A Universal Adventure February 2020 - Day 7: Universal Studios

[moosha]

Day 7 – Friday 21st February 2020

The alarm was set for 6.30 am this morning but for some reason I woke up about 6 so I just got up at 6.15 am. On holiday I usually make sure we all have full outfits laid out the night before to speed up getting ready in the morning, but I hadn’t done that last night because we weren’t sure about outfits because of the forecast cold weather. It had been predicted to be around 10 degrees.

We dragged Freya out of bed at 7 am so that she and Mat could go to the Club Lounge to get breakfast. Freya had a donut, a chocolate chip muffin and a cinnamon roll. Mat had a peanut butter bagel and the banana he had got from the lounge last night. They also got Seren a sesame bagel with strawberry jam.



Because of the weather, I had to get the trousers and hoodies we’d travelled in out of the cases. We weren’t ready until about 7.40 am. Everything seemed to take longer than usual. Mat had accidentally stolen my room key at some point between me getting back last night and now and had put it in his lanyard so I spent a few minutes looking for that.

We stepped outside and yeah it was cold. Like 8 degrees or something like that. It felt like we had stepped out into England. We walked round to CityWalk quickly to try and keep warm while I thought about how much time we could spend inside while at the parks to avoid the cold. There were long lines at the entrance again when we joined them at 7.55 am.



As per usual with early entry we walked straight to Diagon Alley.





We placed our stuff in the lockers and got in line for Gringotts. The posted wait was 15 minutes but we only had to wait a couple of minutes before the pre-show. Once we got up to the loading area Seren asked for the back row. This ride never gets old, I love it.

Once we were off the ride, the girls wanted to use their new interactive wands so we did that for a bit while Diagon Alley was quiet. This is the map that came with the wands to show the interactive spell locations:



They had a bit of trouble getting some of them to work but they enjoyed it.

















It was cold though. I posted this on my instagram story:



We also used the Diagon Alley restrooms, my favourite restrooms across both parks, for the first time this trip which was a treat.































When the girls had done as many spells as they wanted, we took a few photos outside Diagon Alley.



We waited to get a photo with Kreacher in but you can't really see him in this picture:











Then Mat had to restroom at the restrooms by Men In Black before we rode The Simpsons.



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[moosha]

...continued

The Simpsons is a once per trip ride as we all agree it’s seen better days. Even though there was no line we had to wait a few minutes outside the door upstairs which was sad times with it being so cold. We also had quite a long wait inside as we were the first people in. There weren’t many people waiting so it was a bit annoying that instead of spreading each party out into their own ride vehicle, they bunched us all up into about three so half the people would have to sit in the back of vehicles.

Because we were first in, we got the front row of our vehicle which was the first time that has happened in years. The ride wasn’t as bad as I remembered although it smells a bit stale. Some of it is pretty funny when you haven’t seen it for a while. The people behind us said at the end ‘It’s a much better ride at the back.’ Umm...what?

Freya wanted a Simpsons stuffed toy for her birthday from the merchandise cart outside but she didn’t have any money left so we said no. We carried on to Men In Black which was a walk-on. I got the worst score of like 15,000 while the girls got around 50,000 and Mat hit the red button and got 161,000. I’m a sore loser so I moaned that my gun can’t have been working properly. Once we were off the ride, Seren and I went to the restrooms and Mat took Freya to the cart to get the soft toy as an extra birthday present. She got Homer and it’s quite cute.



We decided to leave at this point to get Voodoo Donuts. As we were walking to the exit we decided to stop to meet Homer and Bart in Hollywood because there weren’t many people around.





We also popped to Guest Services so Freya could finally get a birthday badge as we hadn’t managed to stop here to get one yet. Two of the three Team Members were just chatting while the other did the serving which was a bit annoying.

The guy in front of Mat and Freya in the Guest Services line was asking about roller coasters being closed today. The TM said Rip Ride Rockit was closed today because it has a low weather threshold (temperature and wind). It was a bit sad not seeing it go round all day. I’m pretty sure Hagrid’s was also closed all day but I’m not sure whether that was planned due to the weather or because it was just having technical problems.





We headed out of the exit and saw lots of people queuing to come into the park as it was only about 10 am at this point. We were going against the tide of people in CityWalk heading into the park. We got to Voodoo and there were quite a few people hanging around inside trying to keep warm (all the tables were full) and there were also lots of people standing drinking coffee and eating breakfast on the porch at NBC Grill & Brew. I guess it must have been warmer there, maybe there were patio heaters.



Seren and I were happy the vegan apple fritter was back in today so we both got one of those. Mat got a vegan peanut butter and jelly, and Freya got a Little Pink.



