★ TABLE OF CONTENTS ★
- 00:34 Introduction
- 00:55 Trip Report
- 13:51 Epic Universe
- 25:27 HHN Opening Weekend
- 37:58 Closing
🔥 TOPICS IN THIS PODCAST🔥
- Universal Orlando News
- Trip Report
- Epic Universe
- HHN Opening weekend
Show Length: 39:17
🔴 *** Follow Along ***
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Trip Report
We will eventually be a group of 8 but it started out on the Tuesday before HHN with 4 of us, myself, my wife, my son and my mom all checking in at Royal Pacific. The next day 2 more would arrive, my daughter and son in law and on Saturday 2 of our good friends joined us as well. So for myself, it was 6 nights and 7 days of fun at Universal Orlando. We spent the majority of our time at the legacy parks, but we did have a day at Epic and of course 2 solid nights off Halloween Horror Night goodness. It was amazing and I have a lot to tell you about.
Tuesday, August 25th
Had a great flight, on time, early and arrived at MCO around 11am. JetBlue uses Terminal C at MCO, which I am not a fan of. Our gate is always the furthest away and it feels like walking miles down a hospital white corridor to get out beyond the security area of the airport. But I do like how easy it is from the carousel and to the drive app pickup and taxi area. That one piece is super convenient. We took an XXL uber to Royal Pacific, we had some checked luggage and that XXL worked out well.
That initial walk across the bridge over the water is something at Royal Pacific, is a great way to feel your vacation really starting. Checking in was a breeze, I was greeted by the manager during my check in. They were also able to get us connecting rooms and both rooms were ready for us. Nothing better than an early arrival and your room is ready.
We were hungry enough to want to get a bite to eat so we decided to just grab a bite and some drinks at the Bula Bar & Grill. I just got a chicken ceasar salad, it was fine, I mean it was a salad. I got my souvenir cup for the cheep refills but I also really like these large thick plastic glasses. I wouldn’t say its much on the savings side, Id probably never recommend it as a price saver, just get it if you like the cup.
After that quick lunch, it was time to get some supplies. So I ubered out to the Publix on Kirkman road. Picked up the basics, water, coffee creamer, peanut butter, bread coffee, beer and champagne. Quick stop next door at the liquor store for some amaretto. A tradition we do sometimes in honor of my dad, he loved the stuff, and he started our addiction to theme parks. After a quick uber back, got the stuff put away and it was on to Universal Studios as we wanted to go for the Annual Passholder preview of the tribute store.
The consensus was this was an amazing tribute store. Definitely the strongest in a few years. At the entryway you see a bunch of circus tapestries, definitely a good vibe for the area where it’s the downtown clown town scare zone and the entire event being connected to the infernal carnival of nightmares.
The first room is sort of like a display of oddities and the merchandise here features Ozzy, Evil dead, the house shirt. The next room starts to reveal the stranger things merch. There is a cage in the center of the room and the lighting here has changed drastically to deep blues, maybe a feeling like the upside down. There is also some HamiKuma merch in this room as well.
The next room features some of the original merch. We start seeing imagery of Jack and Oddfellow. Since this is the original location, our next stretch is the corridor between rooms. The next room features the sinners merchandise and a little smattering of lil boo as well. The rooms just flow nicely keeping to that dark carnival theming.
The next room has a crystal ball in the center, and off to the side is a great projection effect in a mirror. It appears to be a bride crying inside the mirror, it’s a bit disturbing really. Cant help but feel like is this projection or is there an actor back there.
The final room features merch from killer clownz from outer space as well as art the clown. Its really well done. You’ll find a ferris wheel and a carousel, all with a creepy feel. If you wont get a chance to see it in person, there are many videos posted on YouTube and I definitely can recommend the InsideUniversal video. You should get a look.
After this we took advantage of the express pass benefit. We were focusing on attractions here that would be convenient for the small group we had.
- transformers
- Hogwarts express with a Strongbow and fire whisky in hand. Look not many attractions allow a drink so this feels mandatory
- Forbidden journey
- Flight of the Hippogriff, don’t judge me, my wife loves this thing.
Essentially we needed to slowly reach our dinner destination, Mythos for a 6:30 reservation.
Guys, all best theme park restaurant jokes aside. Had an AMAZING meal at Mythos. We started with our Potion of the gods, some Spanakopita Dip and the Mythos Signature Bread Service. I could have easily filled up on just these 2 appetizers.
