Let’s Go Get that Dino! TR 9/1-9/10, a mom and daughter trip! PTR short version, 1/27/24*

[disneyAndi14]

I'll say!
That's getting your money's worth! Just don't tell Disney.

You are right, they will start adding an up charge if you visit more than one park, wait they already do that!

I think we can safely assume some people will park hop to another park and we should charge accordingly."
"What if they do 3 parks?"
"I don't believe that's possible."

Susan and I are doing a 4 park day in December, wish us luck!

What? I'm shocked! Shocked!

I knew people would be surprised when I rode Dinosaur 3x

I know probably more about Komodo dragons then I have a right to. How they predate is far scarier.

I know they are scary, haha

Oh, sure. You're scared of a 12mph lizard, but a 500lb, 40mph death machine with teeth and claws... No problem!

The tigers are furry and look so cute! The dragon looks like it would kill you

How was that? Sweet enough?

I was surprised how good the tea was. I have only had alcohol at Nomad’s lounge so this was a nice surprise

I really need to try those there.

You need to put these on your list and try the churros! You will be pleasantly surprised how good these are

Getting progressively more and more happy as she goes...

That is correct sir!

Would've been interesting to try it after the drinking

Not for me! I can barely do it well hydrated and an anti-nausea patch on

Oh! I never thought about personalizing it like that. What a good idea!

Yes, we have been getting the margarita one and adding a few of our favorites to it! The pizza is delicious

Wait... the prize after eating a lot of cheese was... more cheese?
You won't poop for a week!

Yes more cheese Haha!

Another cute magic shot.

Thank you very much, I love getting some different ones!

How bad was that??

It is very hard to go against the crowd. It helped to go in and out of the Emporium!

 

[disneyAndi14]

This pic gave me the giggles because the beer matches the magic band, and the magic band matches the socks. Perfect combo!! Love it!

You are right! I didn’t even realize it! Andi loves socks with teeth, lol crocodile ones and shark ones! Thank you!

Loved your photos celebrating all things Dinosaur.

Thank you I did as well! It is always fun to ride several times in a row

I like this meal too.

It is my favorite kids meal except for waffles at breakfast

I still need to make it here someday and give this a try. They sound so good.

Yes you do! It is the most relaxing place with great drinks and small bites!

Great photo of you two. Your outfit is really cute.

Thank you! I feel like I wear the same shirts over and over so I changed it up a little!

Danielle loves to get this. She shared some and it was really good.

I loved this moonshine drink and will get this again!

It's amazing how much our kids like their drinks when we're paying. Danielle and Michelle both like wine.

I know! Very true, Andi always has this long list of drinks to try when mom is buying!

I really enjoyed this! I love cheesecake.

I did too. Great prize for eating!

Looking forward to it.

Thanks! Coming up soon!

 

[disneyAndi14]

I don’t go anywhere without at least one. I would like to try one…they look so rich and sweet!

The cookies are really rich but yummy. The coffee cake cookie is my favorite!

Perfect morning for you two!

It really was, riding my favorite ride with my favorite daughter

I love this trail but I’m with you on the Komodo dragon!

Same, I always envision myself in a show down with the Komodo dragon for some weird reason! We all know I wouldn’t win!

Perfect! It’s my favourite spot as you know.

Nomads is heavenly

We’re all those on Mom’s tab or Andi’s?

All on mom’s tab of course! I shared a few sips of each one! I still foot the bill for most everything! I’m to nice

Can’t wait to ride GOTG in December!

I’m really excited to ride with you and now I know what to expect!

Hope we have good bus luck at CSR.

I hope so. Andi and I usually get off on the first stop when coming back and walk to the tower. It usually is quicker than going all the way around. It will depend how our feet are feeling at the end of the day!

 

[pkondz]

You are right, they will start adding an up charge if you visit more than one park, wait they already do that!

Susan and I are doing a 4 park day in December, wish us luck!

Oh! Well, she's an expert. You're in good hands!

I knew people would be surprised when I rode Dinosaur 3x

The tigers are furry and look so cute! The dragon looks like it would kill you

Go ahead and pet the cute tiger. It'll be fine. Really.

I was surprised how good the tea was. I have only had alcohol at Nomad’s lounge so this was a nice surprise

I'll keep that in mind.

