To Hogwarts We Go!

[jeffinerlee]

Looks like you had a great trip! I was just there the 14-16th myself... wishing I'd tried some of the other drinks available now, but I tried all of the Butterbeer versions, and I was definitely a fan!

 

[schumigirl]

Lovely pictures..........especially the ones with your daughter getting help with her spell........so cute

 

[samheatherwhite]

Here is a picture of picky B eating his Disney themed fruit snacks. We are probably lucky we weren't thrown out of DA
As we sat at The Hopping Pot we noticed that they were setting up for a show so we hung around the stage and watched the Tale of the Three Brothers while we sipped our Butterbeer. It was wonderful. The puppets were so beautiful and it was really well done. I wish we had caught this again.

Death was huge and the woman narrator who played the part was so good at her job. It was so cool.

Everyone enjoyed the show, we didn't catch the other play but I will put it on our must do list next time.

After the play we headed to the other side of DA to explore. G was super pumped to see Hagrid's/Sirius Black's motor bike.

Next we went onto the Magical Menagerie. I knew that this would be a favorite of G. She is going through a stuffed animal kick right now and she had a few more gift cards to use.
Off topic but she really wanted a Scabbers rat toy the whole time we were reading the third book..... right up until he blew her mind. She still talks about being so surprised about the Animagus. She was really impressed that the toy had a missing toe. She looked at every toy in the store several times and decided that she needed more time to think before a final decision on purchases were made.

We all thought that this store was really fun and we were surprised at the sheer number of magical creatures available for purchase.

Here G checks out the snake that she assured us had to be Nagini. She teased her Gran, asking if she could understand what the snake was saying.

More spell casting was done here. This spot seemed to be really popular with young witches and wizards. It thunders and rain falls from the umbrella. I had fun watching other kids wait for an unsuspecting muggle to walk underneath and then cast the spell making them wet. It was hilarious, many were quite shocked.

B loved the front windows in the Menagerie. As G cast more spells he and C watched all of the creatures in the shop.
We then decided that we could no longer wait to check out Escape From Gringotts and since the wait was only 20 minutes we hopped in line. We all went to look around and C and B were able to wait for us in the child swap area with no problems.

 

[ALDSMD]

Loving your trip report!! Thinking of taking the family there for the first time next year. We have always gone to Disney and really know nothing about Universal, but we are also Harry Potter fans and really feeling the urge to try it. If you have any planning, hotel, dining, or travel pointers I would love to hear them.

 

[samheatherwhite]

I will start by showing you way too many pictures of the new ride. The 20 minute was just about right to get to see everything really well without having to stay still too long.

Our bellhop on the way out on Friday told us that these chandeliers were made of real crystal and cost 2 million each. I have no idea if that is true or not but they were so beautiful that it could be true. B was especially impressed.

I was a bit worried that B would be sacred of the Goblins. He didn't bat an eye but G did mention over and over again how real they looked and that it was a little unnerving when they looked right at you. They were so realistic.

All of us rode the elevator which B loved and he thought that that was the ride so he wasn't disappointed that he was too small. That was a really neat way to start your ride experience. I do agree with others who have said that it seems weird to ride an elevator down and then have to walk up a flight of stairs to get on.
Gran, G, and I got the back row of the back car and found it very slightly that our feet didn't reach the floor.
We had the bad luck of having our ride break down right after the trolls threw our cart. We must have had only first time riders in our cart because we were all very confused and thought that this was part of the ride at first. It was stopped for about 5 or 6 minutes when the lights came on and we moved a little and then stopped again for a little while. After about 3 mini starts we finished the ride. We were very disappointed but the Tms were so nice and just let us walk back around and get back on. The second ride we got front row front car and our felt did touch the ground which we felt was more comfortable. I was surprised at how different views changed to ride in little ways. It makes you want to try it from all perspectives.
G loved the ride as did Gran and I. My only negative, and it is a tiny one, is that it doesn't really end with a grand finale. The main action is the front and middle portion of the ride. It was fun. G was on cloud nine!
After rounding up C and B we needed an early lunch. We had been up for a long time so we headed over to The Leaky Cauldron.

