Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure | The Adventuring Abbeys Vlog

The 2022 “roller coaster riding” season has OFFICIALLY begun!
*cue the confetti*

Last weekend, Derrick & I visited our first theme parks of the 2022 season: Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure! We have never been to these two parks together – the last time I was there was in 2009 (when I was doing the College Program at Disney) and Derrick was there last in 2007.
Needless to say, we were quite a bit overdue for a visit back!

We flew out early Saturday morning and we were in Universal Studios (the Islands of Adventure side) by noon. It was so surreal to leave Pennsylvania as it was snowing outside and arrive in glorious Florida and mid-80 degree weather! We spent the rest of the day Saturday, all day Sunday (for a total of 14+ hours), and part of the day Monday in the Universal Studios parks.

We left our kids at home with Grandma & Grandpa (and Auntie Ruby). We have NEVER left both of our kids behind for more than a dinner out, so this was a big, BIG deal for us.
(When Braelynn was 3 years old, we spent one overnight away from her – but other than that, that’s been it!)
It was bittersweet, to say the least.

The first day: it was fun and exciting and wonderful to be away and not have to worry about where they were, what they were doing, feeding them, taking them to the bathroom, making sure they were having fun too.
By the second day, I was really starting to miss them and wish they were with us. But the second day was the day we spent 14+ hours in the park, so the exhaustion quickly overcame just about every other emotion.
When we woke up on the third day, I was 110% ready to go home. I cried at our hotel. I cried over my morning coffee. I cried walking into the park. I missed our babies and I just wanted to get on the plane and come home to them.
Our flight didn’t leave until Monday night, so Monday was a long day (the full-blown exhaustion + emotions were rough). Thankfully, I was able to fall asleep on the plane, which made the 2-hour flight home easier to swallow (and meant I wasn’t looking at my watch the entire time).
We got home around 10:30pm Monday night and our kids refused to wake up for us – I literally crawled into bed with Braelynn and she just rolled over (haha).
So yes, as amazing and fun as it was, it was hard.

We knew that our kids would not enjoy Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure (which is why we left them at home). I mean, sure there were a few rides that they would have ridden and had fun on, but SO many rides there are dark rides, and almost every ride has a “scary” element to it. Both Braelynn and Leander do not do well with dark rides (we’re hoping that our upcoming Disney trip helps with that!) so, they just would not have had fun if we had brought them along.

Universal is definitely a park geared toward teenagers and adults.

VelociCoaster and Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure are the two new coasters Derrick has been simply DYING to get on and I can say: they did NOT disappoint. Both rides are elite!
The Harry Potter sections of the parks were also new (to us), and WOW are they incredible! So well themed! So immersive! It’s easy to see and understand why those sections of the parks are the busiest (and wow were they packed!) We loved eating at The Three Broomsticks and The Leaky Cauldron, we loved the Butterbeer – the entire experience was simply fantastic.

As much fun as we had, we really missed our kiddos. We are so thankful that this “hobby” (riding roller coasters) is something we can bring them along to and they can enjoy right along with us.

And because, what’s a blog post without photos – here are just a few (a mix of iPhone snaps & images taken with my “big” camera!)