Florida - Universal

What. A. Day. I need some perspective I think, but today was a day. Universal is not Disney.

We left around 9 I think? We had a little hiccup on the way. Maps took us to a toll road and I didn't think we had a dollar in change. We ended up driving away with a little envelope that we need to mail a money order for a dollar into the Florida Interstate and then a few miles later I realized we had a dollar in change. Ugh and sigh.

We got to the parking garage and we parked in Spiderman. Universal is right smack in the middle of Orlando so instead of parking for days and a ferry and a monorail, there was just a parking garage. We took two escalators down two floors, two or three sections of people movers and then we walked along a boardwalk to the entrance of Islands of Adventure. We had chatted with Suzanne a bit yesterday and she gave us some of her tips and recommendations. She suggested starting at Islands of Adventure so we did.

We headed into the park and went right which took us to Dr. Seuss land. The Cat in the Hat ride was our first ride. It was cute. Kind of like the Winnie the Pooh ride but Cat in the Hat.

After that we kept heading further into the park, destination Hogsmeade. Our first mission was to get an interactive wand. There were Ollivander's wand shops in both park locations - Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. We lined up outside the shop to participate in the little theatrical before buying the wand. It was cute. We waited about 30 minutes to go into the shop and we were standing still most of the time and we were tired and a little short with each other. I'm not 100% sure the little theatrical 5 minute someone in the crowd trying out wands was worth the 30 minutes, but maybe it was.

We decided to buy Fleur's wand in the shop. The wand comes with a map. There are several interactive spots all over Hosmeade and Diagon Alley. You stand on the spot, do the spell and then something happens. 

We had to take a pic with Hogwarts!

Trying out the wand. 

It seemed like it always took a few tries.

And all three girls wanted to always try and do the spell.

The wait times for the rides were really long and there weren't as many rides that we wanted to go on. I wish that I could go back in time and tell myself not to worry about how long all the casting of spells took. Maybe I should have joined in the fun and tried it out too.

After the wand we lined up for the Flight of the Hippogriff ride. Kate was super stressed. She had worked herself up. Didn't help that Ken had told her she had to go on rides. Kate doesn't like crazy rides which is why Disney is so perfect. We knew that the universal rides were more intense and I had repeatedly told Kate she doesn't have to go on scary rides. I think Ken worries that Kate shrinks when things are hard. For me, roller coasters aren't the hard thing she needs to stand up to. I think the wait for the ride was about 45 minutes? I can't remember exactly, but the ride was really cute and we all liked it!

After the ride we walked around for a bit and soaked in the ambience. We also went into Filch's Emporium and bought a couple of souvenirs. We bought a Christmas ornament, some magnets and Kate picked out a time turner. 

Ken lined up and bought one regular butter beer and one frozen butter beer. I tried a little mouthful of each - as they aren't dairy free. We all liked them a lot.

We did not buy the every flavour beans. I thought it appropriate for Alice to pose with the box inside the candy shop as Alice was brave enough to try them when we had a box in 2020.

The line up for Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure was still two hours long and the simulation ride inside of Hogwarts we deemed too much for us, so we decided to hop into the line for the train to the other park. 

The wait for the train was LONG. We waited over an hour. 

We took a pic of the wand when we were waiting.

The building was cool but there wasn't much to look at or do while we waited. This is something that Disney did way better than Universal. I shouldn't keep comparing but seeing the ways they infuse everything with their magic is really inspiring.

You weren't supposed to take any pics or recordings during the train trip so I didn't. It was cute. They had shades on the window and you watched a movie on one of the screens. We were on a real train and we did go from Islands of Adventure to Universal Main and it was cute, but the line up. 

King's Cross Station on the other side, was really cool. The details were incredible.

We walked around London and went to the bathroom. We took a picture in front of 12 Grimmauld Place and I took a couple of other pics until we walked over to Diagon Alley.

