Universal Orlando 2023

What an interesting group, we got Jerry, myself, my Uncle and my grandma. How chaotic could it possibly be?

We landed in Orlando Florida on August 15th welcomed by the extreme heat and humidity the region is known for. Us four individuals from the cool less hostile state (during the summer) Wisconsin were practically gasping for air as we stood outside the airport waiting for our Lyft.

Peep the hand held fan I'm using already. 

Luckily for us we had arrived around 8pm and had nothing planned but heading to the hotel to check in. Also just because the sun was going down did not mean the heat was any easier on us.

Day One

Our first full day. How exciting. We woke up as early as you possibly can when on vacation and headed to Hogsmeade for Ollivander’s choosing cerimony.

Little note if you want to be chosen for the little skit you need to either be wearing Wizarding gear, be a child, or wearing a birthday pin like I had been.

Jerry was both happy and jealous of me when I was picked but I was feeling shy and giddy. 

After destroying some of the shop and having Ollivander clean up after my wand trial chaos, we left the store.

Couldn't leave without purchasing the wand chosen for me. (Thanks Uncle Paul)

Today was like the time Jerry and I went ot Disney with his mom and visited Batuu, almost all day we planned to stay in the wizarding world. We hopped on the Hogwarts Express and rode to Diagon Alley for breakfast at the Leaky Cauldron and to see the Dragon spit fire.

We spent a really long time in here. We tried using our wands in the designated spots and were probably successful about 40% of the time. Jerry converted his USD into Gringotts currency. He. is a funny boy who still in late 2024 has some of the currency.

Jerry, my Uncle and I rode on the gringotts ride which was a walk on when we arrived. We were a bit off put by this but who would complain about such a thing?

After messing around for a little longer in the Wizarding world we headed off to finally explore more parts of the park. It was so hot though, we practically sprinted in between shops just to get a break in the A/C. We didn’t ride any other rides and just kinda of did our best given the conditions. We did see Shrek and catch a photo with a majority of the Simpson Family.

Can you tell by the picture me and my Uncle are related? 😂

We then saw a shop with Jurassic Park theming and naturally had to go inside. My uncle and I are big Jurassic Park fans so we were pretty geeked out. They had some pretty fun photo ops for free inside.

I’m not sure what was in the food or water we drank but Jerry and I were acting a lot like two big kids. Probably didn’t help that my Uncle is also a big kid himself.

Couldn't pass up the opportunity to get this delicious brownie. 🙃

Around this time it was only 2pm and we decided to leave the park. Grandma wasn’t doing so well in the heat so we took her back to the hotel and made sure she was ok. She was after some rest in the room.

Unwilling to stay in the hotel Jerry, my Uncle and I headed out again. We didn’t head into the park right away but instead ate at Bubba Gump’s on the Universal Board Walk.

Uncle Paul and Jerry had a couple drinks and the laughs seemed to never stop. I swear to god I never laughed so much in my life until that night. It was so much fun.

Finishing our meals we made our way back into the park and rode a few rides. We did Villian Con where I absolutely destroyed Jerry and my Uncle (proud af), Spider-Man, and Fast and the Furious where we learned all about Family! I believe we stayed almost up till park close which is surprisingly early for a theme park. We then walked the Board Walk some more, got a couple drinks from Fat Tuesdays and a snack from Bend the Bao.

Day Two

My Uncle had felt pretty sore after last nights adventures and my grandma had no interest in returning to the park, so Jerry and I got up early and went to see if we could rope drop Haggrids.

With the dexterity of a couple of awkward new born giraffes we sped walked through the park and made it for a walk on for Haggrids. Just FYI if you aren’t aware you have to lock your items up in little lockers when you ride Haggrids. All bags and small items need to go in side because of the intensity of the ride.

And intense the ride was. You are whipped around like a couple of rag dolls on this ride and from what we’ve heard from others this ride can have different feels depending on what seat you are in.

It was a blast and coming off the ride we almost forgot about our items still in the lockers. High on adrenaline we thought, why not, to riding Velocicoaster.

With only a thirty minute wait it left me with enough time to panick about the safety of this ride. I had never been on a roller coaster that instructed you to sit with your head pressed back on the seat. Why was this a thing? How intense was this going to be? Would I live?

This was the most intense coaster I been on. This made Rockin Rollercoaster, Space Mountain, and Guardians of the Galaxy look like childs play. You are dropped flipped and levitated in your seat. You propell 0-60 so fast it made it very clear why they had the safety rules they did. Even sitting here recalling this ride makes my palms sweaty.

Jerry loved this ride a lot and I did too but I was in such a state of anxiety that I barely remember most of it. I will definetly be riding this again with the intent to relax next time!

We stopped in the two story Jurassic Park gift shop that looked almost identical to the gift shop in the movie, made the little girl me who adored the movies cry a bit. We bought a couple of gifts for my Uncle here and took some photos with some oddly shaped dinosaurs before leaving the park.

We came back later with Uncle Paul to show him the area and some of the funniest crap happened when we brought him.

So in an area on the ground level there are all sorts of features for kids to interact with, like one that turns you into a dinosaur. Jerry and my uncle decided to try it out while I just watched. One of the steps included putting your face down on this screen, we had no idea what it was doing, but when the results came out I was hysterical.

After laughing our butts off for a while we headed back over to Hogsmead. I hated this part of the trip probably more than the end of it. We rode The Forbidden Journey. I can not stress this enough if you have Vertigo do not go on this ride. At first it starts off fine but then you move into a big projection area and it just messed me up. I had to cover my eyes, breathe steadily, and try to focus on orienting myelf.

I could hear the boys hooting and hollering the whole time, sounded like a fun ride.

When we got off the ride we headed straight to the picture counter to get the proof.

We totally did not see the no photo please until after we had taken the picture. Thankfull the guy behind the counter was enjoying our amusement and let it slide

Feeling a bit nauseas and park closing we headed back to the hotel and called it a night.

Day Three

Everyone was becoming exhausted from the heat and Grandma had been spedning the last day and half at the hotel so we decided to take her to disney springs in the morning. Jerry got to look for a new dress and photo bomb a product photo.

We don’t have photos of it but we did stop at Gideon’s and get four cookies and intended to eat them when we returned home.

The rest of the day was sitting by the pool and bowling until late.

That night I was grateful we didn’t do a lot because I was starting to feel sick. I assumed it was just heat stroke and hoped it would be better tomorrow.

Day Four

Technically we had an entire day to do something but when I woke up I was feeling even worse. My head was pounding and I just felt really tired. Not even a coffee could pull me from this fatigue. Normally I try to push through but this was too much, I was very grateful that Jerry suggested we head to the airport early.

It was funny I slept on the floor for a while in the airport and could hear people asking my family and Jerry if I was ok. They coo’d at me and such like I was a kid. Turns out they truly thought I was one. When I got up to go to the bathroom I overheard a lady who had just watched me rise from the dead say in a hushed voice, “I thought that was a kid.” It was amusing.

We flew home and instantly I passed out.

It didn’t truly cross my mind because I was having so much fun but now I am more mindful of the fact Covid is still an issue even when on vacation. So to end a fun and somewhat chaotic trip we discovered everyone but Grandma had caught Covid. The lovely cherry on top.