I-fer? What in the World is an I-fer? Universal/Legoland/Sea World Feb 2015 Updated 5/26x3! The End!

[missangelalexis]

Great pictures of the queue! As awesome as walk-ons are, it is nice to have somewhat of a wait to appreciate what's around you! Love Jim photobombing

 

[livingthedream]

Yay! More installments! I wish more people wrote TRs for Universal. I really appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences, and to upload all your fantastic photos. You have some really great ones there, and also some really unique ones. As a PP said, you've included a couple from Gringotts that I have never seen before....adds to the excitement of our upcoming trip!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Once again, fantastic photos! Although I don't want to wait in a gigantic line, I do want at least one opportunity to take decent photographs of the queue. It looks like there is a lot to see! (I especially love your photo of the stack of Daily Prophets!)

Would you recommend going to IOA if it's the early entry park and riding over to US on the Hogwarts Express to beat the crowd? I have no clue what the early entry hours will be for May (and it sounds like they change their minds often even if they do post them in advance), but I'm trying to determine the best way to get to Diagon Alley. I'm fine with skipping the early entry and just waiting in line at US, but if riding the train is an advantage we'll be happy to do it!

 

[Chicago Mo]

i really want to go here... BADLY
like you that dragon is fantastic. did you see the fire from it? i am LOVING this report...

 

[KatMark]

Thanks, Ariana. I enjoy looking at the pictures despite no interest in going to Universal or in Harry Potter. And you did take some marvelous shots. I'm continuing to read along.

 

[Kirby]

Do you happen to know how far you can go through the queue before you get to the exit option? I can't ride the ride due to vertigo issues but would love to walk through the queue.

 

[Pluto0809]

Great pictures of the queue! As awesome as walk-ons are, it is nice to have somewhat of a wait to appreciate what's around you! Love Jim photobombing

It was very nice to take some time to see the queue. Universal really did it right! Jim can be a bit of a nut sometimes.

Yay! More installments! I wish more people wrote TRs for Universal. I really appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences, and to upload all your fantastic photos. You have some really great ones there, and also some really unique ones. As a PP said, you've included a couple from Gringotts that I have never seen before....adds to the excitement of our upcoming trip!

You are welcome! I'm definitely not the best writer out there but I enjoy doing it. I try to get photos of everything but there was so much in the new section it was hard!

Once again, fantastic photos! Although I don't want to wait in a gigantic line, I do want at least one opportunity to take decent photographs of the queue. It looks like there is a lot to see! (I especially love your photo of the stack of Daily Prophets!)

Thanks! I enjoy sharing the photos. I don't think this one will ever have as long of a queue as the Forbidden Journey. It has a much bigger capacity than FJ.

Would you recommend going to IOA if it's the early entry park and riding over to US on the Hogwarts Express to beat the crowd? I have no clue what the early entry hours will be for May (and it sounds like they change their minds often even if they do post them in advance), but I'm trying to determine the best way to get to Diagon Alley. I'm fine with skipping the early entry and just waiting in line at US, but if riding the train is an advantage we'll be happy to do it!

Absolutely, it was definitely an advantage. We were loaded onto the Hogwarts Express at 8:45 am. The trip over to Diagon Alley takes less than five minutes so we beat the crowds coming from the front. Diagon Alley is all the way in the back of US so it's a bit of a walk from the gates. We had plenty of time to ride the Forbidden Journey in the Hogsmeade section and still catch the first train over to Diagon Alley.

i really want to go here... BADLY
like you that dragon is fantastic. did you see the fire from it? i am LOVING this report...

Yep, saw fire from the dragon multiple times. Thanks to other TRs on here, I knew that he roars first then breaths fire so I knew when to watch. My goal was to get an awesome photo of him breathing fire but you will just have to wait to see if I accomplished that. Yep, I'm mean.

Thanks, Ariana. I enjoy looking at the pictures despite no interest in going to Universal or in Harry Potter. And you did take some marvelous shots. I'm continuing to read along.

Thanks Kathy I do really appreciate you following along!

Do you happen to know how far you can go through the queue before you get to the exit option? I can't ride the ride due to vertigo issues but would love to walk through the queue.

I'm almost certain you can go all the way to the loading dock then ask for the chicken exit. When we were there in 2012, we were in line with a mother and her young daughter (probably about 10 or so but I'm a horrible judge of age). Mom didn't want to ride so we "adopted" the little girl and took her on the ride with us. Mom was able to walk all the way to the loading area with us, then she went through a door and met us at the exit. I would just ask for certain when before you get in line.

