Lindsey's Magical Semester: First Full Day in Florida

Good evening everyone!

To spare you with the long details of our 15+ hour road trip down to Florida, I'll sum it up really quickly. After getting set back from some traffic, we were put a bit behind schedule and had to spend the night in North Carolina rather than South Carolina. Not a bad thing, it just meant we had more driving to do on Saturday. We made it to our hotel, Disney's Pop Century, around 7:20 on Saturday, August 29th and we pretty much just checked in, ate dinner and relaxed in the room.

The adorable Pop Century Resort!

Today, Sunday August 30th, was our first full day in Florida. Kelsey and I woke up at 5:30 am (after getting about only five hours of sleep) to meet up with her family at Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure. I purchased my preferred annual pass which is good for an entire year -- I get to visit the parks anytime I want and also get some discounts and free parking with it. Definitely has its perks!

We tried going on as many rides as possible. The highlights of my day were riding the Jurassic Park ride twice (thank you to my poncho for coming in handy!), checking out Harry Potter World, and meeting Barney the Dinosaur. Harry Potter World was incredible. I'm not a fan of the books, but I've seen the movies and I have a huge respect for them, so being there made it feel like I was in the movies. The detail they paid attention to was what made it feel like I was walking along the same path as Harry and his friends. If you ever get a chance to, make sure you get to Gringott's, the Hogwarts Express (which connects you from Universal to Islands of Adventure) and my personal favorite, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. I'm excited to explore the two parks, as well as City Walk, in more depth with my new friends that I make on the program!

After spending the whole day in Universal, Kelsey and I met up with three of our potential roommates: Lauren, Lo, and Natalie! We met up at Trader Sam's at the Polynesian and had a great time chatting and getting to know one another in person. Then we enjoyed some dole whip while watching Wishes from the hotel. It was such a nice way to begin our program and I'm so excited to spend the next four months with everyone!