It was so fun to go to Universal Studios again! This has been one of our favorite family vacations for years. Even with our family changing the way it has, it remains a steadfast favorite.
We went to Universal three different times on this trip, two of them on the same day. We went on our first full day, once in the morning/afternoon and then that later that evening. And we went on our last full day.
Sam was SO EXCITED to go on Velocicoaster, Universal's newest roller coaster. We went there first since it was their top priority.
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I went on it too. It was way more thrilling (i.e., scarier) than I thought it would be, so that might have been my first and last time on it! The boys loved it and rode it again when we went back that night.
We had recently watched the Kong movies, so that made going on the ride even more fun.
Owls (and Sam) in a Harry Potter shop
In line for Spiderman, one of our favorite 3D rides.
Me waiting for the boys while they went on Doctor Doom's Fearfall, which I will never go on.
This is one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip! Over the years, I've taken a picture of the boys in this very spot near the entrance/exit of Islands of Adventure ever since Sam was in preschool and John was in elementary school. They've basically grown up in this spot! 😄
It was really crowded by the time we left in the afternoon.
This is when we came back that evening.
The boys had done this climbing wall before. It was time to do it again!
Waiting in line for Transformers. That's a great 3D ride, too.
We ran into the Mardi Gras parade when we came out of the Transformers ride. I wasn't very impressed (too many skimpy costumes!), but I guess it was fun to see a parade. Tons of necklaces were thrown out, and I got a kick out of taking pictures of the boys wearing them.
John 😂
We went back to Universal on the last full day of our trip, which was a Saturday. We took advantage of the early-morning hours for resort guests and got there before the park had filled up too much. We went straight to another new (to us) ride we hadn't been on yet, Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, because the line for that gets really long and they don't take Fast Passes. We saved ourselves a couple of hours by doing that. The ride didn't disappoint--it was awesome!
Not too crowded. Yet.
Some of the nice props from Hagrid's
Hippogriff is Sam's first favorite roller coaster from when he was little. He went on this ride over and over again back then! These days just once will suffice; he's moved on to bigger and better coasters.😜
We got butterbeer a few times. It's so good! This trip was the first time Sam actually liked it.
Escape from Gringotts is one of my favorite rides.
Side note, my hair was bigger than usual because it had puffed out from getting wet at the waterpark!
Chocolate cupcake 😋
John doing a really dorky smile 😆
Beetle Bailey will always hold a special place in my heart because of a big church road show we did when I was a kid that involved him.
We walked behind a superhero (not sure which one) in the Marvel section of the park. He was on his way to a meet and greet.
One of the park photographers took a bunch of pictures of us on our way out on our first day there. (The date on the picture below isn't correct--that's the date I had that one printed out at one of the gift shops.) Most of them came out surprisingly well!
Same pic, different border (and date--the accurate one!)
The boys complied with the photographer and did some cheesy poses that I refused to do.
I did do these ones, though.
I'm glad the boys were good sports for the pictures. It was a little bit of a miracle that they were, actually!
Oh, and here are a few funny ride pics.
There's John in the top right. The girl in front of him looks exactly how I felt on that ride.
Sam is having the time of his life, but look at me 😂. I was hanging on for dear life!
Ride pics are so flattering, aren't they? 😆
We love Universal Studios and we had a great time there! It never disappoints!
