An overplanner forgets their wand - trip report

[koi1217]

Backstory: This January myself and DD13 went to UOR and had a pretty great time. However, we were there when SD valleyed and we got comp EPIC tickets. I figured I’d use it sometime in a few years. Seven months later we returned for my birthday. Initially I was planning on going solo because I really wanted to appreciate the VIBES and slow down but DD13 convinced me they would be an awesome companion this time so they came along. They ended up watching a lot of Mammoth Club videos and really got into sharing some of the secrets and details which was super fun.

Initial plan was AP for me for discounts, 3+2 deal for DD13, Stella Luna for 3 nights and Pacific Royal for 1 night at end of August. I ended up modifying multiple times and eventually switched to Terra Luna due to the cost savings which we were very happy with. I did not know that the AP appreciation days would be happening while we were there. I bought the seasonal AP which normally doesn’t get you much discounts. With the appreciation days, we got the 20% off on all mobile ordering. Sweet savings.

We packed for weather. Brought ponchos and shoe covers, snacks, refillable water bottles for the coke machines (best water everywhere). Did our research. Made so many plans. FORGOT OUR WAND. WTF man??? I didn’t even remember until we walked into Hogsmeade. It was fine but also super sad. No, I did not buy a new one.

[koi1217]

The below is written by DD13. Welcome to their mind:

Day 1 - Thursday the 27th

We checked into Terra Luna got a room with a great view but it’s far from the elevators (our poor legs)

Then…

We went to IOA

I rode hagrids, hulk twice, velocicoaster by myself, then mom got me a delicious sandwich (she ate half) from croissant moon bakery while she was on her meeting and then I did Harry Potter once by myself, it started storming while we were in line for velocicoaster the second time so after an hour we left and did Harry Potter two more times. It’s stormed/rained all afternoon so sad . Then we decided to get dinner but went on the cat and the hat ride first!! Confisco grille for dinner: it was amazing!!!

I had a mango lassi, mom had a blackberry soda and we loved both. Then we ate some good hummus and pita. Then we had our mains: miso salmon for me and chicken for mom. Everything was great, would go again. Then we waited in line for like a while for guest services for moms universal tickets

Then we headed back to the hotel!!!

So:

Hagrid’s Magical Creatures x1

Hulk x2

Velocicoaster x1.5 (because we left the line)

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey x3

The Cat and the Hat x1

We did 5 different rides and 8.5 rides (4.5 roller coaster rides)

Dining: (these ratings are of the food and drink we had ONLY)

Croissant Moon Bakery -

Confisco Grille -

MOM NOTES:

-View was nice from the 6th floor, not “great” but whatever.

-we asked for early check in when we booked and both times they were able to accommodate that request which was fantastic.

-no EPA or EP for this day as it was our arrival / throw away day.

-I had a teams meeting from the Watering Hole at Jurassic Park lol. Technically I wasn’t on vacation until 2pm.

-no express passes for weather on VC. We made the right choice to leave eventually. The bummer was phone was in locker so couldn’t track the storm to see how long until it cleared. This was frustrating as staff won’t estimate (which is understandable).

-sandwiches from Croissant was very solid and large

-Confisco Grille was also solid. My chicken dish was a B. The salmon was good. It was soooo cold in there.

-we stopped at the guest services on the way out to get my comp tickets. Line was very long. Lots of people upset because I guess they had bought late day tickets (after 2 or 4pm tickets) and studios closed at 5pm for HHN. With the rain and studios closed, people were not happy with their day. Staff were pretty generous with refunds that I saw. I did ask for bonus express pass and they did gift us two for the next day which was nice.

-back to room early so we could RD Epic the next day.

[Jeff_AZ]

@koi1217

The below is written by DD13. Welcome to their mind:

Love this!

