By Adaleine Shuster
I went to Universal Studios in Orlando last April with my family. We spent three days at the park, as well as one day at Disney. We stayed very close to the park, and everything was very Disney themed. When we went to the store, they had a ton of Disney themed items.
We got to the Universal Park an hour before it opened, which gave us plenty of time to walk around a tiny bit before going in. We immediately went to Diagon Alley and got in line for the Escape from Gringotts ride. We got the express passes, which turned out to be a great idea. The wait time for that ride was around 3 hours, but we only had to wait for 20 minutes. The Escape from Gringotts ride was a lot of fun. I was a bit nervous, as I don’t usually like fast rides, but I had no problem with this one, and ended up doing it 3 more times on that trip.
After we went on the ride, we walked around and explored Diagon Alley. My favorite store was Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, though all of them were super cool. I didn’t eat anything in Diagon Alley, but my parents tried some earl grey and lavender ice cream from Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour, which they said was really good.
After Diagon Alley, we boarded the Hogwarts Express to go to Hogsmeade. The train ride was fun, though the compartments were very small. There was music playing all through Hogsmeade, which made it feel very magical. We stopped to get butterbeer, which there are 2 or 3 different kinds of, depending on the time of year. Since it was so warm, they didn’t have hot butterbeer, but they did have a soda butterbeer and a frozen butterbeer. I tried the frozen one, and my brother tried the soda one. They were both super sweet, but the frozen one was slightly less sweet. After taking a short break to eat lunch, we went on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. It was a fun ride, but it was super fast. and you went up on the sides of walls. I almost felt like I was going to fall out of my seat, which meant I wasn’t super focused on the ride.
Once we were off the ride, we walked around Hogsmeade a bit. Honeydukes smelled very sweet, and the inside was super pretty and colorful. I tried a couple different candies from Honeydukes, and I think Sherbert Lemons were my favorite.
We went on Flight of the Hippogriff next, which honestly scared me a bit more than the other two, mainly because it was out in the open and you could see what was going on in Hogsmeade around you. I tried Pumpkin Juice, which tasted like apple juice with bits of cinnamon in it. The bottle was super cool, though.
We didn’t do a lot of stuff that wasn’t related to Harry Potter, but we did get to go on The Simpsons Ride. I wasn’t a huge fan of it, as it seemed kind of boring.
We did a lot of walking around and exploring for the rest of the trip, which was a lot of fun. We hadn’t been planning on going on water rides, but we did end up going on one, and we all got totally soaked. All of the rides had super cool things to see while you were waiting in line, which made waiting in line a lot less boring. I did a ton of shopping, and went on all of the rides a few times. It was such a great trip, and I can’t wait to go back!
By Iverian Gnash
Now that Adaleine has posted her review of Universal Orlando, I thought I’d follow suit. My family and I which made eight total people went to Universal for four days right before Christmas last year. I was worried about the wait time on most lines as we got in about an hour after the park opened. However, we parked over at our hotel which was about a twenty minute walk to the entrance of the park, but we couldn’t check in at that time so we headed right over to the park. We were going to take the shuttle but we had to reserve a seat ahead of time and the bus was just leaving so it was quicker to walk there than wait for another one. It was nice and cool, not at all hot, so we needed sweaters in the morning but overall the temperature was perfect though we didn’t go on any water rides. Getting into the park was a bit of a problem as the lines were rather long but it moved quickly. The time we went was just perfect because it wasn’t too crowded there so the longest we had to wait for any ride was an hour (not counting the 1:45 we waited for Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure) and the shortest wait time was when we walked right on Doctor Doom’s Fearfall.
We spent two days in Universal Orlando and two days in Islands of Adventure. We went straight to Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade in the mornings because it was less crowded then. One night we watched the Hogwarts light show which was absolutely beautiful however it made Hogsmeade incredibly crowded so by the time it was over, we weren’t allowed to go back through Hogsmeade. I was trying to get back to The Three Broomsticks where my parents were because we were going to have butterbeer but I ended having to walk around the entire park to get back into Hogsmeade on the other end. At night, the wait time for Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure was only 45 minutes so we ended up riding it again. (I got to sit in the front on the motorbike!)
Be careful about the motion simulator rides like the Simpsons ride. We were told the Forbidden Journey was worse, but it really wasn’t. The Simpsons you were put in this seat that was raised and you were surrounded by a screen while the seat rocked. In the Forbidden Journey, you were actually moving the entire time through the castle and it was half screens/half castle so it wasn’t anywhere near as bad (obviously not as I rode it twice but got seriously sick on the Simpsons).
Besides the Harry Potter parts of the park, my favorite rides were the Rip Ride Rockit rollercoaster in Universal Studios and the Revenge of the Mummy, also in Universal Studios. Rip Ride Rockit had the longest wait time, but it usually moved quickly and it was better if you went as a single rider. Single rider lines made for a lot less wait times. Unless you’re with family and friends that you’d like to ride with, single rider lines are your best bet.
Additionally, I would suggest bringing food with you into the park that you can eat while waiting in line or on the way to another ride. Remember to wear good walking shoes and carry a water bottle you can keep refilling throughout the park. A little drawstring backpack would work well. There are lockers available at the beginning of each ride that requires you to secure your items. They require a park ticket and are free while you’re on the ride.
I’d suggest getting to the park early and go during a less crowded time. Head straight to the Harry Potter sections first because they fill up quickly. Overall, expect to have to wait in line a bit, but as long as you have water and some snacks, you should be fine!