A Day at Universal Orlando Resort: A Mix of Magic and Challenges – Part 2 – Happily Adventures After

Hey Howdy HAA Everyone!

Welcome back to Happily Adventures After!

We’re continuing our Orlando adventure today with Part 2 of our discussion on our April 2024 trip.

We’re still talking about our experiences outside the Walt Disney World bubble, specifically our visit to Universal Orlando Resort!

Just a quick reminder—I’m a Disney person through and through, so Universal Orlando is a very different experience for me. That might show in this post, but I’m excited to share more about how this visit compared to what I love about Disney. Stay tuned as we dive deeper into the details of our day and how it stacked up against the magic of Walt Disney World!

This is Jurassic Park

As we exited the gift shop, we made our way out of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Here we stopped for pictures in front of the Hogsmeade castle. This is quite the beautiful castle. Do I think it gives the Walt Disney World Cinderella Castle a run for it’s money, no. But I do think it is absolutely beautiful it it’s own right.

We then made our way over to the Jurassic Park area of Islands of Adventure. Here we did not stay too long as we needed a quick dash to the next attraction we wanted to ride; The Many Adventures of Spider-Man. We knew we wanted to come back for Jurassic Park River Adventure but we were on a time crunch. This ride was currently at a 65 minute wait, and is about a 15 minute ride. We wanted to make sure we got The Many Adventures of Spider-Man in so with a mad dash, we hurried over to this Super Hero Landing to ensure we got to ride it (spoiler alert, we never got to ride Jurassic Park River Adventure because it was too late).

Avengers Assemble

Making our way through Toon Lagoon, and over to Marvel Super Hero Landing was quite a rush. Passing rides such as Skull Island: Reign of Kong, we debated about going on this ride. It was another 4D attraction, and we only wanted to make sure we hit the next 4D attraction, The Many Adventures of Spider-Man, so we opted out of it. Neither of us are fans of the King Kong series so it also didn’t mean anything to us.

Walking into Marvel Super Hero Landing was such an odd juxtaposition; Marvel at a Universal Park and not Walt Disney owed. I do know about the Licensing agreement between Marvel, Disney and Universal but it was just so funny to me to see so many Disney owed IP’s in one place. I will say what made it funnier was that they were all the comic book characters; not the MCU. This made it more palatable as we walked through but it was still funny to see.

We approached The Many Adventures of Spider-Man with a 45 minute posted wait time, however we used our Express Pass (which served so incredible throughout this short day – there was no way we would have been able to do as much as we did without it). Once in line, we began to look through the queue, which was decorated to the Spider Man series. It was very fun to point out all of the items that were used in the various Spider Man films (will say the Tom Holland ones are my favourite! He plays Spider Man PERFECTLY! But I do think Andrew Garfield is a great actor, and I have no interest in the Toby McGuire one but my husband and mom think they are well done!). We were met with a downtime while in the ride, again without the ride announcing it was closed. We actually were stuck within the queue for this ride for about 30 minutes not moving, however, there was no announcement or update on the app.

Finally the line was moving and we were loaded onto the ride. I have been on this before, and did enjoy it a second time. I again had to take off my 3D glasses to be able to enjoy the ride. I don’t think it totally distorts the picture as you can generally see everything going on and if you know the Spider Man series, you can follow along. I do think the screens and spinning can get a little out of control in this ride, and it can hit either way for motion sickness. My cousin really enjoyed the ride and didn’t have any issues with nausea or motion sickness. Overall, The Many Adventures of Spider-Man was very fun, just as I remembered! We really enjoyed being on this ride together!

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish Nightmare

So, we looked at our watches/phones and realized that we had only 45 minutes left of the park hour and until we had to be back in the pick up area for my mom to come get us (bless her heart!).

We had to find a ride with low wait times and one that could end out our fun day together. My mom said, driving on I4 so keep that one in mind), she was only 20 minutes away. We quickly decided that we could fit in Cat in the Hat in Seuss Landing.

