Universal Studios (02/10/22)

Well, the last day of our Orlando Parks adventure had at last arrived. Over the past week or so, we’ve started telling the twins “tomorrow, we’re going on a BIG abenture!” to let them know that we were going to a park the next day. We may have unintentionally cut off our ability to use the work “adventure” in the future 😂.

For our final theme park day, we went to the “Universal Studios” side of the park today. But, as we did yesterday, (we ain’t no fools!) we went directly to the Harry Potter section, which features London and Diagon alley in this park.

We went immediately to the ‘Escape from Gringotts’ ride. Jonas is really close to finishing Harry Potter 7 at this point, so it was fun to see him correctly identify many of the things referenced in the book in Diagon Alley. We saw the Knight bus and King’s Cross, and number 12 Grimmauld Place. 

Guess what? Logan is tall enough to ride the Escape from Gringotts ride! We took everyone through the line and Jonathan and the twins waited in the child swap area. The twins at first loved the waiting area and the 3d glasses, but then started crying when they realized that there was a whole ride out the window that they didn’t get to do.

After the first group rode, we did the child swap and Jonathan, Jonas, and Logan rode the ride again. It is a very fun ride. The twins were REALLY mad at this point. They seemed to be pretty sure that Jonathan was their ticket onto the ride, and so they just lost it when he left. So, while the rest of the crew rode the ride, those who were not riding left with screaming twins. It was so fun. 😑😑

After emerging from Gringotts, we wandered Diagon Alley for a while and saw the sights. There’s a dragon that breathes fire every 10 minutes and the Weasley Wizard Wheezes (so much better than Zonko’s, let’s be honest — Those Weasleys: they’re going to go far, I think). We wandered down Knockturn Alley for a bit and then did some shopping. The kids decided to get souvenir t-shirts, which we think will be excellent for our nomad year. 

After donning our new t-shirts, we split into two groups with Jonathan and the twins in one and everyone else in the other. 

It should be noted, by the way, that we loved having Jess with us at Universal. She was so fun to hang out with and she was kind enough to be the third group leader when we split into three groups. 

The twins and Jonathan headed over to the Simpsons area, where they rode the alien-saucer-dumbo-style ride and ingested a very needed snack in an unexpectedly shady spot. 

They then headed over to the E.T ride, where the height requirement was 34 inches (not 36!). Oh my word, the twins rode the heck out of that ride. They enjoyed every aspect of it: the spooky cave (the forest where you wait in line), the individual “bicycle” seats, and all the “monsters.” They would have ridden that ride all day if they had their way. 

Meanwhile, we in the other group headed over to ride the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. Unfortunately, both Jonas and Logan are too short to ride it, so we got a child swap pass so I could ride it after Clara and Jess rode. While the boys and I waited for them, we went and rode the Transformers ride. Then I rode it the Rockit (and Clara came with me again). And then we all rode the Fast and the Furious ride.

Both groups met up outside of the E.T ride and Jonathan and Logan ran over to the Minions ride. Everyone else got a snack and played at the Feivel’s playground area. (Of Feivel goes west. etc.? I loved that movie when I was a kid)

Originally, we had promised the twins that they could go on the minions ride, but we discovered that there was a minimum height of 36 inches in order to ride. So just Jonathan and Logan went to ride it and we tried to keep it quiet from the Twins. 

However! There’s a happy ending to this story! While standing in line, Jonathan heard and announcement about “All children under the height requirements should sit in stationary seating.” He asked one of the workers and it turns out that if you’re willing to skip the moving chairs and sit on benches at the front of the theater, you can bring in whoever you want! Kids! People with heart conditions! Pregnant people! Shoooot!

Logan gave his stamp of a approval to the minion ride, so they came back to the Feivel area to collect the twins and take them.

However, in the meantime, we had discovered that there was a waterslide in the Feivel area! But this waterslide had little inflatable raft things, so you didn’t get super wet on the way down! Clara and Jonas had a great time taking Evie and Isaac up and riding down with them. When Jonathan and Logan got back, Logan rode it too and declared it awesome. 

There was a small Woody the Woodpecker roller coaster right next to Feivel’s play area, so I took the twins while everyone got in line and rode that. It was a very Flight-of-the-Hippogryph level roller coaster. Check us out, we are such roller coaster connoisseurs. 

While the twins and I were waiting for the others, we (okay, fine, I!) decided that some popcorn was in order. We went over and ordered the smallest size that they have. And the girl working the counter asked me if I’d like an extra cup. And I said “Yes! That would be great”. I was thinking that I could divide the popcorn between the two containers to forestall a yam fight. So she gave me an extra container, and then filled it about half full of popcorn and only charged me for the one. I thought that was swell of her.

Jonathan, Logan, and the Twins then went to ride the Minions ride while everyone else rode the Jimmy Fallon ride.  Twice. It was surprisingly awesome.

While waiting to join up with the larger group, Logan noticed that there were Mardi Gras performers handing out beads to those who would dance for them. So he bravely walked up and danced about 6 times with different groups and charmed many socks off many feet. 

After joining up again, we headed back to the Hogwarts Express. It is such a cute ride. And going through King’s cross was fun.

They even have the part where you disappear through the wall between platforms 9 and 10:

And then of course, we got to hang out on platform 9 3/4 for a bit before boarding the Hogwart’s express:

Our group is large enough that we had an entire compartment to ourselves and everyone thoroughly enjoyed watching Harry foil a dementor attack in the corridor. And seeing the spider candies escape the snack trolley.

We had not had a chance to ride Hagrid’s Motorbike ride the day before and we wanted to make sure to do it before we left. Oh my word, I’m so glad we did. It was definitely one of our favorite rides. We did child swap again and Logan and the twins watched Octonauts while everyone else took turns going on the ride. 10 out of 10 would ride again and again.

We had time for one more set of rides, so Jonathan, Jonas, and Logan headed to Flight of the Hippogryph, while Jill, Jess, Clara and the twins went to ride the Incredible Hulk ride (utilizing parent swap, of course). 

While the Hippogryph group was riding, the Hogwarts castle show began and they were able to see it good portion of it on their way back to meet up at the Hulk. We’ve concluded that Disney does a better fireworks show, but the Hogwarts castle show was still pretty fun. 

The timing worked out perfectly so that Jonathan was able to join me and Clara for the parent swap on the hulk ride. It was a perfect end to the two days at Universal. Jonas is now heck-bent on eating his vegetables and fruits so that he’ll be tall enough to go on the fast roller coasters someday soon. 

As promised from the day before, we ate at the Universal City Walk for dinner that night. It was getting chilly, but there were outdoor heaters that kept everyone relatively toasty. The lines for both Panda Express and Moe’s Southwest Cuisine were enormous, but we eventually got our food and ate without any major tantrums. 

After finishing up our food, we headed back home. It was definitely a later night than the previous evening, but we still got home earlier than either of our Dizzy days.
All in all, we’re glad that we decided to do the parks while we were in Orlando — but we are so tired. There’s a big part of me that is very excited to get back to a normal routine.