Potion of the Gods costs $18.50 and is made up of coconut rum, orange liqueur, orange juice, Bumbu Rum Co Original, black raspberry liqueur, cranberry and pineapple juices with a float of Cruzan hurricane proof aged rum. The Spanakopita Dip costs $15 and is listed as a savory blend of spinach, feta cheese, lemon and fresh herbs, served hot with fresh pita chips seasoned with za’atar spice, with fresh cucumber, tomato and olives. The Mythos Signature Bread Service costs $15 and is their signature wood-fired lavash bread, with red pepper hummus, smoked paprika, sumac oil, kalamata olive tapenade, warm baked feta, roasted tomato sauce.
It was absolutely delicious. While I frequently enjoy their fork and knife grilled cheese I wanted to stay more in theme and I ordered the Souvlaki Couscous Bowl – for a base price of $29. It is za’atar spiced couscous, fresh cucumbers, marinated artichoke, Kalamata olives, spiced chickpeas, feta cheese, tzatziki, tahini dressing. I added a Souvlaki Chicken Kabob for a little extra $32 in total. Later in the trip I honestly considered repeating this back, exactly like I had it. It was that good. Mythos will really be missed.
After dinner, we made our way to CityWalk where there was an AP preview going on for the Dead Coconut Club. I think I am in the minority, but overall I was underwhelmed. I thought the theming was fine, it just didn’t feel much going on. Mostly just felt like a desolate farm. I did enjoy the small band they had, they were fantastic actually. They did have this fun thing where the singer gets sort of possessed by an alien, but that really felt like the only alien presence in the building. Don’t take my word for it, go enjoy yourself at the dead coconut club, I am just not in a hurry to go back.
Wednesday, August 26th
Renewed my photo connect, with the pass holder discount, I think its 35% off right now, I have been using this for a few years now. I don’t openly encourage people to get it because its quite expensive to be able to download a few photos. But I do come multiple times a year with several different people so I kind of justify it that way.
Next I did some quick shopping. I had to get that red and black Ozzy shirt. Before my daughter would arrive around 11:30am. So out the door and back to the hotel I went. Met my daughter and son in law with McGillicuddy shots and then got them checked in. They were just a few doors down, making this all very convenient for us.
Brought them back to Studios after they got settled and had lunch at today café, yes again. I went rogue! I did not order a Carnegie. I now have a new favorite. I ordered the Arthur Avenue Meats for $18.99, yes hefty price, but also hefty sandwich. It has salami, capicola, mortadella, house-made pecorino spread, red pepper relish, arugula on focaccia bread. I want to eat this every day, every single day. It was so delicious. My Today Café addiction is only growing.
Since we were in studios we took in a a couple of attractions ET, MiB and then Bourne Stuntacular. Have to try to keep my elderly mother entertained between thrill rides etc. Made our way over to Islands and now that my daughter had arrived, it was off to Velocicoaster. We asked and got back row which is our favorite. I can confirm now that this is my favorite. More about the debate with Star Dust racers a little bit later on.
We got sat at Kong and then it went 101 on us. An evac isn’t fun if you don’t even leave the station. Once the doors opened we moved on. We didn’t want to wait for them to cycle a few cars through so we decided to move along as we did have a reservation and it was getting close to that time, along with some Weather threatening. So off to Portofino we went for Mama Della’s. Weather was threatening all the way along, but we did make it there without issue. As we were being seated we could see the rain finally hit, and it looked like it was hitting pretty hard.
We started with the bread service, and what’s great about this, we didn’t ask for it. Its technically an addon for 9 bucks, but they gave it to us for free, which was really great. Enjoyed a Peroni beer since its not available everywhere. For my entrée I had the Bistecca for $54 which was a Grilled 7 oz. filet, mashed potatoes, trumpet mushrooms, broccolini, chianti demi glaze. It was cooked exactly as I requested and very tasted. Had a nice cabernet Sauvignon with that as well. For desert I enjoyed the white chocolate pistachio cheese cake for $11. Whipped pistachio ganache, graham cracker crust, vanilla raspberry compote. Along with that I got a banana fosters martini after seeing my son enjoy his, and yes it was really good and tasted so much like one. It was pricey at $18 but also worth it. It is Tito’s Handmade Vodka, butterscotch schnapps, crème de banana, vanilla syrup, brown sugar simple syrup, house-made heavy cream.
