Fall has arrived in Orlando!

Well maybe Florida hasn't gotten the fall temperature memo, but fall events are in full swing at the Orlando theme parks. 

Night of Joy (Disney's ESPN Wide World of Sports)

The first weekend after labor day marks both Disney and Universal's Christian music festivals. This year they both took place on Friday 9th/Saturday 10th. This was the first year Disney moved the music festival to ESPN Wide World of Sports. I didn't attend but there was a good line-up this year and I might go next year.

Rock the Universe (Universal Studios Florida)

Because I have a special Universal pass I was able to attend this year's event for free. It was the same dates as Disney's Night of Joy. I really wanted to attend Friday nights line-up but hadn't been feeling well, but my roommates and I decided to go for a little bit on Saturday. It was definitely crowded, but it wasn't as hectic as I thought it would be. I enjoyed the end of Family Force 5's concert and all of TobyMac's concert. It was fun, but I don't think my roommates were prepared for the type of music they heard. It was fun and I might go again next year if there are some bands that I like, but I would probably never go if I had to pay for it. 

Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party (Disney's Magic Kingdom)

This hard ticket event runs for a bunch of nights in Septmeber and October. This year the parties started on Sept 2nd. I went two years ago and had tons of fun! Costumes, trick-or-treating, rare character meet and greats, an awesome parade and fireworks so and so much more! What more can you ask for? I have my ticket purchased for this Tuesday with some explorer buddies that will be in town to visit. I'm so excited to see them and see the Hocus Pocus show!

Epcot International Food and Wine Festival (Disney's Epcot)

This year Food and Wine is longer than ever! It started Wednesday Sept 14th. I went for my first of many visits Friday night. It stormed for a while causing the booths to be closed down, but I still had a good walk around the world showcase to see the great offerings this year. I started off with the Brazilian cheese bread an the Apple Pie drink from Poland which were some favorites from last year. The books this year have stickers instead of having to find who has the stamps for each country and I can't want to taste my way around the world for my third year!

Halloween Horror Nights (Universal Studios Florida)

Now for the very scary HHN! This year's event started yesterday (Friday), but my roommate is a team member and so I was lucky enough to attend the team member preview on Wednesday. We even had express passes so we were able to go to every house! I think I'll have to go back a few more times to make any final conclusions, but last year was pretty awesome, so I think it will be hard to top! Here's to another month and a half of getting scared!

Some of the other Central Parks have fun fall events coming up (SeaWorld's Halloween Spooktacular and Busch Garden's Howl-O-Scream) that haven't started yet, but I have annual passes to both so I am definitely go to try and go check them out later this year. However, I think with Horror Nights and Food and Wine starting this past week, we can say that fall is back and as good as ever!

Celebrating our 240th Independence

4th of July is one of my favorite holidays of the year and of course is especially made better with a 3 day weekend! After a week of not sleeping very well I enjoyed some extra time of relaxation, but also had a great time celebrating in the parks!

Saturday 2nd

My roommate rented a room at the Hard Rock Hotel so we had a ball at Universal! I'd been inside to go to the Velvet lounge during Mardi Gras (Thank you Mardi Gras Universal app for free drinks! What what?!?!) The rooms were even more amazing and we could even see CityWalk and the parks from our room! We had planned to spend the afternoon at the pool but when we first checked in it was pouring rain so we headed to CityWalk to go to one of the best places ever: Red Oven Pizza! It is seriously soooo good. Instead of heading back to the pool we decided to just hang out at the parks. We saw so of the cars cycling at the Hulk so hopefully it means that it will be back up and smoother than ever! I even got to watch part of the 100 years of movies nighttime show that I've never seen before. I'll definitely have to go back and see the whole thing. Before heading in for a relatively early night in we headed back to CityWalk to grab a bite to eat at Hot Dog Hall of Fame (where I of course got the Detroit option!)

Sunday 3rd 

We had such a great night sleep. Those beds at Hard Rock are COMFY! Today is the day that the holiday celebrations really began. Disney knows how to do fireworks so of course they do special ones for the holiday where they come hand and hand at both EPCOT and MK. This might seem to be a torn decision on what to attend, but luckily Magic Kingdom perimeter ones are on the 3rd and 4th, so I of course wanted to get the best of both worlds. My roommates and I met up with my roommate Sam's friends from out of town right before the fireworks at Magic Kingdom, which were amazing. I do have to say the best spot to see them is in the Hub. Afterwards we decided to go show our visitors Animal Kingdom at night. We were only there for about an hour, but we got a ton done including dinosaur twice, Everest, and a great safari where we saw the Hyenas!!!! I was pretty much jumping up and down because I've been waiting forever to see them! After a great night, Sam and her friends went back to MK for extra magic hours until 3am, but Corey, Scott, and I headed over to the new Applebees for some half price apps.

