Tour de Deux Mondes (March 2015)

This is a trip report of our Universal and WDW trip from 3/13-3/21. I will post the intro next.

Intro:

This is my first trip report. I hope it is helpful to others. I also hope it helps me keep the memories alive a little longer, since we won't be going back for a while. We are a family of 3 from Austin, TX: me, DH, and DS9. This was our 3rd trip to WDW as a family since 2012, and our first trip to Universal. We went to DLR in 2013. I went to WDW twice as a child in the mid-80s.

Day 1 - Leaving Austin (Friday, 3/13):

We pulled DS9 out of school ~30 minutes early and headed to the airport. We flew out of Austin on a non-stop Jet Blue flight. The airport security was so slow. They had one guy to handle special screenings, and they seemed to be screening everyone's shoes. They also wanted to look at my purse more thoroughly. I had my quarter rolls for the penny presses in there. The guy kind of gave me grief for it. I don't know what he expected me to do with money; it can't go in the checked luggage. Unfortunately, our flight was an hour late, so we killed time by eating at the tasty places in our airport. Salt Lick, Thundercloud Subs, and Amy's Ice Cream are our favorites.

We rented a car at MCO and headed to the Royal Pacific Resort. It was pretty late by the time we got in, probably about 10pm. It was dark, so we couldn't see the water view from our 2 queen bed room in Tower 1 #1625. It was a refurbed room. The big purple flowers are not as bad as they seem in pictures. The big orange flowers in the hallway are pretty atrocious. Our room had a bathtub/shower combo, so they are available in the refurbed room. We liked the hotel, but the decor and color scheme are not very tropical or Polynesian. I like the look of WDW Poly better, except for their new lobby. Since our room had a fridge, we wanted to get milk for DS's cereal that we brought with us, but the gift shop was already closed. Time to go to bed to be energized and ready for our first big day at the Studios.

Day 2 AM - First Day at Universal Studios (Saturday, 3/14):

DS ate cereal in the room, and I had my tea. I have been bringing almond butter packets on trips lately to eat in the morning. It doesn't need refrigeration, has protein, fiber, and good fats, and fits in my purse easily. As we walked to the park from RPR, we started to realize that the mostly long sleeve shirts and pants we brought were a bad idea. Originally, the forecast was saying highs of high 70s/low 80s with lows of high 50s/mid 60s. That's cold for us Texans, and we would have frozen in shorts at parking opening. Well, it was already in the 70s before 8am and humid. So it didn't feel as cold as it would have at home at the temp. Next time, I will be bringing mainly shorts/capris/skirts and short sleeves with a hoodie.

We hit USF at rope drop. Even though we were staying at RPR and had EE and Express, our personalized plan from Touring Plans suggested doing USF first. We weren't first in line but we were 2nd in line at the turnstile. They let us in about 30 minutes early, ~8:30am. It looked like they held people up just after Despicable Me, so it was good to do it before true park opening. Here's the plan for the morning.

Despicable Me - Walked right in. Probably the first group in.
Simpsons - The drops were hard for me. I had to close my eyes or look behind the car. It was neat though.
MIB - Kind of like Buzz with more movement and spinning. We didn't like the high seats or the lockers.
Kang & Kodo's Twirl & Hurl - I know, baby ride, but it was still fun and had a good view.
ET - I like the movie, but the ride really blew. The bikes were weird, and there was no where to put my purse.
Transformers - A little jerky but neat
Mummy - I skipped this, since I am not a big coaster person. DH and DS loved it, especially the fire.
Disaster - This was fun. It took a while though. I don't know if we would do it every trip.

Lunch at ~11am - We ate at Fast Food Boulevard. I like the size of the Uni parks, because you can usually cross from one side to another much more easily than the WDW parks. DH and DS got Krusty Burger. DS doesn't eat much, so he didn't finish his burger and fries. It was a little expensive. I wish they had a smaller/cheaper kid's version. DH got the rib sandwich and liked it. I got the tuna salad from Lisa's Teahouse. The lettuce was just romaine; I wish it had been spinach. However, the tuna, feta, and olives were really tasty. There's was a good portion of tuna. It was basically canned tuna, but it was the nicer canned stuff. I also got a Flaming Moe. It was good but kind of pricy. I don't know if I would get one again. It needed some booze.

