Universal Day #3

On Wednesday November 9th, we woke up for our final day in the park!  I had great intentions of being awake EARLY (like 6am early) to get to the park BUT we were at the Magic Kingdom so late the night before that we slept in until 7:30am!  We still made it to Universal by 8am for early entrance to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! 

Inside Universal Studios, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is set up to be Diagon Alley! 

I LOVED the Knight Bus!  

More Butterbeer!  Seriously if you are in Universal on a day when it's not super warm out, you need to get the HOT Butterbeer!  It's delicious! 

We went to Olivanders for wands! 

 And checked out our team scarves! 

Universal! 

You cannot go to Universal and skip the E.T. ride!  It's a classic and so much fun!  

The Rides on the Universal Side that we LOVED were:

Despicable Me Minion Mayhem

Shrek 4-D

Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts

E.T. Adventure

I can't wait to come back in 2017 to ride Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon

After doing everything we wanted in Universal it was off to King's Cross Station to ride the Hogwart's Express over to Islands of Adventure! 

In Island's of Adventure, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is set up to be Hogsmeade!

My very favorite ride of the entire trip - Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey - is inside of Hogwarts! 

As you walk through the castle, it's MAGICAL!  It's exactly how it is in the movie - enchanted ceilings, talking pictures, and more! 

Flight of the Hippogriff

Dragon Challenge!  This is a crazy roller coaster in Hogsmeade...the kind I haven't been on since high school! I was so happy that I was brave and rode it lol.  But even if you're not up for riding it, you should definitely walk through the line and exit at the top because the theming is the Triwizard Tournament and you pass lots of things you will recognize, including the Goblet of Fire, as you walk up to the top!  This is another one of those rides where they make you put all of your belongings in a locker so I don't have pictures of all that fun stuff.  They actually make you walk through a metal detector...that's how serious they are about you having NOTHING in your pockets! 

Next up was Jurassic Park!  I enjoyed walking through this area but I was disappointed that the main ride here is the kind you get soaked on.  The ride attendant warned us before we went to stand on line so we decided to skip it.  She said it was a 50/50 chance you could get completely drenched or not wet at all...

We had lunch at Confisco's Grille again!  It was THAT good the day before!

We had a delicious Cinnabon for dessert! 

 John posed with some marvel characters.  Then we rode the Amazing Adventure of Spider Man, which was really fun! 

We went through Seuss Landing again and rode the High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride!  It was so cute!

I had to get a Christmas Ornament while I was there!  One of the biggest differences between Universal and Disney was that Universal was not all decked out for Christmas yet...this was truly the only Christmas-y thing in the park.

We stayed at the park until close and then went to CityWalk for dinner!  We ate pizza at Red Oven Pizza Bakery!  It's made fresh while you watch!  It was delicious!  All of the food throughout Universal was really really good! 

 Back at the Cabana Bay, John went for a COLD late night swim!  Seriously it was cold!  I sat on a lounge chair with a hot towel on top of me! 

Are you thinking of planning your own trip to Universal Studios in Orlando?  I would love to help!  All of my travel concierge services are 100% FREE!  You can check out my travel page HERE and email Lindsay@magicfamilygetaways.com for a quote today!