We woke up early (for us), showered and got ready. We were in the lobby by 8:00 a.m. ready to queue
up for the bus that would take us to Universal Studios a full hour before the
park opened. We had purchased our tickets online. Universal is only allowing a limited number of people into the parks on
any given day. The buses were divided
into 6 sections and we were seated by family groups. Isaac and I were typically seated into a
grouping of about 4 chairs. It was all
very organized. People – for the most part – were paying attention to mask
and line spacing guidelines.
There were lots of families with small children.
I had to smile remembering the year the
Hicks’ visited Disney World with our two boys and all their stuff packed into
backpacks and bags.
On this trip, Isaac
and I loaded the essentials into our pockets and headed out bag and hands
free.
It was a nice
change.
We got to the park and had our first party
fail. Universal has a handy app now that you download on your phone and use as your ticket, map, meal ticket, wallet, the whole deal. As the hotel concierge told me - "The future is now!" Our initial ticket was for one
park and one day. We had planned on visiting Universal Studios Florida, had had picked out the
rides we wanted to ride, and had made peace with the fact that we would take full advantage of all that park had to offer and no more.
To all of you who are not introverts – theme parks are places
of high distraction, multiple inputs and anxiety producing sounds and moving
parts.
In short – they are tiring and overwhelming.
Intending to go to Universal Studios – we
missed a very important directional sign and ended up entering Universal Islands of
Adventure instead.
This was something we
did not figure out until AFTER we had arrived in Hogsmeade and ridden our very
first ride – Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.
(It was fantastic.) I don't think we are the first to do this. In fact, as we were walking around the park later that day we overheard a group of kids who had figured out they had done the very same thing.
When we disembarked from the ride, we quickly realized our error. So – we
headed back to the front of the park to see if we could fix it. Along the way, we ran into Josh – a friendly
park employee who was unlucky enough to be wearing a nametag and in our path. I spotted him as we were walking alongside him and (I’m
sure to Isaac’s embarrassment) moved closer and struck up a conversation. I explained our problem and he immediately agreed to help us. He offered to escort us to Guest Services or give us direction. We listened to the directions - became overwhelmed again - and took him up on his offer to escort us. Along the way we learned that Josh was from
Ohio and missed being up north but loved working in the parks. He gave us some excellent tips about which
rides were the best. He also taught us how to figure out if we should ride the Hogwarts
Express or walk to Universal Studios and which way was quicker. He
deposited us in the line at Guest Services, we thanked him and said our
goodbyes.
After a fairly short wait – “The lines aren’t long, they are
safe.” – we reached the counter, added a second park to our ticket and because
we had lost about an hour of our day went ahead, caved and bought the Express Pass.
This ended up being a very wise
decision for multiple reasons.
Armed with our newly acquired
access, we headed back to the Hogwarts Express and enjoyed the clever show as
we traveled to Universal Studios Florida and Kings Cross Station.
We found Diagon Alley - something that takes a little doing - grabbed some frozen Butter Beer (tip from Josh) and Beef
Pasties at one of the outside venders and then headed out for more rides.
Throughout the rest of the day we rode 9 rides and sat
through The Bourne Stuntacular.
People
in line did a good job staying by the floor markings. Just prior to riding, the
park employees were at the ready with a squirt of hand sanitizer.
I have never used it so much.
Isaac and I were always grouped together and
given plenty of space.
And because of
the Express Pass – we were never jammed together in a long line of humanity for
an extended period of time.
We wore our
masks the entire time except when we were eating.
Dinner was an interesting experience.
We ate at The Three Broomsticks back in
Hogsmeade and Islands of Adventure. (We opted to walk instead of take the train this time.)
We
did what we always do at these parks, we ate at a weird time in order to avoid
the crowds.
So the line we queued up in
was very short.
We were led to our seat
by a friendly employee who tutored us on how to use our phone to order and went
away.
Using the Universal app, we
ordered our food, paid, scanned the QR code on the table and – magically – our
food and a waitress appeared about 10 minutes later.
We were instructed to just leave our stuff at
our table and they would clean and sanitize the area when we left.
We ended our last hour in the park in the gift shop picking
out the requisite Christmas ornament we traditionally acquire on all important stops of
our family trips – we also grabbed one at Bellingrath Gardens. And then it was back to enjoy the room at our
hotel.
Isaac and I agreed that being in the park among all the
movie rides made us want to watch some of the movies again.
Lo-and-behold we discovered that Hobbs and
Shaw by Fast and Furious was playing on HBO when we returned to our room.
I had never seen any of the Fast and Furious
movies and Isaac hadn’t seen that particular one.
So we hunkered down and gave it a watch.
We may have also napped through some parts.
After the movie we decided to check out what was happening
by the pool and went down for a snack. It was a beautiful evening.
We found a quiet, unoccupied spot
by the closed jacuzzi and had hummus and vegies, a fruit salad and some water
while we recapped our day.
Universal Studios Resort Florida is first and foremost a
theme park. That’s something people should remember. Neither Isaac
nor I are roller coaster fans so many of the rides and attractions did not hold
much sway. We were glad we went and enjoyed the advantages of staying on property. Isaac loved Cabana Bay’s retro, 1950’s theme
calling it The Jetson Hotel. I appreciate intense dedication to theme. Our room was cleverly
decorated right down to the retro shampoo and soap in the bathroom and analog
clock on the bedside table. I will also
say the Harry Potter stuff is super cool – especially Diagon Alley which is
cleverly hidden just like in the movies.
I was glad the crowd was light and shudder to think what it looks like
when the park isn’t taking COVID precautions and limiting attendance.
We came. We saw. We rode.
