Instead of giving you a play-by-play of my day at Universal
Studios and Islands of Adventure, I’m just going to touch on the highlights and
give some of my overall general thoughts.
I’ve been to the Universal Orlando Resort a few times in the past, so this
one day trip was focused on seeing all of the attractions that had been added
or upgraded since my last visit in 2009.
Crowds
Given that we were visiting on a Tuesday in early February, I was expecting
the crowd levels to be very low. Even
though wait times were manageable, the crowds were generally much heavier than
what I had anticipated. I knew the
American crowds would be down since it was the middle of the work week, schools
were in session, and there were not any holidays coming up. What I did not expect was the large number of
international travelers and tour groups.
This was great to see for Universal’s bottom line, but it was a bummer
for someone like me looking for walk-ons to everything. Luckily, the longer than expected wait times
did not prevent us from experiencing all of the attractions that we wanted to
see.
Harry Potter
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Hogsmeade was still under construction
during my last visit back in 2009. As a
fan of both Harry Potter and theme parks, to see the Hogwarts castle in all its
glory and not be able to experience it was truly heartbreaking. Fast forward six years later and I finally
had the chance to see not only Hogsmeade, but Diagon Alley and the Hogwarts
Express as well. Let me tell you, they
did not disappoint. I was blown away by
the level detail in everything from the shop windows, to the restaurants, and
of course the headliner attractions.
The Forbidden Journey, the Hogwarts Express, and Escape from
Gringotts were unbelievable. Technological
advances and a mix of screens and physical effects truly set these attractions
apart from your run of the mill theme park rides. The queues could easily be considered
attractions in their own right. Even the
second tier attractions and experiences like the Flight of the Hippogriff,
Dragon Challenge, and Ollivander’s are highly themed.
As for the rest of the Wizarding World, there is so much to
see and do that I could easily spend an entire day in just Hogsmeade and Diagon
Alley and never be bored. From the
unique shops, the stage performances, the restaurants, and the other
attractions, there’s enough to experience that everyone will have a great time
even if they aren’t interested in theme parks or Harry Potter.
Other New to Me
Attractions
Since my last visit, Transformers, Despicable Me Minion Mayhem, and
Springfield had been added to the parks, along with an updated Amazing
Adventures of Spiderman. All of these
seemed like positive additions to the landscapes of the parks. Transformers was good even though the
storyline was difficult to follow.
Springfield was a big upgrade to the concrete jungle that was there
before. Despicable Me was so popular
that we decided to skip it in order to see our other higher priority
attractions. The Spiderman upgrades only
enhanced this world class attraction.
All in all I was very impressed with the additions that Universal has
installed, and it’s great to see that they’re not slowing down anytime soon
(I’m looking at you, Kong).
Other Attractions
After experiencing all of the new attractions that we wanted to, we had
some extra time to take a spin on some of our other favorite attractions. Revenge of the Mummy, E.T. Adventure, and Men
in Black: Alien Attack, were just as great as I was remembered. It’s good to see them hold up over time, and
it’s reassuring to see that Universal isn’t letting expansions overshadow the
maintenance of their current attractions.
Food and Beverage
All of my food and beverage purchases occurred in the Wizarding World, and
I was more than willing to shell out my galleons for the specialty items. For lunch, my family had the Great Feast in
the Three Broomsticks and it definitely lived up to its name. The food itself was good, the ambiance was
fantastic, and we were all stuffed. We
were so stuffed in fact, that we didn’t eat dinner that night.
The food was good, but the beverages were the real stars. I either ordered or tasted the
following drinks: Hot Butterbeer, Frozen
Butterbeer, Pumpkin Juice, Pumpkin Fizz, Pear Cider, Otter’s Fizzy Orange
Drink, Fishy Green Ale, and Gilly Water.
The standouts for me were the Frozen Butterbeer and Otter’s Fizzy Orange
Drink. Although I enjoyed everything I
tried, other members of my family did not care for the strong pumpkin spice
flavor of the Pumpkin Juice and Pumpkin Fizz.
The only other food or beverage that we tried was ice cream from Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour in Diagon Alley. Chocolate Chili, Butterbeer, Sticky Toffee
Pudding, and Salted Caramel Blondie were among the flavors we tried, and they
were all very, very good. The Butterbeer
soft serve was slightly disappointing only because I loved the beverage
equivalents so much, but I would still order it again. Chocolate Chili was the biggest hit for me.
Overall
I went into the day with high expectations, and Universal not only met
those expectations but they far exceeded them.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was beyond amazing and everything
else was incredible as well. A trip to
Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure is always a great time is
considerably less stressful than a trip to other theme parks in the area. With all of the additions coming to the
resort in the near future, it’s certainly an exciting time to be a Universal
fan.
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