Orlando: Day 3 (Universal Studio Florida, Island of Adventure)

Today we took the boat from our hotel to Universal Studios just for the experience of it though it was convenient enough to walk as well.

The boat stops just opposite the Universal Studios

We enter through the Island of Adventure and the rest of the day was spend on ride in Universal Studio and Island of Adventure, hence this will be a very short post.

Island of Adventure 

Spiderman ride 

Despicable Me Minion Mayhem ride

Transformer 3D ride 

Animal Actors on Location.  Quite an interesting show with animal stars from various movies

 Still didn't get enough of Harry Potter, we ate at Leaky Cauldron, Diagon Alley, Universal Studio

Inside Leaky Cauldron 

Aww...Butterbeer, I still miss it and can remember the taste the moment I think about it.

That pretty much concluded the main activities of the 3rd day in Orlando.  The next day we will be heading to the magical world of Disney, Disney World.

Location:
Universal Studios Florida
Island of Adventure

Orlando: Day 2 (Wizarding World of Harry Potter)

We started the day with Universal Studios Florida, but our focus was the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  If you have purchased the Universal Studio package which includes the hotel stay from their website you will get early park admission (1 hour before general public) and for some hotels packages you get the express pass as well, Hard Rock Universal hotel is one of them.

Diagon Alley is found in Universal Studios Florida and Hogsmeade is found in Island of Adventure.  The 2 parks are connected by the Hogswart Express but you need to purchase the Park-to-Park ticket to ride on Hogswart Express.  The Park-to-Park ticket allows you to enter any of the 2 Parks (Universal Studios Florida and Island of Adventure) with the same day ticket.  The Hogswart Express is really worth the ride letting you immerse in the Harry Potter world, I personally think the visit is not complete without the ride.  Also remember to take the Hogswart Express in both direction as the experience differ.

As you enter the Diagon Alley there are a few staff dressed in the wizard robes to snap a few photos with you.  It will be an impressive sight if everyone who enter are in their wizard uniform haha.

Diagon Alley

Dragon breathing Fire

Quidditch 

Gringotts Bank - Harry Potter and Escape from Gringotts ride 

Carkitt Market

Get a wand to complete the experience

I was quite confuse at the difference types of wand available so I shall elaborate a bit on it.  There are wands which are used by the characters in Harry Potter and there are also wands which have no owner and for you to choose as yours, there are some description of these wands in the shop to see which suits you.  Of these 2 types of wand there is also the interaction and non-interactive ones.  The interactive ones allows you to 'cast spell': There are some items in some shop front in the Harry Potter area which interacts with the wand when you swing in front of it.  They are cost about $8 more than the non-interactive ones.

Gringott

Inside Gringotts Bank - Harry Potter and Escape from Gringotts ride 

Queue for Harry Potter and Escape from Gringotts ride  

The Hogswart Express to Hogsmeade 

Luggages to be loaded, is yours there? 

Arrive at Hogsmeade Station

Streets of Hogsmeade 

Hogwarts - Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride

Three Broom Sticks 

We had lunch at Three Broom Sticks 

Our Lunch(Rotisserie Smoked Chicken Platter $9.99 and Fish and Chips $11.99), tasted not too bad.

We spend the day on all the rides, no pictures of them since its a theme park its more the experience than the pictures right?  We took the Hogswart Express back to Diagon Alley to complete the Harry Potter experience.  We are greeted by the Knight Bus after exiting King Cross Station.

Knight Bus 

Sunset at Universal Studios Orlando concluded the day.  The next day we visited other attractions in Island of Adventure.

Location:
Universal Studios Florida
Island of Adventure
Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Orlando

Orlando: Day 1 (Hard Rock Hotel Universal, Hard Rock Cafe, Universal Walk)

We arrived in Orlando on JetBlue and it is evening by the time we arrived.  We picked up our universal package at the Universal Studio store at the airport and board the shuttle which takes us straight to Hard Rock Universal Hotel.

A quick look at the hotel room which is pretty spacious and nice but lacks a bit of the usual Hard Rock Hotel feel.

If you noticed the mirror on the left it has the height of different famous celebrities on it. 

A closer look at the mirror, pretty cool! 

The bathroom, pretty basic and abit dated. 

This is the basin area outside the bathroom, this has more of the Hard Rock feel. 

Complimentary coffee and tea. 

Closet. 

 Clean the room sign.

Clock Radio and Phone.

View from the hotel room. 

View from hotel room (another angle) 

Then we head out for dinner at the universal walk which is a short walk from our hotel (about 5-10mins) or you can also take a boat ride there.

 As we were tired after the long flight we had our dinner at Hard Rock Cafe.  As of this writing this is the largest Hard Rock Cafe in the world.

A look inside Hard Rock Cafe

 Mac and Cheese with Chicken Breast.

We call it a day after dinner and return back to our hotel for a good night sleep.