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Last week wasn't only our first ever visit to Halloween Horror Nights Orlando, it was also our first return trip to Universal Orlando Resort since 2006. So we had a LOT to see. I had stayed at the resort in 2019 for a conference, but never went into the parks, so we were long overdue for a visit. We had an amazing 4 days at our resort and the parks and we cannot wait to get back. So much so that we are now Universal Orlando AP's! We've now been AP's to every major park in Florida with the exception of Legoland and Fun Spot. Let's head in and have some fun! Written by Gregg Condon  Going to start off with this pic because I love it. Had some photoshop fun with this one. Did Velocicoaster reach #1 on my coaster list? Read on to find out!  We arrived at our hotel around 11:00am and our room wasn't quite ready, so instead we picked up our Costco Travel park tickets and had some lunch. It was only about $65 to upgrade our tickets to UOAP's so it was kind of a no-brainer to do so. Imagine that, being able to upgrade tickets to Annual Passes at any time. =)  After lunch we headed out to the Hideaway Bar and enjoyed some drinks and chats with the awesome bartenders there.  Finally at about 3:00 our room was ready. We had a great room!  We thought about maybe heading into the parks, but after a week of non-stop in Canada we decided we'd take a break and start fresh the next morning.  The next morning we headed to IOA for early entry.  After getting in the VERY wrong line for early entry, we decided to head straight for Hagrid's, which turned out to not be the best choice.  It was very chilly, I didn't expect that we'd need our Canada clothes in Florida. =)  Sadly Hagrid's never opened for early entry, in fact, this was one of the things we never got to ride during our trip.  I then decided to head over to VelociCoaster, however the single rider was closed and I didn't feel right having Kristi wait for me to ride first thing on our vacation. We'll get back to the Single Rider on this later. =)  It was a beautiful morning for some pics though. Oddly enough, the Intamin was the only coaster at both parks that didn't seem overly impacted by the cooler weather. Go figure.  We decided to wander through Hogsmeade instead  It felt weirdly familiar, but just a bit off  Definitely loved this view though!
 Almost a full loop around the park before we found something open!  That's ok, it's one of our favorite rides ever!  I couldn't remember if we rode this in 2006, I didn't recall when I rode. Most highly themed space shot ever.  I love this park so much, one of my all time favorites.  And easily one of the best themed areas of any theme park ever. They should replace Springfield at USH with this. They could easily do Cat In The Hat and a Grinch Dark Ride in the building where Simpsons is.
 We love this dark ride so much  We of course had to go into the All Hallows Eve Boutique
 Time for our first ever trip on the Hogwarts Express!    And our first visit to Diagon Alley! Wow!
  After spending some time in Diagon Alley and a ride on Escape from Gringotts, it was time to visit one of our other favorite Universal Attractions.   Hands down our favorite shooter ride. And it's not really even close.  We sadly didn't catch the Horror Make Up Show this time, but it's on the list for our next trip.  We did however catch the Bourne Stuntacular which was all kinds of amazing. And we aren't generally "show" people.  After Bourne we decided to head back to the hotel for a nap since we had a long night of Halloween Horror Nights ahead of us! It was a great day 1!  After being at HHN until 1am I miraculously made it for early entry at IOA to get some rides on VelociCoaster. I let Kristi sleep in while I went and had some coaster fun!  HYPE!!!  The wait was posted as 15, it was maybe 5 and that was only because I waited for the front for my first ride.   Uh Oh, one is missing!  Is it my new #1 coaster, less than 2 months after riding my previous new #1 coaster ... yes, yes it is!  Another beautiful morning for some coaster pics!
  Ended up riding 3 times in about 30 minutes and could have definitely ridden it all day. But I had some other things to do! A few shots of VelociCoaster in action are below, pics that nobody else has ever taken. =)  I of course had to head over to get a ride on Hulk, which was definitely one of my favorites in 2006. My front row ride was super fun although I was a bit surprised about the rattle considering they just replaced all the track a few years back. Still, one of the most fun and dynamic coasters around.  Decided to do another lap around the park since it wasn't busy and get some pics. Absolutely love Toon Lagoon and am kind of shocked they haven't updated this to more current characters. Please don't get any ideas Universal. =)  One of the most criminally underrated comic books and comic book movies!  My son that just got married took a pic right here on our last trip to Universal Orlando Resort  THAT is how long ago our last trip was. LOL! Apparently the truck has been moved in the past 16 years.  Oh look, more VelociCoaster pics!  Just a few more, I promise!  The lighting was actually pretty awesome for some pics around the park    It's already the holidays in Seuss Landing!   Don't think I mentioned this yet, but the sheer amount of Coke Freestyle machines around the resort is kind of amazing. The hotel, both parks, CityWalk ... kudos!   After heading back to the hotel to grab my better half, we headed to the Studios as we had one priority for the day! And no, it wasn't seeing the Mystery Machine.  BOO!  We tried to see if this was an actual restaurant in Hollywood, or a former one, but all google came up with was the one at Universal. Anybody know if it was real?  Highlight of the day was the dad singing the Goofy Goober song at the top of his lungs as we were passing by here.  This was our priority for the day!!
