Day 13: Universal & Islands: THE FINALE

Summary: First half of the day in Universal with an epic new experience in the Bourne show and buying lots of merchandise with Anns discount she gets from work. We battled through a few hours of rain and thunder, during which we tore into some huge turkey legs for our first proper eat of the day. Second half in Islands was dominated by Harry Potter, where we rode Forbidden Journey three times and Hagrids twice (and would have been more if the time allowed). Home after 10 full hours in the park, to get a good night sleep for PG;s birthday extravaganza tomorrow.

The fifth Beatle

Siobhan took us a weird way to Universal today. Siobhan is the voice of our satnav, she’s Irish but she can get us a little lost at times and she gets the blame every time we end up somewhere we aren’t supposed to be. And because we didn’t go our usual way, we didn’t end up in our usual car park Jurassic Park, playing the nice Jurassic Park theme tune. No we got Spider-Man today and whilst it’s not the worst, for our last day we did miss the best movie theme tune ever. Oh Siobhan!

Now as Ann works for Sky who are owned by Comcast the corporation who also own Universal, she does get some perks including four free tickets and up to 30% discount for any particular day. The problem was our plan to upgrade one of our tickets to an annual pass so we would have five “free” tickets outside our 14 day window didn’t pan out so our free day ticket for Monday would accommodate everyone but me (I’m all alooooone). It was really just the discounts we were after so we headed to guest services to see if we could swap the discounts to today as the kids had planned some purchases. And they just reprinted them for today without any issue at all which was great and made Grace very happy. she purchased her first item of many today - A Stay Puft coffee cup!

Bourne Free

Ok so we’ve never done The Bourne Stuntacular before but Michael recommended it so was on the to do list, and I wish I’d have done it before now, it was very stuntacular! It was a seamless mix of digital effects, stunt people, physical props, explosions and water effects using a huge high res screen. There were choreographed fights, shoot outs, helicopter chases, high wire acrobatics and an amazing police car chase scene which used bullet time with the actual stuntmen - it was astounding! Nearly a 10 from me tbh.

- Gerry: 9.5
- Ann: 9.5
- Patrick: 8
- Robert: 9.5
- Grace: 9.5

ITS SO FUNNY IM GONNA DIE!

Minion Mayhem after that. Still laugh out loud at this every time, will need to schedule in the new movie when we’re back as I dont think we’ll manage it while we’re here. We have been told to resist the banana during minion training but that popcorn is just too good to miss.

Another gentle one next with ET and went with the standard Gerry for the name this time though ET still managed to mess it up. Ouch indeed little alien. I know I said before but the refurb on this has been stellar and Patrick pointed out that’s it’s the only original ride left from when the park opened.

Just a short walk to Transformers on our way to the Mummy, pretty much a carbon copy of the other day at this point (save for Bourne) but all good rides and worthy of a second visit. Transformers was spoiled slightly by the single rider screaming constantly and sounded like he was auditioning for the female role in Kong. I think even the Autobots wanted to step on him. Anyway good ride apart from that.

Oh Mummy

Darkness. Fire. Scarabs. Scary mummies. Going backwards. Sudden drops. More scary mummies. End. Gift shop.

Exiting Revenge of the Mummy, the rain had started again. We were going to take the train to Islands but the wait time was over an hour (probably due to the weather) so we decided to walk to Islands instead. As we were exiting Universal and entering Islands we decided to go get some merchandise using Ann’s discount from a local movie memorabilia shop so we could drop it off at the car. Picked up a few classic movie posters (ET, Jaws and Jurassic Park), a cracking big Jaws mug and an OUTATIME licence plate from Back To The Future. Grace was going to get an Avengers Loungefly but decided to see what was in the Harry Potter first before committing.

