The First Draft

September 12-15, 2019
Everything is scary when you’re designated the “front person”

What can I say, I missed Orlando. I may have just moved back to Texas in May, but May to September felt like a century. I would think about Halloween Horror Nights at least once a day, so I FINALLY broke down and bought myself a ticket. A lot of my CP friends were still there, and one of my close friends actually planned her HHN trip at the same time so we could see each other! It was definitely worth the money. I don’t know about everyone else, but I don’t have a ton of vacation time. I packed as much as I could into 4 days (two of those being partially travel) and honestly it was exhausting. I can’t wait to do it again this year!

So the first day I landed in Orlando, got checked into my hotel, and spent the rest of my time with Mikael in Disney Springs. Mikael is full-time, and he trained me for all of my kitchen training, which is honestly unusual. Usually you have at least two trainers, but I didn’t mind. We ate Deluxe Burger (wow I’ll miss the DS food), went into the Coca Cola Store (neither of us had ever been?) and just generally wandered around. There was live music, we went to the yoyo cart, and of course we stopped by pin traders and the star wars stores (both of them). After that, we went and grabbed Daniel, an ICP from New Zealand, from work, and took him home. We talked about our plans for the next few days, and then Mikael took me back to the Doubletree by the Entrance to Universal Studios Orlando for some rest.

The next day was dedicated entirely to Universal Orlando. I got to the park at about noon, picked up my HHN ticket, and waited for everyone to get there. I stopped by Voodoo Donuts and just relaxed for a bit in City Walk. I didn’t know it then, but that was definitely a good move. We spent the entire day in Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, hitting almost all of the big rides but Hagrid’s. We even ate in the park in Harry Potter World. After that we spent the entire evening at Halloween Horror Nights. We hit 6/10 of the houses, got Pizza fries, and definitely made my money back on my refillable cup. The houses we went into were:

Yeti: Terror of the Yukon
Stranger Things
Depths of Fear
Ghost Busters
Universal Monsters
House of 1000 Corpses

Next year’s goal is definitely to hit them all! Just maybe not after a full park day. By about 11pm I was ready to go catch a Lyft back to my hotel. I slept like the dead, but it still wasn’t enough to recover for the next day…

Galaxy’s Edge! I am lucky enough that I have friends who will take me into the parks with them. One park hopper ticket later, and I am in my favorite park seeing it’s newest addition: Galaxy’s Edge. Daniel and I met one of the trainers/coordinators we worked with there, and we hung out with him for a while. We wandered around Galaxy’s Edge and honestly it’s amazing. Another friend of mine works there, and she said EVERYTHING in the land has a story. We rode Smuggler’s Run via the single rider line, and I actually made it on with Mario, which is unusual! Single riders almost always get split up, but we got to ride together. It was a great ride, but I still don’t think it has anything on Flight of Passage. We’ll have to see about Rise of the Resistance when it opens! After my first visit off world, it was nap time. Daniel and I were both exhausted, and we still had more to do that day. We went our separate ways, slept for a bit, then met up again at Universal! We managed to get into Hogsmeade just in time to get to see first ever showing of Dark Arts at Hogwarts Castle. It was a really good show, and it was the last time I was going to get to see Kenzie for the trip, so I’m really glad we went! After that it was off to Disney Springs for more of my favorite food: Chicken Guy! I am personally a fan of the Honey Wasabi sauce and their mac and cheese. Then Daniel and I wandered around a bit before it was time for me to catch a ride to my hotel and him to catch a bus back to Disney Housing.

My last day in Orlando was spent in my home park, Epcot, with one of my best friends! Kelley and I hadn’t seen each other since I left, and it was great to be back together! Food and Wine Festival also meant that I made it to 3/4 Epcot Festivals in one year. We went right to the World Showcase and started to make our way around it, trying food and drinks as we went and catching up! We stopped by Soarin’ Around the World, and then our last stop was the Electric Umbrella. I know I won’t be back again before it closes, so this was goodbye for me.

My time was over way too quickly, and it was time to get onto a plane back to Texas. I’m always going to miss Orlando, and I’m always going to be trying to visit as much as possible! Next stop, HHN 2020!