First free couple of days - EPCOT and Universal Studios

E P C O T

First day off training so I decided to head to EPCOT to do some exploring and go on some rides for research purposes you know so I can advise guests on where to go and what to go on ;). As a big fan of Ellen Degeneres I just had to go on my first Disney Ride with Ellen as the leading role 'Ellen's Energy Adventure', an old school ride that needs updating but hey Ellen is there so what's not to love?

I then ventured over to The Land to do the 'Living with the Land' ride which is a little boat tour inside a greenhouse where you can see the various ways of food production and you can also see the various ecosystems and get to see creatures such as baby alligators, eels and various other fish (and some hidden mickeys are to be seen on the ride too if you keep your eyes peeled). After my boat ride I went to go on the Figment ride for the first time ever. Figment is a small purple Dragon and is deemed as the mascot to the Imagination at EPCOT. The ride was interesting, it won't be a favourite of mine but I'm pleased I have been on it now. I then went for a wonder around Mouse Gear then headed over to the World Showcase and found myself drawn to tuneful songs sung by the acapella group The All American Music Machine. I think I will now be their number 1 fan. It's like real life Pitch Perfect - my idea of heaven! There I met up with my friend Hollie who works over at HRC (Historical Research Centre) after the performance we continued to explore all the various countries the world showcase has to offer and the delights they have in store such as in Japan they sell Pineapple flavoured gummy sweets, marshmallows that have nutella hidden inside, amongst Hello Kitty Merchandise, swords oh and in Germany they have an AMAZING caramel shop called "Karamell-Kuche" which is a must visit and I could go on as each country has so much to offer, but I'll save that for a post another day. So we finished our world travelling at Mexico and went on Mexico's Three Caballeros ride which if you haven't been on before is a boat ride inside the pyramid which takes you on a journey to explore and discover the wonders of Mexico and of course the Three Caballeros in the form of Donald Duck and his friends Jose and Panchito join you for the fun.

Having finished exploring the world showcase we decided to head on over to Future World West to check out the Seas with Nemo and Friends area we checked out the ride and went to Turtle Talk with Crush which is amazing, then hopped off and went exploring the tanks they have there where I got to see the biggest Sting Ray I have ever seen in my life.

Hi Mr.Ray!!!

We also then went exploring the other tanks and got to see some divers, Manatees, Dolphins, Jellyfish e.t.c. and I also took part in a quiz where I pretty much failed but did get given the title of Sea Worthy so...yeah. 

Then time to go on Spaceship Earth for the first time since arriving here! I love this ride not only because number one it's really cool that you get to go INSIDE the big golf ball (it's correct name is Spaceship Earth) but two it's educational in a fun way talking you through the development of communication and the best bit Judi Dench is the narrator for it -what more could you want from a ride? Haha :P. It was a lot of fun as you also get to create your own future world which is hilarious but I won't give away any spoliers on here.

To finish the day we ate at Electric Umbrella both Hollie's and my first Disney Dining experience.

This is the life, I could get used to this!

From the World to the Universe - 

First Universal Studios day!

After some confusion over how to get to Universal we decided to ditch waiting for the iTrolley and try out Uber instead, which ended up getting us there much quicker than the bus would have done - hooray!


First stop after arriving and taking the obligatory group photo by the spinny sign, purchase of our annual passes, which for me was pretty straight forward as all I had to do was show a letter I got from Disney Housing to confirm I am a Floridian resident, show my photo ID then voila one Florida Resident's annual pass to Universal I have! Score!

At this point we were all pretty hungry so we headed for food in the Universal Studios' Classic Monsters Cafe where we got to use our annual passes for discount - win! Over food we discussed our next move and chose The Mummy ride for the first ride to go on. To say I was nervous would be an understatement but I sucked it up and ended up going on it twice in a row as the queue was so small - success! I was very proud. After a bit of an adrenaline rush we walked by the start of the Beetlejuice Graveyard Revue show so decided to pop on in. I loved the music but as Hollie and I agreed if we actually had seen the movie I'm sure it would have made much more sense. But hey it was good whether we understood what was happening or not haha!

Then what our group was most looking forward to Diagon Alley!!! Hollie had been before so for the rest of us we were in complete awe. Now I'm not the biggest Harry Potter fan and certainly no Potter Head but even I was blown away and amazed at what an incredible job Universal has done. My hat goes off to them. We explored all the shops and went on the Gringotts ride which was full of surprises (don't worry I won't spoil it for those who haven't been) but OMG it is good! After the ride we went to get some ice cream and boarded the Hogwarts Express train over to the second park Universal has, Islands of Adventure which is home to Hogsmeade. Hands down the best train ride I have ever had haha.

The rest of the group went on some more rides until the park closed and we headed back home.

One big fun day at Universal Studios!