We are a Disney family, and as you could tell from this blog, we are right at home when going to Walt Disney World; this was not the case for today’s adventure. I have only been to Universal Studios Hollywood once and the girls have never been to any Universal park. But we had to go, as Universal Studios Orlando is home to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. With two of us being Potterheads (Note to Self: Get Gabriella into Harry Potter) and one just enjoying the chance to dress up, we were all very excited about what awaited us at Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure.
I am going to warn you now, this is going to be a rather long post. Like I stated before, we know the ins and outs of Walt Disney World (WDW) and feel very comfortable planning for and finding our way around the parks. With minimal preparation, we were more or less diving straight into the Universal experience. I mean, until the night before, I did not even know what rides were at the parks, let alone the different lands, eateries, or even Universal intellectual properties. But, like I said, we had to do this. After years of her mother and I pushing it on her, Elaina finally started reading the Harry Potter series on the first day of the school year. A couple months later, she was done with the seven-book series, finishing the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, in less than a week. Thinking there may be spoilers at the park was definitely a motivator for her to finish the series before our trip. And then we watched all eight movies as well. Needless to say, by the time we left for Florida, Elaina was at the peak of her love for all things Harry Potter. Although she has not read the books yet (and I stress yet), Gabriella really enjoys the Potterverse. She likes watching the movies, taking her house sorting test (all three of us are Ravenclaws), and dressing up as the characters.
Prior to leaving for our vacation, the girls and I searched for our outfits for the experience. While we were set on Disney clothes, the only piece of Hogwarts gear we owned was a Ravenclaw sleepshirt that Elaina got as a gift. As part of her birthday theme, Elaina got a Gryffindor cloak, and Santa got us each a Ravenclaw scarf. I bought Gabriella a personalized Ravenclaw cloak while I opted for a personalized tri-wizard champion jersey. The girls loved their scarves so much they actually wore them to school for weeks before our trip. While most of our morning routine was similar to going to the WDW parks, we had to wake up a little earlier to make the 25-minute drive from our resort to Universal. I also purchased a 1-day photo pass to be able to get all the pictures from the in-park photographers and rides (more on this later).
Unfortunately, we did not get early entry because we were not staying at the Universal resort, so we arrived at the parks an hour early. To pass the time, we explored the Universal CityWalk Orlando, which started with dropping by Starbucks for the girls’ morning croissant and pink drink. They were not even mad about being so early, but just happy being on site and in their outfits.
We then dropped by Voodoo Donuts to get more breakfast. I am not a big fan of Voodoo Donuts overall, but their sprinkle cake is not half bad (Baker’s Dozen in Sierra Vista, AZ is much better). The girls took one or two bites of theirs and were done, so apparently not a big deal for anyone in my family.
We then went to the Universal Studios Store to do window shopping for what we could purchase after we toured the parks. Their Harry Potter section was amazing, and we all found several items we wanted to pick up on our way out. We also got a preview of the wand selection, with the girls being able to hold each one in their hand before we headed to Ollivanders Wand Shop. I did buy them a lanyard and a Harry Potter pin though, as I was still feeling bad about getting there so early and trying to make it up to them. Our initial entry into the parks did not go particularly well though. Before the parks opened for regular entry, we went through the Islands of Adventure gate, only to immediately find out the Hogwarts Express, a train between the two parks and an experience on its own was closed for the week. Begrudgingly asking for another way to get from Islands of Adventure to Universal Studios Florida, I was told I had to go outside the gates and through CityWalk in order to go through the front gates of the other park. I am sorry, but that is a horrible design feature and one of the few things I actually got upset about during this trip. Before we left though, we stopped by the photo pass office to activate our plan, only to have their computers all down. Not a great start to day three.
Thankfully, by the time we got into the other park, there was still a few minutes left until the normal entry time. The girls wanted to get their wands first, so I mapped out the path to Diagon Alley and Ollivanders. When the rope dropped, we hurried through the different areas, such as Hollywood, New York, and San Francisco, eventually getting to King’s Cross Station. This is where the girls started to really get excited, especially when they saw the Knight Bus.
