Universal Fun

susan: How you doing, babe? Hello. So this is our episode. We are away on vacation right now, soaking up so much sun and universal time. Yeah. Having the time of our lives, an epic. This is a manifestation 'cause we're not there yet, but this is when you hear this, this is where we'll be. So you know. Enjoy why we tell you where we're going, give you some details about where we're going and you know, just a full history on the Universal Studios Orlando that we'll be going to. Are you excited? I'm very excited. What are you most excited for, do you think? Your mouth. It wasn't moving very far. Yeah, so yeah. Jonah has never been. And so, Universal Studios Orlando comes from like I think they had it in Hollywood first and then they brought it to Orlando. it consists of three different parks, technically four. If you include Volcano Bay, which is their swimming area, kinda like Typhoon Lagoon for Disney ish. so you have Volcano Bay, but we will not be doing that. we'll do the three main parks It's Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios, and then Epic. Epic is the newest one released in twenty twenty five. So Epic I have never been to, so that's something that me and him are gonna be able to experience together for the first time. Which we're super excited. Super excited about because last year for our honeymoon we went to Disney and I've been to Disney a million or so times and he hasn't gone and so I was able to kinda show him and like be the ropes for that and get us where we needed to go and you know, make it a good fun time. This time with Epic, I know nothing. I don't know where to go. I don't know what to try, what to experience and so it's gonna be very very eye opening and refreshing to kind of experience something together for the first time that neither one of us have has experienced. Yeah. So I'm I'm excited for that. But I'm also excited for you to get some some stuff while we're there. Yeah, I'm getting a wand. So yeah, you will be getting a wand for an early Christmas gift. I've already told him about it. So it was Before Orlando, Universal was already a theme park company. So its roots and visitor experiences actually goes back decades. Universal began welcoming people in its Hollywood studios in nineteen fifteen, and the famous studio tours eventually ev evolved into something much bigger. The Hollywood Tour began in nineteen sixty-four, and the attractions such as Jaws helped establish the idea that people didn't just want to watch movies, they wanted to experience them. So you had like Universal Pictures, Hollywood movie making, like the studio tours. Have you ever seen some of the studio tours that they give now in Hollywood? Like Do you know what studio tours are? Mm. Okay. So Universal Studios is a real place where they make movies. Okay. Yeah. It's a real s s stage and everything. And so you had tours that would go to different sets. And do like drive bys and stuff like that. And so in the Universal Hollywood Studio Parks, I believe in the park. I I think it's in the park. But there still is one where they like drive through a little bit of water and there's like this ocean beside them and Jaws like comes at them pretend like and there's like a hotel that they drive by and there's videos. I can I I can show some videos. But you know, you you were seeing movie sets, you were seeing behind the scene footage, or not footage, but like experiences and so they decided, you know, is doing really good and they wanted to bring it to Orlando. So Disney was already in Orlando at this point. So when they decided to build in Orlando it wasn't entering like nowhere. Like they weren't someone just kinda like Dollywood, how Dollywood was made and just kind of a random well, not a random state. Like it it was like it had meaning to Dolly. Yeah. Though So Dollywood it just like there wasn't any parts. around there that had theme parks other than like maybe a six flags. But is it wasn't there was market there. Yeah. So imagine you're the Universal Studios owner and you're like, I wanna build a theme park in Orlando and Magic Kingdom is already there with some of its stuff, Disney's already there. How hard would it be to be in that market, you know? Be bit Disney's been big for a long time, so Like it it would be it would be hard to like come in. But so they decided they were gonna they were entering in Disney's backyard. So it eventually opened in June seventh, nineteen ninety. Now I believe do not I I believe in my heart of hearts that I'm right on this. I do not have it in front of me, but I am such a Disney enthusiast that I can say with my full chest and hope that I'm right that Disney had opened in nineteen seventy one. So keep in mind this is like twenty years later that Universal Studios is opening. So they described it as Universal's second theme park and notes that the original park included attractions inspired by Universal's Hollywood offerings as well as Nickelodeon Studios. So, you know, we're Coming in, building this park, and we're gonna see the stars ride the movies was their original slogan when they came down. So on opening day in the nineteen ninety, the park was designed around the idea that guests were entering the movie making world. So