We managed to grab one of the three or four tables in there. The tables were really in demand because no one wanted to go outside so people were grabbing them as soon as they became available. My donut was a bit burnt so I only ate half of it and we took the other half away. It was still delicious though. Everyone else ate all of theirs.







Once we had finished we went back into Universal Studios. There was still quite a queue to get in and it was still freezing.

We went on The Mummy next and the standby line was backed up to about 35 minutes so we were glad we had Express. We had to wait a couple of minutes more than usual because of the longer queue. We got the front row which was fun.

When we came out, Freya said she wanted to go back on. Seren agreed to go back on with her but Mat and I wanted coffee. We got all the stuff out of the lockers and took all the bags to Starbucks while the girls rode.



The Starbucks queue was out the door because it was so cold and it wasn’t moving very fast. They did however have some awesome tunes on which made it a lot more pleasant. People were dancing to Never Gonna Give You Up. People were singing along to Party in the USA and singing and bopping to Jukebox Hero. I very much appreciated Fantasy by Mariah Carey and couldn’t help bopping to that too.

There was a sign inside that said maximum 56 people but there were like 70 people in there trying to keep warm including some people who didn’t even have a Starbucks.

I got a big old Americano and Mat got a stupid espresso. It took about 20 minutes to get the drinks from when we first walked in but that was fine, it wasn’t like we were in a hurry to get back outside. As soon as we got our drinks, Seren and Freya came back. Freya started moaning about wanting to go on more rides. Seren couldn’t be bothered so Freya managed to convince Mat to go with her by storming out of Starbucks in order to get him to follow her. Once he was outside she knew she could convince him to go on a ride with her. This is typical Freya.

While they were outside he managed to drop his lid and do that thing where it was blowing around the floor and he was chasing it still holding his coffee in the other hand which Freya found very amusing. She wanted it included in the trip report so she will never forget it.

So they went off to ride The Mummy and took their stuff with them to put it in a locker. They got row 3. Some people in front of them had to get back off as they had bags still at the loading dock. The TM kicked them all the way back out to go to the lockers and then let them come back in the exit.

Freya had now ridden the Mummy three times in a row and I’m pretty sure she still wasn’t bored of it.

There was then another restroom stop for Mat as he can’t go 30 minutes without using the toilet on holiday so we took some photos.







Then it was time for Transformers for the first time this trip.



The wait was about 25 minutes and a lady and her son tried to barge their way past us while the TMs were checking our Express Passes. Some people. I did some notes in the queue and it was nice and warm and I never wanted to leave the queue. It took about 10 minutes to get on. We got the middle row. The girls chose the seats behind the two little children in front so they could see. I actually liked this ride more than I had in the past this time. Mat said he hated it and didn’t want to ride it again.

Seren hung out with Optimus Prime (we call him Octopus Pie because we're cool. The girls are scared of the Transformers you can meet especially Megatron so I always ask at this point if they'd like to meet them.



We walked past the Horror Make Up Show theatre and thought it might be a good idea to watch that to keep out of the cold. Also the girls and I had watched it the year before but Mat hadn’t seen it. A show was due to start at 12.30 pm. It was about 12.06. They had some cool exhibits for example a Chucky doll and some stuff from Psycho.











We had a little look around and this guy was trying to get us to come into the theatre quickly saying the doors were closing in two minutes. It was about 12.12 pm and we didn’t understand why the doors were closing so early as there were hardly any people in there and it was still more than 15 minutes before the show started. The guy met us at the theatre door and said we had to sit in one of the first two rows which I guess is what they do when there aren’t many people watching the show. We said we didn’t want to sit at the front because we didn’t want to get picked to participate (literally my worst nightmare) and he basically insisted so I said we weren’t going in. We decided to just hang around in the foyer to see if lots more people entered so we could sit further back. About five minutes later the doors were still open and quite a few more people had arrived so another couple of rows were filling. We decided to head in because we could now sit in like the fourth row.

There was still about ten minutes until the show started and more people were coming in and sitting slightly further back. We were still freaking out about potentially getting picked to be in the show so we moved a couple more rows back. It felt a bit ‘safer’ there so we relaxed a bit. By the time the show started it was mostly full as I guess everyone was looking for something warm to do.

We enjoyed the show, it is funny and it’s a pretty decent way to spend 25 minutes or so in the warm. When we came out it was about 1 pm so we decided it was time for lunch. First we went to the restrooms by the entrance and then walked back through Hollywood passing Shaggy and co who were all in coats today because of the cold weather.

We fancied yet more Beyond Burgers so we walked round to Richter’s Burger Co. which we haven’t been to in at least six years. Back then the girls were scared of the earthquake effects which I think they have got rid of now as we definitely didn’t hear them today or when we returned the following day. There was a really long queue as it was peak lunch time and everyone wanted to be out of the cold. Freya went off to find a table while the rest of us stood in the queue. She couldn’t find any available tables so we made Seren go with her as if that would magically create an available table. Obviously no one wanted to sit at the outdoor tables so there were more people than indoor tables.

