Day 2 - Universal Studios

The alarm at 5:15 am was rather startling considering that felt like 3:15 am our time. Hmm , two days in a row with a 3 am alarm!!  But we were on a mission. We knew that our hotel room key at Cabana Bay allowed us early admission into Universal’s two parks at 7 am this morning.  And that meant getting up, eating hot oatmeal in our room (because the restaurant didn’t open till 6 am - maybe 7 am, I am not sure), checking out of our room, leaving luggage with luggage services and catching a 6:15 am shuttle to the parks. 

We were rewarded with a spot fourth in line at Universal Studios Florida by 6:35 am. They actually opened the gates shortly after 6:45 am. And so we were first in line to ride Despicable Me at 6:55 am!  We immediately headed to the World of Harry Potter and walked right up to ride the amazing Escape from Gringotts ride. That ride is a combination of technology with green screens and an old fashioned roller coaster so it doesn’t make me motion sick. After that we caught a train ride at King’s Cross Station to go to the other park “Islands of Adventure”. We caught the train ride by  by 7:45 - three major rides under our belt in the first hour when the park was just opening to the general public. By the time we left the parks about 1 pm we could see Escape from Gringotts had a 120 minute wait and Despicable Me was a 70 minute wait! 

One downside was waiting in line at Forbidden Journey at Hogsmeade - we waited in line for about 15 minutes when they announced they expected the delay to be significant so we left the lineup. That was shortly after 8 am in the morning so if you had just lined up for that ride first thing in the morning you would have felt you wasted your precious early morning riding time!  

We left the parks, feeling fulfilled but exhausted and headed over to Disney’s Port Orleans French Quarter to join J about 2:30 pm. J isn’t that big a Universal fan so he didn’t want to spend the money on a day pass. Once at the French Quarter we relaxed in the room for an hour. P stayed in the room but JG , J and I walked along the path along the river to the Riverside resort. JG was hoping to see an alligator but the most we could hope for was a few lizards!  It was a lovely walk!

We returned to the room and collected P for supper. You could take the boat transit to Disney Spings and that says “vacation” to take a boat rather than a bus for transit!  With a boat ride on both ends, supper ended up taking 4 hours. Dinner at Planet Hollywood was very well received. Dessert at Ghiradelli ( a banana split for the other three and a Starbucks Chai tea latte with soy for me!

Another early start tomorrow so I need to get to bed!  One minute re busy day before calmness and serenity will reign supreme!

Our Adventure Begins Christmas Day!

Christmas Day 2017 has arrived!  We have been planning this vacation for so long I cannot believe it has actually arrived!  So this may be the last year where our family of four has similar vacations so we thought it was a good one to celebrate. In the first half of 2018 our eldest, JG, will graduate from University with a degree in geology.  Our youngest, will graduate from high school and my husband, J, will retire from work so lots of changes on the horizon!  Hence why this vacation has been in the planning for a couple of years now!

The plan is to board a cruise ship in Fort Lauderdale, but to spend a few days in Orlando before that happens. In boarding the ship on the 28th, we counted backwards to work in a day at Universal and a day at Disney so that meant flying out Christmas Day!  We were able to have a fairly ordinary Christmas Eve eating a Ukrainian Christmas Eve dinner with great family friends and going to church. We were in bed by 10 pm but the alarm went off at 3 am!

So Christmas Day we ordered a taxi for 3:45 am and because we wanted a van to manage 4 grownups and all the associated luggage they were a little behind schedule. We were picked up and left the house at 4 am, arriving at the airport at 4:15.   Once we cleared security and customs (5 am) we had time to have everybody open their gifts of a new t-shirt and a small selection of chocolates!  Clearly the trip is the gift this Christmas!  We flew to Houston Airport, arriving a bit ahead of schedule at 11 am. With a four hour layover we each chose our preferred food for lunch. JG chose Mexican burrito ( Papacittos) I chose salmon, rice and green beans (Landry’s) and P and J chose smoked brisket and chicken. 

The flight to Orlando was uneventful and had us arriving at 6:15 pm. We picked up our luggage and Hertz rental car without incident. Hertz even gave us a Starbucks gift card as a gift!  Traffic proved to be quite busy even on Christmas Day!  JG, P and I are staying at Universals Cabana Bay to take advantage of early admission into Universal studios tomorrow morning at 7 am. J is enjoying the peace and solitude offered at Disney’s Port Orleans French Quarter. Dinner at The Hard Rock Cafe was memorable for the effort to get there as opposed to the turkey dinner I thought it offered. Pretty sure we were directed to the wrong restaurant!  We will all be reunited at the Disney hotel tomorrow night. 

Mom st get to bed!  What a wonderful start to the vacation!