This was our Universal Studios day. The park opened at 9am, but we weren't in any hurry and headed over around 10. On the walk over I found a little friend on the underside of a leaf:
Hello little snail
But you'd rather see more about the park, wouldn't you? Ok, here we go.
Park Map
Map map
Park guide
The first attraction we came to was Shrek 4D: A 3D movie with moving seats and physical effects like water, wind, smell, etc. When we rode this at Universal Hollywood in 2015, I was pretty lukewarm to it but this time was much better. Exact same show, but we weren't hot and tired this time - being fresh and energized makes a difference.
After Shrek, I rode the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit coaster while Todd waited. The coaster was fun and it had a neat gimmick: Every seat has it's own speakers, and each rider gets to pick which music plays for him or her. When you sit down and secure the lap bar over you, there's a touchscreen panel in front of you with different categories of music like pop/rock, country, disco, club/electronic, etc. Once you select a category, there are 5-6 different songs in each category to choose from. You can browse or change your selection, but you only have about 30 seconds to do so - a song is chosen for you if you don't pick by the time the car passes under the control booth. I was pleasantly surprised to see Le Disko by Shiny Toy Guns as a choice, so that's what I rode to.
Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit
Flat on your back going up the lift hill
Yes, there are inversions
I met up with Todd again after it was over, and we walked over to the Transformers ride, which is pretty much just like Spiderman...but with Transformers. I don't really care about the franchise, and the movies are god-awful, but the ride is really fun. (These pictures were taken the evening before.)
The ride building is just stuck in between the 50's diner and the streets of New York/San Francisco area - like it just plopped down from the sky.
An impressive figure
5 minute wait? Don't mind if I do. Even though this picture was taken in passing on the evening before, the wait was no longer on this day - we walked right onto the ride.
After Transformers we rode the Revenge of the Mummy coaster, and it definitely was a highlight. It has a great queue (although we bypassed most of it with our Express Pass), and terrific fire effects, including a room where fire rolls across the ceiling over your head. This indoor coaster stops and starts and reverses direction, keeping you in the dark (literally) as to what will happen next. We rode it several times over the next couple of days, and the only complaint we had was that near the end there were a couple of places where the car came to a stop with a very hard jerk. It was hard enough to double us up over the lap bar, and everyone in the vehicle made an "Oof!" noise. It became really funny by the 3rd time we rode it.
After the Mummy we walked around to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter area and Diagon Alley. Just like Hogsmeade and Hogwarts at Islands of Adventure, Diagon Alley is incredibly well done. The outside is a London facade, and the entrances to the area are not marked - we almost walked past them. Once inside, you are transported to a fully realized Harry Potter world. Take a look:
Welcome to Diagon Alley
Stage area
The amazing dragon atop Gringotts Bank. This beast occasionally breathes fire.
View from the other side, near the entrance to Knockturn Alley. This whole area is filled with interactive goodies that can be activated if you buy a special wand. See the umbrella in the upper left? Cast the spell correctly and you can make it rain.
Gringotts Bank with dragon at the end of Diagon Alley. Directly behind me here is...
...the exit out of the area and back into London.
Here's what it looks like from the London side
We walked through all the shops (which were the best-themed I've ever seen, with the most unique merchandise) and through the (purposefully) dark and seedy-looking Knockturn Alley, then we rode Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts.
The queue for the ride is excellent. It starts off in the bank lobby, where animatronic goblins are busy at work.
Chandelier before descending toward the vaults. After the lobby, you head down into the bank offices, then take an elevator down into the caverns far beneath the bank. The loading area has stalactites hanging from the ceiling and tunnels leading off into the darkness.
The Gringotts ride is a little bit like the Mummy in that your in a car that moves along the track like a (in this case, gentle) coaster. The car stops and starts and different locations (and does other things I won't give away) and your presented with 3D movies along the way that add to the "escape" story. Once again, it was exceedingly well done and gentle enough to be family-friendly.
After Escape from Gringotts it was time for lunch, so we headed over to the Springfield (Simpsons) area for lunch and ordered chicken and waffle sandwiches at Cletus' Chicken Shack. When we were at Universal Studios Hollywood the year prior we had these sandwiches and they were delicious. Not so at Universal Orlando - they were barely lukewarm, the waffles were dry and overdone and the whole thing was pretty flavorless. It had definitely become standard theme-park quality food. Disappointed, we choked it down with lots of water then walked around Springfield for a bit before riding The Simpsons Ride.
Eating in Moe's...
...complete with Barney
Kang & Kodos' Twirl 'n' Hurl
"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man."
Accidental shoe shot
Mmm...donuts. *drool*
I'm a (classic) Simpsons fan and I love this ride - the humor is spot on.
"Welcome to a magical journey through my mouth!"
All alone in the pre-show room since the attendant counted wrong and there were too many people to ride at once
The world of facts
We next rode Men In Black, a competitive moving shooting gallery ride that despite the age of its theme was still pretty fun, followed by another ride on Escape from Gringotts and the Mummy. We headed back to the hotel after that and relaxed, coming back to the park later that evening.
When we got back we tried to do the Terminator 2 3D show (which we both thought was closed years ago). The shows are only at certain times, and we happened to be in the area about 15 minutes before the next one, so we went inside and waited. Once they let us in, we watched the pre-show which featured a great live actress, then entered the theater. The live show started, but after about 3 minutes it was clear something that was supposed to happen didn't (we'd learn the next day that robots were supposed to rise out of the floor on the sides of the theater) - the actress fumbled for a second, stalled for time by pretending to use the phone, then an announcer came on and said the show was cancelled due to technical difficulty. Everyone groaned and on the way out employees handed out a 1-use front of the line pass to any attraction that used Express Pass.
There was only one Terminator show left that day, so we just skipped it for the rest of the park. We walked down the street to ride E.T. Adventure. On the E.T. ride, you board a vehicle that's like a platform with a lot of bicycles attached to it. The platform is suspended from a rail above and you sit on the bicycles. The idea is that you're riding the bike then at the pivotal moment (like in the movie) you fly into the air with E.T.'s help. Then you fly into outer space. Then you fly through a wormhole and end up at E.T.'s home planet where you're supposed to find his 3 friends. Then there's a lot of music, and singing, and fountains, and cavorting baby E.T.'s...
Do yourself a favor and skip this ride. Unless you're with small children...that you don't like.
After E.T., we spent time in Diagon Alley, rode Escape from Gringotts again, rode the Mummy again, and rode Transformers another time before leaving the park for the day.
Another shot inside the Gringotts lobby
The dragon's fire isn't on a set schedule. We didn't see it when we were in the area today.
Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes
The Fountain of Eros in the London section outside Diagon Alley. Parked next to it is the Knight Bus.
Clouds coming in
Eros Fountain with Wyndham's Theatre facade in the background
A wider view
Here I am taking the shot and nearly falling over in the process. It's really getting ready to rain.
We closed the park at 8pm and after exiting headed over to CityWalk where it started to pour down rain. Neither of us were hungry for dinner, so Todd got a Ben & Jerry's ice cream while I got coffee from Starbucks. We sat for a while under an awning and watched the people run by, then walked back to the hotel for the evening once the rain slacked off a bit. It had been another great day.
The big concern now was hurricane Hermine which was schedule to make landfall the next day. We had been looking at the weather throughout the day, and luckily the storm was tracking further to the North. It was supposed to miss us, but still we weren't sure what tomorrow would bring. Stay tuned!
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