Take Me Back to Universal

There is so much to see and do at Universal Studios and it never gets old. In this blog, I want to highlight some of my favorite parts of Universal in Orlando Florida.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

This park is my favorite part of Universal. Being there feels like you are a part of the books and movies. One thing I was happy that I tried at this park was Butterbeer. Butterbeer is a drink that is mentioned in the Harry Potter series and a very popular choice at Universal. It is a cream soda with a marshmallow topping. I tried the cold and frozen and in my opinion, the frozen is the way to go.

This park is always adding new rides, such as the Hogwarts Express Train and Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure. The Hogwarts Train takes you back and forth from Universal Studios to Islands of Adventure, so you have to have a park to park pass to ride. On the train, the windows display scenes from Harry Potter which is pretty cool. Hagrid’s Magical Adventures was an amazing ride and different from any ride I have ever been on. This roller coaster was set up as a motorbike with a side car, just like it is shown in the movies. This ride takes you through the Forbidden Forest and Hogwarts. Also, you see some of the magical creatures from the movie. This ride is really exciting, fun and most definitely worth the wait. Also at this park, we went to Ollivanders where you can buy wands. For this attraction, they let in about 20 people at a time and there is a little show. One thing to keep in mind is that only one person gets picked from the group to participate in the show and test out wands with the wand keeper. After this, everyone is brought into a second room where wands can be purchased. Some of the wands are interactive which means that you can use it to move different objects throughout the park. Ollivanders was a cool place to see, but the wands, in my opinion are a little bit on the expensive side.

Other attractions to check out are Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts. Both of these are virtual reality type rides and are a lot of fun. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is one of my favorite rides at Universal and I highly suggest trying it out.

At the end of the night, there was a really cool show at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. This show is called the Nighttime Lights at Hogwarts Castle. It takes place at Hogsmade at the Hogwarts castle. This show occurs throughout the night until the park closes. Basically, it is a light show and the lights project on the Hogwarts castle. This show was the last thing we did at Universal and it was a great way to end the trip.

I had a great time at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and it is somewhere I would love to go again soon.

Other Universal Highlights

Some rides that I love are The Amazing Adventures of Spider-man which is in Islands of Adventure, Transformers 3D, Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon and Transformers: The 3D Ride which are all in Universal Studios. All of these rides are virtual reality rides that are really fun to ride.

We were really lucky and able to get on everything we wanted to more than once because we had fast passes. We were able to get these passes because we stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel. Click here to read my blog about the Hard Rock Hotel and fast passes.

There is a show at Universal Studios called Universal Orlando’s Cinematic Celebration. This show starts at 9:00pm and it was amazing. This show has lights, water, music and fireworks. Also, projections from scenes of different movies project onto the water. Take a look!

Volcano Bay

Volcano Bay is Universal’s water park. This water park had so many rides and it was one of the best water parks I’ve been to. One highlight of this water park was the Fearless River. The Fearless River was set up like a lazy river, except instead of sitting in a tube, you wear a life jacket and float through the water. The river contains lots of waves, rapids and moves at pretty fast speeds. Other rides I suggest checking out are Krakatau Aqua Coaster, Honu of Honu Ika Moana and Ko’okiri Body Plunge (if you are looking for a thrill). One feature at this water park is the TapuTapu wristbands they provide to all of their guests. These wristbands work for the virtual lines at the park. How this works is you tap your band on a kiosk in front of the ride and your wristband alerts you when to come back to the ride. Because of this, you only wait a short time for rides.

Hungry? Where to Eat

There are lots of great places to eat at Universal’s Citywalk. One place I loved was called the Chocolate Emporium. This place had great food, but it is known for their dessert. They have huge sundaes and milkshakes. We got a banana split sundae and it was more than enough for a table of five! NBC Sports Grill was a casual restaurant that also had really good food. I got a turkey sandwich and it was the biggest sandwich I ever had.

There is so much to do at Universal and it is fun for all ages. I love going to Universal and every time I go, there is something new to see. I am so glad I had the opportunity to visit and can’t wait to go back soon.