If you have ever visited Universal Studios Orlando you most certainly have walked through Citywalk. Here is where Universal Orlando borrowed the idea for the very successful Downtown Disney now known as Disney Springs. The people at Universal knew that they had to have a place for their guests to play and dine when not in their theme parks. This business model served Disney very well and Universal made CityWalk their very own. Bringing heavy hitters like Jimmy Buffett and the world famous Hard Rock Cafe, Universal was poised for great success!

There have been some hits and misses over the years and Universal watched this very carefully. Taking out what was not working and replacing them with current original works like the all new Toothsome Chocolate Emporium & Savory Feast Kitchen, NBC Sports Grill & Brew, Vivo Italian Kitchen and Red Oven Pizza Bakery. I guess the NASCAR cafe restaurant and NBA City did not work out as planned but with these replacements, they are sure to be big winners! I remember eating in the NBA City restaurant and was not impressed at all. I am personally glad that they got rid of that one. Very happy that Margaritaville made the cut!

CityWalk has always been a great place to party and eat at! With all of the new additions, Universal resort guests will never need to leave the resort grounds and I think this is what Universal had in mind for good reason. Keeping their guests there instead of at SeaWorld or Disney keeps the Benjamins in Universal’s pockets. At the end of the day, that’s what it is all about. Keeping that money in house in order to build bigger and better things for their guests. I can remember when it was just Universal Studios with no CityWalk and I am sure glad that they had the foresight to make this type of expansion!

The one thing I look forward to is the Toothsome Chocolate Emporium & Savory Feast Kitchen. They said that they took steampunk era designs and incorperated it into their ideas. Should be pretty amazing. I imagine it as a Willy Wonka heaven on earth but not all sweets! I hope I’m right.

Have you ever wanted to stay at a resort that is at one of your favourite theme parks? Universal Studios Orlando has five at this moment with a few more on the way. After a busy day at the theme parks, the last thing you want to do is get on a crowded tram and climb into your sweltering hot car and drive back to your hotel room that you booked on some online search engine. The newest big thing in accommodations is the onsite resorts, especially the one over at Universal Orlando.

The people at Universal are very smart people and currently the trend is offer a great room plus admission tickets and dining and people will come stay at the resorts. Well this winning formula seems to be working as rooms are filling up for this summer fast. The coolest of all of the resorts there would have to be that all new Cabana Bay. Here one will find the comforts of the 1950 Florida beach scene. The goal here was to transport their visitors back in time to a place that was the tourist destination of North America. The other hotel that would be my second would have to be the Hard Rock. Located right next to Universal Studios, this iconic stay is just the place for younger families who loved growing up in the 1970’s and up.

Being the closest to the park comes in handy as you can just walk out back and jump on one of their water taxi’s and bam, you are at the front of the gates. Or even better walk out back and down a beautiful walkway along side the water and within 5 minutes, you are in the parks. Portofino Bay is also attached by water taxi and would be my third favourite resort. It is very beautiful and reminiscent of a European beach side resort. Beautiful, but not my favourite. I would have to take the Royal Pacific over the Portofino as I am a pacific rim kind of guy! Plus the Royal Pacific has some sweet eat stops like Emeril’s Chop Shop. This place is also connected by water taxi which make life so much easier at the end of the day. So next time you look online for that best deal, try calling up one of these places and ask what kind if discount packages they are offering.

You may have seen over the winter at Universal Studios in Orlando, The Incredible Hulk Roller Coaster at Islands of Adventure was missing! Littey the whole super structure was dismantled and removed. The reason why was just revealed and it is going to be awesome. The new ride was an awesome ride to begin with but with all of the new Marvel movies being a huge success, it would have been a big mistake not to do a little redesigning and script rewriting! Probably the biggest update will be the que line itself. The riders will walk through a massive military base laboratory where the rider become the new lab rat of sorts in General Thaddeus Ross’s experiment. Here he will be doing tests that were pioneered by Dr. Bruce Banner. The hope here is that you will emerge from the test as a Super Soldier or something else entirely!

During you wait in the que line you will be able to see that actual gamma rays being sent into tubes that engulf the ride cars. Speaking of ride cars, there will be new ride cars! These new sleek state of the art cars are loaded with new lights, speakers and are designed after the latest military fighter technology. I have seen them and they are something right out of the movies! They still have the green paint but look a whole lot sleeker. When you get into your ride car, you will be put into a Gamma Core Tube in which you will be ejected out of and on your way to transformation!

The ride itself is the same but now you will be jamming out to some Fall Boy while riding the loops. The main goal was to give the rider the new experience but keep the ride that everyone enjoyed for years and years. Probably one of the coolest things is at the very beginning of the que line. They have a big statue of the Hulk holding a piece of the old track. This will be a big photo op for all of the riders getting ready to ride the ride. Can’t wait to ride it.

