Stefs 1st Visit - Orlando October 2015 - Day 4 - Universal & HHN

[jonnykeogh]

Had a great night sleep last night. We were up at about 6.30am, and it was still a little dark outside. I also found that I lied on a previous post, where I thought we didn't have a pic of the view from our hotel room. We do! No idea if this is from this particular morning, but it was a decent view of Sea World and the sky was gorgeous in this pic.

Universal for the first time today. We were also told that Sharon and Charlie wouldn't be joining us, which in a way we were fairly happy about because I just like to go for it in the parks. Sharon is quite slow and can't keep up with the rest of us, and Charlie sometimes found the lizards and random birds around the parks more interesting than the actual attractions, so it really did slow us down a little on this trip. Me, Scott, Stef and my Mum just wanted to go whole hog and do it. Love Sharon and Charlie, but today allowed us to just enjoy the parks in full.

I agreed to go and pick Scott and My Mum from their hotel. They were staying at the Rosen Inn International, so I drove and got them and went for a quick McDonalds breakfast through the drive thru as it was right next door.

Got to Universal and parked in King Kong (I think). Arrived around 9.30am. After taking in some of the views of CityWalk (always thought CityWalk was better than Disney Springs) we headed to Universal Studios first as we wanted to ride the new Harry Potter ride, Escape from Gringotts.

We stopped for a couple pics before going on the ride.

We then got into Diagon Alley. Me and Stef aren't huge Potter fans. I am more one than Stef as I have seen all the films and read the first 3 books (before they got way too long), so I was more familiar with the story, but I was SO impressed with the detail. I was born in London so seeing the detail of Leicester Square, Kings Cross and even the busker, it was brilliant. I loved this area and so did Stef.

We went on Gringotts. To be honest, we were a little disappointed. Neither me nor Scott felt it was as good as Forbidden Journey (we'd both done this in 2010) so it was a little underwhelming. Don't get me wrong, it was a great ride and much better than anything here in the UK, but we were hoping it'd be better than Forbidden Journey. Maybe expecting too much. We never did it again this holiday, which I regret as I think a 2nd ride would have given me more chance to judge it.

We then jumped on the Hogwarts Express to Islands of Adventure. We figured that this would be a sensible thing to do, as it'd be empty (why go to another park at 10.30am?) as most would use it later in the day. We were right. We walked onto it, and this was great fun.

So we went straight to Forbidden Journey which I remember only had a 10 minute wait so thought why not?

Still as good as before. Such an impressive ride. Stef appreciates the theming and scenery more than rides themselves, which is fine but she did enjoy this a lot!

Quickly did the Dragon Challenge (blue) and headed over to Jurassic Park. This was quite a long queue. It showed 15 mins but it was more 30 mins. We sat 4th row and didn't really get wet. I did get told off for this picture though. No regrets

Headed out of Jurassic Park to Toon Lagoon

Madly, we decided to go on Popeye. I know we get absolutely SOAKED on this so why I agreed I'm not sure, but we did and lo-n-behold, we got drenched. I had no change of clothes, so I ended up buying a brand new t-shirt which was quite cool - displayed here after we left for lunch. All the superheroes in caricature format.

Once we'd all dried off - Stef was fine as she was the only sensible one to actually wear a poncho, although it still soaked her legs, she didn't need to buy a new tshirt like the rest of us! - we went to Marvel Island and did Spiderman. Still my favourite ride in Islands of Adventure. Just an amazing, amazing ride.

Stef got some candyfloss and a quick pic of the closed Hulk - gutted but knew it was closed before we booked this trip.

Went out of Islands for some lunch/dinner at Hard Rock Cafe. It was about 3pm by now, so it was basically dinner. I had to go and buy a hoodie, as I was still freezing from Popeyes so went and spent silly money on a hoodie from Hard Rock. About $40! Never wore it after the trip. At Hard Rock I had my usual meal. The Tupelo Chicken Tenders, with classic rock sauce. I never usually eat spicy food, but these are ridiculously tasty, especially with the blue cheese. And I had the potato skins. As I didn't eat much, this was enough lunch for me. Stef had the Bacon/Cheese burger. Always loved Hard Rock.

