Wondrous Fun on Royal Caribbean!

August 20, 2026 / Amber Benson / Leave a comment

Hey there! It’s me, Hailey, back once again to cover all the details on our latest trip. It’s been a busy summer here in the Type A Travel Mom household filled with several fun trips, and we are still trying to hold on to summer as long as possible!

After being back home for a week following our Hilton Head and Disney World vacation (be sure to check out our last blog for all the details!), my mom and I hopped on a plane headed right back down to Florida. This time, though, we landed in Fort Lauderdale, with our final destination being a 4-night sailing out of Miami on Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas. This trip was a part of a Seminar at Sea, where my mom and I were able to learn more about Royal Caribbean and go on a tour of Perfect Day at CocoCay. While my mom has sailed with Royal Caribbean before and knows a lot about their ships and offerings, this was my first non-Disney cruise and I went in knowing next to nothing about Royal so I was super excited to see what Royal was all about!

I loved getting to see how different Royal Caribbean is from Disney Cruise Line. I mean, first off, this ship was massive! This ship, Wonder of the Seas, is a part of Royal Caribbean’s Oasis-class and was once the largest cruise ship in the world, until it was surpassed by Royal’s Icon-class ships. There were so many exciting activities to take part in, cool places to hang out, delicious places to eat, and the list goes on!

Stepping onto the ship, you immediately find yourself in the Royal Promenade, the area of the ship where the stores are located as well as several bars and the complimentary pizza restaurant, Sorrento’s. This area is super lively and fun, and it even had live music playing on many nights of the sailing. Right after we boarded the ship we stopped by Spotlight Karaoke to pick up the souvenir cups for the soda package that we purchased for this sailing, as well as our WOW bands. The drink cups can be used at the Coca-Cola Freestyle machines located at the buffet and quick-service style locations around the ship. These cups were very nice and didn’t leak at all, and we both made sure to get our money’s worth in Dr. Pepper throughout our sailing! The WOW bands (kind of like Disney’s MagicBands) were really convenient and comfortable, and could be used to get into your room or make purchases. However, you still needed to have your actual SeaPass card to get on and off the ship at ports.

After we got all of our gear ready, it was time to head up to the Windjammer buffet for lunch. Overall, the buffet had some great options, including potato leek soup which is always a must for me on embarkation day! One thing that really stood out to me was the layout of the buffet in comparison with Disney Cruise Line’s buffets (Cabanas on the older ships and Marceline Market on the newer ships). Disney Cruise Line’s buffets are somewhat linear, meaning that you kind of have to jump in the line whenever you see a break. But the Windjammer had a really interesting layout that was more spread out and included many little buffet “islands” that I think were much more effective in distributing the crowds.

After having some lunch, we explored the pool deck area. I really liked the layout of the pools and the variety of areas you could hang out in. And there was an impressive variety in the types of chairs everywhere too! The adults-only Solarium area was very pretty but the phrase “human greenhouse” comes to mind, because it gets super hot and humid in there during the day with little airflow. It was a very nice place to hang out in the evening though!

We were able to go to our room right at 1pm, and as we were going to our room, we saw all of our luggage already out in the hall. That’s like crazy fast! The room itself was very spacious, but the bathroom was on the smaller side, as can be expected with a cruise ship bathroom. One thing that I really loved (and Disney needs to make note of!) were the chairs on the balcony. The chairs themselves were pretty standard, but they had a separate footrest that was such a nice addition. These footrests made for a much more comfortable and enjoyable time on the balcony.

If you know us, then you know how much we LOVE doing the trivia on Disney cruises. So, of course, we had to try out some trivia! We decided to try out the general knowledge trivia, and we had such a great time. I loved the way that Royal Caribbean does trivia, which involves your phone. Disney is still using pencils and paper for their trivia, but I think they need to develop a system like Royal! For this trivia, you scanned a QR code with your phone, entered some info about yourself, and you were ready to play! The trivia itself had several categories with a few questions each, and the faster that you answered a question, the more points you got. No time for looking up the answer! I didn’t do too good (two of the categories were James Bond and Prince, and my knowledge for both of these is just about nonexistent), but my mom got second place! She won some Royal Caribbean zipper pulls and a highlighter, which were some pretty cool souvenirs.

