I Am Back With A Few More Questions....

[KyleAfterAWhile]

I am sorry that I have so many. You guys are the experts and that is what I need instead of Joe Vacationer.

We are excited to ride the Jurassic Park water ride. Somebody at work told me that you cannot wear ponchos on Universal rides and they will "make" you remove it before loading the ride. He was there this summer. He said that he had a clear Walmart poncho on, no writing or anything, and was told he had to remove otherwise he could not ride. I have seen this attraction on YouTube and people are wearing them. I say it is probably not true, but I just want to confirm??

Can we carry our own bottled sodas in our backpacks with us like we have done at Disney? We all like Dr Pepper and that is not available. We are getting it with a grocery delivery from Dizzy Dolphin, so we will have our own in our room. And my wife can only drink a select few sodas (nothing dark, no caffeine) and she hates Sprite. Just hoping we can carry in what we like.

How is cell phone coverage in their parks? We have Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon users in our party.

Is the Butterbeer as big of a deal as it is made out to be or is it the "dole whip of Universal?" I have to admit I am genuinely interested. Butterscotch and Vanilla is what I hear and read. That sounds like fall dessert to me. Serve me that with some pumpkin bread and go away. haha

Serious question here, so please, please do not be offended. I am asking for our party. Most of the group does not watch the Harry Potter movie as we are Christians and it is about witches, wizards, spells, etc. Having said that, most of the group has never been to Universal or Islands and we do not want to miss anything for the sake of "I might be offended". We already know the buying a wand, watching any magic stage show or something like that is not an area of interest, but what about the architecture, buildings, designing, etc? Gringotts looks amazing on YouTube. So here is what we are wondering; can we still enjoy the scenery and ride queues without participating in something that most of the group may find convicting? I am thinking yes, but you are the experts. (no judgement on our part for anybody who does not believe the way our group does) To put this into perspective, we do not ride Haunted Mansion in Disney, but that is pretty much the only attraction that is skipped for that reason.

Is there any quick service (if that is what they call it in Universal) that should not be missed?
Most of our groups is Mexican and Italian, so we are pretty picky about that. Interested if it is good, though. If it is anything like Disney we are not interested.

Does anybody have any recent park maps they would be willing to mail to me? Just one or two of each?

 

[damo]

The poncho thing is baloney. You can certainly use ponchos.

Yes, you can bring your own non-alcoholic drinks. Butterbeer is delicious and it comes in many forms.

The Harry Potter is a tough call. There are on ride videos on youtube that I suggest you watch. That will give you a good idea. Somebody could go through the single ride line and ride the ride and make a judgement call then, too. There is definitely magic.

Check the dining sticky that is near the top of this forum for food information and suggestions.

There are park maps on the www.universalorlando.com website that you can print out.

 

[biochemgirl]

So much information, but I'll try to focus on one small thing. FOOD! It's a great reason to check out the HP sections of the parks. Extreme effort will went into meeting Jr's high standards and there are unique dishes, like butterbeer ice-cream, and classic British ones. Ever heard of Toad in the Hole? We love the fish and chips, shepherd's pie, and fisherman's pie. DS thinks the ribs are top notch. I wish I could get the pumpkin juice in jugs at home.

 

[bumbershoot]

Poncho thing is not true.

Butterbeer is good. Doesn't taste like Fall to me. Frozen, hot, and cold all have different tastes.

Ah the magic question. My stepdad has those beliefs and it's unfortunate because his beliefs keep him from reading it and therefore know what he is avoiding. Funky little catch 22.

Go, and if anyone gets weirded out they can leave the area and go ride men in black or hulk or whatever they choose.

 

[robl45]

I'd say Harry potter rides are probably not going to be for you honestly.
The thing is, its a movie and they are rides. Its fantasy and completely different from reality.
I'm Jewish and I've seen all the witch and the wardrobe movies which are obviously quite counter to my religion but I just go with the fact that its entertainment.

