MissGina5
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2017
ok! So this is my first time doing one of these and I am really excited to share my amazing trip!
To start, my name is Gina. I have recently started going to WDW a lot more often. This is my 4th trip in 2 years. My trip crew consists of my sister Christina and my best friend/roommate Chelsea. We have been planning for months and now I am here to take you through our Universal/WDW trip.
DAY 1: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
We woke up in Chicago around 4:30 and went to O'hare so we would arrive at our resort (PORT ORLEANS - RIVERSIDE) at around 10:30. The flight was quick and we slept through most of it. When we got there the sun was shining and we quickly dropped off our bags in a Alligator Bayou room (Building 34 near West despot). From there we took a lyft and went on our way to Universal Studios
We started at Cowfish for lunch! Now normally we are big Mythos fans but we were on a time crunch with Halloween Horror Nights closing things down. Cowfish was AMAZING! I got a burger I tailored to myself (I am a slightly picky eater). It had grilled onions and cheddar on it and it was delicious. The fries were also perfect! My sister, who was the most upset we wouldn't have time for Mythos, liked it best! She also had a burger, and Chelsea had the Cowfish Bento Box, which she said was the perfect amount of food. Milkshakes were also a must, not only did they taste great but they were very cute for pictures!
From there we headed to Island of Adventure. We had a very strict game plan that our must do was Hogsmeade and everything else was secondary. The issue being, Hogsmeade is all the way in the back of the park. This meant the only non-HP attraction we hit up was the Hulk Coaster! Christina is quite afraid of coasters, but we convinced her that this was a must do and she loved it! I think the speed made it less scary because she doesn't like going upside down but you barely feel it!
From there it was straight to Hogsmede. This was definitely the hottest day on the trip and it really highlights the fact that Universal did not plan for Disney sized crowds. There is a lot of bottlenecking and thin walkways, especially when you consider the lines to try out the spells. I had brought my wand from the last trip to Universal and we had a great time trying them out, even when sensors were blocked by the crowds etc. The heat was made marginally better by the Butterbeer, which I am 100% had never tasted better. We only got to Forbidden Journey but it was a lot of fun and we wanted to take as many cute pictures as possible, so our time was well spent. HOT TIP FOR FORBIDDEN JOURNEY: Hold your hands like you are actually on a broom stick, it helps curb motion sickness!
When it got closer to the time where we would have to move to the holding zones for HHN, we took the train to Diagon Alley. We had to hurry a little to get to Escape from Gringotts, another amazing ride. Unfortunately, we had to move on to the holding zone. We had originally planned to go to the Finnigan's zone since we are terrified of clowns, but Simpsons were just so close that we wound up going there. At first we were told we HAD to enter from the other side of Simpsons but after talking to another cast member we were able to enter from the side we were on. We were pretty heat exhausted and sat around snacking until we were able to move on. Bonus though was that we were able to go into some of the houses earlier.
House 1: The Hive
I will go on record right now, haunted houses don't scare me. I am way more fascinated with how immersive and detailed the houses are. I just love spooky things. I really enjoyed this house. I had forgotten how amazing the houses at Universal are, but considering last time it was DOWN-POURING, they might not actually have been that great when I went. This was a great first house. We had a bit of time before the next house open so we went to Men in Black, where all I can say is I SUCK at that game...
House 2: Scarecrow: The Reaping
I was shocked to feel nervous at all but I totally was. It was really really dark and just I couldn't anticipate what was coming next so it had me on edge! Chelsea's head was buried in my back the whole time! From there we moved to the highly acclaimed Bill & Ted show and man did it suck. I have NO idea what all the hype is but they sure are bitter about Disney. It was pretty sad. To lighten our mood we went to The Mummy ride, which was INTENSE! I forgot about all the fire. We then walked through The Purge scarezone, which if you ask me was waaaay too real in our political climate. From there we went to
House 3: The Shining
Now this one was just fun. I hadn't seen the movie in a long time but I this house brought it all back completely! It was spooky and the first Shelly Duvall looked JUST like her, and the Jacks were all very cohesive. They even had some fake snow. Not really scary but SO cool. We were starting to get tired, so we picked our final 2 things to do which were the classic Rockin' Roller Coaster, where our recommendation is Stronger by Kanye West that scream singing lets you relax as you ride and then finally...
House 4: American Horror Story
I have only seen 2 seasons, Coven and Freak Show, and wow was this cool! Coven is the best season and it was so familiar and scary! The people in the cages?! Amazing. I haven't seen Roanoke and wow I am definitely going to have to now! The pig guy was huge compared to my little 5ft body. It was the perfect send off. The night was definitely a success compared to the rainy year before.