As we got to Islands the thunder started again. Not as devastating as SeaWorld, the outdoor rides were delayed but the ones indoors were still running albeit with looong wait times. Ponchos donned, we decided to wait out the rain and thunder and queues a bit and got a bite to eat. And since we hadn’t had the pleasure yet, we opted for Turkey Legs which are humongous drumsticks of what is probably Turkey? Although since it was in Jurassic World, I pretended they were dinosaur legs instead. Not only that but the theme tune played over the PA continually, so we eventually got our song we had missed out on this morning. And with the Turkey Legs they also give you chips (crisps) with it, because apparently eating a whole Turkey Leg wouldnt be enough for one person. Patrick opted for a burger but the rest of us munched away like cavemen. Ron Swanson would be proud.

And we did more waiting in more gift shops, Grace went a little cray-cray on the old Harry Potter stuff and did get her Loungefly (in the shape of a Niffler)… I do hope this isnt the start of something. She also got Rowena Ravenclaw’s Diadem, so yeah were going to have a horcrux just sitting about in our house now… just great! Grace also allowed us to purchase a cuddly Aragog, as long as we follow the rules and keep it 10ft away from her at all times.

And after all the money was spent, the rain eased and the rides started running again. Now during the few hours the rain was on, there was a gradual exodus of the park (we even considered it at one point too), so when the rain stopped the queues got a little better. So much in fact that we pretty much walked straight on to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, and since it was still quiet we went straight back on it after we had finished. I could have done it again, because I love the ride, but we wanted to try getting on to Hagrid’s at least once while we were in Hogsmeade. Since Forbidden Journey was so empty, we also got to pick which seat we sat in too as we worked out you get slightly different experiences whether you sit on the left, right or centre.

Hagrids now and Grace had never been on the motorbike seat for this ride, and me never on the sidecar so we switched it all about with Grace and Ann going on together, and me and Patrick, then Robert as a solo. You feel just a little safer in the sidecar, but the ride is just as excellent. Big Rubeus is some guy.

Happy Birthday #1

And the time had come to realise that it was officially the 30th June at that point in the UK, so we wished Patrick his first birthday wishes for turning 18. We got him a birthday badge from guest services (which tells everyone it’s his birthday and the cast members are great at responding to this). We got him a warm butterbeer to celebrate, which was the first time I’d tried it, but much preferred Robert’s Pumpkin fizz and Grace’s frozen Butterbeer - just a little weird drinking a warm drink like this in these temps.

And then we went on Forbidden Journey again! This was the first of the Harry Potter thrill rides between the two parks, but it has held up so much better than Gringotts over in Universal.

Jurassic Park is frightening in the dark

Decided to mix it up a little as it was hitting the last hour of being in the park so head over to Jurassic World to go on the River Adventure a second time. And since it was dark, it made it for a more “interesting” experience. Things stood out a whole lot more, because they were lit up, and it had a bigger sense of danger, especially the drop which was in total darkness!

Now for the last ride of the last day we would be at Universal & Islands we had to opt for Hagrid’s yet again. We had hoped to ride Velocicoaster one more time, but with the rain impacting ride availability and Ann opting out of the bigger rides like this, it was only fitting to do something we all enjoy.

As we headed for the exit, the cast member who had seen us ride Forbidden Journey three times tonight, shouted out “Good Night, Weasley Family!” To which we all waved and giggled. It’s the little touches like this that make is special.

King Tut’s Wawa Hut

We were nearly out of fuel, so on our way home we stopped at a petrol station called Wawa, to get some petrol (its not gas people!). The station itself was a mini convenience store and they served made to order sandwiches. Now we had had any dinner as none of us had been particularly hungry after our dino legs, but the sandwiches looked great, so we put an order in for a few to go. I opted for a Bacon Avocado Club, with provolone and chipotle, it was magic! And all the kids loved what they got too, so this is definitely one to go back to for a quick bite to eat.

And so the day draws to a close and tomorrow is gonna be a big one with Patrick turning 18 (in this time zone). Hollywood Studios is where we are headed for a Star Wars Special Birthday Sunday!

Todays Stats

- Step Count: 21.4k
- Starred Rides: The Bourne Stuntacular, Forbidden Journey, Hagrids
- Total steps: 234.1k
- Total miles: 99.3 miles