Gringotts - We headed over to Diagon Alley to ride Gringotts for the first time. We didn't spend too much time in Diagon Alley that day, because we were going to spend more time there the next day and spend time at Hogsmeade in the afternoon. We figured out the locker thing and headed for the line. It was posted at 60 min, but it was really only ~45 min. That line is really deceiving. It just winds all back through there. At first, you think there's no line, then you see a little one, and then finally the big loops in the back outside (covered) open up before you. The cart was nice, and I wish I had gotten a Tunnock's Caramel. I didn't realize that's what they were selling. I love those. One of my old coworkers was from Scotland; he would bring them back after visiting home. I also wish we had gotten a butterbeer to drink in line, but the lines looked long. The line pretty much kept moving, until it didn't Luckily, we only sat there for about 10 min before is start moving again. We were rushed through the bank, because people were stopping to take pictures and had created a large gap. However, we still got to see it pretty well. We were very impressed with the construction and decoration. It all looked good and pretty real, even if it wasn't. The line for Gringotts just keeps going inside too. I love how they have you go down just to come back up. Also, people were not good about filling all available space either. I don't really consider it the end of the ride line until I get into an actual ride vehicle, so the line feels like it's going on forever. However, there is still pretty cool stuff to look at, and it's entertaining. The ride was a little bit wilder than I had been led to believe, maybe a smig more than BMTRR in two places. Otherwise, it was pretty much a fast moving dark ride. It seemed way too short though, and we felt a little gipped. We did enjoy it though.

Hogwart's Express to Hogsmeade - The wait wasn't very long at all, ~10-15 min. Everyone was heading the other direction from Hogsmeade to Diagon Alley. The train is very cool. The details are amazing. Be sure to do both directions, because they are different. Also, look out both windows. Next stop, Hogsmeade.

Day 2 AM Addendum:

Most of the waits at USF were nonexistent or fairly short that morning. I think everyone heads to IOA in the morning for EE. The Hogwart's Express line heading from Hogsmeade to Diagon Alley was long, and the posted wait time was about twice the other direction.

Day 2 PM - First Day at Islands of Adventure (Saturday, 3/14):

Hogsmeade - We took the train from Diagon Alley to Hogmeade and headed straight for butterbeer. It was really hot out, so we got the frozen stuff. Loved it. In fact, we never had it hot or plain cold the whole time. The cart line was a little slow and long and was in the sun.

Forbidden Journey - We then headed over to Forbidden Journey and dealt with the wonderful, cramped, dark locker room. Actually, DH did that while DS and I waited. The posted wait was ~30 min, and that's about how long it took. People were talking really loudly, so it was hard to hear all of the preshow, especially the part with Hermione, Harry, and Ron in the classroom. The ride wasn't as intense as I had feared; I am a bit of a thrill ride chicken. I did have to close my eyes on some parts, especially the simulated drops. It was fun, and we definitely rode again during our trip. Waiting for DH to get our bags outside of the gift shop, I actually felt a little dizzy. After the first time, it didn't bother me again though.

Flight of the Hippogriff - Nice, fast little coaster. For such a short track, the design is really entertaining.

8th Voyage of Sinbad & Mystic Fountain - DS loved the fountain, and it occupied him while we got churros at the kebab place. We also filled up with water at the Coke Freestyle machine. I love these. WDW really needs these. The Sinbad show was cute, but we didn't repeat. I don't know if I would go very trip, but it had seats was shaded.

Olivanders - We headed back into Hogsmeade and waited in a very slow line for a wand. We should have done the one at Diagon Alley. DS messed around in Hogsmeade with his interactive wand for a bit.
Honeydukes - This place is dangerous and expensive. I really wanted a jar of sherbet lemons, chocolate frogs, peppermint toads, and every flavor beans. Unfortunately, this wasn't the end of what we got. I am embarrassed to say that we spent over a hundred dollars in there. Stuff took longer than expected, so we skipped over some planned stuff in Jurassic Park, Popeye, and Marvel Heroes.

