Trip Report If you can see the floor, there's room for more- COMPLETED!

Let's see, I figured, I'd at least start updating about the road to Disney since, I'm sure once we actually get to Disney, my brain will explode and I'll forget all about this stuff...

So let's start:

Preface: Who are JZSquared?

I posted my pre-trip report way back in the Stone-age, so to save you all a trip, I'll just reintroduce myself [er ourselves?] to you?

Hi my name is Lyssa.... I'm not a robot without emotions, I'm not what you see... SORRY, 80S ROCK STUCK IN MY HEAD AFTER LISTENING TO IT FOR EIGHT HOURS STRAIGHT.

My better half [though personally I think that's debatable] is Justin.

We're both teachers from Houston, Texas. I teach special ed preschool [I have mainly autistic students] and Justin teaches the other end of the spectrum.... He teaches AP Computer Science and Calculus BC in high school.

This is us:

[though currently my hair is bright Cheshire Cat fuchsia...]

Since we're both teachers, we're really limited in when we can actually visit the world. We're basically limited to school breaks and summer breaks AKA when everybody else in the US also visits Disney, so it's going to be mad crowded whenever we go. We decided to join the craziest of the crazies and travel to Disney during the most-crowded time of year, New Year's Eve... I mean we could've gone over the summer, I suppose, but winter weather > summer weather, especially since it seems Florida is going through a big of a cold front [it is currently 43 degrees in Milton, Florida], which makes me happy [my NJ blood craves the cold... Justin's thin Texas blood, not so much.]

We also decided to road trip there because we both really don't like flying even though it's supposedly one of the safest things you can do... but we also really like road trips and seeing the US [our honeymoon was a road trip up the west coast, and down through the center of the US, so we hit Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain National Parks] and when we worked out the finances, really flying and driving were about the same price, so we decided to drive to Disney instead, plus that gives me the leniency to buy as many Starbucks mugs as I want and not have to worry about stuffing them in luggage and flying them back in a cargo hold of a plane.

Anyways, welcome to our trip, I hope you enjoy following along. Expect it to be corny and cheesy, hopefully entertaining though [This is my first trip report]!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

I'm sorry it wasn't all you dreamed of! When we went it was busy, but NOTHING like that. The stores are all SO TINY. I can't believe how small they are. We did get butterbeer and it was AWESOME. I loved Forbidden journey better than Gringotts, but Gringotts was still pretty cool.

 

[Lyssa]

I'm sorry it wasn't all you dreamed of! When we went it was busy, but NOTHING like that. The stores are all SO TINY. I can't believe how small they are. We did get butterbeer and it was AWESOME. I loved Forbidden journey better than Gringotts, but Gringotts was still pretty cool.

It was definetly all I dreamed of, I just didn't get to experience it to the extent I would've wanted to due to crowds, but we still loved it We also rode Forbidden Journey later on and that was an awesome ride

 

[Lyssa]

Chapter 33: The Secret Squirrel

After a somewhat disappointing, but still sort of exciting journey through Diagon Alley, it was time for more rides.

First was a re-ride on Transformers, and it wasn't any better the second time.

Then it was time to sign up to be a Minion.

[I love this wall ornament]

I thought the queue to Minions was really adorable and really well-done. There was a lot to see and a lot of little details.

The ride itself wasn't really memorable to me. It was just another 4d ride. It felt like all the other 4d rides we had gone on. I think that's my main problem with Universal Studios, all the rides are basically the same, they're all 4d simulators just themed around different movies. I mean there are exceptions, but 80% of the rides are just as I described.

I did almost buy myself a Fluffy unicorn though, but then Justin reminded me I'd have to carry it around the park, so ixnay on the fluffy unicorn.

Next was Revenge of the Mummy.