[koi1217]

The below is written by DD13. Welcome to their mind:

Day 2 - Friday the 28th

We woke up really early to rope drop epic universe. At 8:00 they let us in and we went straight to Berk. We were the first ppl on dragon racers rally, then looped hiccups wing gliders without getting off three times. We then went over to Stardust Racers which I WAS SO EXCITED FOR. We went twice: front row on green and then back row on yellow. Then we went to dark universe in which we rode curse of the werewolf, got a Frankenstein’s monster pretzel, and rode monsters unchained. We then went back to Berk and did fyre drill, then hiccups again. After, we sat down for a while at mead hall and had drinks and a kids meal (tenders and fries). After that we went to stardust in which we raced head to head and yellow (me) won!!! After that we used a free express pass on Ministry of Magic. We noticed the single rider line was a walk on even tho the wait time posted was an hour. So we went on it again in the single rider line, we got split up but that was ok because we waited like 3 minutes in line instead of 60. After, it had gotten really hot so we sat down at Cafe Sirene for mint iced tea and a mocktail (my mocktail was delicious) and a sandwich that was also delicious . Then we went to do stardust racers again. Mom wanted to sit this one out so I went by myself. When I was in line for green, someone threw up in the car and they had to clean it so they made me go on yellow so I did the back row and there was no car racing us so it felt more liked a timed trial than a race lol. Mom was sitting at bar zenith so I joined her after and got another delicious mocktail. Then we wanted to go back to the hotel for a while because it was so darn* (edited by mom) hot out ! But first we went to Mario world and got pretzels shaped like things from Mario kart and then trekked (by trekked I mean walked a bit and then hopped on the bus) back to Terra Luna. We chilled while it thunderstormed . Then we went back to the park and had dinner at the blue dragon (it was really good but we didn’t finish because we were still full lol) then we went to Mario kart bowsers challenge and then did it again. Then we went to Darkmoor and rode monsters unchained. Then we went over to Stardust Racers to do it again at night (it was so so beautiful and we rode front row. It’s my favorite roller coaster of all time (the RCOAT)). Then, before Berk closed for the night, we went on Hiccups one more time! Then we got some ice cream and watched the goodnight show in which we danced to the donkey Kong and Mario music and I almost cried when they played the Berk music. Then we went back to the hotel with tired feet.

So:

Stardust Racers x5

Curse of the Werewolf x1

Monsters Unchained x2

Dragon Racers Rally x1

Fyre Drill x1

Hiccup’s Wing Gliders x5

Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge x2

Harry Potter Battle at the Ministry x2

We saw no shows, we did 8 different rides and 18 rides (including 11 roller coaster rides)

Dining: (these ratings are of the food and drink ONLY)

DeLacey’s Cottage -

Mead Hall -

Café L’air De La Siréne -

Bar Zenith -

Turbo Boost Treats -

The Blue Dragon -

Frosty Moon -

MOM NOTES:

-Security opened around 7:15 and tickets at 7:30 and we were able to go right to the roped off area right next to Berk. So all the ministry and berk people were together. Park opened at 8am sharp. Most folks went to the left towards HP. MUCH fewer went into Berk.

-Berk is amazing and feels the most complete to me. There are 3 rides, 1 show, meet and greet, playground with amazing views, and a beautiful land. It looks great during the day and night.

-I really enjoyed Fyre drill. Nobody knew what they were doing. I quickly discovered hitting the mystery targets were a great way to get wet which was the most fun ever.

-Frosty moon was very slow at night prior to the Celestial Goodnight because everyone wants ice cream before the show and because it’s somehow very slow. Plan accordingly.

-we really liked the ambiance and drinks at The Blue Dragon. If we repeated I would likely stick with sharing an entree or doing small plates only. We barely made dents in our food. Food was solid. Service was super fun. Drinks were very good.

-I picked up my birthday pin the night before at the hotel check in. They were super sweet and offered a choice of free/comped item. We chose the “starbucks” and got 2 refreshers the next day.

[koi1217]

The below is written by DD13. Welcome to their mind:

Day 3 - Saturday the 29th (moms birthday )

Today we rope dropped epic universe again with the plan to get into Berk and make the line for the Toothless meet and greet. We were 2nd in line for the meet and greet and were the happiest ever because toothless was SO (edited by mom) CUTE !!!

Then we went to Rally because it was open (hiccups was delayed) and mom did two barrel rolls!!! While we were exiting, the ppl at hiccups were yelling that it was open so we went in. Getting on the first time was a walk on and we rode it 4 times without getting off. Then we saw stardust was super empty so we went over there. It was a walk on and we rode it twice (green and yellow both in the front row). Then we went over to darkmoor and got a Frankenstein’s monster pretzel, then rode Curse of the Werewolf. Then we sat down at the burning blade tavern and got a pretzel stake and a monocane mocktail! Both were really good!

