Taryn's Mad Hatter Adventures

Tag: Universal

• Diagon Alley

  Posted at 10:21 am by taryngirl, on April 30, 2021

  11/16/20

  One of my main goals was to spend some time in Diagon Alley. This whole area is like a page out of the book! There are so many details, that with each trip I notice something new.

  To enter this area, it’s not really marked. You have to just walk in doorways and find it! It’s located next to King’s Cross Station.

  This is King’s Cross Station, where you can board Hogwart’s Express to travel to Islands of Adventure and the village of Hogsmeade.

  

  Once you walk through the doorway, you are immediately transported to a magical place!

  

  Keep walking straight ahead and there are a variety of shops, and one of the coolest parts…

  

  The dragon that sits atop Gringotts Bank is a true fire breathing dragon. It goes off every so many minutes. You will know it’s gearing up to breathe fire when you hear the rumbling starting.

  I love walking through the different shops. There is one called Eyelop’s Owl Emporium/Magical Menagerie. Here you can purchase owls, and all of the other magical pets, as well as items to take care of them.

  

  If you walk outside of this store, in the window you can see a snake who will speak Parseltounge to you.

  

  Also located in this area is Knockturn Alley. This is a very dark, walk through area. The theming is amazing! You can see these singing heads:

  

  Borgin and Burkes shop is located here.

  

  

  Everything was decorated for Christmas!

  

  If you are a super Harry Potter fan, there is no shortage of merchandise depicting your “house.”

  

  

  Be sure to visit Gringotts Money Exchange! Behind the counter you will see a goblin. You can ask him a question and see what he has to say. You can trade US currency for Gringotts bank notes. These bank notes may be used for purchases within Diagon Alley at select locations.

  

  There is no shortage of Butterbeer! There are a few locations that serve it.

  

  

  This is also a fun shop! Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes has apparel, toys and other souvenirs.

  

  You can find all kinds of goodies at Sugarplum’s Sweet Shop!

  

  

  

  Possibly my favorite snack in all of Universal is ice cream from Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor! They have soft serve, hard pack, and a special feature of Butterbeer ice cream!

  

  I’m sorry this is partially eaten, but it was hot and melting and I had to start eating it immediately! I can never decide on just one flavor, so I get two…Chocolate Chili and Strawberry and Peanut Butter. SO GOOD! (So good that I went back and got it the next day too…)

  

  Just outside of Diagon Alley you can find the Knight Bus! There is usually a bus conductor there that you can have conversation with, as well as a shrunken head.

  

  Overall, we had a great time in Diagon Alley! It was not crowded at all, and the weather was perfect. This is for sure a don’t miss for me!

  Posted in Diagon Alley, Uncategorized, Universal Orlando, Vacation | 0 Comments | Tagged Diagon Alley, Universal, Universal Orlando, Wizarding World of Harry Potter

• Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort–Standard Room

  Posted at 11:30 am by taryngirl, on February 15, 2021

  11/15/2020

  The time had finally come! We were making the move to Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort. This resort is so much fun! It’s inspired by 1950s and 1960s Florida beach resorts, with retro decor and theming all throughout. It features two pools, a lazy river, a bowling alley, and more!

  We woke up leisurely at Boulder Ridge Villas, packed up, and headed to the lobby. The plan was to Mobile Order our breakfast, eat in the lobby, and then Lyft to Cabana Bay. One side note about Mobile Order at Wilderness Lodge…it took FOREVER! We waited and waited and there weren’t even that many people there. Anyway, I took at quick screenshot so I could remember how long it took to get from the Disney area to the Universal area because I hear the question asked a lot! The answer on this particular day…about 23 minutes. I also want to note, Lyft and Uber both service this area. You can compare pricing by pulling up each app. Lyft always seems to be cheaper!

  

  We felt super safe, and the app makes it super easy. You can see everything right on the app, you pay, and can add your tip. Our total with tip was $25.32. I had a $6 credit Lyft gave me though, so we paid $19.32. Way cheaper than paying for shuttle transportation, which is generally $20-35 per person one way. Our driver was super Covid conscious. He wore a mask, and had this plastic divider up between the front and back seats. He also had hand sanitizer available.