the original attractions was E. T. Adventure, Jaws, Earthquake, the horror makeup show, Back to the Future. They don't have a Back to the Future ride anymore. Hm. Pretty sure it's been a long time since that's come out. Honestly though, I wouldn't mind if they brought it back. Yeah. Those are great movies. It was it was a gr it was a great movie. The Bates Motel, psycho like it it had some of those horror movie experiences and that's I wonder if like I don't know for sure but they do have horror nights Halloween horror nights starting in October to maybe it's September. mid September to after Halloween, like right after Halloween they'll probably stop it. But at night you can go there and be very, very scared because the makeup that these people do, the What's the word? So it's better than Mickey's not so scary Halloween party? No, Mickey's not so scary Halloween party is for people like me. Who don't like horror stuff? Who don't like being scared, who don't like being jumped at, because they will jump at you. Yeah. And they will chase you because that's their job. could never be me. They won't get super close to you, but they will get close to you. Yeah. no thank you. You will get punched straight in the face. So we're not gonna be doing that while we're there, I can tell you that right now. no. S Mickey's not so scary Halloween is for basically Disney after dark. Yeah. It's Disney after dark. You don't have many people waiting for lines. You get candy while you're walking around the rides 'cause they'll have a candy bowl like right pot. like right next to a ride, so you just go get some candy, hop on a ride, jump off, get candy again. Trick or treat. Yeah. And and adults can dress up. Is it only a Magic Kingdom? Mhm. Yeah. And there's also other types of Parades. There's like specific Halloween parades and it's usually the villains. All the villains come out for Halloween. I'm excited for Villain Land so that villains will be more out and about in general. I'm a little excited for that. I don't know when that's coming around though. Who knows? But yeah, no, Mickey's not so scary Halloween is basically adults can get to dress up then in full character because it is a policy that they're not allowed to because they don't want you to misrepresent Disney and don't want little kids to come up to you thinking that you're cast member. A cast member. or that you are the person when they might have another Rapunzel walking around and you're coming in dressed as Rapunzel and you look very similar. It's only Mickey years for the adults, huh? Typically during the day, unless you're doing Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party, if you have one of those wristbands on you can go in dressed because you're gonna be there the whole day, you can go in dressed yeah as a character. But yeah, no, it was it was great, great time. Okay. Back to Universal. So one of the One of the biggest things is is that E. T. it became w one of the most beloved rides, when it when it opened. When it first opened. And have you ever seen E. T.? It's been a long time. It's been a long time. I I watched it I think maybe one time. Maybe one. I don't know. I would have to go back and look at that but so you know, it being one of the beloved attractions, one of the things is, you know, Universal wasn't trying to be Disney because they weren't you know, they wanted you to experience the movies, like they wanted you to be like you were at the movies type thing. So it was Disney you're entering a magical story. Yeah. And then Universal you enter the movies. So in the movies. It's it's it w thank goodness it was like kind of very big different concepts or they probably would have made no money whatsoever. And You don't know about any of those attractions and I really don't know about any of those attractions. But if you had to bring back one, which would you bring? The E. T. Adventure, Jaws, Earthquake, Conformation, The Horror Makeup Show, Back to the Future the Ride, The Bates Motel, the Studio Tour Con I'd say Back to the Future. Agreed. Agreed Universal. Well it's not there. No. I've never experienced that ride, but I would probably I probably want that I probably have experienced that ride, but just as a different ride. so in nineteen ninety one Universal introduced an event called Fright Nights, which is now the Halloween Horror Nights. it started small, essentially a Halloween event with a single haunted house. It was later renamed Halloween Horror Nights and grew into one of Universal's signature events. This is a great example of Universal figuring out something Disney wasn't really known for. So, like, in the movies, you get makeup done, you get hair done, you get those things done, and they were going above and beyond for those. and also Disney isn't supposed to be scary. Yeah. Like Mickey's not so scary Halloween. You've got your iconic Disney villains walking around, but they're not trying to scare. Scare you. They're just there to take a picture with you. You still get to go ride all your sweet little rides. You know. but Universal realized that there was an audience that wanted horror, gore, haunted houses, scare zones, horror movies, like adult nighttime entertainment. And so I personally would