We actually both really liked this ride, it was different. I think I can describe it as Space Mountain, but a little bit faster, and more special effects, there was fire and steam and things like that. The only downside of the ride was that it was short, we both would've really liked it to be longer, but if you like Space Mountain, I'd definitely recommend this ride to you

Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit wasn't working that day. Katie told us it was because of the temperature. It was really cold. Roller coasters can have issues when it's too cold out. Steel roller coasters [like the rip ride rockit] may run slower because cold weather increases friction in the wheels. Cold weather can cause the track to shrink which could lead to operating issues. Cold weather can cause brakes to malfunction, which would be really bad on a roller coaster. And technology can fail when it's cold. Therefore it was closed for safety issues. Hulk was also closed for a good majority of our time there for the same reasons, but it did open later in the day, for a very short time, before the sun went down and it was cold again, but Rip Ride Rockit did not open.

Justin and I both wanted to ride it... I mean riding a roller coaster while rocking out to Evanescence or No Doubt sounds pretty awesome. Though who knows if I would've been able to even fit on the ride... I'm not that fluffy, but two certain parts of my body, make it really hard to fit into certain rides with over shoulder harnesses [which was causing me major panic attacks about Journey Through Hogwarts for months prior to this trip] and I've heard that ride isn't exactly friendly to that specific body issue. So in retrospective, maybe it wasn't a bad thing it was closed because if I couldn't fit on it, it would've been very ~insert bad word here~

However I will give Universal this, I do appreciate that they do have test seats outside all of the rides there. It's a lot better to realize you can't fit on a ride [or can fit] or may need a modified seat or something before waiting in line for hours [or in our case, getting straight to the ride] and it saves you lots of embarrassment if you are worried about something [or two certain parts of your body that make you life miserable]

Moving on.

Next we went on Race through New York starring Jimmy Fallon, and for some reason I literally took no pictures of this ride.

Not a bad ride, but still a 4d ride.

The one thing I really didn't like about Universal, was I felt really rushed and stressed putting on the restraints. It's not easy to get a lot of the restraints on, and when the workers there are pressuring you to get your restraints on as quickly as possible, it's extremely stressful and it made me panic. They literally give you no time to restrain yourself on certain rides. I get they want to push people through the rides as quickly as possible, especially since Universal gets so crowded, BUT I DON'T WORK WELL UNDER PRESSURE, and being forced to put things on quicker than I was able to, really put a damper on my enjoyment of some of the rides.

Next was lunch:

Katie told us a story that when Universal put its first ever Christmas tree up, there was a squirrel living in the tree. For the next three years or so, the squirrel kept on coming back to make a home in its tree, then one year the squirrel didn't come back, but to commemorate the OG squirrel, they put this animatronic squirrel in their tree every year.

We wound up at the Classic Monster's Cafe. We didn't have to eat there, we could've eaten anywhere in the park, but considering every place had an awful line and we only had an hour for lunch, we wound up here. I really wanted to go to Leaky Cauldron, but yeah, that was NEVER happening.

I had a cheeseburger and fries. They were just a cheeseburger and fries. Nothing amazing, but not bad either. Just a typical cheeseburger and fries, and since we were given a meal plan with our VIP tour, we didn't have to pay for this either.

After lunch, it was time to go to a place I had been thinking about since we had gotten to Universal:

I WAS FINALLY GOING TO GO TO HOGWARTS!!!

Time to board the Hogwarts Express:

Coming up: Would I get to ride Journey Into Hogwarts... Or would I get the red light?

 

[Lyssa]

Chapter 34: Hoggy Warty Hogwarts

Justin and I got into our train car for our ride to Hogsmeade and Hogswarts. I won't say much else about this ride because I know people dislike spoilers. But I will say it was a very cool way to travel from park to park. The window is a movie screen, and as you move, the landscape changes, and different events happen, they really try to make it like you're riding to Hogwarts and that was pretty awesome.

Finally we arrived at Hogsmeade:

We both very much enjoyed our trip on the Hogwarts Express.

It was finally time to see Hogwarts.

I wish I could say Hogsmeade/Hogwarts was less crowded than Diagon Alley, but alas it wasn't.

Even the line for the little witches and wizards' rooms were super super long and probably had about a thirty minute wait.

So instead, enjoy the pictures I took of Hogsmeade/Hogwarts.

