This week in Passhole land…

The world of “passholes,” has had a busy few weeks. At Disney, California had the opening of Galaxy’s Edge, they announced a preview for the one in Orlando, and they also gave us an increase on all Florida annual pass-holder prices. Universal Orlando had Hagrid’s Magical Creatures motorbike adventure opening to amazing reviews, and they had to update their operating procedure for it. Busch Gardens has new animal encounters and Discovery Cove is offering a Florida resident discount now. Lets get into the details!

So for Disney, everyone loves Galaxy’s Edge in California. They had a system for return times for people staying on site and for people going to the parks during the first month that gave people four hours to explore the land. In Orlando, they announced they are going to schedule passholder previews for the top three tiers and will probably do something similar for the rest as well and announce it as we get closer to the opening date of August 29th. Personally, I cannot wait to see what we have in store. They also made an announcement that each pass had an increase overnight from between $9 for the water park pass to$225 for the Passport that covers California and Florida. The price change varies between what kind of pass you have, so go to Disney’s website and it will go into further detail about how much each pass increased.

For Universal Orlando, it has been a magical week. They opened to rave reviews on Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure. It has been opening with lines out to the Port of Entry and Seuss Landing with a 600 minute wait opening day. They had to make an announcement this week that they will no longer be opening Hagrid’s for the entire day and only opening it in the afternoon in order to make sure the ride maintains its performance because it is such sophisticated technology. Overall, people will have to be patient while they sort out the technical and weather factors for this coaster.

At Discovery Cove, Florida residents receive a 30% discount of their ticket if they book for 2019-2020 between now and June 30th. Visit the Discovery Cove website to book now and get more details on pricing. Busch Gardens Tampa has new animal tours as well. You can see the “Sloth Encounter,” which is a 30 minute tour and “Rhino Encounter,” which is a 45 minute tour. They now have 10 experiences for you to get up close with animals now and these new tours cost $59.99/ person. Book on Busch Gardens website or call 813-884-4FUN (4386) to get more details.

So as you can see, all of the parks have a lot going on and there is fun to be had by all! Thanks for reading my post and getting the updates. I cannot wait to review the rides for myself very soon! Until next time, see you in the parks!

A week in review: We have got a lot going on!

As a pass holder, there is no better time than when all of the parks have a lot of announcements to tell us about. This week, we had a coaster open at Busch Gardens Tampa, Universal announced creatures we will be seeing in their newest Harry Potter addition (Hagrid’s Magical Ccreatures Motorbike Adventure) and their christmas festivities, and Disney announced an update to the rivers of light show at Animal Kingdom and it is called: ‘Rivers of Light: We are One.” With so much going on, its hard to keep up!

As of April 19th, 2019, Busch Gardens Tampa now has Florida’s tallest launch coaster. With Tigris being officially open, it gives a unique experience for its riders. It launches you back and and then shoots you more than 150ft forward forth through the gate and takes you through its loops and twists at over 60 mph. I personally cannot wait to go tackle Tigris and feel the power and adrenaline coming from this coaster.

Now at Universal, Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure has announced what creatures we will be introduced to. They have told us so far we will have Centaurs, Cornish Pixies, Fluffy the Three-Headed Dog, Devils Snare and also revealed what a Blast-Ended Skrewt looks like. The teases and information the teams at Universal are releasing just make it that much harder to wait until June 13th.

We have the dates for Universal holidays going on from Nov 16th to Jan 5th. Christmas in “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter,” will be transformed again into a wonderland of magic with the Christmas lights show in Hogsmeade and all of the christmas performances in Diagon Alley. We will also once again have Universal’s Holiday Parade featuring Macy’s and everyone’s favorite mean one The Grinch will be back in his Who-liday spectacular; and of course Manheim Steamroller will be back to perform their amazing hits.

We also have Disney updating the Rivers of Light show to “Rivers of Light: We are One.” It will debut as an update tying in the original music score and some new themes to create a new arrangement. They are trying to go for a more emotional story that brings together the story of man and human. It is planned and set to release Memorial Day 2019.

As more things are revealed, I will keep you posted on all things new. As this busy week comes to a close, I appreciate you reading and look forward to my weekend at Epcot Flower and Garden Festival! I will review it next week and give you “the dish” on all things food and drink there. Until next time, see you at the parks!

Solo trips to the park: a do or don’t?

Today I decided that I did not want to go in to work because it has been a stressful week and I wanted to get away and chill for a bit. For me, the parks help me with that. So I requested the time off, got up and got dressed and made my plans. I decided to go to Epcot because I had not gotten my Pluto “Passholder” magnet yet and today was the last day.

When I told my fiance my plans, he looked at me like I was weird. He does not see how anyone could possibly have fun in the parks by themselves and thinks it would be lonely. Here is what I told him how I felt about going solo in the parks.

Prior to today I have gone to the parks by myself 4 other times. In every single case, I managed to have a good time and today was no different. There are many pros and cons to going alone every once in a while and I see mostly pros.

Yes you are alone so you mostly do not have anyone to talk to, but if you are outgoing like me and not afraid to strike up a conversation with someone then you will occasionally meet new people and talk about stuff. It can be fun and sometimes cool. If you are the type of person who cannot do this, then either do not go solo to the parks or plan on a day of silence and bring your headphones and listen to music. I myself did a mixture of both talking and headphones and listened to Disney music so it was fun.

The other fun part of it is that you get to decide the day. When you go with a group, you end up having to make sure everyone is happy. Whether it be the rides that someone “must do,” or “won’t do” to I want to eat “this,” but not “that.” When you go alone, there is no compromise or conversation needed when deciding where to go, eat or do.

I do have to say one con for me is driving alone. I live in Tampa so to go to the parks is a one and a half to two hour drive, and obviously with no one else there, the drive is all you. If you do not have that drive, then I can see this being something very easy and fun to do.

So overall, unless you have a fear of being alone which happens and is totally understandable, I think this is something that people can do and is nice every once in a while. While I will always prefer going with my fiance first or friends, until you’ve gone alone don’t knock it until you tried it.

Thanks again for reading, and until next time, see you at the parks!