Dom and I went on our second Orlando trip of the year earlier this month; it was a really special trip because we went with our friends from college – Jozie and Alex. This trip came together because they were in Orlando for a conference where Jozie was recognized for getting her ACAS credential, so Dom and I flew down to join them in Orlando for a few days of theme parks after the conference. Jozie is one of my very best friends, so naturally she has heard me talk about Disney World for years and I always tried to convince her to go with me – so it kind of feels like one of my life goals is complete now.

We had three days to spend at the parks, so we decided to do one day at Universal Orlando (going to both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure) and two days at Disney – one at Magic Kingdom and one at Epcot. Alex had been to both Universal and Disney as a kid and remembered a lot about the parks, so it was fun to look up which rides he remembered that aren’t at the parks anymore – especially at Universal where there have been so many changes in the last decade. For example, he remembered Twister… Ride It Out that was replaced by Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon, and he remembered Jimmy Neutron’s Nicktoon Blast which was where Despicable Me Minion Mayhem is now.

This post is a recap of our trip – it goes over everything we did, what went well, what could have been better, and what we thought of all of the food we tried at the parks.

Day 1 – Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure

Like I mentioned, we went to both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure on our Universal day – Dom and I still had annual passes so we could go to both parks (the passes expired later in the month) and Alex and Jozie bought the 2-park tickets for the day. We worked through the attractions at Universal Studios first because it closed a few hours early that day, then spent the afternoon and evening at Islands of Adventure.

When IoA closed, they were clearly setting up for some kind of after-hours, private event – there were quite a few tables set up in Hogsmeade where they were going to serve a variety of alcohol. The next week, someone told me that it costs $30k an hour to rent out Hogsmeade and then I saw it again on TikTok; I couldn’t verify it online but assuming that’s true, it made it even more interesting.

Universal – Things that went well

• We probably walked into Universal Studios five minutes after the park officially opened; we started the day with Rip Ride Rockit and it was a walk-on which is always great since the line really builds up later in the day
• The Starbucks lines are always pretty much nonexistent at Universal and that was still true on this trip; we stopped by after Rip Ride Rockit so we could walk around Diagon Alley and watch The Tales of Beedle the Bard while getting our caffeine fix for the day
• We ate lunch at the Leaky Cauldron and it was our first time there – we really liked the Shepherd’s Pasty Pie for a plant-based option (photo below)
• Lines throughout the day weren’t too bad, and posted wait times were usually pretty accurate / slightly high compared to what we actually waited. We were there on a Thursday in May, so it could have been less busy since it was a weekday and it’s not the busiest season. I think some of our waits were:
  • 40 mins – Escape from Gringotts
  • 45 mins – VelociCoaster
  • 20 mins – Hulk (I think this was posted as 50 so that was a nice surprise)
  • Walk-on – Rip Ride Rockit (first thing in the morning)
  • Walk-on – Forbidden Journey (right after it reopened in the evening after extended closure)
• We got through most of our favorite rides including E.T. Adventure, Race Through NY Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Bourne Stuntacular, watched The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Spider-Man, Jurassic Park River Adventure, and Reign of Kong
• We didn’t do it, but Poseidon’s Fury has reopened after a long refurbishment which was nice to see open after such a long closure
• Alex and Dom got a picture (also below) next to The Mystery Machine which was very exciting because on one game night a few years ago, they were a team when the four of us were playing Codenames and somehow Alex and Dom got 6 or 7 words with the clue “Scooby-Doo”

Universal – Things that could have been better

• I’d forgotten that Revenge of the Mummy was down for refurbishment, so that was a little disappointing since it’s one of the major attractions at Universal Studios
• We had two instances where we were in line for rides and they went down:
  • Forbidden Journey went down after we’d waited maybe 15 minutes; we waited another 15 minutes or so and then left the queue. It was down for maybe 5 hours – it finally reopened about half an hour before close and then was a walk-on
  • We like to do Hagrid’s Magical Creatures at night so we had saved it for an hour before close, but it went down almost as soon as we got in line. We waited about 25 minutes while it was closed since it’s such a good ride and we really wanted to do it, but then they announced it would be an extended closure and evacuated the people still on the ride, so we gave up
• In Islands of Adventure, we always eat at Thunder Falls Terrace because they have a good jackfruit rice bowl that Dom really likes, but we didn’t realize the ordering process had changed since we were there last in October – it used to be more cafeteria style; now we placed our order with the cashier and then sat down to wait on our food. It was still quick but we might try mobile ordering next time
• We ate at NBC Sports Grill & Brew in City Walk after we left the parks – it was our first time there. The Beyond Burgers were pretty good (they serve one with BBQ Jackfruit on top) and the pretzel appetizer was giant and amazing. We did have an order mix-up which was unfortunate, but they took it off the check since we didn’t want to wait for another burger. It was kind of a long wait for the table and then again for food since it was right after the park closed, so typically I think we will stick to eating off property after the parks instead of at City Walk

