I was debating whether to create multiple posts or just one huge post with all my days of adventure. But then I decided I'll be uploading my trip all in one file just so it can be one big complete memory. So prepare yourself for the humongous file bursting with pictures you've seen yet.
Schedule:
Traveling by car, we left on Saturday, July 12th at 11 AM and arrived the next day at 1 PM at Daytona Beach, Florida stopping at some famous places along the way. For the next four days, we enjoyed ourselves at the theme parks! One day at Universal Studios, three days at Islands of Adventures. Right after the park closed at 10 PM on Thursday, we headed for home and reached our destination on Friday, July 18th at 9 PM.
Day 1 of the Fun (July 12th):
Just kidding! It wasn't fun at all, especially for me since I get horribly carsick. However, I seemed to have thought I grew out of my carsickness on the car ride, but I didn't as you will see soon. Anyway, I brought a ton of stuff to do, but did practically nothing but sleep and daydream. At first, I felt peppy and decided to draw a nice girl that would come to bear some resemblance to Iggy Azalea because I was listening to Fancy.
I actually don't remember how I passed the rest of my time after that, but I did that some nice blurry pictures along the way.
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| Passed by some beautiful bays. |
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| Thought the green fields on the left contrasted completely with the brick red architecture on the right. |
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| Passing by the famed Johns Hopkins Hospital. |
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| Saw some colorful designs on the building outside. |
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| Old fashioned clock tower |
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| Baseball stadium |
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| Amazed at the gorgeous designs in our road system |
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| Cool car I've never seen on the roads before! Is it some kind of race car? |
As I was taking pictures, I saw this Welcome to Maryland sign, and I thought it was so pretty and would be cool to have all the Welcome signs of the states we drove through. Plus, it was something to look forward to since car rides are always so boring.
I got down two states, but then when I got to North Carolina, my iPod wouldn't focus and unfortunately, our car sped away at 70mph. I was so upset afterwards because I waited for so long and wanted to do something else other than wait on a sign. Plus, I was trying so hard to get a clear picture that I didn't even glance at the sign other than what was on my blurry screen. The sun started to set, so I knew couldn't try until the next day.
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| Always still gotta try though! |
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| This wasn't the real sign, but I decided to snap a picture of it anyway. It was placed at a rest stop. |
Day 2 (July 13th):
We decided to stop by Savannah, Georgia and take a look around. There were so many cool things to take photos of. It was really quiet when we stopped by; there was practically no one on the streets yet.
We also visited Jacksonville, Florida but passed by in a hurry, so I didn't any take pictures. Just looked around. I saw these exotic flowers and plants that don't grow where I live, so I had to snap a couple of photos of them. Their colors and patterns were so unique and stunning!
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| It's like some weeping willow hybrid! |
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| Never seen anything like that textured bark before... |
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| And the way those stamens are positioned! |
We had to hurry to Daytona Beach because we still had places to go after that. The sand was silky to step in, and water surprisingly warm even though the sun's rays were not strong. I just splashed around in the ocean waves. There were a myriad of gorgeous seashells, so I picked some out to decorate my room with. The wind was strong enough to fly my kite, so up went my rainbow colored birdie. All that left me pretty exhausted, and after few good hours of tanning, we left for our hotel to shower off all the sand.
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| Fly high birdie! |
But our day wasn't over yet; I was determined to venture around Downtown Disney before the clock struck midnight. Yes, Downtown Disney, even though we were going to Universal Orlando this year. I just mainly looked around in all the shops and took a lot of pictures.
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| Dreams Do Come True :) |
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| Man or statue? ... It's a man! |
Jewelry
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| So colorful! |
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| Bracelets that look lopsided |
Making Mickey Mouse caramel apples
Collectibles
Day 3 (July 14th):
The next day we woke up super early to get in line for the new opening of Diagon Alley in Universal Studios. We arrived barely a week after it grand opening on July 8th, and the line was already extending a few rides away from the entrance. But, good thing we arrived early because we were in Diagon Alley after fifteen minutes. We bounded straight ahead for the only ride they had which was Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts. It was actually a simulation and the wait time was four hours. At the time, I didn't know how long the line actually was because half of it was outside the building, and half was inside. When I was reaching the entrance, I thought I was almost there, but alas, I was only halfway. They did have pretty cool decorations like newspapers with animated pictures and talking gringotts. The ride was one of the better simulations I've ridden. There was a malfunction while riding on my first time. We were hung over a drop a little longer than we should have been. Maybe about a few minutes rather than a few seconds, so as a reparation the riders got to go on a second time.
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| Inside of Diagon Alley |
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| Entrance to the ride |
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| Bank vault |
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| Working gringotts |
After that, we went to The Simpsons Ride, which was a relatively short wait. I didn't know it was a simulation, so I got kinda of dizzy watching the screen and getting rocked back and forth.
We moved on to the MIB Alien Attack zapping game. Super fun, but I scored pretty low, and my arms kind of hurt afterwards.
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| Some aliens chattin' it up |
We followed down the path and ended up at Despicable Me Minion Mayhem, a simulation were all its riders get to be transformed into minions. I remember the line being a little long, but the decorative posters were amusing. Unfortunately, this ride like the Simpsons one just stayed to the ground and shook us around. This simulation was much more child-friendly and cute, being that kids love Despicable Me.
Next on the list was the Transformers: The Ride-3D. Also another simulation. Unlike the previous ride, this one actually had a track to run on. What frightened me a little was that they used fire, and I believe it can be dangerous when not properly contained.
It was pouring rain outside, as it will be for the next few days, and the Shrek 4-D show was super close. They aired the happily ever after of Shrek and Fiona, and the seats shook around too go a long with the show.
