Detailing our quick weekend jaunt to Universal Studios Florida. Read all posts in this report here.
I hopped out of bed for a shower around 7am, then roused Pat for another day of theme park FUN! After a quick stop at the hotel’s Starbucks location, we walked on over to Universal Studios, arriving just after opening. (An amateur move, I know, but we were hella tired from our late-night plane ride and needed the sleep).
Our first order of business was to ride my personal favorite Universal ride, which is Revenge of the Mummy – I love Brendan Fraser, I love The Mummy, I love roller coasters, I love dark ride elements, I love Brendan freaking out about his coffee, I love this ride!
Next we skedaddled to the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, a more traditional coaster experience that’s still fun. I forgot to look up the secret music codes; I think I just wound up selecting the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” and calling it a day.
Then it was off to Islands of Adventure via the Hogwarts Express. While in line, I received a lovely compliment on my Mr. DNA dress from a lady similarly Jurassic Park-attired. Her boyfriend recommended that I swing by the Jurassic Park Discovery Center for some Mr. DNA photo ops, which I vowed to do.
Upon arrival in Hogsmeade we had hoped to pick up another ride on the presently operational Hagrid’s Magical Motorbike Whatever It Is, but by the time we arrived the line was 3 hours long, so, pass. Instead we took another spin on the Forbidden Journey, then popped over to Honeydukes for breakfast pastries (finally got my pumpkin pasty – review to come!).
After that we trotted on over to the Hulk coaster, which was boasting a 50 minute wait but Pat really likes it so we jumped into the queue anyway. About 15 minutes in, we passed the single-rider line and decided to take a chance on it. Well, it was completely empty! We wound up on the very next train going out. Good show!
Our next act was to swing by the aforementioned Jurassic Park Discovery Center – where the discovery was that the entire downstairs area was closed. Boo! A nice dino technician did let me hold a stegosaurus egg, but alas, no Mr. DNA for me. Someday.
We considered investigating an additional ride or two, but the lines were starting to get pretty long; I think after Saturday’s deluge of morning rain everyone decided to come on Sunday instead.
Rather than waste away in a line, we decided to skip on out of the park for lunch at CityWalk, where I found a sign that had me all over it.
(In retrospect I do realize that the phrase is probably “Stay, silly,” meaning “don’t go,” but I like to pretend the comma is just a smudge and my original interpretation stands. Stay silly, my friends.)
Pat really had his heart set on eating outside, so instead of attempting to get ourselves perfectly placed in a sitdown restaurant, we hit up a quick service eatery and did it ourselves.
The only logical followup was of course to grab a margarita at the airplane bar across from Jimmy Buffett’s and strolling around CityWalk for a bit. We ducked into a few stores but none of it proved particularly interesting, so we walked back to our hotel to rest for a bit. On the way I managed to dunk my white sneakers into a truly horrifying amount of mud but now they have character or something? I mean, who makes white running shoes anyway?
Back at the hotel, the sweet and totally apropos sounds of Ghostbusters followed by Ghostbusters II lulled Pat into a restful nap while I changed and prepped for the night’s festivities: Halloween Horror Nights!
… which I will detail next time. Because cliffhangers are scary!
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Love the dress! The only time I rode Rip Ride Rockit my music didn't even play… so I totally need a do-over on that one. And do you know the song Everything is Awesome from the Lego movie? Well, one of the lyrics is "stepped in mud/got new brown shoes/it's awesome to win and it's awesome to lose". So that seems appropriate.
Oh good, I won shoes. I love new shoes! >D