Categories
Uncategorized

Universal Studios Experience

Whilst our trip to Orlando was mainly based around/at Walt Disney World we also wanted to go to Universal Studios.

We bought the 14 day 3 park explorer ticket with our holiday package but with the way our plans and other factors such as times and weather we ended up only going to Universal Studios for 1 day. However we’re still glad to have had that ticket type as it gave us flexibility and good value.

Even though we only did 1 day we still had a great time and got all the major things we wanted done.

© Laura Merritt, 2019. (own photo)

The day we decided to go we headed over at midday as we had a breakfast reservation within Walt Disney World. We got an Uber from our resort which was $20 for a 20 minute trip. We used Uber for the first time and on several occasions this day as we also stopped at the shopping outlets at the end of the day. We had a great experience with all of our drivers and found it a really easy, friendly and convenient service. We would definitely use them again to get between theme parks.

We picked our tickets up with our confirmation from will call at the front of the park which was quick and easy and then we were in! We had a look around as this was the first time both me and my mam had ever been to Universal so we wanted to take it all in.

We spent a lot of time in The Simpson’s theme area as I have loved The Simpsons since being young (as you can see from my T-shirt in the previous image). We rode the rides a few times, played the arcade style games and even met them.

© Laura Merritt, 2019. (own photo)

We also rode E.T Adventure, did Shrek 4-D. Hollywood Rip Ride RockIt which was amazing and so fun! We loved it so much we even bought our video from it! I don’t think I’ve ever had so much adrenaline after coming off a rollercoaster!

We decided to head over to Universal Island of Adventure by taking the Hogwarts Express which was great. We really enjoyed this as we aren’t the biggest Harry Potter fans so it was great to enjoy it. This was actually the only Harry Potter attraction we experienced as it wasn’t our priority this trip but we would love to see a bit more on future trips.

However when we arrived at Universal Island of Adventure the weather had completely changed whilst we were on the train and it was a full on storm. We quickly bought rain ponchos and headed for cover on The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride. When we got to the ride an announcement was made that all outdoor rides had been stopped due to lighting in the area. We waited out the storm there and the attendants could not have been nicer. They brought out games for kids to play and chatted to us, also keeping us updated.

By the time the storm cleared we had waited 50 minutes and rides were still not operational. So because we were soaked and the park was closing in 1 hour anyway we decided to call it a day.

We headed back to Universal Studios on the Hogwarts Express and enjoyed some food at Hard Rock Cafe locates just outside the park. We loved having this restaurant so close to the park as they are a favourite of ours.

Mardi Gras was the season during our visit so we watched the parade and really enjoyed seeing it brought to life! They were lots of different events taking place for it which we’d again love to see more of it future trips.

© Laura Merritt, 2019. (own photo)

Our whole Universal Studios was great. We had a fantastic day and enjoyed every minute. We definitely will make more time for it on future trips and will definitely love to go to Island of Adventure to see it more and actually get on a ride haha, and of course go to the water park Volcano Bay. The whole day the longest we waited was 20 minutes which was amazing as we got so much done. We loved it and can’t wait to go back and see more!