Revisiting my Top 5 List from My Trip To Universal Studios Orlando
- ashleybittenbender
- Oct 13, 2021
- 11 min read
Things have settled down from my trip to Universal Studios Orlando, so I wanted to revisit my Top 5 list now that I've had some time to reflect on my experience there.
1. Staying on Property!
I can finally cross "staying on property at Universal" off the bucket list! This was my
number one because I have been waiting to stay on property for years now. I really had no idea what to expect upon my stay, but my expectations were blown out of the water. During my 3 day, 2 night trip I stayed at the Lowe's Portofino Bay hotel, while also touring many other resorts. I thought the Lowe's Portofino Bay was themed beautifully. I loved how there were so many areas to this resort, getting lost while exploring truly felt like genuine European experience. This resort had a calmness and a European simplicity that I was shocked to feel at all times of day within walking distance of a theme park.
In terms of dining, this hotel had it all, from the Starbucks reserve, to a quick service location serving pizzas and subs, to the Thirsty Fish Bar for drinks, and two table service locations serving up your Italian favorites. With three pools on property,
there's a location for everyone-a pool with a water slide and sand for the families, a quiet pool in the hills, or a courtyard pool with two hot tubs and cabana rentals you could easily make a day of just pool hopping at your own resort.
Now on the the room. I stayed in a standard double queen with a fellow travel
agent. Spacious does not even begin to summarize how large these rooms were. With a coffee bar, office space, reading nook, and two queen size beds, there was still plenty of space to navigate without bumping into others. The bathroom was also very spacious with two sinks, a full length mirror, and plenty of towels. I kid you not, while waiting for the bus to Volcano Bay, I asked an elementary school aged child what she liked most about the room and after talking about the waterslide and sand areas of the pool, she brought up how big the bathrooms were! There is a walking tour of the room on my Facebook where you can find my honest feedback.
I will say that this property could use a little cosmetic makeover, especially in their elevator areas. I understand they're going for an old Italian vibe, but some new paint could go a long way for this premium property. Overall, I loved my time at Lowe's Portofino Bay Hotel! This premium property was within walking/ boat ride distance to the main gate of Universal, had numerous eating options, had great rooms with plenty of space, and had an ambience of peace and calm which I did not expect. In honest feedback though, I found some of the other Premium properties to be more modern / have better renovations. I will be doing a post soon about the other resorts that I was able to tour to give you a better idea of the different options offered at Universal Studios Orlando
2. Riding the VelociCoaster and Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure
Please wait a minute while I pick my jaw up off the floor from these two attractions. Hands down these two rides are the top attractions in Orlando with Flight of the Banshee coming in a close third. Both VelociCoaster and Hagrid's MCMA are
located in Islands of Adventure towards the back of the park in their respected lands. Both rides seat two across so they are best ridden when you know your ride buddy. Surprisingly, both attractions DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT have the express lane so everyone is waiting in the queue.
I rode VelociCoaster around 3:00pm on Monday afternoon. The queue stated that it was a 35 minute wait, but I was off the ride in 27 minutes. The queue was a fun experience as you walk through different areas introducing you to the raptors that you will see on your trip. Before entering the locker area (lockers are free here), you pass across windows that give you a glimpse of the pass ride vehicles being chased by raptors. You also have the opportunity to pass encaged raptors that are very life like (see photo). Then you enter the locker room area as you cannot have any loose belongings on you when riding. The area is very spacious and is only open to guests about to ride the attraction (there is a separate room for departing guests are the lockers are two sided). Lockers are separated by dinosaurs and colors. Once you drop off your belongings, you pass through a metal detector. I did not expect this, but with all the twists, turns, and upside downs you take while riding it makes sense that cast members do not want objects falling and hitting others. After this process you enter the last waiting area where you watch the safety video before loading the coaster.
Now for the moment you've all been waiting for, to ride the VelociCoaster. Hands down this was the smoothies and most exhilarating roller coaster I have ever been on. I kid you not when I say that I did not know what direction I was going half the time due to all the twists, turns, and corkscrews. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you might already know that this, but this ride does not use a braking system until the very end of the ride....ummmm what?!?!? This mean this attraction uses natural forces to slow itself down, aka it doesn't slow down. The scariest part for me was going up the big drop, because you are going so fast and then crawl towards the top-very similar to Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point. Upon exiting the ride I did feel a tad nauseous (yes I took Dramamine before) but nothing that a Diet Coke / Butterbeer couldn't fix. I will ride this every time I am in Island of Adventure (but only once as I don't want to yak). VelociCoaster truly is a MUST DO!
