In case you missed it, see my post about days 1-3 in Florida here.
I’m finally back to post more about our Florida trip. I was originally just going to write up one more post, but as I was working on it, it just got TOO long. I try to keep my posts somewhat succinct, but I just can’t be short-winded about our days at Universal Resort. There is so much I want to remember and share, I hope you don’t mind! So this post will be about our 3 days at Universal, I’ll post next time about our 2 laid back days during the middle of our vacation as well as our flight home, and I’ll post one last post about why we made the decisions we did about food, lodging, and theme parks. All that said, our days at Universal Resort were really our favorite ones, so I hope you enjoy this post!
And so, let’s fast forward to Saturday. We were up early to pack up our things, since check-out time for our VRBO was 10 am, and we wanted to get to Universal fairly early. The traffic/parking situation was out of control, but they gave us free parking because of it, so saving $20 was a win in my book. As soon as we got inside you better believe we bee-lined it over to Diagon Alley in Universal Studios. (In case you’ve missed it — I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan. HUGE.) Guys. It was perfection. PERFECTION. When we visited Florida six years ago, they only had Hogsmeade in Islands of Adventure (which was and is still incredible) but I think they totally upped their game with Diagon Alley.
Anyway, we wandered around Diagon Alley, rode the Gringotts ride (me, Dad and Steven in the single rider line first, and then Kyle), grabbed lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, and then hopped the Hogwarts Express over to Hogsmeade (slash the Islands of Adventure). We wandered around there, rode the Dragon Challenge (I think?!), and then Dad, Steven and I went on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, while Kyle took the kids over to the dinosaur center, which they loved. We then went to the Dr. Seuss area so the kids could ride some rides. Abe LOVED the carousel, the Cat in the Hat ride, and the One Fish, Two Fish ride. He rode all of them multiple times during our 3 days at Universal. Oh, and at one point, right before we left, Kyle and Steven rode the Jurassic Park ride. After we left the park, K and I and the kids went to get lunch at Steak N Shake (a favorite of mine) and then spent the evening back at our hotel.
Sunday and Monday were also spent at Universal. Like I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I’ll write another about why we chose the parks and lodgings that we did but it ultimately just made sense for us to buy a Universal package through Costco Travel, that included 3 nights at the Holiday Inn next to Universal as well as two 3 day park-to-park Universal tickets. (PS, the 3 days we spent at Universal are all kind of a blur, so I miiiight have some of my details mixed up, like what rides we did when, ha!) Saturday night was our first in the hotel and Eliza hardly slept. It was miserable, but luckily the next 2 nights went much, much better. My dad and Steven drove home to Brandon on Saturday night, then drove back to spend one last day with us on Sunday. So we met up on Sunday and again enjoyed the parks, this time going to Islands of Adventure first. Kyle took Abe on Flight of the Hippogriff, and then we ended up riding the Dragon Challenge again (Kyle went first, and then I think my dad and I went on it together) because the line was so short, and then Kyle and I went on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey together, while Dad and Steven took the kids back over to the dinosaur center. I think we also spent a bit more time at the Dr. Seuss area. We again took the Hogwarts Express, this time back over to Diagon Alley. We had lunch at the Leaky Cauldron again, because why not?! Sometime in here Kyle and I went on the Rip Ride Rockit (although it might have been on Saturday, I can’t remember). And then we took the train back to Hogsmeade again, and went to the Dr. Seuss area one more time, before splitting up and heading home. This was our final goodbye to Dad and Steven. We had so much fun with them! We opted to walk to and from Universal to our hotel, so as soon as we got back we hopped in our rental van and got some dinner at Taco Bell and ran to the grocery store to grab some provisions for the next couple of days.
Monday was our last full day, and again we spent it at Universal. We tried to get there in good time, in order to try to fit in some “big kid” rides while the lines were short. This translated into me going by myself on The Hulk, because the line was only supposed to be 15 minutes long, and we were going to switch after. The line ended up being at least a 30-40 minute wait, so by the time I got off, the line was even longer, and Kyle didn’t get to go on it. Sorry, babe. We took the kids over to the Dr. Seuss area, so Abe could go on the rides there a few more times. Then we walked around Hogsmeade one more time, and hopped the Hogwarts Express over to Kings Cross and Diagon Alley. Abe rode the ET ride like 3 times, twice with Kyle and once with me, and he also rode the Woody the Woodpecker rollercoaster with me, too. I then took Abe to the Barney show, which was freakin’ magical. Barney literally exploded from a little stuffed animal to a giant life-size dinosaur, and sang songs from the show, and we were free to sing and dance along. Plus BJ and Baby Bop joined in, too. It was like literally being on a Barney (a dream of my childhood self) and I loved every second of it. Abe wasn’t as enchanted by it though, ha. I didn’t know it would be so amazing or I would have taken my camera! Oh well. Just know I met Barney and it was awesome. (And now you know that I am a Barney lover through and through. #notembarrassed 😉 Abe and Eliza both loved the indoor Barney play area, and we were happy to let them run around in there for a while, to wear them out, before we walked back to our hotel.
And there you have it! Our 3 days at Universal. It was so much fun, we really had such a blast! We’re so glad we were able to take our kids on such a fun family vacation, and are already looking forward to the next one! (….. in like 10 years.)
