22-23 January – Orlando Universal Studios

It was a 45 minute drive into Universal Studios and they have parking for RVs, but right down the very far end of the complex. The security is very intense. Steve had to give the guard his licence, and the guard spent about 5 minutes checking the number plates and registration details of the van before we were allowed to proceed to the parking lot. And that was just to park the van. It was a bit of a hike to the gates, and more security – more like going through airport security this time. A metal detector gate and running all your bags through a scanner. Even though it was a weekday, it was pretty crowded.

That got us onto the City Walk, with shops and restaurants, a movie complex, and lots of souvenir booths. We spoke to a concierge, who suggested that we start with Universal Studios then move to Universal’s Islands of Adventure later. At the gates we opted for express tickets that get you into the fast lane for the attractions. Very glad we did. It must have saved us hours of queueing. With most of the attractions the express line took you right to the front of the queue and straight onto the ride. Sometimes we walked past 400-500 people in line.

Being Harry Potter fans we went first to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley. And we were not disappointed! It was just like the movie, with so much to see. The animations are brilliant, and the attention to detail makes for an immersive experience. We looked at wands in Ollivander’s, dropped into the Leaky Cauldron and drank butterbeer (really tasty, kind of a soft drink with foam on top which we think is butterscotch flavoured cream). We visited Knockturn Alley, browsed through Fred and George Weasley’s joke shop and looked at the all flavoured jelly beans and chocolate frogs in the lolly shop. When we had seen everything we went to Kings Cross station, and platform 9 and 3/4 for the train to Hogsmeade (in the Islands of Adventure park).

The train was amazing. We expected just a train ride, but the windows are screens that show you an abbreviated version of the scenery on the way from London to Hogwarts. Hagrid flies alongside the train on his motorcycle, Hedwig soars alongside for a while, and the Weasley’s flying car makes an appearance too. The doors of the cubicles are also screens and on the door side, you can see people walking and talking in the corridor - Harry, Hermione and Ron buying food from the food trolley, the Dementors attacking the train, and chocolate frogs escaping and climbing up the door.

At Hogsmeade we had lunch at the Three Broomsticks and then headed up to Hogwarts castle for “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey”. Again, it was done brilliantly, with a mix of 3D big screen, and moving roller coaster style cars, that took you through the castle, following Harry and Ron on broomsticks as they soared over the rooftops, played Quidditch and outran dementors. We got whomped by the Whomping Willow and raced through the Forbidden Forest. Even though there was a lot of movement of the cars, most of the effect was created by the screens and the 3D. It was very cool.

We headed into the rest of the park to see what else was on offer. First was Jurassic Park, with animatronic dinosaurs. Then we went on “Skull Island: Reign of Kong”. Another very well done ride, with 3D effects. The truck we were in was attacked by dinosaurs, but Kong came to the rescue and fought them off.

Toon Lagoon was fun to walk through, then Marvel Super Hero Island, where we went on “The Amazing Adventures of SpiderMan” ride. Another 3D simulator, again, very well done. The special effects and 3D is very realistic.

We walked through Suess Landing, and had a ride on “The Cat in the Hat”- made for kids, but a bit of fun. Then The Lost Continent, where we had intended to try out “Poseidon’s Fury” but the ride was having a break for another half hour and it was getting late in the day, so we headed back to the Hogwarts Express.

On the return journey the movie experience was different and we saw the Forbidden Forest with centaurs racing alongside the train.

When we got back to Diagon Alley, we went to “Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts”. The ride followed the section in the movie where Harry, Ron and Hermione are caught sneaking into Gringotts and escape on a dragon. A mix of 3D screens, animatronics and roller coaster made for a thrilling ride.

Back to the RV, and the trip back to the RV park.

The next morning we left earlier to make the most of our second day. We started back at Universal studios at Production Central for “Despicable Me Minion Mayhem”. The premise of the ride is that you are minions in training. A bit like a version of the Minion Rush game. The 3D big screen combined with the movement of the seats gave a very realistic ride through Gru’s lab, dodging obstacles, bowling over other minions, chasing bananas, and lots of falling over.

After that we tried out “Shrek 4D”, which had normal cinema style seats that jolted a little, so most of the effects were via the screen, plus sprays of water and air. We rode with Shrek as he rescued Fiona from certain death. At the last minute Donkey and Dragon saved the day. All good fun, but the technology was definitely a step down from some of the other rides.

Steve then rode the “Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit” rollercoaster. Ros isn’t a fan of rollercoasters and sat this one out. It loops and spirals across the park and Steve came back with a huge grin.

We then went to “Race Through New York”, another brilliant combination of 3D and moving seats. We raced through the streets of New York, past the Statue of Liberty, Times Square and then a virtual rollercoaster to the moon and back. Lots of fun.

We took in lunch at Lombard’s Seafood Grille in San Fransisco, then we tried out “Men in Black: Alien Attack”. It was a shooter style game where the cars run you through the city and you shoot a laser at the aliens that pop up.

That was all the rides that we had wanted to do, except for the “Incredible Hulk Coaster” – Steve again, because it goes upside down. Following that, we skipped around the parks repeating rides that we had really enjoyed.

On the “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey”, we experienced a breakdown. Luckily we were leaning back at the time, not tilting forwards or to one side, so it was reasonably comfortable to just sit there. The lights came on and we were interested to see how the ride was constructed. The pods of 4 seats each are on robotic arms that lift and twist them. At the time, we were about 10 - 15 feet from the ground, being attacked be a dementor, who wasn’t nearly as impressive frozen still.

Ros was sitting next to a little girl, maybe 7 or 8 years old, who was frightened and was crying quietly. So Ros held her hand and talked to her to keep her calm. She was visiting from Brazil and her family were on another car. We were strapped in with full body lock in bars, so there was no danger of falling, but she was getting very anxious as time ticked on. It seemed like a really long time, but realistically might have been 10 minutes, and then the ride suddenly kicked in again and we were moving. We made sure the little girl found her family when we got off. Really, she was way too young to be riding by herself.

On the way out Steve had one last rollercoaster and we did the Minion ride again. We finished the evening with dinner at The Cowfish sushi and burger restaurant, with some burgushi rolls – sushi rolls made with burger ingredients like steak and mushroom. Very tasty!