Cloudy With A Chance of Autobots

I went to Universal for a day last year, around the same time. I only went to IOA, and after seeing stuff from the Diagon Alley expansion (which was construction walls on my last visit), as well as realizing I may have missed some cool stuff on the Universal side, I decided I needed to come back this year.

With me on this trip was my boyfriend, Ted. *ignore my username, it's from before I was divorced but I don't think I can change it * We spend most of our time traveling around the country, working at Renaissance Faires. Which, from February - April, has us living in Tampa, FL. We figured we should try to do something cool, and couldn't justify the cost of Disney, so Universal won.

We went on February 11th, a Wednesday. It was overcast all day, and pretty chilly, with a chance of rain. We were hoping the day and weather would make for a tolerable crowd level, and it worked out pretty well.

This was a one day, both parks visit. We went from open to close.

I'm not sure what I was expecting out of the Universal park, but it far exceeded whatever that was. I had skipped it last year thinking it was boring, basing that on memories from a trip when I was 12. I was SO wrong! I missed out on so much last time.

So, the day started with getting up early and driving out to Orlando. We got lucky with traffic and managed to be parked and waiting to get in before they opened. It was a *bit* chilly, but being from MI, nothing I couldn't handle. And so, this is how our day went:

Universal
IOA
Back to Uni!
Misc. Pics

We started our day out in the Universal park, as at this point I still wasn't expecting much from it and wanted to "get it done" so we could go have the real fun over in IOA. Right of the bat we ran into two familiar looking ladies:



We were really impressed with Lucy, she was so in character. We were actually the last ones to get our pics with them before they went back in. After that we did a little strolling while looking at our map, trying to figure out which way to head. We were about to go down one path when I saw Gru's house out of the corner of my eye, grabbed Ted's hand, and made a B line. Meeting a minion was the top of my list. The theming for the line was so cool, and I really enjoyed this ride.


Back to the wandering. We didn't have any solid plan, really. We had a basic "lets check out half of Universal, get on the Hogwarts train, loop all of IOA, then back here" mindset. We didn't want to rush anything, but also knew we had limited time. After minions we took some time to explore and study the map a bit. We decided to to the Twister attraction. Man, that was dumb.

Twister felt so...unnecessary. We didn't enjoy it, and it didn't seem like the other folks in the room did either. Of course, your entire lower back soaked on a chilly day doesn't help, but still. It may be time to upgrade this to a new/different theme.

After a little more walking and a stop at the bathroom to try to dry our shirts, we turned a corner and were greeted by:


Jumped right in line, but by the time it was our turn Megatron was going back in. But it worked out, because instead we got Optimus!


After that we went to ride the Transformer's ride. Not sure what I was expecting from it, but man was it fun! Very well executed experience, and hands down our favorite ride in either park. (and I don't usually like these types of rides)

More walking and enjoying the theming, sights and smells. Were about to go start the HP portion of the trip when I saw Springfield was just around the corner (the #2 on my list) and asked that we go do that first to make sure we saw it during the day. (here i was still expecting to spend all day at IOA because US was gonna be so boring). So, we headed over there and I totally geeked out. I've watched Simpson's my whole life and being able to stand in Springfield just blew me away. They really nailed this area, every detail was perfect! We rode the Simpson's ride, which we felt was just ok, then wandered a bit before heading back to London to hop a train.





Being a HUGE HP fan, I was really looking forward to this part of the day. I remember walking into Hogsmeade last year and almost crying at how amazing it was. Walking into Diagon Alley, I just didn't feel that. I didn't dislike it, it just didn't feel as "special" for some reason. It was certainly pretty, and relatively uncrowded. We took some time wandering and looking at shops, watched kids play with the wand effects, and went to get in line for Gringott's. The line for this ride was my favorite part of DA. Unfortunately, we didn't get to ride it, as it broke down while were in the vault area. Back out of line and a little more browsing in Knockturn Alley, then onto the Hogwart's Express.




I thought the train and it's effects were cool, but not worth the half hour wait. We had no interest in riding again.

Walking out into Hogsmeade, I immediately got that special feeling again. I don't what it is about this half of WWOHP (or what it ISN'T about DA), but it just felt so much more magical to me here. More crowded, yeah, but that didn't take away my enjoyment. We decided to get right onto Dragon Challenge. The line was empty enough that we got to stop and take some pics along the way. After winding through the insanely long indoor portion of line, we were waiting on our red dragon. Last year i rode the blue one. The red seemed a LOT faster, and we actually both felt less than great when we got off (dizzy, light headed) and decided it was time for a break. What better time for a butterbeer, and sitting on the patio area behind the Hog's Head/Three Broomsticks.