We continued to explore the ship for the rest of the day, including areas like Central Park and Boardwalk. Central Park is filled with so many plants and trees that it’s hard to believe that you are on a ship in the middle of the ocean! I think this would be the perfect spot to hang out if you are a little scared of cruising or sailing out in the ocean, because it makes you feel like you are back on land. There are also a few specialty dining locations in Central Park, more on that later! The Boardwalk is another open area of the ship like Central Park, but with a carnival of theme. This is the area of the ship where you will find the rock climbing walls, the Aqua Theater, and the carousel. The Ultimate Abyss ends here as well, which is a dry slide that slides down 10 floors, starting on deck 16 and ending on deck 6.

The next day was spent at Perfect Day at CocoCay, Royal Caribbean’s private island. While we were here, we went on a tour of the island as a part of the Seminar at Sea. The island has areas that any guest can access, as well as several areas that are paid upgrades to access. On the tour, we were able to tour the three paid areas: Hideaway Beach, Coco Beach Club, and Thrill Waterpark. Hideaway Beach is an adults-only area that has more of a party vibe, Coco Beach Club is a more upscale and quiet area, and Thrill Waterpark is where you will find 13 waterslides and a wave pool. All three areas looked like a lot of fun!

After the tour was over, we spent the rest of our time in the Chill Island area, one of the areas that anyone can visit. We had rented a beach bed for the day, which was a nice spot to hang out and stay out of the sun throughout the day. The beach bed rental came with the beach bed itself, as well as two lounge chairs, two floating beach mats, and a cooler of water bottles. The rental also came with towels which, on Royal Caribbean ships, you normally have to check out and check back in, or pay a fee if you don’t return them.

Another thing that is interesting about CocoCay (and different from Disney’s private islands), is that CocoCay can have two ships docked there at the same time. On the day we visited the island, the other ship was Jewel of the Seas. It was really neat to be able to see the size difference between an older Royal ship (Jewel, on the right) and one of their newer ships (Wonder, on the left). If you zoom in you can even see the little people walking on the dock, which really helps to put the massive size of the ships in perspective!

The next day was our Nassau day. For most people, Nassau is a one and done, and that includes my family. I haven’t been off the ship in Nassau in years, we always treat it like a sea day and spend our time exploring the ship. However, Royal Caribbean has opened a new beach and pool area that is exclusive to guests sailing on their ships, called Royal Beach Club Paradise Island. Access to this area is not included, so you have to purchase a day pass in order to visit it. Remember that little strip of land with the run-down lighthouse on it, on the same side of the port as the Atlantis hotel? Well, the lighthouse is still there, but you can now spot the bright colors of the Royal Beach Club area as well as a large Royal Caribbean logo. It is such a convenient location, and you can get some great views of the ship while you are there!

To get to the Royal Beach Club, you can follow the signage as you leave the ship which takes you to a little dock where you will board a ferry, which takes you straight over to the area. The ferry designs are super cute, and each one has an adorable name, including: Sassy Starfish, Twisted Turtle, Flirty Flamingo, Coral Calypso, and Lucky Lizard. We were on the Sassy Starfish (as you can see from the life ring in the picture below), and you can also spot the blue Lucky Lizard already docked at the Royal Beach Club!

When we arrived at the Royal Beach Club, we decided to stick around the pool in the Party Cove section for the day. We got some great, front row seats at the swim-up bar pool that is closest to Paradise Beach. And let me tell you, the pool here has such a great view! If you look over the edge of the pool, you are looking straight towards the beach. So you can enjoy watching the waves without having to worry about getting all sandy!

Similar to CocoCay, there were two Royal Caribbean ships docked in Nassau on this day. The other ship was Oasis of the Seas. These ships are quite similar in size, with Oasis being just a bit smaller than Wonder, so the size difference wasn’t quite as noticeable as it was when comparing Jewel with Wonder. Having two ships also meant that more guests from Oasis were able to come to the Royal Beach Club, which made the area get super busy in the afternoon. But we did get to enjoy a nice, quiet morning in the area, which we both really enjoyed!