We saunter over to Seuss Landing which was such a whimsical place. I think it is very fun to see this represented in a theme park. I was not a huge fan of Dr. Seuss books, but I do know most of them. It was fun to see how they engineered this to life!

We walked over to Cat in the Hat and saw it had a 15 minute wait. We wasted no time, and used our Express Pass which had us walk on to the ride.

My nightmare came true once loaded on this ride; it is the weirdest representation of Cat in the Hat (I know it’s the books and not the move) in a dark ride. It was the story but I will go out and saw Tim Burton style. It really was odd. I did have weird dreams of this for days to come. I can’t say I liked it, but I can’t say I hated it. My cousin didn’t like it at all and she for one loves Tim Burton style movies. It was just different; nothing bad but nothing good.

Shaking ourselves from this ride when it ended, we saw that my mom had texted us she was still sitting in traffic on I4 (is this a surprise to anyone? And she factored in for traffic time) and would be another 30 minutes (we’ve been so many times we can distinguish how long the traffic usually is or find the back way around).

With this great news, we had to choose one more ride to do! This was Flight of the Hippogriff!

You’re a Wizard Harry!

Moving through the crowds in the paths of least resistance, we quickly motored over to Harry Potter: Hogsmeade to get on Flight of the Hippogriff. This was a ride we both wanted to do especially when we were by Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

Getting in line for this 25 minute wait, we counted down that we had 35 minutes until pick up. We used our Express Pass for this in hopes it would cut down our wait time and it did! In total we waited about 15 minutes for this ride. The reason it is such a slow wait is because, at least when we were there, we only had 1 train loading guests. This puts a strain on how many riders can be on the ride at one time.

I was very antsy in waiting because we had to move back through the parks and City Walk to get to our pick up loaction. Within those 15 minutes, which were the longest of the day I swear, we had a nice chat about the time we had at Universal Studios Resort. We really did have a nice day and were happy to be there together. Once we approached the load for the train, we got onto the ride. This family coaster was very fun and a great way to end our time in Universal Orlando Resorts!

RUN Forest! (Bubba Gump Shrimp Restaurant in City Walk Reference there for ya)

Once off, we motored (had to pull my cousin away from taking pictures) to the park exit and through City Walk. I-4 traffic was so bad, we just met my mom at the pick up location about 5 minutes after she arrived.

Once we located her SUV, we hopped in and recounted out day. We overall had a really wonderful time. We did tell her however of some of the things we did miss out on and some complaints we had;

Rides We Missed Out On

On a normal park hour day and/or when we could have gotten there earlier I think that we could have done these. We however did not get to do the following rides;

-VillianCon Minion Blast

-Transformers the Ride 3D

-Hagrids Magical Motorbike Adventures – The ride was 2.5hr long all day which was a waste of our time for that day. I really do want to ride this in the future.

-Velocicoaster – My cousin and I didn’t want to at the time however I did by the end of the day

-Jurassic Park River Adventure

-The Incredible Hulk – I did this once when I was 17 and my husband still says to be “I can’t believe I got you on this ride”. He likes it. I don’t and neither does my cousin. It was not going to happen for us.

You’ll also note that the Simpson’s rides are out of this list. I have done the main ride before and passed out. We are both not fans of the franchise either therefore it was not something we wanted to do. I do have to say I’m excited from the DreamWorks Land that is open in June of 2024.

Express Pass Excellence!

We also realized that the Express Pass cost us about $22.78 plus tax per ride to skip the lines for the overall cost ($204.99 per pass at 9 rides we used it on – yes, I like math and did that in my head in the car). This is roughly what you would spend on 1 Individual Attraction Selection Lightening Lane (ILL) A La Cart Selection (Could that name get any longer?!) at Walt Disney World for something like Tron or Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind.

We actually, if you recall, paid $20 USD per person with Tron LightCycle Run during this trip so that “skip the line pricing” is not far off at all.

I really do think that the Express Pass, single use at least, is worth it if Universal is only 1 day of your trip. It really cuts down on time spent in line and allows you to do more in the parks. We could have brought that per ride cost down if we had about 4 more hours to do those 6 rides within the park; probably getting it down to $15 per ride (quick math for the fun of it; it would be $13.67USD plus tax per ride if we had time to do all 6 of those rides on our list above.

