Hello, lovelies! I went to Orlando last week for Spring Break. I left on Monday and came back on Thursday. I spent Tuesday at Universal Studios and the rest of the time with my cousins. I was originally supposed to visit Harry Potter World with a friend of mine, but that, unfortunately, fell through. Despite this, I decided to go by myself.
And it was so worth it! I definitely want to visit a theme park alone again. Going to Disney World alone has been on my bucket list for a while, but this trip has solidified that desire. I was able to go anywhere I wanted, didn’t have to keep track of other people, and was just able to listen to audiobooks and watch YouTube videos in line without the obligation of talking to people.
I kept track of what I did on the notes app on my phone that day because I knew I’d want to write a recap to look back on. Without further ado, here is a recap of my solo trip to Universal Studios.
(P.S. I’m sorry in advance about the photos. Somewhere in the middle of writing this blog post, my DSLR photos were deleted and the memory card with the backup is at my parents’ house. I don’t want to wait any longer to publish this, so there are a bunch of phone pictures here. I’ll fix it later)
My aunt dropped me off at Universal Studios on her way to work at 8:30 AM. We grabbed breakfast and coffee already, so I didn’t need to worry about buying anything at the parks. Universal opens at 9:00 AM, but I was able to get through security pretty quickly. I was in the parks by 8:45.
There are three main parks at Universal Studios. The first is Island of Adventure and the second is Universal. Harry Potter World has sections in both parks, with the Hogwarts Express transporting in between, but you need Park Hopper tickets for that, which is what I bought.
I walked to the Island of Adventure first. I have actually visited that park before. My parents took me to Harry Potter World a few months after it opened back in 7th grade and only the Hogwarts part it was built at the time. A lot more has been added since then, which is one of the reasons I wanted to visit (I also reread the series in 2018). I wasn’t in a hurry to get to the Harry Potter side of the park. I knew that everyone would be running there and I wanted to go on as many rides as possible in the other parts of the park while the lines were short.
The entire park is a circle, so I entered on the left side, which is Marvel Superhero Island. Harry Potter World was what I was most excited about, but this was a close second. The last time I went there, I was deathly afraid of roller coasters and didn’t ride that many. Now, I absolutely love roller coasters (Not the giant ones that flip over, though), so I was excited to ride them this time.
First, I rode The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman ride. The ride was opened twenty years ago and it still holds up. Stan Lee actually narrates part of it and has two cameos. It’s a 3D motion-based ride, but there’s still a lot of thrill to it. It was one of my favorite rides of the day.
By this time the park had opened and people were walking through. They were all headed in a straight line to Harry Potter World, so I was able to walk on to the next ride without a wait time. I went on Doctor Doom’s Fearfall next. It’s based on the villain from Fantastic Four. I was so scared of one (The queue alone would be too scary for most kids), but I had no reason to be. It’s like Tower of Terror, only it’s outdoors, so you can see the entire park as it takes you up and drops you. I screamed at the first drop but started enjoying myself after that. I personally think it was too short and they should’ve dropped us more times, but my legs were shaking walking off the ride. It certainly gave me an adrenaline rush.
Afterward, I rode Storm Force Acceleration, which is the X-Men ride. It’s pretty much the t-cup ride on steroids. I enjoyed this one way more than I thought I would. The wind blew off my hair band!
There are only four rides in this section (which is more than in most). I loved that it was all comic book based since the park was built way before the MCU was established. I didn’t plan on riding the Incredible Hulk Coaster because I don’t enjoy roller coasters that flip over, so I was done in terms of rides for this section.
I spent a bunch of time walking through all the stores. There were so many cool merchandises. They even had an arcade and comic book store (that sold real comics that were pretty inexpensive.) I really enjoyed walking around and taking in the ambiance of everything. I looked at things that I would consider buying later (it was only morning after all), but I did buy a ball cap to wear (which is something I do on a lot of trips), so that I didn’t have to think about my hair (I also wear them all the time anyway, so it’s a good cost per use, and theme park hats are very well-made in my experience.)
Once I was done exploring Marvel Land, I walked through Toon Lagoon. The theming in this part of the park is AMAZING. We spent a lot of time there on our last trip because my brother Zidan used to love Popeye cartoons. I didn’t ride anything there because both rides were water rides. The weather was cool and shady, so I planned on riding them when the weather became hot in the afternoon (which it never did! The weather was perfect the entire day. I didn’t sweat once!). I had ridden those rides multiple times on my last trip, so they weren’t a priority.