Seuss Land - We headed over to do Cat in the Hat, Caro-Seuss-el, and the High in the Sky Trolley. We like Dr. Seuss, so these were a nice diversion.

Dinner - We had dinner reservations at Margaritaville in Citywalk. I booked this a couple of weeks before the trip. The restaurant is big, so it was hard to find where we should check in. It seemed like a lot of people were trying to get in, but the wait was long. The restaurant didn't look that crowded. I was worried that DS would get bored, but they had people walking around on stilts making balloon shapes for people. We tried to tip one, but she said that she was not allowed to do so. The atmosphere, music, food, and drinks were great. We had eaten at one previously in Las Vegas. I got the coconut shrimp and since it was PI day, key lime pie too. We left fat, happy, and placated. We decided to just head back to the hotel, since IOA was closing at 8pm anyway.

Hotel - That morning, we finally got to see the view from our hotel room. We were looking right at the Hulk Coaster, and we could see Hogwarts too. We were amazed at how close the hotels are to the parks. It was nice but different from WDW.

Day 3 AM - Early Entry at IOA (Sunday, 3/15):

We did early entry to IOA that day. Only IOA had early entry while we were there, which was disappointing. We got to edge of Citywalk, but they wouldn't let us enter. It was still pretty early, definitely before 7am and still dark. While waiting more people showed up. Before we could go to Citywalk, they inspected our bags. This was the first time that anyone at Universal had inspected our bags. We then proceeded to the park and were first in line at a turnstile. We headed as quickly as we could with a 9 year old to Hogsmeade and Forbidden Journey.

Forbidden Journey (Take 2) - We knew the drill this time and basically walked on. Until we hit the fat lady, where we were stuck for at least 20 minutes. The ride never started that morning. We moved further into the next room a little, but never very far. They announced the problem and had people walking around answering questions. They said if we did get out of line, we could come back later and tell them about the malfunction. We had been waiting 45 min and decided to give up. DS and I were looking at gifts while DH got the bags again. I noticed people were getting in line, and it seemed to be moving. The posted wait was now 60 min before true park opening. I asked an employee if it was running. She said yes.
Me - "Darn it! We just got out of line 5 minutes ago."
Employee - "Here. Go through here and tell anyone that asks that <insert employee name here> sent you."
So we skipped through the line, saying the magic words along the way, all the way up to where the Castle Tour ends and the single rider and main line merge. This is just a few people short of where we were when we got out of line. We got some dirty looks from people, and people asking what we thought we were doing. I explained, but some of them were complaining that they had been there since opening too. I know that they had to have been in line behind us, because I didn't see a single person that had been waiting around us for 45 min. It was long, so I think I would have remembered some of them, especially since we all started conversing. Anyway, we got in line and rode again. This time was great, and I didn't feel dizzy at all afterwards. I even kept my eyes open for most of the ride. That all took a lot longer than expected though, so we headed out of Hogsmeade.

Spiderman - This was fun and better than Transformers.
Poseidon's Fury - This was long but much cooler than I thought it would be. I would definitely do it again on our next trip.

Lunch - We had lunch reservations at Mythos for 11am. We liked it. It was better than your typical fern bar. I would eat there again. The decor is awesome too. DH ordered an alcoholic beverage. As we were paying, the server brought him a box with a new glass in it, that was the same as what his drink came in. Oh joy, we now have more stuff to carry and try to get home

Hogwarts Express - We took the train again, but this time from Hogsmeade to Diagon Alley. We waited 2 or 3 times longer on this trip than the previous day, where we went Diagon Alley->Hogsmeade. Both directions are different and interesting. The London city scenes really made me feel like I was on the train from Heathrow to central London.

Day 3 PM - Universal Studios (Sunday, 3/15):

Tales of the Beedle Bard - We got to USF later than expected, so we skipped Terminator and decided to watch the story and eat a yummy Tunnock's Caramel bar. Since we were off schedule, the next stuff is not in order.