Upon going through King’s Cross and the brick wall, they entered Diagon Alley, where they bounced from one side of the street to the other with eyes wide open. It was truly a sight to see, especially for the first time. Elaina was pointing out everything she recognized from the movies, including the Daily Prophet and Weasley’s Wizard Weezes, but eventually her and Gabby were drawn to the dragon atop Gringotts Wizarding Bank. When it breathed fire (which they definitely felt), it made the experience feel even more real. With the Escape from Gringotts ride right in front of us with no wait, the girls still wanted to get their wands first, so we headed right to Ollivanders Wand Shop.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is really well done, and visiting Ollivanders first was definitely the right choice. Not only does the building look just as dusty, disorganized, and imperfectly built as anticipated, but it was the little things that really drew our attention; as the girls walked inside, they reveled at a broom sweeping the ceiling. We waited our turn to meet the wandmaker and then for our wands to choose us.
Upon entering the experience, the girls continued to be mesmerized by the room, hoping one of them would be chosen to go through the wand ceremony. We had done a great job of not reading spoilers for either WDW or Universal attractions, so we were completely surprised by everything we were experiencing.
Unfortunately, neither of the girls got chosen for the wand ceremony, but the still loved watching it. For the girl who was chosen, the first two wands did not agree with her, making bad things happen before the Wandmaker fixed each situation with a flick of his wand. The third time was a charm though, and the wand clearly had chosen its witch.
Barreling onto the main floor, the girls were equally excited to receive their wands. I was very proud of them during this, as they literally tested every single wand to see which one looked and felt the best in their hand. I guess I figured they would just grab Hermione’s wand and run out the door. They took their sweet time finding the best fit, which turned out to be Cedric Diggory’s wand for Elaina and Sirius Black’s wand for Gabriella; I chose a regular wand of yew and dragon heartstring. Even though the wands were not cheap, the girls loved the experience, including picking them out, and carried them around every time we were in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade.
Now that they had their wands, and with the map in hand showing all the interactive wand locations across the Wizarding World, they were ready to start casting some spells!
But, as can be expected, things did not initially go as planned. Without knowing what you are doing or looking for, casting spells can be a little tricky at first. They girls had no problem finding the spell locations, but were getting very frustrated the spells were not having any effect. At each location, they had to wave their wand in a specific motion while reciting an incantation, but nothing was happening. In order to divert their attention from being upset, I suggested going Escape from Gringotts and trying our wands again afterwards. The girls thankfully agreed.
The inside of Gringotts Wizarding Bank had just as much detail put into it as the rest of Diagon Alley and, as with the rest of the attractions at the Wizarding World, the girls loved just walking through the queue line spotting all the details from the films. Elaina also made it her goal to determine what book each ride was set in based on the ride and the clues in the queue (such as clippings from the Daily Prophet). As an example, in the queue for Escape from Gringotts, there were editions of the Daily Prophet with “Undesirable #1” on the front page, meaning the paper was from the seventh book. This was confirmed during the ride, as the participants infiltrated and then escaped the wizarding bank alongside the Trio (Harry, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley) and with the help of Bill Weasley.
The girls loved the ride, but we had little time to talk about it as they immediately wanted to go back to casting spells.
Getting some tips from a helpful witch (Universal employee), the girls finally cracked the code on casting spells with their interactive wands. The trick seemed to be using slow, small movements directed at the camera (such as in the eye of the second glass pane on the lower right of the previous gif); up until now, the girls were making extremely fast and giant motions with their wands. Her instruction worked like a charm, pun intended. It also led them both to be able to cast their favorite spell, saying “Wingardium Leviosa” and causing a feather to levitate. And yes, they both repeated Hermione’s correction from the film to each other. These are very enjoyable and I had to jump in behind them a few times to test out my proficiency. The girls were happy to find out I was just as bad at it the first few spells too.