You need to put these on your list and try the churros! You will be pleasantly surprised how good these are

Okay!

Not for me! I can barely do it well hydrated and an anti-nausea patch on

Ride it twice, drunk... just as an experiment.

 

[disneyAndi14]

Go ahead and pet the cute tiger. It'll be fine. Really.

I think your trying to kill me,

Ride it twice, drunk... just as an experiment.

Again, I think you are trying to kill me!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Hello there, I’m Seeker!

Today is Thursday 9/7/23. It was time to move over to Universal Studios Orlando!

We decided to have breakfast at The Riviera before heading out.

I mobile ordered 2 kid’s meals from our favorite quick service place!

I got bacon and sausage with mine. This was a delicious little breakfast. We had to have Mickey waffles at least once before leaving Disney!

We had packed up and made sure we weren’t forgetting anything and headed down to the lobby area.

I had to have one last almond honey cold brew! Yum!

I ordered a Lyft and we said goodbye to the Riviera, we loved staying here! A few reasons, Delicious food and coffee. We loved our room and having access to the Skyliner. It is a great way to travel between the resort and the parks.

Our Lyft came quickly and off we go to Portofino Bay.

We arrived around 10am. I went to check us in and get our express pass. The nice TM at the desk had a room ready for us!

The room was in the same area I had been in with my sister.

It was just past the Starbucks. Our room was on a higher floor and had a huge balcony! This was really nice. It is rare to have a balcony at Universal resorts.

Here is our room, deck, and view.



Portofino is undergoing a refurbishment, however, we didn’t hear anything and occasionally saw the workers. It was not an inconvenience for us at all.

We got organized some and headed out to Islands of Adventure.

We took the boat. This transportation is really nice and this trip we never waited more than 5 minutes for a boat even at peak times!

Our plan was to do a few rides and get a late lunch at Citywalk.

Rides we did, Spider-Man, King Kong, Velocicoaster (Andi), HP Forbidden Journey, and High in the Sky Trolley in Suess Land.


We also looked in the Halloween Store. I love this little store!


It was time to head out and get a bite to eat.

We really like CowFish and decided to go there.

It was around 1:30pm when we were seated. We decided to share the fried pickles and the veggie burger. I had a Diet Coke and Andi had a margarita!

I only took a picture of the fried pickles. We loved the pickles, yum! I loved the dipping sauces.

The burger was very good and freshly made.

I our plan was to head back to the hotel and rest before our first night at HHN!

Stay tuned for our first night of sheer terror!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Meteor shower in range, just a little one!

We took a little nap in our lovely room! I did sit out on the balcony for a little while and it was lovely.

We got ready and headed to the boat launch. I had to go to guest services or the kiosk machine to get our HHN tickets and EP. The EP was expensive and I did think twice about buying it but wow I am so glad I did!

We tried to use the kiosk and it didn’t work. I had to go to the guest relations area. I had everything on my phone and showed it to her but she also needed my drivers license oh,oh, I didn’t have it with me, ugh! I had put what I thought I needed in my little cross body purse and yup license wasn’t in there. Ugh! I had to go back to the hotel. Andi decided to stay and wait for me at the guest area.

Lucky, the boat didn’t take long at all. I got on one right away, retrieved my wallet, and went back to the boat launch.

It was a very short wait. We missed the opening ceremony and watched a little from outside the park. She was texting me with play by play updates.

I showed my driver license to the same TM. She was very nice and in no time, we had our tickets and EP for both nights.

There is a special hotel entrance that we could use, it brings you to the Rip Ride Rocket area. We didn’t use it this evening. We walked in the front way and it was busy!

I thought for a Thursday in early September, it would have been less crowded. We took in the sights and sounds. It was still light out. I’m not going to go into great deal since I am on the Disney TR site.

I’m going to just do a run down of the night. We did all 10 houses and it was very busy with average wait times around 60-90 minutes. We waited an average of 15 minutes for each house with the highest wait of about 20-25 minutes for The Last of Us. I made Andi go first in all the houses. I screamed and jumped many times!


This is the order of how we did each house, and how I ranked them this evening. 1=best, 10=least favorite.