Stay tuned, next up is Magic Kingdom Day 1!
To start, my name is Gina. I have recently started going to WDW a lot more often. This is my 4th trip in 2 years. My trip crew consists of my sister Christina and my best friend/roommate Chelsea. We have been planning for months and now I am here to take you through our Universal/WDW trip.
DAY 1: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
We woke up in Chicago around 4:30 and went to O'hare so we would arrive at our resort (PORT ORLEANS - RIVERSIDE) at around 10:30. The flight was quick and we slept through most of it. When we got there the sun was shining and we quickly dropped off our bags in a Alligator Bayou room (Building 34 near West despot). From there we took a lyft and went on our way to Universal Studios
We started at Cowfish for lunch! Now normally we are big Mythos fans but we were on a time crunch with Halloween Horror Nights closing things down. Cowfish was AMAZING! I got a burger I tailored to myself (I am a slightly picky eater). It had grilled onions and cheddar on it and it was delicious. The fries were also perfect! My sister, who was the most upset we wouldn't have time for Mythos, liked it best! She also had a burger, and Chelsea had the Cowfish Bento Box, which she said was the perfect amount of food. Milkshakes were also a must, not only did they taste great but they were very cute for pictures!
From there we headed to Island of Adventure. We had a very strict game plan that our must do was Hogsmeade and everything else was secondary. The issue being, Hogsmeade is all the way in the back of the park. This meant the only non-HP attraction we hit up was the Hulk Coaster! Christina is quite afraid of coasters, but we convinced her that this was a must do and she loved it! I think the speed made it less scary because she doesn't like going upside down but you barely feel it!
From there it was straight to Hogsmede. This was definitely the hottest day on the trip and it really highlights the fact that Universal did not plan for Disney sized crowds. There is a lot of bottlenecking and thin walkways, especially when you consider the lines to try out the spells. I had brought my wand from the last trip to Universal and we had a great time trying them out, even when sensors were blocked by the crowds etc. The heat was made marginally better by the Butterbeer, which I am 100% had never tasted better. We only got to Forbidden Journey but it was a lot of fun and we wanted to take as many cute pictures as possible, so our time was well spent. HOT TIP FOR FORBIDDEN JOURNEY: Hold your hands like you are actually on a broom stick, it helps curb motion sickness!
When it got closer to the time where we would have to move to the holding zones for HHN, we took the train to Diagon Alley. We had to hurry a little to get to Escape from Gringotts, another amazing ride. Unfortunately, we had to move on to the holding zone. We had originally planned to go to the Finnigan's zone since we are terrified of clowns, but Simpsons were just so close that we wound up going there. At first we were told we HAD to enter from the other side of Simpsons but after talking to another cast member we were able to enter from the side we were on. We were pretty heat exhausted and sat around snacking until we were able to move on. Bonus though was that we were able to go into some of the houses earlier.
House 1: The Hive
I will go on record right now, haunted houses don't scare me. I am way more fascinated with how immersive and detailed the houses are. I just love spooky things. I really enjoyed this house. I had forgotten how amazing the houses at Universal are, but considering last time it was DOWN-POURING, they might not actually have been that great when I went. This was a great first house. We had a bit of time before the next house open so we went to Men in Black, where all I can say is I SUCK at that game...
House 2: Scarecrow: The Reaping
I was shocked to feel nervous at all but I totally was. It was really really dark and just I couldn't anticipate what was coming next so it had me on edge! Chelsea's head was buried in my back the whole time! From there we moved to the highly acclaimed Bill & Ted show and man did it suck. I have NO idea what all the hype is but they sure are bitter about Disney. It was pretty sad. To lighten our mood we went to The Mummy ride, which was INTENSE! I forgot about all the fire. We then walked through The Purge scarezone, which if you ask me was waaaay too real in our political climate. From there we went to
House 3: The Shining
Now this one was just fun. I hadn't seen the movie in a long time but I this house brought it all back completely! It was spooky and the first Shelly Duvall looked JUST like her, and the Jacks were all very cohesive. They even had some fake snow. Not really scary but SO cool. We were starting to get tired, so we picked our final 2 things to do which were the classic Rockin' Roller Coaster, where our recommendation is Stronger by Kanye West that scream singing lets you relax as you ride and then finally...
House 4: American Horror Story
I have only seen 2 seasons, Coven and Freak Show, and wow was this cool! Coven is the best season and it was so familiar and scary! The people in the cages?! Amazing. I haven't seen Roanoke and wow I am definitely going to have to now! The pig guy was huge compared to my little 5ft body. It was the perfect send off. The night was definitely a success compared to the rainy year before.
Stay tuned, next up is Magic Kingdom Day 1!
