Universal Orlando
On Monday, we headed out early for a day at Universal Studios. This was really the main reason for our quick trip to Florida this go around since we had not yet visited the new additions to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We had about a 15 minute walk from Hyatt Place, and arrived at Universal just as the park was opening up for day guests (guests who stay on property can enter one hour early). The rain started as arrived, as well, but it was a light, misty rain, unlike the typical Florida downpours. Our first ride was Despicable Me, which is just inside the gate, so we got shelter from the rain pretty quickly. Despicable Me is very cute and usually has a huge wait, but we lucked in to just 20 minutes. It would be at 120 minutes later in the day. We then rode Transformers (just like Spider-Man at the other park), E.T. (An oldie, but goodie), and the Simpsons (just like the California version) all with very short lines before entering Diagon Alley. Like the original park on the Islands of Adventures side, this area of the park was heavily and accurately themed, small shops and all. The street itself looked like the movie set, and I believe I read they actually had set designers come in to make certain that was the case.
If you've read the books and/or seen the movies, this section, and particularly the star attraction, Escape from Gringotts, is based around Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The Weasley's joke shop is across from The Leaky Cauldron, there is a nicely done play of "The Story of the Three Brothers" that explains the Deathly Hallows, and the Gringotts queue features Daily Prophet clippings that give away the end of Half-Blood Prince. The Gringotts ride had a posted wait of 45 minutes, but it was in reality over an hour due, in part, to two brief delays. The queue and preshow are very well done with life-like goblin animatronics going about their banking business. The ride itself is a coaster with track switches and moments when the whole car rotates on the track. It has bursts of speed, but it routinely stops in front of 3D screens where we faced off with Bellatrix and Voldemort (with Nagini) as Bellatrix tried to stop Harry, Ron, and Hermione from retrieving the horcrux from her vault. It was impressive!
After our battle with the bad guys, it was time for lunch. We headed to the Leaky Cauldron for fish and chips and a chicken sandwich, and, of course, Butterbeer! The rain and clouds were keeping the temperatures in the low 80s, so I went for the newly added warm Butterbeer, thankful I didn't have to try it in 100° heat. Dave and Jadeyn had the chilled variety. The warm version was the consistency of hot chocolate with the familiar butterscotch flavor, and I enjoyed it. We also sampled some Butterbeer soft-serve ice cream, and it was yummy.
The Hogwart's Express is also a new addition, and the replica of King's Cross Station is dead-on. We were able to take the train from Universal Studios over to Islands of Adventure, fighting Dementors along the way, where we visited our old favorites in the original Harry Potter section (and had more Butterbeer -I swear there's crack in it!). I still really like Forbidden Journey, but the darkness of the screens inside this ride is now exacerbated by the brightness of the new screens next door. Gringotts requires riders to wear 3D goggles whereas Forbidden Journey does not, so I'm sure that is part of the difference. We also visited other attractions in IOA before going to City Walk for dinner. Sadly, Spider-Man went down while we were in line, so we missed out on it.
After dinner, we reentered Universal Studios to see Diagon Alley at night. On the way to the back on the park, we stopped in at Twister, which is based on the movie, flying cows and all. We used the single-rider line for one more go on Gringotts, finished up our shopping, and headed back to the hotel.