  

  We arrived around 10:30 a.m. and went into the lobby to check in and get our park tickets. We knew we were early, but they will hold your luggage so you can go to the park. We were lucky and our room was ready! We were given our keys and directed to another counter to get our park tickets. Universal is a little bit different than Disney as far as tickets go. With Disney, your tickets are either mailed to you if you get ticket only, picked up at will-call (but you can still connect to your account with the confirmation number), or you use a MagicBand that you already have, and the tickets can still be connected to your account. If you have a package, the tickets are already included when you link your resort reservation to your My Disney Experience.

  

  At the ticket desk, we presented our email confirmations. They then printed out hard copy tickets for us to use to get into the parks. I highly suggest lanyards when traveling to Universal! You will need your room key and your park tickets, and they are easily accessible if you have a lanyard.

  

  

  Our room was in Building 6–The Americana. If I’m being honest, it was a hike with our luggage to get to our room! The resort is pretty big. We were booked in a standard level room.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  The room was SUPER CUTE! And very clean. I loved all of the little retro touches…the colors, the toiletries!!, the clock! I thought the theming was great.

  

  Up next, we head to Universal!

  Posted in Cabana Bay Beach Resort, Room Review, Universal Orlando | 0 Comments | Tagged Cabana Bay Beach Resort, Resort, Resort Review, Universal, Universal Orlando

• Universal’s Aventura Hotel

  Posted at 9:38 am by taryngirl, on May 3, 2019

  1/8/19

  As part of our training with Universal Orlando, we had a few on-site hotel tours planned.  The first stop was Universal’s Aventura Hotel.  Incidentally, we were checking out from the Hard Rock Hotel and checking in here!  So we were able to have someone drive us with our luggage in a van.  You also have the option of them transferring your luggage for you if you wish instead.

  Aventura is one of the newest hotels on-site, opening in 2018.  It’s in the Prime Value category, meaning it is economically friendly, and it’s a short walk to Volcano Bay (the waterpark).  The theming is very modern.

  This small bar is located just inside the front doors.

   

  

  There’s a Starbucks in the lobby as well.

  The food court area called the Urban Pantry offers a good variety for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

  We then headed out towards the pool area.  These rooms overlook the pool area (and it’s actually where our room was located!)

  

  The pool bar.

  

  Next up, we checked out some of the different room types.

  

  KIDS SUITE

  This 575 square foot room sleeps 5 and features a special interior area for the kids that includes two twin beds. You can put the little ones to sleep securely while you enjoy a few hours of downtime in a separate area that offers a king bed and a couch that converts into a deluxe, foam bed. Upgrade to a Skyline View for sweeping views from the highest floors of this sleek tower.  (Taken from Universal website.)

  

  Just beyond that curtain to the right is where you can find the area with two twin beds.

  And then beyond that is a little sitting area separate from both sleeping areas.

  These next photos are kind of standard in all of the rooms.

  Each room comes with an iPad for in-room controls.  There are so many things you can do with this!  Control the television, air conditioning, request items from front desk or housekeeping, check park hours, restaurant menus from the parks, etc. etc. etc.  

   

   

  The next room was a Standard Double Queen Room.

  The view from the room!  That’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort…another Universal hotel, and just beyond that where the volcano can be seen, is Volcano Bay, the waterpark.

  

  From there, we went up to Bar 17 Bistro.  This is a rooftop bar with spectacular views!

  

  Overall I loved this resort.  It’s new, fresh, clean, and inexpensive!  I would definitely return in the future.  One thing of note, they do not bring luggage up to your room.  You are responsible for your own.  However, they do store luggage for you at Bell Services if you need to.  To get to the theme parks or City Walk, you can take a bus located just outside of the hotel, or walk over to take the boat from another hotel.

  Posted in Aventura Hotel, Uncategorized, Universal Orlando | 0 Comments | Tagged Aventura Hotel, Hotel Room, Universal, Universal Orlando

• Another Stroll Through Diagon Alley (Universal Orlando)

  Posted at 1:42 pm by taryngirl, on April 17, 2019

  1/7/19

  It was time to head back to the Universal side, and to do this, we took Hogwarts Express.  If you want to do this ride, you must have a Park-to-Park ticket!  Otherwise, you will not be permitted to ride the train.  IT IS SO COOL!  

  

  I seriously could not get enough of Diagon Alley!  It was so realistic.  I loved looking at every detail of the buildings.  Here you can see The Hopping Pot, where you can buy some Butterbeer, or regular beer.

  In this same area (Carkitt Market) is where you can see The Tales of Beedle the Bard or Celestina Warbeck and the Banshees do live performances throughout the day.