Monday 4th

Finally was the actual holiday! I celebrated by the all american decisions to go to Starbucks for their frappuccino deal and Five Guys for a great American cheeseburger. Then Corey, Scott, and I met up with Sam and her friends again for an evening of fun at EPCOT. We were lucky enough to be able to go on Test Track and the new Soarin', which I do think it is an improvement over the old one. Then we made our way around the world showcase before playing some Heads Up waiting for the fireworks. 

Overall, while we definitely know that summer has hit us with some crazy heat and humidity, it was a fantastic weekend with a good balance of relaxation, friends, parks, and celebrations. I have to say if you are ever in town for the Independence Day fireworks they are totally worth the crowds to watch! Like I said, Disney knows how to do fireworks. :) After such a great weekend, it was definitely hard to get up to go to work on Tuesday! lol

A Universally Good Time

Dana and I had been in contact with Josh about going to Universal on our day off this week. Since I had just done pretty much all of Universal Studios with my mom a few weeks ago, I really wanted to conquer Islands of Adventure. The only things I had done in the months since I had gotten my Universal pass was Hogsmead.

Dana and I headed out around 10 and on our way there we saw two gators! One was hiding in a pond and only I saw him. The other was HUGE and was out of the water sunning by a pond near a CVS. Dana luckily was able to catch a glimpse of him too without crashing.

We got there much earlier and started off in the direction of Seuss Landing. We went through the If I Ran the Zoo play area. We had super fun. lol. Then we went over to the Cat in the Hat ride and had to fight off the urge to by the things (especially mugs) in the gift shop. Then we went on the One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish ride. It shoots water out as you go around so we tried to avoid it. I unfortunately was on the side with the water and I got wet. Next we headed off to the Caro-Seuss-el. Dana had her eye on this pink elephant. As she was taking a picture of it, two girls pretty much pushed her off of it. So we found another elephant and I got on a flying fish. Last we finished out journey in Suess Landing by going on The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride! It was cool since it went over the whole land and through one of the dining areas. They only were using one side and I want to know what the other side is like. Before we left, I got some pop.

The next land was The Lost Continent. Poseidon's Fury had a long wait so we decided to skip it. We also checked out the price of Mythos Restaurant (which is very highly rated) wasn't actually too overpriced. We checked and The Eighth Voyage of Sindbad Stunt Show was going to start in a few minutes so we decided to check it out. It wasn't super awesome. It was cool too see but wasn't really worth seeing again.

We were walking through Hogsmead and Josh and crew were supposedly nearly there, but Dana and I were hungry, I was in the mood for burgers, and Dana knew that they had some in Jurassic Park. I was so happy since I love that movie!!! Josh and his new girlfriend Amber and her friend Allie (I think...) met us and got some food too. I got a combo which came with fries and a shake and I paid to get some cheese. Totally delicious and worth it. Next we headed back to Harry Potter Hogsmead and rode Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and we actually got to see the bubbly snow in the charms classroom. Flight of the Hippogriff had a bit of a wait so we skipped it and headed to the Dragon Challenge. Josh didn't want to do it so he held all of our purses while we went on the last row of blue coaster. I haven't ridden the red coaster so I will have to do that next time. We debated going to take the Hogwarts Express over the Diagon Alley, but the wait was 20 minutes and I still wanted to check out more of Islands of Adventure.

We decided to head back to Jurassic Park and rode the Jurassic Park River Adventure which Amber and Allie hadn't gone on. It was pretty good. I would totally go on it more often, but it is a water ride. I totally got the least of the water, but the drop was so worth it. So much better than the Splash Mountain drop and a better lead up, too. Pteranodon Flyers looks awesome but you have to be a kid or the parent of a kid to go on it. :( We decided we were going to pay some parents to let us borrow their children. We skipped the next two rides Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges and  Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls since they were both water rides. I totally want to do them sometime though.

The last land was Marvel Super Hero Island. First was The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man. It is a lot like the Transformers Ride in Studios. Next Allie, Dana, and I went to Doctor Doom’s Fearfall. The shoot up was pretty cool but the drops were super lame. Josh had run into someone we knew and had given him and Amber some free hot dogs (apparently weren't good) and I got a free coke refill. Last up in marvel we went to The Incredible Hulk Coaster Amber and Josh skipped out again. It had a ton of loops. It was crazy. No one wanted to go on  Storm Force Accelatron besides me so I'll have to go back. We checked to see if Captain America had come out so Dana could get a picture with him, but his line as closed. I luckily got the last picture with Woleverine, though.

Allie really wanted to go on Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, but that is Amber and Josh's "no" ride so she had never gone on it. So even though Dana and I were ready to leave we headed over to Studios to go on it with her. It was down when we first got there so we headed over to The Mummy which is Amber (or was it Allie's?) and Dana's favorite ride. It confirmed that some of the effects weren't working right when we went on it. We headed back over to Rockit and it had a bit of a wait, but it was even better than before. I wasn't as tight so I had a more free ride. I even thought I was going to fall out at the beginning. I chose "Bring Me to Life" by Evanescence. It was a good song choice.

It was a great day. We did almost everything in the park, so I think with another day I can finish everything from both parks I haven't done yet. So pumped.

I'll add pictures later.