Act 2: Universal Solutions
Not to say that we had a lot of problems, but I felt like we had a variety of things that were kinda weird with our first day, so we were looking to get back track. This is a long trip and we don’t want to burn out on our first parks! We were looking for some solutions,
Historically, as a family, we had not been to Universal Studios Florida. I had been once, 30 years ago. My sole memory was playing on Feivel’s Playground.
When DW and I came in 2006, we decided not to go to Universal because:
- There was not much there that was a big draw beyond what we had at Hollywood (I think at the time I felt the Hollywood one may have been slightly superior, because I really have a nostalgia for the backlot tour)
- We didn’t rent a car, we took Magical Express and so it was going to be a hassle to get to Universal (interesting, eh?)
Anyway, So one of us had been to the Universal Orlando Resort before… and that was 30 years ago. We all got 1st visit buttons.
However…
In 2019/2020 we were passholders at Universal Studios Hollywood. Our Kids loved the Harry Potter offerings there and we had experienced most of what was there. Therefore we were prioritizing what was not available back home in California (But we might ride stuff if we got around to it). In addition, because “we’re probably not coming back soon” we had decided to stay at the Royal Pacific Resort for the two nights of our time there. We got the 3 days of Express Pass for 2 nights on property and that was great.
So, back to where we were.
Day 1
I have forgotten the name of the offsite hotel we stayed at that first night. We were there for 6.5 hours, and we got up, showered, got in the car and moved on.
After a quick stop for breakfast (wherein DS6 decided he wanted the hotcakes meal at the McDonalds drive through and I was entertained watching him try to scarf it down in 10 minutes in the backseat “no honey I don’t think we have any syrup”), we and our 3 bags of McDonalds trash arrived at the stately Royal Pacific Resort Check in.
We got all our stuff out (and left the car in the front because that seemed to be what to do) and went to check in. From the boards, I had expected to be able to check in and drop our luggage at the luggage services, HOWEVER, our room was ready! They did give us some flower leis as well. (they were plastic, so I declined but my kids love them).
In my 20 minutes in the RPR lobby I was reminded of the resorts we have been to in Hawaii, the lei greeting (although no Hawaiian resort would offer plastic leis) the tropical weather and the lush grounds. The resort did feel similar to Aulani (although it was not themed) but a more direct comparison I feel is the Grand Hyatt in Poipu. All it’s missing is the beach (and, well, being in Hawaii). So we dropped our luggage, parked the car in self park and went to the boat.
A word on the boat:
The boat was lovely. A great ride each time and I never waited for it. However, I never waited for it because each night I just took the path home (except for our last night when we were going to Disney as a family and left a little early). After park close, DW waited for the boat each night and it took sometimes 2 or 3 boats. It is not a long walk to RPR and I recommend, if you are up for it, that you do not wait for the boat right after park close. If you must cruise back, maybe get a margarita from Mr Buffett’s plane or a Hurricane, frozen or on ice, sit, listen to the band and go back a little later. This was one of 2 or 3 times that DS14 and I, who had done a LOT of training for a scout backpacking trip, were happily ready to walk and the rest of our crew were trying to trade waiting for walking. Point being; you don’t need to take the boat but I’m glad it is there. Taking the boat was definitely NOT faster either in the morning or the evening.
Anyway, we got off the boat just after 8 and for the whole time we were there IOA was open for early entry at 8, and both parks opened to regular visitors at 9.
Got through a pretty decent entry line and into the park around 8:25 or so. Later than we wanted but still in early entry and got straight in line for a delayed Hagrid’s. I had watched some youtube commentary on Early entry and Hagrid’s so I was, well, not surprised that it was delayed. DS14 was antsy… he wanted to go on Velocicoaster. He had two goals for this 12 day trip, Velocicoaster and Iron Gwazi. So as we were waiting for Hagrid’s and it was stationary and not testing, he went to go single rider Velocicoaster. And this is par for the course for us with DS14 in parks. He needs to get footage for his channel, he wants to ride coasters, he’ll pick his spots to split from us but he also helps out.
Anyway, that took about a half an hour and he was able to rejoin us before we went through the gate past the lockers. Of note, we started our wait near the Sinbad show and we moved consistently for most of the time we were in line but it didn’t seem like the ride was testing or running for about 45 minutes. So most of our movement was the team members getting people slowly through the locker area and into the queue. Once through the locker area, we were able to select the single rider line. Since DS6 was too short and we were going to ride swap anyway, we viewed this as a great improvement. We got on around 9:30, DW and I swapped and we were done there quickly. Most everything else in the park took our express pass so we were sitting pretty.
