Universal Day 3 - Thursday, 24 Feb
After yesterday's long, exhausting day in the parks, there was no way I was going to set an alarm. Sleeping in was a great idea and we took even longer to get going this morning than the day before. Our plan was to head right for Islands of Adventure as we were happy with everything we covered at Universal Studios the day before. The number one goal was to get on Hagrid's Motorbike Adventure since that always had the longest wait out of any ride in either park. We saw the wait go up to 180 minutes! Yikes!
We got to Hagrid's and the wait was about 75 minutes. That's as good as we were going to get, so we hopped in line. The line started before even reaching Hogsmead. We were still in the Ancient Greece part of the park. We did have some entertainment with a talking fountain. There was a guy hiding somewhere with a camera and a microphone because he was having conversations with anyone willing to talk to the fountain. It was amusing, especially when he would spray water at unsuspecting passers-by! We didn't get to enjoy the shenanigans for too long since the line was actually moving fairly consistenly.
Despite waiting for an hour, the wait wasn't terrible. There were plenty of props and displays to look at while going through the line. Finally it was our time to jump on the ride! Charlotte went with Ross - she got in the side car and Ross on the motorcycle. I was paired with a random person, but I got the motorcycle side. I was happy to be on the bike and the ride is one of the best in the park! There were some things it did that I hadn't experienced on a rollercoaster-type ride before. An hour+ is a long time to wait, but I'm glad we did!
We moved on from Harry Potter world and headed over to Jurrasic Park. There was a kids jungle gym area that we went through just for funsies and ran through a splash pad to cool off a bit. We were now ready to check out the Velocicoaster. This rollercoaster had the second longest wait times next to Hagrid's, so we were prepared to wait another hour. This line didn't have as many cool things to look at, but the coaster did zoom by us several times while we were stopped in one spot. We didn't notice at first, but we realized we hadn't seen or heard the coaster fly by in a while. Then the announcements started. The ride was currently delayed. After a bit, the ride had an extended delay. We were welcome to stay in line, but they did not have an estimated fix time. Our plan was to stay in line for the hour we had originally planned and then bail if nothing was happening. The staff mentioned that if they close the ride, we would get an express pass to get back on later, but we would still have to be in line at that time. It was closing in on the hour mark and I was just about to have us jump out of line. Lucky for us we waited just the right amount of time and they suspended operation. They gave us all an express pass for a single ride and we hopped over to the Dino center next to the ride.
The Discovery center was part gift shop, part restaurant, part dino exhibit similar to something you would find in Jurrasic Park. It was also super crowded (big surprise). Charlotte and I hunted for a bathroom while Ross waited outside for us. We all met back up just outside the ride entrance and within a few minutes we saw the coaster running some empty test cars through the ride. One run through had two employees riding the front two seats. I wonder if that is a little nerve wracking for those two folks. Here - test out this ride that was just malfunctioning, it will probably be fine. The sound of the test runs was like a beacon to everyone in the park. The flock of people was amazing. And sure enough, they re-opened the ride. The three of us jumped in the single rider line and got up to the front immedately. They couldn't even fill all the cars yet. Charlotte was chickening out and despite being seated on the ride, she jumped out last minute. Ross got a front row seat and I was just behind him. The Velocicoaster was by far the best ride in either park! It was so smooth, the twists and turns were amazing, and it was just an overall exciting ride. Highly recommend! We loved it so much we went right back on. Charlotte skipped out a second time but Ross and I enjoyed the quick turn of the single rider line again.
Before leaving Jurrasic Park some carnival games caught our attention. Ross is good at winning some of these games, so the three of us joined the game where you spray the stream of water at a tiny target. Ross came through and won us a T-Rex! We named her Lucy. We had purchased a game card with 5 games on it, so we planned on checking out the other game area in the Toon Lagoon area after our next ride.
Next on our list was the Kong: Skull Island 3D ride. The wait was only about 30 minutes which went quickly. Like most of the other rides, the amount of props and things to see while traveling through the line help make the wait more bearable. We loaded into a big "vehicle" like we were going on an expedition and popped on our 3D glasses. The ride was neat, but I've determined 3D rides are not my thing. Once again, I was a little woozy feeling once we were done.
We continued to make our way through Islands of Adventure, and found our second game to play: Whack-a-Mole. Charlotte and I took on a few other people. The first to 150 points would be the winner. Charlotte came out on top and we were two for two on games! She took home a stuffed Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon.
At this point, it was starting to get a little late in the day, but we had two more rides to check out: Dr. Doom's Fearfall and The Incredible Hulk Coaster. Dr. Doom had no wait at all, which is nice since the ride is an entire 30 seconds. We swooped through some Marvel gift shops and made our way to the last ride of the day.
Charlotte was still a little unsure about another coaster, but she was willing to ride if we didn't go single rider, which we agreed to. Another 30ish minute wait with more fun props to look at and we were ready to Hulk Smash. This coaster was pretty decent, but not nearly as good as the Velocicoaster. Only one time through with this one. I was still recovering from the Kong ride and Charlotte's still not sure if rollercoasters are her thing.
We wanted to do some last minute shopping back in Hogsmead and saw the line for Olivanders was very short. We hopped in to see if Charlotte might get a chance to be picked for the wand experience. To our luck, she was! It ended up being the same "show" as the other one, but it was just as exciting to see her go through the process of finding a wand. Even though she already had her wand, we decided to get this wand too. Now it's kind of my wand and hers too. A neat experience!
It was nearing 6pm and we did not pay attention to park hours. They were different that the other days which meant Islands of Adventure was about to close and we could no longer hop on the Hogwarts Express. That was the one thing we wanted to do that we never got to. Bummer! We searched a few more gift shops and decided that was all for Universal! One last bus ride and chaotic trip to the hotel food court for us. We did a little packing that night and crashed into bed.
Stats for the day:
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