I actually got to use my magic wand here while I was waiting for people to get out of the little witches and wizards' rooms. [sorry the VIP tour doesn't give you quick access to the bathrooms, you gotta wait like everyone else!] I got to aim my wand and the leaves of the plant in the window changed color and turned green. But this was the ONLY spell I got to cast with my magic wand. Even the spell areas had huge waits, but at least I got to cast one I actually managed to do it, Justin tried, with my wand and failed, but that's because the wand only obeys the wizard it chooses!

[one day I'll get my butter beer]

After taking in all the sights, and they were absolutely AMAZING sights, the amount of detail they put into this area of the park is insane and breath-taking, it was time to ride the two rides in this section, each of which had about a 200-300 minute wait.

The first ride we rode was the Flight of the Hippogriff. It wasn't really that exciting. It was like a mini-tiny roller coaster, probably best meant for really little kiddos [think barnstormer at Disney World, just the Harry Potter version]. The cars were tiny and some of the adults actually had to have a car to themselves just because the cars were so tiny and narrow. The scenery was cool- Hagrid's hut and Buckbeak was adorable, but the ride probably isn't worth the wait. I think most people would just be disappointed that they waited for over two hours for a slow and short roller-coaster, but to each their own. I would say if there isn't much of a wait, it's probably worth the ride, but the 200 minutes of your time other-wise, is probably best spent on other rides within the Harry Potter worlds of Universal, but that's just my personal opinion.

Next was Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

The first thing I did was try the test seat out in front of the ride. The light turned green, I'm happy to say. I would've even been okay if it turned yellow, but if it turned red, I would've been horribly embarrassed and extremely disappointed especially seeing as part of the reason we got the VIP tour was to ride all things Harry Potter. And out of all the rides, this was the ride I was most nervous about.

Since we were on the VIP tour, we didn't have to wait 300 something minutes for the ride. We didn't really get to explore the queue either, which I would've liked to see, but wasn't willing to wait 300 minutes to see, hopefully next time we come back, we can just look at the queue, I've heard that there's a way to just walk above the queue and explore it [I think I read it in a book] or the wait won't be so horrendous.

So we went into the exit and to the ride. The ride has a moving conveyor belt system, similar to Haunted Mansion, or a ride like that, but while you're on the conveyor belt and loading yourself on the bench, it moves really quickly and you need to put on your harness quickly. The haste caused me great anxiety, and I actually didn't get my harness on the right way, and I had to have a cast member help me put it on, which sort of caused me great embarrassment. I was able to adjust the harness with no problems [and I was in a regular seat, not a modified seat], but was still anxious as the ride started.

I prefer Disney to Universal, I feel you have plenty of time to adjust yourself on rides before the ride starts, and I feel like at Universal, at least for me, it's more stressful riding a ride than anything because you're so rushed once you actually get on the ride, and like I said, I understand it, Universal, especially Harry Potter Land gets TONS of people and they want to rush through the people as quickly as they can so the lines move faster and everyone gets on the ride, but that doesn't make it less stressful to me, personally.

The ride was really cool, the effects were pretty awesome, and it might've been one of my favorite rides. It combines a lot of things- projections [Universal loves their 3d/4d rides], animatronics, and special effects like water and heat in cool ways. The ride doesn't go upside down or anything, we were flat on our backs for a part of it and it twists and turns, but there's no upside down or anything or big drops [though there are some drops, but nothing crazy] or anything like that.

It was an awesome ride, and I'm glad I got to ride it, since I'm not sure I'd be willing to wait 300+ minutes for it. [Patience is not my virtue]

After one last look at Hogwarts, we left, and went to ride other rides within the Island of Adventures.

 

[Lyssa]

Chapter 35: The Last Chapter

I'm kind of sad. This is actually the last chapter of my trip report I get to write. It also took me about four months to actually finish this trip report because the real world is no fun.

Anyhow, after we left Hogsmeade, we cut through Seuss Landing to get to our next rides:

We didn't ride any rides throughout Seuss Landing, but I thought after Harry Potter World, it was one of the best themed areas in the entire park.

The Incredible Hulk Coaster had opened since the temperature had risen. So it was off to our first and only roller coaster of the Universal trip.

