Space 220 was such a difficult reservation to get. I was able to get reservations for it on the very last day that we were flying out for lunch. When we arrived, there already was a line for walk-ins. Fortunately, we had the 11:30 AM reservation with out flight being at 5:00 PM, so we were looking forward to this new experience. When you arrive at the bottom, you have to stand in line (under the sun) until they check you in.

We were at Universal Orlando today, and we made a reservation via OpenTable super late for Todd English’s Bluezoo in the Disney World Dolphin hotel. We learned that we could valet our car and get it validated for free with the restaurant. If you opted to park yourself, you not only have to drive away from the restaurant and park at another lot, but you would have to pay (I vaguely remember) $15.

We rode the Harry Potter train from Diagon Alley into the other park which was a really cool experience. This side of the park also has the Harry Potter castle (I forget the name), and the decor definitely was more spaced out and open. We went to the Three Broomsticks restaurant to just grab a quick bite (or in my case a quick drink) to help us last to 9 PM for our dinner reservation.

I’ll be honest that I was pretty excited going into the newish Harry Potter section (Diagon Alley) of Universal Orlando. I had heard this area was large and well done. When I walked in, the decor of this area was simply incredible. The walkways, the paths, and the shop exterior decor were all very well done and on theme. We decided to wait in line for 15 minutes for this ice cream shop.

This was my first time ever to Universal Orlando, so I was pretty excited to see how this differed compared to Universal Hollywood. One of my favorite rides over there was the Backlot Tour, and behold, we realized there is no such thing as a backlot in Universal Orlando. This was purely a theme park. After we rode The Minion ride, my cousin wanted to show me the Simpsons area.

The finale for our Epcot night was this very last minute reservation for 5 at La Hacienda De San Angel. At this time, I’ve just barely recovered from being full, so I am ready to give this a try. Unlike the Mexican restaurant next to the Caballeros ride, this one was more like your typical restaurant without the smell of chlorine water or being overly dark. Per a recommendation and not normally eating Mexican food in NYC, this was something on my list to try.

Just like 2021 at Epcot, they had this lovely Flower and Garden Festival. Unfortunately this time around, I was simply too full to eat around. I had enough room to maybe try a snack or two but that’s about it. I noticed that the indoor area between the British and Canadian pavilion was not open, so it felt like there were just a few less options. Unlike 2021, it felt like there were significant more crowds as a whole everywhere.

We entered Epcot around 10 AM on this Friday from the north end of the park, and we had to walk all the way down to the France pavilion to try and ride Remy. The unfortunate part when we got there was that the wait time had already exceeded 90 minutes. I checked my Disney World app, and low and behold, we could do lighting passes for $11 per person. That felt worthwhile to do and not bake under the sun.

In our last year’s trip, we ate at Topolino which was pretty good. I had similar expectations for this restaurant because the menu looked even more exciting. The whole game plan here was to go for the prix fixe menu. We typically enjoy these types of menus because it helped us think less and just enjoy the experience. The entire menu, ingredient wise, seemed very accessible and still fit along the lines of Spanish style flavors.

Mobile orders are probably some of the best “features” that Disney World has to offer. Being able to order something while you’re walking towards the area is super convenient. Hopefully one day, every Disney World fast food area will support it. This one was near the Avatar river boat ride and was a quick stop for us. The food on the menu looked pretty decent, so let’s see how it went.