Universal Orlando June 2017

anricat

DIS Veteran
Joined
Feb 20, 2014
Hello all! I'm back with another trip report. This time our family of three heads off to Universal to enjoy Harry Potter and everything else it has to offer.

The cast of characters:

Roger - my DH, who has enjoyed the Harry Potter movies, but isn't a huge fan like my DD and I am

Emmaline - my DD, age 8 (turning 9 in one month's time), huge Harry Potter obsession at the moment, has read and watched up through book/move #5

Summer - (that's me) I'm a longtime Harry Potter fan that has dreamed of visiting since it was announced!

We are from Austin, TX and most of our recent vacations have been with Disney, both parks and cruises

Thanks for following along!
 
Wednesday May 31 - a very long (and late) travel day

This trip was a surprise for Emmaline and, as hard as it was, we managed to keep it a secret from her. The day of the trip, she spent the afternoon with my mom while I packed, then my mom and Steve came back to the house to pick Roger and me up to take us to the airport, which is when we gave her an acceptance letter to Hogwarts that I had made.

She was in complete shock! I don’t think it sunk it for a bit! She was completely dazed all the way to the airport! It was pretty funny. I’m glad we managed to keep the secret. The rest of the day didn’t go so well. We were delayed boarding (for reasons I’m not clear on) then we got on board and pulled away from the gate, only to sit there for awhile. Finally the captain came on and said that we had a mechanical problem and would be pulling back in for the mechanical team to come back and check. We waited…. Finally the captain came back and said that we wouldn’t be able to use that plane, but that they had another one. By this time, it was getting really late for an already late flight.

We got off, went to another gate to got on a different airplane. While waiting to board the new airplane, I called our hotel, Royal Pacific and told them that we weren’t no shows and would be very late getting in because of flight issues. Originally scheduled to arrive at 10:35, we finally arrived in Orlando over an hour late, got a taxi and made it to our resort. We checked in and went to our room. I completely forgot everything the lady at the front desk said I was so tired.

We got to our room and Emmaline gravitated to a giant basket of candy and chips. “Don’t touch any of those! They’ll charge us a fortune!” I scolded. She said, “But Mama, there’s a card!” Indeed, there was a card apologizing for having a rough start to our vacation and hoping that the basket of goodies would make up for it. Wow! What a nice gesture! And it wasn’t even their fault we were so delayed! We crawled into bed, promising Emmaline we could have some treats the next day. It was after 1:00 AM!!
 
Thursday June 1 - in which we sleep in!

I always wake up before my family and this day was no exception. I snuck out of the room quietly and went down to the front desk to ask where I could buy a toothbrush because I realized the night before that I had forgotten mine. I’m not usually a forgetful packer, but I guess in the rush of gathering and packing everything in just a couple of hours I forgot it. The front desk gave me a free one! Then I asked her to repeat all the info from the night before because I wasn’t in a position to absorb everything at 1:00 AM. Then I set off to get the lay of the land and figure out how to walk or take the water taxi to the parks.

After that I went back to the room and everyone was waking up so we had some cereal in our room while we watched a tree full of baby raccoons outside our window and got changed to head over to Universal Studios. We immediately made for Diagon Alley. Entering Diagon Alley was so exciting as I’m a huge Harry Potter fan. Emmaline is, too, as I’ve been reading them to her and we’ve been watching the movies (up through book 5 and corresponding movie). The place is jaw-dropping. It’s all so well-done. It really feels real. Such an incredible immersive world. It exceeded all expectations.

IMG_6535.jpg

First we went for the wand show at Ollivanders. There were only a couple of kids present Emmaline was decked out her robe, Harry Potter shirt, time turner necklace, lightning bolt earrings - the works. I was hopeful she would get picked. Alas, another girl was selected. I guess it doesn’t have anything to do with looking like a fangirl because that other girl was dressed normally. The show was a little awkward because the girl didn’t seem to speak English as her native language so someone else in her family was helping translate a bit. But it was still fun and afterwards we left and went to choose a wand. After looking at all the choices, she selected Tonks’ wand. We set off to explore Diagon Alley, have a butterbeer and watch the shows (Celestina Warbeck and Tales of Beetle the Bard). I thought the shows were really cute. The spells could be frustrating at times. They seemed really fickle and we often needed help to make them actually work, which was sort of annoying.

