When I was on my trip in July for the #DisneySportsFestival, I also spent one night at the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal Studios.
I haven’t been to Universal since I was about eight years old, so I was curious to see everything. Plus, Bobby really wants to go to see the Harry Potter addition at Islands of Adventure, so I wanted to scope it out.
I checked into my hotel around 7:30 in the morning and walked over to the park. It’s a gorgeous peaceful walk from the hotel, or you can take the water taxi.
Since I was staying on property, now only did I get an express pass where I could go through a shorter line for most rides, but I got to go into the parks an hour earlier than the general public. I arrived a few minutes before 8:00 to get into Universal and headed for Despicable Me.
It was a super cute ride and I loved the que, too. Love those little minions!
I headed over to Transformers next, but the ride was down, and continued to be down for several hours which was a huge bummer.
So I decided to head to Starbucks and get some coffee and take some photos of some of the buildings while there weren’t many people on the streets. I really liked the theming here!
Transformers finally opened up, and I still had to wait an hour with my express pass. The line was so long because the ride was down all day. Oh well, it was worth it. very cool ride, especially if you love the movies and fight scenes. I get motion sick sometimes, and I did fine on the ride. Highly recommended, but try to get there early!
Next I went towards the Men in Black ride which was fun. Similar to Buzz Lightyear in a way, except you are shooting aliens out on a city street. I’m not a Simpsons fan, but I did walk through and take a couple photos.
I also walked right onto the E.T. ride, which is the ONLY thing I remember about Universal from when I was 8. Still a fun classic! You can also see people hard at work on the Harry potter expansion. I know my husband will be excited for this!
I walked back around the lake and did Twister (eh) and the Shrek 4D movie (disappointing)
My two favorites by far were Transformers and Despicable Me. There are several other rides here, but since I do tend to get sick I am not a huge coaster fan, so several things were “out” for me. I had to go meet up with someone for work, and I did love the easy walk back to my hotel after, no waiting for a bus was really nice!
and then I saw a snake. Eeeewwww! Of course I took a picture
I just totally freaked my mom out I’m sure (sorry mom!)
Several people have asked me if it was weird being at the park by myself. Not at all! It was nice to explore at my own pace and just wander around. If you are going on a solo trip anytime soon to Universal or Disney, you will have fun I promise!
QOTD: Have you been to Universal lately? What is your favorite ride?
*I can book your Universal vacation or tickets for you at no extra cost! Let me do all the work! email me at heather@travelwiththemagic.com
My family just visited Universal/Island of Adventures in June. I had been to the one in CA as a kid but this my family’s first experience to the Florida park. Transformer ride was down the day we went too so we didn’t get a chance to ride that. We loved the E.T. ride and the Mummy ride. I’m scared to death of snakes so I’m glad I didn’t run up that when we were there!!!
I am scared I wouldn’t like the mummy!
So glad to see this review. I have not been to universal since middle school! We will be going this fall and hoping to go to island of adventure to see the Harry Potter stuff. Cant wait to read your review on that! Do you know what the expansion is all about?
diagon alley from harry potter!
When I was in Disney in May, my boyfriend and I went to Universal/Islands of Adventure for two days. I loved the Despicable Me ride at Universal! Harry Potter world actually underwhelmed me, I’m not going to lie. I just think they could have done so much more with it. Hopefully with the London expansion they take some exciting steps!
Overall, I think these parks are fun. But the 4D bouncing all over the place, splashing you with water rides get a bit old. And give me a headache!
I am excited about the expansion!
LOVE Universal Studios… favorite rides are by far the Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket as well as the Mummy’s Revenge!
I was at Universal this past weekend. My sweetie and I stayed in the Lake Buena Vista area. I would very much recommend the express passes as well as the meal deal. But I wouldn’t recommend going in August. Even though we had express passes we waited 45 mins to an hour on mostly all rides in both parks. Very sad. Universal needs to take a note from Disney and have a limited number of passes each day. We are going to try again in early November. And we too couldn’t get on Transformers. It was closed for basically the whole day. Great recap!
so sad! I was there end of july and transformers is the only ride I had to wait a long time for. did you go on a weekday?
We go to Universal a lot to eat at the Margaritaville Cafe, but I haven’t been in the park for some time. I love the minions and really want to check out that ride now.
We’re headed to Universal and Disney in October and neither of us have been to Universal in YEARS! It’s funny, the only attraction I recognize that’s still there is ET and Twister. Crazy how the entire park has changed! Looking forward to it.
How was the Hotel? We recently went to Universal Studios and my family really like The Mummy attraction they said it was awesome. We liked the Despicable Me, Men in Black, and the Simpsons as well. I thought Shrek was just okay.
We visited both Universal parks during the opening cermony for the Harry Potter World, but it looks like they are adding more! We plan to go back when our son gets a bit older–he’ll love all the super hero aspects of Universal, but until then, he still enjoys the “kisses” from the Disney princesses and he was finally tall enough for Space Mountain (it’s been his life goal for the past 3 years ;-). He’ll need to grow a bit taller for the roller coasters at Universal!
lol! love it
There’s SO Much more open in the Simpson’s area now and once the new HP opens, it’ll be utter chaos lol
Great recap Heather! We just got back from our first trip to Universal a few weeks ago and I was surprised how much we enjoyed it. I totally agree with you on Twister & Shrek 4D though, both were rather underwhelming. Next time you go, you’ll have to ride the Mummy, that was easily my favorite ride in both parks. I have motion sickness issues too and that one didn’t bother me a bit. I’m with Bobby, very excited about the Diagon Alley expansion!
I don’t know if I can handle the mummy!
I’ve definitely done the parks alone (well, at least at WDW), and it’s totally fine. If anything, the parks are so safe that it’s an easy place to walk around alone, and the transportation makes everything a breeze. The last few trips I’ve made to Disney were with my sister, and usually in the early afternoon we split up and each do what we feel like – sit at the pool, take a nap, or wander through the parks – which means time alone, which is easy and can be a lot of fun.
love it!
Looks and sounds like so much fun!!
It’s been about 10 years since I’ve been to Universal! I love rollercoasters though so I should probably go there soon! And seeing the Despicable Me minions would make it totally worthwhile! I love those little guys!
me too they are hilarious!