First solo trip to Orlando...and first PTR/TR

This is so kewl!!

Thanks for sharing the yummy pictures

More Toothsome Chocolate Emporium:







The macarons were $2.95 each









I tried to take a picture of the milkshakes menu but I'm not sure how clear it is.

I have this urge to go out and buy chocolates right now.......


Your pictures are great


What was your favorite thing there?

After many pictures and drooling over all those candies and chocolate I headed to Universal Studios and went straight to Diagon Alley. I stopped at the phone booth to call the Ministry of Magic which was really fun but booth was extremely hot, it felt like a sauna. Once inside Diagon alley I went to the Escape from Gringottes that I was dying to ride. It had a 60 minutes wait so I went to the single riders line and after less than 10 minutes in line, the ride broke. It was down for about 20 minutes and I was about to give up (I hadn't had lunch yet and pretty much hadn't eaten anything since last night, so I was starving) when they got it fixed and in another 10 minutes I was at the top of the stairs. The ride AWESOME, I absolutely loved it (though FJ might still be my favorite). It was around 1:30pm when I retrieved my bag from the locker and lunch was way overdue so I went to Leaky Cauldron. It was pretty crowded but one of the perks of being alone is that it's fairly easy to get seated. I ordered the Fish & Chips and a frozen butterbeer. I thought it was all delicious but considering how hungry I was, I would think anything was delicious.


I walked around for a little longer but it was very hot, I didn't have sunscreen on and I was extremely tired so I decided to go back to the hotel, get some rest and go back to the parks later, which I never did. I got a butterbeer fudge and a chocolate cauldron at Sugarplum's and went to the water taxi dock. Before going to the room I stopped at New Dutch Trading Co to get some bottles of water and also bought the refillable mug.

I paid $18 for 7 days.

I took a long nap and decided to just stay in the room, unpack and relax for the rest of the night. I went to the Universal's store in the lobby and got an interactive wand that I want to use tomorrow but didn't want to buy it in the park and have to carry the box. I got dinner at New Dutch Trading Co. and then had some of the butterbeer fudge. I like it but it's not my favorite and I thought it was too sweet, I couldn't eat the whole thing and saved the rest for later.

the meal from New Dutch Trading Co (rice, beans and pork). It was spicy but very tasty, I liked it way more than I was expecting. The guy did let me have a sample before I bought it.

That's it for today. I'll get a proper night of sleep tonight

macraven said:

What was your favorite thing there?

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I think the milkshakes. They looked amazing. The only reason I didn't get one was because I hadn't eaten in a long time so I needed some salty food or I would feel sick. I hope it's open again tomorrow.

Enjoying your trip report

Your pictures of Toothsome are fabulous!

Everything looks amazing.........I saw many things in Toothsome I have to get......candy floss is one! I adore that.

Nice updates.........looking forward to reading more about your trip!

Awesome pictures. Thanks for taking them all. Heard many thought the fudge was too sweet. I like fudge, but there's so many other sweets at Universal I like more.

Glad to hear you are enjoying your time at the resort and parks.

I want the Octopus Trinket box!!! I love it !!!! And the bourbon fudge sounds divine

johnaalexis said:

I want the Octopus Trinket box!!! I love it !!!! And the bourbon fudge sounds divine

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I am super into octopuses and also have been wanting the trinket box since I saw it posted on Facebook a couple days ago. Hopefully they have them available when I'm there in November!

Lynne G said:

Awesome pictures. Thanks for taking them all.

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You're welcome!

Lynne G said:

I like fudge, but there's so many other sweets at Universal I like more.

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Exactly. It's not that I don't like, but there are so many better sweets that I don't think I'll be buying the fudge again.

Tuesday (08/23)

I was planning on going to Island of Adventure on EE but when the alarm went off I decided to sleep a little longer and got up at 8:15am. I got an egg and bacon croissant at New Dutch Trading Co. that was hot and delicious. I ended up getting to the park 5 minutes before 9am.

The view from my room is stunning



I went straight to the Hulk roller coaster and it was awesome, the launch tunnel is amazing. From there I went to Spider-man and the guy let me go in the express line even tough I don't have an express pass because I'm a Hufflepuff (I've been wearing my Hufflepuff lanyard) and it was just me, so I was in and out of the ride in 5 minutes. Next was Skull Island that according to Universal's app had a 45 minutes wait. I usually have a 30 minutes limit for wait time but when it's a new ride or one that is always crowded (like Minion Mayhem) I get my limit up to 45 minutes. When I got to the entrance of the ride the sign had the wait time listed as 90 minutes! I asked for single riders line but the CM said they didn't have it at that time and I almost gave up but decided to give it a try and I'm glad I did. The line took about 40 minutes but it's so awesome that I didn't even realized it had been that long. The ride is great and totally worth it, it has so much going on in both sides of the car that you get out wanting to ride again to be able to see watch was going on the other side.
Jurassic Park was the next ride and it didn't have any wait. Then I made my way to Hogsmead.