 

[Lothlórien]

I am sorry that I have so many. You guys are the experts and that is what I need instead of Joe Vacationer.

We are excited to ride the Jurassic Park water ride. Somebody at work told me that you cannot wear ponchos on Universal rides and they will "make" you remove it before loading the ride. He was there this summer. He said that he had a clear Walmart poncho on, no writing or anything, and was told he had to remove otherwise he could not ride. I have seen this attraction on YouTube and people are wearing them. I say it is probably not true, but I just want to confirm??

Can we carry our own bottled sodas in our backpacks with us like we have done at Disney? We all like Dr Pepper and that is not available. We are getting it with a grocery delivery from Dizzy Dolphin, so we will have our own in our room. And my wife can only drink a select few sodas (nothing dark, no caffeine) and she hates Sprite. Just hoping we can carry in what we like.

How is cell phone coverage in their parks? We have Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon users in our party.

Is the Butterbeer as big of a deal as it is made out to be or is it the "dole whip of Universal?" I have to admit I am genuinely interested. Butterscotch and Vanilla is what I hear and read. That sounds like fall dessert to me. Serve me that with some pumpkin bread and go away. haha

Serious question here, so please, please do not be offended. I am asking for our party. Most of the group does not watch the Harry Potter movie as we are Christians and it is about witches, wizards, spells, etc. Having said that, most of the group has never been to Universal or Islands and we do not want to miss anything for the sake of "I might be offended". We already know the buying a wand, watching any magic stage show or something like that is not an area of interest, but what about the architecture, buildings, designing, etc? Gringotts looks amazing on YouTube. So here is what we are wondering; can we still enjoy the scenery and ride queues without participating in something that most of the group may find convicting? I am thinking yes, but you are the experts. (no judgement on our part for anybody who does not believe the way our group does) To put this into perspective, we do not ride Haunted Mansion in Disney, but that is pretty much the only attraction that is skipped for that reason.

Is there any quick service (if that is what they call it in Universal) that should not be missed?
Most of our groups is Mexican and Italian, so we are pretty picky about that. Interested if it is good, though. If it is anything like Disney we are not interested.

Does anybody have any recent park maps they would be willing to mail to me? Just one or two of each?

Park maps are available online.
You can most certainly wear ponchos.
You can carry your own bottled drinks and per-packaged snacks in.
Cell phone coverage is spotty, but it works like it does in Disney.
Also a Christian and have convictions about HP, vampires, halloween, etc. You can very easily avoid the actual attractions and yet still walk around and enjoy the scenery. If you do not like something or feel convicted, walk the other direction and out of the area. There will be plenty to do while you wait on others.

 

[imprint]

Here's the outside food and drink policy:

Outside Food And Drinks

We offer a variety of food options at restaurants and concession stands throughout our resort. However, we understand that guests may need to bring outside food and drinks. Please note the following guidelines:

Acceptable Items

• Bottled Water (maximum 2 liters)
• Small snacks that do not require heating
• Any food required for medical purposes and medically-indicated nutritional supplements
• Any food required for special dietary needs
• Baby food/baby formula
• Soft-sided insulated bags no larger than 8.5" wide x 6" high x 6" deep

Prohibited Items

• Glass containers
• Open containers
• Hard-sided coolers
• Soft-sided coolers larger than 8.5" wide x 6" high x 6" deep
• Picnic lunches
• Food that requires heating or refrigeration
• Folding chairs

 

[cschaaf]

I'm a poncho wearer on JP. Never had an issue. I can't imagine why anyone would be told they can't wear one on the ride. It's a fun ride and it sounds like your crew will love it.

I don't share your same beliefs (no judgement), so it's hard for me to make a suggestion. I'm not a HP fan, either. But the areas are beautifully themed. The architecture is very interesting and the rides are fun, but there is fantasy magic all over the place.

Many of the buildings have window displays that work with the wands, Forbidden Journey and Gringotts are both screen-based rides and the movies depict magic. Even in the bathrooms, you'll hear something magic related.

