Universal Studios Orlando

 Orlando Florida

December 2-6th 2021

I took another trip with Tulip Travel. This time was for an adventure at Universal Studio's and Islands of Adventure.

Like all the previous trips. I met up with everyone at the Tulip Travel office and we prepared for our travel day. This trip we flew out of Syracuse airport on Jet Blue. (My favorite airline, if I can have one, I would always rather drive as I will never get use to flying. I still have anxiety despite flying so often.) So day one was a travel day. We went through security easily enough and had a wonderful lunch at Johnny Rockets. Our waitress was AMAZING, she was so good with our travelers and learned their names. This trip we had a small group of 13 travelers and 5 chaperones, plus Leo. Me, Annette, Abby, Edie, and Abby's friend. Our Jet Blue steward provided all the guys with headphones and wings. I watched Queenpin. It was funny and it made the time go by. We arrived in Orlando, and shuttled to the hotel. The rental van we had ordered was never returned and we were stuck. We ended up hiring a shuttle bus so it worked out, but it was a concern initially. Dinner at the hotel and I fell asleep to Annie live.  

The next morning we all had breakfast at the hotel and soon we were boarding our shuttle bus to Universal Studios. The bus actually was awesome as we didn't have to park and our individuals who struggled with walking did not need to go to far. We got checked in and were able to obtain fast passes for individuals with disabilities. (this was a game changer) Universal was already becoming more disabilities friendly then Disney World. Our first stop was Shrek 4-D

This interactive theater/ride offers viewers to explore the world of this beloved film while the seats move, water sprays, and the show is in 3-D. You actually feel like your riding in the Onion carriage with Fiona, and get sprayed by Donkey's sneeze. Most of Universal's attractions are computer generated scenes with moving seats timed to the action. Historically, I have always been a Disney gal and although I enjoyed Universal, I felt the animatronics of Disney, plus a childhood love for the place was the winner. I have to say that on this trip, (and from the experience I had at Disney last trip) Universal was winning over my Disney Heart. Our next attraction in addition to meeting two of the Transformers; Optimus Prime and Bumblebee was The Transformer's RIDE. 

I was HOOKED!!!!! I absolutely LOVED that ride. (I have been to Universal before, I guess I just wasn't as engaged as this trip.) Maybe it was the people I was with, maybe it was mindset, but whatever it was, I got off that ride and wanted MORE, we all did. 

After Transformers we went to see the Universal Horror Make Up Show. This was interesting, but after being pumped up from the thrill ride it was kind of a downward spiral. 

I did love the wait line que. They had some awesome old time Movie MONSTERS. I loved Saturday Monster Movie Matinee when I was a kid, so this part was great fun.  

The show itself (what I did see, as I left partway through it to deal with a behavior issue that come up) was on how movie makeup is used. I did see them cut into a women's arm and that looked pretty REAL.

Not to knock the attraction, but I did have more fun in the gift shop looking at all the monsters and Holiday decor.  Here are the MONSTERS I remember. 

and check out this cool Christmas tree. 

Before lunch we got to meet Betty Boop and pose with Shaggy and Scooby's Mystery Machine (Somehow I lost that picture)

We had lunch at Mels' Drive In, which ended up being a perfect place to catch the character floats. 

The Minions, Shrek 

and Sponge Bob and Patrick. 

After lunch we ran into Beatle Juice.....Aggggah!!!

Up next we did the only original Universal ride in the Park- ET.  This ride is so fun. You help ET escape back to his planet riding the iconic bicycles up over the town and into the skies to another world, where you help ET identify his alien friends. Very tame compared to Transformers, but a must do when visiting. The day was getting away from us and we had a stick timeline regarding the shuttle return. Most of the travelers wanted to see Diagon Alley, so we ran through (not really) Springfield USA home of the Simpsons. (Although there were some fun picture opts.)

and bypassed the World expo to find the secret passage to Diagon ally.

This place is simply amazing. Every detail of the area is in tune with the movie. I could have just spend hours walking around this area taking in all of the detail. 

There is a ride in this area, but it is a roller coaster and many of the travelers were opposed to it. Instead we went to Ollivanders to purchase wands. all of the wands interact with the shops and things within the area. This is pretty cool. My son purchased a wand many years earlier and the price was significantly more for interaction component. I guess they all do now. We had some die hard Harry Potter fans on this trip and many who wanted the entire wardrobe. (Some did get the cloak too)

Everyone had such a great time just taking in the sights in this area. 

Those details.....

We could have stayed in this section for days.

Realizing we still wanted to do some additional shopping before our bus curfew, we headed away from this section of the park. As we were nearing the park exit we were ushered by Universal staff to ride the Fast & Furious ride. No lines they claimed. So why not.

We did go through the que pretty quickly, and before we knew it we were on the ride. 

Teaming up with the Fast and the Furious Team, we were a group of people on a party bus that was try to escape some crazy chase. And boy did it get CRAZY. Dominic, Letty and Hobbs lead a car crazy race to outrun the bad guys and save the day. Our party bus went along for the ride. It WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!! Absolutely LOVED this ride. Highly recommend. It does throw you about a bit so if you have any issues with this stay off, but if not it is super fun. 

We still have a little more time and needed to shop, so we made a bee line to The Minions experience. LIke Shreck, this show/ride takes you into the world of the Minions when you are transported into a minion. You smell bananas, fall off buildings, roll down coasters and eventually save the day. It was fun to be a minion for a short time. 

We went shopping and were just able to catch a small part of the evening parade before we had to rush to get our shuttle. We were actually 9 minutes late. 

But it was totally worth it. What an amazing day we had. 

We had dinner back at the hotel, got everyone to bed and some of us walked to Walmart for some snacks before hitting the bed hard. Tomorrow is another park adventure day.

