Universal Orlando’s Islands of Adventure

On our first day without Express Pass, we concentrated on experiences and less on rides. Park guests staying onsite are able to take advantage of an early opening, nearly always now at Islands of Adventure in Hogsmeade (the Jurassic World Velocicoaster was also sometimes open during early entry). They opened the main gate to all guests around 7:50am, and with a resort key card we could proceed to Hogsmeade at 8am while non-resort guests were corralled on the walkway until the official 9am opening.

Early Morning in Hogsmeade

On our first morning, while everyone else headed to Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure (generally a good thing to knock out during the extra hours if it is a must do), we took time to enjoy Hogsmeade without the massive crowds. We were able to ride Flight of the Hippogriff twice in 10 minutes before heading to Hogwarts Castle at the 8:30am opening for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride. By 9am we were in line for one our favorite family Universal traditions, the butterbeer breakfast.

I’ve always been confused about the direct sun location of the shows in Hogsmeade. We returned to Hogsmeade on the last day of our trip, late in the morning. Because we had never seen it, we didn’t want to miss the Frog Choir, but it required sitting in full sunlight, and watching the young wizards sing impressive a cappella songs was thankfully less than 10 minutes.

Evenings in Hogsmeade

While I prefer the night scene at Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade does tend to be less crowded for store exploration later in the day. We returned to Islands of Adventure both evenings of our trip.

August in Orlando is HOT and frequent lightning/thunder with and without strong thunderstorms make it difficult to really plan in advance. I always advise clients to make sure to take advantage of outdoor rides and attractions that are “must dos” when weather allows. We returned to Islands of Adventure to ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey (avoiding the 30-minute wait by using the UEP) just before storms rolled in. During lighting and thunder, the entire Islands of Adventure often only had three rides available (all indoor), and lines were incredibly long (over 2 hours for Kong: Skull Island) because there was little else to do.

The closures actually worked to our advantage when, after being closed for three hours, Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure reopened at 7pm just as we walked by the start of the queue. I was able to walk almost directly onto the ride that had been an 80-minute wait most of the day.

dinner at the three broomsticks

Fun for Families: Seuss Landing & Toon Lagoon

Even at age 11, Alice still loves Seuss Landing (truth told, so do I). On a steamy Sunday early evening in August we were able to ride everything at Seuss landing on standby with little wait. Between 5pm-6pm we enjoyed:

The Cat in the Hat
The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
Caro-Seuss-el

Toon Lagoon is also a fantastic spot for families with young children. Even without knowing who most of the cartoon strip characters are (“way back in the day there were these things called newspapers and they had ‘the funny pages’……), Alice has always enjoyed the brightly colored theming and fun photo opportunities. Toon Lagoon was also the spot to chill (literally) with misters outside the shops and two water rides: Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges and Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls. On this August trip, the lines were longer than our spring visits, but both rides are pretty lengthy (and have SOAKED us) so I’ve always found them worth the wait.

Advanced Adventures: Skull Island, Marvel Superhero Island, & Jurassic PArk

During much of the first two days of our trip, Islands of Adventure was shut down due to lightning in the area. The lines for indoor attractions were incredibly long, so we spent some time in the indoor spaces of the park.

On our second day we returned to Islands of Adventure in early afternoon. I rode the Velocicoaster (the wait with Express Pass was only 15 minutes and Alice was able to wait in the Family Room just outside the locker area of the queue). We then had lunch at Thunder Falls Terrace, between Skull Island and Jurrassic Park. This spacious quick service restaurant offered a plant-based chorizo with rice and beans; the beans were so good the fake chorizo wasn’t necessary.

We had planned to go to Skull Island: Reign of Kong after lunch, but a thunderstorm was rolling in so the other rides closed, making the projected wait for Standby 120 minutes. Even with Express Pass our wait would have been too long, and we chose to try to beat the storm to head back to enjoy a break in our Loews Royal Pacific Resort room. When we returned after the rain had passed, the line for Kong was 80 minutes for Standby, but we waited only 10 minutes with Express Pass.

Faraway Lands: Port of Entry & The Lost Continent

Dining at Mythos

Mythos Restaurant advertised that it had been voted the “Best Theme Park Dining” and the theming was an extension of the “Lost Continent.” Much of this concept has been lost in this section of the park, especially with the recent closure of Poseidon’s Fury. The decor of the restaurant is filled with nods to Greek Mythology. We were seated near the back of the restaurant, with views of the lake outside. There were vegetarian options on each section of the menu, and my tofu dish was a nice change from the standard theme park diet of fried food and sandwiches.

We also found one of the park’s more unique shopping experiences in the Lost Continent. The MonsterGram Pictures Studios (aka the All Hallows’ Eve Boutique) had life-size statues of some of Universal’s classic monsters and merch to match.

The Port of Entry was the first section of the park to welcome us as we entered each rainy afternoon, and the connected shops were fun to browse while waiting out the storm. The Crescent Moon Bakery is closed at night, but we made sure to make it our last stop before leaving the park on the early afternoon of our departure day.