It was very uncrowded when we got there and the Tm asked if we wanted breakfast or lunch. We all went with lunch. After ordering a Tm with a candle holder with a number in it takes you to a table and then your food is brought to you.

This is the point on our trip that B decided that it was finny to frown every time a took a picture and then say, "Mom did you see what I did? I used my angry eyes." He thinks he is so funny but I thought ya'll might need an explanation about his weird faces. What he doesn't know is that he is just giving me ammunition ti use against him when he is bigger!

A nice member of the waitstaff that brought out the first food saw me taking pictures and offered to take one with me in it. I really appreciated this since some vacations I don't get included in any pictures.

Here is what the ordering area looks like. It wasn't busy but seemed super organized and friendly.

I love this area. Can't you just imagine Harry going up those stairs to his room?

Couldn't resist a picture of Sirius. I don't know if I mentioned this before but my maiden name is Black so we all feel quite affectionate toward Sirius.

Enough atmosphere pics. Up next a food review!

 

[samheatherwhite]

We tried to get different hings so that we could share around and try as much as possible. We also got all three of the desserts offered there. This is Gran's choice, bangers and mash. She really liked this and G liked the sausage as well. It came with minted peas which made Gran nervous since she hates mint but she said that the taste was unique but not too minty. B loved them and ate a bunch.
Gran also got another fizzy orange drink.

In this picture you can see that C got the two mini pies. Fisherman that had seafood and I believe that the other was called cottage pie. She got a Gilly Water to drink. She and I both really liked the Fisherman's version. It had a lot of seafood in it. She said that the Cottage pie was okay but was surprised that the meat had more of a chili texture. I hate chili so I didn't try that one. G also got the cottage pie but hers was a kid plate and came with potato wedges. She loved those but she doesn't like chili either so she nibbled around on hers. The cottage pie wasn't bad per say, it just wasn't to our tastes. I am sure that my husband and Dad would have both really liked it.
You can also see B's salad in this picture. They had ranch dressing so he was a happy boy. This was just a side salad and it was huge and cost around 5$. It had tomatoes on one side and a beet salad on the other with a ton of lettuce in the middle.
I have to share a funny B story here. Mr. Picky loves tomatoes and he ate all of them on his salad. He didn't realize that the other stuff was beets, he just thought that it was more tomatoes. After finishing the real tomatoes he turned his plate around and took a huge bite of the beets before we could warn him. The look on his face was hilarious, it was the ultimate betrayal. A food he didn't like disguised as one of his faves. He looked up at us with the saddest look and mumbled around the giant bite of beets in his mouth, "I cannot eat these, they taste like horror." We helped him discreetly spit them in a napkin and then he wanted Gran to wipe off his tongue. It was really funny. For the rest of our trip he made sure to confirm that there were only real tomatoes not nasty ones on his plate before he tried any.
He also drank a Gilly water which is just regular bottled water in a cooler container.

I got the fish and chips and these were super good. Piping hot and fresh and the crust was not soggy at all. They were really flavorful too. G ate a piece and C and Gran tried them as well and everyone declared this a winner. (Except B of course who doesn't like fish.)
G and I both got a frozen Butterber to drink because it just seemed wrong to eat there and not have one.

Here is a photo of the three desserts. On the left is a chocolate pot de creme. Our opinions on this varied according to how much we liked dark chocolate. C prefers dark chocolate so she really enjoyed this. Gran and G both thought it was pretty good and super rich. G ate the cherry on top and said that it was the best part. I am not a fan of dark chocolate and only took a few bites, it was good for what it is. It was just not to my tastes.
The middle is a sticky toffee pudding. I am going to hope that we got an old one or an off example because this wasn't good at all. We left over half of it on the table. This thing was as hard as a rock and we could barely cut into it with the plastic knives that were at the table. It was tough as an old boot. It tasted a bit like bread pudding and I could see this as having lots of potential but this was definitely considered a miss.
Lastly was the kranachan. (sp?) This was like a mini trifle with a custard layer and a layer of raspberry jam and some cookie like bits. I wasn't expecting this to be my cup of tea because I don't like raspberry flavored things. I like the actual berries but not any of the fake stuff. It was super good and I would get this again. The custard layers were sweet and creamy and balanced the tart fresh berry tasting layer. The cookie bits added a nice crunch and texture. Gran and I loved this and C and G liked it a lot. B of course tasted none of these.
Would we eat her again? Every time! The food was hot and fresh and the only missteps were due to personal taste not preparation. I would however skip the desserts next time. It was expensive for a counter service but that was mainly due to the specialty HP drinks and not the food which was average priced. A 5$ drink each brings the price up fast but to us it was still worth it to have the experience to sit where Harry sat!

