July 11 - 13: Orlando Off Days and Universal

Saturday, July 11: A Day Off

After three days of theme park touring, it was finally time for a much-needed day off. We slept in with absolutely no alarm clocks and no schedule to kee! Once everyone was awake and done lazing around, we headed out to grab a delicious lunch at our favorite BBQ place in Orlando - Four Rivers BBQ!

Later that afternoon, my cousins, Teri and Damien, arrived at their hotel: Disney's All-Star Sports Resort. Grant and I met up with them there and took them on a grocery run to stock up for their trip. It had been two years since we last saw each other, so it was amazing to catch up and hang out! We dropped them back off, headed back to grab Geoffrey and Katelyn, picked up a couple of pizzas, and returned to the All-Stars for a fun evening of dinner and swimming. We had a wonderful night catching up and can't wait to visit the Disney parks with them later in the week!

Sunday, July 12: Universal 

Today was Day 4 of our Universal tickets. Our goal was to hit the remaining attractions we hadn't done yet at the original campus before heading over to explore more of the fine details at Epic Universe.

We arrived at the Universal property at 12:45 PM, zipped through security, zoomed through CityWalk, scanned our tickets at the turnstiles, and made it to The Bourne Stuntacular just in time for the 1:00 PM show. (That stage technology is always so mind-blowing!) As the show let out, a typical Florida summer storm started to roll in, and the outdoor rides began closing down.

We made our way to Diagon Alley to ride Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts—another one on our must-do list. With the rain sending everyone indoors, the wait time jumped from 25 minutes to 40 minutes right as we got in line, and the thunderstorm moved directly overhead. We ended up waiting about an hour in total, but since it was pouring outside anyway, we didn't mind the wait. Once we stepped off the ride, the thunder and rain were still going strong. This meant our final target, Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, was going to stay closed for the foreseeable future, so we decided to leave the main campus, and head over to Epic Universe.

Universal offers complimentary bus transportation directly between the parks. The Epic Universe bus arrived within five minutes, loaded up our family and one other, and had us at the new park in a quick 15-minute drive. Because so many of Epic’s attractions are outdoors, the few indoor rides had racked up massive lines due to the weather. We used one of our precious Express Passes for Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry. Amazingly, the Express line was practically walk-on, and we were off the ride in 20 minutes! Afterward, we treated ourselves to a yummy Butterbeer crepe and some classic frozen Butterbeer. Our next plan was to catch Le Cirque Arcanus, but the show filled up much faster than we anticipated, and we were too late to get in.

Instead, we strolled over to the Isle of Berk to ride Dragon Racer’s Rally. For a spinning, carnival-style flat ride that only seats 12 people per arm, the line actually moved at a decent clip thanks to a super-efficient loading process. On this ride, you control the wings to determine how much your individual dragon rocks. Grant figured out the physics of his dragon almost instantly and managed to flip his racer completely upside down three times!

We wandered around Berk, admiring all the incredible details like the sleeping dragons, the ice-breathing dragon, and the beautifully themed shops. Since the overcast sky made it feel slightly "cooler" (by Florida standards, at least!), we decided to grab dinner at The Spit Fyre Grill. The menu looked amazing, but it only offers covered outdoor seating—perfect for a rainy day. Geoffrey and Katelyn tried an Epic Universe specialty: macaroni and cheese served inside a freshly baked bread cone! Katelyn got the classic mac and cheese topped with Goldfish crackers, while Geoffrey went for the chicken with Hot Cheetos dust. The bread cone had an "everything bagel" seasoning on the outside, and the whole combination was surprisingly delicious! Grant and I shared a steak bowl with sticky rice, sweet potatoes, and balsamic mushrooms, which was absolutely excellent.

After dinner, we headed to Dark Universe to ride Curse of the Werewolf. As I mentioned before, coaster style is similar to Sierra Sidewinder at Knott's Berry Farm, but this version is much smoother and features some really neat special effects and show elements that make it a highly enjoyable family coaster. With a little time left before the park closed, we squeezed in another ride on Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment because we love it so much and the wait was virtually non-existent.

To wrap up our night, we hopped in line for Mine-Cart Madness in Donkey Kong Country. It was still fun the second time around... but the initial novelty wore off just a bit, replaced by a realization of, "Wow, this is actually a lot jerkier than we remembered!"

After our ride, we took a slow stroll out of the park. We marveled once again at how breathtaking Epic Universe is when it is fully lit up at night. It really makes you wonder why Universal chooses to close the park so early in the summer, preventing guests from fully appreciating the gorgeous lighting design across the different lands! On the way back to the resort, we grabbed some Culver's to-go and ate a late dinner in our hotel room.

Monday, July 13: A Change of Plans

Today was supposed to be our final day at the Universal parks, but life had other plans. Poor Geoffrey caught some sort of bug and ended up throwing up several times throughout the night. His last episode was around 10:00 AM, and he was absolutely exhausted from being up all night. We sent him back to bed and obviously decided to skip the theme parks for the day.

Geoffrey slept soundly almost all day and, thankfully, didn't throw up again after that morning. While he rested, Grant, Katelyn, and I went to Cracker Barrel for a comfort-food lunch and made a quick run to the grocery store. Afterward, we sat out on our screened balcony and watched a spectacular afternoon lightning and thunderstorm roll through while we read and hung out on our phones.

Later, the three of us checked out our resort's fitness center. It was on the smaller side, but it had everything we needed for a workout. Once we got back to the room, we queued up our current summer show, The Summer I Turned Pretty. We started watching it back home in Colorado, and today we officially finished Season 1 and started Season 2!

Right in the middle of our watch party, Geoffrey finally woke up and felt up to eating some soup. Grant ran out to the store to grab him some chicken noodle, and picked up some Chili’s takeout for the rest of us. Geoffrey managed to eat most of his soup and already seems to be turning a corner. Hopefully, he gets a peaceful night of sleep tonight. We'll see what tomorrow brings!