Saturday, July 3, 2010

Universally Speaking - the Harry Potter effect

I just got back from a trip to Florida, and boy was it hot. One of the hottest days of my trip was Sunday - when it hit 104 degrees, but I wasn't in Disney World, I was in Universal Studios.

My friend and I wanted to see the new Potterland, and I wanted to get rid of my fears and ride a couple of Universal's coasters. We got there near opening time and headed to TWWOHP, but the line to merely enter the land was about 2 hours long! It extended into Jurassic Park. After asking a couple of uh...cast members (?) we decided to wait to get into the land until later that day.

The Potter effect is wild. We rode the Jurassic Park river ride, the Hulk, Spiderman, the Popeye river ride, both Dr. Seuss rides, the Simpsons ride, E.T., Shrek 4D, and the Revenge of the Mummy all before 3 PM - and we ate lunch and played Whack-a-Mole in there, too. We walked on every one of those attractions even though the park was pretty full. Everyone runs to Potterland.

Go to Universal, but DON'T run to Potter first. If you can handle it, go as late as possible. We went at around 4, and while the land was still crowded, it was at least manageable. We got on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey in about fifteen minutes (using the single rider line) and we walked on the Dueling Dragons (er, Dragon Challenge). The lack of any wait times really made the trip worthwhile and really fun.

My review of Potterland, Universal, and the rides will come in future episodes and blog posts. Yay!