Day 8: Universal Studios
We got up fairly early Tuesday morning since we had to gather up all of our luggage and get it from POR to our resort at Universal Studios. We somehow acquired so much stuff that Hannah ordered another piece of luggage to be delivered to our Universal resort. A lot of it was the 30-odd snacks Hannah bought at the gift shop the night before to use up our remaining snack credits. I think we're done with the Dining Plan after this trip. Too much food and the value doesn't seem to be what it used to be.
After packing up, we lugged our stuff down to the cafeteria, had breakfast and I ordered a Lyft. I didn't know how long the drive would take so I gave us plenty of time. The drive to Loews Pacific was short, but checking in took a while. The dude who checked me in kind of breezed through directions and I got us all lost finding our rooms. We had to go back to the lobby and I used luggage services to get our stuff to the room and just followed the guy. Best money I spent all trip, ha ha.
After dropping off our stuff, I had to go back down to the lobby to get our tickets. That was a breeze, but they were paper tickets, which made me a little nervous to be carrying around all day, in addition to five keycards that doubled as our Express Passes. The lady said we could buy lanyards, but they were $12 each or something like that. No thanks.
With tickets and Express Passes just stuffed in my jacket (it was kind of cool that day, mid-50s maybe), we made the walk to Universal Studios. The walk was pleasant and I liked the layout of the City Walk area as a connection to Islands of Adventure and Universal Orlando, so that was cool.
I took a requisite photo of the Universal globe:
DSC_3436 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
Once inside, we rented a stroller for Maya and then made our way to Minion Mayhem. That was pretty cool and everyone enjoyed it. That said, I knew that most Universal attractions would be similar: 3D attraction with lots of moving, shaking, etc. One or two (Star Tours, for example) is one thing, but a whole day of that could be too much. We're not a big motion ride family; our preferences are definitely Splash, Haunted Mansion, it's a small world, that sort of thing.
Anyway, we went from Minions to Transformers. I thought it was fine, but it was too bumpy for Hannah and Maya. I told Hannah I just didn't know what to expect from any of the rides and no one had to ride anything they didn't want to. No sense in pushing it.
From there, we set out to find Diagon Alley. We first found 12 Grimmauld Place and the Knight Bus, which was cool.
DSC_3441 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
DSC_3445 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
We walked right past the entrance to Diagon Alley and had to get directions, but as soon as we found it, I was just blown away. The level of detail is just amazing and it truly feels like you're being transported into the movies. It was definitely the highlight of the day for me.
DSC_3458 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
DSC_3463 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
DSC_3469 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
After milling around for a bit, we decided to do Escape from Gringott's, though first I had to stash my camera bag and Hannah's backpack. That was a crowded cluster and the number of groups who felt every member need to go in to check a bag was obnoxious. The cost of renting two lockers to go on one ride was small, but just kind of obnoxious.
All that said, Escape from Gringott's was spectacular. Everyone really enjoyed it. I wish we had done it a few more times, but we had more of the park we wanted to explore.
Since we had the two park pass, we were able to take the Hogwarts Express to Islands of Adventure/Hogsmeade. That was really cool.
Like Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade looked spectacular. I couldn't tell if it was the chill in the air or if there was a little bit of AC going, but I like how it "felt" cold in the wintry village. Hogwarts was also breathtaking.
DSC_3498 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
DSC_3506 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
We all tried to get on to Forbidden Journey, but Maya didn't meet the height requirement. So, Josie, Robyn and I decided to test it out once to see how Hannah would handle it. The ride was great, but I thought the motion was a little much. And, if it was a little much for me, it'd likely be too much for Hannah, so she skipped.
After Forbidden Journey, we rode the Hippogriffs, which was fun, but I felt like I was going to fall out of the carts! Seriously, I clung to the lap bar like my life depended on it.
After the Hippogriffs, we had lunch over in the Jurassic Park area. The Jurassic Park ride was down, but I loved how much the burger place looked like the lobby area from Jurassic Park. JP is one of my all-time favorite movies, so I was geeking out just being in the restaurant a bit, ha ha.
After Jurassic Park we did Skull Island/King Kong/whatever it's called. I actually really liked this one and thought it was pretty fun. Maya was freaked out by the bats. Hannah was not impressed. I don't think Josie and Robyn said much either way.
