Disney World and Universal Studios

 Another vacation under the belt. I love to travel as I really love seeing new sights and sounds. This trip was filled of the happiest place on earth. Where is that you say; well it was Disney World and Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. Yes, it was not to an exotic out of the country place but full of people and kids. Here is the secret though, shhhh don't tell anyone......IT WAS A BLAST! I am one who does not like crowds very much (who does for that matter) but these parks bring the kid out in you. I went with my husband and the two of us enjoyed this as adults only. You don't need to have kids to go to these theme parks. This was not a relaxing, sit by the pool or beach with a drink but it was full of energy with fun rides and sights.

First I will start with the planning of this trip because we knew this could get costly. We did our research with good ol' Google and for our tickets to the parks we used Reserve Orlando. We did 2 days at Disney and 3 days at Universal with park hoppers (get the park hoppers, I will say why later in the blog). We stayed really close to Universal Studios. I did not want to stay anywhere near Disney. I wanted to be away from the hoards of children, no offense but this was just hubby and me. This worked out perfect as the place we were at did not have many kids at all. I am sure when it is not off-season it would be different.

The hotel we stayed at was The Point Universal Resort Orlando. It was a nice hotel even though it says Resort ( I don't know what constitutes to call one a Resort). It has a pool, hot tub with a bar area, an exercise room, a concierge, shuttles to and from parks, breakfast that cost $11.00 per person each day, and the rooms have kitchenettes. There are a couple style rooms to choose from. Ours was the studio and it was perfect. It was very clean in the rooms and out in the public areas. I would stay here again. Oh and the hot tub at the end of a long day of walking was perfect. It was really hot but totally worth it on the legs and feet. There are more tips at the bottom of the blog.

Disney World we did 2 parks, Epcot and Hollywood Studios. As 2 adults with no children, these were the parks we felt would entertain us the most. Since I have been to Disneyland many times, I did not feel the need to go to Magic Kingdom or any of the animal or water parks. Of course a water park would have been pretty fun. Epcot is definitely a must to go see. Since I have only seen this part of Disney on TV or pictures, I wanted to experience it.
One of our first rides was the simulator. This one you can design your own roller coaster or simulate a wild plane ride. We did the plane and off we went in the simulator to ride the one we designed. Pretty fun.
Next we were off to Mission Space. This ride about laid me out for the day. It is a thrill ride that has 2 ways of riding it. The one "green" option is a non-spinning and the "orange" spins the crap out of you. Why does the orange one spin; for the feeling that astronauts get when launching and be thrown into weightlessness of space. Well, let me tell you, being one who loves roller coasters and crazy rides and has sky dived, I chose orange. Not a good choice for me at all. Half way through the ride I wanted to puke (I did not even know I was spinning because being in enclosed in the car you don't know what is going on except what is on the screen in front of you). I was motion sick. I had to eat something and eat something now. I knew this from cruises, that food will help motion or sea sickness. So fair warning orange is pretty extreme and green mellow. We wandered around the park and tried to experience as much as we could. The flower gardens and sculptures were amazing. Around the world was full of many countries where anyone can try that countries food or drinks. We had dinner in Italy and it was fantastic. 
We did not make it to the fireworks (or any night of fireworks for that matter, long days) but this park was fun. 


The next day was Hollywood Studios. First thing we did in that park was the Tower of Terror. The line wait was short and I knew I would do it once and want to do it again. So off we went and yes that ride is a blast. Now my motion sick issue was not completely gone as I could still feel like I was on that darn mission ride, I had remembered my peppermint Doterra oil I had brought. This will actually calm a foul belly, so every ride I got on for the rest of the trip I would take a drop before and after each ride. Some was a couple drops after but at least it worked. We wandered around in this park weaving in and out of all the nooks and crannies. This park is smaller than Epcot so it felt a bit more crowded but not shoulder to shoulder. Lines were pretty short waits and we hit pretty much all of them except for Toy Story which had a hour and half wait time pretty much all day. Each ride was as much fun as the next and the shows were fun to watch. The food in this park was a bit more naughty. What I mean about naughty; if you are watching what you eat, this one will knock you right off. I justified any of my naughty eating will be counter acted by all the walking we did, which was over 20,000 steps a day. I kept track with my Fit Bit. Hee hee. Is Disney the happiest place on earth? To all those who love Disney, yes it is. I really enjoyed myself at Disney. It made me smile a lot despite the motion sickness episode.

