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Universal Orlando Resort: Where to Stay & Play for a Few Days

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My recent stay at Universal Orlando Resort was so much fun and I’m going to share and highlight my favorite moments with you. First and foremost, I stayed at the Cabana Bay Beach Resort on the property which allowed me early access (one hour) to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™. It was my first time experiencing Diagon Alley™. I took advantage of the complimentary shuttle service to Universal Studios Florida and was able to … [Read More...]

Life & Style

Navigating Disney World During a Pandemic

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I recently had an opportunity to visit Walt Disney World as part of my Goofy Getaways FAM Training. It was exciting and I was a bit anxious because even though some restrictions are being lifted, guidelines are more relaxed, and travel is starting to … [Read More...]

Strike a pose at Pose Selfie Studio

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I recently had an opportunity to visit the NEW Pose Selfie Studio in Raleigh, NC with my daughter and it was so much fun. The great thing about this studio is that you have all the tools you need to capture your perfect photos alone or you can go … [Read More...]

Taste the Flavors of St. Thomas USVI

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I am excited to be collaborating with my fellow foodie lover Hannah Victoria on this listing of places to eat in St. Thomas USVI whether you are visiting or local to the island. We are giving you our personal opinions based on our dining experiences … [Read More...]

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Travel

Navigating Disney World During a Pandemic

By

I recently had an opportunity to visit Walt Disney World as part of my Goofy Getaways FAM Training. It was exciting and I was a bit anxious because even though some restrictions are being lifted, guidelines are more relaxed, and travel is starting to … [Read More...]

Taste the Flavors of St. Thomas USVI

By

I am excited to be collaborating with my fellow foodie lover Hannah Victoria on this listing of places to eat in St. Thomas USVI whether you are visiting or local to the island. We are giving you our personal opinions based on our dining experiences … [Read More...]

Food

Rosé All Day at Seasons 52

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I recently had the opportunity to experience the Seasons 52 Summer Menu paired perfectly with Rose cocktails. The menu changes with the season and I can really appreciate that. My reservation was for 7:00pm and it … [Read More...]

Looking Back at My First Orlando Trip and What I Would See Now

The first time my family flew from Melbourne to Orlando, I was eight years old and convinced the plane would land directly inside Magic Kingdom. We had spent what felt like an entire childhood's worth of pocket money just getting there, with a stopover in Los Angeles that seemed longer than the final flight across to Florida. Stepping out of the terminal into that wall of humid air is one of my oldest memories, and it still feels like the smell of a holiday whenever I catch it somewhere similar.

My parents had squirrelled away funds for years, clipping every supermarket docket they could find and trading in flybuys points whenever a bonus offer popped up. They wanted their kids to see the place where the animated characters on Sunday night television actually lived. Watching The Wonderful World of Disney at home in our lounge room, with the heater running through a Melbourne winter, made the idea of a sunny Florida park feel almost mythical.

That childhood holiday built the foundation for nearly every piece of travel writing I now do. I remember the precise moment I caught sight of Cinderella Castle, the weight of a foam sword bought from a kiosk on Main Street, and the slightly sunburnt nose I had to live with for the rest of the week. Those small details stay with you for decades in a way that the bigger purchases rarely do.

Now, older and travelling with a partner who has heard these stories more times than he cares to admit, I am seriously plotting a return. Orlando in the meantime has sprawled outwards, swallowed up new theme parks, and reinvented old ones. I want to walk the same paths I once shuffled along in oversized sneakers, but with a camera, a coffee in hand, and a far better understanding of the queue system.

The Long Haul from Sydney or Melbourne to Central Florida

Getting from the east coast of Australia to Orlando is not a journey you take on a whim. Most travellers route through Los Angeles on Qantas or through Dallas or San Francisco on a codeshare, and the total travel time from door to hotel tends to sit around twenty-four hours once you include the connection. Parents used to pack activities in carry-on bags to keep restless kids quiet; these days, travellers stream downloaded episodes and hope for the best.

Jet lag hits differently coming home than it does going over. On the way there, you lose a day to the calendar and arrive wired and wide awake. By the time my family got to our room at Disney's Old Key West Resort on that first trip, I had been awake for nearly thirty hours and was running on pure adrenaline and a serviette-wrapped muffin from the airport. Sleep came eventually, in the strangest possible postures, with the air conditioning humming.

The time difference is something worth thinking through before you book. Florida is usually fifteen hours behind the eastern states, meaning a 9 am breakfast in Orlando is midnight back home. Phone calls need to be planned, school updates shifted, and the first few days accepted as a gentle haze of exhaustion. For families with younger children, building in a recovery day at the resort pool before tackling the parks is not optional, it is essential.

Arriving at the Gates and That First Theme Park Morning

The morning we finally entered Magic Kingdom, my dad lifted me onto his shoulders so I could see over the crowd at the train station. We had bought paper tickets in a little booklet that clipped onto a lanyard, and Mum was carrying a fold-out park map that was already creased before we made it past the turnstiles. None of that exists in the same form anymore.

