Greetings,
After months of procrastinating, now I’m back to where I was born and have plenty of time in my hand, let me procrastinate some more. Hopefully, this will be posted someday.
Continuing my story from months ago: 3 hours later, my friends and I arrived in Orlando. We were excited to be at “our” next home. From the photos online, it looked like we’re going to live like some rich brats. And so we did. 
Man, the house we got from Airbnb sure is one of the most luxurious house I’ve ever stayed in. 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a huge kitchen, foosball, swimming pool overlooking a beautiful small lake, hot tub; they were all there. Despite the 3 bathrooms, all 11 of us still needed to compete who would clean up first. By 2 am or so, we were all already asleep, eager waiting for the next day: Universal Studios Orlando! All of us had bought our ticket except myself and Douglas. We bought the 2+1 pass for around $200. Buy one with express pass and it would be closer to $300. But you can get that pass within Universal Studios at one of the small stands. Nevertheless, 7 out of 11 of us bought the express pass, and I should have too. One reason for that is so that I can enjoy more rides in less time! Lesson learned. Anyway, the next day, we all woke up early. I probably woke up earlier than the others to ensure I got ample time to clean myself up but I went back to sleep after that. A few hours later, we headed to Universal Studios around 7:30 am. The first day we all agreed to visit the Islands of Adventure, home to the famous Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Once we got there and printed out our passes at the self-help machines, we basically power walked our way, as we were super excited and to beat the crowd, to Dragon Challenge, our first ride of the day, to ensure we can ride as many rides as possible. Dragon Challenge has several different kinds of color coded rides , each with it’s own craziness. I believe we rode the blue one. My friend, Caleb who has never been on a ride before was really, really nervous and so was I. He told me, “I feel like I need to sh*t,” and I tried to console him. Strapped to our seats, with our legs dangling in the air, several twists and turns later, several screams later, we were done. Man, it was the best ride I’ve been on… So far.
Next, without wasting our time, we went straight ahead for the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, the 3D ride. While waiting in the loooonnngggg line, we took several photos. Photo is a must since this ride is inside Hogwarts replica. When it was finally our turn, we were strapped to our seat and I did not know what to expect. Well to sum it up, it was awesome.. and nauseous. [SPOILER ALERT] You’ll have a CGI Harry Potter guiding you on his broomstick so it simulates the flight in a way. At some point, there’ll be a dragon attacking Hogwarts and you’ll “help”, or should I say spectate, Harry to protect the school. And the end of the ride, I was already ready to throw up. So, those with motion sickness or are afraid of height are not encouraged to try this ride at all.
I don’t really remember what we did next. We probably just walked around Hogsmeade, and took some photos. there are a loootttt of shops that were in the books/movies themselves. Just get ready to spend a lot since most of the stuff were awesome. We also rode a train, similar to the one in the books/movies. We got on the other side of Universal Studios, which we planned to visit the next day. Before returning to Islands of Adventure, we took some photos and grab our lunch. My friends and I had some vegetarian burgers at a place I don’t quite remember the name. Anyway, it was really good. Fret not, there are plenty of food shops you can find there.
After all of that, we went back to the train station and believe it or not, we were at Platform 9 3/4, just like in the movie! Here, there will be some video trickery that makes the person looking at you see you fade into the platform! Anyway, we reached Hogsmeade again, and went straight to Jurassic Park River Adventure. Not a big fan of Jurassic Park myself, I have to say the rides were pretty awesome. This is the place we need to utilize our ponchos or you’ll be wet the whole day. At first, the ride didn’t seem too crazy; a few ups and downs, some water sprays here and there, 3 or 4 jump scares. But don’t let that fool you! [SPOILER ALERT] When we went uphill, we thought, “Okay, get ready guys.” But it was just a false alarm. We were distracted by the T-Rex and then bam! Crazy down ride! I was so scared that I was unable to scream at all. That ride was probably double the height of Splash Mountain in Disney World! You can read about Disney World here. All the adrenaline felt really good and I truly love it! After we were out, I convinced my friends to share our money to get the photo. Well, you have to have at least one photo to serve as a memory, right?