never go. But I think you would. I think you would wanna go one night. Maybe. My cousin did go and she she was like it's not she's like I was scared. I was not I did not enjoy it. I mean I'm not much fun much of one for horror movies, so I don't know. I wouldn't wanna go by myself though, so well you can you can wear a thing that says not to scare you, like it's some necklace that lets them know that you don't like being scared and they and they won't. They'll ho they'll they won't harass you, but they'll give you crap for it. They'll be like, ugh, lame you know, the they'll basically taunt and it's like, listen I want to still enjoy this just without all that? Yeah. So So Universal in the nineteen nineties, like late nineteen nineties, realizes one park isn't enough. And they need to become more than one theme park. And that leads to the Islands of Adventure. So this is the second second part. Second portion. So in the nineteen ninety nine Universal opened Islands of Adventure alongside Universal Studios, Florida. So there's actually you know how the monorail can take you from the parking lot to the Magic Kingdom? Yeah. There is something similar that can take you from Island of Adventure to Universal side of the park. So the entryway so when you walk in, Island of Adventure is this way. Yeah. And Universal's this way. When you walk in. Like they're they're literally connected. Right next to each other. Yeah, and there's just This gap in between them. I don't know. Bless you. Thank you. I don't know how it looks overhead, but you can get on something that will take you to the other side and our tickets you have to have like kind of like park hopper tickets. Yeah. You have to have those to get to the other side. And we have those. The other side. We have those kinds and you're gonna ride it. And you're gonna love it. We're gonna ride it too and And from. Like we're gonna ride it to both. So 'cause it's a different different experience when you're going What's your favorite transportation at Disney? You like the Skyliner or the Monorail? Or the bus? Well have you taken a bus? Yes. Or a boat. yeah, the ferry boat to Magic Kingdom. Hmm. I don't know. I think I enjoy the Skyliner because you get to like look out so far out. Yeah. however I've seen some videos of people doing doing the skyliner in a storm and getting stuck up there so now it kinda gives me a little bit of anxiety of being trapped. Just don't go up during the storm. Yeah, I know, but it like I still kinda like I have a fear of heights, but I don't have a fear of heights. Like I don't it's hard to explain. Stop I know, I know, I know, I know. It's hard to explain because like I'll be the first one to get on something, but if I look down or I notice how far up, like, I get a little bit of a feeling in my stomach where I'm just like, Okay, I actually am really high up, I could die. my goodness. And it scares me. But I still truck on. So yeah. There you go. So in nineteen ninety nine Universal opened up the Islands of Adventure alongside Universal Studios at the same time the Universal City Walk and the first on site hotel, Portof Portofino Bay opened, creating what became Universal Studio Universal Orlando Resorts. So it went from Universal Studios Florida to Universal Orlando Resorts. So the island of adventure is completely different. Instead of you're at the movie studio, it became you're entering different worlds. So the original lands that were there before what's there now was well, some of them are still there. You'll see when you get there. I'm not gonna spoil it for so no one else spoil it for either. Port of Entry, Marvel Superhero Island. Toon Lagoon, Jurassic Park, The Lost Continent, and Seuss Landing. Those were the original islands of adventure. it wasn't just about making another movie park. It was experimenting with immersive themed lands. So I think not gonna lie, I think Disney kind of took that. for themselves just a little bit. When they announced villains land, so now we're gonna get a villains land and we're gonna get a cars, you know, area. But I guess they already had Epcot and so Epcot was already like different countries. They're different countries, but it's not like lands, but it is because it's countries. But like villain land is specifically gonna be a different it's gonna be like a park within a park. Because it's gonna be a different experience. Where's that gonna be at? It's gonna be at Magic Kingdom. Your least favorite one. Yep. So, The biggest thing Universal would eventually learn from this is that people don't just want rides based on movies, they want to walk inside movies. And there used to be No. That was at Disney JK. There used to be a playground at Disney that was Honey I Show with the Kids. Uhhuh. With the ant. but that that that's kinda what it would feel like to me. So then after that the city walk the city walk that they made, it's right before you get to the park entrances. It's basically like you're walking through a little Not a town per se, but like you're walking through New York. Because there's foods, restaurants, there's stores all around where Margaritaville is. There's there's places that you you walk off and it's just like there as you're walking towards the parks. So