The actual cauldron is massive. G is about 50 inches tall if that helps you put it in perspective.

The sign on the outside of the building actually very slowly leaks! Genius!

 

[sydneysmom]

Love all the pictures you're posting! your kids are adorable and the pictures of your daughter doing the spells are priceless!! We're going to get our daughter a wand as well....(it'll be our first time, so I imagine I'm going to get sucked into buying alot of souveniers!!) Did you just get Universal Orlando Gift Cards for your daughter or did you have to get something else? We were thinking of getting ours one as a "we're going to Universal" announcement, but for some reason, I thought you couldn't use the Universal gift cards in the Harry Potter parts of each park.... (clearly I'm still in the learning phase....)

The food looks SOOO good!! It's looking like you had a wonderful time there !!

 

[samheatherwhite]

Loving your trip report!! Thinking of taking the family there for the first time next year. We have always gone to Disney and really know nothing about Universal, but we are also Harry Potter fans and really feeling the urge to try it. If you have any planning, hotel, dining, or travel pointers I would love to hear them.

We loved Universal. We went to Disney in 2012 and loved it too but we are still thinking that the next time we get to Florida we will do Universal again. It was so easy, no adrs or confusing fast pass plus. We stayed at Royal Pacific and loved it, if you chose this hotel I would recommend tower 3. It is right near the pool and the walking path. Dining was good, we should have branched out and eaten in Citywalk more but with the little guys that was harder than eating at the park. Know that the in park restaurants really seem to close early that time of year. The low crowd levels are probably behind that but it is still worth it to me. If you have any specific questions I would be happy to answer anything I can. If you like HP you will enjoy Universal. The HP areas are great and the rest of the park is nice too.

 

[samheatherwhite]

Love all the pictures you're posting! your kids are adorable and the pictures of your daughter doing the spells are priceless!! We're going to get our daughter a wand as well....(it'll be our first time, so I imagine I'm going to get sucked into buying alot of souveniers!!) Did you just get Universal Orlando Gift Cards for your daughter or did you have to get something else? We were thinking of getting ours one as a "we're going to Universal" announcement, but for some reason, I thought you couldn't use the Universal gift cards in the Harry Potter parts of each park.... (clearly I'm still in the learning phase....)

The food looks SOOO good!! It's looking like you had a wonderful time there !!

Thank you so much for your kind words. We really did have a wonderful time. The wand was lots of fun but I might hesitate to buy one if you go when it is really crowded. We went in a low season and the Hogsmeade areas for wands still felt really crowded to us. It is a great souvenir to keep though if really interested in HP. G loves hers and keeps it by her bed. We just got on Universals web site and ordered gift cards for the kids. They have a lot of cute designs and can be used in the park (including HP areas) and Citywalk.
We got G a HP one for her birthday to buy and wand and the Easter Bunny gave her one that had minions on it.

 

[sydneysmom]

Thank you so much for your kind words. We really did have a wonderful time. The wand was lots of fun but I might hesitate to buy one if you go when it is really crowded. We went in a low season and the Hogsmeade areas for wands still felt really crowded to us. It is a great souvenir to keep though if really interested in HP. G loves hers and keeps it by her bed. We just got on Universals web site and ordered gift cards for the kids. They have a lot of cute designs and can be used in the park (including HP areas) and Citywalk.
We got G a HP one for her birthday to buy and wand and the Easter Bunny gave her one that had minions on it.

that's a great idea to get them the gift cards. I know we're going to have to get a wand so I might try to get one an "off" time of the day. It just looks like such fun for the kids!!

