Happily Adventures After | Home of HAA Disney

Hey Howdy HAA Everyone (Ok, Be honest, do you like the HAA as “Hey”? I’m trying it out as in Happily Adventures After abbreviated; let me know!).

Welcome back to the Happily Adventures After!

In today’s post, we’re venturing out of the Walt Disney World bubble and making our way … Into the UNKNOWN (Disney reference! Extra points if you sang that note from Frozen 2). We are chatting about our April 2024 visit to Universal Orlando Resorts!

I will start off by saying, my cousin is a big Harry Potter fan. She has wanted to visit Universal Orlando Resorts for many years. I have been to Universal Orlando Resorts twice before; once in March 2013 and once in March 2023 (this is a story in itself … my mom and I started out by wanting to go to Universal Orlando’s City Walk for dinner after a day of shopping so we were in really pretty dresses and shoes, and ended up randomly buying a ticket to the parks. I’m pretty sure many of the Team Members could not figure out why on earth we were in the parks for the last 3 hours of park hours in very pretty dresses… but we had fun!). 

I want to preface that my cousin and I had a great time, especially being together. We enjoyed our time at the parks and enjoyed the time we had together. It was a great day for us.  My experience, however, of the parks was less than I could have thought. I really hope that we experienced a “one off” negative day and  we will have an opposite experience in a future visit. 

I do know not everything and anything will be perfect however some things were not ok. I have reached out to Universal Orlando Resorts guest services to discuss this with them, and have had a positive experience with the Team Member who heard my complaints about our experience.

I will also note I am a Walt Disney World (and Disney Company) person through and through. Universal Orlando Resorts is a much different experience and park than Walt Disney World. I personally like WDW’s experience and customer service they provide much better than Universal Orlando in general. That bias may come out in this, however, I think that the experience we had with an overall impression of the park (not just today’s discussion but the other times my family and I have been here) rings true.

So, without further a due, let’s get into this!

A Universally Interesting Day

Embarking on a day at Universal Orlando Resort was a fun birthday gift from my mom for my cousin and I (our birthdays are 2 weeks apart). Since this was something we both wanted, she happily purchased our tickets, and I purchased the Standard Express Passes.As a reminder, Universal Express Pass is Universal Orlando’s “Skip the Line” pass; meaning you can skip the normal stand by queue or line only once with this and cannot ride the ride more than once in the Express Pass line. You are more than welcome to stand in the stand by to ride again. Universal Orlando also has an Unlimited Express pass that allows you to “Skip the Lines” an unlimited number of times at each ride/attraction. This is more expensive to purchase, but is also provided to guests of Universal Orlando Resort’s “premier” resorts complementary which is a big perk. If you want to know more, I highly suggest checking out AllEars.net and/or Mammoth Club and their Youtube videos explaining this! Both have helped me tremendously. 

We purchased both of these in advance online with our Universal account. Our Tickets and Express pass in total cost $892.46 USD with Tax or $1,255.89 CDN for our day. 

I do think that the cost of Universal Orlando Resorts tickets are very expensive, especially the Express Passes, for what you get in the park. This is again just my opinion; some people think Disney is expensive for what you get and that’s ok! 

The cost break down is as follows;

• 2-Park 1-Day Park-to-Park Dated Adult Tickets at $214.00 USD plus tax per person.
• 2 Park Standard (Single Use) Express Pass which was $204.99 USD plus tax per person.

Thrills Cut Short!

Amidst the thrill of rides and immersive experiences, our visit on Saturday, April 13, 2024, revealed both the highs and lows of a theme park adventure. 

Saturday, April 13/24 Universal Orlando hosted “Grad Night” meaning the theme park closes it’s doors to regular day guests early (6pm). As a side note, I had to look up what Grad Night  was, and I think it is really cute! 

Grad Night is something that Universal Orlando puts on for Florida High School students who are graduating. As a group, these students can come and enjoy the park with their friends and other graduates. I think it is a really wonderful and fun idea! The park’s operational hours, put a damper on our timing as the parks closed at 6pm. We had to fit everything in from about noon (we don’t tend to leave the house before 10am. We aimed for that, which meant we left at 11am) to 6pm. This was going to be tight, but it was doable; we have Express Pass!

Arrival and Exploration

Our day began with anticipation as we arrived at Universal Orlando Resort, armed with a 1 park to park ticket and a Standard Express Pass to enhance our experience. Navigating through CityWalk, we immersed ourselves in the vibrant atmosphere before venturing into Universal Studios. We quickly took in the sights and sounds of Universal City Walk. This is something that I would like to experience on it’s own as I have heard wonderful things about the restaurants here. 