I don't think you have to 'believe' in the magic elements to enjoy the area. I don't like the HP movies because I don't like fantasy stuff in general; it's just not something I enjoy. But I still love the HP areas and rides.

I'm not really sure where your line is, but it seems like a lot of Disney movies and rides have an element of magic - most isn't performed by witches and wizards, though.

One other thing to consider, the HP area in IOA is on the main path through the park. It's likely you'll either have to walk through that area or you'll have to reverse course and walk the long way back around. Smart planning can help you avoid a bunch of backtracking, thought.

Over the Universal park, the HP area is not on the main path; it's well hidden and you still hear stories of people that wanted to go to that area and never found it

I like @damo 's idea - check out the on-ride videos on YouTube. Also look for some general walkthroughs of the two HP areas. You'll be able to make a better decision for your family and, if you are offended by anything, at least you can quickly close the video. I'd hate for you to get there and ruin a day because someone was offended by something in the HP section - better to get offended at home and not be miserable for a park day.

We've had pretty good Verizon coverage in the parks when out in the open. When you get into the buildings, it's spotty. There is also WiFi that works pretty well, but again, some queues had little to no coverage. Pretty much the same we experience at Disney.

 

[nighttowll]

1. You can wear ponchos on all the Universal water rides. How much they actually help is up for debate. I've worn one on the bilge rats and still gotten completely soaked as the water comes from all directions including below. It went right up under the poncho and soaked my pants thoroughly.

2. Yes, you can carry snacks and drinks. You should be ok as long as you aren't packing an entire picnic.

3. We've always had great cell coverage with Verizon.

4. Butterbeer reminds me of a cross between cream soda and root beer with butterscotch flavoring. I'm not a big fan of soda, but I do enjoy it, especially the frozen kind. It's a bit on the sickly sweet side, though, so a little bit goes a long way for me. Personally, the fact that it is from HP is what makes it so great. I don't think I'd really care about it as much if it wasn't. It could definitely fall in the overhyped dole whip category if you aren't a HP fan or soda fan.

5. I'm a Christian as well. Personally, I have no problem with HP and am a big fan, but living in the Bible Belt I'm use to being around people who are very anti HP. I think it will be very difficult to walk around the HP sections and not have magic thrown in your face to a level that might be uncomfortable. The TMs will be in character dressed as witches and wizards, as well as many guests. There are spell spots scattered all over where guests can use their wands to perform magic. For instance, a guest can wave their wand in a specific pattern at a specific spot and make it rain, as in a real 3D water effect. These spell spots always have lines and are always going off. There are also other magical effects spread around the area. In addition, the HP shows take place out in the open where you would see them just walking by. There isn't any chanting or anything ritualistic, scary, or dark, but lots of light hearted fun special effects. Only you will be able to tell if having people doing those kinds of spells around you will be uncomfortable. If you decide not to visit, it is simple to not enter the HP area at US, and at IOA there is a bridge you can take that goes from Lost Continent to JP and bypasses the HP section.

6. Honestly, my favorite quick service is Three Broomsticks in HP and not just for the atmosphere. I actually really love the food. The feast is a great deal. We also enjoy Mythos for the atmosphere, but that is table service.

 

[bchbetha]

Warm butter beer is the best. Be sure and try a variety.

 

[damo]

I'm trying to figure out the poncho thing. The only thing that there is a rule about is that everyone needs to wear a shirt. Perhaps this friend of yours had a poncho on and no shirt underneath and was told he had to put a shirt on or he couldn't ride? Maybe he was told, "You can't JUST wear a poncho?"

 

[StrawberryChan]

just got back from a rainy day trip yesterday. when i went on hulk the attendants were telling people not to wear ponchos, so i guess that's probably a new policy. i know for certain that ponchos are fine for jurassic park and other water rides, so maybe they just don't want them flying off on coasters?