That night, my mom participated in The Price is Right gameshow that they host on the ship. This game also is played by scanning a QR code with your phone, similar to the trivia, but an extra fee is required in order to play this game. My mom has always loved the idea of playing this game on the ship, so there was no way that we were going to miss it! See the picture below for her cute little hamster avatar! Everyone got super into the game and it was a great time, but unfortunately my mom didn’t get to “come on down.” Fingers crossed for next time!

The next day was our sea day, and my mom had to go to some classroom training as a part of the Seminar at Sea so that she could learn even more about Royal Caribbean. Unfortunately, I couldn’t attend this with her so I spent the day exploring the ship and getting a ton of videos/pictures for social media content. Enjoy these cute little towel animals that I saw on my adventures!

During our sailing, we tried out two of the specialty dining restaurants. The first was Izumi, a Japanese restaurant, and the second was Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen. Neither of us were insanely impressed by Izumi, but the food at Giovanni’s was very nice. We also ended up eating at the buffet for the majority of our meals, because the menus at the main dining restaurants didn’t really appeal to us (we are both vegetarian, but I sometimes experiment with different types of fish). However, we both loved El Loco Fresh, a buffet style Mexican restaurant. The only downside was that it closed at 5:30pm, which was generally too early for us to be able to have dinner here. Other than that, I loved getting some quesadillas to snack on, and their guacamole is delish!

The three shows that were offered on our sailing were The Effectors II: Crash ‘n’ Burn (stage musical), inTENse (water show in the AquaTheater), and 365: The Seasons on Ice (ice skating show). When we were waiting for inTENse to start, it ended up being cancelled due to lightning in the area, and that was the final performance of this show during the sailing so we never got to see this one. We did get to see the other two shows, and The Effectors II was a pretty cheesy superhero show with a simple storyline. However, the ice skating show, 365, was really impressive. The show went through each season, and their outfits and music changed to fit with each one. They even used the Game of Thrones theme during their winter performance, which I really enjoyed!

After a few fun and action-packed days, it was time to head back home. We spent the day at a hotel in Fort Lauderdale because we had a late flight. After some delays and a super late night, we finally made it home. After being to Florida twice in the span of just a few weeks, we were both ready to spend some time at home and getting back into our normal routines.

I had a lot of fun learning about Royal Caribbean and we had such a great time exploring the ship! Can’t wait for our next cruise vacation!

Until next time!

Hailey

Disney World holiday memories made!

December 18, 2025 / Amber Benson / Leave a comment

Over Thanksgiving, the fam and I went to Disney’s Hilton Head Island resort to relax and recharge. My sister and nieces came along to share the fun. As always, we had a blast and found some shark teeth to bring home!

Last week, we headed down to Disney World for the daughter’s BF’s first trip! We stayed at Coronado Springs resort at Disney and had a comfy room in the Casitas section of the resort. Most of our time was spent in the parks, trying to cram in as much as we could for his first WDW adventure! We hit all four parks plus the Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party in Magic Kingdom. Let’s hit the highlights!

There were several new things on this trip for us… lunch at Rix Sports Bar and Grill and dinner at Three Bridges Bar & Grill, both at Coronado Springs. Three Bridges is located in the center of the lake at the resort and dinner there was lovely being on the water and having a great view of the Gran Destino tower part of the resort. Rix was surprisingly good, can’t believe we had never tried that before! We also met the Mandalorian and Grogu at Hollywood Studios — so much fun! Grogu was super cute and very realistic plus Mando stayed perfectly in character.

The Mandalorian and Grogu at Hollywood Studios

Also new to us was the Zootopia: Better Zoogether show at Animal Kingdom. This show replaced the It’s Tough to be a Bug show that closed earlier this year. I loved it! Still great effects and the queue to wait for the show has lots of fun things to look at including this cute “Pawdora” jewelry display featuring some of the friends from Zootopia! Here’s a tip, watch Zootopia 2 before this show so you don’t have any spoilers.