We did not pay for parking as we were dropped off. The parking situation, and getting to the Drop Off zone even around noon was a cluster and very unorganized. It took about 30 minutes to get through this traffic, even with the park opening at 8am.

Some Call It Magic (You know..Some Call It Magic CD on the Wizards of Waverly Place Album)

Making our way to the parks, began with a lackluster ticket pickup experience at the “Will Call” area. We chose to pick up our tickets and have a physical copy of them instead of using the app. Call me old school or crazy but I did not want to use my phone all day for my ticket and eExpress Pass. 

As we approached the Will Call on the Universal Orlando park side, we were greeted with the Universal Orlando Icon. It was such a beautiful day and set the scene for such a lovely time together at the park. When we approached the self serve ticket pick up, we noticed that it would not read my credit card. Making our way to a Team Member for additional directions, the initial team member failed to provide any meaningful assistance despite our clear explanation of the issues we faced with the ticket machines. This lack of proactive support was unacceptable. This Team Member just pointed; did nothing more than say “go there”. 

The initial Team Member overseeing the “Will Call” ticket pickup process failed to provide assistance and merely directed us to the machines, despite being informed that the machine would not work due to a hyphenation error in my last name by the credit card company—an understandable mistake. As someone who was not a frequent to the parks, it made it very difficult to navigate.

The lack of support and proactive problem-solving was disappointing and added unnecessary confusion to our ticket pickup process.Moving over to the next Team Member, our experience was much different. They were very kind and helpful. In contrast, the subsequent Team Member at “Will Call” demonstrated commendable assistance and kindness.Once were untamed per toilets. we were in and off to the races!

Universal Orlando: It’s Gonna Be a Note to Remember (HSM 3 song anyone?)

Scanning our newly acquired ticket, we made our way into Universal Orlando Park. Universal Orlando uses facial recognition, or did during our trip in April 2024. I have heard that they are rolling out this concept into Epic Universe when it opens in 2025. 

Facial Recognition: The use of Facial Recognition can be a take it or leave it for some people. I do know the Disney Company uses it for their North American tickets and Disney Cruise Line. I am OK with it, or biometric scans, however I am not a huge fan. I am not sure if you can ask the Team Member when scanning your ticket if you can opt out of this if you are not comfortable with it. I just wanted to point this out as some are not comfortable with this technology.

Large Bags: Another thing to note is that Universal Orlando resorts do not allow large bags on some rides. Some rides require you to put your bags unless very small such as a Crossbody or fanny pack in a locker. These lockers are free for you to use for the duration of your ride time. If you need a larger locker, they come at an additional cost. In the past, I did use the lockers when riding a ride this was because I brought my backpack with me. This time, I chose to break out the old Coach Crossbody bags. This was perfect for keeping my belongings close to me at all times while being able to bring them on the right.

Push It To the Limit (Thank you as a nod to Corbin Bleu…Again DCOM Pun)

As we made our way into Universal Orlando, we took in the sights and sounds around us during our mad race to get into the park we insured we hit our must do. I wanted to do the newest ride at Universal Orlando, which is Villain Con: Minion Blast  however, we chose that this ride would be when we came back to if we had time Spoiler alert we didn’t make it back.

I don’t know the Universal Orlando and Islands of Adventure parks as well as I do Walt Disney World. I attempted to do my best navigating without a park map, we strolled into Production Central. We passed by Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rock It, we looked at it, said “wow that’s big”and kept going. My cousin and I  agreed it was not going to happen. The 90 degree vertical lift hill is enough to make us both scared. I have ridden it before in 2013 and vowed to never ride that again.Waling down into New York, here we circled around seeing Race Through New York with Jimmy Fallon. This was not on our list of rides to do as it is very nausea inducing. Moving through New York, we located the  Revenge of the Mummy. At this moment, I chose that I again will not ride this ride. I have horror flashbacks of riding this in 2013 My cousin, who wanted to ride it, using her Express Pass of course, said it was a  great ride.! Just as a note, my husband has ridden this a couple times, and he also said it was very fun and pretty thrilling. 

So, walking through the New York into San Fransisco transition (don’t you wish it was that close and easy to travel between the two!), we remembered something the lovely Team Member said at Will Call. She said if the ride wait time is less than 20 minutes do not use Express pass. 

