Cary’s Adventures in the Magic Kingdom: Part 5: Universal Studios

UNIVERSALLOGOOver the weekend we went to Universal Studios and its sister park: Islands of Adventure. In some ways, I actually liked Universal Studios better than some of the Disney parks.  Well, maybe not better than Epcot, but certainly better than Animal Kingdom or Disney’s Hollywood Studios.  Read on to find out why!

There are three main reasons why I liked Universal Studios better than some of the Disney parks. First of all, after spending all week at Disney parks, I was getting a little tired of everything Disney.  I know it’s called Disney World for a reason, but even the hotel carpet had Mickey Mouse on it.  It was nice to take a break from that for a bit.  Also, since the Universal parks are just one big circle, it was easier to get around than say, Hollywood Studios.  And finally, Universal Studios is a bit smaller than the Disney parks, so it’s possible to do everything all in one day, especially during the off season, and you don’t have to wear yourself out walking all over a sprawling park.

Anyway, one of the first rides we went on was at the entrance: Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem. This was a fun simulation ride that ended up being one of my favorites.  It had the cute minions and the adorable little girls and it was just a lot of fun.  Here’s the entrance to the front of the ride:

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At one point, they even had a mini parade with the Despicable Me characters. And when I say mini, I mean like, three floats.  That is one thing that Disney does better, they know how to do parades.  But this was still cute.  And at least it was short.

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Another ride we went on early was the Transformers ride. I already rode this one when I went to Universal Studios in California a couple of years ago, though. Even though it’s based on the movies unfortunately, I still call it the “Cary’s Inner Childhood Ride.” I enjoyed Transformers as a kid and would’ve loved to have a ride of it back then.

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It’s a good thing I’m not a little kid, though, because I would’ve made my dad wait in line with me to get my picture taken with Optimus Prime! Pretty cool costume, though, and really tall!

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There were a couple of rides that I skipped because I had already ridden them before and didn’t care for them much, including the Mummy and Men in Black rides. But we did go on the E.T. ride again.  I remember that ride when Universal Studios in Orlando was brand new!  While it is neat that it’s like you’re riding a bike, the ride itself certainly is showing its age.  Plus I was never a big fan of E.T. anyway.  As a kid I preferred other films like Gremlins and Ghostbusters.

Speaking of old rides, one that they used to have but don’t anymore is the Back to the Future ride. It’s a shame, too, because I really liked that one.  If you sat in the front, you even got to see all the lights and switches and Flux Capacitor from the DeLorean.  Even though the ride isn’t there anymore, they still had the car and train props set out.

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Another one of my favorite things was The Simpsons Ride. I had already ridden this at Universal Studios in California, and it’s the same thing here.  But the rest of the Simpsons area was better decorated here, so I took lots of pictures.  Here is the front of the ride:

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Like at the other park, the Kwik-E-Mart served as the gift shop. That part was cooler in California, though.

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But they did have another ride here called Kang and Kodos’ Twirl & Hurl. I didn’t ride on it, but it was funny to hear the voices coming from it!

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They also had an outdoor Duff beer bar. Not pictured is the Duffman statue.

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And here’s the statue of Jebediah Springfield. I see the head is still intact.

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You could also get donuts from Lard Lad. I like how the police car was crashed right in front of it!

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The Bumblebee Man taco stand just cracked me up.

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And finally is the Krusty Burger. I wanted to eat lunch here, but the rest of the family wanted to eat at the Leaky Cauldron in the Harry Potter section.  So it was one Simpsons fan against five Harry Potter fans.  Oh well.  I would’ve just had a dumb ol’ burger there anyway.  Maybe next time I’ll get to eat there.

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And speaking of Harry Potter, the last thing I’m going to talk about is the new Harry Potter section of Universal Studios. I’m not even a big Harry Potter fan (I only read through the first four books), and even I thought this area was cool!

From the outside, you can’t even see much of the Harry Potter area. All you can see is a mockup of a London city street.  The only indication that this is the Harry Potter area is the purple triple decker bus parked nearby.

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But there is a small opening in a brick wall about the size of a public restroom entrance. And when you enter, you come out at Diagon Alley, straight from the books!  Here is what you see when you first enter.

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Diagon Alley is mostly shops. Sure you have typical souvenir shops, but there are also stores straight from the Harry Potter books and movies. You have kiosks where you can get drinks like Butterbeer and pumpkin juice.  The Butterbeer sounded gross, but I drank about three bottles of the pumpkin juice.  That stuff was damn good.  There’s also a joke and gag shop, a candy store that sells the sweets in the Harry Potter books, and you can even buy wands and robes at the respective establishments.

Speaking of which, I saw a lot of people in costume while at the theme parks. At Disney, all the little girls were dressed as princesses, especially the ones from Frozen.  And around Universal, fans were sporting the robes and other garbs of the Harry Potter cast.  And at the Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, kids and adults were wearing all sorts of costumes (they had trick or treat stations all around the park).  I guess cosplay is more mainstream than what I thought!

Anyway, the newest attraction at Diagon Alley was the Gringrotts bank. Here is a closer shot of it.

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In one of the rooms I went in at the bank, there was a tall desk with a goblin-like creature writing in a book with a quill pen. I’m not sure if it was animatronic or not, but when I looked up at him for a while, he peered down at me and said, “Do you have a question?” in a rather huffy voice.  I just laughed and waved.

The bank also was home to a brand new ride called Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringrotts. The line to wait for it was over an hour and a half.  Being the huge Harry Potter fans my family is, they waited in line.  But I said, “Forget that” and rode three other rides while they did just the one.  But after that we all rode the Hogwarts Express train to the other side of the park, and we all agreed that, surprisingly, the train ride was the best in the Harry Potter area!

HOGWARTSTRAIN

Next time, I’ll talk about the train ride to the other side of the park, and our experiences at the Islands of Adventure! Choo Choo!  –Cary

One Response to “Cary’s Adventures in the Magic Kingdom: Part 5: Universal Studios”

  1. That Harry Potter section looks awesome, but I wish you could have had your Krusty burger. Mmmmm burger.

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