Now that they felt like professional witches, we needed to grab some food and drink from the Potterverse, and the one we all wanted to try first was butterbeer. Stopping at the Fountain of Fair Fortune, I grabbed a cup which, if our knockoff at Elaina’s party was any indication, was going to be enough for all of us. Although my recipe was really good, it did not compare to the stuff at the Wizarding World. The foam was especially good, with Elaina taking most of that. It is still just a mix of cream soda and caramel, but it was really good. And with it probably containing more sugar than a jumbo bag of marshmallows, it halted our desire for any more sugar in the near term (at least for Gabby and I).
After getting our butterbeer, the girls continued to wander around Diagon Alley casting spells. The map that accompanied each wand was very helpful in directing us to the other spell locations in the area.
And if we were not already completely immersed in this world, it only helped that it was full of young witches and wizards, most in house cloaks, casting spells all over.
The girls were able to make marionettes dance, conjure up miniature storms, and create light, and having a blast doing it. Eventually, they were the experts, helping other kids (and even parents) with the wand movements for the spells.
Stopping at Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour, Elaina further indulged her sweet tooth while Gabriella and I were slightly overwhelmed by the flavors. Elaina loved her raspberry & chocolate, but I really wanted to try the Earl Grey & lavender or clotted cream flavors; Gabriella and I were saving our calories for Honeydukes though.
With the Hogwarts Express (*grumble grumble*) closed and girls wanting to go to Hogsmeade at Islands of Adventure, we started back towards the front of the park. Seeing Springfield across the pond from King’s Cross and looking at the short wait time, we decided to go on The Simpsons Ride. Although it is not always appropriate for children, I have been letting my girls watch The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Halloween specials for quite some time, so they were familiar with the characters and excited for the ride. Big mistake. The wait was a lot longer than advertised, the queue was just clips from Simpsons episodes, and the ride was just a motion simulator set to a computer-generated Simpsons episode. We all thought it was terrible and a waste of our time, and were happy to leave Springfield and never come back. The girls were so disappointed from the ride they did not even appreciate the other sights of Springfield, such as the Krusty Burger, The Android’s Dungeon & Baseball Card Shop, Moe’s Tavern, the Duff Brewery, or Lard Lad Donuts. It was that bad. In the words of Marge Simpson, interestingly enough from the Itchy and Scratchy Land episode, “Now let us never speak of it again.”
On the way back to the front gate, the girls and I just talked, taking a gentle stroll instead of our breakneck pace at WDW or for rope-drops. Although this was the highlight of the trip, it was also our day to relax and take it slow. Aside from Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, we had zero expectations when it came to rides, and would all have been perfectly content spending our entire day casting spells in the Wizarding World. Sometimes not having a detailed plan allows you to enjoy the moment a little more instead of preparing (worrying?) for what is coming up next. This allowed the girls to interact with Betelgeuse (Beetlejuice), saying “Oh… children” upon seeing them. They also saw The Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo, with the girls still being huge fans of the cartoons and movies (Elaina and I still play Clue: Scooby Doo Edition as well).
With the Wizarding World as our primary destination, I will be the first to admit we barely even scratched the surface of everything Universal Studios Orlando had to offer. As an example, after entering Islands of Adventure, we made a beeline towards Hogsmeade, completely bypassing two areas, Suess Landing and The Lost Continent. In fact, I only know their names and attractions because I looked them up prior to writing this post. And it was not even that they were too old for the Dr. Suess theme (heck, I would have appreciated it, and at least figured they would want to stop at the Hop on Pop Ice Cream Shop); they were just that excited about the Wizarding World.
Hogsmeade was just as great as Diagon Alley and the girls immediately got back to casting spells. They did not initially realize the first window they stopped at was Honeydukes, the resident sweet shop in the Potterverse. Considering how excited we were about this location, we stopped everything to go in.
While Weasleys Wizard Weezes left us wanting, Honeydukes did not disappoint. In fact, we probably spent 20 minutes in there because I had trouble choosing something, eventually getting overwhelmed, watching a line form, and leaving the shop emptyhanded (one of the top ten regrets in my life, right there). Elaina chose the chocoballs while Gabriella went with a chocolate wand.
We went back to casting more spells in the area, which, again, we were happy to do for the rest of the day.