As many of you know already, Universal Studios Orlando has purchased Wet n Wild and is closing it at the end of this year. No one knows as of yet what they will do with the water park but one thing is for sure, something bigger and better is in the works, The new water park to take its place will be Volcano Bay and it will be on Universal’s own property next to their resorts. Many feel it was time for something new as Wet n Wild has been around forever.

New is good in the theme park business. It is what make travelers come back year after year. The other newest addition to open at Universal is Reign of Kong at Islands of Adventure. This is modeled after Peter Jackson’s movie and not the old Kong that was inside Universal Studios. Things like this make people want to come back. Ever since the addition of the two Harry Potter areas in their parks, travelers from around the world have been booking their vacations in order to immerse themselves into this world wide love of J.K. Rowling’s books. The theme parks have learned to give guests what they want and million dollar playgrounds are it.

Gone are the single ride rides and now it seems that full blown emersion is the new trend. Even getting to areas of the theme parks have become a ride into themselves. The new Hogswort Express in Universal’s Monorail. Guests get on at either park’s Harry Potter area and are transported to the next via train ride. It is not exactly a train ride but a attraction where you will see all of your favourite Potter friends and characters. Staying at the parks is now even more fun as their resorts have grown and carry some of the coolest places to stay in Orlando. The newest is Cabana Bay Resort. It is circa 1950 Florida beach style with all of the bells and whistles. You are greeted in the drive up guest check-in area by vintage 1950 cars and a lobby that goes straight back to the time of my parents. All this and more awaits you at Universal Orlando Resort.

If there was ever a place to take the coolest pictures in the world at, Universal Studios in Orlando Florida would have the been one of them. Both of their parks Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure have some of the best picture taking areas in Orlando. Probably the best areas would have to be their Harry Potter areas. Going during the day with your camera or even better your cell phone, can produce some of the best picture ever.

Day shots at Diagon Alley can be the most rewarding as there they have a 50 ft. dragon that spits fire! Stand back and wait for it to shoot fire and this can be made into a sweet poster for your photo taking collection. Better yet, wait until night time and take the same shot and see the big difference. Night time in this area can take on a whole new feel as the magical vibe is everywhere you look. There are so many travelers who come in their wizard cloaks waving their wands toi enchanted objects that react to their spoken spells. This is great to snap shots of and to see magic happen before your eyes. The darkened alleyways may be a problem shooting as light is almost non-existent. Take flash shots in these areas or set your camera to take a long exposure shot.

The next area is the Hogsmeade area of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter over at Islands of Adventure. Here you can again take some really cool shots during the day and probably one of the best little gems is inside the Three Broomsticks. In here you will find a restaurant area and also a very cool little bar call the Hogs Head Tavern. The tavern is probably one of my favourites as they have nice cold Butterbeer and a enchanted talking boar’s head attached to the wall. Everywhere you look there are little items that make for good closeup shots. Now walk outside and there will be the best picture taking subject ever, the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft. This looms over the whole area and is the best for pictures at sunset as the sun slowly sinks behind it. Happy photo taking!

Possession is the word this year at Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights. Universal has brought the most terrifying movie ever made, “The Exorcist” to life in one of their haunted mazes and it is sure to posses you before leaving! There have been some very terrifying haunted houses there in years past but this one should be one to remember. I did see a little taste of this last year and it was awesome! It was just a little room in one of the houses but it must of had a great effect on visitors to have been brought back and have it’s own billing.

The creators had their work cut out for themselves. How do you get the little split pea vomiting girl in a room to projectile vomit without spraying everyone who walks through or to have the infamous spider crawl down the staircase. Well leave it to the creators at Universal Studios to make it happen. The last few years they brought back, “An American Werewolf in London” and it was amazing! The most memorable scenes were done justice with all of the guts and gore. I can’t wait to see what they can do with a little possessed girl. A great many attendees are in the 30 to 40 something and this movie is pop-culture. Most everyone I know has seen this movie or has had nightmares about it.

From what I have read and seen, it will be a maze either inside a house or outside in it’s own area and will be a story of possession. You will go through the story of the little girl Regan MacNeil and her horrifying ordeal that she had to endure during her demon possession. We might see a few additional character like father Damien Karras.  I can see her playing with the Ouija board on the floor and talking to Captain Howdy. If they don’t have either of these two rooms, I will be very disappointed! By the end of this maze I better see some split pea soup being sprayed all over the place! I am so happy that they brought this master piece to real life and I will probably nightmares for the next few years!