Day 2: Islands of Adventure

We had breakfast at the hotel and connected with our shuttle to the park. We were all getting the hang of this routine. Today we were going to the Island of Adventures side of the Universal complex. Did you know that Universal Studios is themed after movies and Islands of Adventure is themed after Books? I didn't know this. 

We started the park with The Hulk ride, Several of the travelers wanted to do this ride, so as most of us waited for those braver individuals. (No I was not brave) by heading over to Suess Landing where we got our first view of the Holiday themed Grinchmas show.

We checked the show times and decided to come back in a bit, but while we waited we rode The Cat in The Hat ride. This was super cute. A ride that takes you through the story of the Cat in a Hat. Then some individuals rode Red Fish Blue Fish. There they go. 

We reconnected with the roller coaster thrill seekers and headed into the Grinchmas Holiday show. 

It was such a cute show. I totally recommended attendance. 

We had awesome seats and I got some pretty good pictures. 

Up next we headed to lunch. 

We had pizza and drinks. 

I got a quick picture of the Lorax too. 

After lunch, we made our way through the lost continent. I thought we would we hitting up the Sinbad show, but it is no longer in existence. 

(It used to be back here)

Our group was looking for it, and the fountain finally asked us what we were doing....Yes, the fountain asked us. It is a Magic fountain that speaks with the guests and sometimes get them wet. He did not get us wet thankfully. 

Up next we headed to Hogsmeade- Harry Potter World in Islands of Adventure. Just like Diagon Alley the details are amazing. 

We all decided that we have to ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. (I need to note here that body size can and was an issue for several of the rides here at Universal. We had a traveler who was tall and had broad shoulders who was unable to ride several of the rides due to his size. This ride was also very tight, not only for this tall and broad gentleman, but for myself and Annette. I admit I am not a small person, but I was a little surprised to see that a ride may be so tight. We all fit, but this is something to consider should you be a larger person.)  

Once we were all in...we were off. This is one insane ride. I actually found that it was a little to much for me. I loved the adventure and it really does feel like your riding a broom, but it also made me feel a little dizzy. It moves you around so much and so fast and there is simply so much to see, I think it kind of made me a little off my game. Totally worth the dizzy's though. 

So what happened next was one of my worst nightmares, but it all ended up okay in the end. While walking through the area we lost a traveler. I still do not understand how. I do know that we were in an area that had a ton of people and the bathrooms we were walking towards was somewhat hidden from the main path, so my guess is when we all went to the right and to the bathrooms, he just kept walking. We waited for him, looked around where we had been. Walked all over the place and finally had to get security involved. He actually did everything right and went to the main gate where he found the security staff and told them he had lost his group. Lucky we found him and everyone was safe. The security told me they have never not found someone who was lost. I also learned the steps for future such incidents. Apparently it is not the first time someone has wandered off. Anxiety gone, we went to Spiderman ( this time with the big boss, he met us after the lost traveler) before ending the day. 

Spiderman has got to be one of my favorite rides in both parks. Love this one. 

Dinner was back at the hotel and we were all zonked from a fun filled, perhaps stressful day.

Day 3:

Our last day at the parks was today and we had some park time to make up from yesterday. After breakfast, we went directly to Islands of Adventure. First stop was Dr. Dooms Fear Fall. (Nope not for me.) Some of the guys went on this and then we headed back to Spiderman. The ride was down, but our friendly spiderman himself was available for pictures. The travelers LOVED this.

The chaperons got one with him too.

Today we wanted to hit up some of the park we missed yesterday, so we headed through toon lagoon, and decided on Skull Island.

We rode King Kong. This ride is part moving but also computer generated. You are on a jeep like tour into the jungle and you enter into a strange new world. Giant bugs, gators and other creatures attack your jeep and the scientists studying this new world. Your jeep is lifted up, down you bounce and jolt all in time with the animated creatures attacks. Eventually King KONG saves you from some beasts, and you sneak by his BIG face as you exit. It was a ton of fun. Anticipate some crazy bouncing around. 

We also went to Jurassic park while we were in this area. It was Annettes first time and she was not so sure about it, I could only remember that there was a good chance that we would get wet. I informed the guys and everyone still wanted to go on it, so off we went. I guess I forgot that you may get wet because you are going down a drop. I remembered this as we were climbing up up up to the top of the drop. At the very top you come face to face with the king of all Dinosaurs....The T-REX and he is hungry. As he comes at you...agggah....you drop down the falls. We did not get wet, but Annete was pretty mad that I had not informed her of the drop. Hey, it was only a little stomach flutter inducing. They guys loved it.

We headed back to Hogsmeade where several people choose to go back on Harry Potters Forbidden journey as well as the coaster, (Flight of the Hippogriff) I did neither, instead I assisted some of the individuals in shopping while we waited for some of the more daring. 

We did not loose anyone this time and we soon made our way back to Seuss's landing and rode the High in the Sky Seuss Trolly train. 

Great views. 

It was fun to be that high up over everything. We did one last ride on Cat in the Hat before we decided we needed to find a place for lunch, do some end of the trip shopping and get back to the hotel. 

We found it very difficult to find a place for a late lunch and ended up going to a hot dog place. I guess it was okay. The funny thing is, there were hot dogs for dinner back at the hotel too. Late lunch complete we spend the next several hours exploring City Walk and the shops before going back to our shuttles.

Tomorrow is a travel day, there is nothing fun about traveling from the Orlando airport with 20+ people with disabilities. It has never been a smooth event through security. Well we made it. On the plane and going home. 

 I believe we all could say we had a great time. Myself I loved it, I'm just not sure I can handle coming back in two days. Thats right I come back in two days for more Theme park adventures. Until then TTFN.