 

[Chuckers]

You can walk around the Harry Potter areas, but skip the rides. However, you will probably run into kids using their wands to 'make magic' in the street areas as there are 'spells' they can cast that will do things in shop windows and places. I don't know about the Gringott's queue, but I do know that the Forbidden Journey queue does have magic involved. I would be very hesitant to go in any of the shoppes in the area as most will have references to magic, wizards, and witches.

 

[Metro West]

just got back from a rainy day trip yesterday. when i went on hulk the attendants were telling people not to wear ponchos, so i guess that's probably a new policy. i know for certain that ponchos are fine for jurassic park and other water rides, so maybe they just don't want them flying off on coasters?

That's such a strange policy...I can't imagine why they would not allow ponchos. I mean...I think it's kind of silly to where a poncho on a water ride but on a coaster? Doesn't make sense. It makes you wonder who sits around and thinks up these policies.

 

[gotomu212]

On some rides a poncho could be dangerous because it could trail outside the ride and get caught (saw this happen at Disney on Pirates of the Caribbean and woman was slightly injured and ride was shut down). Definitely wore them on Jurassic Park and Blutos Barge though.

 

[cschaaf]

Seems like a bad idea to wear a poncho on a coaster. I wear ponchos on water rides more often than not. I like the rides, but hate getting wet. If nothing else, I try to cover my backpack and shoes. Otherwise, we try to plan the water rides right before an afternoon break so if doesn't matter if we get soaked - we won't be walking around with squishy shoes for the rest of the day.

I'm wondering if the OP would also want to skip the Kong main queue?

 

[Lothlórien]

I am sorry that I have so many. You guys are the experts and that is what I need instead of Joe Vacationer.

We are excited to ride the Jurassic Park water ride. Somebody at work told me that you cannot wear ponchos on Universal rides and they will "make" you remove it before loading the ride. He was there this summer. He said that he had a clear Walmart poncho on, no writing or anything, and was told he had to remove otherwise he could not ride. I have seen this attraction on YouTube and people are wearing them. I say it is probably not true, but I just want to confirm??

Can we carry our own bottled sodas in our backpacks with us like we have done at Disney? We all like Dr Pepper and that is not available. We are getting it with a grocery delivery from Dizzy Dolphin, so we will have our own in our room. And my wife can only drink a select few sodas (nothing dark, no caffeine) and she hates Sprite. Just hoping we can carry in what we like.

How is cell phone coverage in their parks? We have Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon users in our party.

Is the Butterbeer as big of a deal as it is made out to be or is it the "dole whip of Universal?" I have to admit I am genuinely interested. Butterscotch and Vanilla is what I hear and read. That sounds like fall dessert to me. Serve me that with some pumpkin bread and go away. haha

Serious question here, so please, please do not be offended. I am asking for our party. Most of the group does not watch the Harry Potter movie as we are Christians and it is about witches, wizards, spells, etc. Having said that, most of the group has never been to Universal or Islands and we do not want to miss anything for the sake of "I might be offended". We already know the buying a wand, watching any magic stage show or something like that is not an area of interest, but what about the architecture, buildings, designing, etc? Gringotts looks amazing on YouTube. So here is what we are wondering; can we still enjoy the scenery and ride queues without participating in something that most of the group may find convicting? I am thinking yes, but you are the experts. (no judgement on our part for anybody who does not believe the way our group does) To put this into perspective, we do not ride Haunted Mansion in Disney, but that is pretty much the only attraction that is skipped for that reason.

Is there any quick service (if that is what they call it in Universal) that should not be missed?
Most of our groups is Mexican and Italian, so we are pretty picky about that. Interested if it is good, though. If it is anything like Disney we are not interested.

Does anybody have any recent park maps they would be willing to mail to me? Just one or two of each?

You can wear ponchos on Jurassic Park River Adventure. We did it with no issues.

You can carry your own drinks in. We did that and had zero issues.

Cell phone coverage is better in Universal than in Disney. We have Sprint.