Keeping this in mind,  Fast and The Furious Super Charge called our names. This was one of my rides I wanted to do. Looking at the posted wait time, the ride time was over 20 minutes; therefore we used Express Pass and walked to the very front of the Pre Show. As a shout out, the Team Members who were actors within the Pre Show MADE THE RIDE! They absolutely were phenomenal and very funny. I have a dry sense of humour and this matched. My word, they were spectacular.  

I have heard so many conflicting reviews of Fast and the Furious Super Charged, and I look forward to seeing it for myself and frankly wanted to. I can honestly say I would actually go back on this ride again with other family members who not only enjoy the Fast and the Furious franchise, but also to experience the irony and corny jokes that came with the ride. There were a lot of screens involved in the ride which was not my favourite and did make me a little nauseous even after taking a anti-nausea medication. Overall it was a good ride.

After we were super charged and I sent a few photos of all of the cars to my husband (because he really likes these movies and knows the cars), my cousin and I strolled down to the back of the park, World Expo, with 1 intention: Men in Black Alien Attack. 

This is my favourite ride I went on that day and in Universal Orlando Resorts. It has been since I went once in 2013. I think it has something to do with my love of Men in Black. I truly love this movie franchise and have since I was very young. As a kid, I was afraid and still am a lot of things like ET (you will notice ET Adventures is no where on this daily recap as this movie still makes me uncomfortable). I was nowhere near afraid of Men in Black, not a chance! 

As a reminder, this ride is one you need to put your bags in a locker for unless it is cross body bag.We both absolutely adored this ride.My cousin whipped my bum with her score. Her shooting accuracy with a much greater than mine! 

Once we got off the ride we laughed talking about how much fun we had and that ride will forever be my favourite universal Orlando resort.

We continued continued over to get a treat at a Expo Eats across from Men in Black Alien Attack. We spotted an ICEE and were very excited to have one. 

We picked up ICEE’s (blue raspberry for the win!) and a churro each (no price listed on the menu) totalling approximately $20 USD with tax included. It is very hard online to find a price for each of these items therefore the prices are not included as I lost the receipt. I will say this was expensive. I know everyone speaks how Disney is very expensive. I found the quality of food and snack at this location to be outlandish and not representative of the quality it could’ve been for the price.

Lets Break Out of the Bank!

Taking our snacks, we quickly headed over to the World of Harry Potter  to take in all the sites. Entering the Wizarding World of Harry Potter- Diagon Alley, I watched my cousin light up. This time was her time and she was off to the races. 

I stood back and watched as she took it all in. This was the best part of the experience; watching it through her eyes, seeing the books come to life right in front of her. It was  a blessing for me to see as we walked through the shops and land. She was so ecstatic to see everything going on. She pointed out moments from the books and the movies allowing me to take part with her, even though I had not a clue what was going on (I’ve never seen or read Harry Potter).

We saw the dragon breathe fire, which was absolutely phenomenal. I think Universal Orlando outdid themselves with the Harry Potter expansions.We walked over to Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts with a posted 65 minute wait, so Express Pass it was! At this point the Single Use Express Pass was really paying for itself! This ride was something I look forward to doing as it is spoken so highly about it. While we were approaching the line, it seemed to be broke down for extended periods of time times during our trip.

Before I get in to the negative experience, I will say this ride was phenomenally done. For someone who doesn’t know Harry Potter, I really enjoyed it. When it did make me nauseous, I took my 3-D glasses off, and it all went away. The queue for this ride, outdoes anything I have seen at Disney the attention to detail and precision. It is immaculate! Though I do not know the exact story was able to continue to understand and see what was going on during my time in this ride, my cousin did explain it so that I could keep up with what was going on overall I thought this ride as did my cousin was great.

Diagon Alley Adventures

After exiting Gringotts, we were relieved that we escaped! We began to explore Diagon Alley. Again, I think that Universal outdid themselves with the attention to detail in this land. Though I have never ever seen the movies or read the books, I was in awe of it all. They did a phenomenal job at telling the story of Harry Potter. We walked over to The Leaky Cauldron. This quick service restaurant provided my Harry Potter loving cousin an amazing experience. 

Standing in line, I realized I wanted to pay with cash. This served a bit of a problem as there was a big push to use their app to order the food and drink. As we were only picking up water and a treat, my cousin flagged down a Team Member to ask how we should do this. They quickly let us skip the standby line and move right up to the cash register. I will remind you that Universal Orlando has a big push to use your credit or debit card, especially when we were there. If you are using cash, ask a Team Member to assist you. 