We moved on to Thirsty fish, trying to wait out storm which didn’t happen. Originally we were thinking of watching the opera singers from here but the weather had other plans.
We opted to take an Uber back to our resort because the boats weren’t running as a result of the lightning.
Thursday, August 27th
Big day, some might say, Epic.
Stepped foot into the park about 8:45am which was our plan, just to get in before the early entry period ended so we could get one step ahead of the official entry time guests. Strolling in Ministry was only a 30 minute wait, and we noticed Monsters was delayed. So Ministry was an easy option, but I couldn’t convince my family to not use their express passes. What a great ride, its so much fun, and it seems like everything or just about everything is working. I was excited to get my mother on this attraction. She has been having some trouble with rides like forbidden journey as an example, but because the ride vehicle is so much larger and can’t move so abruptly or sharply, she was able to endure it. For those worried about motion sickness, its definitely on the milder side of that spectrum if that is helpful.
Remember we were supposed to try all the appetizers and snacks instead of having meals? Yeah that didn’t happen. We stayed in the land and went to Café L’air De La Sirene where I had the Quiche Lorraine, which is egg custard, bacon, caramelized onions, flaky pie crust, Mornay sauce, and a house greens salad. The sauce was so delicious, a Mornay sauce is a classic French sauce, essentially a béchamel with butter, flour, and milk cooked into a smooth white sauce, with cheese melted into it, I believe it was Gruyere cheese. It was such a good meal. I repeated my beverage that I had last time because I enjoyed it and its so light, it is the Au Currant Saison. Yes it was early, don’t judge me, I was on vacation.
We noticed as we sat that Cirque de Arcanus didn’t have any show times listed. This was telling me it may be having trouble today. I was right, I’ll flash ahead in the day for a moment to cover it, but it did eventually get some show times listed but as we would approach it, the next show time was moving later and later. It did not open as far as I could tell for the day.
We went to Bar moonshine and got everyone lobe blasters because why wouldn’t we? Next we went to Darkmoor to look around and hoping we could just time it right when monsters would open. But it did not. We did take the opportunity to get on Curse of the Werewolf, which if you can remember I featured in the last episode. I have to tell you, express pass was super efficient and quick, maybe they solved some problems in the process, but also I have to tell you this was a very slow day for Epic Universe, so it could have just been that.
The windmill was not working. This was a bit frustrating for me just because the last time we were there with our kids, the blades weren’t even on. This time, sure the blades were on, but they were not moving. I did get over it, don’t you worry but I was looking forward to showing my kids and my mom that thing in action, because its just so special.
Then we moved over to Super Nintendo world. My son was in a car accident last year, and is still a little bit recovering, so he had an ECV and so did my mom, but I wanted them to get the unveil the way it should be seen. I had them park them outside the land and had them walk and use the escalator. While this is my least favorite land still, its so awesome to step out on that second story and just look around. Bravo Universal on that move.
We rode Yoshi because I knew my mom would just absolutely adore that which she did. We stepped into Mario Kart line and they were announcing a delay. My family was getting anxious but I was able to keep them long enough for it to resume operations. It was a pretty short delay, maybe 10 minutes only. I told my mother don’t worry about shooting anything, just look around an enjoy the attraction as a dark ride. At first she was giving me some attitude, but I explained that the first time nobody understands how to aim correctly and that she would just like it more that way. She finally realized what I meant and she had a really great time on the attraction.
We were headed to Donkey Kong country for Mine Kart Madness. I knew my mom wouldn’t ride that, so I did her a solid and brought her right over to the Bubbly Barrel and got her a DK Crush float. She loved it, and who wouldn’t? I guess if you hate the flavor of pineapple that would be valid, otherwise there might be something wrong with you if you don’t like it. I love mine cart madness, it really is just so much fun. It’s a great view of the land. I get the complaints with being able to see too much back stage but I will say that there is already some noticeable growth with the vegetation and so forth that its beginning to mature and cover so much more of those bad views.
We were about to go to Star Dust racers, but it was down. So then we decided to enter How to Train your Dragon land.
First up of course we were headed to Hiccup’s Wing Gliders. Only to notice that was also down. Are you noticing a trend yet?
Didn’t have any interest in riding dragon racers rally, just too short in my opinion plus it does not have express. I also don’t have have any interest as of yet for fire drill. I am sure I’ll give that a try when Epic tickets are more normalized and I can come and go. I like to do wet rides in a series and then run and change as an example.
