The next stop on this Contiki was ORLANDO! I've never been here before but the last time I was in America, I was 8 years old with my parents, they took me to Universal Studios in Los Angeles and it is one of my favourite childhood memories. I so vividly remember being with mum on the Jurassic Park Ride. As you can imagine I was pretty excited to relive these childhood memories at the Orlando Universal Studios, especially now that they had the Springfield Simpsons area.
This was the rundown of our activities for the next couple of days. Universal is an optional activity with Contiki but I genuinely don't think any of the people on our tour didn't go. The night we arrived it was raining so everyone scattered and got their own dinner. I genuinely don't remember what we did that night I am sure my roommate Jenny and I just watched a movie and took advantage of the little bit of recovery time we had.
The next day we all got dropped off at Universal with our tickets in hand ready to run around like 8 year olds off our heads on sugar. As soon as we got to the gates it was chaos who was with who. I ended up separating with my friends and spending the whole day with Louis, we had been sitting next to each other on most bus trips so far and ended up having such a fun day together. The weather wasn't amazing, but it wasn't raining and that was enough for me.
To give you a brief summary of the rides we went on ...
Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts - worth it if you are a fan, pretty straightforward simulation but satisfying and the props are really detailed
Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure - One of the quickest rides. Satisfying enough but over extremely quickly
The Forbidden Journey - This ride is good and really immersive. If you are a potter head you will love this so much
Jurassic Park River Adventure - 10/10 will do this every time as it is one of my favourite movies of all time
The Incredible Hulk Coaster - terrifying, I want to ride it 10 times
Doctor Doom’s FearFall - These will always mess me up. Just that feeling of your stomach rising up through your chest, its just not really for me
The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man - I did this one in Japan and it's so fun, highly recommend.
Skull Island Reign of King Kong - I do really like when they combine simulator with movement so you are still on a rollercoaster track but it is heavily simulated graphics. Thats more my vibe rather than just sitting in a still car and it gets moved back and forth.
Fast & Furious Supercharged - BORING but nice cars on the way in
Transformers: The Ride 3D - A lot of 'rides' these days are like this. They aren't bad, it's enjoyable but after you've been on your 5th one of these simulation style rides it just gets a bit whatever
Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit - I love a rollercoaster any day so this was a vibe
Fear Factor Live - So much nasty and so entertaining. Watched a girl have scorpions crawl on her face and a guy sat in a bathtub of snakes. This is a great halfway point when you need to rest your legs but you aren't ready for food yet
Revenge of The Mummy - yes yes yes, rollercoaster, in the dark! Sign me up!
Men In Black: Alien Attack - this was really fun and interactive but i am terrible at all things shooting related so i failed quite miserably compared to Louis
The Simpsons Ride - Everything past season 9 is garbage and considering how much this referenced the movie you can probably guess my feels about this one
The best part about the Simpson's ride is everything surrounding it. The life size statues, the branded food the souvenirs. This area made me so happy even if the ride was only average.
This area was my happy place.
Lunch consisted of a couple of Krusty Burgers. The best part about them making the food inspired by Krusty Burger is that it doesn't even have to be good. Cause you know that's probably the same level of taste you would actually get from a Krusty Burger. It makes sense in my head..
Of course they had a Moe's and of course we got some Duff beers with a side of Flaming Moe's.
After one of those really amazing days that you know you will cherish the memories years on from now, we ended the day eating this badboy giant pink donut at a bus stop waiting for Contiki to collect us. I slept so well that night. My inner child had been well and truly satisfied and was ready for bed.
erica