At the Leaky Cauldron, we purchased:

• 1 Butterbeer for $8.49 USD/$11.98 CDN plus tax
• 1 Gillywater (see above note about throwing mine out) for $6.00 USD/$8.49 CDN plus tax

My cousin LOVED the Butterbeer! I, who am not a huge fan of super sweet items, thought it was good, not great. The Gillywater, though fun and an amazing themed item, was just water!

Traveling through the Leaky Cauldron, we saw all of the attention to details represented again in the restaurant. This is such a highlight to Universal’s ability to design. I really think they shine brightly here. They really chose to immerse guests into the World of Harry Potter. It was an absolutely incredibly themed restaurant! We didn’t get anything to eat as we had lunch prior to leaving home, and would be eating later… plus we were racing the clock!

Taking our drinks, we motored over to the Hogwarts Express!

Hogsmeade: A Wizard Filled Adventure

Once off the Hogwarts Express, we made our way through Hogsmeade with one thing on our minds; Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Walking through Hogsmeade, we both were in awe at the incredible detail and realness of the land around us. This was an incredible place to me! We saw that Hagrid’s Magical Motorbike Adventures was at a 2.5hr wait. We hoped that this wait time would drop to around 1 hour as it does not take the Universal Express Pass of any type. I did hope to ride this during our time at Universal Orlando, but sadly we did not.

In the previous times at Universal Orlando, I had walked through the queue of Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. It is absolutely spectacular! I again think this is where Universal Orlando Resorts shine. They completely and totally out do Walt Disney World here. I’ve said it before, the attention to detail and realness of this land and the rides within it really bring the world to life. You truly feel like you are immersed within the Harry Potter world. 

Once approaching the Hogwarts castle, all I could hear my cousin say was “WOW”. As I watched her, her joy and excitement radiated through her. With our crossbody bags, we did not have to place our belongings in a locker; rather we walked through the line. This wait time, sitting around 40 minutes, prompted us to utilize the Express Pass lane. Though you do miss a portion of the queue which again is spectacular, we only really waited about 10 minutes in total and that was with our walk through the queue and stopping to take pictures of everything around us. 

As this ride is very well known to be nausea and motion sickness inducing, I opted out of it; rather walking through the line with my cousin until she got to the front and seated. At each location, I told a Team Member that I was just walking with her until she got to the front. If you remember, she is an adult, but I did not want to make her walk and wait alone and wanted to see her excitement through her eyes.

While she was on the ride, I sat off to the corner near the Child Swap area. The Team Members running the ride completely were okay with me being here. After I saw my cousin come around the corner from completing the ride, she was so happy. She absolutely loved this ride. She said she thought it was 10 times better than Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts ride. She said though she knew I couldn’t do it due to the motion sickness and nausea, she wished I was able to because she thought I would love it (as a note, my cousin is a specular writer for creative writing, as in she should have her work published – she continued to tell me about the details within the ride as represented by the books and movies and from what she told me I could clearly and vividly see what she was saying thoughout our conversation. It sounded amazing).

After exiting the ride, we ended up in a gift shop Filch’s Emporium of Confiscated Goods. We looked around as we were attempting to find something to take home with us. My cousin initially wanted a wand however she ended up purchasing a scarf with her Hogwarts house on it (which house I am honestly not sure). It was a very pretty scarf and she could wear it in our winters (which are cold… and they suck… I’m not a snow person). We also ended up finding 2 key chains with our names on them. This was very special as both she and I have unique names; ones that are not ever really on key chains or anything like this. I quickly saw her name, which has become more popular over the years, and spun the display eagerly to see if they had my name. I squealed with excitement when I found my name. London, especially spelled my way (like the city), is not usually found on something. Only once did I see it on a souvenir like a key chain. Quickly grabbing mine and hers, we purchased these as something special for us to take home with us to commemorate the trip. My day was made from here on out. 

Stepping Into To The Unknown… Again?!

As our day unfolded at Universal Orlando Resorts, it became clear that every moment was filled with both surprises and challenges. From navigating the intricate details of ticket pickup to experiencing the immersive worlds, it was a day unlike any other.

Stay tuned for Part 2 next week, where we’ll dive deeper into the magical and sometimes mysterious adventures we encountered!

With that, I say “See ya real soon!” until we meet again,

London

Note: Tax in the Universal Orlando Resort area is an additional 7% on your bill

Note: The Canadian Exchange rate quoted above is 1.41 CDN on 1 USD. This is what we paid at the time, not including credit card fees added, if applicable