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Setting the Scene

After spending the prior three days exploring Universal Studios, we were hoping that this park would be just as immersive. After making our way into the Hollywood Studios park, we made a beeline for the Star Wars section. Since opening in August 2019, this portion of the park has seen a seemingly endless throng of visitors. Even a midweek February visit didn’t curtail the crowds. We were on a mission and resolved to see as much as possible. The lines for the rides were already turning long, so we decided to just enjoy the immersive design.

Familiar Faces

Walking around this section of the park, we kept our eyes open for details. This is what takes the fun to the next level. We have visited plenty of parks that have fun rides or character interactions, but many fall short of creating an entirely riveting experience. We found parts and pieces collecting rust, just as we would expect to see on some distant planet. Various droids stood motionless waiting to be added to the scrap heap. Mysterious devices were affixed to the walls, waiting for a local shopkeeper to use them in their daily activities. What was happening was that we were being transported to a galaxy far, far away.

Blasts from the Past

Many of the decorations suggested places we visited during our time watching the movies. As we walked through the Tatooine section, we found ourselves at Endor and the Ewok village. We anticipated the appearance of these teddy bear-type creatures but found the displays to be static. Even with a lack of furry creatures, our imaginations were easily able to fill in the details. This proved to us just how much of an impact the Star Wars franchise has had in our lifetime.

Intergalactic Entertainment

While any spotting of Ewoks was off the table, it didn’t mean that the park was devoid of characters. In fact, in more than one place we found ourselves under the watchful eye of stormtroopers. It was strange that even though we knew these characters were fictional, we still were wary of drawing their gaze. The best part of spotting them was watching them interact with the crowd. When they weren’t posing for photos, they spent their time involved in crowd control. The familiar canned sounds of their voices barked out commands meant to keep visitors in check. This was intergalactic entertainment that we could have watched all day.

Fan Favorites

The stormtroopers were entertaining, but there were even larger draws. It hadn’t escaped us that the Star Wars section of Hollywood Studios is made up of smaller exhibits. While we had fun watching the revolving crowds interact with the local military establishment, the announcement of an upcoming character show was a game changer. It was like they opened a spigot and the crowd flowed out of our area into the next. With our interest piqued, we followed along to see what was about to happen. As we entered this area, we spotted the docked Millennium Falcon. Making our way closer, some familiar faces appeared from underneath the ship. We watched Chewbacca, Rey, and Vi Moradi interact for a while, before yielding our spots to other park guests.

Galactic Eats

Let’s be real, we wouldn’t think of visiting such a faraway land without sampling some of the local cuisines. Even with our bellies full of our morning meal, we still found room to share bites of a Ronto Morning Wrap. It’s made up of an extra-long smoked sausage, fluffy scrambled eggs, and shredded Cheddar cheese all packed inside of a pita wrap. The peppercorn sauce helped add a little kick to the dish. To wash it down, we decided to pick up a cup of Batuu’s legendary Blue Milk. The creamy mix of coconut and rice milk offered a delectably smooth flavor. While standing in line, we discovered that you can also order an adult version that is spiked with rum. Since it was early in the day, we opted to pass on that one.

Get Transported

Our time spent in a galaxy far, far away had immersed us in the world of Star Wars. With so much intergalactic entertainment, we were already wondering if we should plan a return. Perhaps the newness will wear off and there will come a time of somewhat smaller crowds. This is probably not likely, since the Star Wars franchise has fans in every corner of the globe. I suppose we will just have to face the reality of it being extremely popular and mingle with the rest of the Resistance. May the force be with us!

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All-Encompassing

When I was planning our escape, I decided that we should just go all the way. The time lost between lodging and park can account for lots of lost fun. We had determined that we would spend three days at Universal and add one at Disneyworld. With this plan, it just made sense to choose to lodge in one of the Universal resorts. With three of us in the group, we ended up picking a suite at the Dockside Inn. While this hotel is a bit further from the park entrance, the shuttle buses make it a five-minute ride to the entrance. Not having any preconceived notion of this lodging, we ended up pretty pleased with the location, amenities, and customer service. Our late Friday night travel had pumped us up, so we struggled to fall asleep. We knew that in a few hours we would be entering the park for the first time.