DS14 and I went to Velocicoaster and DD12, DS6 and DW did Hogsmeade and Flight of the Hippogriff, DS6 had not been old enough to really do the magic with the wands last time we went to Hollywood, and he liked doing that this time. We kept the same pairings for some Seuss rides and Hulk and then met back up to ride the three water rides in succession, because it was HOT. DS6 was a trooper on Jurassic Park and really enjoyed the other two rides. He would not return to Jurrassic Park or Ripsaw Falls after having done them once, however. We did also notice that some rides the Express Pass line backs up pretty good. It took about 40 minutes to ride Ripsaw Falls. We also got a quick ride on Spiderman, and a quick re-ride because the effects didn’t work for us the first time.
Soaking wet, and having done most of Islands of Adventure we decided to pass on Kong for now and head to Studios via Hogwarts Express.
Studios has the part of the Wizarding World we don’t have back home (other than Hagrid’s, and the train…) and we were excited! We got into Diagon Alley and it was HOT and crowded. Not like, Adventureland at
Disneyland crowded or MK fireworks crowded, but I couldn’t walk at a regular pace.
So we went to ride Gringotts and that was GREAT. DW and I rideswapped and both DS6 and I were dancing the potty dance by the end of the rideswap. There’s no nearby restroom (you’re in a vault of course) but we got it done. I will say… my 3D glasses fell off on the ride… like someone in maintenance will have to get them because they fell off my face and out of the car. That was a great ride and definitely a coaster credit.
After a little bit of exploring (but not a ton because, frankly it was hot and DS6 was ready for a ride he wanted) we went elsewhere. DS14 and I went on Rip Ride rockit because we needed the credit. It’s not a great coaster. I like the onboard audio and we were able to pick our song because we looked up the hack, but due to the small trains and the capacity needs there are just SO MANY BRAKE RUNS and it barely does anything in between. DS6 then wanted to go on Race through New York.
In the first post I noted he was our youtube theme park expert, he had watched a ride through and knew what he wanted… none of the rest of us knew what to expect, so I was pleasantly surprised. We also did Minions which we have at home and then ate at the minion café. I liked my food but the menu was a little adventurous for some of our party. The cupcake was a hit.
We split at that point, DS 14 and I went back to ride velocicoaster one more time and DS6, DD12 and DW stayed at studios to do minions once more, go to the shop and head back to the hotel “early” making it a little before we got there.
Day 2:
Learning our lessons from Day 1, we were at the dock at 7:15, on the boat at 7:30 and in line at 7:40. We were off of Hagrids by 8:23. We rode flight of the Hippogriff twice and we were lined up at 9 to go rope drop Pteranadon Flyers.
You see… a roller coaster “credit” is a credit. Pteranadon Flyers is one credit, just like Velocicoaster, so DS14 was not going to leave it behind. And express pass doesn’t work there; so we were queued up to rope drop the kiddie coaster. BUT like many children’s roller coasters you gotta bring a kid to ride. Folks over a certain height aren’t allowed to ride without a kid. DS6 was happy to ride with all of us, but we hit a snag. DD12 isn’t allowed to accompany DS6 because he’s under 7 and she’d not 14… but she’s too tall to ride alone, so she was out of luck. After riding I let her know she didn’t miss much.
We checked that box and went to studios early. We hadn’t done much there on Day 1 and we progressed through Mummy, ET, MIB and Simpsons. DS6 loves simpsons (turns out he loves simulator rides more than any of us) and ET. He surprisingly did not ask to re-ride MIB. For lunch we looked at our options in SF and ended up at the Simpson’s cafeteria. It was not horrendous but it was probably our most mediocre meal on property. The Duff beer is mediocre, the pizza was mediocre, the chicken and waffle sandwich was mediocre. I felt bloated and tired coming off of that meal. We went after lunch to Fast And Furious, which, frankly is basically the same as in Hollywood, just on a party bus instead of a tram, then returned via Hogwarts express to IOA.
The Express line took about 45 minutes to get back. DS14 walked and rode velocicoaster single rider before we made it back. We went on popeye’s as a family and then got dinner. DW and DS14 had hoped to get kebabs but the kebab place had closed by 6:30. I ordered a gyro plate mobile order and got DS6 a burger at the Jurassic Visitor’s Center. Mobile order from 3 people back in line was faster than waiting for the register.
DS6, DW and I played around in Suess landing for a while while DD12 decided to wait for Hagrid’s one more time, and DS14 decided to ride velicicoaster again… DS6 and DW wanted to get a stuffed minion and took off for the front of park. DS14 and I rode velocicoaster, we waited for the front row, and, I have to say, I didn’t think front row would be as good, but it is a truly different experience with the unobstructed view. Not a bad row on the train and great operations. The Security and the lockers really do speed up boarding. That ride can get off 60 or 70 trains an hour, it’s spectacular.
