Finally Back to Universal!

I typically like to visit Universal and Disney once a month or every other month… but these last 6 months have been different. First, I finally closed on our new-build home at the end of last year, which of course brings its own new features. Second, Maddie started at a new school in our new district- so there was an adjustment period for both of us with that. Third, my lovely ex-husband went out of his way to push his agenda for a reduction in child support (that story is for another post), which all led to the 5 month gap in Universal visits for us this year 😫

Even though I missed a couple of things I would have liked to have gone down for, I’m still really happy Maddie and I are settling in our new home. I was really excited to see the passholder discount on our room at Cabana Bay for when Maddie got done with school! It was worth it to wait until she got out of school and go during the week 😃

Camp Jurassic

I had to work memorial day weekend, but it worked out because we were able to leave first thing Tuesday morning and it seemed like a lot of people were heading out from the holiday weekend. We got to the hotel around 9am and headed to Islands of Adventure shortly after. I suspected our room would be ready by mid-day so I didn’t bring all the usual park essentials like sunscreen and wands 🤪. We still had a great time! We got Green Eggs and Ham, rode Popeyes, played in Camp Jurassic and had some delicious food! Finally just before 4pm, I got the notice that the room was ready! We went back to the resort and brought all of our stuff into the room then went down to the pool 🤩 By the time we got down to the pool, it was after 5pm so we decided we wouldn’t go back to the park that evening. We went to the other pool instead then got dinner at the Bayliner Diner and went back to the room.

The next morning we didn’t wake up as early as planned, but it was good to get some extra sleep! We still arrived at the park for Early Park Admission, which helped us jump on pteranodon flyers in about 15 minutes (anyone with a child who has been able to ride this will know this is a reasonable time to wait for this attraction). We got butterbeer and more green eggs and ham 😋.

Butterbeer in Diagon Alley

I was able to briefly check out the Jurassic Park Tribute Store at Universal Studios and it was AMAZING!!! I seriously need to go back there before they change it! Jurassic Park and the lost world are probably my 2 all-time favorite novels (outside of the Harry Potter books).

Jurassic Park Tribute Store Trifle

Maddie also adopted 2 new pets on this trip 🤪

Molly, her Dr. Suess kitty 😺

‘No melt ice cream’

Apparently we have no pictures of her with her new turtle 🤷‍♀️

Thursday morning we went to Islands of Adventure to ride a couple of rides and got separated from our friends… there was an amazing security guard who helped them find us and took amazing care of us after! I have seriously never been more impressed! We had a bowling reservation for Thursday afternoon, which was perfect because it was basically the only time it rained!

Maddie and I went back to the parks Friday after I packed up our stuff and packed the car. We had a lot of chill downtime and it was amazing!