Simply “Kong”

Saturday morning we were welcomed by beautiful weather in the Sunshine State. After a run to the Starbucks in our resort, we packed our backpack for a day at the park. Knowing that they have tons of lockers makes it easy to bring more than we needed, but that’s what we do. The short bus ride gave us a chance to catch our first view of the park. Our anxiousness approached record levels as we made our way through the gate. With so many options, we weren’t sure what to do. Fortunately, our daughter had visited in the past and took over as a guide. My goal was to check out as many of the rides, as possible. One of the first I checked off the list was Skull Island: Reign of Kong. This immersive experience involves loading on a jungle bus and being hauled into the jungle. When various creatures attempt to end our journey, we are saved by the ferocious hero who thwarts each menacing attack. I enjoyed this ride so much that we had to do it again on the third day.

Immersive Experience

Let’s put it out there, our family is familiar with a lot of rollercoasters. While Crystal isn’t as big of a fan, I’ve ridden my fair share and usually with at least one of our kids in the mix. When our daughter, Amanda, mentioned this amazing new coaster at Universal, it certainly piqued my interest. We made our way into Jurassic Park while keeping our eyes peeled for any roaming dinosaurs. The stats for VelociCoaster are impressive. It offers two high-speed launches, a 155-foot-tall peak, speeds up to 70 miles per hour, and multiple zero-G moments. What makes this park an immersive experience is that it’s not just the rides that are engaging. As we made our way through the queue, we found ourselves engrossed in various dinosaur exhibits and artifacts on display. There is also an amazing looped movie that features the stars of the movie warning riders about the impending danger that awaits. Our group was lucky and we escaped the ride without any raptor attacks.

Familiar Fun

As I mentioned, we have been to a few amusement parks around the country. While we always have a good time, this one was different from the others. Most parks are set up as a way to display a myriad of thrill rides, as they do at Wonderland Park in Amarillo, Texas. Here, in Florida, we were finding an immersive experience unlike any we have seen before. Obviously, the rides are designed to blend into each zone, but they didn’t stop there. Throughout each area, we found a completely enveloping surrounding. When we stepped across the border into Springfield, it seemed like we had fallen through the TV screen and landed in the cartoon. All of the familiar landmarks were visible. Not only did we recognize the faces, but we could even step inside the Kwik-E-Mart to check out the Lard Lad Donuts and other souvenirs.

Impromptu Entertainment

The more we wandered, the more we found that they really try to make the movies come alive. The park is split between two sides, so we made sure to buy passes that allowed us to move between them. On the Universal Studios side, there is a large portion dedicated to recreating iconic sections of major American cities. We enjoyed lunch along the wharves of San Francisco. Just blocks from there, we raced Jimmy Fallon through the streets of New York. As we made our way toward The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, we happened upon the Blues Brothers performing along Delancey Street. Each of these areas is an immersive experience with cityscapes and building fronts that mimic the originals.

Old Classics

It didn’t take long for us to realize that Universal Studios was designed to attract visitors of all ages. Sure, they have plenty of spaces for the younger crowd, like the entire Dr. Seuss area. They also include spots that are attractive to the young at heart. In Toon Lagoon, I spotted an impressive collection of characters from my younger days. This area was clearly designed for my crowd and I wondered how many twenty-year-olds were wondering what it was all about. Where else would I have a chance to visit Gasoline Alley or Wimpy’s Hamburgers? It was the perfect area to pick up our Popeye and Betty Boop souvenirs, and since we were staying on an on-site property, they delivered our purchases to our hotel.

Losing Ourselves in the Fun

We were making our way back to the front of the park when we entered Marvel Super Hero Island. A mixture of protectors and villains surrounded us. Ducking into The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, we found ourselves in the offices of the Daily Bugle. Soon we were loaded into our vehicles and whooshed off to fight crime with our favorite web-slinger. We were still smiling when we exited the ride. Rising up from the landscape we spotted The Incredible Hulk Coaster, which was another must-do. Crystal watched from a safe distance, as Amanda and I launched into seven inversions that can make non-riders green with envy. Our day was wrapping up, as we headed to dinner. It’s always a little sad coming to the end of the fun, but we knew we had more days ahead of us.

