The latest road trip stats:
Monastery odometer mileage: 94,425
Odometer mileage at destination: 94,898
Miles driven to destination: 473
Total miles driven to date: 1,909
States driven through: Florida
Due to my niece's wedding, I had to shelve my Great American Road Trip for a little bit, but I'm back on it! Yesterday afternoon, my brother Tom and I traveled from Boca Raton to Orlando for a week's vacation split between Universal and Disney World. We arrived a little before 3pm at the Cabana Bay Beach Resort on the Universal Studios property. I really like this resort because it's completely decorated in a retro-theme (think late 50s-early 60s). It has two beautiful pools, a Jack Lalane fitness center, a bowl-a-rama, and other amazing amenities.
After checking in and taking a wee nap, Tom and I headed over to the theme park area. We walked around Universal's CityWalk, which is a shopping, entertainment, and dining area. We thoroughly examined the area, found a restaurant in which to have dinner (Bob Marley's Jamaican restaurant), and then headed back to the hotel to look around a little more. It was time to relax and hit the hay because we knew today was going to be a busy and exhausting day.
Today, we woke up, got ourselves ready, and headed over to the theme parks. Being the complete and utter Harry Potter nerds, we arranged to have breakfast at The Three Broomsticks which is part of the Hogsmeade area at Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We got there a little early and walked around Hogsmeade. I was completely enthralled with it. It satisfied the Harry Potter geek in me. After a yummy English breakfast, we hit the ride that I had been dying to ride - Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. It was the most amazing ride although nausea-inducing. Lesson #1: make sure your meal is fully digested before embarking on any thrill ride! Let me state, I did not vomit, but man, did I feel like shite.
After meandering a bit around Hogsmeade, we jumped on the Hogwarts Express which took us over to Diagon Alley. Again, I was completely blown away by the realism of this area. For any Harry Potter geeks reading this post, get yourself to Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It is worth every penny you spend.
There are essentially two parks located in Universal. The first is Universal Studios, which is composed of themed areas and attractions based on the film industry. The park consists of eight themed areas – Hollywood, Production Central, New York, San Francisco, Diagon Alley/London, World Expo, Springfield, and Woody Woodpecker's Kidzone. The second is Islands of Adventure, which is composed of seven distinct "islands" that are themed to various forms of adventures. Visitors start off in the Port of Entry and make their way through the various islands – Marvel Super Hero Island, Toon Lagoon, Jurassic Park, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, The Lost Continent, and Seuss Landing.
After lunch, we went to Springfield (home of The Simpsons) and road The Simpsons Ride. It appears that Tom and I don't learn lessons very well because lunch was not yet digested and we went on yet another vomit inducing ride. It was a very fun ride. The only annoying thing about today was that around 2pm the heavens opened up and we spent the rest of the afternoon soaking wet. It made for a miserable afternoon sloshing through puddles.
Overall though, I would give Universal Studios two big thumbs up. Catch all my photos from Day 1½ at Universal on my GART photo site. Tomorrow, it's back to Universal for some more fun.
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| A dragon breathing smoke at Diagon Alley. |
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