Universal Islands of Adventure

UNIVERSAL ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE
We loved this place and want to go back!!! Maybe it's because we didn't get enough time there. We were sad when it closed and we were sorry we hadn't bought 2 or 3-day passes. The whole reason we planned this Florida trip was because we wanted to see the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal. We initially thought of going to Florida and only visiting Universal but we just couldn't go all that way and not see Disney, right???  Plus, we read a lot of negative reviews about Universal so it made us hesitant about buying multiple-day passes.  If we had it to do over again, we would do at least 2 days at Universal and only 4 days at Disney, but hindsight is everything. Part of the problem was that Hunter got sick with a fever and a bad cold on our Universal day. He literally did not want to get out of bed. He ended up staying home while Jason and I went back and forth to the park to be with Kayla, this really cut into our time at the park. Hunter felt somewhat better about an hour-and-a-half before the park closed and he made it for the final 45 minutes!  Trust me, if we hadn't of already bought his ticket ahead of time, we wouldn't have bought him one for 45 minutes!

What did we love?

Harry Potter World--my favorite.

 Hogwarts express, very friendly train conductor.

 Hogwarts Castle--Forbidden Journey ride takes you inside this.

 Hogwarts from the backside.

Hogsmeade--we were hoping it wouldn't be this crowded on a Tuesday in off-season but we've heard it was much worse at other times.  At least it wasn't hot. 

 Waiting in line for Forbidden Journey...long line.

 Daddy's shoulders--Tanner's favorite spot.

 

 Olivander's Wand Shop

 Yum, yum!

 Zonkos--just the place for my candy monster!

 Hunter made it at the end of the day.

 My 3 little Hogwarts students.

For the record, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is just a small part of the park and if you only go to Universal to see that section, you may be disappointed. For us, it was worth it. Kayla wore her Griffindor robe (purchased online beforehand, a robe at Universal costs $100). We bought scarves there, the freezing cold weather that day really encouraged us to splurge.  Kayla also bought herself a groovy wand and a chocolate frog. We had lunch at the 3 Broomsticks and of course we had to sample butterbeer.  It was fun to look at Zonkos and the other gift shops. Everything was a bit pricey and the shops were very crowded, even on a non-busy day. There were 3 rides in this area and I couldn't go on any of them (because I'm prego) but Kayla liked them and I just enjoyed walking through the town of Hogsmead. Ollivander's Wand Shop always had a long line and it was disappointing because only 2 out of the 20 people who enter the shop get to participate in the demonstration, the rest of the kids just watch those 2 with envy. We knew that going in and I kept telling Kayla as we stood in the long line, "Don't expect to get picked, you probably won't get picked." She tried not to expect it but it's hard not to get your hopes up when you really want something. She tried it twice but still didn't get picked.  You can't have everything.  As I said, Harry Potter area was my favorite part of the park, but we liked other things about Universal too.

What else was great?  The Rides!  This park has a more concentrated selection of rides in one place than any one Disney park. Since our kids love big roller-coasters, this was a great place to go. The Hulk roller-coaster and the Dueling Dragons coasters were high-thrill and the Spiderman simulator ride was a real favorite for everyone.  They had some fun water-rides too but it was a bit cold to do them and it was pretty late by the time we made it to that area.



Hulk Coaster

 What else?  The Play Areas!  Tanner had fun in the Dr. Suess area, Popeye's boat, and the Jurassic Park playground.  He didn't get much time at the last 2 spots because he was too busy riding in the van back and forth to check on Hunter but he got enough to wish we could go again.  Jason explored the Jurassic park area completely with Kayla and thought it was great.

 
 
 

 

  
 
 
Like I said, we loved this place just as much as Disney and in many ways, it was a better match for our family.  Universal has another park too but we only made it to this one.  We hope to go back soon and visit Universal again!

One last thing to report on so I can avoid a separate post.  We loved the rental home!  It was great to have space to spread out in.  We all had our own room (well, Jason and I shared), and the pool and washer and dryer were great.  It was more work (packing and cooking food versus buying the Disney Dining Plan) and definitely more walking (parking versus taking Disney transportation right to the front gates)--my feet felt broken every night and I'm not exaggerating; but it was worth it.  We would definitely do it again.  Here are a couple photos of our home away from home:

Magic Kingdom at Disneyworld

MAGIC KINGDOM

Magic Kingdom is the "heart" of Disney and what first comes to my mind when I think about visiting Disneyworld.  We went on our trip a week before Tanner's birthday so we decided to celebrate it while we there.  We went to breakfast at the Crystal Palace where Tanner received a birthday card signed by all the Winnie the Pooh characters and he got to meet them too.

 
 
 

I had to throw this picture in.  Hunter is a bacon fanatic, he never gets as much as he wants at home so he made sure to get as much as he wanted here.  Kind of scary!

Tanner got to wear his birthday pin all day which he was very excited to show others.  He received many birthday wishes.

 In the kiddie area, Tanner LOVED trying to pull the sword out of the stone. 
 

 

He never did get it, I guess he won't be the next king.

 

Hunter tried too.

 

 

This park definitely had the most rides for the little ones but the lines were long because there were so many little ones there!  With 2 days, we were still able to make in on almost every thing.  We even repeated our favorites a few times.  Kayla and Hunter enjoyed the mountain rides, of course--Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, and Big Thunder Mountain. Tanner loves trains and he went on Big Thunder Mountain expecting a "fast" train ride. It was a little faster than he expected and he decided it was a bit too much of a thrill for him!

Everyone enjoyed the places where they could climb and run around freely--ToonTown was fun and Tom Sawyer's Island was a huge hit.

  
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 Hunter missed going to Tom Sawer's Island on our second day at Magic Kingdom because he got lost--my worst fear come true.  We were all together as a family waiting for Jason to get fast passes for something else. When he returned, we got in line for the ferry to Tom Sawyer's Island and there was no Hunter. I'm sorry to say this wasn't the first time he had seperated from us so we assumed we would find him shortly like we had all the other times. Jason got out of line to go look for him, then I got out of line and sent Jason and the other kids to the Island, figuring Hunter and I would soon follow. Well, we didn't find him for another hour which was a bit scary. I ended up giving his identification information to the security officers and tring not to panic. After an hour, Hunter wandered back to the place he had left us. He wasn't scared or worried, he had just been moseying around the park, figuring he would run into us sooner or later. Aaaaaagh! We asked him why he didn't have a worker call us on our cell phones (he knows the numbers). His answer, "Well, I figured you wouldn't answer if I called because you wouldn't recognize the number on your caller I.D."  Really?  Needless to say, we trained him about what to do if it happened again but that was our last day and we made it through without further incident. Phew!



We had 6 fun and exhausting days at the Disney parks, now it's time to report on Universal Islands of Adventure!