  Eternelle’s Elixir of Refreshments is a small beverage kiosk also located in Carkitt Market.  here you can find elixirs that you combine with water, and it transforms into a colorful beverage.  

  This cute little shop is the Magical Menagerie.  All kinds of stuffed animals and creatures can be found here.  In the side window on the outside of the shop you can try out your Parseltongue and peek at the snake.

  

  Possibly the most exciting part is the fire breathing dragon on top of Gringott’s Wizarding Bank.  Hang around for a little bit because he usually breathes fire every 10-15 minutes or so.

  

  Many thanks to my friend Jason for these close up amazing photos!

  Some others in my group were talking about how good the ice cream was at Florean Forescue’s Ice Cream Parlour.  Well….ice cream is one of my favorite things ever, so I knew I wanted to try it!  And I had a snack credit left that I could use.  Everyone was rattling off their favorite flavors and I honestly couldn’t decide.

  

  I ended up with Strawberry Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chili.  Both were SO GOOD!  The Chocolate Chili had a little bit of a kick to it, but it was yummy!  As soon as I was done eating it, I remembered that I forgot to take a picture of it.  Boo!

  I did actually ride Escape from Gringotts!  I have really bad motion sickness.  Especially with rides that are simulators.  I knew this had some screen action, but I HAD to try it and just close my eyes at certain parts.  It was really cool and I’m glad I did it!

  Gringott’s Money Exchange is a neat little place where you can interact with a goblin and exchange Muggle money for Gringott’s Bank Notes to use at participating locations throughout Universal.

  

  Knockturn Alley!  Don’t miss this.  It’s kind of hidden but definitely neat to walk through.

   

  

  One last picture on my way out of Diagon Alley.  This statue and fountain are located just outside of the secret entrance.

  

  Posted in Diagon Alley, Uncategorized, Universal Orlando | 0 Comments | Tagged Diagon Alley, Universal, Universal Orlando

• Islands of Adventure–The Lost Continent and Seuss Landing

  Posted at 8:52 am by taryngirl, on April 16, 2019

  So sorry I had to put this Universal trip report on hold!  I had two very close trips and wanted to do the most recent first.

  1/7/19

  In my last Universal report, we were just leaving Hogsmeade and heading toward The Lost Continent and Seuss Landing.

  SO many great photo opportunities and perfect weather!

  

  This is Poseidon’s Fury.  Here you can explore the ruins of his ancient temple in a special effects guided tour.  

  I did ask if I could walk in to Mythos Restaurant to take some pictures, as I heard it was amazing!

  Another perspective of Poseidon’s Fury.

  Our main goal was to get to Seuss Landing because someone wanted the ginormous cotton candy.

  Here’s the entrance to this “land”:

  

  I had to go inside here and check out the sweet goodies!

  This donut though…think Simpsons!  It was HUGE!

  Inside Honk Honkers:

  

  You can get this HUGE cotton candy for a reasonable price!

  I had been to Islands of Adventure before and never had the chance to ride The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride.  Now was my chance!  We did stand in line for about 20-25 minutes.  These pictures were taken while I was on the ride.

  It was a really cute ride and it went a little bit faster than I was expecting!

  After this, we headed back to the Hogwarts Express Station to go over to Diagon Alley.

   

  Posted in Islands of Adventure, Seuss Landing, The Lost Continent, Uncategorized, Universal Orlando | 0 Comments | Tagged Islands of Adventure, Seuss Landing, The Lost Continent, Universal, Universal Orlando

• Islands of Adventure -Marvel Super Hero Island, Toon Lagoon, Jurassic Park

  Posted at 9:14 am by taryngirl, on January 28, 2019

  January 7, 2019

  We met up with all of the other agents just inside the gates at Islands of Adventure.

  

   

  From here we made our way over towards The Incredible Hulk Coaster.  The Port of Entry area has some nice shops and great photo opportunities.  Puss in Boots was meeting along this stretch with no one in line!

  While some of the group went on Hulk, others went on The Amazing Adventures of Spider-man.  Just a note.  I get motion sick.  Especially with the simulator rides.  I can’t do the rides where the screen is moving and we are falling, etc.  But I was ok on most of this ride!  The only time I had to close my eyes was the scene where we were falling.  

  

  This was such a cool ride!  We used our express pass and were on in no time at all.  I took some time to go into the shops along this street.  This one had some really cool merchandise!  

  My daughter loves Groot!  I was happy to see these here!

  The quick service location in this land.  They weren’t open yet, as it was before lunch time, so I ran in to take a quick photo!