Pawdora display at the Zootopia show queue — Zootopia show poster

In Epcot, there was a Scentsy display of a handful of larger than life snowglobes that featured fun holiday scenes with accompanying scents that you could experience by getting close to the displays. My fave was Christmas Cottage, scented like oranges, raspberries, cloves, and spice. So nice! These were new this year as well. We also got to see the Living with the Land ride transformed into its holiday version, Glimmering Greenhouses. This attraction gets super busy at night when the lights are really showing off all of the displays inside.

Scentsy snowglobe in Epcot — Glimmering Greenhouses

While in Animal Kingdom, we were lucky enough to see the Merry Menagerie of puppets in Discovery Island. I’ve seen these before but they get better every year! And the interaction with guests is fun to experience and watch!

Merry Menagerie animal puppets in Animal Kingdom

We took a very early ride on Kilimanjaro Safaris and were rewarded with some of the best animal sighting we’ve had in awhile. I don’t think there were any animals that we didn’t get to see! Everyone was out and even frolicking in some cases! The giraffes were super close to the safari trucks too and that’s always such a treat! And the baby elephant, eek!

Elephants at Kilimanjaro Safaris — Rhinos at Kilimanjaro Safaris

At the Very Merry Christmas Party, we collected all of the free cookies and drinks that were available for party guests plus the fun collectible ornament. We brought most of them home to enjoy later but this chocolate and mint covered marshmallow didn’t make it to the end of the party for me! Delish! The parade was better than I remember and the fireworks — incredible! I have always been a huge fan of the Not So Scary Halloween Party but the Christmas party gave it a run for its money this year!

Toy soldiers during the Very Merry Christmas Party

Cinderella Castle projections during the party fireworks — Toy soldiers during the Very Merry Christmas Party

All-in-all, we had a great time. And despite being exhausted from all the walking (over thirty miles in the four days!), lots of wonderful memories were made. Happy Holidays!

xoxo,

Amber

Back to the Florida sun!

July 11, 2025 / Amber Benson / Leave a comment

In late June, the fam and I hit the road to Orlando to enjoy a week at Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando. Our plan was two nights at Disney’s Boardwalk resort, two nights at Disney’s Polynesian Village resort, and two nights at Helios Grand at Universal. Adding those three hotels to the hotel for the drive to Florida and the hotel for the drive back home to Virginia, five hotels in a week was A LOT. We’re experts at switching hotels and keeping things moving though, so we managed the transitions with relative ease. It’s funny though, our challenge became finding laundry facilities at the different stops to keep our clothes clean and fresh. Florida in June is no joke when it comes to heat and humidity and, as a result of those two fun things, sweat. Lots of sweat. We also had pool time and went to Volcano Bay at Universal, so wet bathing suits needed attention as well. I’m happy to report that we succeeded in finding laundry rooms at each spot and did the needful. Adulting is hard!

The hotels… all three were exactly what we needed for that portion of the trip! Boardwalk was the perfect location to start our trip, since our first Disney day was at Epcot and the second was at Hollywood Studios. Both of these are right near Boardwalk, with Epcot being a super short walk to the park and Hollywood Studios being a quick boat ride over. Our third Disney day was Animal Kingdom, then the move to the Polynesian Village resort, and the evening at Magic Kingdom. The last Disney day was spent oh so happily in the pool at the Polynesian and exploring the resort.

We stayed in the new Island Tower at the Polynesian resort, which is to the far left of the resort and very close to the Wedding Pavilion and the Grand Floridian resort. This resort was built in the area that the Spirit of Aloha luau show used to occupy. We’ve stayed at the Polynesian several times but staying in the Tower was **chef’s kiss**. LOVED the room, the Tower, the vibe of the building and the area, and the new Cove pool beside the tower. The original Polynesian resort features rooms in several longhouses but the tower has all of the rooms in the one big, you guessed it, tower. You can’t access any of the rooms or floors of the tower without staying there, which is HUGE for guests. There are four incredible terraces (two on the front and two on the back) that are large open air spaces for guests to relax and enjoy spectacular views. The two on the front of the tower face Magic Kingdom and the Seven Seas Lagoon area and the two on the back face — well construction right now. They face Disney’s Palm golf course and some road construction. The highlight is that you can also see the monorail track and watch those go by quite frequently. Terrace pics are below. Definitely a highlight of staying in the tower!