I decided to wait to ride Hagrid's MCMA until my last day on property. Throughout my first twos days the queue was always 45 minutes of longer, so I decided to rope drop Islands of Adventure to ride Hagrid's with a minimal wait. The park opened at
9am that day, so I got to the park gate at 8:45am. By 9:08am I was next in line to board my motorbike. As I was a party of one, I was sat with a dad who was with his two boys. I sat in the sidecar for this experience and I loved every second of it!
This ride has everything that you could want without screens and going upside down, it truly is a ride the entire family can do! Throughout the experience, your bike gets launched 7 different times, one of those times going backwards! There is even a launch after an elevator esque drop! I didn't read any spoilers before riding this, so everything was so unexpected and had me screaming and laughing. The best part is that this ride felt long as it truly is the longest (in terms of track length) in the state of Florida. If you are a HP fan or not, I recommend this ride for the entire family!
3. Halloween Horror Nights
I'm not one for blood, gore, and other scary things...BUT I LOVED HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS! A group of 5 of us left Portofino to attend HHN around 7:00pm (the event officially begins at 6pm). Although it seemed like a lot of people were entering the park at the same time, there were plenty of turnstiles open and cast members ready to scan tickets. The first thing I noticed and loved about HHN was the spooky and loud rock music they played throughout the park. I loved how it wasn't spooky sounds, but actual music and it is playing throughout Universal Studios. This year there were 10 total houses, 5 scare zones, a live show, and a water show. We walked through 3 houses, all 5 scare zones, and watched the water show all between 7:30pm-9:45pm (event goes until 2am, but I need my beauty rest).
Another highlight for me was the food! Across the park, there are food/ drink stands with different haunt themed options. Every where you looked there was a different stand with different options. I started with a Twisted Franken Coil-which was a twisted potato wrapped around a hot dog sprinkled with garlic parmesan salt. I also had a Rogue Dead Guy Ale to drink. A huge perk of Universal are their souvenir glasses as you can get discounted refills for the entirety of the event, so if you go multiple times it is definitely worth the original $14 drink (Volcano Bay has a glass like this too). I ended the night by enjoying the Jack'd Donut Slider which was a hamburger slider between two whisky iced donuts with a side of chips. I really enjoyed all of the festival options they had and wish I had time to try more!
Going into the night, I was least looking forward to actually being scared. I can't remember the last time I went to a haunted house or choose to do be scared. We went into 3 houses, Bride of Frankenstein, Scarey, and Unearthed Case Files. All of these houses had less than a 20 minute wait and the line really never stopped moving as you walk through the house just like you walk through the queue-there was no breaking up of parties of anything like that. The first two houses-Bride of Frankenstein and Scarey, in my opinion, did not follow a story line at all, just random rooms with different props / actors to freak you out and scare you. One element of the houses that I did not expect was all of the plexiglass. To protect the actors and the guests, plexiglass was set up to build a barrier between the cast and everyone else. This way all parties are protected from passing the Covid virus. This plexiglass also prohibited the actors from jumping / popping out directly in front of you which helped me not get so scared. Trust me, I still screamed and jumped plenty, but the plexiglass gave you a nice "heads up." My favorite house was Unearthed Case Files as this house actually followed a story line very well. You were walking along with a detective as he narrates different cases for you. There were also more areas of story telling, not necessarily scaring here which I enjoyed.
The scare zones were a blast to walk through! These areas brought me back to my childhood memories of Orlando theme parks when characters use to just roam the streets and you almost didn't even realize that they were right next to you. Literally there were multiple times in the night when I had a jump scream because I was shoulder to shoulder with a scary actor. From modern day "could happen tomorrow" areas to woodsy encounters, I loved walking through each of the scare zones. During the day, these areas are still up and guests can walk through them but all elements of gore or unpleasantries are covered with plastics (which made me laugh because some of them you can totally tell what they're covering)((see photo)).
Throughout the night there were other spooky elements of entertainment such as a stage show and a water show. I cannot give you my input on the stage show as I missed the show times, but the water show was a fun one to slow down to watch. Mixing water fountains with projections on the water and on the surrounding buildings and lasers this show brought back fan favorite characters and the rock themed music. Also, during the event, many rollercoasters were still open and operating with much shorter wait times.