Then mom and I split up. I went to stardust racers and she went to fyre drill. I rode stardust once (yellow in the back row) and then the line jumped up so I didn’t ride it again. I met mom at Berk and we got a toothless and the light fury necklace! Then we went to mead hall and chilled with some drinks. Then we headed to darkmoor for some lunch where we had the familiar burger at das Stakehaus which I didn’t really like.

The fries were good tho. Then we went to Harry Potter world and ate dessert at the gobelet noir. We had a Black Forest cake that was delicious. Then we decided to go back to the hotel to chill around 1:30. We got Starbucks at the market in the hotel and it was cheaper than at an actual Starbucks. We chilled for a few hours, then went back around 6:50 and ate delicious pizza at Pizza Moon. After, we went to Mario world and looped Mario kart twice without getting off (both mom and I got our new high scores: mom had 171 and I had 142). Then we headed over to Darkmoor for monsters unchained (Dracula was down!) After that we went to Ministry of Magic but the single rider line was SO LONG so we left. We decided to head over to stardust racers again. We rode it on yellow in the front (there were fireworks we saw far away while we were on it) and then got back in line for it again in hopes of riding while the Celestial Goodnight was happening. We waited for the front row on green and got on the ride a few minutes after the celestial goodnight started. We rode the ride while the celestial goodnight played and it was one of the best moments of my life!!! Then we went back to the hotel to go to sleep and got there at 10 pm!

So:

Toothless Meet and Greet x1

Dragon Racers Rally x1

Hiccup’s Wing Gliders x4

Fyre Drill x1 (without me)

Stardust Racers x5

Monsters Unchained x1

Curse of the Werewolf x1

Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge x2

We saw 1 show, we rode 8 different rides and 16 rides

(Including 10 roller coaster rides)

Dining: (these ratings are of the food and drink we had, not decor or anything else)

DeLacey’s Cottage -

Burning Blade Tavern -

Mead Hall -

Das Stakehaus -

Gobelet Noir -

Starbucks -

Pizza Moon -

MOM NOTES:

-I loved the birthday wishes. I got Happy Creation Day in Darkmoor and Happy Hatch Day in Berk.

-Burning blade tavern - I really liked the garlic steak and thought it was excellent but really only serves one person. The monocane mocktail was a bit much for me but at least we got to get a cool cup. The seating area outside is lovely if there’s no space inside.

-The familiar burger was not good. It got some love initially but I found it pretty bad. Oh well.

-Gobelet Noir is a super nice restaurant. The spaces inside are really awesome!! I thought it was going to be small but it’s quite big and also cozy. We only had dessert here (which was very good) but the food others had looked good.

[darkmite2]

@koi1217

No, I did not buy a new one.

Been there! Glad you stayed strong!

@koi1217

It’s stormed/rained all afternoon so sad .

Bummer!

@koi1217

The below is written by DD13. Welcome to their mind:

Loved it! I could “hear” the speech pattern of a young person in how she wrote. It was sweet!

@koi1217

Gobelet Noir is a super nice restaurant. The spaces inside are really awesome!!

Did you get to the other Paris restaurant? What was the best / worse items you ate?

I’m going in December for my birthday! I’m trying to stay spoiler free, which is hard with YouTube.

If you have any advise please share! Thanks!

[NTEI]

Love the two-person trip report - how fun that your kid got into the planning too! Looking forward to more of that as mine grow up

I can’t believe how many rides you did! I think you had a great strategy - and the wait times must have been very good (the benefits of a late August trip?)

@koi1217

-Berk is amazing and feels the most complete to me.

Totally agree! We are HP fans and BatM was still my favorite ride in Epic, but - as a whole land - Berk wowed me even more. I had goosebumps walking in the first time.

@koi1217

Gobelet Noir is a super nice restaurant

Also fully agree.

@darkmite2

Did you get to the other Paris restaurant?

I’m not @koi1217 but we ate in both Paris restaurants and got drinks from Bar Moonshine, so I’ll give my answer - we did not have a single bad dish or drink anywhere! And the restaurants are beautifully themed. My husband is French (and we visit France at least once a year), so that’s pretty high praise At Cafe l’Air de la Sirene, we got two of the baguettes (ham & cheese and veggie/ratatouille), the French onion soup, and the boeuf bourgignon. At the Gobelet Noir, we got the the lentil soup and the Alchemist’s platter - the latter was by far our favorite of all of our Paris meals (we still talk about it regularly). We got the lavender lemonade at both restaurants.

