The PERFECT October Kick Off

Orlando was the perfect way to kick off the month! I honestly can’t remember the last time I took a girls trip — and getting to share it with my daughter made it even better. We only had a few days, so we were determined to make every minute count. The idea came together after both my niece (21) and my sister (50) celebrated milestone birthdays this year. We thought it would be fun to mark the occasion at Disney!

Of course, coordinating everyone’s schedules was a juggling act. Karson wasn’t sure when she could get time off work, and I hadn’t realized how tricky it might be to request time off at my job — especially with others also needing time around fall break. On top of that, my niece Elizabeth had a Friday night lab for school, which meant she couldn’t leave earlier in the week. It definitely took some maneuvering, but somehow, we made it all work!  

Karson and I booked our flight for Thursday morning.  I drove up to Louisville on Wednesday night after work and went out to eat with she and her friend Peyton at this incredible restaurant called Dragon Kings Daughter.  Afterwards, we capped off the night with donuts from Jeff's. Our Delta flight had us landing in Orlando around 11 a.m. Since we packed light and skipped checking bags, we were hoping for an early check-in at Lake Buena Vista Village & Spa — we were so wiped out. But we had big plans ahead: the goal was to hit Halloween Horror Nights at Universal that night!  When we arrived at the hotel, not only did we get checked in, we also got an upgrade to a nicer, more spacious room.  After visiting the Pizza Hut Express across the street and picking up a few room snacks, we crashed.

 

We grabbed an Uber to Universal a little after 5:30 PM since the Studio gates were supposed to open around 6:30. We spent some time at City Walk, browsed in a few shops, and then made our way toward the park. Good thing we did—people were already being let in around 6:15. We had a plan for which haunted houses to hit first, and a few rides we wanted to enjoy again from our trip in December. Only a handful of the big attractions stay open during HHN, so we wanted to make the most of it!

 

We hit El Artista: A Spanish Haunting first since you could walk right in. Most people went straight for FNAF, Terrifier, or Jason Universe, so the line was wide open. Lots of jump scares! Grave of Flesh was right next door, so we went ahead and did that one too. Honestly, I feel like those two houses could’ve been interchangeable—the sets were different, but the concepts felt the same.

We grabbed some pretzel bites on our way to Escape from Gringotts in Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley. Back in December, we waited over two hours for this ride, but during HHN we basically walked right on. YES! There was a brief delay (pretty standard for Universal), but it didn’t slow us down much. From there, we made our way to Dolls: Let’s Play Dead.

This one ended up being Karson’s favorite—it was definitely scarier than the first two we’d gone through. Afterward, we grabbed some corn dogs in Springfield (the Simpsons area) and made our way to Revenge of the Mummy, our absolute favorite ride at Universal. We got on and off pretty quickly! The whole time, we kept checking the app for house wait times for other haunted houses, but they never seemed to die down.

 

We headed over to Terrifier. The line was brutal, but we wanted to experience one of the more popular houses. The waits for Jason and FNAF were even longer, so we stuck with Art. The house was spectacular and ended with a choice between a dry or wet path—we went wet and got soaked. This ended up being my favorite. I was scared the entire time but loved every second—maybe because of Isaac’s fandom, and the fact that he dressed as Santa Art for Halloween last year.

  

HHN is so well done.  The streets have scare actors, performances and sets everywhere.  Lots of guests are dressed up in characters although they do not allow masks or anything like that. I'm happy I got to experience it.  Each year has different themes based on popular scary movies, they create shirts yearly - magnets are released weekly - all kinds of merchandise related to specific movies or characters.

I honestly have no idea what time we finished up with Terrifier, but it was somewhere around midnight. FNAF was Karson’s top priority, and we still hadn’t made it there—mostly due to the long wait times. I told her, “We’re doing it. I don’t care how long it takes.” So, back in line we went... and waited. And waited. And waited. But it was totally worth it! The house was well done—not quite as scary as some of the others, but still incredible from start to finish!