Boardwalk is always so fun and being that close to Epcot is an absolute treat for us since we tend to spent a decent amount of time there. The headboard of the Murphy bed had Max and Goofy, our favorite father/son duo! Our room had a boardwalk view so we were able to sit out and watch the fireworks from Luminous at Epcot one evening. It was the first time we had a boardwalk view there (we have been there many times but with other views from our room) and it was neat to watch all the folks enjoying the boardwalk activities at night. There are street performers, surrey bikes for rent, carnival games, musical acts, etc. and lots of guests come over to experience something a little different on their trips. Epcot was fantabulous as always and dinner at Via Napoli was as delicious as we come to expect. We hit all of our favorite rides and attractions plus grabbed dessert to go from Karamell Kuche in Germany (oh that caramel…) before heading back for the evening.

Hollywood Studios always means Star Wars fun for us but we also wanted to see the updated Little Mermaid musical show and the new Villains show. I have to say that the Little Mermaid show has always been a fave of mine but it is so well done now… majorly impressed with the updates. I wasn’t sure what to expect on the Villains show and ended up enjoying it quite a bit. The storyline isn’t the strongest but the effects and stars of the show did a great job. I’m excited to see how it evolves. We also stopped by the Frozen Sing Along show and the Arendelle historians were super funny, more funny than usual I think. Lots of laughs from us for sure! Dinner was at Hollywood & Vine with Minnie and friends and quite yummy. They were offering a discount for annual passholders that we had to take advantage of, us an seemingly everyone else in there! I heard all of the other tables around us saying they were AP holders as well. Too much savings to resist for us I guess!

We didn’t spent a ton of time in Animal Kingdom but had a great spot to watch Festival of the Lion King and a blast on Flight of Passage. We split up for lunch with the fam having Satu’li Canteen and me heading over for some classic American goodness at Pizzafari. It was nice to take a walk around the park and see some old faves since we don’t typically spend a lot of time there. Animal Kingdom is a beautiful place to spend the day! Our room was ready over at the Polynesian, so we left the park and got set up in our new room. The hubs had a concert at House of Blues at Disney Springs to attend, so the daughter and I headed out to Magic Kingdom for dinner and a little more fun. Crystal Palace hit the spot with their delish buffet plus Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore. We took one last ride on the Rivers of America on the Liberty Belle Riverboat (it closed permanently on July 7th) and hopped on Haunted Mansion (our fave ride!) for a journey through the darkness. It was almost time for Happily Ever After fireworks after that and the mob scene had plugged up all of the Castle hub area, the side bridges, and all the way down Main Street USA, so we hopped on the boat back to our resort. While onboard, the fireworks started and we were able to watch them (with the music piped in while we were parked at the Grand Floridian resort boat dock) from the water. What a lovely way to end the night!

The next day was our pool day. No parks, just chlorine and sunscreen. The new Cove pool beside the Island Tower was a great way to relax and refresh. Pretty basic pool but with a cute little Moana themed waterplay area for the littles. We got a lunch snack from the Wailulu Bar and Grill at the tower and then ordered in dinner from Giordano’s pizza delivery. I LOVE Giordano’s and try to get it on most of our trips. Always so good! We ended the night with drinks from the main pool bar and our tower terrace exploration.

It was moving time again the next morning so we packed up and headed to Helios Grand to check in. The room wasn’t ready so we hopped on a bus to Volcano Bay for some waterpark fun. The wave pool occupied a good bit of the day before we switched to the lazy river and then the pool. Unfortunately, the Fearless river was closed when we made our way around to it but there was a vicious thunderstorm on the way anyway, so we ended up leaving the park shortly thereafter. Back to Helios, the rain was going crazy and we got soaked trying to get our bags from our van to the hotel. Since we were still in our bathing suits, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been if we were fully dressed.