IMG_6543.jpg IMG_6551.jpg IMG_6563.jpg IMG_6574.jpg

After exploring, it was just about time for lunch so we checked in for our reservation at Finnegan’s. We were seated right away and our meal was pretty tasty so lunch was done pretty fast. After lunch, Roger and I took turns riding the Mummy, which was a pretty good ride. While he was riding, Emmaline and I went and got a locker to store her robe and wand and our ponchos in case of rain. After the Mummy we went and rode Jimmy Fallon, which Emmaline and I liked quite a lot, but Roger had a hard time with the 3D motion simulation concept, which is interesting, because he usually has an iron stomach and I’m the one with issues with motion. Next we did Minions, again, Emmaline and I love it and Roger came off feeling pretty awful. I had some Bonine in my purse so I gave him one. Unfortunately, he felt pretty off the rest of the day.

Next up, we rode Woody Woodpecker, which Emmaline loved and rode again on her own. Then we went the Simpsons area and Emmaline and I rode Kang and Kodos and The Simpsons Ride while Roger went to get the ponchos from the locker because it was looking like rain was going to happen. The Simpsons ride was cute visually but AWFUL from a motion perspective. Emmaline and I both came off queasy. After that we all rode Men in Black (Emmaline got the most points) and then we went back to Diagon Alley.

Gringotts was listed at a 20 minute wait so we decided to give that a try. The wait was definitely more than 20 minutes. After about 40 minutes we arrived into the ride chute, but they didn’t open the gates after the last person got off. So we waited and a person working at the ride said that they were having technical issues with the ride and it would be a few minutes. 10 minutes…20 minutes… Emmaline had to go to the bathroom! I alerted someone and they took us to a backstage bathroom. We got back and waited…another 10 minutes. Finally they said that they were shutting down the ride and would give us a golden ticket we could use as an express pass for any ride (even those that don’t offer express pass). We got our tickets and got off having lost an hour and a half for nothing. These things happen, but it was a little frustrating.

While we were in Gringotts it had started raining and rained for a good long while, so at least we missed that, but we worried that everyone would flock to dinner due to rain, however the Leaky Cauldron wasn’t too busy so we enjoyed dinner. After dinner, it was still raining so we decided to take our first ride on the Hogwarts Express. When we arrived at Hogsmeade, the weather was clearing and Emmaline wanted to head straight for Hogwarts Castle. We originally set our for the “tour only” option (and not actually ride Forbidden Journey). When we got up to the ride, there was no wait, so we decided to give it a try. We hadn’t gotten a locker so Emmaline and I rode while Roger waited (he was unsure about riding anyway since he was still feeling off). She thought the dementors and spiders were pretty scary. I thought the ride was brilliant. I told Roger I thought it was a lot of motion, but smoother and less jerky/shakey than the other motion simulated rides so he tried it. He came off and didn’t agree, he felt sort of green.

IMG_6586.jpg IMG_6591.jpg

It wasn’t raining anymore and we made for Hogsmeade and all rode Flight of the Hippogriff together and Emmaline thought it was scary, but loved it anyway (there was a lot of screaming). She really wanted some ice cream, but the weather was getting really iffy and it was starting to get late. We jumped on the Hogwarts Express right around 8 PM on one of the last trains out and got some really expensive ice cream at Florean Fortescue’s. It was fine, but for the price it was sort of crazy. We could have used half the portion (and been happier to pay half the price for it). I don’t understand why they only offer one size.

After finishing our ice cream it was getting late and the rain was starting to pick up again. As we made our way through the park it started really pouring. We saw the huge lines for the water taxi and decided to walk back. We made it back to our room drenched, even with our ponchos. We put on our dry pajamas and fell into bed so that we could get up early to try the new water park, Volcano Bay, the next morning.
 
Last edited:
Friday, June 2 - let’s go to a new water park a week after it’s opened!

