Universal Orlando trip blog :D

Well, it's been a few days at this point since my Universal Orlando trip ended. It was SO FUN!! The last time I went to Universal was when Wizarding World had just opened, I was like 9 or something. I don't think I was really old enough to appreciate the park lol -- Universal has a lot more to offer for older guests. We only went to Universal for 2 days, but I wanna talk about it.

Day 1

On our first day, we went straight to Islands of Adventure, early admission (we stayed at Dockside). Mostly steered clear of Wizarding World, because we've already done it, and other obvious reasons lol. However, I did have one go on Forbidden Journey. That was the only ride I went on (besides the train) in my last visit, and I remember being blown away since it was the most intense ride I had ever been on. This time, I took my glasses off because the frames I've been wearing are SUPER loose and would have fallen right off. Let me tell you, my eyesight has gotten insanely worse since I was 10 lmaooo, the hardest part was probably making my way through the queue. It's so dark in there. The ride was very fun though.

After that, we headed over to Jurassic Park, which is specifically what I was the most excited for. When I was a kid, I was not into Jurassic Park, so I wanted to skip it, but since then, I've seen all the movies and become kind of a big fan of the franchise. I wanted to go on the River Ride, but that part of the park was closed until 9 AM, so we walked around and checked out the Discovery Center instead. Did some of the activities on the first floor there (very silly and fun) and also got a t-shirt in the store. Obviously, there's a heat wave going on right now, so it was also nice to just go in for the AC. We also walked through the playground area, because there weren't any kids in it yet. It was fun to explore lol

There are a few props to take photos with, in Jurassic Park, so my mom took advantage of that while we waited a little longer. Eventually, we were able to access the rest of the park and went on the River Ride. I warned my mom about it probably being a little intense, but she still went on it. This was obviously my first time going on the ride, and I was not expecting it to be that immersive or the drop to be that intense. It was incredible. I feel like I actually rose out of my seat during the drop lmao, I was holding onto my glasses too.

We didn't even bother using the dryer because it was so hot. After that, we walked around some more and went to Raptor Encounter, which was SO WORTH THE WAIT! When we were waiting outside the attraction, they had this Team Member going down the line and saying, "This is not a ride, this is not a show, this is a photo opportunity," which was kinda funny, and really demonstrated the difference between the Disney and Universal park demographics. Technically, he's right, it isn't a show, but it might as well be! It's an interactive experience. It feels as silly as Lego Jurassic World lol, which I appreciated, and the Blue puppet is so cool and VERY well-puppeted. When I went up for my photo, I actually couldn't stop smiling lol. Despite the out-of-character (if going by the movies) silliness, it does feel quite immersive, even from the exterior. The raptor trainer guy uses a clicker to "get Blue close to you", it's so fun. Honestly, who doesn't love Blue??? She is so cool and I felt so honored lol

I did not go on the Velocicoaster (too intense for me lol) so we took the train from Hogsmeade to Diagon Alley after that and ate at the Leaky Cauldron. I'm still recovering a bit from my wisdom teeth surgery, so I just had mac and cheese and apple juice. Rinsed my mouth out with saltwater in the nearest bathroom afterwards. Then we walked around Diagon Alley for a bit, and stumbled upon Knockturn Alley, which I don't remember going through before (and people said was easy to miss), so that was fun.

Exiting Diagon Alley, we walked around the Hollywood area and stuff, which was mostly stuff my mom was interested in. We went to see the Horror Makeup Show, which was pretty fun. We saw a bunch of pigeons battling each other over a piece of pizza crust, which was interesting until they broke it up into smaller pieces lol. Going back to the front of Universal Studios, we went into the Universal Studios Store.

Okay, I'd studied the map and Google Street View a ton before we arrived, so I knew that one of the entrances/exits goes into the alleyway that used to go to Nickelodeon Studios/Blue Man Group Theater. So I asked my mom if we could go through that exit and just go up to the fence, and she said okay. I didn't get too close, because I didn't want to look suspicious to any Team Members (even though I wasn't going to actually trespass) but it was still so cool seeing the building up close!

After that, we went to CityWalk and my mom said I could do the Great Movie Escape. She didn't want to do it because she's not into escape rooms and it's also $50 per person, but she waited for me. It's nice and air-conditioned in there. Special thanks to her for buying my ticket.

I was super interested in the actual quality of the attraction because I heard such bad/mixed things, but I had a really fun time! It was flawed, but having a TM there with me as my only companion really helped in some ways lol, and I thought some parts of the experience were extremely cool. I also got a score of 13/20, which I'm kinda proud of! You can check out my full review of the experience here. Then we took a break and went back to the hotel room.

Later, we returned to CityWalk to eat dinner, but I demanded that we first check out the piece of the Berlin Wall behind the Hard Rock Cafe. This is something that I saw people talking about when I was figuring out how to see the Nickelodeon Studios building, so I really wanted to see it. Yeah, it's WAY in the back, they weren't joking about that lol. It was worth it though, it felt like such a rare find. And there's just a little fence separating it from the Nick Studios building! So I took some pics from that view as well. I think it's a little funny that in both the alleyway and that entrance, there are just little fences, but in the main entrance from CityWalk, there's a covered fence with "do not enter" signs lol.

