My bags are packed and I’m ready to go! Well… not yet. Leaving the house at 9:45am Oklahoma time to drop off the dog AND THEN we get to go!
My son woke up me before 7am today which isn’t typical for him so I think he is excited too! He has no idea how much fun is awaiting him. He just turned 4 on Thursday and I feel like he’s actually going to retain some memories from this trip!
Today’s plan is minimal! Get acquainted at hotel, dinner at Big Fire and then we will see where the night takes us (which honestly might just be our beds ).
There are coupons for various CityWalk places at the Vacation Planning desk of the hotel. Usually there is one for the mini-golf, if y’all feel like it after dinner!
Well I’m already failing at this haha! Yesterday went smoothly! We arrived in Orlando at 4pm. We tried out Gearfusion for transportation and they were prompt and efficient! We made it to our hotel by 5, maybe earlier.
Got checked into Cabana Bay. Initial impression: love the theming but it’s so big! Feels like a long walk everywhere haha. We got put in the Continental building so that’s a bright spot. Beds are okay enough and the staff is super friendly.
We walked across the street to take the boat from Sapphire to City Walk but the line was huge so we decided to just keep walking. However when we came to RPR the boat was a walk on so we walked right on to a boat and rode the rest of the way.
Arrived to City Walk at 6:30pm and checked in at Big Fire! We were seated right on time for our ressie at 6:45pm. DH and I got smoked old fashioneds and we got the bread as an appetizer. Both us got steaks for dinner and we were pleased. Not the best steaks we’ve ever had but definitely good! I loved the smashed potatoes and carrots. Our son got chicken tenders and loved those
We got the baked Alaska for dessert and it was good, but boozy! Haha. That’s not a problem for me but it def overpowered some of the other flavors.
After dinner we perused some shops but we were tired. We took the bus back to Cabana.
We walked through chucky’s twisted playground before we went to bed. I’m not a chucky person so a lot of that was lost on me.
We are up now, got breakfast at the diner, and are headed to hard rock for our express passes. We got a later start than planned but that’s okay. With a toddler, it’s to be expected! After we grab our passes we are headed to studios first!
Having a toddler has made this harder to update than I expected
We are having a great time! Yesterday we started at Studios and spent quite a while at Diagon Alley. We basically rode everything our son could ride aside from Villain Con bc we hopped to IOA for Suessland and dinosaurs!
We loved Pterandon Flyers! We both got night rides last night and day rides again today. My only complaint is that it is so short!!
Crowds felt kinda heavy yesterday, but ride lines were fine with express. We were rode whatever we wanted with minimal waits.
Today we have spent most of the day at IOA re-riding Suessland rides and flight of the hippogriff etc. We rode Hagrids and got in like around 12:15pm… I started a stop watch to see how long the wait was. It was listed at 75 min… we got on in 40 min! So the lunch time window is where it’s at!
We had lunch at three broomsticks today… tried the new daisy root beer from Hogs Head and it was great! We just met Blue the Raptor and we are now headed over to Studios for Villain Con and the Bourne Show! First time seeing Bourne!
Good morning! We have had two amazing days at Universal. Crowds seem a little better yesterday than Sunday and again, with express it’s just easy. We rode everything we wanted and we didn’t rope drop either day (even though I wanted to…. Toddler and DH would rather sleep so I have to make concessions lol).
We ate at Three Broomsticks for lunch yesterday and dinner at Toothsome! It was our first time and Toothsome and I enjoyed it well enough. We got the chocolate bread and the totchos for apps and both tasted great. DH and I got the Tour de France burgers and they were huge! Toddler got the waffle and was very happy I also got the chocolate old fashioned and a chocolate martini because I deserved them! Hehe.
Today is our Disney day at Epcot! I purchased genie since it’s our only day over there. Booked test track LL this morning bc our son is finally tall enough to ride and he loves cars! Also snagged GoTG group 60 so I don’t have to pay for ILL on that one.
Should be a good day! Plan is to go slow, eat and drink around the world, and hopefully meet some characters. TBH, I’m not super familiar where the characters hang out in Epcot because that’s not typically my priority haha. Does Donald still do a meet in Mexico? Also need to find Mickey if possible.
We had a great day at Epcot yesterday! Genie plus served us well… we rode everything we wanted to and were able to leisurely stroll world showcase!
Thanks for those @darkmite2! We saw Donald and Mickey and even ran into Pluto!
Guardians is just so good. I got disco inferno and was in row 1! Hubby got September and was in row 9.
This morning/afternoon we spent at Volcano Bay! It was our first time there and it’s such a lovely park! The aqua coaster was so cool! We spent most of the time in the kids area and in the lazy river but it was such a great way to spend the first half of the day. We needed that break! Next time we come back we are planning a full day or even two days there.
After VB we went and freshened up at the hotel and the babysitter showed up at 4 and now hubby and I are in stay and scream!!! Gonna hit monsters first and then just work our way around with express! IT’S FINALLY TIME FOR HORROR NIGHTS!!!
My motto about VB - “If you don’t already LOVE it, then you’ve probably never been there!” It’s so crazy the number of people, even locals / vloggers that haven’t been to VB!
I’m SOOOO EXCITED!! Monsters is a good first house. Shouldn’t be too busy and good quality!! Please tell me all about your HHN when you can!! I have all these experiences & haven’t had anyone who has actually done it to talk about it with!!
Try the Uri’s favorite! (It’s a bit thick - get something to drink, but it’s such good peanut butter joy!)
Hey! Loving reading about your trip. Just wondering if you rode Velocicoaster while you had Express Pass and if you noticed how much time you saved versus standby?
We’ll be at Universal for one day over Christmas break and I’m trying to get a sense of whether we should try to hit Velocicoaster during Early Entry after Hagrid’s or if the Express Pass will make it okay to do later.
Honestly, that might be my order so far! Although Oddfellow I had more jump scares than monsters. I loved monsters theming. I think we may have had a bad run on darkest deal.
Shipyard 32 is forgettable. I love Batricia though.
We loved the death eaters! That was so fun. What a cool vibe in diagon this year.
Headed to dueling dragons and stranger things now!
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I also got the chocolate old fashioned and a chocolate martini because I deserved them! Hehe.
