3rd September 2018
Plans kept on changing due to the unpredictable weather conditions Florida was supposed to be having. Originally, Busch Gardens was our main plan. Then, we decided shopping and then Universal. This then swapped around & I am glad it did as it ended up being a great day!
Firstly, we parked up at the Cat in the Hat area of the multistory car-park, Lauren & I went on the people-mover escalation device, which took us to security. My Dad was beeped at…. once again, then we made it into Universal City-walk. I strolled past all the shops, bars & restaurants; chuckling at names like ‘Billabong’ & shaking my head at the thought of a ‘Burger King’ being there. Once we got through City-walk, the spectacular, historical globe of Universal Studios was in view. We started our Universal excursion by going to Universal Studios.
The drop of ‘Ripride Rock it’ made us all aware we were where we wanted to be. A wonderful haven. We got around Studios fairly quickly. Starting with the Jimmy Fallon simulator, we travelled to Mummy (I forgot how fun that ride was!), then Transformers simulator, then the new Fast & Furious simulator – which is incredible!
After this, the rain started to shoot down to the ground. We all got ourselves a Starbucks to wait it out, then began to depart again. We then got on: Simpsons ride, then Escape from Gringotts (which I forgot was actually a rollercoaster!!). After this, we sat down on the Hogwarts Express to continue our journey over to the other Universal park – Islands of Adventure.
The queue times were very small in this park mainly due to weather. That allowed us to get on lots of rides here too. The train arrived at my favourite place in the whole of Universal – Hogsmeade. Hogwarts was huge and made me glow with excitement. We got on Forbidden Journey (fabulous ride), then the King Kong simulator. After this we were peckish so we had to pay the expenses of theme park food. We went to the ancient lands of Jurassic Park and ate a petite snack at ‘Burger digs’. I had a roasting apple pie – which burned my throat like an explosive volcano. To cool that down, we took the drop on the Jurassic Park River Adventure.
We decided it was too chilly for any other water rides. We then went on an ‘amazing’ simulation (pun was vividly intended here) – the Spiderman simulator. After this, we felt like we needed a new rollercoaster ride to pick up our adrenaline. So we stood in the 20-minute queue for the Hulk coaster. I got quite nervous knowing the speed of this vehicle but I never let this stop me. I sat in the chair, dropped down my safety harness then buckled up for the aggregated Hulk to use his ‘incredible’ power to push us out onto the track. The climb was quickly skipped when Hulk punched us out at an impactful speed making me scream like a little girl. We did multiple loops then went through a cold mist of air which was a pleasant feeling. The ride came to a halt making me want to go straight on it again! Which I definitely did! This ride is so fun!!! My 2nd favourite ride (under Mako).
To finish our day at Universal, we headed onto the Storm ride. This was similar to the waltzer’s ride at fun fairs. I was not expecting to go so fast! This might have been a more extreme feeling than Hulk!
Also, I have realised that Americans like to applaud everything. Each ride ended with a celebration like they were not expecting to be alive at the end. At least, it created a fun atmosphere as I even joined in on the survival cheers.
After leaving the brilliant place of Universal, we decided to go for some food at the Premium Outlets. We all had a Five Guys, which filled a hole. I got sleepy after this, so I wasn’t really paying attention at the shops. Finally, we made it home at 11.30pm. This was a really fun day and probably my favourite day so far.
For the next blog, you will find out how I get on at my 1st water park on this trip – Volcano Bay. Then we may be heading back to Universal. See you all soon!
Lost in Travel 