Universal next, and it was about 4.30pm by the time we got in to the park, so just in time to be in before the park closed for their Halloween Horror Nights. Me, Scott and my Mum were all looking forward to this. Stef not so much. She hates things like this, but I wasn't going to force her to do anything she didn't feel comfortable doing. We had just about enough time to do Shrek 4-D before the park closed, so we did this and then made our way to the front holding area ready for HHN. It was this point where Stef decided to just not be in the park at all for HHN. I knew she wouldn't do the houses, but she was really not happy to do any of it so she took the car key and said she would go and sit in the car until we finished.

Of course this put me in an awkward position, knowing I'd feel guilty for allowing her to walk out alone of a place she's never been, but we'd planned this trip to HHN so I also had my Mum and Scott expecting to enjoy it with me. Stef, being as lovely as she is, said that she would just look around CityWalk and then go back to the car, so at least she was able to go and do a bit of shopping.

Once she left, we waited for a while and were then let loose on the houses. First up was 25 years of Monsters & Mayhem, and a brilliant way to start. Scott had already done HHN on his own before we arrived so he'd been in a few houses, but we all loved this one. The room of Jack's at the end was the best bit. I'm a bit of a wuss, so I always made Scott go at the front. I don't enjoy being made to jump, but for some reason I love HHN.

Next up was American Werewolf in London. This was the best house I'd ever been in without doubt. Loved everything in this house. Quickly followed by Freddy vs Jason, and then Body Collectors. We had all of these done by 7.15pm! Pays to be in those holding areas at the beginning. Got this cool pic of Rip Ride Rockit in motion too.

We went on The Mummy as it was a short queue and then headed straight to Insidious. This was the one I was excited for the most, as I love the film. The wait was a long one. 90 mins advertised but it was more like 2 hours as someone in the queue had been taken ill, so we were delayed a little. Think it was down to alcohol rather than anything serious. Once we got out, we all decided to leave as we all felt guilty for Stef.

We walked out and called Stef, and found out she was in CityWalk, so once we got to her, I found out she had gone to the car and she was told to get out of the car by the parking attendant. Apparently she wasn't allowed to sit in the car in the car park! Strange. So she was wandering around CityWalk for a good 2 hours bless her, so I made sure we left straight away and dropped Scott and my Mum back to their hotel.

We then got back to ours at about 10.15pm. I was still pretty pumping and really didn't want the night to finish, but with Stef clearly being tired, she was desperate to sleep. She told me to go back if I wanted to as I had planned on being there all night, so when she was asleep I left to go back into HHN, and picking Scott up on the way. I did feel a little guilty, but knowing Stef wouldn't go into the HHN, I needed to take my opportunities to go as when the others went back to the UK, I knew I wouldn't be going back in. It was a big reason we booked to go in October.

Was really nice to spend some alone time just me and my brother in Orlando. We got back to HHN about 11.15pm, and we bought the Express Passes which were half price now as it was after 11pm. The park closed at 2am.

I had 4 more houses to do, and I was determined to do them all in the 2.5 hours we had, so we started with Walking Dead, then moved on to the Purge which was next door. The Purge was really impressive too. 2 left to go!

A quick stop on Men in Black (Scott won!) and ran round to Asylum in Wonderland 3D. This was trippy but good fun. Last house to do was Run. Shame this was the last one as it wasn't great compared to the others, so we never did this one again. I'd done all 9 houses tonight, helped in part with the Express Passes, but nevertheless we got them all done in one night! It was still only 12.45 so we decided to head over to AWIL for another bout of Werewolf madness. 25 Years of M&M was next to it so did that too, and even still found time to queue one more time for AWIL (I must be absolutely mad!).

WHAT A DAY!

Today has been mega. It involved so many rides, but a total of 12 visits into the houses of HHN! We certainly went all out today, and tomorrow deserved a bit of a break!

Tomorrow was to be our first venture to Hollywood Studios, but a later start.

[Floridaagogo]

So jealous of you doing Hhn.ds is too young but would love to see it all x

[jonnykeogh]

Originally Posted by Floridaagogo

So jealous of you doing Hhn.ds is too young but would love to see it all x

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HHN is amazing. It is the reason I go to Orlando in October. I don't like to go any other time of year, but I can only go when my brother comes as Stef doesn't like it. I wouldn't want to do it alone as it's the sort of thing to do with someone else. But it is such a good event. You have to do it when DS is older

[sheluk]

I think I'd be too chicken to go but good on you for going back with your brother & making the most of it! I think I'd be happy wondering around citywalk eating and drinking whatever I like