Volcano Bay had early park admission for onsite guests starting at 8 AM so we decided that would be the best plan of attack. We left our room at 7:40 and made our way to the bus pickup where we arrived around 7:45. We must have just missed one because we waited about 15 minutes before a bus came at around 8. Then we picked up people at Sapphire Falls before arriving at Volcano Bay around 8:10. We picked up our Tapu Tapu bracelets and I found a spot by the wave pool for our stuff. We didn’t get a locker, leaving phones in our room and taking our other items in a waterproof pouch that I kept around my neck.

After that, we headed straight for Krakatau Aqua Coaster. It said “Ride Now” so we got in line. We waited probably 10-15 minutes to ride. I loved it but Emmaline and Roger weren’t sure. Roger said he had a headache and unfortunately, I didn’t have any advil with me. Usually I carry some, but since we only brought the bare necessities, I didn’t have it. After that, we rode the 2-person tube slides, one of the family raft slides, the Pongu racers body slides (face first on a mat) and then a different family raft slide before heading back to the Pongu racers slides again and doing another round of the two person tube slides.

The second of the family raft slides were the first ones we had to use the Tapu Tapu to get a return time and it was only 15 minutes when we walked away, quickly changing to 10 minutes just a minute later so we didn’t have time to do anything. I asked someone who worked there where the entrance to the lazy river was and she gave me directions and told me that when the Tapu Tapu reached 5 minutes, we could return and tap in. As if on cue, I saw 5 minutes on the device so we went back and tapped in. We also had a return time for Pungu slides the second time around, but never got 5 minutes going from 10 minutes when we first got our return time, right to ride within about 5 minutes (we just spent the time hanging out in some chairs, which was more relaxing than standing in line). Each time we returned to the ride or even with “Ride Now” showing, the rides all had about 5-10 minutes of waiting (except the coaster, which was about 15).

After sliding until around 10 AM, everything had a wait and we felt like we had done everything we wanted so we went and took a loop about the less lazy of the two lazy rivers and then hit the wave pool and had some snacks. By 10:30 we were leaving as wait times started to climb and we exited the park, feeling sort of bad for all the swarms of people coming in. Overall, it was a success, but I can’t say that it would have been if we had waited until later in the day.

We got back to the room, showered and had a rest before venturing over to the Toothsome Chocolate Emporium for a late lunch. Lunch was…fine. I actually didn’t find it to be anything special - even the dessert. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t amazing. I think I went in with hopes a little too high. After lunch we went to Universal Studios to do some more exploring of Diagon Alley and to try our luck at Gringotts again. This time we were successful! The golden ticket was great and we didn’t have to wait long. I loved the ride. Emmaline liked it quite a bit and Roger was feeling mixed. He decided he’s really not a motion-simulator person. He liked the parts of the ride with actual physical movement, but not as much the 3D simulated motion effects.

IMG_6593.jpg
61399_060217_000637428.jpg

We jumped on the Hogwarts Express back to Islands of Adventure as it began to rain again. I suggested we knock out the wet rides as long as we were already wet and wearing our ponchos. We all did Popeye and Bluto’s which made us even more wet (if that were possible) and Jurassic Park River Adventure (not quite as wet). Roger skipped the latter, being wary of the drop (which isn’t his thing). Emmaline screamed in terror but ultimately thought it was awesome.

We were wet and hungry and unsure where to eat but ultimately made our way back on the Hogwarts Express to Universal Studios and ate in the food court at the Simpsons area just as they were closing at 8 PM. Another late night! We sloshed back to the water taxi and back to our room. Again, hanging up all our wet things in the shower to drip dry over night!

IMG_6596.jpg
 
Last edited:


Saturday, June 3 - I solemnly swear, we usually rope drop theme parks!

We slept in! Having already ridden Forbidden Journey, I didn’t see a lot of point to early entry at Islands of Adventure. After another leisurely morning of sleeping in and cereal in our hotel room, we made our way to Islands of Adventure around 10 AM. First we spent a little over an hour in the Dr. Suess area of the park. It was cute, but obviously the rides were geared to a smaller, younger, crowd. Emmaline still enjoyed it and had fun meeting some of the characters. Characters sure are low key at Universal. It’s more like I remember the characters being when I was a kid at Disneyland.

