heywagners
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2014
- Messages
- 336
Universal Studios – Day 1
We arrived EARLY for the 7 am early entry available to on site hotel guests. Walked straight to WWofHP and were absolutely impressed as soon as we walked through the brick wall. After our standard Diagon Alley pics, we went directly to HP and the Escape from Gringotts. It. Was. Amazing. We did child swap, as our youngest (6) was afraid to ride. Our 7 and 11 year olds loved it. The first time through we walked right on, no line. Again, this was the early entry hour. We toured DA after the ride and hit all the big shops, got my 11 year old an interactive wand (side note: the next day, it got chipped on the handle and he was crushed, because he had been so careful with it. He took it back to see if they could fix it and with zero hesitation, the worker said they have “wand makers” who can fix anything. She took it “to the wand maker” and when she came back, it was fixed. Likely a brand new wantd, but so nice to know they will “fix” a broken wand.) So, we did magic spells, went on Gringotts one more time and then hopped the train to Hogsmeade. The train was every bit as awesome as we expected to be. A family behind us happened to record us as we “vanished” into platform 9 ¾. They waited for us on the Hogsmeade side and asked it we wanted the video texted to us. Of course we did! Such a nice bit of magic.
In Hogsmeade, it was just after 9 am and we went to the Forbidden Journey and waited about 10 minutes. Child swap again and then off to Flight of the Hippogriph. Everyone loved this ride, even my “scared of most things” 6 year old. We looked in shops, got some Every Flavor Beans and Chocolate Frog, did more spells, and then had an early lunch (11 am) at The Three Broomsticks. Eating early meant to line and the fish and chips were great. Kids mac and cheese was not so great. Finished up by eating some of our Every Flavor Beans and Chocolate Frog. More spells and looking around and then we hopped the train back to Kings Crossing. The train is different going each direction, so we loved it again going back.
Once we left Kings Crossing, we rode Men in Black (all of us), Simpson ride (all of us), the smaller Simpson ride that is basically the “Dumbo” style, and then headed over and did Woody Woodpecker’s kid coaster and ET (twice – kids really liked this one. Similar to Peter Pan at Disney.) From there, the boys rode Transformers (twice) and then we all went to Minon Mayhem and Shrek.
By this point, it was dinner time so we headed to Hard Rock Café for a dinner that was better (and a bit less expensive) that the disappointing food at Rainforst Café the night before.
Notes:
· WWofHP is immersive and amazing. When you leave to go to the other parts of the park, it almost feels like a let down.
· Express Pass are SO nice to have. Makes staying on site worth it, for sure. Between the Express Pass and early entry, we would stay on site every time.
· Universal has really stepped it up in the past few years. When I was there 4 years ago, it wasn’t nearly as put together and themed and organized. It feels more “magical” than it did then. Seemed cleaner, too. And, the employees were more helpful and polite than I remember. It was much closer to meeting the “Disney” standards that our family is used to.
Universal Studios – Day 2
Arrived at just after 8 am. Went to DA, hopped on Gringotts. Jumped the train to Hogsmeade and the oldest (11) and husband went on Forbidden Journey while the younger 2 (7 and 6) rode Flight of the Hippogriph around 15 times in a row. We did spells, the boys mailed themselves a letter from Owl Post (bring your own stamp, unless you want to buy the pack of 10 HP stamps for $15) and then we ventured out into the rest of Islands of Adventure.
We walked through Jurrassic Park and watched the Raptor take pictures and harass guests. Kids did Pteranadon Flyers and really liked it. We moved past the water rides (not water ride lovers in our family) and everyone (except me) went on Spiderman. Daddy took the 6 year old to Storm Acceleration (teacups) and then we had lunch at Captain America’s diner. Kids loved the mac and cheese bites and we enjoyed the onion rings. Moved on to Seuss Landing and everyone liked every ride there. Didn’t need to do anything twice, but they were fun and happy and made the youngest happy. After Seuss, it was back to Hogsmeade where we caught the train to DA and, you guessed it – rode Gringotts one more time.
Leaving DA, we hit Men in Black, ET, Transformers, and Minion Mayhem before the park closed early at 5 pm for HHN.
