Day 1

Chantal:

We arrived here at the Hard Rock Hotel at about 6am Florida time (3am Cali time). We were lucky enough to be able to check into a hotel room right away to sleep after pretty much traveling all through the night.

Fun Fact: The Hard Rock hotel here in Orlando offers a wide variety of brand new Fender guitars to choose from that for a $1000 deposit you can take to your room during your stay with an amp and headphones (as to not disturb the other guests). CRAZY COOL!!!

After some mix ups about our room we finally got settled in and went to "The Kitchen" the hotel restaurant where we had a buffet breakfast feast (complimentary of the hotel after our room mix up). When we returned to our room to catch up on some sleep a candy platter with chocolate covered rice krispy treats, a handwritten apology card and complimentary drink cards from Amy were delivered to our room. Amy was the Hard Rock Hotel employee who checked us in at the butt-crack of dawn and dealt with and accommodated our...let's just say neediness.

Chuck:

Yes Chantal tells it well. Sleep deprived, but ripe with anticipation about our adventure we caught up on some sleep before heading off to City Walk, an entertainment and dining area just up the river from the Hard Rock. Yes, a river runs throughout the Universal Orlando property, and we got there by taking a water taxi on which Chantal received her first boat driving lesson. Luckily she chose the correct button to toot our horn at another water taxi instead of blowing up the boat, according to the Skipper. We braved a very chilly evening, for Florida anyway, and perused the many shops and venues and then ate at Pastamoré, a great Italian Restaurant. We're chilling in the room now and getting up early to head over to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and hour earlier then the rest of the Muggles. (Staying on the property gets us into the park before the general public)

Kyra's Highlight: Our visit with a friendly family from New Hampshire that we met at Pastamoré who was finishing up their stay and gave us some useful tips and information about how to make our time at Universal Studios and Harry Potter World a success.