Security is pretty insane for the Hulk Coaster. They scan you with a metal detector, and you're not allowed to wear anything with metal on the ride.

Here are some fun facts about the Hulk Coaster:

• The launch takes you from zero to 40 mph in two seconds flat.
• Hulk was featured in the 1999 film House on Haunted Hill. In the film, it took on the name Terror Incognita.
• The track length of the Hulk Coaster track is 3,700ft and the ride time is 2 minutes and 15 seconds.
• When it opened, the launch of the Hulk uses so much power, the City of Orlando wouldn’t allow Universal to use their power, so Universal has onsite turbines that generate energy to propel the hulk coasters every 20 seconds.
• Hulk underwent an 11 month makeover, reopening in August 2016 with an all new track, lighting package, on-board audio, and more.

The ride was insane. I don't even know to describe it, but it was good insane. You basically go from not moving to feeling like you're being shot out of a gun or a cannon or something. It has loops, it has corkscrews, it's freaking fast.

Justin actually said it was his favorite roller coaster and ride of the entire trip. And he's really not a roller coaster enthusiast. I've ridden a lot of roller coasters, and I would say it was probably one of my favorite coaster too, though it had been a really long time since I had actually ridden a real roller coaster. I had no issue fitting into the restraints for Hulk. It wasn't a very comfortable ride because over shoulder harnesses aren't the best for people when certain parts of theirs are well above average [though I felt a little better after I went to my oncologist this week, and was complaining about them and she said that it was probably due to my hysterectomy because when you remove parts of your body- not by choice but for cancer- your hormones go whack and strange things can happen to your body like certain things increasing by four sizes] but I still fit in the seats. I do believe we needed to go into the specially-modified seats [again because of two certain parts of my body that make my life a word I can't say on a family friendly website], but nobody made a big issue of it [I think it helped that we were on a VIP Tour and our guide made sure to tell us what row we should be in before the actual ride].

After Hulk, our guide took us to the newest ride that Universal had to offer: Skull Island: Reign of Kong

[see that 150 minute wait time, this is why a VIP tour was awesome]

I don't have much to say about Reign of Kong except I felt like it wasn't worth the wait if we would've had to really wait for it. It's a typical 4D ride with special effects, but nothing amazing.

Our VIP tour ended after Kong, and we were on our own. We were on a search for my Slytherin scarf, so we went back to Hogsmeade:

It was still extremely crowded and hard to walk through, so we asked where else we could buy Harry Potter memorabilia and were told that there was a store called the Universal Studio Store that sold all the same stuff, so we went on a journey to find that and got pretty lost.

[there's the Hulk]

We eventually did find the store and I was finally able to get all Slytherin-ed up, for half the wait it would've been in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade:

Then it was time to leave, the park was closing pretty soon, so we left the park, and we still had a snack credit on our meal plan card, so we decided to spend it on pretzel bites at a stand on the Universal City Walk.

We got back to our car and went straight to Wawa because this Jersey girl [who's stuck living in Texas, thanks to her husband] needed a Wawa Fix:

Words cannot describe how incredible it was to drink Wawa coffee and eat a Wawa Sandwich and stock up on different Wawa drinks.

Then it was back to Pop Century to admire my Starbucks mug collection before we went to our last sleep at Disney.

Anyhow in conclusion, we enjoyed our day at Universal Studios/Island Adventure. The VIP tour was amazing. We got free food and we didn't have to wait in any lines, which was amazing considering it was probably one of the most crowded weeks in the year.

As "pooh-sized" people [though my size is more due to certain aspects of my chest and over the shoulder harnesses, not my actual weight], we were able to ride everything we wanted to at Universal, which is notoriously not friendly towards bigger sized people. I will say that its important to try the test seats if you're unsure about fitting in a ride, it may seem embarrassing, but it's a lot less embarrassing than getting to a ride and trying to fit in a seat when you can't. And if you do need a modified seat, you're the the only one, and just tell the ride attendant as you're boarding the ride. I didn't witness any ride attendants embarrassing anyone or anything like I've read stories about. They were very discrete about such things. But again, it is important to try the test seats out before rides, they're there for a reason. And even if you do need a modified seat, it's not worth beating yourself up over, it doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with you, no two bodies are the same, and ride engineers simply don't have the capabilities for designing a ride seat that works for every single body type just because everybody is different. Don't let a modified seat ruin your good time.