We came up for air one final time and made a beeline over to Revenge of the Mummy for one last ride before the park closed at 2AM. We hopped on just after 1:30AM.

Eventually, we made it back to the hotel and collapsed into bed around 3AM. I can’t remember the last time I stayed up that late—whew! Epic Universe was on the schedule for Friday morning, so we needed to get some major rest. We didn’t plan to arrive super early, partly because we wanted a little sleep, and partly because Karson was only really interested in two of the rides. 

If you looked at the weather forecast in Orlando before our trip, you’d probably have second thoughts. Rain was predicted to start Friday and continue for the entire week that followed.  I had rain jackets and ponchos packed and ready.  

Epic is visually stunning, but very spread out. There’s a lot to see and experience, but not a ton to ride. 

 

 As expected, it was raining when we got there, which we hoped might help with the crowds. We grabbed coffee and egg bites at Starbucks before heading to the Ministry of Magic to ride Battle of the Ministry, the only attraction in that area. Even if you’re not a Harry Potter fan, the scenery inside is amazing. Karson had to give me a quick rundown of the story—I know nothing about HP!

 

Not sure there is a more perfect beverage than a BUTTEBEER!  We could not wait to get our hands on one after the ride.

  

 Karson wanted to try the burning cheddar bites in Dark Universe at The Burning Blade Tavern.  We also got the garlic stake to share.  

 

 The skies started clearing up, and after checking the app, we noticed Donkey King Mine Cart had opened up and the wait time was manageable.  We rushed over and got in line.  Each entrance to every world is pretty cool, but Super Nintendo World was next level!  It likes walking straight inside the game.  The escalator that takes you into the park is bright green like the pipes/portals.

I wish I could say that Donkey Kong was worth the wait. Honestly, I’m not sure why it took so long just to reach the ride itself. The first delay happened after we’d been in line for a little over an hour, and at that point, we considered cutting our losses. But with so few rides at Epic and long waits for the others, we decided to stick it out.  We could literally see the mine carts and thought the end was finally in sight… when, ANOTHER delay hit. We almost walked away when just minutes later, they announced the ride was resuming.  I was so glad we stuck it out - that felt like the actual win!

We grabbed energy at Starbucks and went back to Dark Universe to experience the scariest ride on the planet - Monsters Unchained.  I’m not sure why it felt so terrifying, but it did. It wasn’t the graphics or the story—it just felt overwhelming. I had a death grip on the overhead bar the entire time, thinking nonstop, I cannot wait for this to be over!  When we got off, Karson expressed the same sentiment and we got out of Dark Universe.  We did make a stop at the bathroom.*

We headed back over to Harry Potter because there was a carnival there with multiple showings called LeCirque Arcanus.  The performance times became messed up unintentionally so we showed up too early and had time to kill.  Although we didn't want to ride anything, we decided to check out the rides at Isle of Berk (How to Train Your Dragon).

Then, back to HP to check out the carnival.  Not sure what I expected, but I was thinking it would be similar to the shows we'd seen on Utopia of the Seas.  It was ok, nothing special and themed around Fantastic Beasts which I am not all that familiar with.  The word Cirque was also in the title, so I was thinking something more acrobatic and impressive.  

It was getting late by this point, and we wanted to spend a little more time in Nintendo world.  We walked around, shopped, and took a ride on the Yoshi's before calling it a night.

*Bathrooms:  One of the details I loved at Epic was how each land had restrooms themed to match the environment. My favorite was in Dark Universe, with black toilets and gave off a haunted vibe. In Super Mario, the restrooms were like being underwater, complete with fish, bubbles, and sounds.  HP felt like your typical train station with green, black and white tiles and unique bathroom doors.

Since we’d only grabbed snacks at Dark Universe, we were pretty hungry—off to The Cheesecake Factory we went! A delicious dinner and dessert was the perfect end to our two days at Universal!