Stranger Things, ranked 3 (loved it and love the series)

Yeti Campground, ranked 4 (really good with many jump scares)

Dueling Dragons, ranked 9 (awesome set design, not scary)

Chucky Kill Count, ranked 10 (creepy doll, least favorite)

We took a little break at this time and bought the refillable drink cup that lights up. We tried several different drinks and shared them. We got the Cordyceps (sp)? Hotdog from the Last of Us food booth. This was a cheesy deep fried corn dog, it was really good. Andi thought it was all cheese on a stick, so she only ate the first few bites of cheese and I ate the rest. We shared some popcorn from the Minions popcorn stand with the hot dog. We drank a bottle of water and our liquid courage and resumed going to the houses.

Dr. Oddfellow’s Twisted Origins, ranked 5 (really scary, clowns)

The Darkest Deal, ranked 7 (just okay but very scary)

The Last of Us, ranked 2 (great house)

Monsters Unmasked, ranked 1 (amazing house)

The Excorcist Believer, ranked 8 (very scary and gross)

Blood Moon Dark Offerings, ranked 6 (many jump scares), that is all 10 houses!

We took a break after the Monsters house and had another drink and a twisted tater. I had the sour cream and chive, and Andi had the ghost pepper one. Very tasty! Deep fried spiral potato, what’s not to like!

We walked through all the scare zones. My favorite was Vamp 66. All of the zones were good and had some creepy characters lurking around!

We walked a lot and it was humid out again and I was feeling it!

We wanted to try so many more food choices but the lines were crazy and not worth waiting for us.

We finished all the houses by 12:30 and headed out.

The boat was quick and we were back in our room by 1am.

We got ready for bed and planned to sleep in the next morning.

Stay tuned for more Universal fun and more horror!

You’re not going to make it! You made it!

 

[suse66]

Susan and I are doing a 4 park day in December, wish us luck!

We will rock it!

I got bacon and sausage with mine. This was a delicious little breakfast. We had to have Mickey waffles at least once before leaving Disney!

Definitely a must do! Kids meal breakfasts are the best!

I had to have one last almond honey cold brew! Yum!

I tried that drink for the first time this summer and really enjoyed it!

It was just past the Starbucks. Our room was on a higher floor and had a huge balcony! This was really nice. It is rare to have a balcony at Universal resorts.

Beautiful room! I love your balcony and view.

I only took a picture of the fried pickles. We loved the pickles, yum! I loved the dipping sauces.

Yum, yum!

I’m going to just do a run down of the night. We did all 10 houses and it was very busy with average wait times around 60-90 minutes. We waited an average of 15 minutes for each house with the highest wait of about 20-25 minutes for The Last of Us. I made Andi go first in all the houses. I screamed and jumped many times!

You are so brave! I would never sleep again if I did HHN!

We took a break after the Monsters house and had another drink and a twisted tater. I had the sour cream and chive, and Andi had the ghost pepper one. Very tasty! Deep fried spiral potato, what’s not to like!

Yum!

 

[Wood Nymph]

I mobile ordered 2 kid’s meals from our favorite quick service place!

I like to order the kid's breakfast. It is a great deal. It is also the right amount of food for breakfast.

We loved our room and having access to the Skyliner. It is a great way to travel between the resort and the parks.

Was the Skyliner ever closed when you wanted to ride it?

Our room was on a higher floor and had a huge balcony! This was really nice. It is rare to have a balcony at Universal resorts.

Here is our room, deck, and view.

That looks like a nice room. I love the balcony.

HHN looks like a lot of fun. It also looks like you need more than one night to do everything.

 

[pkondz]

I think your trying to kill me,

Again, I think you are trying to kill me!

I got bacon and sausage with mine. This was a delicious little breakfast.

That looks really good. And for a kid's serving, more than ample.

we said goodbye to the Riviera, we loved staying here! A few reasons, Delicious food and coffee. We loved our room and having access to the Skyliner. It is a great way to travel between the resort and the parks.

I'll have to keep that in mind.

Our room was on a higher floor and had a huge balcony! This was really nice. It is rare to have a balcony at Universal resorts.

Score!

That looks really inviting.

Portofino is undergoing a refurbishment, however, we didn’t hear anything and occasionally saw the workers. It was not an inconvenience for us at all.

Phew! Sometimes you just don't know how it's going to go.

We took the boat. This transportation is really nice and this trip we never waited more than 5 minutes for a boat even at peak times!

I think Uni has Disney beat in the transportation department. Love taking the boats and there always seems to be one right around the corner.