 

[Pluto0809]

Back to Hogsmeade One More Time

I wanted to ride the Hogwarts Express the other direction because the scenes out the window are different each way. Since I figured the line would get long after a while, we turned around and headed right back out of Diagon Alley to King’s Cross Station. We would come back to Diagon Alley later that afternoon to explore the rest of the area.





Jim liked this next poster a little too much.







There was supposed to be a place where it looked like you were walking through the wall to get on the platform. We never saw it though so I don’t think it was working on this day.





We walked all the way to the train platform before running into any kind of line.





Jim was enjoying the train ride (maybe?).



Looking out the window at the London streets.



I was a little annoyed with the two boys by the window because they talked the entire time and we couldn’t hear everything that was going on.



At one point, Harry, Ron and Hermione were outside our door having a conversation.





Overall they did a great job with the train. The ride only lasts a few minutes but is very entertaining to someone who loves the books. When we disembarked, I couldn’t help but take some more photos of the Hogwart's Express.





The even have one of the horseless carts outside the station.



We went in and out of the shops in Hogsmeade but didn’t buy anything at that time. There was a Zonko’s Joke shop when we were there in 2012 but they removed it when they added Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes in Diagon Alley. The candy store Honeydukes was expanded and took over the space that used to be Zonkos.









And that was all the photos I took in Hogsmeade. I took a ton of photos in 2012 plus I made a video of the whole area so I didn’t feel the need to take tons this time. Here’s the video if you would like to see it.

We did go in and out of the other stores in that area but they are really small and were getting crowded. So we headed out to see the rest of IOA. Oh, we did make a brief stop in the restrooms in Hogsmeade so we could hear Moaning Myrtle cry. (For those of you that haven’t read the books or seen the movies, Myrtle is a ghost who haunts one of the girls bathrooms at Hogwarts.) Yep, she moans and cries while you try to ignore her and use the restroom.

Up Next: Touring the Rest of IOA

 

[Chicago Mo]

Fantastic job on the video!!!! so close to the books/more the movies- The snow on the roof tops are not inviting! Love all the noises the shops make!!!
My kids haven't read the books yet. Like you i read everyone of them and i am a HP fan. I MUST GET HERE I MUST BRING MY CAMERA! oh the possibilities!

 

[missangelalexis]

It's cool that the train ride is different both ways! Great pictures, the candy store looks awesome!

 

[KatMark]

I did not know they had different scenes on the reverse train ride.

I like the pictures of the candy shop...but you've made me hungry.

 

[DPCummerbund]

Great trip report and photos!

I'm sorry that kids were talking during your trip on the Hogwarts Express. I've never heard anyone else having that problem, but I have a feeling it happens all the time. People just don't know when to stop talking and have some respect for the people around them.

 

[rteetz]

The hogwarts express looks great. Those talking kiddos just mean you have to go back in the future to try it again lol.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

I didn't realize that Hogsmeade lost Zonkos with the expansion! Although I certainly understand why they didn't want two joke shops, it's a bit of a bummer. (Especially since the "real" Hogsmeade has a Zonkos!).

 

[goofballs]

I didn't realise that Zonkos was eliminated.
Do you know if Weasley's carries some of the same prankster type merchandise?
My daughter has been saving for an inflatable tongue.

 

[ryntur12]

I love your trip reports and I'm so happy you're doing a universal one!

Btw, the wall to enter platform 9 3/4 is in the picture above where you said it may not have been working.

You can see someones arm as they are about to go into the wall. You can only see it through that mirror right there. It just looks like a normal hallway as you actually go through it.

 

[livingthedream]

Its been a long week, and more of your fabulous photos have brightened the end of the work week for me! Looks like a million more little details in Kings Crossing that make it feel so "immersive" - like everyone says! I can't wait to get there!

 

[Pluto0809]

Fantastic job on the video!!!! so close to the books/more the movies- The snow on the roof tops are not inviting! Love all the noises the shops make!!!
My kids haven't read the books yet. Like you i read everyone of them and i am a HP fan. I MUST GET HERE I MUST BRING MY CAMERA! oh the possibilities!

Yes, you definitely need to hit up Universal someday. Wait till you see the photos from the cartoon area that I'll be posting next. Huge amounts of photo ops there!

It's cool that the train ride is different both ways! Great pictures, the candy store looks awesome!