  The actual comic book shop:

  

  I made my way back towards Doctor Doom’s Fearfall to meet up with everyone.

  

  They did have a test seat outside of the ride that you could try before entering.

  

  From here we headed over to Toon Lagoon.  This area was practically empty!  We took some time to go into the shops.

  

  Unfortunately I didn’t go on this ride.  I really didn’t want to walk around wet all day!  You do get SOAKED on this!

  

  This whole area was so much fun!

  Our next stop was Skull Island:  Reign of Kong.  We used our express pass to ride the actual Kong ride.  This was a pretty cool ride!  King Kong at the end was pretty amazing.

  We were starting to get hungry now, and we really wanted to eat at Three Broomsticks in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  We walked through Jurassic Park (the main ride was closed for refurbishment) on our way.

  

  Up next…Hogsmeade!

   

  Posted in Islands of Adventure, Uncategorized, Universal Orlando, Vacation | 0 Comments | Tagged Islands of Adventure, Jurassic Park, Marvel, Marvel Super Hero Island, Toon Lagoon, Universal, Universal Orlando

• Universal Orlando Morning Touring Diagon Alley

  Posted at 11:08 am by taryngirl, on January 26, 2019

  1/7/19–Park Day!

  Our plan was to hit up the Wizarding World of Harry Potter on the Universal side since we could enter 1 hour early.  We were up and had breakfast in the lounge and were on our way around 8:15 a.m…a little later than I wanted!

  (Check out my new Convertible Belt Bag by Thirty-One Gifts!  I am a Senior Director with Thirty-One Gifts, and it came in just before my trip.  I was super excited to try it!  It is the PERFECT SIZE for me for park touring!)

  

  It was a quick walk to the front gate.  But first, we had to stop and get this pic!

  

  

  There were no real lines at all to get in.  I made it through and then looked for Chrissy.  Her ticket didn’t work!  She had to go to Guest Services to get it fixed.  After a little bit we were on our way to Diagon Alley!  They were checking room keys to make sure we were staying onsite to qualify for the hour early entrance.

  I took some pictures along the way of the empty streets!

  

  

  Christmas decorations were still up!

  

  

  I absolutely loved all of these NYC themed streets!

  

  If you have never been to Diagon Alley, you might not know how to “enter.”  It’s right here in this unmarked area!  It almost looks like you are walking into a big bathroom.

  

  Inside Diagon Alley:

  This is looking back towards the entrance we just walked through.

  

  

  

  At this point we got a call to meet the rest of the crew for a group picture…in Islands of Adventure by the entrance.  Also at this time, it was 9:00 a.m. and the regular crowd of people were pouring into the train station to ride Hogwarts Express over to Islands of Adventure.  So we opted to walk out of Universal and across the front of Hard Rock Cafe and Toothsome Chocolate Emporium.

  It was a gorgeous morning!

  Preliminary thoughts…If you love Harry Potter and part of the reason you are here is to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, it is an absolute must that you arrive at 8 a.m. and beat the crowds!  Almost everyone makes a bee line to this area.  You get the early admission if you are staying at a participating resort or even if you buy tickets only through me…your friendly travel agent!  Contact me for more information and too see which resorts participate.  8-9 a.m. is also a great time to get pictures along the way of the empty streets.  I think the best plan is to get into Diagon Alley first then come out around 8:45-8:50 a.m. and get in line for the Hogwarts Express.  That will get you over to Hogsmeade first thing to either ride Forbidden Journey or explore a mostly empty street.

  To Be Continued…

  Posted in Diagon Alley, Uncategorized, Universal Orlando | 0 Comments | Tagged Diagon Alley, Harry Potter, Universal, Universal Orlando, Wizarding World of Harry Potter

• Hard Rock Hotel at Universal Orlando

  Posted at 10:54 am by taryngirl, on January 21, 2019

  

  January 6-8, 2019

  I had the opportunity to attend a training at Universal Orlando with several other agents from my agency and jumped on it!  I consider myself somewhat of a Disney expert, but definitely needed to learn more about Universal Orlando and all they can offer to my clients.

  I met up with some other agents at the Philadelphia Airport.