At Bar Moonshine, we got the Lobe Blaster cocktail (which the bartender told us is the #1 selling cocktail in all of UOR including Citywalk!) I liked it (it has limoncello, which I love) but thought it was a bit sweet. We LOVED the Beau Thé Bleu d’Occamy: a mocktail that comes with a “tea bag” (sachet of cotton candy) that makes the drink change color and flavor. While sitting in front of Bar Moonshine enjoying our drinks, the French Auror came over to chat with us and check if we had seen anything suspicious - very fun interaction. You should definitely plan to visit all three! I can’t wait to hear what you think of Epic.

[hartcruise]

I’m so impressed with all the rerides!!! Fantastic report. Thanks for sharing.

[koi1217]

@NTEI Crowds were low and had been the prior week as well. So going the last two weeks of August was a good strategy for us despite the weather. The usual rides were still long waits but since we didn’t prioritize those it wasn’t bad at all. It honestly fit with the usual 2-5 pm break anyways. We did have one day it rained a lot in the afternoon but there was no lightening and the rides never went on weather delay.

@darkmite2 At Cafe l’Air de la Sirene we had the Baguette de Dinde which we shared and was light and tasty. In jan I had the Salad Nicose which was good but I think the sandwich is better. I really liked the the bowls at Spit Fyre Grill in January the best. We didn’t get to eat there again this time as we were trying new places.

[koi1217]

I have two more days from IOA/Studios to report but will skip ahead to my EPIC thoughts:

EPIC

I think this park is best done bimodally with EPA and then a good break post lunch. I think this strategy worked really well for us. However, it depends on not caring about DK which I know a lot of people do. EPA is the key to a successful day. Here’s what we did:

7:15 in security, 7:30 through gates. Park opens at 7:50 (saturday)/8 (friday).

8am - Berk:

-Toothless. Opened at 8am (during EPA). The first people and ourselves were pretty fast but didn’t feel rushed. I could imagine a bigger family or one with lots of kids could take longer. It was hilarious and so much fun. We LOVED it. Walk through the land afterwards and take some lovely pictures with no one else around.

-Rally. I finally barrel rolled the second time (technically my 4th time overall)! Take big and slow movements. I managed one roll in one direction and one in the other on the same ride. I did have an attendant say sometimes people get stuck upside down but that didn’t happen though my rolls were very slow.

-Hiccups. Last row in the train allowed us to stay on multiple times since the staff load the next group in ascending order. On the second day we finally left at 4 rides because of our own choice, not because of people in line. Ask the ride attendants nicely to stay on. Doing this ride multiple times in a row is amazing.

-we did the above in about 35-40 minutes!

Celestial:

-SD: do both yellow and green. DD13 liked yellow best and the internet consensus it’s slightly more intense. I thought they were both great and didn’t have a preference. Racing someone in the other comet was super fun and staff were easy about it. I only rode in the front row because that’s best for my body - it’s smoother and more fun. Less strain on my neck and head this way. DD13 tried backrow and found it fine. They have a dedicated wait for the 1st row which I really appreciated. The staff are amazingly efficient. Def ride this at night. It’s beautiful. We timed it to the Celestial Goodnight (modified unfortunately while we were there due to weather) and that was so much fun. The ride did run for 30 minutes after park closing. Lines are longer at night but still pretty fast. This is another coaster where Express pass isn’t super helpful because it only skips part of the line before the lockers. Most of the waiting is post lockers. Single rider was closed when we were there. Also, no bands or birthday pins ask me how I know.

Darkmoor:

-At regular park opening (9am in our case), head to Darkmoor.

-Curse of the Werewolf first: both of our rides did not do a lot of spinning which made the ride too tame for us. Fun but very quickly over. I do not like waiting for this ride since it feels like the payout for it is minimal. Hence why RD’ing it is good. Maybe save any express passes you have for a night ride as the waits are always high once it’s dark. We did have one very good experience spinning in jan and it honestly makes a big difference.

-Monsters: might as well go now as well. Unless it’s been down you can pretty much walk on it whenever you want. We did not do single rider because there was no need. We had EP last time so didn’t see the full queue including the outside areas. It felt similar to HP Journey with the combination of outside/inside areas and too much queue for what the ride usually needs. We rode with someone at one point who was at +50 rides for that day and over 400 total. The staff just let her stay in the cart. Blew our minds. Dracula was down which caused lots of down time for this ride over the prior week. It usually opened at very high waits (70 min) but went down considerably after a couple of hours.