IMG_6601.jpg IMG_6605.jpg IMG_6615.jpg IMG_6625.jpg

We had some snacks and went next to the Lost Continent and checked out the Mystic Fountain which was fun and silly, then watched the Posiden’s Fury show, which was pretty good. Some aspects were a little hokey, but Emmaline thought parts of it were really scary and so it wasn’t a huge hit.

We were right next to Mythos, but it was only 12:10 and our reservation wasn’t until 12:30. We asked if we could come early and they said we might have to wait, but then seated us in five minutes anyway. Lunch was good, but again, not as great as I had heard this place was. I think we all liked our lunch at Finnegan’s a little better.

After lunch, we passed through Hogsmeade and watched the shows there (The Frog Choir and Triwizard Spirit Rally). Both were really good, but boy does Hogsmeade need some shade. Yikes! It was hot! Our weather was that of extremes, apparently, hot and blistering or pouring rain. Yay, Florida! ;) We did some more spells and explored all the fun little nooks and crannies therein. Again, the details were all so amazing and fun. Emmaline wanted some butterbeer so Roger got her one while she and I rode Flight of the Hippogriff again.

Next up, the plan was to ride Pteranadon Flyers but I didn’t realize that we needed a return ticket (like an old-school Disney Fast Pass). We got a return ticket for 5:10 and Emmaline played for awhile at Camp Jurassic. After that, we left and made our way back to the hotel for an afternoon rest. After an hour, we made our way back to the parks, and headed directly for Pteranadon Flyers while Roger had some coffee at Starbucks. We had a bit of a wait upon returning. After about 20 minutes we were almost to the front of the line when a storm rolled in, complete with lightning which shut down the ride (and ultimately every other outdoor ride for the rest of the evening). They didn’t give a golden ticket or anything, but I explained that we were leaving the next day and had limited time in the parks and wouldn’t be able to wait a long long time or get a return ticket. They said to come back and they would help us out. We sloshed back to Hogmeade and made our way to the Three Broomsticks where, this time, everyone did have the same idea to eat dinner out of the rain. We all agreed that, while tasty, the Three Broomsticks wasn’t as good as the Leaky Cauldron.

After dinner, Emmaline really wanted a chocolate frog so we popped into Honeydukes and picked one up before getting back on the Hogwarts Express and going back to Universal Studios to Diagon Alley. Originally we had hoped to see the parade since it had been rained out the last few nights, but alas, it was raining again. The wait for Gringotts was only 15 minutes and Emmaline and I wanted to ride again (Roger not so much) so he waited for us while we rode. After riding, the rain was really picking up and again, it was getting late so we started to make our way out of the park as the rain really started picking up. By the time we were halfway to the gate it was dumping buckets on us and even with our ponchos, we were soaked to the bone. The water taxis weren’t running due to the lightning but we weren’t really sure where to go so I suggested that we follow the masses of people heading towards City Walk. Surely some of these people would be going to the resorts. Ultimately, it was the right call. We found the hotel busses and arrived to find a bus already waiting. What luck! It pulled away shortly thereafter stopping first at Sapphire Falls and then taking those of us left to Royal Pacific. We hung up our wet stuff and got warm (which seemed odd after being so crazy hot earlier in the day). I organized some things to pack up for our journey home the next day while Roger showered, then we all went to bed.
 
Sunday June 4 - back to the real world

We set the alarm for 7:30 to give us enough time to pack up and be downstairs at Islands for our character breakfast. Roger blow dried wet shoes while I packed and Emmaline read a comic book on her iPad. Once packed, we checked our bags with the luggage desk and went to our breakfast. They had both a menu and a buffet. Ordering off the menu was more cost effective and Roger argued for that approach, but Emmaline and I liked the variety of items on the buffet. I pointed out that we could stuff ourselves silly and skip lunch, having an early dinner at the airport. Emmaline and I won out and we ate an $84 breakfast while meeting Gru, a minion, Bart Simpson and Homer Simpson. We ate a ton of food and I regret nothing.