My first stop was Forbidden Journey. I went through the regular line because I wanted to see the castle since it had been awhile I've been there. Almost at the end a CM asked me to try the seat (I'm fat - I'll talk about it at the end of this post) and I told her I had tried it outside so she asked if it turned green and then directed me to the rest of the single riders line, which was great cause I got to see the castle and still use the single riders line. I love this ride, it's by far my favorite! After I got out of FJ, I left my bag in the locker and went to the Dragon Challenge (the locker was giving 85 minutes for free and it took me less than 20 minutes on the ride). When I got out I started feeling a little lightheaded so I retrieved my bag from FJ's locker and headed to Three Broomsticks.


It was a little before noon and the restaurant wasn't crowded at all. I got a turkey leg platter and a cold butterbeer. The food was great and huge, I couldn't finish the turkey leg but it tasted amazing.


After lunch I took the Hogwarts Express to King's Cross station and was planning to ride Escape from Gringotts through the regular line to see the bank, I think everybody should do it at least once. My plan changed when I got there and the wait time was 65 minutes. I got a butterbeer ice cream instead, walked around a little bit and decided to go back to the hotel to get some rest.



I got a small afternoon nap and then went to Universal Studios. I started with RRR that I had never ridden before, I remember the line was always over 60 minutes last time I came and we didn't have a lot of time. Anyway, the wait time was 20 or 25 minutes and when I went through the metal detector the CM sent me through the express line and when I got to the CM the scan the pass I was like "I have no idea what's going on here, she must've sent me through the wrong line" and she asked if I was alone and let me go there. The line moved really fast and I LOVED the ride! I never cared much about it and was pleasantly surprised with how awesome it is. From there I went to the Mummy and basically walked in and got to ride front row. Then I went to Transformers and again just walked in. I was going to MIB next but decided to stop at ET first, it only had a 5 minute wait - which means no wait at all. I love this ride and it was so empty that I had a whole 'car' for myself, and I mean the whole 4 rows of bikes. It was fun but also made me a little sad to think the ride might not last much longer there.

On my way to MIB I ended up stopping at the Simpsons ride and had to wait for about 20 minutes. I used to love this one but after Spider-man, FJ, Transformers and Escape from Gringotts, it wasn't all that fun anymore. Then I finally made it to MIB and it's always a lot of fun.
When I got out was already 8:20pm and the park was closing at 8:30pm and all the restaurants were already closed so I went to CityWalk to get food. The line to the water taxi was a bit long and I knew it would only get worse once the Cinematic Spectacular was over so I just got a burger at Burger King and had the chocolate cauldron I bought on Monday as a dinner dessert.


And then it was time for bed!

P.S.: like I said, I'm fat. I don't really know how much I weight, it's mostly in my tummy and thighs but I don't have very large hips. I wear 22W shorts/pants and 2XL shirts/dresses and I was able to ride absolutely everything on the modified seats and very comfortably. The only one that was a little tight was Escape from Gringotts but not uncomfortably tight, I could still move a bit in the seat and breathe fine. I'm not even a little bit ashamed of it, I like to eat! So I tried every single test seat available, I asked for help, I asked questions and I requested a modified seat on every ride except the Mummy, this one I rode on the regular seat extremely comfortable. Everybody was extremely nice about it.
The seats for the Hulk and Dragon Challenge are exactly the same, no need to try both. The Escape from Gringotts and the Mummy seats look the same but I think the EFG are smaller, or maybe it's because of the leg part, I don't know but the regular seats of the Mummy were less tight than the modified seats of the EFG for me. The FJ I asked for the CM's help when I tested it outside because I wasn't able to get the third click on my own, he gave it a last push for me but when I went on the ride I got it easily. The RRR is the hardest one to test if you get embarrassed by it cause a lot of people gather outside the ride (I don't really know why) and use the test seats as chairs so I actually had to ask a woman to let me try the seat. And the thing BEEPS. When it started beeping I thought it was because it wouldn't fit but then I looked and the light was green so I opened it and closed again and saw that it beeps when it turns green. I never tried the regular seat for this ride because it was too much trouble to ask another person to get up when I could just ask for a modified seat - and I don't think I would fit anyway.
My advice is to try the seats. There's no reason to be embarrassed, nobody even realizes what you're doing or don't even care and you'll never see these people again, don't waste your time worrying about what other people will think!

Thank you so much for sharing about fitting in the rides

You gave great facts and I'm sure many of us out that will get peace of mind knowing they will be able to do those rides

Many have questions if they are going to fit on a ride
Some posters are shy about saying their size so glad you felt comfortable in doing so

You had a great adventure on this day!

I so enjoy reading your thread
And the pictures are fantastic!

Yep, I am so enjoying reading along with you on your trip........

Your pictures are lovely and descriptions are excellent! I glad you are having such a nice time.

I am looking forward to visiting Sapphire Falls next month during our stay, it does look nice. And of course a few other things you have done so far.

I'm so glad you got to ride everything you wanted and didn't feel embarrassed about trying test seats.......so many people are and it's such a shame. I'm with you, doesn't bother me in the slightest, people can say what they like.....

The Team Members are excellent at helping folks with these issues and thankfully so.

Looking for more of your trip...........

Great Trip report so far! I can only look at the chocolate pictures briefly, don't want to end up eating my computer!

Enjoying your report!

We walked into Toothsome, well I did, my boys stayed outside. It was a 40 minute wait for milkshakes so I just wandered the store instead, it's beautiful in there.