The next day, we started our drive back to Texas, stopping again at Wawa because I NEEDED IT. We spent a night somewhere in Louisiana, and made it back to Texas by Saturday, and then school started again Monday, for both of us [we're both teachers].

Our trip was AMAZING, I am so glad we went, and can't wait to go back for a next time, though I don't really know when next time will be since life is happening [we're trying to find a gestational carrier for our one embryo that we managed to freeze before my hysterectomy for uterine cancer, and that whole process is expensive, so I'm not sure when the next time we'll have trip money is since we're basically taking a second mortgage out on our house to have a kid- thanks cancer], but I can't wait to see all the new stuff that will be at Disney and even Universal when we go next time

Anyhow thanks for reading and thanks for comments, and here's hoping there's another pre-trip in the somewhat distant future

 

[krause]

Thanks for sharing your trip report and your personal stories! I really enjoyed it! All the best with your baby and I’m looking forward to a future trip report!

 

[Lyssa]

Thanks for sharing your trip report and your personal stories! I really enjoyed it! All the best with your baby and I’m looking forward to a future trip report!

you're welcome thanks for reading along and thank you <3

 

[Songbird76]

I'm so sorry the wait times were so huge in HP land. That's the same thing we experienced, but that was in 2010 when it first opened. We're going back next Summer, though, so I can't wait to see everything!!!
If you want some Slytherin or just HP swag in general, do you have a Primark near you? They have tons. And the ones over here are heavy on Slytherin and Gryffindor stuff...Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are harder to find. The one thing that's weird is that a lot of their Slytherin stuff is more blue than green....I don't know why, but not all of it is, so you should be able to find something.

 

[amjt660]

Great report and insight into the different parks
I am glad you stuck with it and finished it

Max

 

[Lyssa]

I'm so sorry the wait times were so huge in HP land. That's the same thing we experienced, but that was in 2010 when it first opened. We're going back next Summer, though, so I can't wait to see everything!!!

@Songbird76 I'm sure part of why the waits were so bad was because we went during Christmas time when everybody in the world is also off from school/work, I'm sure you'll have much better crowds in the summer

Great report and insight into the different parks
I am glad you stuck with it and finished it

Thank you @amjt660 thanks for reading and sticking with my report I'm glad you enjoyed it

 

[amjt660]

@amjt660 thanks for reading and sticking with my report I'm glad you enjoyed it

Gotta work on the selfies though my friend
You look so serious because I can tell you are focussed on getting a good shot
You just have to remember to smile!!!!!

Stay cool

Max

 

[Lyssa]

Gotta work on the selfies though my friend
You look so serious because I can tell you are focussed on getting a good shot
You just have to remember to smile!!!!!

So true @amjt660 Justin and I are like the worst selfie takers ever We definitely need to work on them, LOL, there should be like a Selfie 101 class I would totally sign up for it, LOL, we do focus too much on trying to get a good shot and we're rubbish with our angles LOL

 

[fractal]

Thanks for the report - since I've never been to Universal Orlando/IoA I appreciated your thoughts.

Glad to see Wawa spreading down South!

Best wishes and luck with finding a carrier.

 

[MotherofaPrincessLover]

I wish you all the best in finding a carrier. I really enjoyed reading your trip report!

 

[Lyssa]

Thanks for the report - since I've never been to Universal Orlando/IoA I appreciated your thoughts.

Glad to see Wawa spreading down South!

Best wishes and luck with finding a carrier.

If only Wawa would make its way to Texas @fractal we have Bucc-ees, but it's just not the same I'm glad you enjoyed the report. And thank you, hopefully our next trip report whenever it is will have a new member of the family along for the adventure

I wish you all the best in finding a carrier. I really enjoyed reading your trip report!

Thank you very much @MotherofaPrincessLover for reading it and for the luck