To put it all together-the food, scare zones, and the use of plexiglass in the haunted houses transported me back to my childhood and really allowed me to love Halloween Horror Nights.
4. Going to Volcano Bay
Volcano Bay is considered the third park at Universal Studios Orlando. This water park has 3 different villages-The Rainforest Village, Rivers Village, and Wave Village all flowing in a circular formation around the Volcano situated right in the center. I though this formation made the water park very easy to navigate as the pathways were in the center and most slides / attractions were on the outskirts of the circle. I also thought that Universal did a great job with locker and bathroom placements as each village had their own which helped to disperse crowd levels.
Some highlights of my afternoon at Volcano Bay was trying out the TapuTapu
system. Upon checking into the park, I was given a waterproof, iWatch esque bracelet called the TapuTapu. This allowed me to scan into a virtual queue for different slides so I didn't have to waste time in line. The TapuTapu also activated different water canons and cameras throughout the park. This is a huge perk to a day at Volcano Bay because it allows families to spend more time together and less time in line. I also loved how throughout the park there are water streams keeping walk ways wet, thus keeping them cool and not blazing hot. A simple touch, yet very practical especially in the Florida heat. Lastly, I was a sucker for the "not so lazy river," TeAwa the Fearless River. All participants, yes even adults, have to wear flotation jackets as this river can get up to 15 mph!
As with many locations around the world, Volcano Bay has been feeling the staffing shortage due to Covid-19. This was felt in the dining locations around the water park. Many of the dining locations were closed on the day I visited. I first attempted to
get salmon poke but had to turn away because The Feasting Frog was closed. I then attempted to get a Hawaiian pizza from Whakawaiwai Eats, but again had to reconsider because the location was closed. Being quite frustrated, I finally found an open location in Kohola Reef Restaurant and Social Club. I went with the Island Chicken Salad with coconut served on a piece of lettuce. I was not impressed and wish it was served on a croissant.
Food situation aside, Volcano Bay should be a stop in your next Universal Studios vacation.
5. Food...DUH
Volcano Bay aside, the food across the Universal Studios property really impressed me! My first meal was lunch at Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. I ordered the Fish and Chips with a frozen Butterbeer and this was my favorite complete meal of the trip! The frozen butterbeer with the butterscotch foam from this location has to be made a bit differently because it is so much better than from the carts outside. I also could not
believe how delicious the fish and chips were. Both were cooked perfectly so that they were crunchy and firm. I also loved the ambience, themeing, and spaciousness of this restaurant. Three Broomsticks is considered quick service but they were easily able to accommodate seating for 10 of us.
For breakfast on Monday, I stopped at the Starbucks reserve and ordered a coffee
with a breakfast sandwich. It was nice to have a trusted option in the morning which then allowed me to be more adventurous as the day went on. Before touring the Hard Rock Hotel, we stopped for a group lunch in one of their restaurants, The Kitchen. I enjoyed a chopped salad and bread pudding. Both of these were HUGE portions with great flavors. Honestly can say that this was the best bread pudding I've had in my 30 years of life.
After an afternoon at the parks riding attractions like VelociCoaster, I had to return to the Portofino Bay in order to help some clients plan their dream vacations. As I knew I needed something quick that I could bring up to my room to eat while working, I went to the quick service restaurant at Portofino Bay, Sal's. I ordered the Sal's Classic Italian sandwich which came with a side of their homemade kettle cooked chips and a fountain drink on their Coca-Cola Freestyle machine. The portion size was great and I loved the amount of deli meat that they put on this sandwich. Due to my own fault I ate the sandwich after it had already started getting cold, but I'm sure I would have loved it if I had eaten it before working.
To sum it all up- the portion sizing, themeing, as well as having some of my favorites nearby I was very impressed by the food at Universal Studios and I look forward to finding my favorites now that I am a Floridian.
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There you have it folks! My Top 5 things that I was excited from Universal Studios Orlando revisited now that I have completed my trip. Follow along with me on my Instagram-BookItWithBitt and my Facebook to view my posts from this adventure! Are you ready to visit Universal Studios Orlando for yourself?! I'd love to help you with early park entry as well as suggestions based on your wish list and my personal experiences. More posts to come :)
Travel Adventurously,
Xoxo
Book It With Bitt
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