Terminator - Neat but long. I liked how they combined images from the movie with live action.

Twister - Being from Oklahoma originally and having experienced several tornadoes as a kid, I liked this ride. Twister is a favorite movie of mine. I grew up watching the weather man in the movie, Gary England, so the movie and the rider felt very familiar. However, the re-enactment was incredibly tame compared to how a real tornado feels. It was fun though.

Snack - At some point, we got a donut sundae from Lard Lad and split it amongst the 3 of us. It wasn't nearly as gross or heavy as I thought it would be. I definitely want to get it again on the next trip.

Blues Brothers Show - I don't think they were actually doing the show. The building that looks like where the show should be is under construction. It looked like they were just doing a meet & greet. I was annoyed, since we had waited around for it.

Shrek - This was OK. It wasn't as cool as I thought it could be.
Animal Actors - This was cute, but I like the Flights of Wonder show at Animal Kingdom in WDW better.
Horror Make-up Show - This was also pretty neat, but I don't know if I would do it every time. It was a little kitschy and over-the-top.

Dinner - Fast Food Blvd again. It was close by, and no one was very hungry. I got the hummus and veggies from Lisa's. It was fine, but nothing exceptional. DS got a burger again. DH got a taco from the Bumble Bee Man truck. It looked and smelled good. DH liked it a lot.

Diagon Alley - We decided to do some shop while we waited for the Gringotts line to get shorter. We also looked around, and DS did a bunch of interactive stuff. We waited until after riding Gringotts again before buying too much.

Snack - We wanted a butterbeer to eat while waiting in the Gringotts line. Every place looked long. However, the shop behind Florean Fortescue's had a much smaller line. It's called the Fountain of Fair Fortune. They seem to sell butterbeer in all of its incarnations: cold, frozen, hot, and soft-serve. I got another frozen and a cup of soft-serve. The ice cream was awesome. I could have eaten one by myself. DH liked it the best too. Frozen is really good too though. They also made the Gringotts line go by much faster.

Gringotts (Take 2) - This time the line was a bit shorter than the previous day and kept moving really well. Unfortunately, someone right in front of us had really bad BO. I have a very sensitive sense of smell, so it was bad. In the entry way, right before the bank lobby, 2 women and a young child ducked under the chain and popped into line right in front of us. I hadn't seen them before, and they didn't explain what was going on. I said excuse me in the nicest, most innocent tone I could muster. The older woman turned on me and yelled "What do you want?". I said that it seemed they were cutting in line. She proceeded to say that they had been right in front of us the whole time and had just taken the little girl to the bathroom. She was very rude and said how dare I accuse her of cutting in line. She would never do that. Well, I know they weren't right in front of me, because they weren't the stinky guy. I let it go and said fine, but the woman kept going on about how it was none of my business and that it shouldn't matter to me if they popped into line. Finally, she quit talking. DH looked at me, and we realized that stinky guy was no longer in front of us. Yah! However, the rude family was holding up the line taking pictures in the lobby. What a surprise. The employee told us to go around them, but the woman started yelling at me again. Thank goodness we lost them in the lift. The rest of the ride was great and uneventful. It still feels like the ride is too short though.

Diagon Alley - We then proceeded to shop in earnest and try every shop. I got ice cream again, but Early Grey from Florean Fortescue's. It wasn't as flavorful as I had hope, because I really love Early Grey. Diagon Alley is beautiful at night. Be sure to see it at night. I liked the shops in Diagon Alley better than Hogsmeade. Even though the ones in Diagon Alley still feel intimate and true to books/movies, they are much larger inside and have better traffic flow. Back to the hotel for sleep. We almost closed out the park.

Day 4 AM USF & IOA/Last Day at Universal (Monday, 3/16):

USF:
We headed to USF first thing to repeat rides that we really liked, buy stuff, and get pressed pennies. We repeated the following. We tried to do Terminator again, but it said it wasn't showing that day. Universal's schedules can be wonky and inaccurate at times.