Dinner that night was at Flora Taverna, a restaurant in Helios. This restaurant was SO good. I’ve been kind of meh about food in Orlando in general lately but Flora Taverna turned that right around! The service and the food was incredible, so much so that we had breakfast there the morning we left to go home. Expensive but worth every penny!

Helios was such a cool hotel! It even had a tablet in the room that you could control the curtains and lights with! Tablets are becoming more the norm for room service, looking at room charges, etc. but this one controlled the tv, the lights and lamps in all the rooms, the curtains, and you could even make requests for more amenities with it!

Helios is located right at the rear of Epic Universe park and has its own private guest entrance into the park near Dark Universe. For us, that was perfection! Resort guests also get an hour early entry so we headed into the park and spent time in Dark Universe before heading to Super Mario World before the crowds. It was neat to see the park again so soon after our last visit and to see how many things had changed. There were new food stands, new merch, other stores that hadn’t opened yet, better processes for getting on attractions (no more virtual queue for Battle of the Ministry in Harry Potter!), and more. We spent a very full day in the park and ended with the fountain show at closing. Everything was perfect (except the huge thunderstorm but weather is what weather is) even though we didn’t get everything done that we were trying to. Lunch was at The Atlantic restaurant, another one that was new and incredibly good. Reservations required and worth the park time to enjoy the food there. It is hard to be a vegetarian when you don’t eat fake meat or mushrooms, dining options have just migrated to basically those two things as the vegetarian menu ‘option’ but The Atlantic had the most amazing romanesco dish… still thinking about that thing. Back to Epic though, I think the best there is two days but at least a day and a half. It is so hard to try to cram everything into one day. We go back again this fall but will have Express Passes this time, hopefully helping us get a little done for our day at Epic.

The drive back home was definitely interesting for us. So much traffic on I-95, which isn’t unusual but never welcome, and then the hubs got hit with apparently food poisoning so I ended up driving the last five hours or so home the next day. At least we take backroads and more local routes for that portion! Next time, we’re flying to Orlando so they won’t be subjected to my driving and musical accompaniment!

xoxo, Amber

Yes, it truly is EPIC!

May 20, 2025 / Amber Benson / Leave a comment

Universal Orlando’s Epic Universe… the newest theme park to open in Orlando in over 25 years! The daughter and I hopped on a flight earlier this month to head down to see if this new park would live up to the hype. The park officially opens on May 22nd, in just a few short days, but they have had preview days available for guests for several weeks. I knew we had to get there and experience as much as we could while the park was still in ‘technical rehearsal’ and before the crowds really poured in. We had two days at Epic and tried to pack in as much as we could. Let’s discuss!

We stayed at Stella Nova, one of the three new hotels right near Universal’s Epic Universe park. This park is part of what they’re calling the “South Campus” about a 15-minute drive from the original parks and resorts, now called the “North Campus”. Stella Nova, Terra Luna, and Helios Grande are the three new resorts that are located steps from Epic Universe. Stella is right across the road, maybe a 5-minute bus ride or you can walk fairly easily. Terra Luna is slightly farther, on the other side of Stella Nova. Helios actually is located at the rear of the park and has an entrance directly into it, for maximum wow factor.

Stella Nova was the perfect property for this trip. Super convenient to the park and didn’t feel overly crowded during our stay. The room had a great view of the park (you can see the Helios hotel to the left and then park goes to its right) and met our needs for the three nights of the visit. And yes, we did stop on the 3rd floor to see the famed “star ceiling” in the hall and it was quite striking! We quite enjoyed the food court for breakfast each day with the best Belgian waffle I’ve had in a long time and breakfast potatoes that were plentiful and delish!

