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GDF Visits the Dark Side


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We are definitely going to have to go visit that resort. As well as the hard rock resort.  Next month unfortunately our budget is such that we are getting a family suite at cabana bay again  

Last year we stayed at universal cabana bay resort and we visited the sapphire and royal pacific resort and they were awesome.  We took the boat from city walk and walked across the street from the Sapphire to cabana bay  

But portofino looks even better.  We are going to have to catch a boat over there for some drinks  

Did the swimming pool have under water speakers?  

Was there a lazy river? 

Kids activities?

food court?

Cabana bay has a great food court. (Think of AoA’s food court.) lazy river and waterslide, two pools, fire pits to make s’mores and bowling alley with a restaurant and a bar. 

 

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No, this isn’t a Star Wars reference. My family spent Spring Break at Universal Orlando! Can you believe it? Can you also believe I’d never been there? Yep, it’s true.   Z turned 9 the day before we

Welcome!!!! I can't wait for the 2019 edition of that trip! 

Why does the foot hassock look like a hidden Mickey 

We are definitely going to have to go visit that resort. As well as the hard rock resort.  Next month unfortunately our budget is such that we are getting a family suite at cabana bay again  
Last year we stayed at universal cabana bay resort and we visited the sapphire and royal pacific resort and they were awesome.  We took the boat from city walk and walked across the street from the Sapphire to cabana bay  
But portofino looks even better.  We are going to have to catch a boat over there for some drinks  
Did the swimming pool have under water speakers?  
Was there a lazy river? 
Kids activities?
food court?
Cabana bay has a great food court. (Think of AoA’s food court.) lazy river and waterslide, two pools, fire pits to make s’mores and bowling alley with a restaurant and a bar. 
 


No lazy river, underwater music, or food court at Portofino. There were scheduled kids activities, including a kids club for those needing babysitting. There are also tons of dining options, including room service. We frequented Sal’s because it was so good.


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The next day was Easter morning. At the Fort we usually chill and enjoy the activities, but Touring Plans said this would be the least busy day in the parks, so we decided to make it a Park day. By the way, the Touring Plans was right about their prediction.

 

Z was excited that the Easter Bunny found us!

 

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We got ready and headed to the boat dock. A boat arrived after a few minutes.

 

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Family boat selfie!

 

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The plan was to hit Universal Studios, starting with the Harry Potter stuff. The nice thing about Express Pass is that we didn’t have to plan too much.

 

From the boat dock at City Walk, it was a quick walk over.

 

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Like at Disney, people seem to like to stand in line. We were able to walk up to the scanner even though there were some long lines at the others.

 

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Before long, it was go time. Most people were heading to ride Escape from Gringotts, but we were heading to Ollivander’s because Z wanted a wand more than anything. He was also hoping to be the person chosen to have the wand choose the wizard. They have about 20 people per show, but only 1 gets chosen for that. I’d heard the morning can be the best time, but I was also preparing him for it to not happen.

 

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Brisk walk! Good thing we have experience.

 

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When we reached Diagon Alley, I was in awe. The theming is incredible. You really feel transported to the movies. I highly recommend taking advantage of the early access for Universal resort guests, because this place was slammed later that day.

 

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We were the first people in line for the wand show. Check! We have the birthday shirt. Check! I chatted with them about how excited Z was to see the show. Fingers crossed he would be chosen.

 

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I might have even said a prayer. When the man came up to us and started talking to Z, I not sure who was more excited... him or me. He was chosen!

 

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It is really hard to take pictures in there because it is dark and you aren’t allowed to use a flash. Basically they had him try several different ones until one was the right one for him.

 

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It was awesome!!! Once the wind it shows him, we went into the shop where we got to pay for it of course. One really cool thing is that the person who is chosen gets a wand that has never belonged to another wizard. They said it was his job to make it famous. Everyone else chooses ones from characters from the books and movies. My step daughter was super excited that we let her get her own wand as well.

 

Ugh.... tapatalk is killing me. I thought photobucket was bad. I can’t load pics right now.

 

This is the shortest update of all time, but I do not want to lose what I already wrote and loaded.

 

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17 minutes ago, CCIntrigue...aka Gwen said:

Great updates!  Your pictures almost make me want to go to Universal.

I don't know I think there might be quite a few people that might go for a change. It does look tempting :dontknow:

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On 4/22/2018 at 3:31 PM, GaDawgFan.....Kelly said:

 

 

On 4/22/2018 at 6:38 PM, CCIntrigue...aka Gwen said:

Great updates!  Your pictures almost make me want to go to Universal.

We enjoyed it more than we expected. 

On 4/22/2018 at 6:56 PM, dblr....Rennie said:

I don't know I think there might be quite a few people that might go for a change. It does look tempting :dontknow:

It was a LOT of fun! 

On 4/22/2018 at 8:45 PM, Beckers said:

We keep talking about eventually going to the dark side. 

Do it! 

On 4/23/2018 at 7:35 AM, h2odivers...Ray said:

Go. It’s worth it. 

Agreed! 

On 4/23/2018 at 7:39 AM, h2odivers...Ray said:

Great tip going to Ollivanders first thing in the morning.  The line was around the corner and we were in line for 45-60 minutes.  We made the rookie mistake of going to gringotts first.  Lol!

That is so cool that Z got chosen.  