That cost per ride is much less than most ILL at Walt Disney World other than 7 Dwarfs Mine Train (normally around $10 USD plus tax per person). In the grand scheme of it all, that pricing per ride is pretty good!

I think the Express Pass is overall well worth the investment for the day if riding rides is your goal!

Some Areas of Concern

We also discussed some areas of concern about our day at Universal Orlando Resorts. I again know I am a Disney person, but some of these things were not to be experienced in a theme park or any public place.

This experience is by no means to harp on Universal and the quality they provide. I will know it may have just been the day and as I said in the beginning a “one off”. I do, however want to speak about the experiences for this price point and the time we had. I again have reached out to Universal Orlando Resorts to discuss this, to which they have provided 2 complementary tickets and 2 standard Express Passes for me and a guest to use at any time in the future. I really do hope that our future visits these complaints and remedied and it again was a “one off”.

The major areas of concern we experienced are;

Escape from Gringotts – Poor Customer Service

During our visit to Escape from Gringotts, I encountered a deeply disappointing and frustrating experience with a cast member that reflects poorly on Universal Orlando Resort’s customer service standards. I had a small crossbody bag containing a full, unopened disposable water bottle, which I was not informed was not allowed on the ride by any team member. As my cousin and I attempted to board the ride, the operating team member abruptly and rudely instructed me to throw away the water bottle, stating, “No water, throw it out.” I will note, my cousin had the exact same water bottle in her bag and it was the same size/type bag as mine. She was allowed to keep hers within her bag.

I calmly explained that I had not been informed of this policy and that the water bottle was sealed, easily fitting in my bag and remaining closed. I also emphasized that I required it for medication. Despite my polite inquiry, the team member remained unreasonably firm and dismissive, insisting that I discard the water immediately or leave the ride.

This interaction left me without the water I needed for my medication, which is timed and essential for me. I was then compelled to purchase a replacement water at a cost of about $7. This situation not only caused inconvenience but also highlighted a lack of empathy and consideration for guests with medical needs, reflecting poorly on the overall customer service experience at Universal Orlando Resort.

Hogwarts Express – Not So Express Customer Service

As I said, this was not the experience and day we thought we would have as we moved through the park.

We wanted to utilize our park ticket and ride the Hogwarts Express we exited the Harry Potter: Diagon Alley, to make our way over to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Hogsmeade in Islands of Adventure. This was the one ride my mom wanted to do very badly. She was sad that she did not get to experience this, however, she did not miss out on our poor experience. I was also looking forward to this ride and promised I would get her a video of it!

Walking into the Hogwarts Express, we utilize our Express Pass to maximize the 60 minute wait that was posted. The team members who checked our tickets and scanned our passes provided excellent services one call my cousin and I princess as she checked us in for a ride my cousin was enamoured with all of the details.

She even let me in on some of the secrets and back stories such as the perfume ad advertisement that was posted on the walls and how it related to the films and books. It wasn’t until we made our way to the loading platform and merge point express and not that our experience went south.

We encountered a deeply disappointing and concerning experience on the Hogwarts Express train that reflects poorly on Universal Orlando Resort’s customer service standards. We were placed in a train car with other riders who were significantly larger in size and did not fit comfortably in their seats. While we understand and respect individual body sizes, the lack of accommodation for guests of varying sizes resulted in an uncomfortable and cramped ride.

When we politely expressed our inability to find suitable seating due to the limited space, the team member responsible for seating guests responded dismissively, offering no assistance or empathy. Instead, we were told to either cram ourselves into the already crowded space or exit the train. This lack of consideration for guest comfort and safety was appalling.

Furthermore, the behavior of the other riders in the car, including speaking loudly throughout the entire ride and obstructing the screen, added to our dissatisfaction. Despite our requests for them to lower their voices and respect the experience for all guests, they disregarded our concerns. To make matters worse, these guests physically pushed me out of the train and down the walkway, showing a complete disregard for personal space and safety. It was shocking to witness such behaviour being allowed and tolerated within the park premises.

