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| Breaking of Dawn: yes, we were this early at Universal Studios Orlando |
After an intense and packed 3 days at Disney World, of
course we had to drag ourselves out of bed at 530am to get to Universal’s parks’
Early Park Admission (available to Universal resort guests and Universal
vacation package) at 7am. By this time, we already moved to a Universal Partner
Hotel, Double Tree, which definitely had less frills (and less fun) than the
Disney resorts. We managed to get a shuttle to the park and the Will Call Kiosk
made it simple enough for us to get our tickets.
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| Universal Studios Florida |
I had thought only the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was
open at 7am, but as we walked through Universal Studios, we saw that the
Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem was open, too! So, we went here first, knowing
that we might no longer get a chance later on. I knew that the wait times reach
almost 2 hours for this! It was a great 4D ride where they even have special
non-motion chairs (which Grandma used) if you just wanted to watch the movie.
We all loved this and can now understand why this was popular (not only because
the latest movie was also showing at the time).
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| Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem at Universal Studios Florida |
Universal’s equivalent of a Fast Pass is the Express Unlimited
but they charge approximately an extra $60 per ticket. Unlike the Fast Pass
though, you are not limited to only 3 selections at a time. You can have
unlimited rides! This totally would have made sense if you only had one day for
both Universal parks.
However, as we were a party of 5, getting this would have
been a little too much to spend for one day. So again, as we were packing too
much in one day and we did not have the Express passes, we had to accept we
could not go on every ride. Well, except all the Harry Potter rides, of course!
That was a must!
Hubby had wanted to reserve the Universal parks for another
time but I insisted we go. Of course (and as always, if I may add :Phahaha), he
conceded that this was a great decision. Universal Studios and Universal’s
Islands of Adventure matches, if not tops, Magic Kingdom. We totally LOVED the
Wizarding World of Harry Potter!
We made our way to Diagon Alley right after the Despicable
Me ride. Before pausing for photos, even while my hands were itching to capture
the beautifully detailed scene, we went straight to the Escape from Gringott’s
ride. For me this was the Best.Ride.Ever. Apart from being in and out of there
in under 10minutes, this 4D ride tops everything for me. It really felt as
though we were in the set of the Sorcerer’s stone, going via wagon through the vaults of Gringott’s. The fire-breathing dragon was not a mere 3D
movie. The appearance of Voldermort, while not true to the scene, really got us
captivated.
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| Interacting with one of the Gringott's goblins |
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| Outside the Daily Prophet |
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| King's Cross Station |
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| Dementors outside our Hogwarts Express train cabin |
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| Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross: Wizarding World of Harry Potter |
We proceeded to discover the Islands of Adventure before planning
to hop back on the Hogwart’s Express to explore the rest of Diagon Alley and
Universal Studios in the afternoon.
In the late afternoon, we were back at Diagon Alley. We checked out the Knight Bus and had a quick chat with the conductor and talking head.
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| Knight Bus at Wizarding World of Harry Potter |
We were
still full from a late breakfast followed soon enough by lunch so we skipped the
Leaky Cauldron (featuring British pub fare) and Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream
shop. We checked out Ollivanders where you can purchase a wand (although wands
were available in many carts outside the streets and in other stores). These
wands could activate “spells” around the area and it comes with a map showing
where you can use these. It can light up places, make things move and even make
it rain!
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| Interact using your wand at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and make the chandeliers light up! |
As we did not get wands anymore (the girls already had their elder wands
left back home), we just watched folks interact with the various objects. Such
fun! We also checked out the Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes with its whimsical items.
True to the movie and book, it had Dolores Umbridge cycling across the store.
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| Weasley's Wizard Wheezes |
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| Inside Weasley's Wizard Wheezes |
We saw owls and other (stuffed) creatures at the Magical Menagerie and some
sinister articles at Borgin and Burkes. The girls tried on some robes at Madam
Malkin’s and looked at some quidditch gear at Quality Quidditch supplies—complete
with brooms, Quaffles, the Golden Snitch and Bludger bats! It was so much fun
looking around, it was like actually being in Harry Potter’s world!
We left the Wizarding World, already wanting to return next
time! We no longer went to the Simpson’s ride, but you should try getting in if
you have the chance. Instead, we got a Giant Pink donut at Lard Lad’s in
Springfield. We shared this huge donut outside Moe’s and across Duff’s. Again,
the detail of Springfield was so awesome, it was really like being in Homer’s
world!
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| Giant Pink at Lard's Lad |
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| Duff Beer at Springfield--Universal Studios Florida |
The kids were not too interested in Woody Woodpecker so we
went straight across to Production Central to check out the Transformers ride.
We skipped the Terminator 2:3D ride. I
think the Transformers ride was better over Spiderman as I really felt like I was
an Autobot trainee! It was like I was actually in the car which transformed
into a robot! The Spiderman ride at Islands of Adventure (IOA) was a bit disjointed.
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| Transformers Ride |
Our last ride was the Shrek 4D which had an
incorrect wait time estimate. They were showing 25 minutes when it went way
over 50. We should have skipped this. While the story was fun and the 4D was
good, it also felt disjointed. Not quite sure whether we were supposed to be on
the road with them or hovering above. We had no character in the movie. We should have
gone to the Revenge of the Mummy instead.
We had been in the park for over 12 hours by this time so it
was time to call it a day. We were also trying to catch the last shuttle back
as we will not be able to manage a walk back to the hotel.
Our trip was about to come to an end and, to be honest, we
were “theme-
parked” out. We grabbed some Panda Express (love Shrimp Honey
Walnut) and headed back to our room. I cannot conjure any memory (other than my
first trip to Disneyland) which can compare to the magic I felt at Universal
and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Super totally worth it and would not
have missed it for the world! Accio fun!
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