you know how like Disney they got nothing. You got the monorail, you ride the monorail and then you're like at the gate. There was nothing really like drawing you in before you even got there. This has something, you know, there and and a lot of people say that it is it's easy to overlook Look. But historically it is important. It wasn't just building theme parks. Like they didn't just want to build a theme park. It was building a destination resort. So like I said, there's restaurants, shopping, entertainment, hotels, the nightlife. Like I don't think some of those places close to like midnight, maybe one o'clock. Some of those restaurants. But that's out it's still outside the park. You're not inside the park, so it's not like you can you know don't get plastered drunk and then go ride a ride or anything. Like it's it's nothing like that. But you didn't have to leave universal property when the theme park closed. So like they close at nine. I wanna go grab some drinks with some friends, we're all we're all still having a good time, we don't want it to end. Or like, if you wanna go shopping for more trinkets or What's the word I'm looking for? Souvenirs. You have that option. Disney, you kinda they'll slowly start to shove ya out a little bit. Yeah. they won't f they'll they'll slowly start to push you, especially if you're purposely delaying it. but they will try to kinda keep you in the main street and let you shop about maybe an hour after close, but then I think after the hour they're like, Okay, let's go. Let's let's hit the road. so that was a major part of Universal's transformation into a vacation destination. Universal's nineteen ninety nine expansion included City Walk and Port Puerto Felio Bay, followed by additional hotels including Hard Rock Hotel and Royal Pacific Resort by 2001. So now we move to the 2000s. In the 2000s, this is when our rise of the bigger, batter rides. This is when Universal really starts establishing its identity as the place for thrill rides. So we get the Incredible Hulk, The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, Revenge of the Mummy, Men in Black Alien Attack, Harry Potter's Eventful. yeah, eventful arrival, the evolution of Jurassic Park. So you don't know this, but like the difference between a universal ride and a Disney ride, you will feel a difference. Yeah. Like there's more roller coasters at Universal. Mhm. There's more roller coasters and it is more intense and I personally think that you will love Universal more than you've loved anything else. Yeah. I don't think you will want to really do Disney again after we do Universal. But I'm hoping you want to 'cause I love Disney. I also like Universal too. I'm not opposed to going to Universal but It's just it doesn't I didn't grow up going there, so my n my nostalgia is more for Disney than it is for Universal, you know? So then we get Harry Potter. In two thousand ten y this like It blew up. Yeah. Okay. In two thousand ten, Universal opened the wizarding world of Harry Potter Hogsmead at Islands of Adventure. And suddenly something happened that would change theme parks forever. People weren't just riding a Harry Potter ride. They were walking through Hogsmead, visiting Hogwarts, drinking butterbeer, buying wizarding merchandise that like you see on the movies. Like you you could go into the store get dressed up as a wizard, like go in the store looking normal, come out looking like an actual student from Hogwarts. That's that's how much they were you know, really putting the experience where you could really get all these things and feel and look the part. You know? They also have some wizard food there and it's just it just became the environment that you had. It was it was an amazing environment. I thoroughly enjoyed. I didn't really get to look around very much, so I'm excited for this time around where we can kind of really dig in. So then after that, they decide to expand Harry Potter and they make Daigan Alley. And that is where Universal gets really clever. Now Harry Potter exists across two different parks. So you have it at the Island Adventures and now you have it at the Universal Studios. and the two parks are connected. And it was a brilliant business perspective because suddenly a guest has a reason to visit both parks to be able to experience this back and forth rock. Like it's like a ride. Technically. It's just taking you from one place to the other. so it's it's like part of the story. Okay? I'm trying not to give too much away. So I'm so excited for you to experience it. I'm very excited. I am so excited. Like I am so ready. Like I wish Ugh I need these next two weeks to go by like nothing happened. And then in two thousand seventeen, Universal expanded beyond traditional theme parks with its Universals Volcano Bay. Now Universal Orlando wasn't simply theme park, theme park city walk. It became the complete vacation destination. So you could stay at a universal hotel. go to the city walk to get your food, your shopping without even having to enter the parks. It's like Disney Springs. Mm-hmm. Where it's it's basically free to to walk around and get into. you know, you just gotta pay for the shops and stuff. And then you had the parks and then you had Volcano