After that, we went to the Chocolate Emporium to eat dinner, and I noticed that Universal had texted me a survey link for the Great Movie Escape. Unfortunately, I accidentally locked myself out of the survey early by tapping that I was an employee/guest of an employee by mistake. Look, the way they worded it was confusing, okay? I'll leave them a review on Google or something later to share my thoughts lol. I actually want them to use feedback to improve it even more.

Anyway, I ordered fettucine alfredo at the restaurant, it was good but way too much lol. I had to pack the rest of it. Back at the hotel's Universal Studios Store, I got a Jurassic Park shirt that turns red in sunlight, and ended up wearing that the following day.

Day 2

On our second day, we planned on going to Universal Studios first, but found out there's no early admission for Universal Studios, so we went to Islands of Adventure again. This time, I made sure to look around The Lost Continent a bit more. I pointed out the drawbridge that used to be a real drawbridge, and also found Poseidon's Fury, which is now abandoned. Creepy. See, unlike Nickelodeon Studios, it's still freshly branded and still looks like it's part of the park, but it's totally empty. I actually got chills when I noticed it. But it was in operation when I last visited, and I apparently found it creepy then too lol. You can still walk right by it, because there's a store right next to it.

Once 9 AM rolled around, we took the Hogwarts Express back to Diagon Alley and looked around more of Universal Studios. First, we went to DreamWorks Land, which just opened a month ago and used to be Woody Woodpecker's KidZone. I remember seeing KidZone when I was last there and not being interested at all. It felt very outdated to me. I don't think we even explored much of it, actually.

DreamWorks Land is definitely a kids-first area lol. But I still found it really fun! Dora's meet and greet was stationed by the entrance, but I was too nervous to go up at first lol. Entering the land, there were also meet and greets with Gabby('s Dollhouse), King Julien, and Shrek and Donkey. But we first went to Po Live, because I was interested in the technology of that.

Compared to Turtle Talk With Crush (my only frame of reference for something like this), it's a way more free and active experience. I noticed it was really only for young kids, so after the first performance, we left and went to the Imagination Celebration show.

Imagination Celebration is advertised as being "perfect for young kids and tweens", but I definitely spotted some other childless adults in there because it's an indoor, air-conditioned show lol. It was actually really fun though! But super short. I mean, it's basically just a few Team Members and the Trolls guiding the audience in a sing/dance-along to "Can't Stop The Feeling" (with King Julien later joining in with his remix), complete with very colorful displays on the screens around the room. Then, they bring Shrek and Donkey out as well and you can take photos with any of them. But the vibes were just there, alright??? The lighting and interior design and screen displays... it just felt magical. I actually haven't seen any of the Trolls movies (all the way through) yet, but I was hyped after the show and ran up to Poppy and Branch to take photos lol

After that, we walked out, and my mom noticed that Fiona was doing meet and greets, but all the character actors were going on break right then. So we went to another Po Live show while we waited for Fiona to come out, because my mom REALLY wanted to get a picture of her (not with her, of her) and it played out about the same as the first one. We went back out, and Fiona wasn't there, so my mom asked when she'll be out, and a TM said that she has a bit of a different schedule and gave us the times. So we decided to go out and explore more of Universal Studios in the meantime.

On our way out, I figured I might as well get a photo with Dora at this point too, but now there was definitely a line that I had to wait in. So I didn't get to high five Dora before we took the picture or anything, but I get it -- save that energy for the actual children lol, especially in this heat. It was still really cool. I don't think my Jurassic Park shirt fit the vibe for this land, but it's fine lol.

I wanted to go on Minion Mayhem, but the line was INSANE. So, we went on Minions Blast instead. My mom doesn't like rides, so she was thankful it was just a moving walkway. I had also heard that people didn't like Minions Blast, and... yeah, I get why lol. But it wasn't absolutely terrible. I could see it being fun once you've gotten the hang of it. It was a nice way to get out of the heat for a bit. I think I also just have lower standards because I haven't been to a large-scale theme park in over a decade lol.

We walked around Hollywood and stuff on our way back to DreamWorks Land and ate lunch at some seafood restaurant there. I had the vegan pasta, which turned out to be a bit spicy, but I was fine. Honestly, it's been more than 3 weeks since my surgery, I'm mostly healed lol. It was good, but I was still cautious around the tomatoes because of the seeds.

Edit: I can't believe I forgot lol, but we also went to the Animal Actors On Location show! It was very cute and fun, felt like such an old-fashioned show lol. Kind of nostalgic in that way.