 Universal Studios! This park is definitely in my opinion more fun for adults. There is areas of the park for children from really young to the teens but as an adult, I loved it here. This park I would come to Orlando to go here again and again and even again. There is 2 parks, Universal and Island of Adventure. Get the park hopper to get access to both parks. We did every ride in this park more than once. There is one water ride we did not end up doing because you get super soaked but other than that, all rides were fair game. Rock It roller coaster, The Hulk and The Mummy are fast and furious with a bunch of fun. All of the rides that are virtual 3D indoor rides are absolutely fantastic. 
Of course there is the most famous of all Harry Potter World. Yes, this is a pretty cool area of the parks. Now this is the reason to make sure you have the park hopper. You have Harry Potter world in one park and Diagon Alley in the other. The cool thing about this is the Hogwarts Express Train you ride between the two. (need park hopper to ride) Harry Potter world has some cool rides. One is in the School and the other 2 are outdoor roller coasters. Diagon Alley has a ride in the Gringotts Bank. (I got off this ride and went back on again, loved it) We weaved in and out of the stores and was in awe of the details that were around us. Amazing! Try the Beer Butter while there. It is super good! Oh and the interactive wands, well you just have to go there to see for yourself.  We also had lunch in Harry Potter world and it is pretty good. Give it a try. 
There are many restaurants to choose from in the parks and right outside of the park gates (which is part of Universal Studios). The Palms bar across Margaritaville has some pretty good Margaritas. Wink, wink.
Now for all of us adults, every park there was beer, Disney and Universal. I would hit my beer-thirty (2:00) and be in need for a beer (I was on vacation, mmmmm). I could find a beer anywhere pretty much. My favorite beer that I found was in Diagon Alley. It was a dark stout and boy was it good. 
For any smokers (I know, I know but there are still smokers out there people, don't judge) Epcot had smoking sections around the lakes. They are tucked in but easy to find. Hollywood had a couple tucked away. Universal Studios park were around the lake as well but Island of Adventures were more hidden. For the non-smokers these smoking areas were easy to avoid or walk by without knowing they were even there, unless someone accidentally walked right through one of these areas. Restrooms are a plenty and all the ones I experienced were pretty clean. The well oiled machine of the employees of these parks were incredible and not one of them ever seemed annoyed with their job or with us crazy, overstimulated mob of people who can barely pay attention long enough for full instructions. 

Tips I can give:
Go during off-season. The crowds were smaller and our hotel was cheaper. 
When looking for a hotel through a package site, check TripAdvisor for reviews. We loved our place. Most places have resort fees so check on those as well. 
Most hotels have shuttles for the parks. You might want to check and make sure and check to see if they have on to take you from/ to airport. There is shuttles at the airport but need to reserve them ahead of time to get to your resort/hotel if they do not provide one. It cost me $10 a person for ours. No need to rent a car unless planning to do more fun adventures around Orlando. Plus parking fees for the parks and your resort can add to your cost. Uber is also available in Orlando.
Get park hoppers. Our ticket package was with the park hopper for Universal and Disney. 
May get motion sickness on some of these rides. Get something that may help out with this. 
Don't forget sun screen.
Good and I mean good walking shoes. 
Watch for wands and selfie sticks they are everywhere don't get poked.
Download the apps of these parks on your smartphone these apps can give you wait times on rides and show you everything you need to find.
Take pictures, lots of pictures. There were a couple of days I was so enthralled with the things around me I would forget to take pictures. 

Other than the above, eat, drink, ride and have fun.
We did and it did not cost us an arm or leg just a finger and toe. But hey it was Disney and Universal, had to experience once. 

The highlighted areas in this blog will lead you to the links for more information if needed.