IMG_6636.jpg IMG_6630.jpg

After breakfast, we jumped on the water taxi and entered Islands of Adventure, heading directly for Pteranadon Flyers which was posting a 35 minute wait. I explained what happened the previous day to a very nice man who took us directly up the exit and onto the ride. Yay! 90 second later we were back out front with Roger. From there, we went back to Hogsmeade and rode Flight of the Hippogriff again before making another trip aboard the Hogwarts Express, which was posting a 10 minute wait, which we discovered basically means it’s a walk on. It does take 10 minutes, however, because first there is often a long line of people waiting at the ticket check which can get backed up with the people waiting until the front of the line to dig up their tickets, then they can’t remember which finger they used for the scan. I feel for some of the people that work there. I can imagine them rolling their eyes internally when the whole family gets up to the front of the line and waits while grandma tries to figure out where she put her ticket and recall which finger she used. But I have to say, from the outside, they are all so nice and friendly. Every person I encountered that worked there was really great. We always had super fabulous customer service.

So we’re back on the Hogwarts Express, Emmaline with her chocolate frog. I do think that the Hogsmeade to King’s Cross trip is a little more fun than the reverse. The Weasley twins beat dementors any day of the week! Once back in Diagon Alley we waved goodbye and took some final photos in the telephone booth and in front of Grimmauld Place. From there we made our way back to the Woody Woodpecker coaster. Emmaline rode twice - once with Roger and once alone. The second time with her arms in the air and, she assured me, with no screaming at all!

IMG_6638.jpg IMG_6650.jpg

After that she and I rode Transformers, which we had tried to ride earlier in the trip, but it had been operating at half capacity and with express passes it was a 45 minute wait (90 minutes without). Even then, we waited for about 15 minutes, probably our longest wait with express passes. Transformers was not at all enjoyable. Just a bunch of robots fighting each other and exploding with 3D effects and motion simulation. Emmaline was a little scared and I found it pretty intense, too.

After that we went to give Minions one more shot, with Roger trying the stationary seating so he could actually watch the whole thing this time. He closed his eyes a bunch last time because it was making him so sick. He said even on the benches, it was still an issue with all the 3D effects.

After that we went to the photo store to get our magic photos corrected. When we looked at them, there was nothing there. Apparently, unlike Disney, they don’t automatically add anything to your magic shots, you have to go and add them. So we picked a couple things for the photos.

At this point it was around 1 PM and we didn’t have much else we wanted to do so we left the park. It was a little earlier than we planned, but we weren’t sure how long it would take us to get back to the hotel, move some items around in our luggage, get a Lift to the airport, etc. As it turns out, everything moved along really fast and we made it to the airport, checked our bags, went through security and were to the gate area with about 3 hours until our flight. Oh well, better early than late! We got a coffee and hung out in the food court area for awhile. After a bit we got some food for an early dinner so we could just come right home and not have to worry about dinner since our flight got in a 7 PM. Our travel home was uneventful, thankfully and we made it back home.
 
Final Thoughts

The Harry Potter areas of Universal are incredibly immersive and jaw dropping in their detail. It exceeded all expectations. We had a lot of fun exploring and enjoying those areas in both parks. Unfortunately, the rest of the parks didn’t really offer much that we enjoyed. We don’t do big coasters or thrill rides and the smaller coasters are so short, it’s hard to enjoy them. I enjoyed the Mummy and Gringotts and Roger liked the Mummy okay, but felt Gringotts was brought down by the 3D motion simulation aspects and would have preferred more of the real motion sections of the ride.

Volcano Bay offered some really great slides but the capacity of the rides is such that, even with Tapu Tapu, on busier days, people will be waiting a long time for rides once crowds grow. Right now, the only way to really enjoy this park is to be there right at opening. Early entry if staying on properly and it’s available is a huge bonus.