We arrived EARLY for the 7 am early entry available to on site hotel guests. Walked straight to WWofHP and were absolutely impressed as soon as we walked through the brick wall. After our standard Diagon Alley pics, we went directly to HP and the Escape from Gringotts. It. Was. Amazing. We did child swap, as our youngest (6) was afraid to ride. Our 7 and 11 year olds loved it. The first time through we walked right on, no line. Again, this was the early entry hour. We toured DA after the ride and hit all the big shops, got my 11 year old an interactive wand (side note: the next day, it got chipped on the handle and he was crushed, because he had been so careful with it. He took it back to see if they could fix it and with zero hesitation, the worker said they have “wand makers” who can fix anything. She took it “to the wand maker” and when she came back, it was fixed. Likely a brand new wantd, but so nice to know they will “fix” a broken wand.) So, we did magic spells, went on Gringotts one more time and then hopped the train to Hogsmeade. The train was every bit as awesome as we expected to be. A family behind us happened to record us as we “vanished” into platform 9 ¾. They waited for us on the Hogsmeade side and asked it we wanted the video texted to us. Of course we did! Such a nice bit of magic.
In Hogsmeade, it was just after 9 am and we went to the Forbidden Journey and waited about 10 minutes. Child swap again and then off to Flight of the Hippogriph. Everyone loved this ride, even my “scared of most things” 6 year old. We looked in shops, got some Every Flavor Beans and Chocolate Frog, did more spells, and then had an early lunch (11 am) at The Three Broomsticks. Eating early meant to line and the fish and chips were great. Kids mac and cheese was not so great. Finished up by eating some of our Every Flavor Beans and Chocolate Frog. More spells and looking around and then we hopped the train back to Kings Crossing. The train is different going each direction, so we loved it again going back.
Once we left Kings Crossing, we rode Men in Black (all of us), Simpson ride (all of us), the smaller Simpson ride that is basically the “Dumbo” style, and then headed over and did Woody Woodpecker’s kid coaster and ET (twice – kids really liked this one. Similar to Peter Pan at Disney.) From there, the boys rode Transformers (twice) and then we all went to Minon Mayhem and Shrek.
By this point, it was dinner time so we headed to Hard Rock Café for a dinner that was better (and a bit less expensive) that the disappointing food at Rainforst Café the night before.
Notes:
· WWofHP is immersive and amazing. When you leave to go to the other parts of the park, it almost feels like a let down.
· Express Pass are SO nice to have. Makes staying on site worth it, for sure. Between the Express Pass and early entry, we would stay on site every time.
· Universal has really stepped it up in the past few years. When I was there 4 years ago, it wasn’t nearly as put together and themed and organized. It feels more “magical” than it did then. Seemed cleaner, too. And, the employees were more helpful and polite than I remember. It was much closer to meeting the “Disney” standards that our family is used to.
Universal Studios – Day 2
Arrived at just after 8 am. Went to DA, hopped on Gringotts. Jumped the train to Hogsmeade and the oldest (11) and husband went on Forbidden Journey while the younger 2 (7 and 6) rode Flight of the Hippogriph around 15 times in a row. We did spells, the boys mailed themselves a letter from Owl Post (bring your own stamp, unless you want to buy the pack of 10 HP stamps for $15) and then we ventured out into the rest of Islands of Adventure.
We walked through Jurrassic Park and watched the Raptor take pictures and harass guests. Kids did Pteranadon Flyers and really liked it. We moved past the water rides (not water ride lovers in our family) and everyone (except me) went on Spiderman. Daddy took the 6 year old to Storm Acceleration (teacups) and then we had lunch at Captain America’s diner. Kids loved the mac and cheese bites and we enjoyed the onion rings. Moved on to Seuss Landing and everyone liked every ride there. Didn’t need to do anything twice, but they were fun and happy and made the youngest happy. After Seuss, it was back to Hogsmeade where we caught the train to DA and, you guessed it – rode Gringotts one more time.
Leaving DA, we hit Men in Black, ET, Transformers, and Minion Mayhem before the park closed early at 5 pm for HHN.
