The Adventure Begins!

     After waiting for so many long months, my Disney adventure is finally almost here! I check-in on Monday at 7:45 am, so getting here early was a way to avoid any possible delays from car trouble and have a great time before starting the College Program. My mom and I got here on Wednesday evening and checked into Cabana Bay, one of the hotels at Universal. After a very long drive, we were pretty excited to get here! Although at the time, I think we were mostly just relieved to have finally made it. Cabana Bay is a fantastic resort, and I am very impressed by the theming, and the quality and cleanliness of our room and the hotel in general. It's rocking a fun 1960's beach vibe, with all of the colors, designs, and toiletries of the era. My mom especially enjoyed seeing the Zest soap.

Finally, the turn off for Orlando! Only a few more hours in the car...

So nice to see our hotel entrance after two days of driving!

    
     One of the main perks of staying on property is early entry times, so this morning we were able to go in Islands of Adventure at 8 am. We hurried straight to Wizarding World of Harry Potter and enjoyed what was probably a 20 minute wait, max, for Forbidden Journey. It was so wonderful to see Hogsmeade again, and it felt a little more realistic with the slight chill in the air on a January morning. Although we didn't spend a lot of time exploring, just walking in brought me right back to when I saw it for the first time 4 years ago. I could barely process it then, as I was too busy dancing on air because my favorite books were truly coming to life around me. After Forbidden Journey, it was time to ride the Hogwarts Express. It was incredible!!! I don't want to say too much because it's definitely a better experience when you don't entirely know what to expect, but Universal got it right. It's incredibly realistic, and the path they went with it is perfect. Fun fact: the train does not turn around on either end, so when going from Hogsmeade to London it appears to be going backwards!

Right outside the Hogsmeade station for the Hogwarts Express!

     The rest of our time today was spent in Universal Studios. After arriving in Kings Cross Station, we  made our way over to Diagon Alley in order to ride Escape from Gringotts, preferably before the line got too long! First off, I was absolutely blown away by Diagon Alley! Just like with Hogsmeade, you feel as though you must have jumped straight into the books themselves. It's so fun watching all of the surrounding witches and wizards using their interactive wands throughout the area. The buildings are incredibly colorful and tall, and all mashed together with various wizarding messages and ads. The streets are winding, with very few straight lines. With enough time, the layout starts to make sense, but it's all a little confusing at first! Of course, I might have just been too overwhelmed to really comprehend anything. The main focal point when you walk in is Gringotts, with the pale, emaciated guard dragon perched on the roof. Watch it closely, as it breathes fire every so often!

Finally, freedom!

An excellent picture of the dragon breathing fire, taken by my mom. The warmth feels good on a crisp January morning!

     The Escape from Gringotts ride was amazing, I only wished it could have been a little longer! It really combines classic theme park mini coasters and the screens (like in Spiderman) well, and I loved it! We spent a decent amount of time just wandering through Diagon Alley as well. The shops are very impressive, and they even included Knockturn Alley, which is a must-see. Completely by accident, we managed to see Celestina Warbeck and the Banshees perform. It was hilarious! They brought one of the audience members onstage, and thankfully he was a good sport about it. They sang, they danced, they rocked! We also watched the performance of the Tale of the Three Brothers, and that was really neat as well. They used puppets and real people, and it was just fantastic. I highly suggest seeing both of them. Besides that, we went to the show in Ollivanders, where they picked me to find a wand!!! I'm no longer young and cute, so it was incredibly exciting and I really enjoyed the opportunity!

The wand chooses the wizard :)

    Besides the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, we also went to the Simpsons area, which was excellent and had great food with an awesome atmosphere! After the Simpsons ride and a food encounter, we rode Mummy's Revenge, Men in Black, and Rip Ride Rockit, which apparently has a secret playlist of songs. Before walking back to the hotel, we rode Gringotts one more time and took the Hogwarts Express back to Hogsmeade. It's a different ride each way, which was super cool to see. Tomorrow we are off to Islands of Adventure, I can't wait! Have a magical day, and thank you for reading!

-Christie