July 2021: Universal/IOA, day 3

Our last day at Universal without kids was fun-filled and similar to the day before, with even less pictures.  I'm pretty sure, we started the day just like the one before at IOA and in particular, Hagrid's Motorbike Adventure.

I don't have as many details, but I do know that Patrick was determined to try the new Jurassic themed churro.

I personally, really did not like the blue glaze on top, but Patrick enjoyed it.  We also visited the raptor encounter, which is always a fun experience.

Like the day before, we took a break at the hotel while the rain rolled through the park.  We decided on another sit down restaurant for dinner this evening.  We decided on Confisco and oh my goodness, we loved this one.  I'm so glad we randomly chose this one.  Seriously, I'm still thinking about this meal and looking forward to the next time I can eat here again.

Like always, we jumped back and forth in the parks hitting up all our favorite attractions.  During one of these jumps, we realized that we needed a picture with the globe.

We also needed a picture in Diagon Alley.

We decided to make it a late night jumped back over to IOA so that we could end the night on the Velocicoaster.

I must confess, we also decided to come back the next morning, for one last ride.  Truly, this ride is amazing and I loved that we were able to experience it and this entire weekend.

 

July 2021: Universal/IOA, Day 2

 If you know us at all, you know that even without kids, we were up early and ready to enter the park as soon as possible.  We left the hotel early with our coffee in hand.

We were rewarded by only a few people in front of us at the gate of Island of Adventures.

It didn't take long though, for the crowds to arrive behind us.

Although Velocicoaster was the new (and better) ride, we made the decision to go to Hagrid's Motorbike Adventure first.  I don't know if Velocicoaster is too intense for some guest, or if the taller height requirement is to blame, but Hagrid's line was consistently longer (and therefore a virtual line once the park's extra morning hour was over.)  So, we enjoyed our ride on Hagrid's and then decided to see how long Velocicoaster's line had already grown.  We were shocked that it was practically still a walk on wait.

After these two heavy hitters, the park was officially open.  We may have even rode Forbidden Journey at this time as well.  Since we were kid free and had the luxury of those express passes, we did something we normally would never do.  We ate breakfast inside the park.  In fact, we went to The Three Broomsticks and had a delicious breakfast with absolutely no wait.

I've realized, that without cute little girls to take pictures of, I don't take that many pictures.  Therefore, I don't remember if we did anything else in this park before we boarded the Hogwarts Express and made our way to Diagon Alley.

Again, once we made it to Universal Studios, I don't remember what rides we rode first.  I do know that throughout our weekend there, we did ride everything at least once, and many more times for our favorites.  We did get some pictures inside the Jurassic Park/World Tribute Store.

We enjoyed all the details that they put into this store.  When we moved on, we also caught the Blues Brothers show.

Believe it or not, after riding everything here, we actually rode the Hogwarts Express back to Islands of Adventure.  It truly is amazing how much you can get done with those express passes.

We ended up eating lunch at Thunder Falls.  This meal was very tasty.

After our lunch, I feel like we rode Velocicoaster again, but maybe I just remember being near by it while we were making our next decision whether we rode it or not.  What was that decision, you ask?  To head back to the room.  We could tell a storm was about to pass and we debated staying in the park since this is what we would normally do when we are at the parks.  However, with our room just a short walk away, we decided to walk back to the room and hung out at the hotel while we waited for the rain to stop.

This also gave us time to decide what we wanted to do this evening.  We decided it would be fun to dress up a bit and have a nice dinner.  We're not as familiar with table service restaurants at Universal, so we ended up making a reservation at Lombard's.

So, with the rain out of the way and our spiffy clothes on, we made our way back to Universal Studios.

So, I'm not sure what this restaurant is normally like, but I don't feel like our reservations were needed.  It seemed pretty empty to me, but maybe we were just too early for the dinner rush?  

Regardless, we had a nice dinner together, even if I wasn't overly impressed with the restaurant itself.  There was nothing wrong with the food, but I didn't find it amazing either, and for the price I think there are better options on property.

After dinner, we chatted with the driver of the Knight Bus, which I always recommend as these conversations are so fun.

