This past weekend, we were guests of the Universal Orlando Resort and had the opportunity to experience the Loews Royal Pacific Resort and both the Universal Studios Florida park and Islands of Adventure.  It was a trip filled with fun, great food and tons of excitement.

There are so many things I want to share with you in detail about our trip, but for now I wanted to show you some of the highlights from our first day!

Our first official event was the Superstar Character Breakfast at the Cafe La Bamba in Universal Studios park. We had a fantastic time seeing our favorite Nickelodeon characters, E.B. from “Hop” and Gru and the crazy Minions from “Despicable Me“. It was a fun way for our family to kick off our day at the park.

After breakfast, we did the Shrek 4D show… which surprisingly both my girls really liked – I figured it would be too dark and loud for them, but they loved it!  (I’m guessing Donkey won them over with his jokes!)

After that, we hopped over to the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster so Dad could get his need for speed!  I was happy to stay behind with the girls – this mama does not do roller coasters. With speeds up to 65mph and reaching over 17-stories high – this coaster even allows you to choose the song you want to listen to while riding!

After lunch was the highlight of my day – it was time to experience the new Despicable Me – Minion Mayhem ride! Gru recruits you to help with an evil plan and submits you to Minion training, you’ll don 3D glasses and go on a wild ride with laughs, excitement and tons of Minion mischief. I’ll share more about this great ride soon…

We made our way around Universal Studios park checking out more of the kid-friendly sites (including SpongeBob Squarepants house and the Animal Actors on Location show) and before I knew it, I had two little girls that were in desperate need of a nap!  We made our way back to the resort and got some rest before a night filled with fireworks, lights… and more food!

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing my thoughts and tips on planning your own trip to the Universal Orlando Resort.  I’ve only shown you a small portion of the great things we experienced.

Have you been to Universal Orlando Resort? What’s your favorite thing to see/do?! 

** Universal Orlando Resort sponsored travel, accommodations and activities for myself and my family during our stay at the resort. Thoughts and opinions here are 100% my own and not influenced by others. **