Then I waited at the Hagrid’s exit for DD12. I got a butterbeer and a snack and I was ready to wait, but she was off at 9:10 and DS was off Ripsaw Falls (last log of the night, he claims) and we walked back. We arrived at the room at 9:30 to find that DW was still waiting for the boat at Citywalk…
Shower, Bed, Blister Check, sleep.
(sleeeeep)
Day 3.
So the adults in the group decided at night of day 2 that we were going to shoot to leave UOR shortly after dinner. There had been some debate about whether we were going to get everything in in 3 days but we felt like we were going to be done with these parks at dinner, having done everything we wanted to do.
Knowing that DS14 got up early and was 2nd or 3rd at the turnstiles for early entry. He was first on Velocicoaster, front row, and he spent most of the third day riding coasters, except… he took DS6 and DD12 for an hour so that DW and I could ride velocicoaster together that last day as well.
We took an extra 10 minutes getting ready and got the bags to the car, so we could check out. On the boat by 7:40, still before turnstile open at the park. Hagrid’s was down hard when we got there, they were diverting traffic from Hogsmeade towards velocicoaster for early entry. Since we had DS6 we went the long route and went to forbidden journey and then flight of the hippogriff (which he loves).
DS14 called to say he was feeling woozy, as he had just ridden Forbidden journey 5 times consecutively. So he backed off and took the kids while we rode velocicoaster. He and I met up for Hulk and then the others went to storm force acceleration. As Hagrid’s was still down we split early for the other park. It was 11ish and we had heard good things about the ice cream in Diagon Alley so we just went for it. Then it was re-rides on request, Fallon, Gringotts, ET, Simpsons, Minions, and back to IOA for some Suessing.
At this point the line for Hagrid’s was long but we hadn’t ridden today. So we buckled down and got in the posted 90 minute wait. We had single-ridered it before but the single rider line was equally long now. With ride swap and a short breakdown it ended up taking 2 hours to get on. I love that coaster BUT that was bringing back Old School theme park vibes where you had a LOT of sitting and waiting. DS6 was kinda turned of from any lines from that point forward in the trip. At this point it was 6:30 and we were ready to eat. DW had wanted a hurricane from Pat O’Brien’s all trip (or at least part of one) so we went for dinner. The Hurricane was great. The Food was ok (I liked my shrimp and grits but no one else really loved their food), and we were ready to go. Walked to the car and we were out.
We quickly left the Universal Bubble, which seems densely packed and tight together, got on the freeway to WDW and Caribbean Beach. We did the direct to room and our room assignment had come through earlier.
DW was a bit disappointed in a second floor room; it’s hard for her to get a sleeping kid upstairs, and initially I had wanted to be in a different part of CBR. Our room was 4-5 minutes from the skyliner station, and the bus stop, laundry and spyglass grill were all directly adjacent to our building. We got everyone in the room and DS14 and DD12 went in the pool quickly to cool off. It was after 9 at this point but we had made it through the last hotel move!
Overall
I really enjoyed our days at Universal Orlando. I appreciated using the Universal Express and we might have skipped some attractions or changed our approach without it. I think you can definitely do fine without it; we just wanted to get it all in.
I missed Kong, and that’s the only regret I have. We never made it a priority so we didn’t end up riding.
I think Islands of Adventure is the more complete park right now:
The Wizarding World has 3 attractions, all good and targeted at different interests; Jurrasic Park has 3 attractions, one world class, one good and one kids ride. The toon lagoon stuff is notable for being some of the wettest water rides known to man. The Marvel stuff fills out that side of the park and Seuss Landing is fun (But feels like it could use a re-painting and sprucing up in places). The Lost Continent is, well… Lost. There are no attractions, only restaurants and paths for queuing for Hagrid’s. There’s potential in this area but I also recognize that I think they’re land constrained against the other park.
Studios has a bunch of attractions but Gringotts is the standout. Mummy is a good effects coaster but not a notable roller coaster otherwise. Diagon Alley needs some places to sit down in the heat. Simpsons and MIB feel dated (but not as dated as ET) but all are fun rides. I can understand with transformers, Fast and Furious, Minons, Fallon etc, why they get a knock for “too many screens”. DS14 went to the bourne show and was disappointed. I did see part of the blues brothers and that was great! I’m not sure what that park needs but it’s missing something right now.
I like the proximity of Citywalk but nothing there enticed me to hang out that long. It was better tied into the parks than the Citywalk in Hollywood and certainly Disney Srpings.
This is certainly longer than I had hoped per segment so I’m glad I’m splitting up the other parks.