Even though it was jacket weather and I read Universal water rides are no joke in terms of how wet you get, we decided to do Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls. We got absolutely SOAKED. My jacket was a rain coat, so that helped, but my pants were drenched. Hannah had a blast and wanted to go again. Since we were already wet, I figured why not? I somehow got even more soaked the second time. Universal got $5 for me to use the walk-in clothes dryer thing that wasn't very effective.
Still fairly damp, we headed into the Marvel area. We checked out some of the shops and went on the Spider-Man ride. I've been a Spider-Man fan all of my life, so it was fun to check that out. Pretty cool ride.
The whole Marvel area was pretty great.
DSC_3516 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
DSC_3521 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
From there, we went to the Dr. Seuss land. Hannah, Maya and Josie did one ride, but Robyn and I sat it out. Then everyone rode the Dr. Seuss carousel. Well, they rode. I took pictures:
DSC_3524 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
DSC_3526 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
DSC_3528 by
Lee Hermiston, on Flickr
After that, we made our way back to Hogsmeade and took the train to Diagon Alley. We did a little shopping around Diagon Alley and picked out some souvenirs for friends back home.
We then left Diagon Alley and did the Fast & Furious ride. One of my friends is a huge FF fan and a couple years ago, he made us watch all of the movies, including four in one day, so I had to ride it for him. It was about as over the top as you'd expect, but in a dumb and fun sort of way. Kind of like the movies.
Next up was Men in Black. Yet again, we had to pay for lockers. At this point, it was getting a little late in the afternoon and definitely late in the vacation. I was getting tired of theme parks, tired of paying for stuff and tired of rides that made my insides bounce all over the place. Men in Black was still sort of fun, up until the point at the end when they spin you around, seemingly just for the heck of it.
After MiB, motion ride fatigue was really set in. We had a few rides left on our touring plan, including Simpsons, Jimmy Fallon and maybe one other. We were close to the Simpsons ride and decided to do that first.
Oh man.
So, my wife is not a Simpsons fan and the girls have never watched it. I grew up watching it religiously, but haven't watched in 15 years or more. I could appreciate some of the Simpsons humor and what not, but the ride itself was stomach-churning, especially after a day of those rides. Hannah derived absolutely no joy from it and Maya didn't like it, either. I think the big girls just thought it was strange.
At this point, it was probably getting close to 5 p.m. I was done. Just completely over vacation, $50 meals, having damp jeans, motion rides, Universal, everything. I wanted to be in my own bed back home. My back was also getting really sore after 8 days of carrying camera gear.
I could sense every else was pretty wiped out, too. I suggested going back to the hotel right then, ordering pizza and just chilling out. Everyone was on board with that plan.
Getting back took a little bit. I stopped to do a customer satisfaction survey and pretty much said the whole experience failed to meet my expectations. Universal as an entire park reminded me a lot of Flight of Passage. I can *appreciate* what they're trying to do and the technical work that goes into these attractions, they're just not my cup of tea. Same goes for the family.
Walking back to the hotel felt like it took much longer than walking from the hotel to Universal and I tried to order the pizza on the way, but the Papa John's dude claimed to not know where our resort was despite being half a mile away. So, we had to wait until we got back, confirm the delivery address and then order. But, the pizza really, really hit the spot. I don't care what you all say, sometimes Papa John's is just what the doctor ordered.
Maya threw a lengthy, massive fit at the end of the night. A fitting end to the day. Vacation was over and we were ready to be home.
Final thoughts on Universal: I'm sure for a lot of folks, this is their favorite theme park and enjoy it much better than Disney. Maybe it's the familiarity we have with Disney or maybe it's something else, but we enjoy Disney World so much more. The parks are more immersive, the lands and themes are more cohesive, the upkeep on everything is MUCH better (we saw chipping paint, rust, etc. on attractions and areas) and the employees/cast members are so much better. For me, Universal just doesn't hold a candle to WDW. I did love the Harry Potter stuff, but even that felt like a cash grab since in order to get the full experience with the Hogwarts Express, you had to buy a two-park ticket.
So, I'm glad we checked out Universal to satisfy my curiosity, but I doubt we'll ever be back.
