Finished! It's Epic to be back! Feb11-15 2026

[sarahcor]

I loved the showcase performance this year, they did "Something in the Air" from High School Musical the musical.
It was performed at Hollywood Studios at Theatre of the Stars after park close so it was cool to be the only people there.


Chaperone Mia with one of her friends.

Which brings us back to the Showcase performances for Universal, Feb 2026.
No Mia this trip


Most of our group were newbies except for Avery and Bella (in the middle) they were at the past 2 DTM trips. But they all did a great job!
So with that over and done we went back to the room and relaxed for a little bit and then we went back to Universal Studios, another thing I had been wanting to try was at the Minions Cafe.
Agnes' Honeymoon Soup(FS, PS, SFS, SS, TNS)- $17.99
green tomato soup, crispy pork belly, tomato gummy bear, basil oil served with a pimento cheddar grilled cheese sandwich.
I really liked this and had it again on the trip.
score 10/10

The weather was looking problematic for the next day and we hadn't ridden Escape from Gringotts yet so Bridget and I went to ride that just in case the DTM party was compromised.
We watched the Bourne stunt show, very cool, would definitely watch again. Gross sighting while we waited in line a mom with her tween son walked to the corner of the room near the trash can. I thought he might be having a meltdown, his face looked flushed and red and he seemed upset. They continue standing there and then the mom pushes the lid off the can and the son throws up in the garbage can, the mom puts the lid back on, they go back to where the rest of their family is standing in the waiting area for Bourne. Um yuck and disgusting! I guess at least he didn't barf all over the floor, good job? I just really do not like when a kid is sick and the parents continue touring the park. Take your kid somewhere cool to relax or go back to your room, that is like torture!! Poor kid. Anyways... score for the show 8/10
Since Bridget didn't get to see the Mardi Gras parade we watched it again tonight. It was still awesome!
We watched it over near the wharf section of the park so it was closer to the end. Still a great place to see it, got tons more beads, but there was no confetti. I didn't take any pictures this time, I just wanted to enjoy it in the moment.

We explored the Wicked exhibit they had on our way out, there were some cute photo ops. We were trying to "fight" over the broom, then tried some jumping to make us fly lol. The pictures didn't turn out but we had fun trying!

We got some Menchie's ice cream and enjoyed the Citywalk atmosphere for a little before walking back to the room.

 

[sarahcor]

Today is the DTM parade!

Room coffee in hand, socks rocking, away we go.
The paraders were up and out of the rooms by 630a.m.
Good morning Universal, nice to see you again so soon.

We took our spots in the Hollywood section, across from Schwab's Pharmacy, similar to where we watched the Mardi Gras parade the first time.
Great place to come if you want to meet characters first thing in the morning.

Dr. Emmett Brown was wandering around the street so I got a selfie with him, but he told me it's not a selfie, it's a delfie. So is it a deflie because there are 2 of use, like double? I was confused but I chuckled and let him take the "deflie"
Scoob and the gang appeared and walked down the street too.

I watched Scooby Doo every morning before school so I have a special place in my inner child for them.

Marilyn Monroe got a ride into town looking glamorous.

She was happy to chat and window shop while she waited for people to visit her.

Travel back in time again with me to my 5 year old son meeting Marilyn, he refused to get photos with characters but he made an exception for her.
Aug 2016

My hubby wasn't complaining either haha!


Ok Doc Brown, get me back to Feb 2026!
Pay attention they're coming!

 

[sarahcor]

We kind of missed them, I was busy talking to one of the moms and then bam there they were.
But we strategically picked this spot so that we could then walk down to the corner where Mel's Drive In is and see them come back around at the end.


The parade was cute, the kids did a great job!
The parents had to go wait back at the Universal globe to pick up their dancer. I have no dancer in this parade so I decided to stay in the park. I like the tomato soup and grilled cheese so much I decided to get that again.
I facetimed Mia for a little bit and we remembered DTM events of the past.
Then I needed a little treat so I went for the king cake.

Then I continued to wander around and found these dancers putting on a street show, that was really fun to watch.

Still killing time waiting for everyone else to come back inside the park I rode MIB solo.
My friend was back in the park so I went to meet her outside of MIB near the restrooms.
They wanted ice cream, I had just stuffed myself full so I watched the Blues Brothers and hung out on a side street back there, checked in with my hubs, and continued digesting my meal from earlier.
The street dancers came back out so I watched their show again.
Grace and Rob went back to the room while Bridget and I decided to ride the Mummy again.
I must have taken this picture because it would make a cool tattoo?

I know I took this one for a tattoo idea. That little cornish pixie would look cute nestled among my exiting tattoos and I don't have any Universal so this might be a contender for next time.

We also rode Fast and Furious Supercharged and while the ride is kind of lame it enjoyed it and found it very entertaining.
The best part was the team members doing the preshow spiels, they would talk back to the movie actors on the screen and mocked the entire thing, it was hilarious.
Unsadly, the ride will be closing sometime next year so be sure to ride it just so you can say you did before it's gone forever.
score 7.5/10 for how bad it is makes it good
We hit up Rip Saw Falls ride next, I had never ridden this in previous visits. I enjoyed it. It feels way out of date but the ride itself was fun and the drop was thrilling. Also you will get wet!! score 8/10 on a hot afternoon
Since we were already wet we did Balge Rat Barges, that too was outdated but fun. It was just me and Bridget with another random couple and they were attempting not to get wet. They were unsuccessful! score 8/10 again on a hot afternoon.
I wouldn't recommend either of these rides if you were staying in the park for the rest of the day. I would not want to walk around into the evening hours sloshy shoed and wet clothes. But if you have on quick dry clothes and sandals, maybe. Definite yes if this is your last ride before leaving back to your room.