-Honestly, at this point it’s maybe 10:30/10:45. Get food! I went back to Fyre Drill because it starts getting busy after 11am and I think it was so much fun. There are bins for your belongings which seemed to stay dry. DD13 did not want to get wet so they went to do SD again. It’s so nice to be able to split up especially since SD is right next to Berk.

Ministry:

-HP: We were lucky and had one EP that covered BatM so we rode easily and did not try and RD. While in line for EP we could see that the single rider line was open and empty. They loaded those folks pretty quickly and we were able to reride. Don’t be like us and exit the building. Single rider entrance is right at the exit of the ride in the main lobby. Hypothetically if you know the line is short you can loop it easily. However, when we tried doing single rider again another time the line was very long and it was clearly going to suck. I think if single rider is at the stairs it’s probably worth waiting for. If it’s in one of the hallways that is probably too long. Single rider misses all the preshows etc so it’s best as a second ride.

-Break. We were there with classic afternoon storms when everything closes down. Plus, at this point we only had Nintendo left and I refuse to be in there during the day. It is too loud and hot and everything is slow.

Evening: we ate all our meals in the park because the food is really good.

Nintendo:

-Mario Kart: We found Mario Kart tends to be a walk on in the evenings. You can also go single rider if you don’t mind missing the queue. We both tried the ride once without visors and it’s really worth doing that. The scenery and screens are amazing and so delightful to actually look at. We did stay in our seats once to loop because no one was waiting. Ask nicely.

-Yoshi was slow while we were there for some reason and so we skipped it. I still think evenings is best because of the cooler weather, shorter lines, and everything looks so much prettier.

-DK area is also lovely at night. I wish there was more to do back there though as it’s a cool vibe but no real sitting. Maybe a tiki bar would be fun. I don’t have rec’s on DK except try and get EP for it and try it once. Having no desire to ride it again made our lives so much easier. I don’t know if this is still the case, but I have heard that the Nintendo exit is sometimes open at RD so that you don’t have the go up the warp tunnel and then back down the stairs. Not sure if that’s the case but worth keeping an eye on it. Also check the app because if it’s delayed prior to opening (which the app will say) it’s a good chance it’s gonna be super delayed.

Spin by both Darkmoor and Ministry at night. They are great for different reasons at nighttime. Even Berk is amazing at night. Hiccups Gliders is not a high priority in the dark but fun. I think it’s better during the day.

Celestial:

-SD. It does get a longer line at night but the VIBES and the excitement changes at night. Everyone claps when they come back to the station. Berk is all lit up and a gorgeous view. It’s just so much fun. Green will get you better views of the fountains if you try and do Celestial Goodnight while on it.

We did not ride the carousel, Yoshi, or DK but did them on our last trip and did not feel we were missing anything. We also did not go to the shows as we did them on the last trip. We could have easily chosen to do the shows again after lunch.

[bebe80]

@koi1217

Mead Hall -

Any details to share about Mead Hall? What did you try there?

[bebe80]

@koi1217

I really liked the the bowls at Spit Fyre Grill

Better than the Mac n Cheese Cones?

[koi1217]

@bebe80 We only had a snack - kids chicken tenders and fries. I liked the space as a nice place to take a break. I really liked the food at Spite Fyre before and if it’s not too hot it’s fun to watch the boats from the sitting area.

[koi1217]

The below is written by DD13. Welcome to their mind:

Day 4 - Sunday the 30th

We went to Islands of Adventure after checking into our hotel: Loews Royal Pacific (we had unlimited express passes). We rode hulk and then I conquered my fear of drop rides cuz mom and I rode Dr Doom Fearfall and I LOVED IT . Then we split up. I went to velocicoaster while mom did Dudley do rights and Popeyes and blutos bilge rat barges. I rode velocicoaster twice (both in the back and the line was really fast) and then we met up at Wimpys and ate good burgers and fries. Then we rode forbidden journey twice, the second time we stopped for a sec (delay)!!! Then we took the hogwarts express over to Universal Studios and rode Gringotts. Then we walked over to Mummy and rode it (it braked really hard so often). Then I got tired and wanted to go back to the hotel so I left without mom and went on the boat back to the hotel where I chilled for a while. In that time, mom went to Animal Actors, walked through the Dreamworks park, rode Simpsons, MIB, Gringotts, and then hung out in Diagon Alley and saw the death eaters duel with ppl. Then she came back to the hotel and we got dinner (a giant pretzel and a salad) at the Tuk tuk market and ate in the hotel. Then we went back to IOA, rode dr doom, velocicoaster (front row), and hagrids. It was delayed but it opened while we were standing there. It was very pretty in the dark. After the ride it was almost 9 pm but we got to see the Hogwarts Always projection show on the castle which was beautiful! While we were watching the show, some lady who was double fisting two phones (recording on one and FaceTiming on the other) stopped right in front of where we were sitting it was really annoying so we yelled at her until she left haha deserved.