Rides we did, Spider-Man, King Kong, Velocicoaster (Andi), HP Forbidden Journey, and High in the Sky Trolley in Suess Land.

Not bad!

We also looked in the Halloween Store. I love this little store!

I am guessing that's a seasonal store? Or is it new (and permanent)?

We really like CowFish and decided to go there.

Had a pretty good meal there.

I did sit out on the balcony for a little while and it was lovely.

The EP was expensive and I did think twice about buying it but wow I am so glad I did!

I've hear that. Pricey, but worth it.

We tried to use the kiosk and it didn’t work. I had to go to the guest relations area. I had everything on my phone and showed it to her but she also needed my drivers license oh,oh, I didn’t have it with me, ugh! I had put what I thought I needed in my little cross body purse and yup license wasn’t in there. Ugh! I had to go back to the hotel.

I thought for a Thursday in early September, it would have been less crowded.

I don't think any HHN is less crowded. It's too popular!

We did all 10 houses and it was very busy with average wait times around 60-90 minutes. We waited an average of 15 minutes for each house with the highest wait of about 20-25 minutes for The Last of Us.

That EP really paid off!

I made Andi go first in all the houses.

I screamed and jumped many times!

Awww... poor Caroline.

We took a break after the Monsters house and had another drink and a twisted tater. I had the sour cream and chive, and Andi had the ghost pepper one. Very tasty! Deep fried spiral potato, what’s not to like!

yum!

 

[vamassey1]

I got bacon and sausage with mine. This was a delicious little breakfast. We had to have Mickey waffles at least once before leaving Disney!

I have to have Mickey waffles at least once each trip. It looks like the kids meal is the way to go.

We arrived around 10am. I went to check us in and get our express pass. The nice TM at the desk had a room ready for us!

Nice!

Here is our room, deck, and view.

Lovely room and very nice view.

We loved the pickles, yum! I loved the dipping sauces.

I love fried pickles. It looks like you had a ranch dipping sauce and remoulade.

We tried to use the kiosk and it didn’t work. I had to go to the guest relations area. I had everything on my phone and showed it to her but she also needed my drivers license oh,oh, I didn’t have it with me, ugh! I had put what I thought I needed in my little cross body purse and yup license wasn’t in there. Ugh! I had to go back to the hotel. Andi decided to stay and wait for me at the guest area.

Oh noooooo! How frustrating. We have an app here in Louisiana that holds our driver's license and covid vaccinations.

I made Andi go first in all the houses. I screamed and jumped many times!

I would do the same thing.

The food and drink options look top notch.

 

[amazingact21]

Your room looked lovely. It does look like a really large balcony, which is great!

That's unfortunate that you had to go all the way back to your room to retrieve your license, but you seemed to take it all in stride.
I have wanted to go to HHN for over a decade now, but with kids and living overseas, it's just never worked out. So I love reading about people's HHN experiences! I liked your rankings and descriptions of each house. The Monsters Unmasked sounded really interesting. But yikes, seems like if I ever do go, I need to plan Express Pass into the cost. 60-90 minute waits for early September is rough.

 

[disneyAndi14]

We will rock it!

Yes we will! I’m getting ready and really excited It will be here before we know it!

Definitely a must do! Kids meal breakfasts are the best!

I love the kids meal especially at breakfast!

I tried that drink for the first time this summer and really enjoyed it!

I love this cold brew, the homemade cream is what make it so delicious

Beautiful room! I love your balcony and view.

Thank you, I was really happy with the room and the balcony was such a treat! It definitely did look like we are on the Italian riviera

Yum, yum!

My picture doesn’t do it justice
Cow Fish has one of the best fried pickle appetizers we have had

You are so brave! I would never sleep again if I did HHN!

The funny thing is once I do the houses I am done being scared, doesn’t bother me at all for sleeping! Just sheer terror during it!

I like to order the kid's breakfast. It is a great deal. It is also the right amount of food for breakfast.

I agree, one of my favorite hacks at Disney, getting a kids meal is so much more for your money! The waffles were really good! The sausage was a chicken sausage and it wasn’t bad at all

Was the Skyliner ever closed when you wanted to ride it?

It wasn’t! We really lucked out! I have heard horror stories of the long waits for a bus if it is. I think we would have just took a Lyft if that happened

That looks like a nice room. I love the balcony.

