Universal FL 4/13 - 4/16

[huskymom]

After 6 days at Disney, we were a little tired but excited to check out Universal, esp my 10.5 DD who LOVES HP.

4/13 - Hard Rock Hotel (picked it because closest to the park and includes express unlimited passes!)- Arrived around 2 and checked in (very low wait but it was a Wednesday at 2 pm). Got right in our room and decided to go check out USF and get wands. We walked around to get a feel for the park (we had been to IOA when my oldest was 18 months so didn’t do much there, but never USF). Went into Diagon Alley which was very well done. Got in line at Ollivanders and DD1 was picked for the wand ceremony which was very exciting for her. Bought the wands and tried out some spells. Rode Gringotts (I had high hopes for it but I didn’t like it as much as Forbidden Journey). We also did the Transformers ride which was cool, then headed to Cowfish Sushi Burger at City Walk which had good food but our server was kind of a mess and the meal took forever. I had made reservations in advance.



Thursday 4/14 - Next morning we got to IOA at 6:20 am and booked it for Hagrids at gate open (6:47?) but it didn’t open right away so we ended up waiting an hour. Which was fine bc we never saw the wait time drop below 140 min otherwise and it looked like it had an even longer delayed opening the next day. I loved it and wish we could have done it more! Really well done, and fast! We had wanted to get in VelociCoaster during early entry hours (7-8) too but didn’t get off Hagrids until after 8. It was 55 min then so we decided to do it when it dropped. The app has a cool feature that tells you when the wait times drop below a certain time if you set an alert, but otherwise I found the Disney app much more user friendly. I think we did Forbidden Journey next, got some fruit cups to tide the kids over, then DD1 and Dh headed to do the Hulk and Dr. doom while dd2 and I got sbux. I then rode the Hulk with DD1, did some shopping at HoneyDukes and then took the Hogwarts express over to USF. I didn’t find the train ride cool as I had hoped (though never ended up getting to ride it to Hogsmeade). We decided to go have lunch at the pool (I think it was around 12) and relax. By this point my tolerance for park time was waning after a week. We had fruity drinks by the pool, they had a guy running pool games which the kids loved, and we had some decent salads after eating a lot of heavy meals at Disney. We had dinner at The Kitchen at the Hard Rock which was great and decided to go back to the park for the Mardi Gras parade which the kids really liked. Lots of beads were caught! We then rode Minions which was cute, and then Hollywood Rip Rocket with child swap (I could have sworn DD2 was very close to 51” before our trip and figured she’d make it with shoes on, but she wasn’t even close via the measurement stick at the rides. Oh well, she took it like a champ.). The lady at the child swap let DD ride again with me, then asked DH and DD if they’d like to go again! She loved it. To me - it was not my favorite - my head was vibrating all around the head rest and it gave me a headache, and I usually like the big coasters. We did Men in Black (I much prefer the Toy story version!) and then tried to get on the Hogwarts express to go to IOA as we noticed VelociCoaster had a low wait but it started storming/lightning and before we got on the train I saw all the rides were down, so we jumped out of line and headed back to the hotel and got ice cream there.



Friday 4/15 - Decided to hit IOA before 8 but not 6:20 am again. Dh was moving slow so I think we only got there around 7:50…the wait for VelociCoaster said 55 but it was only about 30 min and we did the child swap again. Now that’s a pretty cool coaster. We then did Reign of Kong (would not suggest this for young kids!!) and then the Jurassic Park river adventure (DD2 was SOAKED but she loved it). I mobile ordered donuts from VooDoo and we grabbed them on the way out around 10:30 am and ate them at the pool. They had a band and we ordered lunch and more drinks, but around 2 the sky started looking DARK so we headed up and starting packing - just in time bc it was torrential. We had thought about going back to the park but everyone was definitely tired so once the skies cleared we headed back to the pool, had dinner and drinks at the pool bar (huge covered area with lots of tables and decent food) and they had Jurassic World playing on a screen.



Saturday - 4/16 - finished packing and checked our bags with bell services, and did another pool morning/afternoon and just relaxed and enjoyed the live band at the pool before Tiffany Town Car picked us up for our late afternoon flight. No delays!



Overall thought the Hard Rock was great- we always walked to the park though they had a fast water taxi but we never quite hit the timing right. It was maybe a 6 min walk with its own security entrance and no lines. The room isn’t anything special but having the express lane passes (which we used on every ride except Hagrids and VelociCoaster which only have standby lines) was great. I don’t think we waited more than 20 min for any ride with it and it was BUSY. I hear it’s not as crucial when it’s lower crowds but these days were all predicted to be crowd level 9/10. And the cost to add it to our tickets would have been $480 each day! So the higher priced resort right next door, that included these was definitely worth it. We loved the pool area and the food offerings - everything was easy and relaxing. I liked the lack of planning with Universal after Disney (but I do like the Disney planning, I was just DONE by day 9 ha!)



Overall a successful, great trip but next year we are doing an island trip!!!

[nancybotwin]

Thank you for both this review and the Disney one! I am just starting to plan a DW/US trip for April 2023. Looking back was your itinerary a good one? Would you do anything differently (or advise me to do anything differently)?

[huskymom]

Apr 19, 2022 16:07:46 GMT -5 nancybotwin said:

Thank you for both this review and the Disney one! I am just starting to plan a DW/US trip for April 2023. Looking back was your itinerary a good one? Would you do anything differently (or advise me to do anything differently)?

No I think everything worked out well, timing wise. We had lots of midday breaks. One full non park day would have been great but we were never overtired. We definitely aren’t full day park people.

4 years ago we barely did HS and this time we switched around our EPCOT day go there again, so 3 times to HS.

[orval]

We did one day park to park last Thurs 4/21. We did not stay on property or get express line passes. Got there right at 8am and went straight to Gringots. Waited about 15 minutes. Short waits at MIB, THe Simpsons, Fast and Furious. Then took the Hogwarts Express over to Hogsmead. Lines were crazy so DS went and rode Velocraptor coaster (80 minute wait). Waited an hour in line for gross, greasy pizza. We thought about mobile ordering, but the line was almost longer and was super slow so I am glad we didn't. Went back to Hogsmead and did the Forbidden Journey, Hagrids - waited an hour and then 1.5 hours. OUr feet were killing us by this point so DS did The HUlk coaster 50 minutes. He wanted to do the other big red Rocking something coaster but it closed due to wind. So we left.
3 adults, 10 hours in park, 9 rides, 1 meal - $750 or so.