Untrainable dragon was scheduled for about 30 minutes later so took advantage of that timing to get into Mead Hall and enjoy me some mead. I really like it, I’m not sure why, its not something I would typically enjoy by the flavor profile. If you have never had mead before the only way I can describe it is its somewhere between a wine and a beer, but also on the very sweet side. That is all I got. We then watched the untrainable dragon and was so happy to see the dragon flying today. The last time it wasn’t. My mother really enjoyed this show as I knew she would. Actually everyone did, I do as well.
Upon exiting we noticed star dust racers was up and running. So myself, my daughter and my son (his first ride) ran over there. We rode yellow last time so my daughter insisted on green. What a fantastic ride, but as I said earlier I do still enjoy Velocicoaster just a little bit more because of that Mosasaurus roll. I think Star Dust overall is a better coaster, seems longer etcetera, but there is just nothing that makes me happier than that Mosasaurus roll.
We could see weather starting to head in , I think it might have been around 4 pm. We high tailed it over to the blue dragon for refuge and made it just in time. Sat at that bar and enjoyed drinks, while being sort of angry that our day at Epic wasn’t going as well as I had hoped. It wasn’t just the weather it was also the attractions being down. It rained pretty hard so we did have quite a few drinks at the Blue Dragon, the rain started to lighten up around 5:15, and we had a 5:45 reservation at Helios so things were looking up on that front at least. About 5:25 we started making our way to the Helios Grand since our reservation was for Bar Helios. Everything here was a bit of a disappointment, if I’m being honest. The food was very good but, the service was just ok. That is not the expectation when going to such a great venue. Bar Helios is a gorgeous space, with a great view and an expensive menu so expectations are pretty high and they were not met on this evening. For starters they put the 6 of us at a table that didn’t quite hold 6 people. Our server, wasn’t super helpful or very attentive to our table either. The food was fine, but overall, a disappointment. We started with the Farmers Cheese appetizer for $25. It is whipped farmer’s cheese, figs, ruby red grapefruit, honeycomb, citrus, roasted hazelnuts, grilled focaccia. This was really good, everyone enjoyed it. For my entrée I had the Pan-seared diver scallops for $45. Which includes a creamy mascarpone, polenta, dill citrus foam, Parmigiano crisps. This was also very good but maybe not for the prices we were paying. I know these are small plates but you can get so much more value at similar venues. I won’t be in a hurry to return to this restaurant other than maybe for a drink and the view.
Just about 7pm we exited Bar Helios, the weather was completely cleared and we were rushing towards Wing Gliders thinking we could still get that done and we suddenly saw a rush of everyone in the park heading for Darkmoor. That could mean only one thing, Monsters Unchained had actually opened. We jumped into the crowd heading for Monsters with renewed enthusiasm. That attraction is so incredible, it absolutely turned our moods around and suddenly things started to feel like the best day ever. With express it was easy to get in there and get it done. This is my absolute favorite attraction anywhere. The animatronics, the thrill, the environment, the effects are all mind blowing. Missing this attraction could be the difference between a good day and a great day.
Hiccups was up and running as well, so we were able to head on over to accomplish that as well. Suddenly we went from feeling like we didn’t get to do everything to really only missing Cirque de Arcanus.
One final ‘slight disappointment’ was to happen. The nighttime show, Universal Celestial Goodnight, announcement verified that the show would be occurring in a limited capacity. That basically means that the major fireworks would not occur. Something I haven’t seen yet. The show was still worth it and the rest of the family didn’t even realize how much fireworks there were.
We made our way back to the hotel and called it a night. Epic Universe still has some real challenges to work out. In the end we were lucky really that things turned for us. If the last 2 operating hours of the park had gone differently, it would have been the difference between me being disappointed and that’s not something a new theme park should be dealing with. I have confidence they will eventually get this right, and at that time this will be my absolute favorite theme park anywhere.
Friday, August 28th
Its opening night for HHN, we had a long day prior and we decided this morning we would be lazy. We just goofed off until heading into Studios around noon. Today is all about Horror Nights and we had no idea just how much a horror it would be.