Gringotts - The line was so short, that they had photographers taking pictures at the beginning of the hallway with the offices, after the lobby. I had wondered what those little cubby-like nooks were for. This was our 3rd time to ride, and the first time they had been doing that. If you want a group picture, try to get there first thing.
Simpsons
Despicable Me
Mummy
Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade.

IOA:
We did the same thing at IOA and some things that we hadn't had a chance to do before.

Lunch - We got off the train and headed straight to 3 Broomsticks at 11:05am. We hadn't eaten at any of the HP QS places. There really wasn't much of a line. I was very surprised from everything that I heard. DH and I split the Cornish pasties, salad, and a baker (baked potato). The pasties are awesome. They remind me of an empanada restaurant that we used to have in Austin. The chef/owner, Ash, was from the UK. Her empanadas were very much influenced by savory hand pies from all cultures. These were at tasty and flavorful as hers. It came with 3 mini ones, which was perfect. DS got the chicken nuggets. It came with pretty good steak fries. He doesn't like steak fries, so unfortunately, DH and I had to eat them We also got another frozen butterbeer. This time in a souvenir mug.

We then did the following rides.
Forbidden Journey - Best ride yet, but the line for the lockers was insane and fully of deers caught in the headlights. Luckily, we convinced DS9 to do the single rider line. Toward the end, he kept insisting that he would only ride with us. We kept reassuring him. I was a little worried he might freak out once we got to the head of the line. But, by some miracle, the 3 of us ended up in the same "car"/set of benches.

Hippogrif - This ride is still fun; however, the posted wait times were always way longer than I would be willing to wait. I think staying at the deluxe hotel was worth it for the Express Pass.
Spider Man
Storm Force Acceletron - This was our first ride, because we had missed it the previous days. I really like the tea cups and figured this would just be another ride like that. However, this is more like the tea cups on crystal meth. At one point, we had to quit spinning the car with the wheel. I had that feeling one gets when you are very drunk and feel like you are falling slowly down a hole like Alice. I thought I was going to fall asleep, like you might in a drunken haze. Afterwards, we stood and slowly walked around a bit, until we had gotten our balance back. If you get motion sickness, so not ride this. After eating a big meal or while very drunk are probably also very bad ideas

We hadn't made it over to Jurassic Park or Popeye, so we walked through the areas. We wanted to do the Discovery Center, but it seemed it would take a while. We will have to do that next time.

One thing that I didn't like about Universal is the carni games they have. I don't get paying a decent amount to get into the park and then spending money on carni games/games of chance. I saw these in Jurassic Park and Springfield. They just seemed kind of tacky and cheap to me.

Day 4 PM Swim & dinner at RPR and USF at night (Monday, 3/16):

Swimming - DS really wanted to swim. So we headed back. DH and DS hung out at the pool and swam. I spent some time packing, since we were checking out early the next day. Once I had finished, I headed down to read and take in some adult libations by the pool. The drinks from the Bula Bar/pool bar were very good but very expensive. They had a deal where the first one was $15, but the subsequent ones were $10. Well, I had to get my moneys worth, so I had to have 2 or maybe 3They were so tasty, it was hard to remember.

Dinner -
As a special surprise, I got reservations, probably not needed, at Islands at the hotel for the character dinner. It was Homer and Bart Simpson, who DS really likes. It used to be Scooby Doo and Homer. DS loves Scooby Doo, but I guess they replaced him. DH and I split some huge drink from a bowl that was lit on fire. It was pretty good but a little expensive. We also split the pork dumplings, which were pretty good. The order only had 3 or 4, so it wasn't very big for the price. That night they had the Wok Experience. I really didn't want to eat a ton of food, and it was all you can eat. So I decided to order the tempura shrimp off the menu. It was okay, but nothing very special. It was more like fried shrimp than tempura. It was disappointing for the price. DH had the salmon, which was pretty good. I regret not getting the Wok Experience. It smelled good, and I had heard good things about it.