 

[pixeegrl]

Great TR! Thanks for sharing your experience with us! We went in 2012 and are just aching to go back! Hopefully next year

 

[ALDSMD]

We loved Universal. We went to Disney in 2012 and loved it too but we are still thinking that the next time we get to Florida we will do Universal again. It was so easy, no adrs or confusing fast pass plus. We stayed at Royal Pacific and loved it, if you chose this hotel I would recommend tower 3. It is right near the pool and the walking path. Dining was good, we should have branched out and eaten in Citywalk more but with the little guys that was harder than eating at the park. Know that the in park restaurants really seem to close early that time of year. The low crowd levels are probably behind that but it is still worth it to me. If you have any specific questions I would be happy to answer anything I can. If you like HP you will enjoy Universal. The HP areas are great and the rest of the park is nice too.

Thank you so much, and I will be taking you up on that offer to ask you questions. The thought of not having to worry about adr's and which rides to pick for FP+ just seems fabulous. Did you do any research on when it is slower? Also, are there any restaurants or rides that you wouldn't miss? I have a 13, 10, and 7 year old girls. Thanks again.

 

[samheatherwhite]

Thank you so much, and I will be taking you up on that offer to ask you questions. The thought of not having to worry about adr's and which rides to pick for FP+ just seems fabulous. Did you do any research on when it is slower? Also, are there any restaurants or rides that you wouldn't miss? I have a 13, 10, and 7 year old girls. Thanks again.

From what I can tell the slower times are very similar to Disney's. Any time school is in is a slower time and the big Holidays, especially Christmas, fall under the way too busy to be enjoyable category. If you are HP fans you must try The Leaky Cauldron and The Three Broomsticks. We ate breakfast at the broomsticks and I will review it later on. The atmosphere in there is so cool. We also really liked Mythos and Finnegans was wonderful as well.
G is a daredevil and at 7 she is also very tall at about 50 inches. She loved despicable me, flight of the hippogriff, and the 3 water rides the best. Her favorite ride in the whole world she says is the Forbidden Journey with Gringotts a close second. She was disappointed that she couldn't ride Dueling Dragons and the Hulk and Rip Ride Rocket. She also really enjoyed the animal actors show.

 

[ALDSMD]

From what I can tell the slower times are very similar to Disney's. Any time school is in is a slower time and the big Holidays, especially Christmas, fall under the way too busy to be enjoyable category. If you are HP fans you must try The Leaky Cauldron and The Three Broomsticks. We ate breakfast at the broomsticks and I will review it later on. The atmosphere in there is so cool. We also really liked Mythos and Finnegans was wonderful as well.
G is a daredevil and at 7 she is also very tall at about 50 inches. She loved despicable me, flight of the hippogriff, and the 3 water rides the best. Her favorite ride in the whole world she says is the Forbidden Journey with Gringotts a close second. She was disappointed that she couldn't ride Dueling Dragons and the Hulk and Rip Ride Rocket. She also really enjoyed the animal actors show.

Thanks for the input. My children are all daredevils, too. Unfortunately my youngest is on the short side. I'm not very familiar with the rides at Universal yet so I appreciate your input. I also wasn't aware that there were shows. Lol. Ask me anything Disney and I can probably answer, but I am really clueless when it comes to Universal. Will be anxiously awaiting your next post on your trip.

 

[samheatherwhite]

After lunch I ran back over to get the stroller because we decided to ride the Hogwarts Express over to Hogsmead and keep the HP experience going.

I loved the owl roost in DA.
As I did that the others were going to meet me in King's Cross Station. As they exited DA the Knight Bus Conductor line was empty so G and B went and took pictures with him and had a chat. I don't have pictures of this yet because C took them on her phone. C said that the interaction was really good. The conductor noticed the kids quidditch shirts and they talked teams. C said that he saw that B was shy and that G was super interested and he played it just right, directing everything to her but still including little brother. I hate that I missed this but I'm glad they did it.

Soon we headed to King's Cross. I was excited to take B on the train. He was too small to ride much but the boy loves trains.