Saturday was a rest day for us.  We went hard for two days straight and needed rest before tackling Disney on Sunday.  We were hoping to lounge by the pool and soak up some Florida sunshine, but —scattered showers all day. Luckily, First Watch was just a short walk away, so we grabbed brunch there and did a little shopping at the nearby strip mall. There was a Publix, so we grabbed a few essentials to get us through the rest of the day.  Later that night, we checked out the outlet mall next door to our hotel before calling it a night.

Our hotel offered a complimentary shuttle to the parks, but until Sunday, the timing never lined up with our plans. We were able to catch a 7:30 AM pickup that took us straight to Magic Kingdom, where we rode on the monorail to Epcot arriving at 8:30 AM—just in time for early entry, which only applied to Disney resort guests. My sister and niece had that perk, but we had to wait until the park opened to everyone at 9 AM.  

 

The ONLY ride Karson was excited about was the new Guardians of the Galaxy coaster.  I think everyone in the park had the same idea, but between our weaving in and out of the crowd, we got there quick and only had to wait around 30 minutes. While in line, I was also able to get us checked in for our Southwest flight.  Score!

 

 

After the ride, we met up with my sister and niece in France at Remy's Ratatouille ride. 

 Our BIG plans included the popular Epcot trend - drink around the world!  11 countries, 11 drinks.  Shannon had made shirts for us and brought a sharpie so we could mark them all off!

 

Prior to the trip, I used Chatgpt to generate a cocktail list to avoid getting sick.  Once we got started, I quickly realized there would be no way for me to put down 11 drinks without getting sick.  Plus, most of the countries didn't start serving alcohol until close to lunch.  

We kicked off our quest in Canada, where I’d read the Ottawa Apple was a must-try—and it lived up to the hype as the perfect first drink of the tour. From there, we made our way through the rest of the countries. I’ve ranked my favorites in order below. While Karson and I didn’t buy drinks in every country, we did sneak a few sips from the rest of our group along the way!

1. USA  Moonshine Sour

2. Canada Ottawa Apple

3. Morocco Blood Orange Mimosa

4. France Grand Mariner Orange Slush

5. United Kingdom Indigo Hibiscus

6. China Plum Wine Slush

7. Japan Violet Sake

8. Mexico Frozen Fiesta Margarita

9. Italy Sicilian Sunset

10. Norway Strawberry Cream Ale

11. Germany Pilsner

It rained off and on all day long, enough to be annoying.  Ponchos on, ponchos off!  We heard the Voices of Liberty in the USA before heading over to Italy for a late lunch/early dinner at Via Napoli.  I had a pizza and Karson got the fettucine.  The star of the meal though was the tiramisu dessert.  With full bellies, we powered through the rest of the countries. I was really looking forward to wrapping up the day with a margarita in Mexico, but it turned out to be a letdown. Maybe I’ve just been spoiled by El Mazatlan, but after waiting in crowded line, I expected something much better.

Karson loves her some henna and found a spot in Morroco!

Our group parted ways at this point.  Karson and I decided to leave the World Showcase and make our way back to some of the rides at the front of the park.  At The Seas, we rode Nemo and enjoyed the aquarium.  At The Land, we rode Living with the Land - always dodging the rain outside.

We wrapped up our day at EPCOT around 6:30 PM and returned to the hotel to start packing. Karson ordered McDonald's through Uber Eats — our first time using the service — and it turned out to be super convenient and easy!

Matt picked up us up at the airport in Louisville.  He'd been there over the weekend, attending the Cards game on Saturday, playing golf on Sunday and went to Nate Bargatze at KFC Yum! on Sunday night.  We were thankful we didn't have to spend more money on an Uber!

 

Armed with goodies from Orlando for the boys, we made our way back to Bowling Green with a quick stop to Bucee's for a grab-n-go dinner.