Flew into Orlando last night. The coolest thing was the fact that we flew through New Orleans, and I immediately scanned the itinerary to see if our layover was long enough to book outta the airport and get to something cool before continuing on to Florida. Problem was our layover turned out to be only 25 minutes. Bummer. Three of us were going to the National Honor Society conference and were scheduled at Doubletree Universal right at Universal Studios. Checking the registration materials, we discovered we weren’t even scheduled to checkin until later on Friday, so we giddily headed down stairs this morning to find tickets to Universal Studios and Island Adventures. Because it’s November and a Friday, we got some sweet deals to both parks. The Universal guy said that since it was only a mile away it’d be quicker to walk, since the shuttle was headed to several other hotels before it would arrive there. Our goal was to be there when they opened and ride as many roller coasters as we could.

Our student secretary had never been on roller coasters, let alone an airplane or out of the southwest. She was freaking out about the roller coasters and we were ready to make her a convert. My friends had been here at Island Adventures just last week for Educause national conference, and they loved The Hulk so we headed there first. Of course there were problems and it wasn’t open. We ran to the next one since the park had just opened. Over the next couple of hours, we hit as many roller coasters as could. Spiderman, Jurassic Park, and several more. Liz was freaking out at first and really didn’t seem to know what she thought. At first she wouldn’t even open her eyes! We walked the park, and went through Dr Seuss land which was really cool. I met Thing 1 & Thing 2 and had my photo taken with The Grinch before we bought a bag or roasted almonds for a snack. By now The Hulk was open so we headed back there. By the time we hit the front of the line the almonds were done.

Liz was freaking out because this thing looked like it twisted and turned, so when we got into our seats I decided to scream on the whole ride Bad idea. Immediately after the ride I felt like I was going to be sick. Liz walked onto the ride freaking out and walked off with fire in her eyes, so excited. She was immediately hooked. Immediately she wanted to get back on, so we did. After the second time, I was in a bad place. There was one roller coaster left, but I had to sit down. Liz and Erica gave me about 37 nanoseconds to rest before dragging me to the Dueling Dragons, which wasn’t as extreme as The Hulk but it was pretty close. It was the last coaster of the park, and our goal was to do them all. Of course, I couldn’t back out. We transversed the line, and I didn’t feel too well. We got up there and the ride rocked! Of course I jumped off the ride and got sick all over the wall. Almonds. Yuck.

After that I felt better, but I realized it was now after 2pm and I hadn’t had a meal. I got a goal to eat at every Bubba Gump in the universe, and guess where one was? Across the park. Liz and Erica had never been there so that was pretty cool. After we ate, I felt better so we headed over to Universal Studios to ride a few more rides over there. I agreed to go even though I wasn’t feeling perfect.

Universal’s great and has a ton of movie things. The Terminator show was really cool, but by now I was totally worn out. We hit a couple other things and then rode The Mummy, which was really fun. By then the park was closing so we took off. Registration was almost closed so it was time to walk a mile back to the hotel.