At Richter’s after you pay you wait round the side of the counter for the order to be put together. As expected we had a slightly longer wait because the vegan burgers are cooked to order and they had warned us about the delay when we ordered. As I’ve said before we’re always happy to wait longer for our vegan food. Just as our food was ready Freya managed to find a table. It was dirty so we got someone to clean it.

Mat had his burger as it came (with vegan cheese and vegan mayonnaise.) I had mine without the cheese and with guacamole which was $2.49 extra. I took my burger to the toppings bar to add some onions and realised they hadn’t given me the guacamole. So I went back and they handed me a little sachet of guacamole which didn’t seem worth the extra $2.49. We also asked for some sachets of barbecue sauce. Freya just had fries and Seren didn’t want anything. All three portions of fries were tiny which was a bit sad.



Our table was pretty squished but the burgers were good. As Seren wasn’t eating she was just sat texting her boyfriend. With the small portions of fries, and the cramped conditions it wasn’t the best lunch of the week and we kind of hurried through it despite not really wanting to go back outside in the cold.

We decided to go back to the hotel for a bit for two reasons. 1.) The cold was starting to get to us a bit and 2.) the hotel Club Lounge had snacks from 12 pm - 3 pm and Freya was keen. We took the short walk back and went straight to the Rock Royalty Lounge. Freya got a hot chocolate from the machine which she didn’t really like and some packets of bite sized mini cookies. She ate two packets and got some extra cookies for snacks for the next few days. She got a couple of packets of Cool Doritos too. The only snacks that were vegan were some baked Lays which we ended up bringing all the way back to England. Mat also got an espresso which wasn’t very nice. There was only one other family in the lounge as I guess most people are in the parks early afternoon.

I decided to get started on the packing while we were here as we rudely had to go home the following evening. At this point we planned to go back to the park for a bit mid-afternoon and then come back for wine hour at 5 pm.

We hadn’t made any definite plans for our last night’s dinner but we fancied The Cowfish. In 2018 and 2019 we had made reservations before the trip via the Universal website but when I’d tried to book for this year, the website said they only accepted bookings for parties of three or less. We knew that guests at the Premier hotels (RPR, HRH and PB) got priority seating so we were prepared to just go down there and wait, but we decided to confirm at the Rock Royalty Concierge what the deal was. Mat wandered along and it was his mate Nan at the concierge who usually operates the bar at the wine hour outside the lounge. She checked and said The Cowfish had availability at either 3 pm (which was in about half an hour’s time) or 10 pm. Neither of those options appealed.

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[moosha]

Continued...

We kind of talked about just going down there later and waiting so that was the plan as we thought that would be fine because we’d get priority seating anyway. We put some music on and everyone chilled and I did some packing. Everyone hates packing but getting ahead with it always feels good.

Mat and I fancied a cocktail while we were relaxing but The Velvet Lounge didn’t open until 4 or 5 pm (Concierge couldn’t decide which it was) so he went to the pool bar (the pool wasn't exactly busy with the arctic temperature)...



...and got drinks in plastic cups.



He got a Jack Daniel’s and Coke because for some reason since we arrived at the Hard Rock he’d decided he was Slash or something and he got me a Bombay Sapphire and tonic. He also randomly took this photo of Debbie Harry.



They went down nicely. Freya ate some more of the cookies she’d got from the Rock Royalty Lounge and Seren ate some dry cereal because we had quite a lot of it still to use up.

It was about 4 pm by the time I had finished the packing and we decided not to bother going back into the park. It was so cold and the forecast for the next day was slightly better so we thought we would just relax in the warm until after wine time and head back into Universal Studios for one final time the following day. We could see into the park from our room and it didn’t seem like there were many people still walking around the park. The weather really didn’t look appealing from our window too.







Seren and I decided to go down to the Rock Shop because we love the shop at the hotel.



They had some really nice t-shirts. Mat and I had both bought one in here in 2018 and really liked them. That day we’d gone a bit mad in here, buying a candle and some socks for Mat as well as the t-shirts. We’d had a couple of drinks and that had definitely loosened the purse strings. I was determined not to do the same today. Seren wanted pretty much everything and was asking for a really cute tote bag which was $8.50. They had these jalapeńo peanuts that looked so good but they were $12.99 for a small packet so I wasn’t about to buy them.

We spent about 15 minutes wandering around looking at everything. Seren found some cute socks that she liked and I said she could have either the socks or the tote bag. She pondered this decision for an age as she always does being the most indecisive person I know. Eventually she decided to get the socks which was a good decision as she already has 3,791 tote bags. I also decided to get Mat some socks too as he loved the ones he got here last time (hamburgers). Here are the new ones:



I found the same soy candle I had got here in 2018 which I had since burned but smelt lovely so I was definitely going to get another one of those.