Day 2 – Magic Kingdom

Dom and I were excited for our Magic Kingdom day because it was our first time to use Genie+ since it came out last year. Jozie and Alex had used it at Hollywood Studios a few days before and were glad they did; at Magic Kingdom, we felt like it was a great way to maximize our time. We were able to ride pretty much everything we wanted to while getting to the park late and leaving early.

Magic Kingdom – Things that went well

• When we were getting on the ferry in the morning at the Ticket & Transportation Center, the captain came over the loudspeaker and told me I needed a coffee refill (we had picked up Starbucks on the way to the park) which was a fun start to the morning
• Like I mentioned, Genie+ was really useful. We used it on Splash Mountain, Bug Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, and Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin so it saved us a ton of waiting time for some of the rides that can have long waits. We felt like it was definitely worth the $15 – especially when going to the parks with people who don’t go as often as we do
• We went to Casey’s Corner for lunch and loved the Plant-based Dogs, as always. I am boring and didn’t get the slaw, but Jozie, Dom, and Alex all said it was delicious
• We saw both Mickey’s Celebration Cavalcade and the Disney Adventure Friends Cavalcade – both were cool. That was the first time I saw the Adventure Friends one and it has a great variety of characters; there were some that we don’t usually see at the parks like Baloo from Jungle Book, Pocahontas, Timon from Lion King, and Nick Wilde from Zootopia
• We went to Tomorrowland to wait out the evening storm – it’s probably my favorite place to hide from storms at MK since there are so many covered areas compared to other parts of the park
  • We started with Carousel of Progress since it’s indoor and there’s tons of cover at the exit
  • We went to the PeopleMover after Carousel of Progress which is when it really started to storm. We got a little wet on the ride because of the wind blowing the rain, but overall it’s a very fun place to go to decide on a plan – the cast member let us stay on for a second time which is always fun. Rain did pour onto us at one point through a leaky ceiling on the track which was unexpected
  • After PeopleMover, we ran to Space Mountain (round 2 of the day) – it was a walk-on since no one was coming over from other areas of the park since it was still a downpour
  • When we walked out of Space Mountain there was a brief break in the storm, so we decided to head out of the park because it looked like another big storm was coming. We made it back to the car right as the rain picked back up, and it seemed like they started the fireworks a few minutes early to try and miss the storm but didn’t miss it completely
• While we were on Space Mountain, the lights for the PeopleMover track turned on because it was down briefly, so Space Mountain wasn’t as dark as usual and we could see the outline of the track which was awesome. It’s always on my bucket list to see Space Mountain with all of the lights on, but this was close enough
• We had some fun PhotoPass shots – the one near the entrance to Adventureland had a Luisa (from Encanto) Magic Shot which was unexpected – when the Cast Member had us flex for the photos, Dom and I assumed it would be with Gaston
• Aloha Isle isn’t a mobile order anymore which was nice because that felt like a waste of time; it’s only a walk-up counter again
• We walked through some of the Main Street shops a bit on our way out of the park – we were there maybe 20 minutes before the fireworks were supposed to start so the shops weren’t too busy. The Vault collection was really cool – it was my first time really seeing it