The picture doesn't truly show how wet we were!
I had to do a little photo shoot with baby Jesus from the king cake.

There are many more but I doubt you are interested


We went back to the room to change and get ready for the final evening of the trip, the DTM party woohoo!

 

[sarahcor]

So the first part of the DTM party evening was held in a big warehouse type place. It was downpouring raining at the meeting time to get into the party, which was back behind the hard rock restaurant. I failed and didn't take any pictures because I didn't want to get my phone wet. There wasn't much too look at though. Once inside the room there was a dj and the kids were having fun dancing in groups. There were food stations spread throughout the room, I opeted for a diet coke and a few corn dog nuggets. I wasn't very hungry and I thought there would be desserts at the wizarding world part of the party so I was waiting to see what was there as well. This part of the party was boring, I wanted to get into Diagon Alley!!

We were then led from the warehouse party room through the side entrance of Universal Studios and played follow the leader. There were team members stationed along the path with flashlight sticks to point us in the right direction, and keep us from exploring other parts of the park I assume.

Our first stop was Florean Fortescue's ice cream shop! Very cool to be the only people in here!! They had both soft serve swirl flavors and hard scoop. I went with stickey toffee pudding ice cream, liked it a lot, would get again! But it was even more delicious because it was free!! (well included, I'm sure we paid for it somehow with the DTM package)
It was still a little sprinkly out so we found a bench and ate the ice cream and really soaked up the Diagon Alley ambience being basically the only people there.

The majority of the guests were on Escape from Gringotts.
We zigged when they zagged.


Ok, ice cream done time to ride!

We were very excited to breeze right through, as displayed by our smiles and poor photo quality because we were rushing to line.


Thanks DTM for having the party here so I could get cool pictures like this!
It was actually a little creepy to walk through this section just the 2 of us, for a minute or two no one else was in the room.


EMPTY!!
We rode twice and then it was time to check out the other goodies.

They were tasty. Butterbeer was also available but sweet drinks aren't really my thing. I like to eat my calories so I skipped on the Butterbeer concoctions. I think they had regular, hot, and like slushy maybe?
We went into the shops and looked around as well. Borgin and Burkes at night with no one else in the store is also creepy, we didn't stick around there too long.

 

[sarahcor]

It was nearing midnight and sadly tomorrow morning as check out day.



One more picture and we started our depressing walk back to the hotel.
And one other close up of my socks from earlier that day. I had wanted to meet Things 1 & 2 but the line was really long, next time.

We packed up everything and got as much ready as we could so we could kind of be lazy the next morning. Our flight wasn't until the afternoon so we planned to hang out at the hotel until check out time.
Fast forward to the next morning, uber to MCO, go to those kiosks to check in...

So Spirit canceled our flight!! The entire flight was cancelled and there were no flights the rest of the day to Latrobe or Pittsburgh, rude!! We had been slightly worried that something like this would happen because there were talks of Spirit leaving Latrobe and of course now we know they are totally closed, RIP Spirit.
Ugh.
After much deliberation sitting on level 2 our group decided to rent 2 mini vans and drive home since we couldn't get a flight back home until Wednesday, this was Monday. However there were no vans left at MCO, double ugh!!
We ubered to a different place, maybe Sanford if I remember correctly? They had vans there. But once we got there and went to check in we saw they had big vans for like 15 people. So we nixed the 2 mini vans idea and the very helpful desk attendant was able to get us one of those big vans!

Welcome to our nightmare
Actually it wasn't that bad. It took us about 17 hours to get back home, Maria and I took turns driving. We would go until about 1/4 tank of gas and then switch at the fill up. We drove through the night so for everyone else who just slept it wasn't bad at all.

All packed in, small miracle.
We made it home safely and went to return the van but Latrobe airport Enterprise told us they couldn't accept the van because it was a fleet and that has to go to a bigger Enterprise. In Pittsburgh! Which is another 60-90 minute drive from Latrobe depending on traffic. Ugh ugh ugh!!
So Maria drove the van back to Pittsburgh and Bridget and I followed in my car and then we all headed back home again to Ligonier.
At this point I had been awake for about 32 hours, with a few nods in between when Maria was driving. I was so glad to be back home! And with that the trip was officially over!

I have no trips planned to Uni or Disney in the near future but I will get back sooner than later!!

 

[disneyseniors]

I loved, loved your trip report! It looks like your group had so much fun. I agreed with all your ride comments, except for Curse of the Werewolf. I took one look at the poor people spinning madly, and decided against that one. Too bad, because I really wanted to try it.
I have been toying with the idea of doing a TR. I've never done one before though. I might do some writing and see how it goes. The only problem is that we didn't take many pics. I do know that your TR was one of the more enjoyable ones Thanks a bunch for doing it