought wands at Olivanders and the packaging was a little bulky so I went back to the hotel to drop them off after lunch.
I passed through Springfield to meet up with my group at the "Men in Black Alien Attack," but it had just broken down. What to do? What to do?
The park was closing early today due to an event with the Mark Travel Corporation so we went to grab food at Mel's Diner before it closed. I had a burger and fries that I was not impressed with.
On our way back to the hotel we got drinks at the bar during happy hour. When we got back my grandma decided to pick up her welcome package and coupon book at the attractions counter. It turns out that her travel package didn't include a welcome package or coupon book but the clerk gave her a coupon book anyways. She went back up to the room and called the travel agency. We were on the phone with the representative for an hour. During that hour we found out that we could use any of the amenities at the Universal properties. After we got of the phone with the representative we took the river taxi to The Hard Rock Hotel, the most expensive hotel.
The Hard Rock hotel is luxurious but laid back.They had live entertainment, a sand beach pool and lots of Rock N' Roll memorabilia.
It was getting late so we didn't stay at the other hotel very long. We made the trip back to our hotel by water taxi and retired for the night.
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Universal Orlando: Day 1, travel and exploring the CityWalk
There was a few complications before we took off. The sensor on the cargo door said it was open but it was obviously closed. The pilot had to call maintenance to make sure it was ok to go. We had 50mins once we landed in salt lake city to eat lunch and find our next terminal. Every minute they took to sort everything out cut into our layover time. Once we got going we had a hour and a half plane ride to Salt Lake City. Delta doesn't provide free Wi-Fi but they had some free content that you could stream to your phone. I tried every which way I could to access that content but my device wasn't supported. My phone isn't a very common one. I decided to give up and take my tablet out of my luggage during our layover and try again on the next plane.
By the time we got to Salt Lake City we had to rush to the next terminal. Luckily we brought food so we didn't have to stop and get food and we could eat on the plane. Pre flight checks went smoothly and we were up in the air in no time. I took out my tablet and it wasn't supported by Delta's media content either! It was a 4 hr flight from Salt Lake City to Orlando. If they didn't have an in flight movie I wouldn't know what I would do! They showed the new Cinderella which was pretty cool. I liked it a lot. It was a lot like the Disney Classic Cinderella but with more realism and back story.
We arrived at Orlando on time and met up with our driver. The weather here is very humid but not as hot as I thought it would be. We get to stay on property at the Loews Pacific Resort Hotel as part of our travel package this time. How exciting! I've never stayed at a hotel on a resort property before. We had a 25min drive and we passed by a lot of theme parks and ad's for theme parks on the way. This is definitely the land of theme parks! When we arrived at the resort my mom felt obligated to tip the driver her last $5 she brought in cash because I pointed out a sign that said most of the drivers salary comes from gratuity. We need to find a bank! Not just because we forgot to get cash on the way out but I forgot my cards too! We checked into the hotel, used the ATM, my mom and I got our city passes and went up to our rooms. This hotel has a Polynesian theme to it and it's pretty cool! It's like staying in a rain forest hotel. After we unpacked we found a dead brown baby cockroach in our closet and our hot water didn't work. When we went downstairs to get my grandma and sister their city passes and head out to the CityWalk to get food we told the front desk clerk about our cockroach and the hot water they moved us to a different room. That meant we had to go back up stairs, pack and move and I was getting hungry! They moved us to a newly renovated room which is a lot nicer than the other room but a little bit out of the theme. This room was trendier.
We arrived at Universal CityWalk by water taxi. The CityWalk is a lot like Downtown Disney but smaller with entertainment options. It rained the whole time we were there. It was kind of odd because it was a warm rain. I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep my jacket on or not. There are a few surf shops, boutique shops and regular retail shops here like Fossil and Element. Emeril and Jimmy Buffet have restaurants here too. The Blue Man Group has a stage at the CityWalk! I've already seen The Blue Man Group in Vegas so if I miss them here it's not such a big deal. After we explored we decided to eat at Hard Rock Cafe. We got our picture taken in the entryway. I've never had that done at a restaurant before. This is the largest Hard Rock in the chain with lots of pop and rock memorabilia. I ordered a Hickory Barbecue Bacon Cheeseburger and it was awesome! The CityWalk also has a theatre, mini golf course and a night club. We were comp'd tickets for the night club so I might go there one night.
After dinner we took the water taxi back to the hotel, explored the hotel a little more and retired to our room for the night. The real adventure begins tomorrow!
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Orlando, Florida!
A year ago today I was sitting in a cabin blogging from a cruise ship in Alaska.
This time I'm going to Orlando, Florida. Stick around. Some interesting blog posts might pop up!