HHN looks like a lot of fun. It also looks like you need more than one night to do everything.

It was a great room and we didn’t hear a thing, really quiet and such a bonus to have the balcony.
If you don’t have EP and can’t walk miles and miles, lol, you need 3-4 nights at least.

That looks really good. And for a kid's serving, more than ample.

It was delicious and the chicken sausage, Andi made me get, it was not bad at all!

That looks really inviting.

Our view was beautiful and it did feel like we were in Italy!

Phew! Sometimes you just don't know how it's going to go.

I figured that was why the price was really good at Portofino was due to the construction but it didn’t bother us at all so a win win for us! Our room was very quiet and the elevators were working!

I think Uni has Disney beat in the transportation department. Love taking the boats and there always seems to be one right around the corner.

I agree and I have heard the bus transportation there is always very quick. I love the walking paths and the boat with the premier resorts.

I am guessing that's a seasonal store? Or is it new (and permanent)?

It has been there the last few times, so I think it is open all the time?? I will check when I go again in early February

Had a pretty good meal there.

It is always a go to for us. We have never had a bad experience at Cow Fish

I've hear that. Pricey, but worth it.

It was expensive but worth every dollar

I don't think any HHN is less crowded. It's too popular!

This year was busier than last year and we went around the same time! It is very popular

That EP really paid off!

It did we would have never been able to do all ten houses in one night without it!

Awww... poor Caroline.

I was so scared I think the Scare actors sense this!

 

[pkondz]

I figured that was why the price was really good at Portofino was due to the construction but it didn’t bother us at all so a win win for us! Our room was very quiet and the elevators were working!

Win win.

It has been there the last few times, so I think it is open all the time?? I will check when I go again in early February

Ooohh
I sense a Uni trip in my future…

I was so scared I think the Scare actors sense this!

 

[disneyAndi14]

I have to have Mickey waffles at least once each trip. It looks like the kids meal is the way to go.

Same with me! I doesn’t quite feel like a Disney trip without Mickey Waffles

Lovely room and very nice view.

It really was, we were happy with the room and deck!

I love fried pickles. It looks like you had a ranch dipping sauce and remoulade.

I do too! These were really good and yes those were the dipping sauces. The picture doesn’t quite do the pickles justice but probably the best fried ones I have had!

Oh noooooo! How frustrating. We have an app here in Louisiana that holds our driver's license and covid vaccinations.

That is such a good idea. The TM suggested I take a picture of my driver license for the future!

I would do the same thing.

The food and drink options look top notch.

I definitely needed Andi go first, Andi had a list and it was sad the lines were so long because we hardly scratched the surface of her list! I wish the EP worked for the food lines

Your room looked lovely. It does look like a really large balcony, which is great!

Thank you, it really was and such an added bonus with the big deck.

That's unfortunate that you had to go all the way back to your room to retrieve your license, but you seemed to take it all in stride.

Ugh! I have a picture of my license now on my phone just in case. I usually always have it but switching my purse did it!

I have wanted to go to HHN for over a decade now, but with kids and living overseas, it's just never worked out. So I love reading about people's HHN experiences! I liked your rankings and descriptions of each house. The Monsters Unmasked sounded really interesting. But yikes, seems like if I ever do go, I need to plan Express Pass into the cost. 60-90 minute waits for early September is rough.

I never in my life thought I would want to do this event! I’m such a scaredy-cat but the stage design, theatrics and scare actors makes it such a cool event! I put my brave pants on and now want to go every year! The monsters unmasked was very cool. It was the catacombs in Paris and the monsters were down there! Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Phantom of the Opera, The Invisible Man and Quasimodo! The design was amazing! It was lightly raining as you enter!
EP is really needed for this event unless you can go multiple times

Ooohh
I sense a Uni trip in my future…

Yes, you need to plan a trip!!

 

[disneyAndi14]

You’re not going to make it! You’re not going to make it!, You made it!

I actually slept in until around 9:30am! I got up and had a banana and cookie out on the balcony.

We got ready to head out and spend a few hours in Universal studios. We had to stop in at Starbucks and Andi had a plain old cold brew and I had a lovely iced chai latte.

We caught the boat and headed to the Studios. It was nice out this morning. It was threatening to rain in the afternoon.