Here is the only picture I got of the crossing onto Platform 9 3/4.
Here is where I will rant about rude people for a minute. As we were in line (about 15 min. wait) a large man shoved his way around everyone carrying a giant camera and tripod thing. He literally shoved children and elderly folks out of the way with no sorry or excuse me. When we got near 9 3/4 this jerk had set up his camera taking up the entire area where you could take pictures of the walk through. And he was just standing there. It turns out he was waiting to take pics of his family who were like 20 groups back in line. When people politely asked if he would move so they could photograph their kids he just shook his head and used his huge self to block the whole area. I hope his photos stunk because he certainly made sure nobody else got any at that time. Sorry rant over!

It was surreal watching the train pull in to take us to Hogsmead. The kids loved it.

G loves owls and was so excited to see Hedwig and Harry's trunk.
The ride was really neat and when we arrived in Hogsmead you could see one of the buggys that the thestrals pull moving by itself.

Our first order of business was a bathroom break to check out Moaning Myrtle. Such a nice touch.

This was our first view of Hogsmead Village. It always seemed more crowded there than it did in DA. I don't know if it is just the design and layout of the area or what but that was the only place we went that always felt crowded the entire trip.

B loved the window display in Honeydukes. This was his favorite store besides the one in the Jurassic Park area. When we got home he also discovered his new favorite treat and it came from Honeydukes. We brought his Dad some Fudge Flies and B love them. I find it ironic that it is so hard to get picky B to try anything new but he didn't bat an eye at a food called flies!

Another view of the gorgeous village. Even thought there was snow on the roofs it was hot as the surface of the sun there. DA always seemed cooler than the rest of the park but that wasn't true of Hogsmead.

Here is a picture of the entrance to The Three Broomsticks. We didn't go in that day but I will have a detailed food review fro there later.

 

[ThinkTink09]

I love your photos!! The chandelier one in Gringotts is beautiful!!!

 

[ArwenMarie]

I love that picture of your son gazing at the candy in the window

 

[schumigirl]

Your pictures are lovely........it's true about the chandeliers being $2 million dollars each.........nice!!

Sadly we had a few rude people this past trip also......one in the same place as you ironically and for the same reason.......there's no need. I always point out the error of their ways though

 

[samheatherwhite]

When G saw Hogwarts she said, "Oh Momma, it's better than Cinderella's." She loved this place so much. She has driven everyone crazy with her HP obsession, especially her Dad and Grandad who do not quite share her enthusiasm.
A funny G story. Once I showed her the Pottermore site she decided to have the whole family sorted. It was important to her so my whole family has been sorted with the extended members slated for a Christmas time sorting ceremony. It was really interesting. All the men are Gryffindor, every single one, as is auntie C. Gran and my other sister E are Slytherins. (Much to Grans shock and horror.) I am the lone Ravenclaw and there have been no Hufflepuffs. The funny part of the story is that Miss everyone must have a Hogwart's house will not do it herself. She is terrified that she might not be put in Gryffindor where she is 100% sure that she belongs. So even though we have sorted our neighbor and future brother in law G won't do it. She has declared herself a loyal Gryffindor and that is enough for her. It is too funny.

The wait for FJ was 45 minutes and the others didn't want to wait so we decided that we would check back later. We then headed to Jurassic Park.

Gran and I love the JP book and C is a huge movie fan. B just loves dinosaurs so I knew that this area would be a hit.

I love this picture. B is about to get eaten by a hungry creature and he is much more concerned about his new popcorn bucket. The boy loves popcorn and this was a great investment. We refilled it every night when we left the parks so the kids could have a snack if they needed it in the hotel.

After his snack B was ready to explore the Jurassic playground area. I followed the kids while Gran and C took a break in the shade. We played in here for at least an hour and didn't see everything. It was really cool and both kids had a blast. They especially like the areas where they could get a little wet.

This was a little splash area, notice how gorgeous the foliage was here.

Since we have been home G has been really interested in the JP story so I have told her an edited version. She is annoyed that I won't let her watch the movie, insisting that she can handle it.

They really loved the climbing nets. It was not my favorite, lol. I was just enough too tall that I had to stoop over to chase them through there.