Before our main entrees came out, Bart and Homer Simpson came out. They were supposed to start coming out at 6:45pm, and it was probably about that, maybe 7pm. The dining room was not full at all, so they made it around pretty quick. They didn't really spend that much time with each kid before they took a break. In fact, we never got a picture with Homer. I think they were out maybe 15 minutes before they went back.They never came back out the entire time we were there, and we didn't leave until close to 8pm. Service was a little slow. I was a bit disappointed with the meal and the character experience. It was like what I was used to at Disney character meals. I don't think we would bother going there again, unless it was for the Wok Experience, because there are so many better places to eat in Citywalk. Luckily, you don't pay extra for the characters, like you do at Disney. It's just food from the menu at the same price they charge with or w/o characters.

USF - After dinner we headed back to USF to get some last minute pressed pennies, take pictures in Diagon Alley at night, ride Simpsons again, and see the Universal Cinematic Spectacular. This was the only night that it was showing during our 3 day visit. It was a neat show but not as good as any at WDW.

Tomorrow, we take Disney. Although, it probably ended up taking us.

Universal Conclusion:
Universal had a different, but good feel, compared to Disney. We had a great time and will definitely be returning. I wished I had seen Hogsmeade and the castle at night.

Hotel -
Pros: We loved the Royal Pacific. Great hotel and service. We loved the proximity to the parks and seeing them from our room. The hotel was a good value compared to Disney, especially considering the Early Entry and Express Pass. The outside and lobby decor is nice. Great pool and pool bar. They even had some neat activities for the kids.

Cons: I prefer the Polynesian's room and hallway decor. I wish there was a bigger gift/snack shop with more variety. No free WI-FI! A huge pet peeve of mine. The valet price is outrageous and was not explained very clearly, at least to DH. I told him that the valet price was the daily rate ($27) plus another $27, but he didn't believe or understand me. That bill came as a big shock

Parks -
Pros: We loved the parks. The smaller size was nice and manageable. There are a decent variety of rides. Decent shops and snacking places. We will definitely be back. The Coke Freestyle machines are awesome. I have to find out who to send an email at WDW to get water bottle filling stations with filtered water, instead of the tap out of the fountains. The lines at the HP stuff could get long, but since almost everything else was on Express, it made up for it. The proximity to the hotels and Citywalk is really great. Snacks, drinks, and alcohol in the Gringotts and FB lines. Frozen butterbeer and butterbeer ice cream.

Cons: Some of the rides feel very dated. ET, I'm pointing at you. DS couldn't ride some of the bigger thrill rides, because he was too short. This was a pretty minor issue though. The lockers for some rides are setup well, like Gringotts & MIB. However, the lockers need to be moved at Forbidden Journey. The shops at Hogsmeade feel tight and cramped. The lines for butterbeer and ice cream in HP get crazy long. Some of the show times are weird, and they don't show all of the shows everyday or even a lot of days. I wished early entry at been at both parks; I think it started this week. They should remove the carnival games.

Food -
Pros: There are some pretty good table service places, especially in Citywalk, and they are close to everything. There are a few good counter service places in the parks. Restaurants and QS were not as crazy busy as they are at Disney. I probably didn't need reservations for some of them. Some interesting varieties too. Did I mention the free, cold, filtered water from the Coke Freestyle machines

Cons: Pricey, about the same as Disney though. Some places didn't have kids menus, so we had to pay adult prices for DS to not eat most of his meal. We would share with him, but he likes his food so bland. They need a better selection of TS and QS, especially QS. There just aren't very many. Fast Food Blvd is good, but besides the HP stuff, it's probably one of the few decent ones. Flaming Moes need alcohol.

I realized that I forgot to mention the rope drop procedure while we were there.

IOA:
The first day we did IOA, which did not have early entry. We were the second in line at our turnstile. They let us in at 8:30am for a 9am opening. We headed straight for Despicable Me. It looked like they were holding people up there, I guess until closer to park opening. I was glad we decided to do DM first. Our third day we also did IOA first. We were the first at the turnstile. They let us in before 9am, but maybe only at 8:45am at the earliest. We don't walk too fast, because DS is 9. We headed straight for Gringotts through Springfield, and no one was being held up there. DH went to the lockers, and DS informed me he had to use the bathroom. The line wasn't very long, but by the time we got out of the bathrooms, it was 3 times as long It still went pretty fast, once they started the ride. They were taking pictures in the cubbies in the hallway with the offices, right after the lobby. They hadn't done that on any of our previous rides on Gringotts.