Our main objective was to ride the New Minion ride. Villians-Con Minions Blast. The ride already takes EP so we had a short wait.

The queue was cool, it is like you are at a Comic Con.

The ride was weird. You get this heavy blaster gun and stand on a conveyor belt and shoot at things. We had no idea what we were doing, lol Andi was a little perturbed because she wasn’t a galactic hero, oh wait wrong ride. I actually had a higher score than she did! She did not like that one bit. We will try it again at some point but it certainly isn’t a favorite.

We had to ride ET and MIB, two of our favorites! Andi did have a way better score on MIB. She beat me on that one by a big margin!

Our next stop was the Halloween Tribute store. It is in the building next to the Mummy. Universal does an amazing job with these stores.

This year the store is like a comic book. It was really amazing.

We enjoyed looking around in the store and picked out several shirts for HHN and one for my sister.

Pictures of some of the different rooms in the store.





We decided to head back because the sky was threatening a storm.

We could tell the boats weren’t running so we walked back.

Andi saw a big old black snake on the walkway slithering into the bushes, yikes it freaked her out and I was very glad to have missed it.

We walked fast and made it back to our room just as the skies opened up!

Our little balcony was flooded! It rained hard and fast.

I think it was all over within an hour.

Andi took a shower and I rested a little.

Part 2! Our 2nd night at HHN.

Continued in the next post.

 

[disneyAndi14]

We decided to eat an early dinner on Citywalk before going into HHN. The food lines were just to long, we didn’t think it was worth standing in those lines.

We had decided to eat at Antojitos Mexican restaurant.

The boats were running again when we headed out. The rain this afternoon was the only other rain we saw our whole trip. Our timing was perfect.

We got to the restaurant and asked for a table outside. We each ordered a margarita and decided to share a chicken burrito. The restaurant still serves chips and salsa without an up charge yay!

We really enjoyed the chips and salsa. The burrito was really good and was large enough for sharing. It came with black beans and these were seasoned nicely and very tasty.

We were ready for more frightening and terrifying adventures!

Walking towards Universal, we decided to use the hotel entrance.

We only waited about 15-20 minutes before being let in.

Knowing the lay of the land, we decided to do The Last of Us first since we knew it was a really long walk and came out by ET, which was right by the Monsters UnMasked entrance. Here are a few scare actors we saw along the way.


These two houses were the furthest back and had the longest walks to and from.

We loved both of these houses again. Definitely still 1&2 in my book. Quasimodo, in the monster house, dropped down from above us, on a bungee cord, it was amazing and the Invisible man jumped out at me and plainly told me “I’m going to kill you”

The phantom of the opera was creepy and the piano music would play right before he jumped out at you!
Scare Zone



We went through another scare zone and came out by Mel’s and the Megan Horde was out. We missed the dance part, bummer, but saw them standing there. People were getting pictures with them! In the movie, the Megan doll would do this creepy dance and a cartwheel before killing someone. Such a cute doll


We wanted to see the Death Eaters in Diagon Alley so we picked up a “strong” drink in our souvenir cup and headed over there.

There wasn’t any set time for them so we lucked out when we got there and they were out. It was really cool to watch The Death Eaters interact with guests. They also go on the stage and do a little show with their wands. I’m so glad we saw them before it got dark.


We continued with houses in the center of the park. Chucky was first, still down in the bottom for us. I did like it a little better tonight. We did the Odd Fellows next. I think they were changing out the actors and we were sent through without anyone behind us and it was less rushed. We had so many good scares in there.

The clowns are terrifying! Still in the top 5

Next was the Darkest Deal, this is about a Blues singer who sells his soul to the devil. It was a good house just not in my top 5.

We got another drink and tried the fried Oreos at Mel’s Die In!

These were delicious, I mean deep fried Oreos what is not to like!

We made sure to walk through the zodiac signs scare zone, we didn’t do that one the night before, it was good. We didn’t get to see Dr. Odd Fellow out tonight! He is in all the scare zones in some form.

We headed back to the New York area to go through the rest of the houses in the front.

We did Dueling Dragons, Yeti, Stranger Things, Exorcist, and Blood Moon.

Tonight at the end of Stranger Things there was a huge Demogorgon, it scared me silly! My back was starting to hurt a little from all the scare jumps and turning quickly in the houses! I can’t just walk on through like some people (Andi), I scream, turn, and jump around!

