Robo56
Look into my eyes
- Joined
- May 8, 2015
Welcome friends. Look into my eyes and come along with me for my HHN 31 trip report.
All comments and questions welcome.
I pretty much like all things Halloween. It is the time of the season when everything begins to cool down and the leaves begin to fall.
I have already decorated my house for Halloween. It is never to early to decorate for Halloween. The stores started early in our area with putting Halloween Decorations on display to sell. I keep saying I will not buy another Halloween decoration. Then of course I find something new that is unique and I cave…..LOL… No matter, it did set the mood for getting ready for my trip to HHN.
I read Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein when I was a little girl. It really left an impression on me for sure.
We had a beautiful old Library in our town that was built from funding by Andrew Carnegie. He was a Scottish-American philanthropist who‘s generosity was responsible for building many Library‘s across the US. Mr Carnegie was responsible for building 2,509 library’s between 1883 and 1929. Of those 1,689 were built in the United States. I love to read and have fond memories of that old Library.
I have watched many Dracula movies over the years. The great Bela Lugosi was one of my favorite Vampires.
I took the picture of my Avatar in the Monsters Cafe a few years ago. It recently closed. Universal did a great job with Monsters Cafe. I’am looking forward to seeing what they do at Epic Universe.
I have seen Dracula over the years portrayed as a ghoulish fiend and a tortured soul as in Bram Stokers Dracula played by Gary Oldham.
Frank Langellas performances brought a handsome eroticism to Dracula.
Then Luke Evans portrayal In Dracula Untold made you feel truly sorry for him and for the choice he made to save his kingdom.
I have yet to see a Haunted House that can encompass Dracula in the manner and style it was meant to be. It is a big wish house of mine.
There was a Hive House at HHN 27, but it was just did not live up to expectations.
I think Universal will be able to do a fantastic Vampire House in the future. I will wait patiently. Hint Hint……Bats on Bungee’s and tracts.
OOPs!!!!! I digressed into Vampire things.
Back to start of trip report.
I look forward to my trip to Universal Orlando for HHN every year. I usually travel solo for the trip. My husband does not like to travel much anymore. We have traveled fairly extensively over the years. My hubby is a wonderful, supportive, loving gentleman and he is the love of my life. He understands my need to feed my Halloween addiction. I’am blessed to have him for sure. HHN is my Halloween fun time to go and enjoy the parks and Haunted Houses.
Last year my niece B flew in for a few days. We had a great time. She is a Graphic Artist and she also loves Halloween. She was along for the trip to HHN in 2016. Back then they still had the bloody Nurses walking around with the IV bag cocktails on the IV poles. We still talk about that.
I’am a retired RN and my older sister D is also a retired RN who lives near Orlando and younger sister K is still working as an RN.
My younger sister K, B’s mom was able to get her vacation time off this year to come with me on this trip. She loves Halloween as much as I do. She also decorates her house for Halloween. We have been known to do some serious sister shopping damage at HomeGoods, Big Lot’s etc....for Halloween items all the while saying we don‘t need anymore Halloween decorations.
My niece B told be a few years ago that her moms Halloween decorations are happy and mine are more scary…..LOL
My sister and I had just returned from our nephews wedding in Iowa on Sunday evening which was a little over a thousand mile round trip. Then turned around and left for my home in Florida on Wednesday morning.
There was no chance to lengthen the time between the trips.
I scrambled to make changes to my resort reservations after I received the information on my nephews wedding a few months ago. The resorts were booked up already and I was lucky to get the dates changed early enough.
On a interesting note. There was a house in Osage Iowa that looked just like the Addams Family house. I wished I had taken a picture of it. It was really cool and creepy. Might ask Nephew to take a photo of it and send it to me the next time he is in Osage.
Since I brought up the wedding. It was beautiful and touching. My nephew was handsome and the bride was beautiful. It was a gorgeous happy day.
When I made my plans for the trip to HHN I decided on 10 days. I have stayed 14, 12 and 11 days and It always seems as the trip is coming to a close that no number of days is long enough to do all there is to do at Universal and the surrounds.
Wednesday, September 7
It was a long drive from Southren Indiana to my home in Florida, but having my sister to talk to was awesome. We are close and it seems we never have a shortage of things to talk about.
My son had told me about Buc-ee’s when he visited us in Florida in January of this year. My husband and I stopped at one on the way back up to Southern Indiana in April. All I can say is that its like the Walmart of gas stations.
We made sure to make frequent stops for walks and I stopped at Buc-ee’s on 75 in Georgia for gas which is really reasonable and my sister and i went inside and the place was humming with people. The bathrooms are very large and very clean. The place has so many items to sell they actually have grocery carts. They are known for their fresh barbecue and brisket sandwiches. But all the food is to go. There is no place to sit and eat.
If you are traveling and a Buc-ee’s is on your travel route have a stop and look.
There are tons of gas pumps.
Thursday, September 8
My home is about an hour and 45 minutes south of Orlando. On the drive up on 95 to the 520 to 528 my car was plastered with love bugs. No amount of windshield wiper fluid will wash these pesky bugs off your windshield. Also the fluids from these bugs will mar the paint on your car if not wash off in a timely manner.
Splattered bugs or not we were on our way to my favorite Resort at Universal.
We arrived at the Beautiful Portofino for check in at about 11:30 am. The Check in line was short so not a long wait at all. I was greeted by the lovely Jennifer she was very kind and helpful. The room was ready so that was an unexpected treat.
We unpacked our bags at the door and I parked the car. I would deal with the bug carnage later.
