universal studios vacation part 1

We decided on taking an adults only trip to Universal Studios Orlando. We planned this vacation on New Years Day 2018, so it has been a LONG year of waiting for it to finally arrive. Our main focus was Halloween Horror Nights, which is the largest Halloween event in the U.S. but obviously wanted to go to the parks too. My parents had never been to Orlando – it was fun seeing everything through their eyes! We had such a fun time but I was definitely ready to get home to my kids after six days!!

DAY ONE

The first day we woke up at 3:00 AM because our flight left Grand Rapids at 6. It was nice because we got to Orlando around 11, so we had the entire day to relax and hang out by the pool. We stayed at Cabana Bay Beach Resort, which is my favorite! We drank and swam all day (the shots of Fireball got me!) and then got ready for dinner. We went to dinner at Bar 17, which is a rooftop bar at the new Aventura Hotel. The views were AMAZING but the food was just meh.

I’m pretty sure we all went to bed around 8:00 PM this night because we were so exhausted from traveling and drinking all day.

DAY TWO

We woke up early again because if you’re staying on resort property, you get into the parks an hour early. We like to take advantage of that because the parks are empty! I love the shirts Cody and I wore, they are from Out Of Print. Also, if you want the BEST theme park shoes ever… get these. I wear them every time we go and my feet never hurt.

This is right where he proposed five years ago! Also, that crane you see in the background is a new Harry Potter ride that is currently in the works!!

This same night we went to Halloween Horror Nights. Cody and I LOVE going to this as much as we can. My dad is a huge horror movie lover too – so we knew he would think it was amazing. This was the first time we didn’t get fast passes for HHN. We only got to see 4/10 houses because the lines were SUPER long. Lesson learned… never go to HHN without fast passes again.