Stay & Scream started at 2:00pm and the lines were horrible. I want to say at the top we found a very different situation on Sunday then we did on this opening night. So while you hear how hectic things were, keep in mind, it could all maybe be avoided by not going on the first night. We watched the lines for a while but they didn’t change much. Operations were the worst I had ever seen. I know early on its not uncommon to have bumps here and there, but wow this was crazy. We waited an hour in express for Ozzy and it was a standby of less than 2 hours. Time will tell if the removal of express pass from multi night tickets had any impact at all on the wait times but on this evening it sure didn’t feel like it did. Again, first night potentially the underlying issue.
It was a lot of effort getting houses done with express, we started about 6:45pm and we finished the houses at about 1:30am. We did also watch the lagoon show, but short of that we were hitting hard and that was the best we could do. In comparison, in the past, we would often head in about 8pm because we prefer the dark and still complete the houses by midnight.
Lagoon show was amazing, Return to Hawkins was what I wanted it to be. A really good paced summary of the 5 seasons along with some great music accompaniment. You don’t need a huge time investment to watch this, so I strongly recommend you do.
I am not going to give my rankings for the houses in this episode, mostly because I need to still sort that out in my head. I definitely recognize my absolute favorites but the bottom half of the rankings I need more time to sort through my thoughts. I will briefly talk about each one just to give some context of how I remember them after this whirlwind of a trip. I will cover them in the order we did them that first night.
Stranger things was first. The previous 2 iterations of houses weren’t top tier in my opinion and this one is definitely not in my top tier of houses this year either. The costume and house design is excellent but maybe the feeling really comes from just feeling the same. It’s the same demogorgons and demodogs and Vecna we have seen now for years. Definitely worth doing, don’t let me bring you down here. I will repeat this house at every opportunity, its just not the one mi going to be thinking about much after. Don’t worry you get that delightful Derek moment we all wanted. The laundry scene could have been better, but was there as I would imagine most would want. I did find most of the scareactors really good resemblance to the main characters. Definitely strong audition and role fulfillment.
Evil dead burns, wow what an entrance. A basic animatronic? Sure, but such a good use and an absolute fantastic way to introduce the house. Amazing effects, totally dark and disturbing. I haven’t seen this film, and I probably will not see the film, but I am more intrigued by the property after walking through the house, and that’s one hell of a compliment to the universal creative team.
Jack and Oddfellow, Chaos and control. Impressive technological feat, lights, projection incredible effects. Most impressive house I remember seeing from a visual perspective. Great story telling, fun characters, and that insane tunnel is back and better than ever. A look at the man before the icon. I cant imagine anyone isn’t impressed after walking through this house.
Ozzy Osbourne the prince of darkness. This house was everything I wanted it to be. The final scene brings so much emotion. Universal Creative has found a genie in a bottle with these tribute houses and I hope in the future we see more of this. The music filled the house but scene to scene they handled the switch with precision. This is the only house we completed 3 times in 2 nights at HHN, it was that good. No, it was that great.
Mad lands, caged cannibals. They pulled this off better than I expected. I can’t promise this wont be my least favorite this year, but I was pleasantly surprised with how they made the story make so much more sense than the statements we heard ahead of time. These cannibals, tribes or maybe even herds, who knows what the right term is, but they are more like gangs whose territory takes up an exhibit. Way better than how it was playing in my head. Kudos.
Cybergoria, this one confused me. The basic story we knew ahead of time makes sense. But I wasn’t feeling it while moving through the house. I think I just need more time with this one. I know from listening to others talk about this house I am the outlier, but it just felt like a robot house to me. Knowing that this is the only house that isn’t part of the unmasking the horror tours makes me feel like maybe I am justified in that they wouldn’t have anything to talk about. A lot of metal, a lot of red light. Happy to be wrong on this one, but I didn’t get it.
Invasion: Alien abduction. While there were some great effects in this house, I didn’t feel like they delivered on what they said ahead of time. I didn’t feel the chaos they were describing and I didn’t find the aliens to be as nefarious as they described. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy it, just not sure they stuck the landing is all.
HR Bloodengutz, A Halloween frightacular. Here they nailed the story telling as well, you knew what was happening if you were paying attention before you even entered the house. The return of a classic from years ago, definitely a lot of fun. I wonder if this will be less popular with the newer crowds that don’t know the character but I feel like the fans got the fan service they wanted here and it will probably do well in the fans rankings.