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Immersive Experience

You may notice that we don’t include many theme parks on our website. The biggest reason is that we prefer immersive adventures over fast rides. That being said, I still enjoy the occasional fast ride but mostly partake when visiting with one of our kids. Instead, we seek out places that transform us into a different place or time. The last one that Crystal and I went to one would have been Silver Dollar City, for their Christmas lights. Amanda had previously visited Universal Studios and promised us a captivating experience. We began our adventure by heading straight to the recreation of London. Our daughter led us through a dark portal that landed us in Diagon Alley. Suddenly, a magical world opened before our eyes. This would be one of the most immersive experiences that we’ve found. From the intricate architecture to the brightly colored shops, everything screamed Harry Potter.

Magical Moments

We weren’t about to pass up exploring any of the spaces. To have the complete experience, Amanda picked out a wand and robes in the shops. She explained that the wands are interactive at various spots around the area. A flick of the wrist and a couple of magic words is all it takes to be amazed. After seeing some of these wonders, we found ourselves parched. I guess we will just have to grab ourselves some Butterbeer. This enticing concoction is a blend of cream soda and butterscotch and is served up in a variety of fashions. Crystal was a fan of the hot version (big surprise there), while Amanda seemed to prefer the colder type. They also sampled it frozen and in ice cream form. If I had known how much it would be consumed, I would have bought stock in it prior to our visit.

Riding the Rails

After thoroughly exploring the London side of the Wizarding World, it was time to make our way to Hogsmeade. Having seen a few of the movies, I knew this was the experience that had been devised to transport us to the other side of the park. We made our way to Kings Cross Station for our next immersive experience. After disappearing through the wall, at Platform 9 3/4, we climbed aboard the Hogwarts Express. As it pulled out of the station, we were entertained with a short audio-visual show, which made us feel like we were part of the cast. It was so engrossing that it made our journey fly by, and soon we pulled into Hogsmeade Station.

Welcome to Hogsmeade

Stepping through a huge archway, we found ourselves in a town filled with snow-capped buildings. This area had some similar shops as we had seen in Diagon Alley, but also included a few different ones. A large Butterbeer cart demanded a stop for refreshments. Doing wizardly chores (or Muggles in our case) works up quite an appetite. A stop at Three Broomsticks provided sustenance to fuel us into the rest of our adventure. Even the interiors of the restaurants continue the themed experience. We definitely felt like this was the most immersive design concept we had seen.

Wizards and Muggles

As we made our way through Hogsmeade, we were eventually rewarded with a view of Hogwarts Castle. Standing high upon a hillside, it jutted out of the landscape. We would make our way into the castle for a ride on the inside rollercoaster. While Crystal would avoid the stomach-wrenching ride, she would join us to experience the queue. This is another way that Universal Studios has differentiated itself from other parks we’ve visited. Even as you make your way through lines, you find yourself immersed in the backstory that plays out in the exhibits that surround you. It’s more than enough to bring a smile to a wizard’s (or muggle’s) lips. After the ride, we decided to explore more areas of the park, but that’s a tale for another time.

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So many of you are probably thinking, “What took you so long?”, but this was a huge step for us. Air travel is not the favorite mode of transportation for either of us, as we enjoy the open road, and the freedom to explore that it offers. Here we were setting ourselves up to put our entire transportation into the hands of others. Letting go can be scary, but also exhilarating. Our itinerary was to travel to Cocoa Beach for a couple of days, before boarding the Oasis of the Seas for a seven day cruise.

After countless months of research, the day of departure finally arrived. We flew into Orlando Airport, where we were met by a private car. This was a splurge, but we felt it was worth it not to ride in a taxi. After a forty-five minute ride, we arrived at our beachfront hotel. We stayed at The Inn of Cocoa Beach, which is geared toward couples. It has a good variety of amenities, and the access to the beach sealed the selection. It was also very close to stores, restaurants, and public transportation.

A couple of days of unwinding were certainly a good idea, since we were already a little nervous about our first sailing. Our time in Cocoa was quite enjoyable, but soon we were ready to head to the terminal.