A little more meandering and then we got onto the FJ ride. Wait was a little long, but with such awesome theming it doesn't feel like time wasted. After that we decided to make our way out of HP land and headed toward the lost continent. We thought the menu at Mythos looked great, and decided if we ended up eating dinner in the park, that's where we'd go. DB was really impressed with the theming here, and loved the outside of the Poseidon thing. We didn't stay here long though, and continued on to Seuss Landing!

I LOVE this area. It's so dang cute. We enjoyed walking around, then decided to hop onto the Caroseusel. You know, because we're grown ups.


A 41 year old man, ladies and gents! lol

After finishing up there, we headed toward what I knew would be the best part for DB, the Marvel Superhero Island. I hadn't told him too much about any of the things in this area because I wanted him to walk in not knowing what to expect. I think that worked out, because he was beside himself. It was like he was 12, lol. We rode Spiderman, which he adored. After that we were walking around a shop. He was facing me, pointing out a shirt he thought i'd like, when right behind him I saw a flash of bright red...a camera went off...i knew i had my chance. Without giving DB the chance to turn around, I grabbed him and dragged him out of the store "COME! Don't ask, just follow me. Over here, turn..." His eyes got big. His smile spread across at least 3/4 of his head. He was in line to meet Spiderman.

At this point, we could have hopped in our car and left and he still would have been happy, lol. However, we stayed and continued along in the Marvel section. Rode Hulk. Window shopped a bit. Then, on to comic strip area.

At this point we were getting tired, thirsty, and a little frustrated with the general rudeness of the other people. We got a water and sat for a bit, then started to head toward the next area. I took a look at the time, and realized there were supposed to be characters coming out back in there, so we quickly looped back and got to catch a sailor and his lady friend.


Then we continued on into the Jurassic Park area. I'm hoping, with the new movie coming out, this area will get a little update. Or something. It just felt so...skippable. It was too chilly for a water ride, and there's not much else there. We didn't spend much time here at all.


A bit more walking and we found ourselves at the entrance area for IOA. It was at this point we realized all either of us had eaten all day was half of a soft pretzel. We checked out a few places before deciding on Croissant Moon Bakery. I got the turkey croissant sandwich and he got roast beef. They both came with potato salad and some fresh fruit. Delicious, and filling.

Went and strolled through Citiwalk a bit, thought about getting a drink, but decided against it and headed back to US.

Now happily fed and with renewed energy, I came to the realization that all of the good stuff was not in IOA, and that i'd seriously screwed up by not doing both parks last year. We gladly decided to spend the rest of our day at Universal, having seen and done everything on our list for IOA in a very small amount of time.

We checked the time and decided we should try to get a nice spot to watch the parade. Stopped for a photo op along the way.

This was a really cute little meet and greet, especially the interactive Donkey. We found a great spot right near where the parade comes out. Being used to Disney parades, obviously this one seemed small. However, it was bright, colorful, and fun. I really enjoyed it. However, I think I would have liked to see more relevant/recent characters than those from Hop.




After the parade ended, our main goal was just to relax and enjoy the relatively small amount of time we had left. Meet characters if we happened upon them, ride a few things we'd missed or return to rides we'd liked, and generally go with the flow. The only "must do" left was getting the Lard Lad donut back in Springfield, lol.

I don't remember everything we did. I do know we rode ET, and didn't have a much better opinion of it than we had of Twister. We headed back toward Springfield, grabbed our ridiculous donut, then headed toward the parking lot. I will say, this was the BEST donut i've ever had. Seriously, it's crazy delicious. And, at only $5, a great deal. Especially considering the size!


All in all, we had a great time. This was our first trip together, and we're glad we picked Universal. We'd love to go back, though I think next time we'll get two day tickets. While we managed to do and see a lot, I know there's also a lot we didn't. Some stuff was intentionally skipped, like all the little kid stuff, so that doesn't count. But we didn't get to ride Gringott's, didn't see any shows, etc. BUT, we got great weather, relatively low crowds, and a lot of awesome memories. I'd give this trip an 8/10.

Cool report!

Thanks for sharing your trip experiences. Some of us were commenting here not that long ago that we'd love to see more Universal trip reports, so we really appreciate you taking the time to do this!

Great pics, and a nice way of summarizing everything while giving us a glimpse of your tastes and preferences. Well done!

Extra Pics!









(i knew squidward was a little rough around the edges, but I didn't take him for a Nazi...)

Love your Marvin's teeshirt! My daughter had her 16th birthday there she loves it so much.

What fun. Thanks for sharing!