The Wizarding World - Hogsmeade

I can't say it enough - The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a.w.e.s.o.m.e.
Hogsmeade Village is on the Islands of Adventure side of the parks. You stroll through Jurassic World, turn a corner and are met with the Hogwarts Castle and snowy village tops of Hogsmeade.

There is a ride inside Hogwarts - Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. It's my favorite of the Harry Potter rides. You get a bit of the story as you walk through the line in the castle (where you see the grumpy, mumbling Sorting Hat, the Pensieve, a hanging Hippogriff skeleton, and some other cool artifacts from the books and movies), pick up a little bit of backstory about skipping class with Harry, Ron and Hermoine, and then hop on the ride. It's not really a rollercoaster - they use a lot of screens and effects that make you think you are going on a lot crazier journey than you actually are. You are riding on a broom around Hogwarts - sometimes it feels like you are going so stinking fast! I had to close my eyes for quite a bit of the beginning of the ride the first time I rode it. BUT THEN I RODE IT AGAIN AND FORCED MYSELF TO POWER THROUGH AND I LOVED EVERY SECOND.

There is also the Flight of the Hippogriff ride (very quick, kid friendly rollercoaster) and when you walk through the queue for this ride you get to see Hagrid's Hut and his motorbike. The Dueling Dragons is also on the Hogsmeade side. I didn't ride either of these legit rollercoasters. I'm kind of a weenie and going upside down in big ole loopdeeloops is not my jam. My boyfriend rode both of them and had a blast. You can't take any loose items on the ride with you (no phones, cameras, keys, etc), so there aren't many photos of the cool props you see going through the line. I could only get as far as the Weasley car before there was a metal detector and no matter how much I insisted I wasn't going on the ride, they wouldn't let me through with my phone.

You also get to venture around Hogsmeade - there are a handful of actual shops to go into - you can buy an interactive wand at Ollivander's Wand Shop (and might even get picked to have your wand choose you!) and then conduct spells throughout the Wizarding World, a Honeyduke's candy shop (with a variety of baked treats including butterbeer fudge!), and quite a few souvenir shops with cloaks, brooms, stuffed animals, t-shrits, notebooks, quills, etc. We bought souvenir candy jars at Honeydukes (with the Honeydukes logo sticker), but some of the souvenirs get pretty pricey - I've heard cloaks are $80+ and again, Orlando, Florida is a warm place. I don't think I would want to tromp around in a heavy black cloak all day. There are also a couple carts with a bunch of Wizarding World/Harry Potter/Hogwarts pins and key chains.

There are also a couple food/snack stands, restaurants, and butterbeer carts. You can get butterbeer frozen (like a butterscotch slushie with sweet whipped topping), iced (a caffeinated butterscotch-cream soda with the whipped topping), or hot. It was 85 degrees when we went, to we stuck with the frozen and iced. Frozen is my favorite! It is pretty sweet though - both my boyfriend and I are soda drinkers and we decided to split one. Time to correct my first Universal Rumor on this blog! Butterbeer is not $3/glass. It's actually $6 for a disposable cup and $12 for a plastic souvenir mug. Butterbeer is not a refillable drink with your resort or soda fountain cups and I don't think you get discounted refills if you have a souvenir butterbeer mug.

We also tried a bottle of Pumpkin Juice (it's an apple cider-type drink with some pumpkin-pie type spices.) We weren't big fans - it wasn't a very refreshing drink in the warm Florida heat. And we bought a bottle of Gilly Water (literally just plain ole bottled water), refilled it at water fountains around the park, and brought it in frozen with ice the next day. I would recommend saving the $4 (I think) and bringing in a bottle of water from home. You can get cups of ice water for free at refreshment stands all over the parks.
After you mosey around Hogsmeade, you can either walk through Hogsmeade and keep going through the other Islands of Adventure or if you have the park-to-park option, you can take the Hogwarts Express to London/Diagon Alley!

(Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Universal Orlando or any aspect of the company whatsoever. I have never worked there or gotten paid to write anything for them. I'm just a lady who went on a couple fun vacations who wants to share some tips about my trips.)

Universal Orlando - Before You Even Leave Home

So you've decided to go to Universal Orlando. Congratulations! I think you are going to have an absolute blast while you are there. Now down to business:

1. Download the Official Universal Orlando App.

It's free for both apple and android devices. I won't get too far into the app, but you can buy tickets in the app, set parking reminders (the parking garage is huge - lots of places to lose your car!), set time reminders for shows/parades, see where the closest bathrooms/refreshment stands/restaurants are, and most importantly, check wait times for your favorite rides.