When we attempted to address our experience with team members on the Islands of Adventure side, we were met with a lack of empathy or support. The response to our concerns was dismissive, with no effort made to rectify the situation or offer a satisfactory resolution.

I must note again as said above, that the Team Members who scanned our tickets and Express Passes at the beginning and boarding of the Hogwarts Express Train in Universal Orlando were commendable in their kindness and professionalism. However, their positive demeanour only served to highlight the stark contrast in customer service we experienced during the ride itself. This incident has left us deeply disappointed and concerned about the overall guest experience and safety standards at Universal Orlando Resort. The ride itself was lovely, for what we could see of it. I really hope to do it again some day soon without these interruptions and other guest interactions.

Ride Down Time

Despite having Express Passes, my cousin and I encountered significant disappointment during our visit to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. While we were able to experience several rides, the frequent breakdowns of attractions disrupted our plans and wasted valuable time. Out of the nearly 8 rides we attempted, more than 4 went down for extended periods (20+ minutes) while we were waiting in line. The app did not accurately reflect these closures, leaving us unaware until we reached the ride queues.

The lack of timely communication regarding ride closures was frustrating, with team members only announcing the closures after attendees were already in line. This lack of transparency led to unnecessary waiting and confusion. Despite these challenges, the only team member who showed kindness and assistance was the Express Pass checker at Escape from Gringotts. She made efforts to retrieve our Single Use Express Passes after we had already scanned in and the ride unofficially closed. However, due to the closure, we were forced to forfeit this ride on our Express Pass and endure an additional hour-long wait to experience it.

This experience not only disrupted our enjoyment but also highlighted systemic issues in ride management and communication within the park.

Health and Safety Issue with Smoking and No Shoes

During our time at Islands of Adventure (IOA), we were shocked and deeply disappointed by the lack of enforcement of basic hygiene and safety rules, reflecting poorly on Universal Orlando Resort’s commitment to guest well-being and satisfaction.

We observed multiple guests, at least five, walking around barefoot on the pavement, disregarding the “shoes on” rule. While we understand that water rides can lead to wet shoes, the failure of team members to enforce this rule poses a significant health and safety hazard for all guests. The disregard for basic hygiene standards was appalling and unacceptable.

Furthermore, we witnessed at least twelve guests smoking cigarettes and/or vape pens while walking around both IOA and Universal Studios. Despite the designated smoking areas provided by Universal Orlando Resort, the lack of action to prevent guests from smoking outside these areas is deeply concerning. This not only poses a health risk but also creates discomfort and inconvenience for non-smoking guests. The failure to enforce these fundamental rules not only detracts from the guest experience but also compromises the overall health and safety of all visitors. We were appalled by the lack of intervention and oversight in these matters, highlighting a significant lapse in customer service and safety standards at Universal Orlando Resort.

I honestly do not know if it was just the day that we were there that these issues arose. I was seriously hoping to enjoy Universal Orlando Resorts so much that I upgraded my ticket to an Annual Pass to come back again within the year; this however was not the case. I hope that the next time I attend, it shows that this was rather a “one off”

Ride Down Time

This experience not only disrupted our enjoyment but also highlighted systemic issues in ride management and communication within the park.

Health and Safety Issue with Smoking and No Shoes

A Journey of Reflection and Resolution

Our day at Universal Orlando Resort was a mix of magical moments and challenges, highlighting the dynamic nature of theme park experiences. The day was most certainly one for the books! While there were areas for improvement, the responsiveness of Universal Orlando Resort in addressing concerns and offering solutions bodes well for future visits.

As we reflect on our adventure, we look forward to returning and experiencing the magic of Universal Orlando Resort once again.

That’s all folks! We just have a few more posts and recaps from our tip which include what we like to do around Orlando/Kissimmee this trip, Disney Springs and our travel day home (that was an adventure). It’s been such a fun recount of the trip. I am so glad to share it with you!

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