Then we walked back to the hotel and mom went to the pool. I chilled on my phone and then went to sleep.

So: (not including the hogwarts express)

Dr Doom x2

Hulk x1

Velocicoaster x3

Forbidden Journey x2

Hagrids x1

Dudley Do Rights x1

Popeye and Bluto’s Bilge Rat Barges x1

Revenge of the Mummy x2

Escape From Gringotts x1

Animal Actors x1

Simpsons x1

MIB x1

Hogwarts Always x1

We saw 2 shows, rode 11 different rides (16 rides in total, 4 roller coaster rides)

Dining (based off of food and drink ONLY):

Wimpy’s:

Tuk Tuk Market:

MOM NOTES:

-we took the CityWalk bus and just missed the Royal Pacific bus. We ended up walking via the path. I think it would have been slightly faster to take the boat but it was fine. We only had carryons so it was fine.

-this was the first time I rode Hagrids in the dark and I never knew the light effects were such a great part of the ride. Worth trying to ride at night at least once.

-omg I loved the water rides. I’ve never gotten to ride them because it was too cold. A few things, ponchos help but are not perfect, especially on Blutos. Yes you can take off your shoes once you are in Blutos and put them in the covered center area after you are buckled. Put them back on (if you can when you get off). Signs are for shoes while boarding/exiting. Def spray people on the barges from the Me Ship Olive. It’s really fun.

-I felt like I won the Wimpy’s lottery since they were only open on sundays.

-I do appreciate there is a lot to do in the Studios when it’s raining

-I walked around Dreamworks area for the first time. It’s cute but clearly very young. It was also pouring the rain!

-HHN sets are up visible in the park. They are creepy but not bloody.

[koi1217]

The below is written by DD13. Welcome to their mind:

Day 5 (plus flight) - Monday the 31st

We woke up and went to IOA after checking out and leaving our suitcases at the hotel. We rode Dr Doom once, then Spider-Man. We then walked around camp Jurassic and went in some really pretty caves. Then we rode Velocicoaster (row 8. Posted wait time was 45, express was 10!) and then we rode forbidden journey once. Then we took the train to Studios and ate lunch at The Leaky Cauldron (I had Otters orange juice and fish and chip and both were phenomenal). We then explored Diagon Alley and rode Escape from Gringotts. After that it started pouring so we ran to MIB and rode it twice. The rain loosened up a bit and we got on Simpsons, then we rode Transformers, got Starbucks, rode Jimmy Fallon, Mummy twice, Villain Con, and finally Minion Mayhem. After that we took the boat back to the hotel, picked up our suitcases and I got a sandwich from the Tuk Tuk place. Then we went to the airport (our uber driver was great), went thru security and I ate my sandwich (it was delicious) and mom got a burger. Then we boarded our flight back home.

So: (not including the hogwarts express)

Dr Doom x1

Spider-Man x1

Velocicoaster x1

Forbidden Journey x1

Escape From Gringotts x1

MIB x2

Simpsons x1

Transformers x1

Jimmy Fallon x1

Revenge of the Mummy x2

Villain Con x1

Minion Mayhem x1

We rode 12 different rides (14 rides in total, 4 roller coaster rides)

Dining (for food and drink ONLY):

The Leaky Cauldron:

Tuk Tuk Market:

MOM NOTES:

- plan was to hit IOA in am before the rain then end with Studios so we could boat back to Royal Pacific and get our luggage. Interestingly, it was just regular rain and no lightning so all the outdoor rides stayed open.

