My First Visit To Orlando, Florida and The Very Impressive Universal Resort

I start this post 35000 feet in the air (that’s just a guess, I’m not entirely sure how high we are, but that sounds about right) the night before we went away, the house felt so empty, despite having four people in it, the absence of Toby who is safely on his own holiday is like a big gaping hole in the house and I hate it.

Still hormonal, I somehow managed not to cry, even when I see a video of a dog born looking surprised

I almost cried, but I managed to control my emotions and sleep soundly.

At 5 am I was up and feeling surprisingly calm (calm for me, which is probably not that calm) The boys have been so excited. It’s hard to feel anything but happy when you are in the company of such good energy.

We had a stress-free journey to the airport and the most worrying thing that happened in my head was wondering if I would fit in the seat on the plane (I swear they looked smaller) I fit with ease and settled in for the long-haul flight.

Safely ensconced in my seat and the air, I’d had messages from my friends (hey buddy ) and my family wishing us a good holiday. I pull out my laptop from my massive handbag, which weighs a ton and type up a blog post.

I soon realise that either, my laptop is too big or the seating area is too small. There is no way that I can drink my wine and type on my laptop in such a small space. So this first part of my blog is coming to you from my phone #priorities

I do stop to watch collateral beauty, so I do very nearly cry on the plane but at least it’s only just at a film.

The flight is thankfully seamless, it’s the longest the boys have ever flown and they’re tired and a bit bored by the end of it but this doesn’t impact their behaviour. We get on our transfer coach and sit there for quite a while, I’m just glad to be off the plane and not in the heat.

I sense the boys must be getting antsy by now, but there is only the occasional question as to why we’re waiting, we eventually get going and 90 minutes later we’re sat in the hotel lobby with Wi-Fi and the husband is checking us in. Their excitement is back and we have a little explore of the hotel before exhaustion takes over, we’ve been awake almost 24 hours!

On Saturday, I’m up at 6:30 and in the shower ready to hit the first theme park. We are staying in Universal resort so have a complimentary bus service to the universal parks and we can get in an hour before the Parks officially open.

Nothing prepared me for the wow factor of walking up to Universal Studios, the first of the theme parks.

There are streets from film sets and a massive rollercoaster that goes from the front to the back of the park. The Rip Ride Rockit.

Gulp.

The rollercoaster didn’t open until 15 minutes after the park opened, so we decided to try the transformers ride first.

We were all completely blown away by this ride it was amazing, we then went on to do Harry Potter & The Escape From The Gringotts, The Men in Black Alien Attack, The Simpson’s ride, The Race through New York & The Fast & Furious Supercharged.

We bought the universal refill cups, that can be used in all three parks, had a foot-long hot dog, drinks in Moes Tavern & bought doughnuts from Lard Lad Doughnuts We took the two hot & exhausted boys back to the hotel as they wanted to go to the pool.

Now I love laying by the pool but bloody hell it was hot and it was pretty busy so although there were lots of beds, there were none with parasols and I like to have a bit of shade, in the end, I joined the husband in the shade of the beach bar with my pina colada and the boys went upstairs to get changed for dinner.

We had a red lobster right behind our hotel so we took a stroll over. The boys have been immersed in Tik Tok for the last few months so know all the American restaurants and shops and this was one they wanted to visit.

I was pleasantly surprised with the food everyone enjoyed, I had a shrimp and chicken Thai curry which wasn’t a massive portion like everyone else’s. After dinner, the boys were delirious with tiredness so we made our way back to bed, stopping at the seven eleven next door for supplies.

We had discussed maybe going to the park in the afternoon on Sunday so the boys didn’t have to get up so early, the jet lag hit them harder than we thought it would but when Sunday morning came, the husband and I both awake early, decided that we would have a chill day today. We would get an early night and then have an early park day on Monday.

The boys woke up at ten and were happy with this plan and even happier when they realised they could get ESPN on in the room and watch the women’s England final.

I spent most of the afternoon lounging by the pool then we got ready to go out. We walked for what felt like miles, the heat felt like you were walking through an oven, and even the breeze was hot, eventually, we stopped at McDonald’s and walked back stopping at Walgreens for more supplies, before heading to bed.

I woke up on Monday morning feeling well rested. Today we were hitting Universals Island of Adventures I sit here writing this part as I wait for the boys to have their turn on Dr Dooms Fearfall

180-foot drop. No thanks! It’s the only ride I’ve seen that I don’t want to go on, I’ve only had a Belvita biscuit this morning and I don’t want to lose it.

I went on a lot of rides that day, The Incredible Hulk Coaster, The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman 3D, Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge Rat Barge, Skull Island: Reign Of Kong, Jurassic World Velocicoaster & Harry Potter & The Forbidden Journey. I enjoyed them although the Jurassic World Velocicoaster was pretty terrifying!

We came back to the hotel around 7:30 exhausted. We got some Pizza and sat in the room watching an epic thunderstorm.

On Tuesday we had a chill day planned, everyone had a lie-in, except me of course. I just can’t do it!

I was awake writing my head off got 3 posts done and rewarded myself with a pampering session in the room once the boys went down to the pool.

In the evening, we planned to go out for dinner and then to a pool bar. We got to Denny’s just before the thunderstorm & torrential rain hit. I soon found out that Denny’s does not serve wine. I hoped the rain would stop soon.

We also found out that the pool bar was 18 & over so that was off the table, there was a big indoor amusement centre up the road so the boys went off to go-kart & I took myself back to the room and sat in bed with a glass of wine & a film before the boys returned a couple of hours later.

On Wednesday it was a park day and today’s park was volcano bay. Of course, auntie Flo, who was supposed to arrive last Friday, decides to show up today, the husband asked if I wanted to change it but the boys were looking forward to it so I plotted up on a sun lounger with a pint of Coke Zero & a box of ibuprofen in front of the volcano

It’s quite a dramatic day, considering I barely move from my sun lounger.

An American woman a few sun loungers down from me has had an argument with her daughter and she has stormed off, a family a few rows in front have had their sun lounger stolen by someone and the dad is having a go at him and a couple behind me are discussing the husbands recent affair with someone who works for him and what they are going to do about their marriage, from what I saw and heard, the husband sounded like a complete dick and she was far too good for him.

We came back to the hotel and had a chilled evening, ready for a pool day the following day.

On Thursday, I woke up after a lovely restful night’s sleep feeling full of renewed vigour, I go down and get the husband a coffee from the Starbucks in our hotel and get back in bed with my laptop, ready to get my thoughts down.

I can’t believe we’ve been away for almost a week!

2022-08-05 16:56:00

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