But then I noticed we were right next to the entrance of Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure and it was only a 55-minute wait; for context, it was 90-120 minutes for most of the day. The girls jumped in line without hesitation and immediately started devouring their treats.
While Elaina gave me most of her strawberry cream-filled chocoballs (she enjoyed them, but they were very rich), Gabriella slowly gnawed on her chocolate wand, wondering how she managed to get chocolate all over her hand and face. Just like the rest of the Wizarding World, the queue line for this attraction was amazing, featuring a dilapidated stone building where Hagrid stores all his creatures, including eggs, books, and skeletons. And through being engaged with the sights in the queue and playing Heads Ups!, the wait of only about 30 minutes seemed to pass by pretty quickly.
This ride did not disappoint in the least. In fact, it was the girls and I’s favorite ride at Universal by a longshot. Going from casual to crazy bursts of speed (through the motorbike’s dragon fire), it perfectly simulated what we would have expected in riding Hagrid’s motorbike from the films. The ride featured many creatures from the Potterverse, included a rather intense drop which was unexpectedly thrilling, and lasted a lot longer than we would have anticipated. I did not realize it until after they had boarded, but by being a nice Dad and letting my daughters go first, the attendant had placed them in the back of the current train and placed me at the very front of the next train. Although we all had a great time, I felt really bad about this, not truly understanding it until halfway through the ride. With what seemed to be the norm throughout most of our park visits this vacation (except for EPCOT), within a couple hours we had already knocked out everything we needed to do and settled down to enjoy the total experience a little more.
Such as enjoying the view of Hogwarts Castle. As with most of these, the pictures do not do justice to the experience, and you really have to be there to fully appreciate it. Because of this, it was fun just to walk around and look at the sights.
Even if we were not riding attractions or even being hyper-efficient with our time, we were still having an amazing day at Universal.
Even with all the spell locations, they never seemed to get old. And when the day got busier, the girls were still willing to wait in a line (never more than a few people) to cast a spell.
Eventually wanting to ride something, Gabriella chose Flight of the Hippogriff for our next coaster. For a few reasons, including a long wait time (there was only one coaster operating), short ride time, it clearly being a less thrilling ride than what we just encountered, and the girls getting hungry, we left the queue after about ten minutes to search for food and our next adventure. For better or for worse, the girls had both graduated past kiddie coasters, which eventually would lead them to the Velocicoaster in the Jurassic Park area.
In the Toon Lagoon area, we found a restaurant, Blondie’s, where both girls were able to get something they wanted; this is a reoccurring issue at home that the girls brought with them on vacation. Gabriella got a footlong hot dog (which she ate the whole thing) and some fries while Elaina got a turkey sandwich, chips, and potato salad. The girls got their fill and I ended up eating half of the sandwich and potato salad. Even though theme park food is expensive, we seemed to be getting our money’s worth by splitting one or two meals between us (i.e. me eating the leftovers after they get full).
Toon Lagoon was a very interesting area, and like I stated before with other zones, we barely spent any time there. Aside from Betty Boop, they had absolutely no idea who any of these characters were (and they only knew her from Who Framed Roger Rabbit?).
Even while eating a Dagwood sandwich, I had to let Elaina know who the character was and his love of sandwiches.
When we were heading to the restaurant, the girls spotted a log flume, so I promised we would go on it immediately after our meal. I certainly did not have the girls absolutely loving Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls on my 2025 bingo card. The attraction was definitely dated, but it was really fun and they now know about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, so double win. And we got soaked! On this entire vacation, no ride got us as drenched as this one did. Not bad at all for an older ride with a minimal wait time.
Because we were already soaked, we decided to head over to the Jurassic Park River Adventure. It is not like we were going to get any more wet, so it seemed like the perfect time to go on it.
The ride was fun, relaxing, and, in the back row, we barely got any water on us. Considering we walked right onto the ride, I am surprised they did not want to go on this more than once.
Getting drawn back to the Wizard World and with only a 15-minute wait, the girls and I headed to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.
Of all the amazing queues we have experienced, this was by far the best.
Taking a tour through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, we walked by the Mirror of Erised, the Portrait Hall, entered Dumbledore’s Office, and passing through the Gryffindor Common Room.