Walking around the corner into Diagon Alley was so cool. It was incredible. There were so many stores and aside from merchandise there were just cool things to check out in the stores too. 

And there were more spells to cast. Our favourite had to be the one that produced water out of a frog's mouth, or water spraying out over your head into a poor unsuspecting pedestrian. I totally missed it but Kate got sprayed right in her stomach. Her shirt and pants were quite wet and stayed wet for a while. Thankfully she laughed about it. After she got sprayed the girls took turns seeing if they could catch someone unawares. 

The dragon on top of Gringots bank would randomly breathe fire. It was funny to see so many people holding up their phones to capture the moment. Kate got a cool pic so naturally I wanted my own. The dragon made some noises before breathing fire so you could get ready which was very nice of him.

Hagrid's Bike.

We wandered around quite a bit and after Alice protested her hunger for the fourth time we finally went to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch. You are encouraged to order on the app which we did. You were able to flag your order if there was an allergy and then one of the chefs came out to talk to you about your order. It was great. It was all British pub food and Ken, Alice and I were really happy with our food. I think Kate and Fiona were okay with the offerings.

My favourite though was my very own butter beer with a dairy free topping. It was so yummy!

We went back to Knockturn Alley after lunch and into Borgin and Burkes. They had all the death eater and deathly hallows stuff and the staff in the store were cheeky!

After soaking up the last little bit of Harry Potter World, we ventured out into the rest of the park in search of the Minion ride, another of Suzanne's recommendations. 

Minion Mayhem is a simulator ride. The line was long and it felt long. Many times the only reason we moved up was because people left the line. 

The ride itself was pretty cute. You were changed into a Minion and you had to help Gru plan a surprise party for the girls. The animation on the big screen showed you getting banged into things, going down coaster tracks, explosions - you felt all of it and it felt like you were going through everything on screen.

After the ride we got kind of stuck in the parade. We weren't sure where we were going or how to get there so we just watched the parade. It's sponsored by Macey's so it has big balloons being carried by people. We only saw the end of it. It was pretty cute seeing Shrek and Fiona and Santa.

Ken wanted to go back to Hogsmeade at night and to see the castle at night. We decided not to take the train this time and instead we exited the park and walked back into the other park. It was actually really quick.

I took a pic of the Green Eggs and Ham cafe - my favourite Dr. Seuss book when I was a kid.

Hogsmeade lit up and the castle lit up, it was really pretty. 

Again we got a little caught up in some mayhem. They blocked off the road just as we got there and we ended up on the side going to see the castle light show, so we did. I'm glad we ended up seeing it. It was a brief little show and it was really pretty, with a little burst of fireworks at the end.

After the light show things got a little ugly. Fiona thought she wanted a Hufflepuff badger but she couldn't decide. She also wanted to go on a coaster. It wasn't pretty. I didn't handle it well. Alice was able to calm Fiona down and thankfully no one else lost it. We went back to Filch's and picked up a badger. Oh and somewhere in Diagon Alley Alice picked out some earrings. After looking at all the different rides and finding nothing that fit Fiona's ride requirement with a reasonable time limit, we decided to go back to Dr. Seuss land and go on The high in the sky Seuss trolley train ride. We went to the bathroom first and then got in our last line of the night. It was a very long 45 minute wait, and the music in the background just about made me lose my mind, but we made it on the ride.

The ride itself was pretty cute even if I was still feeling a little (or a lot) bit grumpy.

After that we walked back through the park, picked up a Nutcracker for Ken's parents and a churro for Fiona and Alice. We went to the car and after a quick trip into Whole Foods we headed back to our rental place in very slow traffic. 

It was a long day. I enjoyed most of it, but the end of the night really soured me. I texted my sister that I hated Universal. I didn't really hate it, but we're definitely more a Disney family than a Universal family. I am however really grateful that we had the opportunity to go see all the really cool Harry Potter stuff. The Harry Potter books have given our family so much joy over the years.