UO/IOA and HHN with "little" sister! Sept. 24-27

tweak89

Mouseketeer
Joined
May 4, 2010
So this was a "quick" trip out to Orlando for a few days of the parks and a night of HHN. Trip consisted of myself and my younger sister. We haven't been to a Universal theme park (or any other for that matter) since we were little kids. Here is one of the few pics of our last Universal (Hollywood) trip from waaaay back.
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This was my 5th trip here and her first. She lives in Chicago while I reside in Texas. Luckily I was able to plan this trip around my mother's 80th birthday. I knew she would be flying down for it (party was on the 23rd) and we would leave the morning after together and she would fly back to Chicago when we departed.

She's a HUGE (and by HUGE I mean HULK HUGE) fan of Halloween. So it worked out great that I was able to book us on an RIP tour that first night in Orlando. I had done HHN in 2016 with my wife (and oddly enough, my sisters two grown kids). She is also a really big Harry Potter fan as well.

Day 1 (Sept. 24)

Day one was pretty much going to be HHN centered. We got in early, dropped of our bags (Loews Royal Pacific) and headed to the park for a couple of hours. Came back for a break and to get ready for HHN. We had an 8pm non-private RIP Tour booked so we took out time getting back to the park. Reception at Cafe LaBamba was nice with hot appetizers, desserts and water/soft drinks provided at no cost. We had a fun guide who got us through all the houses/zones very efficiently, we even snuck in a couple of rides as a group in between houses. My sister is a big scaredy cat that loved to be scared so she loved every minute of it. Haunted Houses don't do much in the was of scaring me but they are still fun for other peoples reactions. The set design in some of the houses this year was outstanding. Dead Waters, with it's river boat set, was a standout. Bill and Ted's final show was great and the audience was really into it, will be interesting to see what they replace it with. Overall, I think this years lineup of houses was better. Each house was pretty strong in it's execution (I thought last years 3D house was a wasted opportunity).

Our tour took us almost all the way to park closing, so we scooted back to our room to rest up for the next day.

Here we are having a shot during one of out restroom/drink/snack breaks:
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Day 2-3 (Sept. 25/26)

Today would be all about Harry Potter. We managed to avoid Diagon Alley during HHN so she could experience the whole "world" together. She was enthralled at all the little details. Of course, she picked up an interactive wand so she could cast some spells. While we didn't really notice it the first day, crowds were pretty light our entire stay. The only ride, as usual, that had any real wait time was Despicable Me (as usual). So we spent more than half the day at Diagon/Hogsmeade. The second half of the day was spent taking rides on the Studios side. The next day was similar in that we started in the Potter lands, but this time hitting up rides on the IoA side. With the two middle days we tackled pretty much everything. In fact, the only things we did not do were the Sinbad live show and Poseiden's Fury. One thing I should mention, my sister is not the biggest fan of coasters. But by the end of the trip she rode them all multiple times. At her request, Hulk ended up being the last the last ride of the visit.

Having some Butterbeer:
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She's amazed!
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Day 4 (Sept. 27)

This was going to be a greatest hits day. We had about 3 hours in the park that morning before we had to get back to our room. pack, have lunch and head to the airport.

Due to the aforementioned light crowds we packed quite a few (9 rides) rides along with more time on the Potter lands and last minute souvenir shopping. We had requested a late checkout so everything timed out quite nicely. We had some time for a sit down lunch (Margaritaville), some shopping around City Walk, and even a nap in the lobby. As adults, my sister and I haven't gotten to spend a lot of time together, but such is the way of life. So, I was happy we got this time to ourselves. We spent our last hour sitting in the airport between gates (mine was on one side, hers on the other). When it came time for our goodbye, my sister couldn't help but get misty eyed. Had she lingered any longer, I might have gotten some sand in my eye as well.

Final thoughts:

I wanted to give my thoughts on a couple of rides that are somewhat "controversial" among Universal fans. Fallon and Kong. I thought the Fallon ride was just ok. I likened more to Soarin' more than anything. The queue is great, the 3D and screen resolution/brightness is fantastic. But, it was just a but to mild for my taste. It did make me imagine the Potter Rides with screens that clear and bright.

As far as Kong, I liked it when I rode it last year (I have experienced it in Hollywood as well) and I think I like it even more this time around. Of all the rides we rode, this one elicited the best crowd response. Lot's of reaction to the action and claps at the end. It really is an immersive attraction. Could they have occluded or enhanced the areas at the top/bottom of the screens with more facade to sell the illusion, yes. But in the end it's still a really fun experience. This makes me very curios as to what they are doing with Fast and Furious (also part of the Hollywood tram tour, and very similar to Kong as it is also a drive through attraction).
 
thanks for sharing! we have a RIP tour scheduled so that information was helpful. Sounds like you had a great trip!!!
 
Enjoyed your trip report

Do you have another trip on the planning stage ?

I likes bill and Ted this year

It was a hoot!
 

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