Bay Which was the water park. It does have a nice lazy river. It does it's a you know the lazy river at the resort? Yeah. Imagine just a little bit bigger in size Whitewater. And a little bit stronger current. I don't know, I've never been to Whitewaters. Well White Waters Maybe you can take me there one day. Maybe. And I can I can experience something for the first time that you've experienced two hundred times. But you know what I mean. Okay. So so they just have the one hotel, but they are they added more hotels. And so it was like How do we really keep guests on property? Because if we keep guests on property, there's more time they spend at Universal, the more money they spend, the more convenient their vacation becomes and the more Universal becomes their vacation destination rather than a one day park visit. Because we you can complete both the two parks. kind of in a day if you really wanted to. Like if you really honed in like you would at Disney, you could finish two of their parks in one day because of the amount of rides that they have. Their amount of rides are lesser in comparison as a whole. Like I'm I'm including all four Disney parks to their two parks. They have lesser rides, so you can get it done in a day. However, you know, the reason to not want that is so that you can like fully experience it and give your time to just one place. So 'cause like Disney, you have to do a park a day or you will be exhausted. Yeah. Like park hopping it it's rough. So then in two thousand five, it officially opens its fourth theme park. Really third in my opinion, 'cause I don't think a water park is a theme park. But whatever. They're they're two different types of parks. So to me when I think theme park, I think roller coaster, roller coaster, roller coaster. I don't think water slides, nothing. That's a water park. Those are two different things. But that's beside the point. So The park officially opened on May twenty second, twenty twenty five, and Universal describes it as the resort's fourth theme park and says its opening transformed Universal Orlando into a four theme park destination. And this is where the history comes full circle. Remember the idea from nineteen ninety? Ride the movies? Now Universal is doing something much bigger. You enter entire worlds. So we were already told what the worlds were at Epic. which is the Wizarding World of Harry Potter Ministry, Super Mario World, How to Train Your Dragon, and Dark Universe. Now, within those, it's kind of broken down. So It's you have the central hub which is called Crystal Park. It's like basically your middle before you choose an entry. Mm. and so you have the wizarding world of ministry. It's completely different Harry Potter setting from Hogsmead and Diagonale. So I'm excited to see what that looks like because I really enjoyed and so I'm excited to see what else they could have put in there. like what what was what's there that's and it's called the Ministry of Magic. So I'm wondering if they if we have like all the tunnels, you know, that this one big long haul, black hall for I d I don't know what to expect. I'm really excited for it. And then Super Mario World, you have Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Nintendo, And then how to train your dragon, the Isle of Burke, it's completely immersive Viking and Dragon World. Yeah. So excited for that. I have seen some videos of people meeting characters. So that's exciting. And then the dark universe is universal monsters, Frankenstein, werewolves, classic horror type things. I am iffy to go in there. I'm hoping that it's not like gonna be s like it's not It describes Universal itself officially describes Epic Universe as five immense worlds, the five worlds that I mentioned. So this is like full circle moment. And so in nineteen fifteen you have the Hollywood Studio Tours in Hollywood. Nineteen sixty-four it changes to the Studio Tour. Then in nineteen nineties you have Universal Studios Florida. Nineteen ninety-nine islands of adventure city walk and then the hotel. Twenty ten Harry Potter. Like the thing is is that these gaps are kinda big. between their variances. Yeah. Disney is constantly coming out with new things for the rides at their park, like almost every year. Almost every year they're coming out with either a refurbishment of a ride, a change of a ride. Like there's the it's constantly doing this and universal for it taking, you know, ten years between each added upgrade because I really think it's about putting the detail in it that really matters to them. That's what it looks like for me. I think Disney can sometimes lose it and They don't really hone in on details. And that's okay. They don't need to do that because they have all these rides that they have to maintain and look after and so kinda like Tron. Tron isn't super detailed. Your waiting area is detailed. Yeah. The walkthrough that you do before you get to the ride is detailed, but the actual ride itself is not really detailed. The outside of it, the outside of the ride is not detailed the way I feel Universal Studio is. And so the fact that they're taking years to add things, like ten years in between things, the only thing that's like less than that was Harry Potter to Diagonale. That