The next section was Skull Island, where I rode the Reign of Kong. It was really fun. I got in the single-rider line, so I didn’t have to wait at all. This is something that I didn’t ride last time, which is why the experience was new to me. I’ve also, since then, watched the King Kong movies and was able to understand everything.
Once I finished that ride, I walked through Jurassic Park. That one also had a water ride and we explored it a lot on our last trip, so I just walked straight to Hogsmeade. It was about 10:00 by then.
Right before walking on the bridge, someone proposed to his girlfriend in front of the castle. I watched with the crowd gathered around. It was very cute.
Hogsmeade was the first Harry Potter park opened, so I had visited it before. Since then, they’ve added more attractions. I walked around for a while, before heading to my first ride, which was Flight of the Hippogriff. It took thirty minutes to get through this line, but I had a good view of the castle and started a new audiobook on my phone. The roller coaster was fun but too short in my opinion. I had a good seat though.
The Goblet of Fire show started right after I got off the ride. I actually walked next to the line of performers, which is how I was able to find it. The first part was by Durmstrang, who did a lot of acrobatics and fake fighting. Surprisingly, the second one ended up being my favorite, where the girls from Beauxbaton did a ribbon dance. I stood in the front, so I had a great view.
Then, I just explored Hogsmeade. The ride inside Hogwarts Castle is AMAZING, but we rode it six times on our last trip and I knew that the lines would be shorter later in the evening, so I planned for that. I just walked around, took some pictures, and drank in the ambiance. I was happy to see that there were lots of fellow Ravenclaws (My Hogwarts House)
Instead of taking the Hogwarts Express to Universal, I decided to first finish the last two sections of Island of Adventure.
I walked past The Lost Continent and went straight to Seuss’s Landing, which is a Dr.Seuss themed area. This is also one of my favorite areas because all his books are themed together very seamlessly. The only ride I rode was the carousel because the other rides weren’t thrilling enough to warrant waiting in line.
So I walked back towards Hogsmeade and got in line for Poseidon’s Fury, which is a special effects show. The line was about 30 minutes, but well worth the wait. It was interactive, so we walked from room to room. The finale was a crazy fire and water show. It was a lot of fun. I was glad I didn’t skip it (which I almost did).
After that, I walked toward the Hogwarts Express and waited in line. It only took about 15 minutes to get through. It was really short. They had to rescan my ticket to check if I had tickets for both parks. Once I got on, it was off to Universal Studios.
There are two different shows when taking the train to Diagon Alley and Back. The one from Diagon Alley to Hogwarts is known for having fake dementors on the train. The one from Hogsmeade to Diagon Alley (The one I was currently on) showed the Weasley twins setting off fireworks, Voldemort at Malfoy Manor, and a lot more. We saw this out the window. On the other side, we saw the shadows of students walking back and forth talking, including Harry, Ron, and Hermione. It was a fun trip.
After getting off at Kings Cross Station, there’s a long hallway to get out. They made it look like an actual train station in London, with advertisements and everything.
The exit was right next to Grimmauld Place. I saw the Knight Bus and an actor playing Stan Shunpike posing and conversing with other vacationers. He was really funny.
I 
was a bit confused at first because I couldn’t immediately see Diagon Alley. It was hidden away so well that I didn’t immediately notice it. Apparently, when it first opened, people would just walk right past it because they didn’t know about it yet.
Once I entered, it was like being transported into the movie. It was AMAZING. I wish it wasn’t so crowded because it took away from the ambiance, but it was still like I was actually there. There were so many little details. I spent the next forty-five minutes walking around and exploring.
I was about to get in line for Escape From Gringotts, but I realized that I hadn’t eaten lunch yet. I wasn’t the least bit hungry, but I didn’t want to skip a meal. I considered grabbing lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, but I wasn’t in the mood for a sitdown meal. I wanted to eat quickly and also see the other attractions at Universal Studios (which I hadn’t been to in recent memory). So instead, I left Diagon Alley and grabbed lunch in front of Grimmauld Place.
I had to look up what a “jacket potato” was on the internet because I didn’t know that’s what baked potatoes were called in the U.K. I sat in the staircase in front of #13 Grimmauld Place and people watched. There was a line in front of #12 taking pictures and knocking on the door to see Kreacher the house elf peak through the window. The weather was windy and perfect and I had a great view of the lake in the middle of the park. It was really nice.
I looked at the schedule and saw that the parade was at 2:00 and started eating and walking towards the parade route. It was a cute parade, but I prefer the Disney World one.
