Universal Orlando

I went to Universal Orlando for the first time this past summer. And let me tell you, I had the time of my life!

My sister and I planned to go, because the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter park had just opened at Islands of Adventure. We're a little obsessed, and we expected to spend a ton of time at the Harry Potter part. And we did.

We spent around 5 hours in that part alone. My cousin who went with us, who had been to Universal several times, thought we were overestimating how much time we'd spend in Harry Potter World. She said we could never find that many hours worth of stuff to do. She was very wrong.

First off, we rode the incredible simulator ride in Hogwarts Castle, and stopped every two feet to take pictures. We even were told to "move along" by one of the workers. I don't think he really understood how excited we were.

Secondly, we got to drink Butterbeer and eat in the Three Broomsticks. How cool is that?

We also rode some roller coasters and other stuff. But my sister and I spent over half an hour walking up the trail to the roller coaster ride, taking pictures of (and with) all of the "Support Harry Potter" and Triwizard Tournament signs. So cool!

But the rest of Universal rocked, too! Islands of Adventure is incredible. The Jurrasic Park ride is phenomenal. We were told we wouldn't get wet at all on that ride.

Another lie.

We rode in the first row the first time, and we were so interested in this part where there's a giant T-Rex head, that we didn't even realize we were going to plummet down a waterfall! If you've ever been there you'll know the part. We thought we were going straight into T-Rex's mouth, and we got a pretty shocking, soaked surprise when we didn't.

Like I said, incredible.

The rest of Islands of Adventure is great, too, but those are just the highlights.

At Universal Studios, I loved the Mummy ride. There was also a roller coaster, called something like Rip It Rockit, where you go straight up at a 90 degree angle. The only thing that kept me from completely losing my head was the music that played out of headphones in each separate seat. I played "Hella Good" by No Doubt in my car.

I sound like I'm on a tourism commercial, promoting Universal.

But I'm not. I just really, really love it. But, if any big-wigs from the Universal Orlando park read this, I'd be happy to do some publicity for you. In exchange for free season passes.

Honestly, though. Time of my life.

Go here. It's well worth the money. And this is coming from me, who is quite a tight-wad with cash if I do say so myself...