B really loved the fossil slide.

Here is a bad picture of the mosquito encased in amber which is where G's fascination started. I explained to her the premise of the movie when she wondered about this and her new fascination about DNA was born. Her curiosity knows no bounds when she gets engaged. The mummy also brought on an interest in King Tut and ancient Egypt. Who says that a theme park cannot be educational?

After playing we moved on the Toon Lagoon. G was ready for some water rides. She loves, loves, loves, the river raft rides that are similar to Bluto's Barges. I on the other hand hate running around in wet clothes, even if it is hot. First Gran, G, and I rode JP where of course I got soaked while Band C explored the dinosaur dump shop. B loved it in there and used some of his money to buy a cool set of JP dinosaurs.
Next we went to play in the Popeye ship play area. There are a lot of stairs in there!

I did get some really neat pics. from the top though.

After that Gran agreed to take G on Bluto's and C, B and I found some shade and played dinosaurs.
When they got back it was decided that Gran, B, and C would go back to the hotel for a while to rest. G was not ready to leave yet so she and I stayed to have some more fun.
We used this time to ride a few rides that B would have been interested in but was too short for. That way G didn't have to miss them and B wasn't disappointed. It worked perfectly.

Here is a pic of B with his purchase. He still loves these so I would say that they were a good buy.
First G and I rode Spiderman which she enjoyed and then we headed around to Suessville.

 

[samheatherwhite]

G loves the Lorax the best of all things Dr. Suess so she was thrilled to see the home of the Oncler.

She explored this area for a little while.

The truffula trees were also very cool.

We also rode on the High in the Sky trolley which was a nice break for our tired feet. B was too small for this too. We didn't ride anything else in the area because B was big enough so we saved those to ride with him another day.
We headed around toward Mythos, we told the others we would see how late they served and call them and meet up for an early dinner there later. They seated until 4:30 so we made plans to meet up a little before then.
G could wait no longer for more HP so she and I headed back to Hogsmead.

This was cool and G said it reminded her of Buckbeak. This girl had a one track mind. All HP all the time.

Here is a picture of Hogsmead Station.

It was still pretty busy here but that didn't bother G at all. She was a girl on a mission.

First we stopped in Honeydukes so we could plan future purchases.

B is the Jellybean king. He loves them and will do almost anything for a couple. That is how we potty trained him.

G was so excited to see the cards she was super curious about what the founders looked like and all four cards were displayed in the window.

Chocolate frogs

I knew I needed something in one of these jars later. They are so cute.

More treats

Next we decided to see if we had time to ride FJ. G was dying to see the inside of the castle.

G insisted we take a picture of this for Gran since she collects snowmen.

Wait time was down to 20 minutes so we headed into this beautiful building.

The locker area was an absolute nightmare. There is no order or help or reason to this mess. G and I fought our way to the back and finally got a locker. It was so crammed with everyone shoving that I was actually worried about G getting squashed. Never again. We decided quickly that any more rides would have to be done when we had someone to wait with the bags.

I think that the house points was a favorite for G. Especially since Gryffindor was winning and Ravenclaw was last. Every time we rode this ride she eagerly checked to see who was winning.

Visiting with some of our favorite people.

The Fat Lady and what she had to say was perfect.
G loved this ride so much. It quickly became her favorite ride in the world. Better than any Disney rides and all. She would have been perfectly happy to ride this over and over all day everyday. I think I agree. It doesn't beat you up at all but you still get the 100% feeling that you are actually flying. It was awesome.
After the ride we explored Hogsmead for a minute and just happened to be in the right place when the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang demonstration started. I think it is called the Triwizard Spirit rally. G was enthralled with the french dancers.

This was all new to her since she hasn't read that far in the book series. She loved it anyways.

It was really cool. After it ended they allowed some pictures and since we had a little time until dinner we got in line.

Then this happened. The narrator took a liking to G and they chatted for a while. Then she gave G a wand to pose with since hers had gone back to the hotel with the others. It really made G's day when the narrator said, "see you later back on the common room." You see she was a Gryffindor too. G was on cloud nine.