Once I was done eating, I went to the Fast & Furious: Supercharged ride. I took the single rider line, so it took less than ten minutes to get on the ride. I haven’t watched any of the movies, but the ride was still fun. They had many of the cast members in the 3D Ride, so watching the movies would’ve made the ride better.
After that, I walked around. Universal Studios is really pretty and there were so many street shows going on that I waited and watched a few. Some were super creative. There was one called Beat Builders where men dressed as construction workers played percussion with all their tools. It sounds lame when I say it, but they sounded really good. I wouldn’t have expected it.
After watching a few street shows, I used the single rider lines to quickly ride Men In Black: Alien Attack and Revenge Of The Mummy. One of my favorite rides was The Simpson’s Ride (That’s actually what it’s called.) It felt like a roller coaster but wasn’t. It doesn’t have a single rider line, so I had to wait in the regular one. It went by super quickly. The wait time was half of what they said it would be. It was a 3-D ride that felt kind of like a roller coaster. I’ve also watched the show and some of the details were funny.
After walking around the park for a bit, I walked back to Diagon Alley to ride Escape From Gringotts. The wait time was 100 minutes, but the single rider line was half that. It was such a long wait! It was the longest I waited in line for anything all day. I just listened to my audiobook and fiddled on my phone. The regular queue is a tour through the bank. Knowing what the inside of Hogwarts Castle looks like, I knew that that would be amazing too, but it wasn’t worth an almost 2-hour wait for a ride.
The single rider line took 50 minutes, and it was the longest line I had waited in that day. But the ride was SOOOOO worth it. It was my favorite ride from that day! I would’ve gone again if it weren’t for the line.
Afterward, I explored Diagon Alley some more and even found Knockturn Alley before heading back to The Island of Adventure.
After getting off the train, I walked passed the stage in Hogsmeade where they were playing a music show. I stood and watched before heading back to Marvel Superhero Island.
Throughout the day, I was looking through shops and deciding what souvenir I wanted to take back for myself. There was a lot of really nice Harry Potter merch, but I already own so much HP stuff already and couldn’t justify buying a lot of the things there. (Some of the merchandise was more expensive than my ticket to Orlando) I decided to get a Black Widow necklace I saw at the boutique in Marvel land.
That was the only thing I bought other than the Captain America hat for my brother (which I ended up keeping). I spent more than half an hour looking at comic books in the comic book shop. I almost bought a few before reprimanding myself, “Be real, Triasha. You read comic books on you phone.” and put them back.
I went on the Jurassic Park ride next since there was no wait time. I got wet on this ride but not completely soaked. My clothes dried before it got dark. The only thing I had left on my list was Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, the ride inside Hogwarts Castle, but I wanted to eat dinner first and find a place to charge my phone.
I walked around in a giant circle around the park before finding an outlet next to the comic book shop I had been hanging out in before. I bought a giant turkey leg and walked around the shop while my phone charged eating, looking at the action figures and signed posters. It was actually super entertaining.
Once I was done with eating, I grabbed my phone and walked back to Hogsmeade. I got in the single rider line for Forbidden Journey and it only took FIFTEEN MINUTES! It was great. I ended up riding it twice back to back since the single rider line went significantly faster. I had time to go a third time before the park closed but decided twice was enough.
I walked out of the castle and saw that the Flight of the Hoppogriff ride had a 5-minute wait (don’t mind if I do!) and rode that once again. The roller coaster has an amazing view of the castle, so I got to see it both at night and in the morning.
Once that ride was done, I sat in the courtyard and watched the castle light show. (There were lots of Ravenclaws in the crowd, so it got the loudest cheer 🙂
The park was about to close in 10 minutes, so there was still time to ride one last thing. I looked at the Universal App and saw that the Spider-Man ride had a relatively short wait, so I speed walked back there.
The single rider line was closed, but I was still able to get in the regular line before they closed. After a short wait, I was able to ride the coaster (so fun) before leaving Universal at 9:15.
That’s pretty much what I was able to get done in one day at Universal. I was there for 12 straight hours and had an amazing time. I felt significantly less exhausted by the end of the day traveling solo compared to traveling with a group of people. I definitely want to do that again someday at Disney World. I think I’m all Harry Potter World out’d at the moment and probably won’t return for another few years. It was still amazing to go again.
I hope you all enjoyed and I’ll see you next time.
Related Posts:
- Weekend At Walt Disney World Recap | Part 1
- Weekend At Walt Disney World Recap | Part 2
- Disney Trip Debrief | Budget, Planning Process, Etc.
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Have you ever been to Universal Studios? What Harry Potter House are you in?