Universal Orlando Resort turning 36, and my 27 Years of Personal History with it

My Personal 27 years out of the 36 years of Universal

Universal Orlando opened on June 7^th, 1990. 36 years of growth, new attractions, new food items, new hotels, and now its third theme park is hitting its stride right next to them. Universal has been such a part of my personal history that I needed to give it a love letter to the awesome property that has provided me some great memories over the years.

I don’t remember the first time I saw the Universal globe, I am doing some carbon dating, and looking at attraction, did I ride it? I remember my family riding the Back to the Future attraction, which is now my favorite movie of all time, but I never rode the attraction. I was firmly in my child swap era. It closed in 2006. I rode the Jimmy Neutron attraction a few times which closed in 2011. The largest memory I have in the younger days were scamming my parents out of an ice cream cone, that I would only get if I rode E.T. I ended up getting the cone before the attraction, and then chickened out. Passing that room today still makes me laugh. I also remember the Barney show. I remember being bad at Men in Black, and avoiding almost every ride in the park. I did ride Pteranodon Flyers, and played in the Jurassic Park playground.

I think the most memories I had was from middle school and on. Disney World was no longer cool to my older brother, so in turn, it was not cool to me. Universal was cheaper, and had more age appropriate attractions for me and my brother. Even though I didn’t pay for the ticket, or rode any of the rides but I would assume those were the reasons for my parents.

Dueling Dragons was the first big roller coaster that I had ever ridden. It was a fun attraction with two different experiences attached to it. I typically stayed with the ice dragon as it was less intense. This was one of the last dominos to fall in the “I am scared of attractions” still wouldn’t do Hulk or Doctor Doom. “Inverted coasters are easier”

Around this time, my family’s student loans were clearing up so we would be able to stay at the Royal Pacific some trips, and get free express passes. Jaws, and Doctor Doom were two of the scariest attraction in the park for me. Jaws was such a unique experience that I wish it was still around today. We would ride Men in Black over and over again, sometimes making the team members just let us go down a secret entrance to get back on the ride. The morning that we checked out would always include multiple rides on Men in Black.

More trips, more ride closures, and now it is my senior year of high school. Enjoying grad night was one of my favorite memories of my high school career. Three days with all of my friends and one night at Universal where we got to ride all of the attractions. I remember riding as many attractions as we could, going through the back entrance of the theme parks, going into backstage areas to go from Universal to Islands. Doctor Doom, and Men in Black stick out the most on that trip. Doctor Doom was one of my favorite rides at that time.

After grad night, the only trips to Universal I would take was to Halloween Horror Nights with my friends. One other trip was a last minute, one day adventure to go see Universal and stay at the Rosen Centre hotel that I still see and smile today.

The HHN trips were always my favorites.

In 2021, I decided to make the move to Orlando where I bought a season pass to Universal, and went every single day for the first summer I moved down. I got a job at Aventura for a few days, realized it wasn’t the right fit, and then began working at Universal in August of 2021. I got to see backstage areas, go in almost all of the restaurant kitchens, and learned how all of the cash registers got filled during the day. It was a fun job and I met a lot of great people. I also got to do team member previews for HHN, and Minion Blast…. Minion Land was the only opening I had during my time there.

My fiancée and I went on our first date to Universal. Second and third date was also on the property at the hotels and city walk. Also, where I met her parents.

Over the next two years, Universal was in my daily life. Halloween Horror Nights, Mardi Gras concerts, Christmas experiences, and my day job. I even moved in the complex right next door to Universal. A place where I could see the fireworks at Universal every night at 9 PM. Walking to work in 5 minutes was awesome. I now have a 40-minute commute each way and I definitely took those 5 minutes for granted.

I have since left Universal’s workforce. Luckily, my fiancée hasn’t left and I still get access to a lot of the employee perks. Like being one of the first people to get into Epic Universe. I have been to that park probably 10 times and have loved it every time. I have gotten extremely lucky with that. I have also stayed at all of the resorts on the property except Hard Rock, and Helios.

I have seen this resort go through many changes. I remember when Rockit opened, when Twister closed, I was lucky enough to live in Florida and be able to drive to these areas pretty easily. Universal was, is, and will always be a big factor in how much I love theme parks.