Hellraiser. This one may have surprised me more than most in that I really didn’t think they could pull it off. I was right that they couldn’t go the intense sexual route that this franchise is known for but they really nailed the aesthetic. The house even had the faded colors you would expect from a 80’s movie. The costumes and main portrayal of the characters was top notch. Visually impressive, not sure there was a story here, but they did the franchise a solid representation and I do look forward to returning to the Labyrinth.
Sinners. They had the scenes I think they needed to have, and did them well. Casting was top notch, loved the introduction to smoke and stack right at the start. It did feel enough like a walk through the movie that I could see people who haven’t seen it completely lost as to what is going on. Lucky for them, this was such a hit, almost everyone saw it. I feel there is more to explore here, and I look forward to that at my next visit.
I did not spend much time in the zones even after the second night but I will say I felt they were strong. Honestly, even Fortnight I thought had more going on than anyone would have thought. Circus of Decay is something I want to spend a lot more time in. The front zone infernal carnival of nightmares is fine, its an entry zone if that isn’t what everyone was expecting, not sure we are the same. New York like Hollywood is definitely calling for some more time to be spent. The different boroughs is definitely a cool touch and I did get to stop once during a stage show by Chance. The show was great, but I am old school and chance is my favorite icon, so Im struggling with the redesign but the actress was amazing and Im sure I’ll adjust.
Saturday, August 29th
We spent Saturday at the pool. Our last 2 in our group did arrive about noon and they were happy to continue the pool day. They had a wedding the night before and an early flight so no arguments from them.We went to the Hard Rock Café for dinner. Had a great time as usual. The hard rock café might not be gourmet but its one hell of a good burger. I had the classic bacon cheeseburger. It was Excellent.
Sunday, August 30th
We started our morning off with another pool outing up until about 2 pm. At which time we made our way back to HHN and stay and scream. I covered the houses and my thoughts, so wont repeat all that but what I do want to tell you is the operations on this day were excellent. The 2pm houses were manageable without express. This was everything that open night was not. So a lesson, there is a price to pay if you want to be first, mostly in time, because everyone wants to be first. I definitely think Stay and Scream on a Sunday or weekday night is going to help people do what they need to do in one night. After next weekend I will definitely take a good look at that data and share it with you.
As we used express pass, no issues on this night. We were waiting in what seemed historically adequate express waits. Like 20 minutes, 25 minutes and an occasional 10 minutes. Asa group, we decided to finish the night off with Ozzy since it got down to about 30 minutes around 1am and it was as great the 3rd time as it was the first time. Really love this house, this tribute, this legend.
Almost forgot, Nightmare Fuel Blood Noir, caught the midnight show. They absolutely crushed it. Yes its still a lot of sexy people dancing with a lot of fire like the haters will tell you but such showmanship and the new story was a welcome site, felt very different than the other 5 years and Aussie, the sword swallower was every bit as insane as we thought it would be. Great show, bravo and being the second last thing we did before Ozzy will keep it fresh in my mind hopefully right up until I return in October.
We were in the mood for a boat ride, and there is something so vacation feeling like returning in a water taxi. Great night, great end to a great vacation.
Monday, August 31st
Travel day, we were to leave the resort for the airport around 11:30 so we pretty much relaxed in the room, finished off our champagne mimosas and departed for the airport. Had a 2pm flight, it stayed on time, rare for us, but really fortunate and we were heading home in an uber for like 6pm.
Highlights
The highlights of the trip were probably Ozzy, Monsters Unchanged, and having our 3 generations all experiencing epic universe despite the challenges.
I think my best meal honestly was Mythos. Don’t sleep on that bread service!
Maybe a low light, despite being one of my highlights is that Epic Universe still needs a lot of work. A LOT. I love it, but she needs to do better.
If I were to skip something next time. I would have to say, next year, maybe Im not even considering opening weekend. I just don’t think being first was a great trade off for how crowded things were and so forth. Last year the busiest night was closing night, but that’s a time when the crowds didn’t seem to factor as much. I was so excited to be closing it out, I overlooked it.
Practical Takeaways
Having the ponchos was amazing, every time we used one, I told them to throw it out, don’t put that sweaty plastic back on you. They cost like 2 dollars each on amazon. Definitely tell anyone going in August or September to bring them along.
I took less than 20 photos the entire trip. That’s how focused I was on what is important, the experience. I didn’t see anything through a lens or a phone I just experienced it. Sure not great for content for a blog post or a podcast, but the experience itself is what is important, and I am still able to share that experience with you, without the photos or videos.