The lobby of the Portofino smells fantastic and it is beautiful open and so inviting.
to be continued
All comments and questions welcome.
I pretty much like all things Halloween. It is the time of the season when everything begins to cool down and the leaves begin to fall.
I have already decorated my house for Halloween. It is never to early to decorate for Halloween. The stores started early in our area with putting Halloween Decorations on display to sell. I keep saying I will not buy another Halloween decoration. Then of course I find something new that is unique and I cave…..LOL… No matter, it did set the mood for getting ready for my trip to HHN.
I read Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein when I was a little girl. It really left an impression on me for sure.
We had a beautiful old Library in our town that was built from funding by Andrew Carnegie. He was a Scottish-American philanthropist who‘s generosity was responsible for building many Library‘s across the US. Mr Carnegie was responsible for building 2,509 library’s between 1883 and 1929. Of those 1,689 were built in the United States. I love to read and have fond memories of that old Library.
I have watched many Dracula movies over the years. The great Bela Lugosi was one of my favorite Vampires.
I took the picture of my Avatar in the Monsters Cafe a few years ago. It recently closed. Universal did a great job with Monsters Cafe. I’am looking forward to seeing what they do at Epic Universe.
I have seen Dracula over the years portrayed as a ghoulish fiend and a tortured soul as in Bram Stokers Dracula played by Gary Oldham.
Frank Langellas performances brought a handsome eroticism to Dracula.
Then Luke Evans portrayal In Dracula Untold made you feel truly sorry for him and for the choice he made to save his kingdom.
I have yet to see a Haunted House that can encompass Dracula in the manner and style it was meant to be. It is a big wish house of mine.
There was a Hive House at HHN 27, but it was just did not live up to expectations.
I think Universal will be able to do a fantastic Vampire House in the future. I will wait patiently. Hint Hint……Bats on Bungee’s and tracts.
OOPs!!!!! I digressed into Vampire things.
Back to start of trip report.
I look forward to my trip to Universal Orlando for HHN every year. I usually travel solo for the trip. My husband does not like to travel much anymore. We have traveled fairly extensively over the years. My hubby is a wonderful, supportive, loving gentleman and he is the love of my life. He understands my need to feed my Halloween addiction. I’am blessed to have him for sure. HHN is my Halloween fun time to go and enjoy the parks and Haunted Houses.
Last year my niece B flew in for a few days. We had a great time. She is a Graphic Artist and she also loves Halloween. She was along for the trip to HHN in 2016. Back then they still had the bloody Nurses walking around with the IV bag cocktails on the IV poles. We still talk about that.
I’am a retired RN and my older sister D is also a retired RN who lives near Orlando and younger sister K is still working as an RN.
My younger sister K, B’s mom was able to get her vacation time off this year to come with me on this trip. She loves Halloween as much as I do. She also decorates her house for Halloween. We have been known to do some serious sister shopping damage at HomeGoods, Big Lot’s etc....for Halloween items all the while saying we don‘t need anymore Halloween decorations.
My niece B told be a few years ago that her moms Halloween decorations are happy and mine are more scary…..LOL
My sister and I had just returned from our nephews wedding in Iowa on Sunday evening which was a little over a thousand mile round trip. Then turned around and left for my home in Florida on Wednesday morning.
There was no chance to lengthen the time between the trips.
I scrambled to make changes to my resort reservations after I received the information on my nephews wedding a few months ago. The resorts were booked up already and I was lucky to get the dates changed early enough.
On a interesting note. There was a house in Osage Iowa that looked just like the Addams Family house. I wished I had taken a picture of it. It was really cool and creepy. Might ask Nephew to take a photo of it and send it to me the next time he is in Osage.
Since I brought up the wedding. It was beautiful and touching. My nephew was handsome and the bride was beautiful. It was a gorgeous happy day.
When I made my plans for the trip to HHN I decided on 10 days. I have stayed 14, 12 and 11 days and It always seems as the trip is coming to a close that no number of days is long enough to do all there is to do at Universal and the surrounds.
Wednesday, September 7
It was a long drive from Southren Indiana to my home in Florida, but having my sister to talk to was awesome. We are close and it seems we never have a shortage of things to talk about.
My son had told me about Buc-ee’s when he visited us in Florida in January of this year. My husband and I stopped at one on the way back up to Southern Indiana in April. All I can say is that its like the Walmart of gas stations.
We made sure to make frequent stops for walks and I stopped at Buc-ee’s on 75 in Georgia for gas which is really reasonable and my sister and i went inside and the place was humming with people. The bathrooms are very large and very clean. The place has so many items to sell they actually have grocery carts. They are known for their fresh barbecue and brisket sandwiches. But all the food is to go. There is no place to sit and eat.
If you are traveling and a Buc-ee’s is on your travel route have a stop and look.
There are tons of gas pumps.
Thursday, September 8
My home is about an hour and 45 minutes south of Orlando. On the drive up on 95 to the 520 to 528 my car was plastered with love bugs. No amount of windshield wiper fluid will wash these pesky bugs off your windshield. Also the fluids from these bugs will mar the paint on your car if not wash off in a timely manner.
Splattered bugs or not we were on our way to my favorite Resort at Universal.
We arrived at the Beautiful Portofino for check in at about 11:30 am. The Check in line was short so not a long wait at all. I was greeted by the lovely Jennifer she was very kind and helpful. The room was ready so that was an unexpected treat.
We unpacked our bags at the door and I parked the car. I would deal with the bug carnage later.
The lobby of the Portofino smells fantastic and it is beautiful open and so inviting.
to be continued
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