It did not matter where you looked, there was always something to enjoy, and I am sure we still missed a lot of it.
It certainly kept the girls entertained, as the line took longer than the expected wait time.
If Universal’s goal was to keep us believing we were actually in Hogwarts Castle, I would say they succeeded in that mission.
We were not only immersed in the experience, but also completely forgot we were in line for a ride.
Although the ride had a perfect blend of motion simulator and live-action thrills, all three of us were terrified for different reasons. This attraction was not specific to a time period, but more like a greatest hits of the Trio’s adventures. Recalling Harry and Ron’s escape from the Forbidden Forest in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, they were way too many giant spiders on this ride for me to feel comfortable. Same with the girls and giant dementors (scenes from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban), which came up close to them not once, not twice, but three times. While the queue was absolutely amazing, we are okay skipping the ride on our next trip here.
As I was getting our stuff from the locker, the girls decided to watch the performance from the students of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and Durmstrang Institute. Yeah, about time I talked about the lockers. Being inexperienced at Universal, I did not realize most of the thrill rides required you to put your belongings in a locker. The small lockers were free, but the larger ones cost three dollars each. This meant that, until I started really cramming my backpack and our gifts into the small locker, we were being charged $3 for the first few thrill rides we rode. I felt this was an unfortunate case of nickel and diming the consumer and was not particularly happy with it. Considering how small my bag was, I am not sure how I could have better prepared for it, but the problem was compounded once we purchased our wands. Given how much we had spent to enter the parks, I was none too happy about having to pay an additional cost to ride an attraction simply because we purchased some merchandise. Thankfully, I did not let it ruin our day. Rant complete.
And on to the start of the next rant: the lack and quality of Universal photographers. One of the goals of today was to get a photo of all three of us, fully-dressed in our Harry Potter costumes, in front of Hogwarts Castle. Once we were ready, we searched the area, only to find there was not a photographer at the location. Are you kidding me!? At the most iconic location in all of Universal Studios Orlando (sorry, Bake My Day), there was not an official photographer… color me disappointed. I really think WDW spoiled us, as there is a photographer everywhere you look, especially at prime locations (such as in front of Cinderella Castle, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, or at any of the character experiences). This was not even close to the case at Universal though. Throughout the day, I only saw two photographers, one at the entrance of each park, with them both being gone by the afternoon. Combined with a diminished quality of the photos from Universal (the photos came out poorly and had Universal emblems / borders all over them), I was not a fan of the Universal photo pass (especially compared to its WDW equivalent).
Wanting to step up our coaster game, I finally convinced the girls to go to the next level and ride the Velocicoaster. We were able to watch the coaster go by through the “raptor viewing pens,” and aside from an almost completely vertical drop, it did not look that bad. The queue was great and featured videos with the real cast of Jurassic World (more Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard is never a bad thing). I could not have been more wrong about this coaster and I felt really bad after the fact. The girls loved it, but it was a little much, and not for the expected reason. The vertical drop was “not that bad” in both the girls’ opinion, but it is what came immediately after for which neither of us were fully ready. After the drop, the ride skimmed over the lake, corkscrewing the entire time. We did not get sick or anything, but it was unexpected and a little much.
It is a fun ride and would absolutely go on it again, but not knowing about the second half of the ride was a little unfortunate. Sorry, Girls.
Elaina had spotted a sweatshirt in Jurassic Outfitters she wanted to buy, but was disappointed to find out it cost $57, assuming I would not buy it for her. I simply asked her, “Are you going to wear it?,” to which she replied with an enthusiastic “Yes!” It has since become her favorite sweatshirt, wearing it so often that I have to wash it at least twice a week. Although I am a fairly frugal person, that quality is usually reserved for me, not for my daughters and especially not on vacation. They are not spoiled, but I just want to make sure they will get use out of something before I buy it, especially if it is somewhat expensive. I cannot tell you how many stuffed animals the girls begged me for during this trip, with both fully acknowledging they probably will never play with it again once they get home. But on vacation, for something they are clearly going to wear or enjoy over and over, I have no issue with buying it for them.
