Universal Orlando - Final Thoughts
The Harry Potter areas of Universal are incredibly immersive and jaw dropping in their detail. It exceeded all expectations. We had a lot of fun exploring and enjoying those areas in both parks. Unfortunately, the rest of the parks didn’t really offer much that we enjoyed. We don’t do big coasters or thrill rides and the smaller coasters are so short, it’s hard to enjoy them. I enjoyed the Mummy and Gringotts and Roger liked the Mummy okay, but felt Gringotts was brought down by the 3D motion simulation aspects and would have preferred more of the real motion sections of the ride.
Volcano Bay offered some really great slides but the capacity of the rides is such that, even with Tapu Tapu, on busier days, people will be waiting a long time for rides once crowds grow. Right now, the only way to really enjoy this park is to be there right at opening. Early entry if staying on properly and it’s available is a huge bonus.
If we hadn’t gone to Volcano Bay, our four days there would have been one too many. For Harry Potter fans that aren’t thrill-ride lovers, two days (once for each park) would be plenty to accomplish everything. We were very nearly at a loss as to what to do our final day, having felt like we’d done everything. I’ve never felt this way at a Disney park where I’m happy to ride many things repeatedly. I just felt like most of the rides were one and done for me, Flight of the Hippogriff maybe being the exception because it’s a great twisty little coaster and it’s so short!
Royal Pacific was a lovely hotel and everyone was really friendly. My only (minor) complaint was that the bathroom sink area could have been larger. It’s really hard for more than one person to get ready at a time. A second sink or even a little more counter space would have gone a long way. The gift basket they left us was an exceptionally nice gesture and was much appreciated.
The food was about what I would expect from a theme park. I really wanted to like Mythos and Toothsome more than I did. The quick service in the Harry Potter areas are definitely above average in terms of theme park quick service (but the prices were also above average). The only other quick service we ate was pizza in the Simpsons food court area and it was decent quick service pizza. Over priced, definitely, but better than some other quick service I’ve had. Butterbeer was better than I anticipated. We didn’t have hot, but we had frozen and regular and I preferred frozen. I would have had more of it if it were more in the $3-4 price range. I thought for what it was, it was definitely overpriced. Clearly they can charge that though because there were always massive lines to get it.
The weather did, unfortunately, negatively impact our experience on a couple of occasions. I was hoping for passing showers, but we really got hammered for long periods of time on most of our days and it made things challenging. We were dealing with a lot of wet clothes and shoes and that was logistically difficult. We were bummed that we never got to see the parade because it was cancelled every day we were there due to weather.
In the end, I’m glad we went, especially as Emmaline and I are huge Harry Potter fans, but I don’t feel a burning desire to go back any time soon. Apparently this family’s heart belongs to Disney!
Volcano Bay offered some really great slides but the capacity of the rides is such that, even with Tapu Tapu, on busier days, people will be waiting a long time for rides once crowds grow. Right now, the only way to really enjoy this park is to be there right at opening. Early entry if staying on properly and it’s available is a huge bonus.
If we hadn’t gone to Volcano Bay, our four days there would have been one too many. For Harry Potter fans that aren’t thrill-ride lovers, two days (once for each park) would be plenty to accomplish everything. We were very nearly at a loss as to what to do our final day, having felt like we’d done everything. I’ve never felt this way at a Disney park where I’m happy to ride many things repeatedly. I just felt like most of the rides were one and done for me, Flight of the Hippogriff maybe being the exception because it’s a great twisty little coaster and it’s so short!
Royal Pacific was a lovely hotel and everyone was really friendly. My only (minor) complaint was that the bathroom sink area could have been larger. It’s really hard for more than one person to get ready at a time. A second sink or even a little more counter space would have gone a long way. The gift basket they left us was an exceptionally nice gesture and was much appreciated.
The food was about what I would expect from a theme park. I really wanted to like Mythos and Toothsome more than I did. The quick service in the Harry Potter areas are definitely above average in terms of theme park quick service (but the prices were also above average). The only other quick service we ate was pizza in the Simpsons food court area and it was decent quick service pizza. Over priced, definitely, but better than some other quick service I’ve had. Butterbeer was better than I anticipated. We didn’t have hot, but we had frozen and regular and I preferred frozen. I would have had more of it if it were more in the $3-4 price range. I thought for what it was, it was definitely overpriced. Clearly they can charge that though because there were always massive lines to get it.
The weather did, unfortunately, negatively impact our experience on a couple of occasions. I was hoping for passing showers, but we really got hammered for long periods of time on most of our days and it made things challenging. We were dealing with a lot of wet clothes and shoes and that was logistically difficult. We were bummed that we never got to see the parade because it was cancelled every day we were there due to weather.
In the end, I’m glad we went, especially as Emmaline and I are huge Harry Potter fans, but I don’t feel a burning desire to go back any time soon. Apparently this family’s heart belongs to Disney!
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