I wanted to get a vest top and couldn’t decide between a couple but in the end I chose this one which is the same design as the t-shirt I got here in 2018 which I love, but the t-shirt is blue rather than black (although the vest doesn't really look black in the picture).



When we checked out they offered us a bluetooth speaker for $20 because we had spent $50 but I declined.

We decided to go and take some photos in the lobby before we went back upstairs as we hadn’t really been in the lobby area much this trip, in fact the girls and I hadn’t since we’d checked in on Wednesday. If you’re only really moving between the room and CityWalk / the parks, the elevators take you right down to the floor below the lobby where you exit via the pool or the path to the Garden Walk completely bypassing the lobby.

I’ve said this a lot but we really love this hotel. The big screen was on and Staying Alive was playing. It was all very festive and we sang along as we walked around a bit taking photos.







We hadn’t taken a photo of the new Taylor Swift picture behind reception yet so we did that.



We didn’t really take any more memorabilia photos, it was more about the selfie-addict getting her fix.





The lobby seating area has been refurbished since last year as I think I said in my report for the day we checked in. They have added some big tables to the main seating area. At this point, around 4.45 pm, pretty much all of the seats in the lobby were full with families playing cards and games.



It felt like most people had sacked the parks for the day early because of the bad weather and were chilling out in the warm of the hotel instead. It was definitely busier than I would have expected at this point in the day. Because the bar is over 21s only, there weren’t many people sat in there.



Seren and I decided to go down to Emack and Bolio’s to see if they had any vegan snacks.





They didn’t really have anything we fancied that we could eat apart from pots of fresh fruit. We decided to get a pot of pineapple and grapes and a pot of strawberries. They were $5.50 each. Seren charged them to the room and we took them back upstairs.



By then it was pretty much wine o’clock (5 pm.) Mat got us a Cabernet Sauvignon each from the Rock Royalty Lounge and Freya got some orange cheese chunks and carrots. For the first time since we arrived, they had tortilla chips (the tasty mixed coloured ones, I think they had red, brown and the usual ‘yellow’) and some delicious salsa. My wine glass was chipped but I didn’t notice until I’d drank most of it. In the end I had three portions of chips. Freya only went to the lounge once so I don’t think she was that impressed with the cheese and carrots today.

I haven't shared a photo of this yet showing all the Rock Royalty Lounge benefits that we were given on check-in:



About this point I suggested we just have snacks for dinner and not venture back out. I think if we’d had a Cowfish reservation we would have pushed ourselves but without anything to make us go, staying in the warm was much more appealing. Seren ate most of the fruit we had bought downstairs. The girls both had more dry cereal. Mat ate the remaining half of the big bag of Kettle Chips we had left and we finished the nuts. He went to get us a second glass of wine and told Nan about the chipped glass. She told him to throw it in the bin so he did. For our second glass, we got a massive pour because it was the end of the bottle so that was very generous of her. Mat made this graphic showing the variation in wine pours we received during our stay:



Seren caught up with her boyfriend in India:





We had a chat about Universal and how it has changed since it first opened. Mat had first visited in 2001 and the girls in 2012 but I had been a lot as a teenager in the nineties including the year it first opened so I told them all about what I remembered from back then. I remember the old Psycho house and how there was surface parking right outside the entrance to Universal Studios with the Hard Rock Cafe right there too. And I told them all about how unreliable the Jaws ride was when it first opened and how we waited ages to ride it on several occasions without any success. We did some googling and found some photos to back up what I was saying. Seren watched some YouTube videos of Universal and Freya helped me record some voice memo notes for my report. We all ended up going to bed early and although the second half of the day hadn’t been as planned, it had been nice to relax (and save some money not buying any dinner.) It was definitely the coldest day we’ve ever had in Florida, so it felt a little strange but overall it was a different but relaxing and fun day.

[flo-tinka]

Cold but relaxing day. Hanging around the hotel sounds perfect if not what you expected.

[sheluk]

We had a cold day on our January trip a few years ago and it most definitely wasn’t fun to be in the parks (although that was hat and gloves required kind of weather too). Perfect to spend some time round the hotel. Especially when we are all Normally so busy on these trips xx

[yellowrose78]

Shame about the weather, but great day. The Club Lounge is so appealing

[MickeyMoose]

"He got a Jack Daniel’s and Coke because for some reason since we arrived at the Hard Rock he’d decided he was Slash or something..."

Love this.

[Fuellady]

Sometimes it's nice to have a more relaxing day, and I guess the cold weather helped you to do that. Still a nice morning around the parks though. I hope the weather is a bit warmer tomorrow so you can enjoy your last day out and about.