Tonight was Friday and it actually seemed less crowded than Thursday. It was still very busy but we finished all the houses and scare zones by 1130pm.

I was still very glad we had the EP since most house wait times were well over 60 minutes.

We shared another drink and headed out around midnight.

A boat was waiting for us, what a wonderful site.

My top houses remained the same as last night! I thought the houses were better than last year

I did like the ones last year but this year’s HHN was better.

Be prepared to walk a ton on these nights and pack your patience because it is busy!

Stay tuned for our last full day at Universal Orlando

What’s happening evasive maneuvers, left, right!

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Sounds like you had an amazing time being terrified

 

[buzzrelly]

Both my kids were very premature,
Andi was 8 weeks early and Jack was 12 weeks early! It was such a scary experience for Joe and I. We are very grateful both kids did well and didn’t have any permanent problems related to the prematurity! Jack was only 2#14oz at birth and Andi was 4#4oz. So tiny! Jack and Andi are both miracles! Both kids did have asthma and were sick a lot when they were small. They used to wheeze with the asthma and Wheezy from Toy Story reminded me of them. Joe, bless his heart was very good with the kids when they were sick. I was an ICU nurse back then and let me tell you, my anxiety was through the roof, because I always feared the worst. Thank goodness for Joe! He kept me and the kids calm when they were sick and wheezing!

I'm still trying to catch up but as a NICU Nurse, I had to comment on this...

I never knew both your kids were preemies? Such miracles, all of them. And a fitting story since we just celebrated World Prematurity Day a couple days ago

 

[pkondz]

I actually slept in until around 9:30am!

This is possible??

I got up and had a banana and cookie out on the balcony.

You sure know how to live!

Andi had a plain old cold brew and I had a lovely iced chai latte.

Heh. You seem to have an opinion on this...

Cold brew
-dull
-ordinary
-bland

iced chai latte
-exciting!
-exotic
-people won't think you just had a banana and a cookie for breakfast!

Our main objective was to ride the New Minion ride. Villians-Con Minions Blast.

Oh! Had no idea there was a new Minion ride.

The ride was weird. You get this heavy blaster gun and stand on a conveyor belt and shoot at things.

That sounds... odd. Are you buckled in at all? or standing in something? What keeps you from falling?

We had no idea what we were doing, lol

Andi was a little perturbed because she wasn’t a galactic hero, oh wait wrong ride.

I actually had a higher score than she did! She did not like that one bit.

Way to go, Caroline! Show the kids how the grownups do things!

Our next stop was the Halloween Tribute store.

Yeah... I really need to get down there.

If the dude would just eat his sandwich, he could put on weight.

Andi saw a big old black snake on the walkway slithering into the bushes, yikes it freaked her out and I was very glad to have missed it.

Cool!
I'd be like "Wait! Wait! I need to take a picture!"

We had decided to eat at Antojitos Mexican restaurant.

A place I keep meaning to try, but haven't yet...

The burrito was really good and was large enough for sharing. It came with black beans and these were seasoned nicely and very tasty.

Good. I'll try it out, then.

We were ready for more frightening and terrifying adventures!

So.... more snakes?

Here are a few scare actors we saw along the way.

Those are great!

Quasimodo, in the monster house, dropped down from above us, on a bungee cord,

No way! That's cool!

and the Invisible man jumped out at me and plainly told me “I’m going to kill you”

How do you know? Wasn't he invisible?

The phantom of the opera was creepy and the piano music would play right before he jumped out at you!

Yusss... Read the book several times. I think I'd love this one.

In the movie, the Megan doll would do this creepy dance and a cartwheel before killing someone. Such a cute doll

Who wouldn't want one?

We wanted to see the Death Eaters in Diagon Alley

Didn't know about this either! Also cool.

It was really cool to watch The Death Eaters interact with guests

What kind of things did they do?

We got another drink and tried the fried Oreos at Mel’s Die In!

These were delicious, I mean deep fried Oreos what is not to like!

That sounds... just a bit decadent.

I can’t just walk on through like some people (Andi), I scream, turn, and jump around!

Awww... poor Caroline.

I was still very glad we had the EP since most house wait times were well over 60 minutes.

If they're about an hour long line each, you'd need about 10 hours to see them all. You did them in a fraction of that time! EP for the win!