It was really neat that they made each was a little different! The candy store was pretty neat, I'm shocked we made it out of there without buying anything.

I did not know they had different scenes on the reverse train ride.

I like the pictures of the candy shop...but you've made me hungry.

I didn't know that either but luckily I read about it here on the DIS so I was prepared. Reading TRs when hungry can be a little hazardous cause you never know when food pictures will pop up!

Great trip report and photos!

I'm sorry that kids were talking during your trip on the Hogwarts Express. I've never heard anyone else having that problem, but I have a feeling it happens all the time. People just don't know when to stop talking and have some respect for the people around them.

Thanks! I was pretty annoyed with them! I probably should have said something but that's just not really in my nature.

The hogwarts express looks great. Those talking kiddos just mean you have to go back in the future to try it again lol.

Yep, there's always a reason for a return trip!

I didn't realize that Hogsmeade lost Zonkos with the expansion! Although I certainly understand why they didn't want two joke shops, it's a bit of a bummer. (Especially since the "real" Hogsmeade has a Zonkos!).

Yeah, Zonkos is gone. I do believe the windows were still there but when you enter the store it's all Honeydukes now.

I didn't realise that Zonkos was eliminated.
Do you know if Weasley's carries some of the same prankster type merchandise?
My daughter has been saving for an inflatable tongue.

They did have a lot of the same stuff that I remembered from Zonko's in 2012. I really don't remember the inflatable tongue but I took a lot of photos of the merchandise in Weasley's when we went back that afternoon. Maybe when I get to that post, you'll be able to see the item she is wanting.

I love your trip reports and I'm so happy you're doing a universal one!

Btw, the wall to enter platform 9 3/4 is in the picture above where you said it may not have been working.

You can see someones arm as they are about to go into the wall. You can only see it through that mirror right there. It just looks like a normal hallway as you actually go through it.

Thanks! Glad you are here. OK, now I see where it was supposed to be. I think we were walking so fast through the queue that I completely missed it.

Its been a long week, and more of your fabulous photos have brightened the end of the work week for me! Looks like a million more little details in Kings Crossing that make it feel so "immersive" - like everyone says! I can't wait to get there!

Glad I was able to brighten your day! It really is an cool area with a ton of details.

 

[Pluto0809]

Touring the Rest of IOA

After we left Hogsmeade, Jurassic Park was first area we encountered.





There’s only two rides in the Jurassic Park area. The first one is a water ride.







It was a bit too cold for that one on the day we were there. The second ride is for kids and you can’t even ride it unless you have a kid under a certain height with you. They also have a Dinosaur Discovery Center but we skipped over that too. We explored it pretty thoroughly in 2012 and it’s mostly for kids.

We moved onto Toon Lagoon. Once again there are only two rides, both of them water rides and one was closed for refurbishment. But the area is very well done and we went into most of the stores to look around. Still didn’t buy anything.











Minion merchandise dominated a lot of the stores.





Next up was Marvel Super Hero Island.





We finally used our Express Pass and got in line for the Spiderman Ride. Well there really was no line for us, we walked straight to the front pausing only so I could take a few pictures.













I really don’t know anything about Spiderman but the ride is very well done and we enjoyed it.



Then it was time for me to brave the Hulk Coaster. Jim won’t get near this one.



I loved this coaster in 2012, especially that first hill. You ascend through the tunnel slowly but then halfway up it speeds up and shoots you straight out into an inversion. I must be getting old though because I really did not like it as much this time. It seemed much rougher than when I rode it the last time and I came off with a bit of a headache.

We explored a few more stores after that and Jim really wanted me to buy some of these Captain America accessories. I politely declined.







At this point, we had seen all of IOA. I asked Jim if there was anything in Suess Landing or The Lost Continent that he wanted to do and he said no. Suess Landing has four rides but they are mostly for kids. The Lost Continent has a walk through show that we both hated in 2012. There is also a stunt show which we thought was cheesy.

It was getting close to lunch time and there was something back at Universal Studios that Jim really wanted for lunch. So we said goodbye to IOA and headed out the front gate and back over to US.

Up Next: Welcome to Springfield

 

[Chicago Mo]

YES! I love the pictures of all the cartoons!!! GAH! i remember reading Kathy ALL. THE. TIME!
So the minions are like the frozen craze?? minions are really cool..

You have not had one character meet YET!!! PLEASE tell me you did the transformers ride... i just want to meet them at the end..