If we hadn’t gone to Volcano Bay, our four days there would have been one too many. For Harry Potter fans that aren’t thrill-ride lovers, two days (once for each park) would be plenty to accomplish everything. We were very nearly at a loss as to what to do our final day, having felt like we’d done everything. I’ve never felt this way at a Disney park where I’m happy to ride many things repeatedly. I just felt like most of the rides were one and done for me, Flight of the Hippogriff maybe being the exception because it’s a great twisty little coaster and it’s so short!

Royal Pacific was a lovely hotel and everyone was really friendly. My only (minor) complaint was that the bathroom sink area could have been larger. It’s really hard for more than one person to get ready at a time. A second sink or even a little more counter space would have gone a long way. The gift basket they left us was an exceptionally nice gesture and was much appreciated.

The food was about what I would expect from a theme park. I really wanted to like Mythos and Toothsome more than I did. The quick service in the Harry Potter areas are definitely above average in terms of theme park quick service (but the prices were also above average). The only other quick service we ate was pizza in the Simpsons food court area and it was decent quick service pizza. Over priced, definitely, but better than some other quick service I’ve had. Butterbeer was better than I anticipated. We didn’t have hot, but we had frozen and regular and I preferred frozen. I would have had more of it if it were more in the $3-4 price range. I thought for what it was, it was definitely overpriced. Clearly they can charge that though because there were always massive lines to get it.

The weather did, unfortunately, negatively impact our experience on a couple of occasions. I was hoping for passing showers, but we really got hammered for long periods of time on most of our days and it made things challenging. We were dealing with a lot of wet clothes and shoes and that was logistically difficult. We were bummed that we never got to see the parade because it was cancelled every day we were there due to weather.

In the end, I’m glad we went, especially as Emmaline and I are huge Harry Potter fans, but I don’t feel a burning desire to go back any time soon. Apparently this family’s heart belongs to Disney!
 


Thank you so much for sharing your trip! Bummer you had so much rain, those poncho's can become very annoying after awhile.
Emmaline is just adorable.
I will be going to Universal this July for 4 days (ugh - first time ever in the summer) and will also be staying at Royal Pacific; very impressed they left you a basket!
I visit Disney every year but have not be been to Universal in about 6 years. Very much looking forward to Diagon Alley - your report/pictures have added to my excitement! :goodvibes
 
Awesome trip report! We are also going for the first time next week, and staying at RPR. I know we are not prepared for the wet weather, but doing our best to pack what we can for it. Thanks for your great, thorough report, I really enjoyed it. I also bought extra Bonine, and will take it every day!
 
Every picture of your girl , she has a smile!

Such a cute child you have!
She will have wonderful memories for a long time

You pulled the surprise trip off like a champ

Enjoyed your report
 
Every picture of your girl , she has a smile!

Such a cute child you have!
She will have wonderful memories for a long time

You pulled the surprise trip off like a champ

Enjoyed your report

She had a great time. Thanks so much for your help @macraven. Your advice was invaluable!
 
What a great trip! And aren't those surprises fun?! Love the pic of Emmaline on the police bike.....she's your own little Cindy Lou Hoo!!

The first time we took Corey to Uni he was in the 4th grade. We had it worked out with his teacher to send him to the office with his things for me to pick him up. Poor guy thought he was going to the dentist! :lmao: Got him out to the parking lot where hubby was waiting and we sprung the surprise on him.
 
What a great trip! And aren't those surprises fun?! Love the pic of Emmaline on the police bike.....she's your own little Cindy Lou Hoo!!

The first time we took Corey to Uni he was in the 4th grade. We had it worked out with his teacher to send him to the office with his things for me to pick him up. Poor guy thought he was going to the dentist! :lmao: Got him out to the parking lot where hubby was waiting and we sprung the surprise on him.

Isn't that pose funny? That was all her. She asked me to take her picture and then she jumped on and did that. It was great.

Oh man, that's a good one! Surprises are super great. It was hard hard to do, but she loved it once it sunk in.
 
Like I did with another trip report have to say your report will really help others

So much detail and helpful ways to do the vacation was marvelous!

I appreciate all homies doing trip reports
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Latest posts

Top