As we came out, I saw people pointing at the sky. Looking up, I was presented with a stunning double rainbow. And it got more and more vibrant as the clouds passed.
I checked my watch, and it was perfect timing to go see the Horror Make-up Show. I headed on over, and waited for it to start. It was funny how the actors used an innocent audience member, and put her through all the fake gore and pretending.
There was no line at the nearby E.T. Adventure ride. The vehicle was a flying bicycle, and the passengers got to experience the ride E.T. did. The best part was flying over the city and seeing all the skyscrapers light up the night.
Our final ride was the Hollywood RIp RIde Rockit, and this line was by far the longest wait not counting the Gringotts ride. The vehicles didn't even stop for us to on or off. We had exactly 30 seconds before we went rocketing off. Even then, the line slowly inched forward, and barely moved at times. The wait was worth it, being that the whole day I rode simulations. There was a steep drop in the beginning, and then just twists and turns from there.
Universal Studios had many great rides, but it wasn't my kind of fun. I would prefer a real ride over a simulation any day. Leaving the park, I took some pictures of the famous logo.
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| Snapped this one before arriving |
Day 4-6 (July 15-17th):
For the next three days, we went to the Islands of Adventure.
I probably went to every ride and exhibit at least once. My favorites were the Flight of the Hippogriff and The Incredible Hulk Coaster. The Flight of the Hippogriff is located in Hogsmeade and it had two rides, a blue and a red one. They're both the same, but one goes left, and the other goes right. On the last day, there was no line that we were allowed to keep coming back through the child swap door. The Incredible Hulk Coaster was in the Marvel Super Hero Island. During the day, the lines are long, but towards closing hours, I got to ride as soon as I entered. Sometimes, I got on the single riders line, but even though it's shorter, the line didn't move any faster. A few times, I would wait in the exclusive front row seat line, but it moved extremely slow, but experiencing it is definitely worth it.
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| Flight of the Hippogriff |
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| Inside the Hippogriff ride |
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| Inside the Hulk ride |
We dedicated one day to going on water rides, bringing an extra set of clothes to change into after getting wet. Unfortunately, as soon as we got on our first one, Popeye & Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barge's, it started thundering. We waited, and every time it thundered, all outdoor roller coasters also closed. After the thunder passed, we returned to the water rides, and went on the Jurassic Park River Adventure. There was a little twist at the end which was fun. The televisions advised to take off glasses, so the first time I went on, I did, leaving me with very blurry vision. I was trying to get a good look at one of the dinosaurs, when I got squirted by one right in the eye, which was pretty infuriating. The final ride was the Dudley Do-Right's RIpsaw Falls. There was a steep drop in the middle that created a huge splash which everyone could see. As I was entering, I heard the shrill nose that didn't stop. Turns out it was the fire alarm, and there was a minor fire issue. A little frightening, but nonetheless, I returned the next day just to experience the ride.
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| Some waterworks and decorations at Toon Lagoon |
One day, during a heavy rainfall, all the outdoor rides were closed, leaving most people to go to the very few simulations. There was one that I wanted to go to, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, and it was close. It started pouring, and before I could get my rain poncho on, I was already drenched in water. But that wasn't the worst part; my new shoes were soaked. Most of the waiting was outdoors, but there was a roof. However, the line was so long that I got stuck outside of the roof and sopping wet.
The ride was great; there were twists and turns, and some real ghostly props.
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| Outside of Hogsmeade |
There was one other simulation, and that was the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man. We pretended to be new reporters that got caught by the evil villains, and got saved by Spider Man. I probably went on it at least 3 times because of all the times all the roller coasters closed.
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| This was similar to the vehicle that we rode |
The other final option available to go during a thunderstorm was the Jurassic Park Discovery Center. My favorite part there had to be combining my DNA with a dinosaur's. I had to answer a few questions about what kind of dinosaur I would most likely be, and then the program overlapped that dinosaur's picture with one that they took. Also, the center had a 'live dinosaur egg hatching' with some life-size dinosaur sculptures.
On the second day, I went to a live show at The Lost Continent called The Eight Voyage of Sindbad Stunt Show. Being my first time, I sat in the front few row not knowing that they get wet. I didn't get horribly wet, unlike some people, but there were fireworks, smoke, and sprits of water going off constantly. I thought it was a great show.
There was a Mystic Fountain right outside, and it talked to its visitors. Some boy taught it how to count to ten, and after each number, the Fountain spritzed him with water. I passed by the next day, and saw a random kid trying to photobomb a family taking a photo there. The Mystic Fountain actually sprayed water at him and got him to leave.
The least disappointing ride I rode was probably Storm Force Acceletron. It's one of those rides where you get zoomed up into the air and then back down. I thought was going to be so exhilarating, but as the ride moved so slow. And, it only went up and down three times, each time going less high. I went on alone the first day as a single rider with a family of three. The funny thing is, the next day, I went on with the same exact people.
I got to see some pretty cute animals living in their natural habitat while I was down there. I saw a family of ducks. There were three babies, who waddled after their mom, occasionally stepping out of line for a quick crumb. I also got to see a lizard, something I've never seen in the wild before, because they're not that common at where I live.
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| Line formation coming up |
During my last few hours at Islands of Adventure, I decided to go take some pictures at Seuss Landing. Turned out that I could ride mostly everything their. So, I jumped on a carousel or Caro-Seuss-el, something I have not been on for years. Then, I rode The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride, which was mostly about the sneetches. The ride retold that story while depicting some of its scenes it colorful displays.
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| Lorax forest |
I raced back to Marvel Super Hero Island, and repeatedly went on the Hulk ride maybe about five times until the park closed.
I had the best time until the very end. I loved the trip and bonding with my family. It was a great experience, and I'm grateful that I have the opportunity to be able the spend quality time with my loved ones in such a memorable way.