Iirc, we went back to DreamWorks Land during a character actor break, so we went back to Po Live. The kids in this performance must have been on a sugar high or something, they were SO hyper and active in the experience! They kept running up to the screen, jumping, and shouting stuff out, so things got interesting lol. At first, it was just funny little things. Po told the kids to shout Ling Ling's name when they see her, and one of the kids asked him to use his chi on her lmao. He said, "I don't think that would be a good idea." Then when he comically put out a fire, one of the kids asked why he didn't just use his water powers to put it out, and he said, "I don't have water powers. I'm the Dragon Warrior, not the water warrior..."

But then, someone walked in with a plush of Blinky from The Simpsons, and Po said, "someone just walked in with a three-eyed fish!" He asked her to step closer and say her name (Faith, I think), and then he asked the kids to get into two groups depending on what side of her they were standing closest to, left or right. One group would be "Team Tigress" and the other would be "Team Crane". (This is about when my mom walked out to wait for Fiona, but I stayed.) Po taught each group their signature move and asked them each to do theirs first and then at the same time. I guess this competition was just about confidence and looking cool lol. Then he got his Shifu figure out and said Shifu was going to judge the competition and announce the winner. Mimicking Shifu, he was like "blah blah blah blah" and then replied, "what??" And then all the kids started chanting their team names, so Po said, "they're chanting, you have to choose!"

After a few seconds of deliberation later, Po turned around and tossed his figure off-screen and announced that the winner was BOTH Team Tigress AND Team Crane, and all the kids were like "YEAHHHH!!!!" They were running in circles and stuff. Which kinda surprised me, I was half-expecting them to not take that and demand a real winner to be chosen lmao. But yeah, it was really fun and interesting. So that's what's interesting about Po Live. It will mostly play out the same unless the kids give him something to improv off of.

After that, I left the Po Live building to find my mom. Fiona FINALLY came out and my mom snapped some good pics.

I noticed there was no line in front of Gabby, so I took my opportunity to get a photo with her lol. I don't watch the show (I probably should), but she's just so cute! Since I was the only one there, she was super energetic and interactive with me. She posed, gave me a high five (even clapped excitedly after!), we took the photo, and then we both made heart signs with our hands lol. It was so wholesome and whoever was playing her sold the act of being very excited very well. Like I feel fulfilled by this experience!

On our way back to the bus, we stopped by the stores again to look around (my mom was looking for size medium Jaws boxers for my dad, no luck). We didn't buy anything though.

We took a break at the hotel and came back to the park at 6:30 PM. Unfortunately, we missed the parade, but I don't feel too bad about it... they advertise it, but they just say that it's HAPPENING. They don't tell you when lol. It's fine.

My mom took us back to DreamWorks Land to get some pictures of Shrek's house without the ropes in front, and then we went back to Universal Studios. The wait for Minion Mayhem was about as short as it'll ever get, so we got in line. My mom insisted she would be fine with it the whole time we were in the queue, but then when we were looking at the videos and they went over the warnings again, she gave in and asked for stationary seating lol. I told her she'd want to ask for it.

Honestly, I so wish I could have gone on the ride when it was Jimmy Neutron's NickToon Blast, but this iteration of the ride is still SO good! What a high note to end the trip on. I took my glasses off just in case (the screen is big enough for me to get what's going on), but I'm not sure if I really needed to do that lol. The story was captivating enough (there was an audible "aww" from new riders when the girls revealed it was the anniversary of their adoption during the pre-show) and it was very fun and silly. I'm not even the biggest fan of minions or anything, but this ride just captures the wholesomeness of the first Despicable Me movie really well, and the ending was perfect. Honestly, I was a tiny bit shaken up after the Jurassic Park River Ride, so this was the perfect intensity for me, especially at the very end of the day. Just enough to make me be like, "whoaaa" and hold on a little bit, but not enough to make me feel fear lol. Also, during the pre-show, I was in the line that "hadn't showered in a week" according to Gru lmao

We went back to CityWalk and got donuts from that one place everybody recommends. They were good donuts. My mom also got food from some other restaurant in CityWalk.

That was the last thing we did, and then we headed back to the hotel because I still had leftover pasta. I was a little sad to leave, but we'd basically done everything we really wanted to do (still too scared to go on rollercoasters). Unironically, I think it'd be so interesting to work at Universal lol -- that's what I took away from this trip, I guess. I guess I want to work at Universal. I just like the vibe of it. I feel like Disney feels so artificial, but Universal has a slightly older demographic so there's still a dose of reality in there alongside the coolness of the established IPs lol.

While I was looking up where to get to Nick Studios and the Berlin Wall without getting in trouble, I also found an old post where someone was asking for good places in Universal to study lol. They had an annual pass and just wanted to do their schoolwork in Universal. And honestly, I kinda get it. If you have an annual pass, I understand wanting that environment for a change. There are quieter places in the park, so maybe it's manageable to study in there, idk.

I really want to go back next year when they add Super Nintendo World omg. And maybe I'll work myself up to going on rollercoasters one of these days. You know, the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit coaster is the only way you can get a super close look of the Nickelodeon Studios building...