Universal Studios Orlando

Monday I took Ray and his brother Dave to Universal Studios Orlando. It was Ray’s birthday and my Blog Anniversary. I’ve got some fun pictures to share and some tips, too.

First, if you’re a Florida resident, buy your tickets online beforehand and save 10%. We didn’t know this and they refused to give the resident discount when you’re at the park, which was a bit disappointing.

By the way, this is an extremely picture heavy post.

Second, pay for the Fast Pass. It basically lets you jump to the front of the line for almost every ride. With the exception of the Harry Potter Hogwarts Mansion Ride, which has no Fast Pass, we were at the front of the line in 2 to 5 minutes, never having to wait, for each ride. Because of this, we were able to ride everything we wanted to ride in record time, and cover more of the park in a shorter period of time.

Third, it’s worth it to pay for the pass to go between 2 of the parks. We chose not to do this, but I think that since we were done with the one park around 4pm, we could have went to the other and still enjoyed it for 3 or 4 hours for the extra $20 or so a ticket.

The Birthday Cookie that Ray was surprised with at lunch.

Stray cat who seemed to want us to feed him.

My Pony vs. Pony button on my purse.

For my skin, I wore LaVanilla the Healthy Face SPF 40 on my face, neck and hands. For the rest of my body I used Neutrogena 100 SPF (the spray in a bottle stuff). It was an overcast day with a slight breeze, and it did rain a bit on us, but it was perfect park weather. The parks weren’t too crowded, which made them bearable.

For the Jurassic Park part of the park…

This was a dino egg with a machine that I don’t think worked properly. It was supposed to tell you what sort of embryo was inside.

It looks like this T-rex is about to snack on the people below!

This was a t-rex behind a car. Love this shot.

We primarily went to Universal because we wanted to go to Harry Potter World. While it wasn’t as big as we thought it would be, it was still nice.

The only time I got overwhelmed was when we were in line for the Hogwarts Mansion Ride. I think we were in line for 45 minutes (which sucked) and there were crying kids, and at points I just felt like there wasn’t enough air in the space that we were in.

If you’re riding the Dueling Dragons ride, choose the blue side. It’s apparently more fun to ride. Since the guys went on it multiple times and rode the front on both sides, they said the blue was superior.

We went through the Super Hero section, too!

My favorite of the Avengers, Iron Man (aka Tony Stark) with my second favorite, Thor.

an Awesome Storm figurine. I always thought she had a cool story.

The character Storm at the park.

We went through the arcade.

We also went through Dr. Seuss land.

and I’m not sure what the Sinbad land was called.

After we’d ridden all the rides we wanted, we decided it was Butterbeer time.

Ray, his brother Dave, and I had a fabulous time at Universal Studios Orlando.

Despite having to get up at 7am, so that we could be there before 10am, it was fun. We basically were at the parks from 10 am to 4pm, and hit every single ride we wanted to ride multiple times, thanks to the Fast Pass.

I definitely think that Universal’s Fast Pass is better than Disney’s Fast Pass. With Disney’s Fast Pass you get a ticket and have to come back during that time frame. At Universal, you just walk to the front of the line.

What are some tips or tricks you have for making the most of your time at theme parks?