2. Research your tickets. Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure are considered two different theme parks. If you want to ride the Hogwarts Express and enjoy both Diagon Alley (which is in Universal Studios) and Hogsmeade (in Islands of Adventure), you have to buy a park-to-park pass. You can go back and forth as much as you want. If someone said they could only do one park and asked me which one I would pick, I would have a really hard time choosing. There are awesome rides in both parks. And I cannot stress this enough - read the fine print - we got to Universal after a long morning of driving and flying and driving some more only to find out our tickets were Print at Home and not available at the Will Call desk. We lucked out and the customer service guy did us a solid and printed our tickets anyway. If you are not a Florida resident and will be at Universal Orlando for 3+ days in a calendar year, consider buying an annual pass.

3. Shop around for hotels. The first time we went, we rented an airbnb. It was a cute place, but we grossly underestimated the length of time it would take to get to the park each morning. Parking is $20 for regular parking with a regular vehicle. It's more for an RV or bus. You also have the option of paying $30 for "preferred parking" - I think it's just closer/more convenient access. The second time we stayed, we stayed at a hotel "walking distance" to the parks - it was 1-1/2 miles to get to the security checkpoint. Some off-site hotels offer free shuttles to and from the parks (including Disney, Epcot, SeaWorld, etc). I would recommend calling your hotel options and asking. We made the mistake of not remembering what time our shuttle left (it only made one trip to and from each park every day) and had to walk to the park. As I mention in #5, you are going to walk a lot so this added distance was definitely noticeable at the end of the day.

4. Or stay on-site. We plan on staying on-site when we go again. There are a handful of options for staying at a Universal Resort. Staying on resort has a lot of perks - getting into the Wizarding World an hour before general admission is open to the public, free shuttles or water taxis to and from the parks, you can send souvenirs from shops in the parks directly to your resort (then you don't have to carry extra stuff all day!), some resorts offer free express passes (more on those later), and convenience!

5. Pack appropriately. I would always bet that it will rain for a bit of your day(s) at Universal. The first day we went, we were stuck in a torrential downpour at the furthest back corner of the park. They sell rain ponchos in shops around the park, but I don't know how much they are because we read a bunch of helpful blogs (like this one!) before we left and they all insisted on bringing cheap ponchos from home. Also - you are going to walk. A lot. There are ladies walking around in heels and I honestly don't know how they do it. We had full days at the park and walked about 6-7 miles each day. I would strongly suggest you get a good pair of walking shoes and wear them.

6. Decide what is a priority for everyone in your group. Want to drink a frozen butterbeer while people watching in Hogsmeade? Want to eat a 5lb donut in Springfield? Want ET to personally thank you for helping him on a mission to his home planet? Want to dance with a minion? Want to perform magical spells with your very own wand in Diagon Alley? Want to ride every ride? Want to beat your high score on Men In Black: Alien Attack? Figure out what is a *must-do* for everyone in your group so no one is disappointed and you can plan your days appropriately.

(Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Universal Orlando or any aspect of the company whatsoever. I have never worked there or gotten paid to write anything for them. I'm just a lady who went on a couple fun vacations who wants to share some tips about my trips.)

Welcome to my Blog!

My name is Rachel - I decided to write this blog after going to Universal Studios Orlando twice (!) in late 2016. I had read quite a few blog posts, stalked out some instragram accounts, visited and revisited the official Universal Studios websites. Right before our first trip, we watched all of the Harry Potter movies (my boyfriend had never seen them all!), Jurassic Park, ET, and Kong. We were pumped up to say the least!

After our first trip, I rolled around the idea of doing a couple blog posts with some tricks that played out to be accurate, the "tips" that turned out to be totally wrong or outdated, and our general impression of Universal Studios Orlando.... Then we found really good flights and went back a month later! Then we figured out some other things. And then I had a couple friends from work go and I realized just how much advice I had to give! So here is my blog from when a couple Missourians went to Universal. Twice.

(PS - it's pretty dang hard to get a good selfie in front of the Universal globe.)

A couple of things to note about my experience - when we went, it was just me and my boyfriend. We did not travel with kids or a big group. I imagine that traveling with a different group would change a lot. Y'all have to factor in things like tired little feet, nap times, dietary restrictions, people in the group having different priorities, etc. Luckily, the BF and I had the same end goal: do as much as we could without fainting or throwing up. Anyway, I hope this blog helps you out a little bit - maybe even a lot!

(Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Universal Orlando or any aspect of the company whatsoever. I have never worked there or gotten paid to write anything for them. I'm just a lady who went on a couple fun vacations who wants to share some tips about my trips.)