The sweets continued, with Gabriella getting chocolate-covered marshmallows on stick sprinkled with mini-M&M’s… I think I got a cavity just writing that sentence. Elaina and I both got a cookie. But we were still walking a lot and flossing / brushing very well, so I was still okay with the girls indulging a little on vacation. Again, just to note how much of Universal we did not explore, there were several areas at both parks we just walked by. These zones included Skull Island: Reign of Kong, Minion Land, and even Marvel Super Hero Island. There was just so much to see, we could not do it all in one day (and did not even try).
As we were starting to wind down (Univeral Studios Orlando closed at 7pm that day), we saw Revenge of the Mummy had only a 25-minute wait, so we gave it a chance. The queue was not as great as others, but it gave me a chance to explain the plot of the movies to them. I had definitely not prepared them as much film-wise as I had for WDW, but then again, they have been preparing for those parks since birth.
This was a fun ride, which was a mix between Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland and a roller coaster. Two issues though, which slightly dampened the enjoyment of the attraction. First, after pulling all the way down on her lap bar and it locking, Elaina said the attendant pulled it up slightly before it locked again. Leaving a sizeable gap of a couple inches between her thighs and lap bar, Elaina started to freak out a little. Never having been on the ride before but noticing it looked like the same car as Indiana Jones Adventure, I did not call for the attendant to stop the ride and just put my arm across Elaina’s legs, bracing her in place. She then held onto my arm as tight as she could and I figured we would be fine. We were, but it still distracted Elaina from fully enjoying the attraction. Gabriella, on the other hand, was having flashbacks to Dinosaur, a similar ride at WDW’s Animal Kingdom which is very dark, loud, and slightly scary. Under different circumstances, I think we all would have enjoyed Revenge of the Mummy a lot more.
With a short wait, we decided to try Men in Black Alien Attack, so we headed in that direction, passing by King’s Cross Station again.
The girls met up with the driver of the Knight Bus, with both the girls clearly excited about seeing more characters and items from the films.
They even had apartment buildings that included 13 Grimmauld Place, which of course made Elaina giddy inside (“I want to live there!”).
I had to add Men in Black to the list of movies the girls had never seen, which again led me to have to explain the plot to them.
As far as disappointing final rides of an evening go, this one takes the cake. Throughout the attraction, neither of us knew what we were shooting at or how we got points, so the whole event was a wash. It was fairly easy to aim with the red dot, but we had no idea what we were supposed to be aiming at, because apparently aiming at and shooting aliens did not get you points. At least they did not shoot any girls with quantum physics books; that joke did not land particularly well with them either. Before we left Universal, we stopped at the studio store to pick up some merch. Elaina got an Advanced Potions notebook, Gabby picked up a Hagrid’s Magical Creatures bag, and I purchased a Wizard World Christmas ornament and some Harry Potter postcards.
Leaving the parks a little early, we had plenty of time to grab a good bite to eat before getting ready for our final day at the parks. We opted for trying Kungfu Kitchen again, the dim sum restaurant we wanted to eat at on Sunday evening, and were thankfully able to get a table. The restaurant was as good as the reviews indicated, with Elaina and I sharing scallion pancakes, pork bao, and chicken dumplings, while Gabriella enjoyed her chicken stir-fry. Definitely coming back here when we are in Orlando for our next WDW / Universal vacation. An amazing end to truly magical day.
Our visit to Universal Studios Orlando more than lived up to expectations and it was well worth taking a break from WDW parks to go there. Even though the Hogwarts Express was down and the photo pass was terrible, the girls and I would head back in a heartbeat. And even though it is only a fraction of the mammoth that is Universal Studios Orlando, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter alone was worth the price of admission. Without overusing the pun, it really was a magical experience for the girls and I. So much so that I reached out to their mother, only to tell her how much she would love going with our daughters and how much it would mean to all three of them together. Although we will always be a Disney family, I think Universal has found a place in our rotation. Going to be hard to top this when we visit EPCOT tomorrow… but we are certainly going to try!
Thanks for checking in on us.
Cheers!
Adventures in Single Dadding 