  

  We had a quick uneventful flight on Southwest and actually arrived about a half hour early.  Once we claimed our baggage, we headed outside and ordered Lyft XL since there were three of us with luggage.  After two failed attempts (I think the person who accepted first twice was actually sleeping or something??  His car never moved…) we got a new driver.  He safely got us to our destination!  As a side note…I would say 95% of people who walked out of the Baggage Claim doors were calling Uber or Lyft.  All ages!  Couples, families, business people, etc.  If you would like a link for $20 in Lyft credit, here is a code for you:  https://www.lyft.com/invite/TARYNSTOTS

  We finally made it to…

  We were lucky enough to score a Club King Suite with a connecting Club 2 Queen and Club King Room!  The maximum occupancy for this is 13 with a rollaway.  It was essentially a 3 Room Suite!  Here are the floor plans of two of the rooms:

  

  This is the Club King Suite with Connecting Club 2 Queen Room.  The Club King Room connected on the other side of the Club King Suite.  We had SO MUCH SPACE!

  All Club Rooms are located on the 7th Floor.

  

  Club 2 Queen Room:  Two queen beds that can accommodate 4 guests, full size bathroom,  view overlooking the pool

  

  

  

  King Suite:  Two flat screen TVs, a sleeper sofa that can accommodate 2 guests, an armchair and a dining table that can seat six guests, a full bathroom featuring a stand up shower.  A generous sized guest room that features a king bed that can accommodate 2 guests and has extra living space.

  

  

  

  

  

  Club King Room:  King bed that can accommodate 2 guests, a full size bathroom.

  

  

  Views from our room!

  

  The view from our room at sunset!

  

  The total square footage for this 3-bedroom suite is 1400.  We had plenty of room for 13 of us with rollaways.

  My impression of the room(s):  I LOVED THEM!  I actually loved the vibe at this entire hotel.  I loved the decor, our view, and it was super clean.  The staff from the bellman to the maid were all very friendly and professional.  I slept in the King Suite part.  There was so much room that we could separate if we needed to.  We loved having 3 full bathrooms for 13 women.  And we loved having the table to sit at and eat snacks and do some work.  I would definitely stay here again with my family.

  Rock Royalty:

  Because we were on Club Level, we had access to the Rock Royalty Lounge for complimentary continental breakfast and evening hors d’oeuvres, beer and wine, and desserts.  We arrived and got settled right around 5:00 p.m. ish.  So we headed directly to the lounge for “dinner!”  To enter, you had to swipe your key.

  

  

  

  This water/soda cooler was accessible from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. daily.

  

  As was this coffee/tea/hot chocolate station.

  

  Alcoholic beverages were available with the 5-7 p.m. evening hors d’oeuvres.  For this you had to show your room key which had a sticker on the back, and it was served by attendants…not a free for all.  You could get one drink at a time, but there was not limit to how many times you could go back up.

   

  

  All of this was actually very good!  And the chicken wings…were amazing!  This filled us up so we didn’t have to go anywhere else for dinner.

  The attendant saw me taking pictures and asked if I wanted to see the menu for the week!  Of course I did!  

  After dinner, I went down to the lobby to take some pictures.

  

  The check in desks.

  

  Fun little themed details!

  

  So here’s something cool for music lovers!  They have a Sound of Your Stay program.  You can put down $1000 security deposit and order one of these guitars with headphones to play in your room!  There is a waiver to complete.

  

  There were a bunch of artifacts around the entire lobby area.

  

  

  

  I also stepped outside and caught some amazing views at night!

  

  

  Here were the breakfast offerings in the Rock Royalty Lounge on January 7th.  It was a really good variety!

  

   

  A few other random shots from around the grounds during the day:

  

  Random Thoughts:

  • This is one of Univeral’s Premier hotels…which means guests staying here get FREE Universal Express Unlimited Pass to skip the regular lines at most attractions.  Super important, especially dependent on the time of year you plan on going.  If you are not staying at a Premier hotel, you can purchase the Unlimited Express Pass starting at $90 per day per person.  This price does fluctuate by park and date.  Consider this cost when choosing your hotel stay!
  • Hard Rock Hotel is about a 5 minute walk to the front gates of Universal Orlando.  Very convenient!  You don’t have to worry about bus or boat transportation.
  • The pool here is AMAZING!  I didn’t get to partake in it, but I did walk through and it was huge!  Tons of seating.

  Here’s a direct link to the Universal Orlando website to check out the Hard Rock Hotel!

  Posted in Club Level, Hard Rock Hotel Orlando, Room Review, Uncategorized, Universal Orlando | 0 Comments | Tagged Club Level, Hard Rock Hotel, Hard Rock Hotel Orlando, Rock Royalty, Universal, Universal Orlando

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