Two weekends ago, our family went on our first mini-vacation
of the year. We spent three spectacular
days at the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. First off, the hotel is gorgeous and a huge
bonus is that it is a pet-friendly hotel, so we were able to bring our 70 pound
lab along with us. In that regard, they
have a very nice section for dogs, and the check-in attendant gave us a room on
the first floor that was right around the corner from the dog walking
area.
We didn’t hit the parks on the first day. Instead, we explored the hotel and we grabbed
dinner at The Kitchen, which is a restaurant in the Hard Rock Hotel. The food was fair and a bit overpriced, but
that is to be expected when dining onsite.
The waiter was very friendly and gave us complimentary soup, as well as
complimentary cookies for the girls.
Since staying at the hotel also qualifies guests to receive
free Express Pass tickets for Universal, we decided to collect our tickets
after dinner. The kiosks for the passes
are located in the main lobby and only take a few minutes to process. The passes really did make a difference with
regards to the amount of time we would have spent waiting in lines the entire
weekend, so I definitely recommend getting them. The only downer is that for some of the best
rides and attractions at Universal and Islands of Adventure, the Express Passes
aren’t valid. Just be sure to check for
the Express Pass icons on the guide map prior to entering the parks so that you
are aware of which rides participate in the Express Pass program.
The next day, armed with our tickets, we woke early and headed
to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
We are all avid Harry Potter fans, so it was hard to contain our
excitement. The Harry Potter World in
Islands of Adventure opened early to guests of the hotel, so we took advantage
of that time by exploring Hogsmeade, riding the Hippogriff coaster…twice, and
taking a visit to Hogwarts. The small
details of the Harry Potter sections were extremely impressive. The Hogwarts Express train was an amazing
experience! At one point, the dementors
came aboard the train, and the air got colder.
It was a very small detail, but also a very important one for those who
really love the Harry Potter series.
Also, in the bathrooms, you can hear Moaning Murtle! We also got to try Harry, Ron &
Hermione’s favorite drink -Butter Beer, which tasted like a mix between cream
soda and butterscotch candy.
Our hotel stay also included a breakfast at the Leaky
Cauldron in Diagon Alley. Due to the
small size of the restaurant, I would strongly recommend reservations. The food was fair, but the experience is
really what you pay for. The décor was
similar to that in the movie and my girls really loved it.
Exiting the Leaky Cauldron leads you back into Diagon Alley,
where every 15-20 minutes, the dragon sitting atop Gringotts Bank spews fire
out into the crowd. It was one of the
most amazing features of Diagon Alley. We went on Harry Potter and the Escape from
Gringotts, which is a fabulous 3D coaster ride that puts you face to face with
Voldemort and Bellatrix. My youngest,
who is seven and about four feet tall, absolutely loved this ride!
Once the ride was finished, we went to Olivanders wand
shop. We saw the wand show, where a
member of the audience gets to try out some wands. The show only lasts about 10 minutes, so if
you have time and the line is short, go check it out! Olivanders sells the wands of each character
in the Harry Potter series. Although
they are expensive, they also sell interactive wands that are really a great
feature to offer for the kids. I bought
each of my girls a wand, and they were able to cast spells that really worked
just as long as they were in either Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley.
In addition to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, we also
were able to get back to the hotel each afternoon for some relaxation. The pool at the Hard Rock Hotel was heated,
which was welcoming due to a “cold front” that had moved into Florida over that
weekend. A really cool feature of the
pool is that they have speakers under the water, so you can hear the music
while swimming. The music isn’t all that
clear unless you are near one of the underwater speakers, but it really made my
girls happy. There is also a sand beach
around the pool as well. And
surprisingly, the pool was very clean and seemed sand free. There is a water slide for the kids, as well
as some water fountain areas and a toddler pool for smaller children. Sunday was quiet, but on Friday and Saturday,
there was some sort of entertainment for both children and adults at the pool
throughout the day. They also have
movies at the pool after dinner. If I
have to complain about anything, it is that the hot tub was always crowded with
unsupervised children. At one point,
some of the kids were playing a game and trying to jump into the hot tub from
certain distances. This went on for
quite a while and there were no parents or lifeguards around to stop them. Other than that, the hotel was perfect, and I
would definitely stay there again.
On Saturday night, we braved City Walk for dinner. Let me just say that City Walk at dinnertime
was more crowded than either of the parks were throughout the entire time we
were there. It was almost impossible to
stay together. And to be honest, I don’t
understand the draw. It’s just
restaurants and shopping. But I just
wanted to put it out there that it was a nightmare to navigate through,
especially after a long day at the parks.
So, just a tip based on my experience, if you have a family with young
ones who are cranky from walking all day long, I would definitely recommend grabbing
dinner somewhere else.
We spent the next day exploring the parks outside of the
Harry Potter areas. We went to the Dr.
Seuss area, the Jurassic Park area, and we also got to experience some of the
amazing attractions such as Minion Mayhem, The Mummy, Transformers and
Disaster. We also got to see the Shrek
4D movie, as well as the Animal Actors on Location show. Even though I am more of a Disney person,
Universal really has done an incredible job with their parks. There are some pitfalls that everyone going
to the Universal parks should be aware of (listed below), but I don’t think any
of these should be reasons to disregard Universal. In fact, I really can’t wait to return when
my youngest (the daredevil of the family) gets a little bit taller so that she
can ride all of the great coasters!
Here are some of the pitfalls:
1.
Some
attractions in the park aren’t opened at the same time that the park
opens. For example, the park opened at
9am each day, but the Jurassic Park Discovery Center didn’t open until
10am. I find this a bit odd, especially
if you happen to have done all of the rides in that area. You are then stuck waiting for something to
open, or you have to just skip it.
2.
Because of the early admission offered by the
hotel, you need to show proof at the entrance that you are, in fact, staying at
one of the participating hotels. This
wasn’t an issue. However, once we got in
the park, we were again asked to show our room keys to get on the rides. It was cumbersome to continually have to get
out our room keys, especially when we already showed them at the front gate in
order to get access to the park.
3.
Staying at the Hard Rock, Loews Portofino Bay,
or Loews Royal Pacific resorts includes early admission to the parks. However, the only part of the park that is
opened for early admission is the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in the Island
of Adventure.
4.
As I stated earlier, not all rides accept the
Express Pass, so plan accordingly.
Overall, this was a great vacation to start our year
off. If I had to do it again, I would
purchase an extra day at the parks, as we only had the 2-day multi-park passes. Even though we saw everything we wanted to
see, and even got to do some things twice, I really wish we could have seen a
few more shows, tried a few other rides and just got a chance to leisurely
explore the park a little bit more. Having
said that, our first mini vacation was a huge success! We really did have a lot of fun, and the
girls’ smiles throughout the entire trip made it all worth it! And to make it even better, even though two
weeks have passed, the girls are still talking about it! This is definitely
something I think we will all remember for a very long time.