Magic Kingdom – Things that could have been better

• Dom, Jozie, and Alex tried the Doom Burger from Columbia Harbour House and weren’t very impressed with it. It’s a plant-based crab cake burger but they said it was a little dry and not anything special. I had the flatbread pizza from Pinocchio Village Haus and it was good but still not as good as the pizza from PizzeRizzo (Hollywood Studios) or Pizzafari (Animal Kingdom). It also doesn’t come with the side Cesar salad like the pizza at PizzeRizzo and Pizzafari
• Tomorrowland is a pretty good place to be when it rains, but it tends to flood a bit during big storms so our shoes were soaked from going between the rides. Obviously this wasn’t ideal, but storms are typically unavoidable in the summer (which is why a shocking number of people wear Crocs around the parks)
• We skipped Peter Pan because we kept going back and forth about if we wanted to use Genie+ on it and – like usual – the stand-by queue never died down
• We’d planned to do Seven Dwarves during the Enchantment fireworks show but since we left early due to the storm, we skipped that ride too
• For some reason, Alex was flagged at security to go through the bag check line – he didn’t have a bag so we’re not sure if something in his pockets set it off, or what happened. It was a bit of a wait compared to what I’ve seen in the past at the TTC and compared to what we saw at the other parks on that trip. We did get there a little late and the parking lot trams are running again, so a combination of those could be why security was backed up a bit. It wasn’t a huge deal – just a little annoying because it already takes significantly longer to get to MK compared to the other parks (due to the parking lot structure and the ferry)
• We almost got row 15 on Big Thunder Mountain, but they called us to the other track which was disappointing – I don’t think Dom and I have ever been able to ride in row 15

Day 3 – Epcot

I was looking forward to our Epcot day for a few reasons:

• Dom and I typically book weekend trips with two park days, so having a third park day felt like a bonus day
• Flower & Garden is my favorite Epcot festival because I really love the topiaries and there are so many plant-based options at the Outdoor Kitchens
• I had an Annual Passholder preview pass for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
• The new Starbucks (Connections Cafe) opened only a couple weeks before our trip
• It was only the second time that Dom and I rode Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure

Epcot – Things that went well

• I liked Cosmic Rewind a lot. I have a quick recap of my thoughts here (includes spoilers!)
• We went straight to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure when we got to the park and only waited about 25 minutes in the queue. It seemed like the line died down a bit right after the park opened – maybe because people were splitting up between Remy and Frozen (Test Track didn’t open in the morning) for the first ride of the day
• We had a lot of really great festival food (more on this below)
• Flower & Garden is always pretty, and this year was no exception. The topiaries and gardens were all spectacular, and I thought the placement of the topiaries was better than it’s been in some years. They felt a little more spread out throughout the park
  • I also felt like the Flower & Garden merch collections were better than in prior years – there was a really great selection and everything was super cute
• We walked through the Butterfly house for the first time – I asked a cast member outside of the house if the butterflies escape often and he said some of them do but it’s totally fine because they’re all native to the area, which was interesting
• The Starbucks in Creations Cafe is a really great space – there’s tons of seating and the line didn’t feel as crammed as it does at Hollywood Studios. It’s definitely a good spot to escape the rain for Epcot because it’s connected to the Connections Eatery and there’s huge covered walkway to get to the Creations Shop (which is probably my favorite shop on WDW property)
• We missed an evening storm pretty much perfectly – the rain started for the first time of the day right when we got to the car
• We tried the margaritas from Choza de Margarita in Mexico and they were all delicious – Dom had the Top Shelf Clasica, Alex had The Cucumber, and Jozie and I both had the frozen Classic Lime. Dom and I have never tried them before since the line is always so long, so we were glad for an excuse to finally get them. It was obviously super refreshing, and then we walked right over and got to watch the Viva Mexico show – they sang me happy birthday since my birthday was the next week which was exciting
• I had a Joffrey’s giant blue donut which is always a highlight of Disney trips for me
• We picked up the 50th Celebration Epcot Starbucks pin and a cute Flower & Garden Mickey pin. I skipped the passholder pin this time because it was Figment and he’s not my favorite
• This is just a funny story – Jozie was trying to finish drying her rain poncho while we were walking into Epcot before she put it in her bag… Like starting when we got out of the car all the way until we were almost to Ratatouille. It was kind of making a swishing noise continuously since she was moving it back and forth to dry it and apparently the noise was getting to Dom, so finally he turned to her and said he would just buy her a new one. (At that point it was dry so he didn’t need to, but it was really funny that he offered)

Flower & Garden Food Reviews

Overall I thought the food options at the Flower & Garden Outdoor Kitchens were pretty good this year. They always have more plant-based options which is nice since we’re vegetarian. We were able to complete the Garden Graze Challenge (all plant-based items) in the Festival Passports which was fun – the reward was a free Dole Whip. One thing I’d forgotten is that the free reward is for any combination of five of the challenge foods, so getting two of one item gives two stamps. Below are the Kitchens / foods we tried and what we rated them.