The embarkation went quickly, and soon we set sail for the vast Caribbean. Our first stop was at Nassau, and our excursion ended up being one of our favorites. As with anything that fun, the time soon came to move along. Once again the ship was moving, and this time it was heading to deeper waters.

Traveling in late fall means that the weather is a little unpredictable. We were just past the end of hurricane season, but we still hit some rough waters. The rocking of a ship as large as the Oasis was a little concerning to some onboard, but we just took it in stride. It actually helped rock us to sleep at night.

Our next stop was at St. Thomas, but this was the shortest time period we had on shore. Knowing this beforehand had allowed us to make a plan that maximized our visit. By the end of the day we knew that this was a place we would like to investigate in more detail. As the ship departed the island, we were treated to an amazing sunset.

The next morning we arrived in St. Maarten, which is an island split between two sovereign countries. Faced with an entire day to explore, we chose an excursion that took us all the way around the island. We were able to get a good feel for the island vibe, and saw more than we ever expected (especially at the beach).

Once the ship left this final port, we faced two complete days at sea. This gave us lots of opportunity to explore this superstructure. The idea that they could assemble a ship large enough to hold an ice skating rink, carousel, two climbing walls, two surfing rides, a park-like open air area complete with 12,000 live plants, mini-golf course, basketball courts, children’s zone, teen club, over 20 restaurants, a wide assortment of shops, outdoor diving show arena, and a couple of arcades. Oh, did we mention a zip-line that runs nine stories above the deck?

Faced with all of these distractions, we decided that we needed to rest. The windy weather had subsided, and our last couple of days brought ample sunshine. This gave us time to gather some Vitamin D around some of the pools. Of course, we also visited the hot tubs which hang over the side of the ship. These allow guests to melt away their stress while watching the blue Caribbean waters pass by.

Days brought outdoor activities, and evenings beckoned everyone indoors. Here we were presented with a variety of entertainment options for young and old. The last two days flew by, and soon we were preparing for our return to solid ground. The driver picked us up at the port, and whisked us back to the airport. As the plane flew off into the sunset, we already began reminiscing of where we were just a few short days earlier.

While cruising holds a certain awe, especially in the department of decadence, we made the decision that it left us too little time to truly immerse ourselves in the places we visited. Oh we will surely try cruising again, as it is a great way to check out potential places for a longer stay. All in all it was a great way to find a purpose for passports!

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Surfs Up

The salt air and sand did their job, and soon we could feel the rushing sensation settle its pace. The sounds of the crashing waves were soothing and became a backbeat to our newfound saunter. Of course, not all of our time was spent on the beach. We enjoyed many fine meals while in Cocoa Beach, with a very memorable one at Sage Bistro. The service was top-notch, and the food was gourmet all the way. It was the kind of dinner that requires a long walk down the beach afterward. Of course, there were many other memorable meals, but this one stands out for exceptional quality.

Getting a Lay of the Land

Shopping is another one of our favorite pastimes, and we found many places to wander through. Close by we found the Dinosaur Store, where you can find all sorts of fun and educational items. Of course, we made the obligatory stop for our beachwear products. There seem to be a hundred different beach shops, but Ron Jon Surf Shop is definitely the “King of the Beach”.

Short Excursion

A short bus ride from our lodging, and we were in historic Cocoa Village, which is a resurrected 1950’s shopping area filled with boutiques and quirky shops. It is located along the waterfront of the Indian River, so the views were phenomenal.

Traveling so late in the season meant that the sunset was rather early. Fortunately, there were plenty of activities to fill the evening hours. A visit to Golf n Gator provided plenty of cheesy entertainment. We both enjoy a round of mini-golf, and the bonus of feeding live gators just added another layer to the stop.

New Friends

Our lodging choice was The Inn of Cocoa Beach, which is located oceanfront and offers great views of the beach. The morning sunrises greeted us and created a desire to take our coffee down to the beach to watch the waves crash. This certainly helped set the slower pace for our days. At the Inn, we ran across the resident welcome staff, who remained quiet until you started to leave them. At that point, they would squawk and talk.

After a couple of days of readjusting our pace, we were ready to start the next phase of our trip, which was our first ever cruise. We were hoping that the experience would live up to all of the hype. Cocoa Beach certainly proved to be a great place to relax. What is your favorite beach town?

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