10 things that make Universal Orlando cooler than we thought

This week CL Food & Drink Editor Meaghan Habuda and Arts & Entertainment Editor Cathy Salustri accepted Universal Orlando's invite to preview their new water "theme park," Volcano Bay. Before the preview day (May 24), Universal gave them a VIP tour of Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. 

Cathy: I'm a Disney girl — worked there in college and still have annual passes — and to me, Universal was always second best. I almost skipped Tuesday's tour, and I'm glad now I didn't.

Meaghan: I hadn't been to Universal in years. I didn't realize how many changes were made. 

10. Bendy straws (and Cabana Bay, really)

We took a tour of Cabana Bay's new two-bedroom suites, which were pretty cool. Mostly because they — like the rest of the resort — have a 1950s retro vibe that feels part vintage, part Jetsons, but also because they gave us free Cabana Bay cups with squishy straws you can fold into the lid so your rum drink doesn't spill.

If you only knew about the squishy straw in this tumbler cocktail #CLVolcanoBay pic.twitter.com/kRIFKrb60b

— Meaghan Habuda (@meghabuda) May 23, 2017

9. Vegetable curry at Amatista

Cathy: So, OK, when one of you has celiac and the other is living la vida veggie, you find yourself poring over menus a lot before you decide on a place to eat. We settled on Amatista, and initially, I wasn't thrilled. Small menu and pricier than the tapas menu at the hotel. But I'm so glad we stayed.

Our server, Erica, was amazingly helpful when it came to eating GF and really, really friendly when I ran her ragged trying to catch this vegetable curry dish coming out of the kitchen after Meaghan and I both ate ours without taking a photo. The dish was perfect. As in, perfectly spiced (which, for me, means spicy), crunchy but not crisp veggies and a green curry that wasn't all coconut milk.

Plus, the manager, John Burger, is a Tampa guy who loves CL, used to work in the kitchen at Elevage and gave us a lead on a sammie we hadn't tried for our June 15 Sandwich Issue (you'll have to read it to see which one he suggested).

(Read Cathy's review on Yelp)

8. Velociraptor meet and greet

Cathy: Uh-huh. Pretty cool. What you don't see is how awesome-puppy this velociraptor was. I want one…

7. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey

Cathy: So this was the ride that made me scream "shit" a lot — but not because it was a roller coaster. It wasn't. It's because those Dementors got super DUPER close and I do not like them. But I loved the ride. I think Meaghan was shocked.

Meaghan: You screamed shit once, which was awesome, and I hope Randy (our VIP tour guide who thought Cathy was a wuss, which she is) heard you. I forgot how intense it gets. But no, it's not a roller coaster; I figured you would like it. And I didn't realize how much you liked Harry Potter.

6. Hogwarts Express

Brilliant way of keeping us from seeing the "backstage" area between the two parks, Universal. And thanks for not having Dementors on the train.

5. CL's Food & Drink editor is the mom of the group.

Fun fact: @meghabuda made us bring an umbrella to the theme park. I'm traveling with my mom. #CLVolcanoBay

— Cathy Salustri Hates Turkey (@CathySalustri) May 23, 2017

Cathy: Meaghan made me take an umbrella, asked me if maybe I wanted to wear pants to dinner instead of shorts because I had complained about being cold earlier and let me use her cell phone charger. This actually has very little to do with Universal, but as we all hope our crew can do this again, it's nice to know who the responsible one will be while we're all walking around without umbrellas and shivering and stuff. Also, she goes to sleep as early as my mom.

4. The way Loews Sapphire Falls smells

Meaghan: It smells like there's nothing wrong with the world. Really. Don't you think?

Cathy: I think it smells like my ex-boyfriend from the early ’90s, but I won't disagree with you, either.

3. Objectifying Spiderman

Cathy: The deal was simple: I hate roller coasters and Meaghan doesn't. So her thing was that when it came to posing with any characters, I had to do it. Poor Spidey. He had no idea what to expect.

"Put your hand here," he told me. "That's my heart. Can you feel it?"

"Uh, yeah," I said. "Anything else?"

No. The answer was no. Even if those stretchy pants leave very little (pun not intended) to the imagination. Yeah, Spidey, I know your eyes are up there. I just don't care.

2. STD bus

When they took us to Cabana Bay to tour the new two-bedroom suites, they took us on a bus from The Villages. As we climbed on, Cathy said, "You know, statistically, 55 percent of these buses have STDs" and half the people looked at us like we were weirdos, but the guy from Orlando Weekly laughed and said, "I didn't know whether to go there or not."

Creative Loafing Tampa: Going there when no other weekly will.

1. Randy Mills, tour guide

We're pretty much convinced that the tour — and Universal Orlando — wouldn't be as awesome without our super-amazing tour guide, Randy. He had a great sense of humor (he even laughed at the Spidey thing, which Spidey, we should note, did not).

This article appears in May 18-25, 2017.