A Review of Universal Studio's in Orlando, FL.
My family and I have enjoyed living in Middle GA and visiting FL for the past few years. Our kids are young enough (3 and 7ish) to still love meeting characters, staying in a hotel, and riding what they can. We decided to forgo the traditional Mouse land and give the "other whitemeat" a chance. If you are looking for a quick summation scroll to the bottom of this post :)
We all were super excited to try out Universal Orlando for a day. Currently they are selling a 2 day ticket with a 3rd day free option. The ticket prices made me gulp a little. Our family only had enough time to do US one day and Island's of Adventure the next day. But, my sweetheart and I had one ticket free for each of us. My 7 year old didn't have any tickets and my son had only just turned 3. He was supposed to pay to get in, but he is a super little guy (under 35") and we didn't know what he could ride before we got there. Fortunately, we were able to get a room at the US Resort Hard Rock Hotel on the property. That room got us unlimited Universal Express lines. This ended up being a great savings and each person in our party had one. For my review of this hotel click here Hard Rock Hotel Orlando
We were so close to the park we could walk from our hotel and we were able to leave our vehicle in the hotel parking lot, for a daily fee, while we were in the park having fun. Even the day we checked out our vehicle was safe in the hotel parking lot. This gave us great peace of mind!
We arrived at the park and got a 2-Park Guide Map. This is the most critical info guide to success at these parks. The map shows information for each park and dates for that week. It's a little confusing, but not too hard to figure out.
Our first characters we met were Scooby Doo and Shaggy in front of their Mystery Machine. Shaggy was pretty cool to the kids. Next, we walked up to Minion Mayhem and saw a street performance with all the Despicable Me characters! Sweet Pea was okay with Gru, but he was scared of the "Garls" This was followed by my husband and daughter getting on the ride. Sweet Pea and I watched the Studio Brass Band walk by, and met Woody Wood Pecker, and Homer and Lisa Simpson. We did buy signature books for the characters, and some signed with our pen; others used a stamp.
*I loved how the characters
interacted with my kids :)
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Next, the whole family rode Shrek 4-D and then we decided to grab lunch. My sweetheart snuck away and got on the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. One of the parks only outdoor coasters. I don't know why I didn't get on that one? He said it was very fast and you get to choose the music they pump through your head rest. Anyway. We took the kids on Twister and then we went over to the Transformers the ride-3D. We
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| Certificate to ride when you reach Height Requirement |
We headed over to Woody Woodpecker's Kidszone. And on the way we caught a street show from the Hop Characters. My Sweet pea enjoyed the music and dancing but he was not feeling the Giant Bunnies and Chicks! At Woody's, Sweetie pie and I 
got on the Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse coaster. You must be 36 inches to ride. So my Sweet pea could not ride :( He did find Fievel's Playland to his liking. There is a great water slide that he was tall enough for. Sweetheart and Sweetie Pie went to ride E.T. while he and I stayed in Fievel's Playland. The kids finally got to see SpongeBob Squarepants. We saw Curious George with Woody WP in the Curious George Goes to Town area. Friends we were not prepared for our kids to get soaked. So we did not hang out for long in the Curious George area. His "town" was a interactive water playground. We moved on from Fievel's and around to Kang & Kodo's Twirl'N'Hurl. We all were able to enjoy this one. And then we headed over to Alien Attack at Men in Black. This is a shooting game you play while taking a 3D trip through the alien infested city. Another wait in the Child Swap room for Jack and I.
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| #12 Grimmauld Place |
Then we were off to Diagon Alley to get our first taste of BUTTERBEER! This was so delicious and I can't exactly put my finger on the taste. It was the color of Cream Soda and it was topped with a white sticky layer of butterscotch flavored foam/cream. I've never had anything better! It is served 3 different ways, chilled, frozen or hot. I tried the first 2 ways but not the hot, as it was May and pretty hot outside. We also ordered Otter's Fizzy Orange Juice, (just in case we didn't care for Butterbeer *gasp) it was very refreshing, a little ciderish, and sticky. Another delicious treat we had to wrap our lips around was the ice cream at Florean Fortescue's. Does anyone remember the old chocolate ice dream from the original Chick-fil-a? Well they have a chocolate syrup swirled ice cream at FF that is reminiscent of that but the ice cream is so rish and dreamy! You know it's going to be good when there is a line around the corner to place your order 
We could not leave Diagon Alley without Escaping from Gringott's! This ride offered a single rider line and we took advantage of it because there was not Express pass for it. Both my Sweetheart and I traded turns while one waited with the kids. Sweetie Pie could have ridden this one, but she wanted ice cream instead. I got both, Ha!