Epcot – Things that could have been better

• We bought Genie+ since we appreciated it so much the day before at Magic Kingdom, but we really only used it on Frozen at Epcot. We tried to use it on Test Track but it ended up closing due to weather during our time window (more on this below). I can see it being more useful on busier days though
• Test Track was really delayed to start – it didn’t open until maybe early afternoon, and that caused Genie+ afternoon spots to fill up fast since there were no spots in the morning. We had a Genie+ for it at 7:05p, but a storm blew in right then and we didn’t end up getting to use it. This is normally disappointing, but it was especially tragic on this trip because Alex said when he came to WDW as a kid, the ride broke super early on so they evacuated it and he didn’t get to ride it again after that. So, now he still has still never been able to ride it
• We had some really bad luck with animals at Epcot – we saw a rat near Morocco in the World Showcase, and a bird pooped on our picnic table at one point while we were eating (the cast members were nice as always and gave me new soup)
• We left early because of the storm (it was obvious that it wasn’t going anywhere) so we missed Harmonious. There was a thunderstorm for the rest of the night so leaving was the right choice, but kind of disappointing that Jozie and Alex didn’t get to see the show

Other Trip Details

Flight & Arriving in Orlando

Like usual, Dom and I flew Allegiant from one of the regional airports near us in central Illinois to the Sanford / Orlando airport. It’s a little farther from Disney and Universal than the MCO airport, but that’s really the only downside – the regional airports are closer to us than Chicago, they have free parking, and the tickets are cheaper since they’re budget airlines; we are experts at packing everything we need for Disney trips in backpacks. We rented a car from Hertz at SFB to get around during the trip; Uber / Lyft would be really expensive since the airport is farther from the parks and we stay off property.

We had an evening flight; on one hand, evening flights are great for not having to take PTO; on the other hand, it’s not ideal for eating dinner – especially because we lose an hour with the time change so it’s pretty late when we land and most places are closed. We’ve handled this a few different ways in the past depending on what time we land (grabbing early dinner before the flight, Chipotle on the way to our hotel, Mod Pizza near our hotel) but this time we tried the Flippers Pizzeria that is a few minutes from the Sanford / Orlando airport once we landed. We liked it and will probably stop there again when we have late flights since it’s close to the airport and open until 11p; I had a personal pizza and Dom had a roasted veggie sandwich.

Driving to the theme park area from SFB is relatively straightforward; we we turn off toll routes on Apple Maps, drive to I-4, and stay on that until we get to the exit for our hotel. It’s pretty straightforward and not usually busy late at night or early in the morning; it tends to get backed up in the early afternoon though and it seems like there’s always construction going on. I saw a Tweet once that said “be like I-4: always be working on yourself” and it was incredibly accurate.

Hotel

Dom and I have the IHG (they own all of the Holiday Inn brands as well as some others) credit card now but we typically stayed at Holiday Inn hotels even before we had it, so we like to joke that we’ve tried every Holiday Inn around Disney and Universal.

On this trip, we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites – Lake Buena Vista (address: 11409 Marbella Palms Court, Orlando, FL 32836). It was new to us on this trip and I think it’s our favorite IHG hotel in the area for a few reasons:

• The rooms were really nice; it seemed to be a newer hotel
• Since it’s in the “Express & Suites” brand, it has the standard complimentary hotel breakfast which is nice to grab a bagel / cereal / banana / etc. before heading to the parks
• It’s right next to a lot of shops and food – within a mile there was a Target, Starbucks, Mod Pizza, Crumbl Cookie, Taco Bell, White Castle, Cheesecake Factory, outlet mall, and more. This was convenient for us to grab morning coffee from Starbucks as well as after park snacks
• The hotel is about halfway between Universal and Disney, which is great for trips where we’re going to both – it took us about 15 mins to get to Universal and 20 mins to get to Magic Kingdom and Epcot

Leaving Orlando

We had an early flight (7am) to head back home which made for an early morning – we woke up at 4:40a and left at 5a because sometimes security gets backed up at SFB but it was actually fine this time; I think it’s worse for flights closer to 6a because there are quite a few that leave between 6a and 6:30a most days. There are plenty of gas stations between Universal and the airport to fill up the rental car, and the signs are really clear for where to drop off rental cars based on which rental car company the car is from.

As always, comment if you have any questions on anything we did or tips for our next trip!