We also decided to have a fun and fancy adult beverage since we normally don't when we're here with the kids.  With my shark attack drink in hand, we took a must take photo with Bruce.

For the first time this trip, we decided to walk over to IOA instead of taking the train.  Upon entering this park, we stopped in at the Christmas store, to take a picture for Patrick's mom since she loves Christmas.

Since Patrick was not excited about my shark attack drink, he opted for the specialty beer located in the Jurassic Park area.  I don't remember the specific name, but I know it's only available here on Isla Nublar.

We then of course, had to end our night with another ride on Velocicoaster.

This queue is really impressive, and I'm glad that when we do go back with the girls, they can experience all this part with us before we are separated for the rider switch.

This ride truly is exhilarating and a must do for any thrill seeker.  This was the perfect ending to a great day! 

July 2021: Universal without kids

 Yes, you read that title right.  Patrick and I went to Universal without the kids.  With the opening of the new Velocicoaster we decided to take a little weekend to ourselves to enjoy the coaster our kids are too small for anyway and also celebrate our anniversary.  We've been married 11 years and we almost always take our kids with us on all our trips, so it was an amazing treat to ourselves to have this little alone time together.  We actually ended up stopping in Gainesville for our first night so that we could visit some friends.  We took our time the next morning and ended up arriving at Universal around check-in time.  

Since this was a special trip for us, we splurged a little and stayed at the Royal Pacifica Hotel.  If you've read any of my other trip reports, you know that we usually stay at the value resorts.  We were definitely spoiled this time, as the Universal deluxe resorts also come with their unlimited express passes.  I feel like we were able to accomplish so much with these passes, that we will definitely contemplate staying at a deluxe resort again just for these passes.  I guess time will tell, but they definitely were awesome during this trip.

Upon entering this hotel, you cross this bridge and are greeted by a fun scent.

Here's a detail from the bridge.

Our room was great, with a king bed and a pull out couch, that honestly we didn't ever pull out since we didn't have the girls with us.

Patrick even took a little video for you all.

This is a little overview of the pool area.

We decided to be that old couple, and we actually chose to eat at the hotel when the lounge first opened for dinner before heading to the park the evening.

We shared some sushi and enjoyed some drinks.

Another advantage of this hotel (and all the deluxe resorts) was the wonderful walking path and back entrance into City Walk.  This was taken on the extended pathway near our resort pool.

We continued along the pathway and entered City Walk by the Margaritaville restaurant.  This entrance was extremely convenient, because we never had to wait to go through security.  We of course chose to enter into Islands of Adventure.  We were of course extremely excited to ride Velocicoaster, but we didn't want to spend the entire evening there, so we didn't actually go there first.  Instead, we chose to go to the left and rode Hulk, Doctor Doom and the Amazing Spiderman.  We continued the circle skipping the Popeye's, but we did choose to ride Dudley's Do-Right Ripsaw Falls.

This picture doesn't do justice to how wet we actually were.  We continued to Kong, and then decided to ride the Jurassic River Adventure boat ride as well.

We were loving how quickly we were able to get on so many rides.  We still weren't ready to wait for Velociraptor, so we continued on to the Wizarding World. 

Hagrid's was using a virtual queue, and wasn't offering an Express Pass option, so we couldn't get on that one, but we quickly rode Forbidden Journey.  By this time, Velocicoaster was still an hour wait, but we had completed all we were able and willing to ride so we decided to get in ine.

Unfortunately, the ride was having technical issues.  We debated leaving, but let's be honest, this was why we were here.  There was also a lot of opening excitement in the queue line.  The ride had been open for a month already, but most people in line had not ridden before and most people had been waiting all day.

The ride would stop for a while and then start again and everyone would cheer.  Then unfortunately, it would stop again.  Every time it stopped, a few people would chose to leave getting us that little bit closer.  Like I said, it was kind of fun waiting with everyone.

The queue line itself is great, but the ride is amazing.  By the time we got on, the park was closed.  The ride was so exhilarating, I was pretty much speechless after this first ride.  It was a fun way to end the night, and we couldn't wait to ride it again the next day.