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Old 15 Feb 20, 11:45 PM  
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charlz_29
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Day 6/7 - 26th Birthday Solo Trip to Universal! 17th -22nd Jan 2020

Wednesday 22nd January, 2020

So this is it! The end has come! After months and months of planning this is what it boils down to! I woke up a little later at around 05:30 ish and got ready for the day. I had packed the vast majority of my things the night before so I was fairly good on that front. Plus since i had booked with Virgin Holidays I also had late checkout which was a god send since I didn't then need to worry about where to store my luggage whilst i was in the parks.

Breakfast was a kids' portion of french toast with chocolate topping and scrambled eggs with my usual cup of coffee. The French Vanilla creamer makes the coffee that much more amazing! I totally forgot to get the drink that comes with the meal this morning and the lady at the till didn't remind me either - oh well not the end of the day! In fact it was a blessing in disguise since I had not finished the bottle of water I had the previous day so I used this in the parks instead.

Today was literally the coldest day since I've arrived. The weather reports mentioned that in the morning the temperature would be 6 degree Celsius so about as cold as the UK!

I left the hotel at my usual time of 07:30 which would help me get in the parks in time for Early Admission at Universal Studios. I prioritised 'Despicable Me' since I had really enjoyed it the day before and had only been on it once. Next was escape from Gringotts, this ride was the ride I rode the most but I can't get enough of it, it is such a cool ride! After Gringotts I made my way to the Mummy which is another of my most ridden ride. I was supposed to go on Hollywood rip-ride rockit but again it was closed due to the weather. Unfortunately, it didn't reopen before I left for the hotel so I had only managed to ride this ride once during my whole stay.

I then took the Hogwarts express to Hogsmeade in the hope of going on Flight of the Hippogriff - no chance since the queue was already at 70 minutes at 9 in the morning! I wanted another go on Forbidden Journey since my first impression of it wasn't great and I wanted to give it another go however it was experiencing technical issues and was down for much of the morning. So off I went to the Marvel super heroes area since according to the app, Spiderman was a 5 minute wait. This is sucha a great ride and I highly enjoyed it. The hulk unfortunately was down due to weather so there wasn't much to do in the area. I stopped for a churro with chocolate sauce and it wasn't as warm as I was expecting which was unfortunate.

I took the Hogwarts Express to the other park so I could have lunch at the Leaky Cauldron. I soon realised I had got the Leaky Cauldron and the Three Broomsticks mixed up since the Three Broomsticks was the only restaurant in the Harry Potter areas to do roast chicken which was what I wanted. Once I realised my mistake, I couldn't be bothered to go back to the other park so I settled with fish and chips again for lunch. I went for lunch fairly early at around 11 ish so the place was fairly empty and I got my food really quickly. I didn't order any drinks with the food since i still had my bottle of water from the day before. It was delicious as usual and I decided to walk around Diagon Alley before heading back to the room.

I wanted to spend an hour or so in the room before checking out so I left just before 12. I refilled my refillable mug with lemonade before heading to my room. As soon as I got in, I packed the last bits and bobs such as my park bag etc and re-did my hair. I then settled down to watch 'The Fresh prince of Bel-Air' and drink my lemonade. I left the room for final time just after 1PM and headed to the lobby to await the transfer. After a bit it became clear to me that I was waiting in the wrong area for the transfer. Had I not asked when I did I would have missed my transfer to the airport.

The transfer came a little earlier - I think at 1:40 and the drive to the airport was really short meaning that I was already in the queue to check in by 2PM. The driver was fab, pointing out interesting buildings and sites so I tipped him the last of my $1 bills. Once at the airport I walked around trying to decide what I should spend my last $5 on. I ended up getting a fridge magnet which when tax was added was more than the $5 cash I had so I bought it using my Revolut - this basically defeated the purpose of me getting the magnet but hey-ho! I then went to Cinnabon and bought a pack of minibons for $4.79 which used the vast majority of the $5 cash I had.

I then queued up for security which was a bit of a nightmare since it was more than 70 minute wait with no ride at the end! At security you have to remove coats/cardigans as well shoes. This only increased the time it took since it left a crowd of people at the other end waiting to put on their coats and shoes. After security I bought a bottle of water for $3.99 which left around $4 on my Revolut card. It was the last thing I bought before I got on the plane home. Once I got on the plane I was feeling drowsy and very sleepy. I had a Malvani chicken curry and rice with a chocolate mousse for dinner.This again was surprisingly nice!

I put on Inception and tried to watch it for an hour before falling asleep. When I woke up again, we had less than 2 hours before we landed in London. Breakfast consisted of a warm pain au chocolat and a blueberry yoghurt which was pretty good. After breakfast, I put on The Simpsons Movie and watched it until we landed. We landed half an hour ahead of schedule.

After we landed it became clear that my knee was still really painful and I was quite slow in the airport.Unlike my arrival in Orlando, my luggage wasn't one of the first to be delivered at Gatwick. In fact it was one of the last. I was starting to accept that maybe it hadn't made it to Gatwick when I finally spotted it on the belt. After collecting my luggage I made my way to Gatwick Airport station to take the Gatwick Express to Victoria. I had completely forgot that it was essentially the morning rush hour on the tube and boy was it manic trying to squeeze through the crowds of people on the train with a heavy bag and suitcase!

My mum picked me up at our local tube station and i was very tired once I got home. I fell into a deep sleep for around 5 hours before I woke up again

This has been such a great experience, painful at times due to my knee but I wouldn't trade it for the world!
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Old 16 Feb 20, 11:08 AM  
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mick
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Sounds like you had a great holiday thanks for taking the time to do your trippie I really enjoyed reading it

Joan
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Old 11 May 20, 01:42 PM  
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candycat75
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Great trip report! Thanks for taking the time to write it.
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