Saremy’s Vacation 2011: Day 5

Up next on our Vacation-O-Fun...

Day 5: Universal Studios Orlando

Day 5 of our vacation lead us to Universal Studios Orlando.  I love Universal Studios.  I think it's the theme park that people tend to forget about, but I love it!  From the classic "Jaws" ride to "Twister" to the backlot tour, it's a fun park that transports you into the sets of many movies.

My two favorite rides at this park were "Revenge of the Mummy" and "Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket."  Though I've never seen The Mummy, I know the general idea and the ride is pretty fun.  It's all indoors and has moments of complete darkness, while it goes up and down.  With Rip Ride Rocket, you got up to 65 mph and climb 17 stories!  Plus, the coolest thing about the ride is that you get to pick your our soundtrack.  There are speakers near your ears and a bunch of songs to choose from, so your ride can always have a different theme! 

One thing that I always LOVED about Universal Studios California, was the "I Love Lucy" store...though sadly, I don't think they have it anymore.  However, Universal Orlando has a Lucy Tribute store that we just HAD to check out and on the way there...we ran into Lucy and Ricky!!

We were able to finish up at Universal by about 3pm and since we had a park hopper ticket...we went back to Universal Island of Adventure, specifically to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter for more butterbeer and rides!

Fun times on Day 5!  Where did we go to next...

Saremy's Vacation 2011: Day 1

Hi there!  Boy, do I have some exciting posts coming up!  You see...Jeremy and I went on vacation a few weeks ago.  But it wasn't just any vacation.  We went on a MEGA vacation to Disneyworld, Universal Studios and SeaWorld!  We had seven glorious days to take in the wonder of the Happiest Place in the World, to ride roller coaster after roller coaster, eat churros, drink Butterbeer and see the whale that ate his trainer last year.  So please, join me as we recap our vacation, one fabulous day at a time.

 

Day 1 - May 14th (MY BIRTHDAY!!) - Universal Studios Island of Adventure

 

We started out our vacation here because I was really, really, really looking forward to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and may have made Jeremy promise me that he'd take me here this year.  Little did we know, that this would be our favorite park of the whole trip.  Though Harry Potter is the main draw to this park, it also has: Marvel Super Hero Island, Toon Lagoon, Jurassic Park, the Lost Continent and Dr. Seuss Landing.  We rode all the big rides throughout the park and even got soaked on the water rides, but since Harry Potter is THE attraction here…let’s just focus on that.

 

So, I’m just going to start out by saying…this portion of Universal was AWESOME.  Simply awesome.  It was, obviously, my favorite park of our trip.  If you’re a fan of Harry Potter, you’re going to feel like you got transported into the books.  From the queue area of the rides, to the characters, to the props and even to the Butterbeer, it’s all just as I imagined Harry Potter’s world to be.  Even Jeremy liked it and he’s only read part of the first book and seen part of the first movie! 

 

As for rides, there are two good ones here: the Dragon Challenge roller coaster (sit it the front row, it’s the best!) and of course, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey (HPFJ).  HPFJ is a great ride, where you follow Harry, Ron and Herimone around the ground of Hogwarts, through the Forbidden Forest, to a Quiditch game and fight dementors.  We seriously rode it about 6 times.  In fact, Jeremy even said that HPFJ was his favorite ride out of our whole trip! 

 

Besides the rides, the whole area of this section of the park was just cool and there is so much to look at.  The major shops that you read about in the books are there in Hogsmeade.  You can buy a chocolate frog at Honeydukes, or perhaps a wand at Olivanders.  Plus, be sure to check out the bathrooms to listen to Moaning Myrtle.  And the one must of this park: try the frozen Butterbeer!  It’s a delicious drink that is cold, refreshing and tastes like a butterscotch shortbread cookie.  Umm, yum!

 

I loved The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!  It was a great way to spend my birthday.  Stay tuned for Day 2 of our vacation!

Vacation - Day 2: Universal Studios

The second day of our fabulous vacation was spent at Universal Studios.  I feel like Universal Studios is overlooked in the realm of theme parks, but I think it's pretty great!  It had been years since any of us had been to the park.  I personally hadn't been since I was a freshman in high school, so about 12 years ago!  Crazy!

 

The day was overcast and a bit sprinkly at times, but that didn't stop us from having a great time.  In fact, the park was fairly empty, which was great because the most we ever had to wait in line was about 5 minutes. 

The first thing ride we went on was Jurassic Park.  This is a fun water ride where you float around through "Jurassic Park" and run into all the dinosaurs.  The first time we went on it, sadly the T-Rex who, "surprises" you right before the big drop at the end, wasn't working, which totally ruined the feel/scare factor of the ride.  However, they fixed him the next time around, so all was good.

Another great ride that we all enjoyed, was the Revenge of the Mummy ride.  This is a small and fast ride that takes you through a mummy's cave and then sends you backward through it.  It's a great idea for a ride and we got an awesome picture from the camera on the ride.  (I'll see if I can post that later.)

Besides those rides, we also enjoyed the new Simpsons ride, which replaced the Back to the Future ride (bummer, I LOVED that ride), Backdraft, Shrek 4-D, Terminator 2: 3D, Waterworld and over course the Tram Tour.

Here are some fun pics from the day.

Us and Shrek.

 

Jerm and the Hulk.

 

Me and the cast of Apollo 13, plus the little thingy they flew in.

Catching the splash from Jurassic Park.

 

Jayla.

   

Me, Scooby and Kayla.  Plus, me and Beetlejuice.

  

Jaws and Wisteria Lane.

After our day at Universal Studios, we drove out to Huntington Beach to meet Jerm's parents for dinner at one of my favorite places Aloha Grill.  Hands down, they have the BEST fish tacos that I've ever had.  Once through with dinner, we shopped a bit near the pier and then retreated to Jerm's parents house to spend the night and rest up for our next day!

 Stay tuned as our vacation continues...