was only four years. But that's still a lot of work for four years. And then Volcano Bay. between g Dig Diagonale and Volcano Bay, that was a three year difference. But again, that's a whole different park. In my opinion, that was them creating something completely different. And then they didn't release anything from two thousand seventeen to twenty twenty five. To go that long without needing to really revamp things just kinda goes to show What they have there is like if they're gonna make a change and they're gonna do something different, it's gonna be something big. So yeah, it's It's definitely gonna be something that I'm excited to share with you and I'm very excited. We are gonna make our videos like we did. on rides and stuff, or my reactions. Yep. Your reactions, yep. That will be on our YouTube channel just like the Disney one is on our YouTube channel from our honeymoon. But yeah, that was that was just kind of a rundown. It wasn't like super history history, but it was just to give you a history of the park itself. Yeah, it's a lot of Talking. So do you not like hearing me talk? No, no, no, no. I'm talking And me giving my comments and stuff. So well, and also you haven't been there, so there wasn't a lot that you can talk about, and there's also things that I don't want to say because I don't want to ruin the extreme. experience and you know everything. Yeah. To like to an extent and like there are things that might not be there that I've talked about today that I said could be there or I don't know what to expect because maybe things are down, maybe things are you know, you never know. Yeah. rides can be down or Yeah. But I just I'm I'm excited to see your experience and I'm excited to experience it with you because again the last time I went to Universal it was me with some family and I had two days. I had two days to do it and I just did not get to fully experience it the way that I really wanted to kind of lose myself in it. Yeah. And I'm hoping that we get to do that when we get there. So that was that was it. But when you hear this, we're already there and we're having the time of our lives. I'm manifesting that right now. Yep. It's gonna be the best trip ever. Are you excited? I'm very excited. I'm so excited. I cannot wait. I'm like, ugh. I'm giddy. I just know I'm probably gonna be exhausted. Especially if we're gonna try to put a Disney day in there. Yeah, if we fed a Disney Day. I don't I don't know if we don't know if it's gonna happen, but we're not too bummed if it won't ha if it doesn't happen, but Yeah. I mean I might wanna go down there for like a weekend trip or something. I might say, Babe, let's go to Disney real quick for a weekend and we go down there because there there are some things that he did not get to experience. at Disney on our anniversary. Yeah. Or not our anniversary. Our honeymoon. Because the ride was down, it was broken, it this, that and the other. So yeah. I'm I'm finger crossing it that if we do go down for a weekend or if we do do a Disney day that those rides are available and those would be the ones we would get a parkopper so that we could just kinda stick to the rides that we didn't get to experience or we love so much that we'd want to ride again. Like Guardians of the Galaxy. Yeah. You know, th that would be our main focus to getting a Disney day in the week that we're at Universal. But we've got five days to go to Universal I think we're just gonna be exhausted and I'm not gonna wanna do it, but we'll see. We are driving down early on that Saturday, so that we can go to the character warehouse and Disney Springs. Go to Disney Springs. So we're gonna be waking up at the dawn. Might spend some money on some Legos, we'll see. Yeah, the they got some Legos for sale. Yeah. Not trying to go crazy. Drop a couple thousand on Legos. No. After we decided not to do the A list thing. Yeah. So if we if we drop more than a thousand dollars on Legos, I would be so mad because I'd be like, dude We could have put that money in savings and saved it for, you know, eighty one home games at the Braves Stadium. Yeah. No, we won't do anything crazy. We've on all of our trips so far we've spent a lot of money that we didn't need to, so Yeah, this one will be a little bit more tamed. Yeah. I feel bad though that this one's gonna be tamed. Because it'll be your first time experiencing it and you're not gonna be able to just be like, I want this and want this and like we get all the things like we did at Disney 'cause we were well, also Disney we had a lot of extra wedding wedding funds. Yeah, we had wedding people contributing to our honeymoon fund. We had people contributing to our, you know wedding to help us out with money. So, I mean it was a little bit different because So we won't be as getting as much trinkets as we as we would normally do. If we had now, if we had our wedding fund again, then yeah, totally. We would be having a baller time. We get we get wands, we get we get all types of souvenirs, we'd yeah. Get shirts, galor yeah. But that's okay though. I'm good with that. Alright, but that was our episode for this week. Come back next week and we'll tell you all about our trip. Yeah. Alright, see you next time. See you next time. Bye.