USF (Early Entry):
We only did early entry once, on our second day. USF was the only with early entry while we were there. We were first at the turnstile. In fact, we got held up by security trying to walk to Citywalk from RPR. They eventually let everyone through, after checking their bags. This was near Margaritaville, before you even get to the park entrance. I think they let us into the park about 7:45am. We were herded through Seuss Land, where we waited for a few minutes. Then they quickly checked everyone's room key card while we briskly walked to Forbidden Journey. DH hit the lockers, while DS and I headed for the line. We stopped out of the way in the classroom to wait for DH, since it was taking a bit. We ended up stopped in the little room with the fat lady. We only moved into the next room after that, before they announced it was broken.

I have started the WDW portion of the trip report here.

http://www.disboards.com/threads/tour-de-deux-mondes-wdw-version-march-2015.3394439/

Great trip report soniam! My husband and I are planning our first trip to Universal for this coming October (split stay with WDW). I have been to WDW many many times, but I have only been to Universal once and that was quite a few years ago so I am trying to read everything I can to get more familiar with it.
Just to clarify - you are allowed to take drinks/ food into the lines for rides? All rides? Just HP rides?

JenLynn said:

Great trip report soniam! My husband and I are planning our first trip to Universal for this coming October (split stay with WDW). I have been to WDW many many times, but I have only been to Universal once and that was quite a few years ago so I am trying to read everything I can to get more familiar with it.
Just to clarify - you are allowed to take drinks/ food into the lines for rides? All rides? Just HP rides?

Click to expand...

Thanks. There's a lot more to come still. I will be updating more tonight.

As for drinks, we really only had them in the Forbidden Journey and Gringotts lines. Since we had Express, we rarely waited in any other lines. We brought drinks & ice cream to those lines from places in HP but outside of the ride. In the covered outdoor part of the Gringotts line, there was a cart selling beer, strong cider, pumpkin juice, water, candy, and crisps. They didn't sell butterbeer or ice cream at that cart. There was a little store cubby in the Hogwarts Express line (DA->Hogs), that sold the same plus fruit. You could drink in the train lines too, as well as in the train cabins. I think you could probably eat and drink in most lines, but we didn't, except water.

There's more to come for WDW. The Universal part is complete.

Addendum (aka I keep forgetting things that I wanted to write about):

I am an avid Touring Plans user. I have now used it for 3 of our WDW trips, 1 DLR, and now 1 Uni. I love the WDW version, and DLR was really good too. I liked the Universal version, but I think it needs some work related to Unlimited Express Pass. I think it doesn't do a good job of considering this. For instance, on our first day, we went to USF, which did not have early entry. I selected the Unlimited Express Pass and start time as park opening. However, when it optimized, it still suggested that we do a bunch of stuff outside of DA, then do Gringotts at 11:30am. Maybe this was because of efficient walking, but I had left the walking speed at average. Plus, we were going to take HE to Hogsmeade after lunch. We did follow the plan, but I think we had a longer wait at Gringotts than if we had done it at RD. We probably walked less though. I don't think the other rides would have gotten bad later in the morning, because they all had Express Pass. So, take this with a grain of salt, because it could have been doing me a favor, and I didn't realize it. Also, it looked like people got held up after Despicable Me; whereas, we were riding it instead of sitting at a rope. I still would use it again in a heartbeat, but I don't think they have as robust a data set for Uni as they do WDW. Plus, I don't know how the optimize software decides the amount of wait time when you have Express Pass.

macraven said:

i always love reading trip reports!

i appreciate all the details you included in yours.

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Thanks. I am a very detail oriented person, and sometimes it can be too much in a thing like this. I don't really know how to turn it off easily though.