Universal, Halloween Horror Night & Harry Potter!

Universal:

There's so much to do here! As you enter the parks you pass through city walk, including Cinnabon (yum) and Vivo an Italian restaurant with lots of vegetarian options, something of a rarity in Orlando. Plus they had a Voodoo Doughnuts, thanks to my ever growing YouTube obsession I had heard a lot about this place. I picked one of their classic designs the Voodoo Doll, filled with jam and topped with a pretzel and a chocolate glaze. After you've finished tucking into all of the treats, you can either visit the Universal Studios or Islands of Adventure sections of the park. Some of my favourite rides in the studios section of the park were Transformers 3D, The Simpsons Ride and Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts. In my opinion the best rides from Islands of Adenture were Jurassic Park River Adventure (wear a rain-mac), Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey (I went on this three times...) and the Flight of the Hippogriff. I've only ever been to Chessington and Disneyland Paris before, so this was my first experience of a proper theme park. I didn't go on any of the massive loop rides, but there's plenty of thrill rides if like me, you don't feel like being thrown upside down. 

Halloween Horror Nights:

As my trip was over Halloween, we booked tickets to go to Halloween Horror Nights, and I have to be totally honest I was very scared of going. I don't really like horror films so I was terrified that this was going to be the scariest night of my life, but I'm happy to report that I survived and it actually wasn't too bad. I wasn't that scared at all. We arrived at around 8:30 and it was pretty busy, it took a while for us to get in and the queue for the Stranger Things house (the main experience this year) was just under two hours. This was the only house I visited as we wanted to look around the whole park and see everything else that was going on, plus I didn't really want to get scared! There were loads of other houses including Blumhouse, Halloween, Poltergeist and The Purge, all of which sound way too scary for me! The night had such a fun atmosphere and you find yourself laughing way more than you do screaming. If you're planning on going next year my advice would be to get there early, and book fastpass tickets if you can. 

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter:

This was one of my favourite things about the whole trip. The Harry Potter areas of the parks were amazing, with such incredible attention to detail, and even better rides! A Hogwarts train connects the two parks and that is a fantastic experience in itself. Every inch of Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade had been thought about and it all felt really authentic. Plus the Forbidden Journey ride was like no other rollercoaster I have ever been on, I don’t want to share too much as if you ever get the chance to go I want it all to be a total surprise for you, but it’s the best ride I have ever been on. I’ll just say it’s immersive, fun and magical. One evening we went to see the Hogwarts at night display, which was really special. Make sure you stay to see all of the evening shows at both Universal and Disney. It’s such a fun way to end the day and see amazing fireworks.

P.S I put all of my photos into my highlights on my Instagram page, so feel free to take a look for more there!