Before I jump in to the details on Epic, I wanted to point out that the Coke Freestyle machines are super convenient when you purchase one of Universal’s refillable cups, as they can be used throughout the parks. Bonus, they don’t leak like Disney’s tend to do. I love a good Freestyle machine too since you can get a lot more variety and also have flavored waters and lemonades to choose from when you’re burnt out on soda. I also love that these are purchased for daily use, so if you decide you don’t want to reactivate it the next day, you can use it just for ice and water from the machines for free! You can’t beat fresh water and ice for free in a cup that doesn’t leak and is easy to carry! Universal for the win! Plus, three of the Worlds at Epic Universe have special drinks in their Freestyle machines that are unique to that area. Bonus!

When talking about Epic Universe, many people have had a hard time understanding that it is an entire new theme park. This isn’t a new land or section in an existing park, this is a whole new one! It has five Worlds: Celestial Park, How to Train Your Dragon: Isle of Berk, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Ministry of Magic, Dark Universe, and Super Nintendo World. You enter a portal when you go into each World, with Celestial Park running up the middle of the park and being the “hub” to the “spokes” of the other four Worlds. This park is huge and really puts the “park” back into the “theme park” concept. Celestial Park is filled with fountains that have water shows and musical scores to accompany them throughout the day. Trees, seating nooks, little gardens, and even a large fountain with surrounding terraced ground seating fill this area. I was impressed by the beauty and thought that went into creating all the little places to tuck away and take a breath from the typical “go, go, go” theme park touring style. There are many food kiosks, for lack of a better word, throughout this section too. Some are more like huts and others larger in size with a variety of snacks and grab-and-go items to enjoy. Frosty Moon is an ice cream shop and it has crazy good ice cream with two unique toppings of your choosing. Don’t miss that one! There are also Coke Freestyle machines throughout and these have the Celestial Spritz exclusive flavor included. I tried this one and wasn’t a fan, a little too orange for me. Pizza Moon was a good food stop here, quick service style where you go in, find a table, and then place your order using a QR code and the Universal Orlando mobile app. These restaurants also have the Freestyle machines inside (bonus again!) The pizza at this joint is quite unique so try something new on your stop!

As far as attractions, there are two. Stardust Racers is the main attraction and this is a dueling coaster, unlike any other! Two tracks ride side-by-side, over and under each other, on the smoothest ride you’ve ever had on a coaster! We have the less intense “yellow” side and the more intense “green” but both will definitely have you holding on tight! I loved this ride and can’t wait to go back on it again, maybe with enough nerve to try the green side although two times on the yellow was quite the experience!

Celestial Park’s second attraction is the Constellation Carousel. This ride is not one to miss! At first I thought, carousel, meh. Then I saw it in person! Truly a sight to behold, this carousel has animals from the constellations that you ride but they don’t go in the traditional boring circular fashion. These actually rise and fall and move in all directions, along with lovely music, in such a graceful way. The animals are lighted and, while we rode it twice, we missed going back at night to see it in all the glistening glory. Each ride seems to have a different movement pattern and music, so you won’t necessarily have the same experience twice! I really liked that the animals held two guests and have actual seat belts, great for the littles. There are also your typical chariot-style animals that are easier to load into that seat two plus a child, all with seat belts. I rode both styles and enjoyed them equally. Pro tip, watch where the animal is mounted to the floor. Look for the ones that are located inside of the circular floor pieces, those move more!

Moving right along, How to Train Your Dragon: Isle of Berk, is a HTTYD’s fan dream come true! As you enter this portal, you feel like you’ve entered Berk and expect to see dragons and vikings all around! You’ll have three rides here, an incredible show, characters walking around, and the opportunity to meet Toothless, the star of the HTTYD franchise. Prepare for LONG waits to meet him though, but it is worth it! The rides are Hiccup’s Wing Gliders coaster, a chance to fly your own dragon on Dragon Racer Rally, and Fyre Drill where you can practice your aim and likely will be soaked as the reward! There’s also the Viking Training Academy play area for the little ones. Lots of snacks and drinks in this area too plus the Freestyle flavor here is Dragon Splash (I did drink a good bit of this one, lol). We spent hours and hours in this World as we are huge HTTYD fans and couldn’t get enough. Even after that, we still didn’t get to do everything!

