Our summer is sort of loosey goosey in that our plans are not plans at all and mostly impulsive. I saw a local mom friend post her impromptu trip to Universal Studios July 5th and she said the crowds weren't too bad. So off I hustle to get our discount annual passes, finish our errands and drive out the next day.
Our focus was on Harry Potter world with the kids' understanding that the Forbidden Journey line may be long so we'll do whatever else to pass the time. Hey, I'm sure we can find some sort of entertainment at an amusement park.
We arrived to the park at about 1pm. The crowds were fine until we hit Harry Potter...that's where everyone is! Still, it's not horrible and the wait time to Forbidden Journey is 120 minutes. We get in line and realize we're going to have to wait in the sun for a good portion of it. So we get out of line to try again later in the day.
Next up on our agenda is to try Butterbeer. I heard from people that it sort of like cream soda with butterscotch. Okay, so I tell the kids that we will be sharing one. The lines were long for butterbeer which is understandable since it was about 85*. Also the lines were moving slowly so of course, employees pop up with platters of butterbeers for sale in the souvenir mug (read: higher price). We resisted as long as we could (5 minutes in the sun) and I caved to the souvenir mug. Yes, over twice the amount of a regular cup but it was yummy and now I have a mug. :) You can file that tip away for your next visit. Hey, it's your money.
All right, so I lost some $ in the butterbeer department but totally made up for it in the popcorn department. A nice big souvenir bucket of popcorn for $6 but keep your receipt to get free refills of popcorn for that day!! Yes, we must have filled that bucket about 6 times the entire day so yeah, that's another tip for you.
Another huge success for us was the ride department. I have one kid that wants to ride rollercoasters etc while the other one does not. It makes for interesting back n' forth conversations between all of us to try to convince or at least figure out why Josh refuses. One reason is his fear of heights. That is something very real and scary for him so I won't force him on that. But some (maybe half) of the rides at are 3D or virtual type rides which is a slightly easier sell. Tyler and I did have to talk a bit for The Simpsons ride which had a 60 minute wait. 1: It (the line) was mostly in the shade with misters. 2: There were plenty of monitors and big billboards to keep him entertained. 3: We all took Dramamine.
Turns out...Joshua enjoyed it. It was in a virtual amusement park so basically virtual rollercoaster without the height aspect. My Dramamine did not kick in on time because that ride is pretty wild. I kept my eyes closed most of the ride.
We chilled with popcorn and the animal show for a bit then headed over to the Minions ride. That was a 30 minute wait. Joshua did not need any encouragement for this and I really liked this ride. Maybe the Dramamine started working on me but the ride wasn't as crazy as The Simpsons ride. I approve the Minions ride.
Dinner was early at 5pm at the Hard Rock at Citywalk. That was nice 1: air-conditioning 2: lots of seating in air-conditioning 3: good food with air-conditioning.
We headed back to the park to see Forbidden Journey wait time was still over 2 hours so we went on the Studio Tour. This time it seemed more entertaining because on some of the location sets there were actors set up. We saw Marilyn Monroe on the NY city set and Norman Bates at the Bates Motel.
By the time the tour was finished it was 7 pm. Th wait time for Forbidden Journey was 90 minutes. The sun was starting to set and the crowds were noticeably smaller. By the time we actually go to the ride, the wait time was at 75 minutes. Josh and I waited in line with Tyler until we got to the castle entrance where there are lockers for loose items. Joshua decided he didn't want to go on the ride and I didn't either since i heard about motion issues. We waited in the gift shop area while Tyler hopped into the single rider line. From beginning to end, the time was 30 minutes. There is your other helpful tip.
And that did it for us and our day at Universal. I think we'll go back again in September since our passes are blocked out till then.
Here is a my video of our time at the park. I'm still learning about editing video and going through the tutorial helped me a lot. Still lots to learn so stay tuned for more....
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