 As well as taking the Hogwarts Express the other direction back to IOA, which we actually preferred.  All queue lines should have stands where you can buy beer.
 We decided to try and give Hagrid's another try, this is as close as we got as it kept breaking down and we needed to get to the studios park for HHN Stay and Scream. Say what you will about Disney's LL+, but we would have gladly paid to not have to deal with this. Oh well, next trip for sure!  We instead decided to do Poseidon's Fury since we'd never done it. We both loved it!  These buffalo tots from Green Eggs and Ham were pretty awesome!  Waiting for Universal Monsters Stay and Scream we saw some old friends!   And a couple Dufftoberfest's   Our 3rd and final day was a day of sleeping in and day drinking before heading to IOA in the afternoon.  Our last Universal Park day for this trip  Single Rider on Hulk FTW! In fact, we determined that Single Rider definitely works best on rides with 3 or 4 across, not so much with 2 across.  Another new to us ride!  And of course a ride on one of our favorites!  We decided to have a late lunch/early dinner at Confisco Grille, we absolutely loved it! 
Jalapeno Margarita is highly recommended
 Everything was most excellent  I decided to take one last spin on VelociCoaster before heading out, and used the single rider line despite the warnings from so many of you on social media. You were all right. It really doesn't make a difference on this ride as the line moves very quickly. There was somebody in the line in this front area and he got on the ride about 5 minutes before me. SO there you go. =)  That wraps it up for our 3 days at Universal Orlando. We had an amazing time, took it chill for the most part and got to experience everything we wanted to with the exception of Hagrid's and Kong. We also didn't do Jimmy Fallon at the Studios park. We'll be back next May before our cruise and can't wait to get some more rides on our favorites! Related Videos
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After multiple, and I mean at least 4, cancelled trips to Halloween Horror Nights Orlando over the past decade, we FINALLY made it to our most anticipated Halloween event! And despite all of that hype it did not disappoint. We obviously knew what to expect for the most part, but the event is just as amazing as you'd heard. A few things we weren't prepared for were the treks to some of the houses, so our original 3 nights at the event really turned into 1 1/2 nights, but with Express the first night this was actually perfect for us. We got a chance to do all of the houses, a few of our favorites more than once, we spent a lot of time in the scare zones, had some tasty treats, and spent some fun time in Diagon Alley since it was our first trip there too. Let's head in for some Halloween fun! Written by Gregg Condon  Before heading to Horror Nights, we decided to check out some of the Halloween fun at our hotel, Cabana Bay!  Some really awesome displays and drinks at the Swizzle Lounge!  And of course the Gallery of Legends, which was so great.  We were able to take video of the display below.   Has any of this been in a house before, or was this all new?   The Wolf Man is my favorite Universal Monster so I loved this part!   So many great displays!   Let's head in for some Horror Nights Fun!!  We're finally here!! I thought I was being original wearing a 2012 HHN Hollywood shirt, I saw 2 in our first line. LOL!  We did Halloween for Stay and Scream so we could do it twice with our Express! On night 2 we did Universal Monsters for Stay and Scream which was a better choice as far as lines were concerned.  I hadn't ridden Universal Orlando's Mummy since 2006 so I had to take a spin. IMO, the effects and show on this one are better than Hollywood, but I actually think the coaster part is better in Hollywood. 
 The Meetz Locker was very cool, and had some tasty treats!   This made us laugh way more than it probably should have.  For all of the Bears in our audience!  This chicken was awesome!  Team Blinky Cup!!!  We had so much fun in the scare zones!   And we finally got Pizza Fries!! They were quite tasty and worth the wait.  Lots of great lighting displays throughout the park.  We were interested to check out Blumhouse on the east coast.  We actually loved this one, and it was one of our favorite houses at the event!  We spent a lot of time in Diagon Alley since it was our first time seeing it. We absolutely loved it!  We also absolutely loved Gringotts.
We need these ice cream options in Hollywood! Although if we had Butterbeer soft serve I'd no longer be able to fit on any rides at the park.  One of the hidden gems in Diagon Alley, and we loved it!
 So awesome and creepy   On night 2 we saw Nightmare Fuel Wildfire. A definite fun show!  Although, not quite sure how the show was a nightmare for that dude. =)  One of our most "anticipated" mazes, my wife was actually very nervous for it.  Absolutely LOVED it. Reminded me of Cabana Bay, but a house with bugs in it.  Descendants of Destruction. Not one of our favorites, but still some great sets and lots of fun.  Been waiting a LONG time to see this sign.   Universal Monsters was another of our favorites and we can't wait to go back into the Monsters House at HHN Hollywood this weekend!  Also finally got my credit on Rip, Ride, RockIt. I think my facial expression says it all. =)  We had a lot of fun in Hellblock Horror! Some really stellar talent in this house!  What visit to HHN would be complete without a visit to the Tribute Store?
More Scare Zone fun!!   The Pumpkin Lord rules over all!  Hope you enjoyed a first timers perspective of the event! We already have plans to return next year. We'll also have a Universal Orlando blog post tomorrow as it was our first visit to UOR since 2006. So we had a LOT of new stuff to see there too!! Related Videos
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