Next up, Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Ministry of Magic. There’s one ride and one show here, neither of which we did. Truth be told, I’m not a huge HP fan so I have a harder time getting into these lands than some others. I will say that the theme throughout this World is incredible and you really do feel like you’ve been transported to Paris. We tried to see the show but waited a very long time and then it ended up being cancelled. Not wanting to wait another 45 minutes, we decided to bail. The ride here was running on a virtual queue during our visit, which was ridiculously hard to get, and I failed at it all of times that I tried. It didn’t help that the ride didn’t open until 3pm each day so space was super, super limited. You were able to walk into a large part of the initial queue without having ride access, so the daughter and I did that. It looks really cool but, unfortunately, we didn’t get to experience. I do know that since we got back, the ride dropped the virtual queue process but the wait times were running in the three to five hour range! I can tell you that I would not have waited that long for any ride, insanity! There are all kinds of shops and snacks in this area too plus new wands and opportunities to cast spells throughout. If you are a HP fan, you will want to spend a good bit of time here!

Dark Universe is the next portal and an absolute piece of art. We had such a good time in here although we tried not to do everything so we could experience more of this area with the hubs when we go back in June. He’s a gigantic horror fan and this section will blow his mind! We did watch the Burning Blade Tavern’s windmill burst into flames a few times (that alone is mind blowing!) and watched several guests getting spun around on the Curse of the Werewolf roller coaster. Not sure that that one will be on our list next time either though for the vomit factor! Monsters Unchained is the main attraction here and OMG was it incredible. I don’t want to say too much because I haven’t shared the deets with the hubs either but this one is a do not miss for sure. The outer building, the queue, the ride itself… all perfection. This will be scary for the little ones so they should skip. You can even get a monster makeover (for a fee) here too and those were looking mighty fine! You’ll have roaming characters here too to interact with, so don’t miss out! Dark Universe has the Coke Freestyle Screaming Berry drink and I failed to try it but will try some next time!

Super Nintendo World is the last of the portals and it lives up to all the hype and then some. We did Super Nintendo World in Universal Studios Hollywood last year but it is much smaller than the Orlando version with fewer rides and overall footprint. Orlando also has Donkey Kong Country with the Minecart Madness ride and yes, your cart will jump the broken tracks for some added excitement here! They have two more rides, Mario Kart and Yoshi’s Adventure. Yoshi’s is more for the smaller set but adults will find it a nice relaxing ride with great views of the land. Mario Kart is interactive and gets some big lines but worth it. There is also special food and snacks in this land along with numerous character meets. A huge draw here is the interactive games that you can play if you purchase a Power-Up band. We’re talking punching blocks, collecting coins, etc. just like in the games. I haven’t done this yet but saw so many guests having the time of their lives doing so… one day that will be me having that fun with them!

There is so much to do and see in Epic Universe that you will easily spend a day there. We had two days and still have plenty left to enjoy. These attractions also have staying power in that you won’t feel like they’re “one and dones” meaning you will find yourself wanting to ride some of them over and over. (Unless you’re the daughter who says two times on Stardust Racers pushed her motion sickness to the limit, despite the Dramamine.) I can’t wait to finish exploring Dark Universe and to get back to Berk. I will definitely be on Stardust Racers again and Mario is calling my name to return to Super Nintendo World. I’m sure I’ll get back into the Ministry to see more Harry Potter goodies too and I know that carousel is on the to-do list for next time. If you’re trying to cram it all into one day, you have the option of Universal’s Express Pass service too. That’s an add-on that is fairly pricey but will allow you to use the Express Pass lines at most attractions (Minecart Madness, Battle of the Ministry HP ride, and Dragon Racer’s Rally are all excluded) to use the much shorter access lines. It is only valid for one use per participating attraction though, so keep that in mind. I was very glad to have visited during the previews so the lines were shorter and the park overall had plenty of room to move around and explore. I am hoping that my return next month will be similar but… not sure yet how that’s going to work out. Fingers crossed!

xoxo,

Amber

Type A Travel Mom

Plan. Discover. Memories.

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