[koi1217]

Final Thoughts

Hotels:

Terra Luna - I really liked this place. The lobby and cafe area are pretty small and uninteresting. The pool, hot tub and pool deck were all super nice. The rooms were great and straightforward. Bring lotion and any speciality items as they were fairly basic provisions (shampoo, conditioner, bar soap). Toilet paper was a bit rough and I remember that at Cabana Bay too. The buses back and force to Epic and CityWalk were frequent. The bus to Epic was great and I’m happy to have saved my feet. The walk to Stella looked very exposed. For $100 per night it was amazing. At $200 per night I might feel different about it.

Royal Pacific - very pretty lobby and pool area. The rooms had the same layout as Terra Luna. I did not like the barn door on bathroom as you could hear everything that was going on in there. We walked and took the boat and that was super nice. I appreciated skipping the citywalk security and walk a lot. The amenities were good. We only got food from the Tuk market which was not great and disappointing that they did not accept any AP discounts. For $260 and two days x 2 people express pass unlimited it was great. On low crowd days I doubt we needed the EP unlimited but it did help not to have to plan to RD. I doubt I would pay >$350 for two people.

Transport - no issues with the buses.

Parks. One item of note is during HHN nights you can’t bring in water after 2pm. I didn’t think this would apply to us since we weren’t going to HHN but I guess it’s for anyone going into the area. I believe sealed bottles were ok.

IOA - Kong was down the whole time. Staff played it off as maintenance but the ride was not scheduled to be closed. We found VC to rattle a lot this time which was weird. Hagrids is much more tolerable without Express Pass. I just appreciate the line MOVES. Both rides were about 35 minutes. I found Hulk to be better than feared in terms of head rattle one day and then another morning much more rough. If you really want to try it, perhaps wait until the ride warms up and go later in the day.

Studios - sad the Horror show was closed as it’s our favorite. I like HP here better. Rides were fine overall but I always find them all a bit redundant.

AP - what do I do with this now???

[darkmite2]

@koi1217

Ask the ride attendants nicely to stay on. Doing this ride multiple times in a row is amazing.

-we did the above in about 35-40 minutes!

Wow! That ride is so popular I’m shocked the trains weren’t fully loaded.

@koi1217

This is another coaster where Express pass isn’t super helpful because it only skips part of the line before the lockers.

Good to know! I bought 3 park express pass for 5 days of my trip. I am really trying on planning to use it at multple parks each day.

I bought it to ensure that I could actually ride DK and BatM without multiple hour waits!!

@koi1217

went back to Fyre Drill

This is a ride I was initailly excited for when Epic opened. UOR absoultely LOVES to SOAK guests on water rides. However, I hear that too many ppl complained about getting to wet and riders on boats intentionally shooting/soaking guests in other boats.

That was an intentional design! You are suppposed to shoot the target and spray other guests. It’s just like at Toon Lagoon where people can spray you as you go by.

Now, I hear you barely get wet and the water pressure is so low that it doesn’t really even activate many target.

True?? Thoughts??

@koi1217

I think if single rider is at the stairs it’s probably worth waiting for. If it’s in one of the hallways that is probably too long. Single rider misses all the preshows etc so it’s best as a second ride.

Love these tips!!!

[koi1217]

-During EPA, Gliders stays very low wait times. People just don’t RD that area. And with the way loading works, you can absolutely get a few rides in the last row.

-EP will be super helpful! Our first trip was with EP and I have no idea how we would have managed DK without it. BatM has been super variable with low crowd waits. But it does tend to have predictable dips throughout the day. Or save it for a time when you need AC. But do watch that single rider line and do it again if it’s low. Just remember you will skip the queue. Save SD EP for the evening. That was the only time we saw the queue before the lockers somewhat long.

-I’ve read that Fyre Drill water pressure depends on the season. During winter they did reduce the pressure. During summer (or at least when I was there) you def get wet. I was able to shoot other boats (there were kids so they were fair game) and the far targets. Hitting the targets and getting them to spin takes technique. Make sure you aim for all the mystery targets if you want to get wet. There is one particular turn that lines the boats up perfectly for shooting at each other. It was for sure intentional. Also when you first get in the boat, you can shoot over the barrier into the queue. That was fun.

[hartcruise]

@koi1217

For $100 per night it was amazing. At $200 per night I might feel different about it.

I’m trying to hold out for a rate like this! For my dates the rate is currently $325 without tax. Ugh

[koi1217]

Yeah. I started at a much higher rate then checked daily for drops and modifying. Honestly end of August was pretty cheap compared to all other dates I’ve seen.