Main Street U.S.A. still smells faintly of waffle cones and freshly baked goods, even on the busiest days. The horse-drawn streetcar still trundles past the confectionery, and the background music is piped in so subtly that you stop noticing it after a while. What I would give to feel that first walk again, to stand beneath the floral Mickey on the roundabout and feel genuinely awestruck rather than simply amused.

Driving around Orlando as an Australian takes a bit of mental recalibration. We sit on the left at home and drive on the right in Florida, which sounds easy until you are pulling out of a rental car park for the first time with the steering wheel on the wrong side. International visitors usually pick up their hire car from the airport's dedicated centre, and a few slow laps of the resort's quieter streets is a wise idea before tackling International Drive.

Staying On-Site and the Comforts of a Resort Bubble

Our family stayed at a Disney resort that first time because my parents wanted to be immersed in the magic from morning to night. We took the boat from Old Key West to Disney Springs, the bus to the parks, and we never once needed to think about traffic or parking. That bubble is one of the things I appreciate now, with hindsight, that I did not understand as a child.

Resorts have evolved significantly since then. The Skyliner gondolas now connect several properties to Hollywood Studios and EPCOT, and the monorail loop has expanded. Newer options like Riviera Resort and the cabins at Fort Wilderness sit alongside the originals that opened decades ago. Booking a deluxe villa with a kitchen would be my pick this time around, partly for the extra space and partly so I can brew a proper flat white before the queues open.

Staying on-site also unlocks early theme park entry, which is genuinely useful given how busy Orlando gets during American school holidays and the lead-up to Christmas. The Australian school holidays rarely line up with the worst American crowds, which means travelling from Sydney or Brisbane during our September or October break often lands you in a sweet spot of lower queues and still-warm weather.

The Rides That Burned Themselves Into Memory

Every traveller who visited Orlando as a child in the 1990s has a slightly different mental highlight reel. Mine begins with Space Mountain, because the darkness and the speed terrified me in equal measure and I still think about the bends in that track whenever I hear a specific kind of synth music. Pirates of the Caribbean came later in our schedule because my mum refused to ride anything after lunch.

Other classics have aged more gracefully than I expected. The Haunted Mansion still has its stretching portraits and the same creaking soundtrack. The Jungle Cruise has been lightly refreshed but kept its beloved jokes. It's a Small World is, against all logic, still somehow charming rather than annoying. The actual rides may not have changed dramatically, but the technology wrapping around them has, from mobile ordering to photo matching to single-rider lines.

What I would genuinely love to do is revisit EPCOT's World Showcase at a relaxed pace. As a child I ate a pretzel in Norway and thought it was the most exotic thing I had ever consumed. Now I want to linger in Mexico's pavilion over a margarita, sit down to a proper sit-down meal in France, and treat the whole loop as an afternoon rather than a sprint.

Food, Queues, and How Orlando Has Reinvented Itself

Australian palates tend to handle the sweetness of American theme park food quite well, but I would still pace myself these days. The chicken tenders, the Dole Whip, the Mickey-shaped pretzels all hold up. What has improved dramatically is the range of proper dining, with celebrity chefs at Disney Springs and inventive menus throughout Universal CityWalk.

Orlando itself has changed in ways I would not have believed as a child. Animal Kingdom did not exist when I first visited. Volcano Bay was a car park. Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter were dreams at the back of someone's sketchbook. I-Drive is now lined with attractions, escape rooms, and the ICON Park observation wheel that lights up the skyline each evening.

The city has also grown more food-aware, with plant-based options, halal choices, and gluten-free menus now widely available. Australian visitors who grew up scanning Woolworths shelves for the free-from section will find Orlando far easier to navigate than it would have been twenty years ago. Even the convenience stores in the resort areas tend to stock familiar snacks for homesick travellers.

Planning a Return Trip with Grown-Up Eyes

A return trip from Australia requires a bit of financial arithmetic. The Australian dollar does not stretch as far as it once did against the US dollar, and park tickets have crept up steadily. Bundling flights, accommodation, and tickets through a local travel agent who specialises in Disney holidays often works out cheaper than booking piecemeal, and the agent can handle the dining reservations that fill up months in advance.

Apps have also transformed the experience. Mobile ordering through the My Disney Experience app cuts down queue time for food. Genie+ and Lightning Lane replace the old FastPass system and cost extra, but for a short trip they are usually worth the splurge. Download everything before you leave home, because Australian roaming in the United States is patchy and pricey.

What I want from this rediscovered trip is not to feel like a child again, as that would be impossible and probably a bit sad. What I want is to stand on Main Street early in the morning with a coffee in one hand and my camera in the other, watching the sunlight hit the castle spires, and letting those old memories wash over me while I make new ones.