 

Yes, it gets CRAZY.... even crazier than Gringotts. We're heading there next. 

On 4/23/2018 at 11:59 AM, Tri-Circle-D said:

It is good to be Z. He wanted a wand, and thanks to some good planning, he got one. Good  job! It's pretty obvious that the banshees in Pandora at AK are Disney's attempt to copy Universal's wizard wands. But Universal does it so much better. 

TCD 

It is good to be Z. His level of excitement for that was something I will remember forever. He told EVERYONE who would listen about it on the trip and still does. I think the shirt was key. 

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After Z’s wand chose him and we purchased said wand plus one for Haley, we headed to Escape from Gringotts.

 

The wait said 40 minutes, I think. I really didn’t want to backtrack, so we figured “What the heck” and got in line.

 

I’d heard that the queue is cool, and it really is.

 

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It seems that Universal inflates their wait times kind of like Disney does. I think we were really in the line less than 20 minutes. It was enough time to get to check out all of the cool elements, although I’m sure you would notice new things each time.

 

The ride is a fairly tame rollercoaster with 3D and other elements. It’s really well done and in my top 5 rides of all time.

 

After the ride we let Z and Haley play with their wands. It was still early, so Diagon Alley wasn’t crazy busy yet. The wands interact with different areas of the land.

 

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I love how immersive this land is.

 

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At this point we were hungry. Where do you eat Easter breakfast? The Leaky Cauldron! This is a quick service dining option. If you book a Harry Potter package, you can make reservations for breakfast. All others are walk in. We went pretty early, so there wasn’t much of a line to get in. That wasn’t the case later in the day.

 

The folks stay in character here. Much to my dismay, they don’t stock muggle drinks like Diet Coke. Interestingly, they do offer beer, but it was too early for that.

 

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There’s a lot of attention to detail here.

 

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Butter beer is one of the included beverages, so Z was the was excited to try it. This ended up being a huge blessing because the butter beer lines out in the main area were insane later in the day.

 

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Happy Easter cheers!

 

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They give you a number on a stick and bring the food to your table.

 

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The food was pretty decent for quick service. I wasn’t crazy about the eggs but the rest was really good.

 

Obligatory cauldron picture with our adorable shirts.

 

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After breakfast, we watched a puppet show and Z and Haley planned more magic stops. It was cute.

 

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We headed out of Diagon Alley and saw the Night Bus.

 

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We’ll pick up with more of Universal in the next update.

 

 

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13 hours ago, Cortezcapt (Derek) said:

Ok I'm very late but I'm in. Looks like y'all had a great time so far. If US had a campground they might be in the running for us, or a every other year thing. Unfortunately we love the Fort to much. 

Thanks for joining in. I wish they has a campground too. Our resort was pretty sweet though! 

12 hours ago, slices said:

The potatoes look the same as I had in the three broomsticks at lunchtime in January. Does the Leaky Cauldron promote itself as having 'English food' as much as the three broomstick?

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We had them both places, and I think they are the exact same. I really liked them though, so I was OK with that. They are both English food places. 

1 hour ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

What did you think of the butter beer?

we thought it was to sweet. 

Btw. DD was reading your last update with me and she wants to know if her wand will work on our upcoming trip?

did they mention anything about how long they last?

I thought it was too sweet as well. Z loved it. 

I've heard the wands will last multiple trips, but I didn't ask about battery life. How long has it been? 

5 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Can you explain how the Front of Line privileges currently work for hotel guests?  My last hotel stay at Universal was before the HP stuff. Back then, your room key meant you could skip every line. Things must have changed since y'all waited in line for the HP ride. 

TCD 

Express Pass Unlimited comes free if you stay at Hard Rock, Royal Pacific, or Portofino Bay. Early entry comes with a stay at any of those resorts plus the other resorts, Sapphire Falls and Cabana Bay. For whatever reason, they weren't creating an Express Pass line during early entry. I asked and was told everyone would have it that was allowed in early... not really true. 

Until fairly recently, the HP attractions did not participate in Express Pass at all. That has changed, but Express Pass doesn't guarantee you 0 wait. It guarantees you a shorter wait. We were able to basically walk on almost all attractions, but there was still a bit of a wait at the HP stuff and Kong... kind of like how those FP lines get long during peak times of year (Thunder Mountain, Toy Story, and Buzz are great examples of that). Honestly, we moved about the pace I'd want to to see all the stuff in the queue. There were times where I had actually wanted to stay longer but needed to keep moving. 

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2 minutes ago, DaveInTN said:

Generally speaking, does it feel like US crams guests into the parks like Disney does these days?  Or can you walk, breath, and sort of enjoy yourself?  

The Harry Potter areas later in the day were PACKED. The rest of the areas were fine. Early entry is a nice perk for sure and worth it even if you have Express Pass because we were able to experience the HP areas when they weren't slammed. We went back to re-ride some stuff and see the night show.... WOW, it was busy. 

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We haven't eaten at the Leaky Cauldron but we have had lunch twice at Three Broomsticks.  We really liked it.  Both times we got a pumpkin juice and a butter beer to share between the 4 of us.  That's about all I can take because it is so sweet, but both are tasty.  Congrats to Z for being picked - how cool!

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Joining in! I haven’t been to Universal in probably 25 years. But every time we’ve offered to do a Universal trip the kids have opted to do Disney (again!). Maybe your trip report will help me convince them.

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