By then we were getting close to park closing. So we made our way back over to the Simpson's ride to try and fit in one more thing. This ride was pretty funny and filled with Simponisms! My Sweet pea didn't get to ride this one either, but we made it up to him by waiting to see Optimus Prime on our way out of the park. 
We were all exhausted by the end of the day with hurting feet. We had another big day planned for tomorrow at Universal's Island's of Adventure. It was time for the walk back to our hotel and a dip in the pool! *********************************************************************************
REVIEW WRAP UP:
Rides and Attractions:
Under 35" Shrek 4D A
Twister *this one was scary for my kids B-
Kang & Kodo's Twirl'N'Hurl A
E.T. Adventure (34") B
Fievel's Playland waterslide *they must be able to sit up and hold on A
Over 40" Despicable Me Minion Mayhem A+
Under 48" Transformers the Ride 3D A+
Men in Black Alien Attack A
The Simpson's Ride A
Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster B
Escape from Gringott's A+
Over 51" Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit A+ *there is a height limitation on this one
Under 79"
Food A
We had lunch at the Classic Monster's Cafe, I thought for the price the food was just okay. We had Butterbeer and ice creams and they were outstanding! We also purchased the freestyle refillable cups. I bought 2 so we could share the drinks throughout the day. This worked well until the machines were out of ice.
Cleanliness A
Parks and restrooms were clean and the staff worked very hard to maintain during the busy day.
Value B-
I'm not gonna lie, the tickets were pricey as all get out. We were entertained for the day, but the food prices were exorbitant. If I decided to go back, I would leave my kids behind with a sitter. I think this park would be best to serve 7 year olds and above. I would not bring my kids back until my youngest was 42" or taller. I don't think it's a good value for them. Definitely fun for teens and adults. A fun weekend alone with your Sweetie :)
Final Grade: B
Attractions we missed out on:
Revenge of the Mummy
Beetlejuice Graveyard Revue
Disaster!
Fear Factor Live
Animal Actors on Location!
A Day in the Park with Barney
Curious George Goes to Town
Terminator 2: 3-D
Horror Make-Up Show
Quick tips
1. If you have small kids, bring swim diapers, swim suits, water shoes, towel and change of clothes, other than shows not much else for them to do.
2. Every ride that has a height limit has a certificate for anyone that is not tall enough to ride. If you would like one, find a staff member and ask them to give you child under height requirements one. You can bring it back each year and have it documented. Then once your child reaches the right height they and 5 other people can skip the lines to ride.
3. Eat lunch early in the day rather than later. Lines were really long after 1pm for food and drinks
4. Grab a 2-park guide map as early as you can. Maybe even the day before. It has showtimes, character stops/times, food and restaurants, as well as, Freestyle refill locations! Those cups are a great value IMO!
1. If you have small kids, bring swim diapers, swim suits, water shoes, towel and change of clothes, other than shows not much else for them to do.
2. Every ride that has a height limit has a certificate for anyone that is not tall enough to ride. If you would like one, find a staff member and ask them to give you child under height requirements one. You can bring it back each year and have it documented. Then once your child reaches the right height they and 5 other people can skip the lines to ride.
3. Eat lunch early in the day rather than later. Lines were really long after 1pm for food and drinks
4. Grab a 2-park guide map as early as you can. Maybe even the day before. It has showtimes, character stops/times, food and restaurants, as well as, Freestyle refill locations! Those cups are a great value IMO!
We were visiting the park while they were setting up for the upcoming 2015 season of American Ninja Warrior. The area in front of the Mummy ride known as New York was filled with set equipment, tractor trailers and no one could get through. So we missed out on the parade, as well as, the evening show was canceled. But it was still a fun day and we were worn out!
Thanks for reading StMS!
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