Later, we went to the Marvel’s heaven. Here, you can find, of course, some more crazy rides, and shops selling Marvel items. The first ride we rode was the Dr. Doom’s Fearfall. Well, not all of us. Caleb and I chickened out and I surely regretted it. I was just too afraid of the prospect of the height and sudden drop but still, I should’ve tried it. My friends said it wasn’t that fearful at all. But anyway, while waiting for my friends, Caleb and I went into the shop and check out some cool items. T-shirts, key chains, action figures, fridge magnets, and many more were all there. But we decided to buy them later. So we waited outside of the shop. I somehow fell asleep for a couple of minutes in the noisy and packed area, that’s how tiring it was. I was awaken by the “chaos” created by a Marvel’s character in the park, which I wasn’t able to recognize. He startled people, pulled some pranks, teased the kids, and also took photos and autographed when requested. There was also a nicer girl’s character of which I couldn’t recognize either.
Next, when all of us gathered, we all decided to ride my favorite ride of the day: The Incredible Hulk Coaster. It is probably the craziest ride in the Islands of Adventure. Again, Caleb chickened out but this time, I didn’t for the fear of regretting it later. I had butterflies in my stomach and felt like I’ll crap my pants anytime while waiting. My friend, Thisha calmed me down but that didn’t help at all. When we were finally seated, I had a mixed emotion of uneasiness and excitement. [SPOILER ALERT] It felt totally fine at first, the coaster going slow, ascending the highest climb slowly but I knew what is on the other side. However, we were not expecting and ready for what came even before that. Half way climbing, we suddenly launched into total madness when the ride suddenly accelerated. At the top of the climb was a twist, the first of many. I told myself, “I need to scream my lungs out to feel better.” So, I did to the point I lose my voice. A twist with a huge turn, a couple of not-so-crazy drops and of course, the speed. Truly an adrenaline production machine. Hands down, my best ride ever. Caleb who was waiting out, was trying to take our photos but we sadly sad in the middle. He managed to take a photo of the couple in our group though. With Thisa’s help, we managed to get a slow-mo video too.
When all of us were done, we took some more photos before we leave. I took an awkward looking one, feeling awkward being looked at. Then, we went to the shop to buy some souvenirs. We planned to buy Marvel’s t-shirts but in the end we didn’t. I bought some key chains and added two collar pins to my collection. Then, we headed back to our van as the park was closing. Before that, we went to one last fun of the day: Camp Jurassic.
Camp Jurassic is like a maze. We just ran around aimlessly like we were a bunch of 8-year-old kids. We even played with the water gun and shot random people below us; and no, they won’t be mad at you. We slid down the slides, climbed the ropes, screamed, and jumped, just like little kids. There was a beautiful waterfall and we stopped to take photos. I recorded our “journey” on my action camera but it’s way too long. After all of that, we left.
Since the route back to our car is through the parks we went to, we again stopped by Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. We were awed by the beauty of Hogwarts and again took some photos. My phone camera sucks at low light so I didn’t even bother trying. After that, my friends decided to get some butterbeer, a non-alcoholic drink also found in the books/movies, I think. You can get one with the special cup or one without, and either cold or iced. Me, trying to “save” money didn’t get any. Besides, I know my friends are awesome enough to allow me to have a sip. And it was really good. If I remember correctly, it tasted like ‘butter-er’ and tastier version of root beer. Similar but different. You’ve got to try it and I recommend to not get the iced one. Anyway, we chilled there for an hour or so. So I took that opportunity to get the thing I wanted to get earlier: a wand. The wand is freaking expensive but whatever. Of course, I got the Elder Wand, used mainly by Professor Dumbledore, for around $40. You can also get one that does something when you wave it at certain spots within Hogsmeade, but I don’t see a point of getting that.
When we were just about to leave, there was an unexpected show, like an obviously fake dance competition between two schools in Harry Potter books/movies. The girls were pretty and the guys were manly. After the show ended,the park was seriously closing, and people were leaving, we headed back to our van. … Or not. We still have an hour or so before the park is closed for real. So we utilized our time by walking around the Island of Adventure. Our last stop before we left the Islands of Adventure was a small building where you can watch a magic show right in front of you, literally. This was where we met our fellow Malaysians and took a photo. It was also my first time seeing a magic show by professional magician with my naked eyes and it was pretty awesome.
Finally, we walked around the Universal Citywalk, an area full of shops and restaurants. My friends were hungry enough that they can’t wait to get home or eat outside of that place, which I bet would be much cheaper. Anyway, they ate at Panda Express but I didn’t order anything. I can wait. That dinner wrapped up our first day of pure ecstasy. But that’s not all from Universal Studios for us.
Next, Orlando Part II Day II. Hopefully I won’t procrastinate.
Thank you for reading. Now lemme go back to my boring life doing nothing eating everything in this freaking hot town. But still, casa dolce casa!
-Faris
farisiraf 