Universal Studios turned out to have, far and away, the best rides of any of the theme parks. We did not know this until after our first ride, the Spiderman ride. It was a 3D/4D ride, and we learned that there is nothing, NOTHING like a 3D/4D ride to make you feel like you’ve entered a different reality. Wow. It was amazing. The littler kids honestly thought they had entered the Marvel Universe. I thought I had entered the Marvel Universe. There was water, fire, and the 3D/4D effects were mind blowing. By the end I could have sworn Spiderman just saved me from half a dozen bad guys. Thank you, Spiderman!
After the Spiderman ride we did the King Kong ride. Universal makes their lines as entertaining as possible, and the line for the King Kong ride almost topped the ride itself. There was one part where you entered a large room, and a figure at the front was chanting in an unknown language and the holes in the room started to light up with fire until it built to a big, scary climax. Very spooky.
After the King Kong ride, Ammon and Clarissa cooled off in a splash pad before we headed over to Harry Potter world to buy insanely overpriced wands that have decreased radically in quality since the last time we were in Harry Potter World two years ago–now they are $60 pieces of plastic! But they do perform spells, so we shelled out so the kids could do spells.
Then we had lunch at the Three Broomsticks, and after we did the Hogwarts Castle ride. There was a lot of logistical movement at the end because Mary was desperate for a bathroom and we spent a lot of time running kids back and forth between the bathroom and child swap, but in the end the older girls, Abe and I all managed to ride the ride. It was the best in Universal.
Afterward there was a downpour, so Lydia and I went and got treats for everyone. We brought back treats which the kids ate on a picnic table before playing for an hour in the rain with their wands.
After playing magic in the rain, we headed to Dr. Seuss land where we rode a lot of rides because there were hardly any lines. We rode The Cat in the Hat twice in a row because there was literally no one in line. After three days of waiting in line, that felt amazing.
After Dr. Seuss, Abe was unable to convince Lydia to ride the Hulk roller coaster with him so he went by himself. One of the highlights of the day was being with the kids watching the roller coaster and hearing them scream “HI DAD!!! DADDY!!!! WOO-HOO!!! DADDY!!!” to every single group of riders until we finally got a hold of Abe and confirmed he had completed the ride.
It turns out you need to book dinner in advance because at 10:30pm the Universal restaurants are bustling. We could not find a seat anywhere but at Red Oven the host kindly let us in even though it seemed like it was against protocol. I was so grateful for his kindness/pity, and oh my goodness I am still thinking about that pizza. I didn’t expect it to be anything special but it was outstanding.