I hate to say, but the Butterbeer is not that big of a deal. The frozen is better than the cold or hot, but still, not that big of a deal. The foam is the best part.

About convictions and being Christians, I replied to you about that on another post you had...at least I think it was you. I am a Christian and I do not watch the movies. I rode Gringotts and Hippogriff. Gringotts was a little "darker" than I thought it would be, but it was fun. The areas are nice to walk through, but if you do not know the movies, it will all be foreign to you. It was to us. I skipped the Mummy ride because of the whole "undead" thing. The queue for Kong was quite uncomfortable for us. I think you could walk through the HP areas and be okay with your surroundings. The good thing is, the areas are not that large. People call it a "Harry Potter Park", but they are just areas. If you do not like what you see, you can just go the other way.

 

[KyleAfterAWhile]

You can wear ponchos on Jurassic Park River Adventure. We did it with no issues.

You can carry your own drinks in. We did that and had zero issues.

Cell phone coverage is better in Universal than in Disney. We have Sprint.

I hate to say, but the Butterbeer is not that big of a deal. The frozen is better than the cold or hot, but still, not that big of a deal. The foam is the best part.

About convictions and being Christians, I replied to you about that on another post you had...at least I think it was you. I am a Christian and I do not watch the movies. I rode Gringotts and Hippogriff. Gringotts was a little "darker" than I thought it would be, but it was fun. The areas are nice to walk through, but if you do not know the movies, it will all be foreign to you. It was to us. I skipped the Mummy ride because of the whole "undead" thing. The queue for Kong was quite uncomfortable for us. I think you could walk through the HP areas and be okay with your surroundings. The good thing is, the areas are not that large. People call it a "Harry Potter Park", but they are just areas. If you do not like what you see, you can just go the other way.

We already went. I agree on all points. Especially the butterbeer. Way overhyped.

 

[Dream Finder]

I will chime in with this about HP food and drinks. ButterBeer is not for everyone. While I and my family adore it in all temperatures (hot is my absolute favorite), there are some other items for sale in both areas which you may not be familiar with (not having read the books or watched the movies). If you like spiced cider, they sell "pumpkin juice". It's served cold and I can't taste the pumpkin (others can) - to me it's cold wassail. There are several other non-alcoholic drinks as well (fishy green ale, fizzy orange) that are also really good. Hopefully you and your party can simply go to see the amazing detail in the area.

 

[Jeremy Nolen]

You can wear ponchos on the water rides (Jurassic Park, Rip-Saw Falls, and Bilge Rat Barges.) I did on all three this last weekend. Note that the poncho (even a good one) won't save you on the Barges if you are on the wrong (right?) part for some of the big drops though. It will keep your torso mostly dry.

You can bring outside food/drink into the parks subject to various restrictions (no glass, no alcohol, no hard sided coolers, etc.)

Cell phone coverage via Verizon was fine. Some of the indoor queues, I would lose service, but otherwise no issues

Butterbeer is (in my humble opinion) gross. It's way, way, way, way too sweet and I don't care for butterscotch as a flavor anyway. I would have tried the ice cream but didn't manage to be hungry while in Diagon Alley. I certainly wouldn't compare it with Dole Whip, which is the most delicious dessert imaginable.

The Wizarding World is (perhaps unsurprisingly?) chock full of magic and references to magic, fantasy creatures, etc. If that's a problem for you I would just stay away from it entirely. As others have pointed out, that's easy to do @ USF (Diagon Alley can't even be seen from the rest of the park) but you pretty much have to walk through Hogsmeade @ IOA, unless you want to backtrack once you reach Jurassic Park to circle back around to the Lost Continent. Depending on how sensitive your group is to that kind of stuff, you might also avoid the Mummy ride and the attractions in the Lost Continent, all of which deal with dark magic, pagan gods, etc.

Dining in the parks is pretty meh. The only quick service restaurants that are well designed 'experiences' are the two Harry Potter ones. We enjoyed Mythos a lot, but it's table-service (on the plus side, you can make reservations!)