Our day at Common Studios Florida with youngsters, together with Diagon Alley, Escape from Gringotts, Leaky Cauldron, E.T., Jimmy Fallon, Toothsome, and our closing morning at Common Orlando.
Catch Up:
When you missed my first publish about our journey, you’ll be able to examine our keep at Loews Royal Pacific Resort, pool hopping, and arrival day right here: Common Orlando Arrival Day. And our Islands of Journey Day right here! Going to Disney too? You may also like my Disney Ideas weblog publish!
A Slower Begin
After our early rope-drop journey at Islands of Journey the day earlier than, we deliberately slowed issues down for our second park day.
One factor I cherished concerning the rhythm of this journey was that every single day felt just a little completely different. After waking up tremendous early for Hagrid’s the day earlier than, sleeping in felt luxurious.
We grabbed one other fast breakfast from Tuk Tuk Market at Royal Pacific. By this level we’d settled right into a routine of espresso, fruit, yogurt, and some treats for the boys earlier than heading out.
Water taxi experience over:
Common Studios
In contrast to Islands of Journey, Common Studios Florida doesn’t supply Early Park Admission with Royal Pacific, so we took our time preparing.
We arrived round 9:30 a.m., about half-hour earlier than the official 10:00 opening.
The crowds weren’t dangerous in any respect. We have been let into completely different sections of the park in levels, and everybody appeared to be heading towards the identical vacation spot we have been. I felt like we have been in a 5K race all strolling collectively.
Straight to Diagon Alley
Our plan was easy: go on to Diagon Alley and experience Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts earlier than the crowds arrived.
We made all of it the best way to the Specific Move line and thought we had crushed the system. Then historical past repeated itself. About ten minutes after we entered the queue, an announcement came to visit the audio system that the experience was shutting down quickly and everybody would wish to exit. After Hagrid’s delay the day earlier than, we couldn’t imagine our luck. We determined to discover Diagon Alley and hope Gringotts re-opened quickly.
Exploring Diagon Alley
Diagon Alley completely exceeded my expectations. The small print are all over the place. Store home windows transfer. Indicators speak. Hidden corners result in surprises. All the space seems like getting into the flicks. Even the doorway is considerably hidden – you’d miss it when you weren’t in search of it!
The boys used their interactive wand to forged spells, together with making it rain!
One among our favourite discoveries was Knockturn Alley, the darkish and mysterious aspect avenue tucked away from the crowds. It was shockingly darkish inside, precisely how I’d imagined it from the books.
Mazen spent fairly a little bit of time exploring Borgin and Burkes, the Darkish Arts store. He ended up selecting two shirts as his souvenirs – one with the darkish mark and the opposite with the Deathy Hallows on it.
Escape from Gringotts
Proper earlier than we have been about to take a seat right down to lunch, I received the alert that Gringotts had reopened! We instantly dropped what we have been doing and ran again. This time we solely waited about fifteen minutes.
The queue inside Gringotts Financial institution is unbelievable. The goblin animatronics and marble financial institution decor are so real looking.
The experience was my favourite attraction of the whole journey. I wasn’t positive what Birch would suppose as a result of there’s a stunning coaster-style drop close to the start. However he cherished it! It was thrilling, just a little scary, extremely immersive, and a type of rides that makes everybody step off smiling. All of us clapped when it ended!
Lunch at Leaky Cauldron
By lunchtime, the climate was nonetheless surprisingly cool. Mazen and I each ordered fish and chips at Leaky Cauldron, which actually hit the spot.
We additionally tried Scorching Butterbeer. It tasted like a Butterbeer latte and was good for the chilly morning.
Afternoon Sights
With our Harry Potter priorities checked off, we spent the remainder of the afternoon exploring the remainder of the park. Common has way more of a movie-studio really feel than Islands of Journey, which leans extra closely into rides and themed lands.
Birch isn’t crying; he’s simply squinting!
Springfield
The Simpsons space was a lot enjoyable to see in individual. That they had Moe’s, Kwik-e-mart, and extra well-known Simpsons locations. We rode the experience there, which was like a 3D planetarium dome-screen. Very enjoyable!
Mazen particularly cherished this space. He even tried a non-alcoholic Duff beer. (It tasted like orange gatorade.)
Birch and I rode Kang & Kodos’ Twirl ‘n’ Hurl, the spinning alien experience, whereas M crushed his Duff.
E.T. Journey
This was my nostalgia decide. I remembered driving E.T. once I was youthful, and I used to be thrilled to search out that it nonetheless has all of the attraction I remembered. The boys cherished it too.
Between the scent of the forest, the sensible results, and the mild tempo, it felt utterly completely different from all of the screen-based sights we’d been driving. Who wouldn’t love this one!
DreamWorks Land
We sort of breezed by the DreamWorks space. The Trolls coaster was cute and family-friendly. B cherished it. Trolls is one among my high youngsters films.
Revenge of the Mummy
We used Little one Swap for Revenge of the Mummy because it was fairly scary. The road was surprisingly quick so we have been out and in. The experience itself was enjoyable, quick, and the flames have been scary. Whereas I loved it, it additionally felt just a little dated in comparison with a few of Common’s newer rides.
Transformers
The boys favored Transformers way more than I did. For me, it was merely an excessive amount of motion occurring without delay. I don’t like motion or superhero films.
Race By New York Starring Jimmy Fallon
One of many largest surprises of the whole journey was Jimmy Fallon. We have been informed it wasn’t a terrific one, however I like Jimmy so I wished to do it. All the theater strikes collectively whilst you race by New York Metropolis, and the visuals are extremely real looking. All three of us had a good time on this one.
Minions
After loving a few of the different simulator sights, this one didn’t stand out fairly as a lot for us. It was high-quality, however by this level we’d already skilled a number of rides that felt greater and extra spectacular. I felt like we simply received bumped round.
Again to Diagon Alley
Earlier than leaving the park, we headed again to Diagon Alley one final time to experience Gringotts once more! This time the wait was about twenty minutes with the Specific Passes.
We additionally tried Butterbeer ice cream, wandered by the outlets one closing time, and soaked up the environment earlier than saying goodbye.
Reset on the Lodge
After one other full park day, we walked again to Royal Pacific, showered, and tried to look presentable once more.
Look how cute they’re!!
Dinner at Toothsome Chocolate Emporium
For our closing night time, we had dinner at Toothsome Chocolate Emporium. I had initially solely been in a position to get a 7:45pm reservation, however was in a position to transfer it as much as 7:15 the morning of.
The constructing is a huge steampunk-inspired restaurant stuffed with elaborate desserts and towering milkshakes. It’s like Willy Wonka!
I ordered a salmon salad and a glass of rosé. The salad was nice!
We performed a “guess the character” drawing recreation throughout dinner.
For dessert, we shared two of the well-known milkshakes. (Truthful warning: they have been $20 every!!) All the things was huge.
Birch ate my slice of cake whereas I attacked the milkshake. By the top of the meal, we have been utterly stuffed, so I may solely end half of it. I actually wished to have all of it!
One factor Common does exceptionally properly is novelty. Whether or not it’s Butterbeer, interactive wands, themed eating places, or big milkshakes, there’s all the time one thing enjoyable across the nook.
How we felt in any case that sugar:
One Final Morning
I used to be so glad we had a mid-afternoon flight as a result of we had time for an additional journey earlier than heading to the airport.
Birch and I took the water taxi to Voodoo Doughnuts for breakfast and headed over to Portofino Bay for one final swim.
The resort actually does really feel like just a little slice of Italy. It was quiet, lovely, and extremely enjoyable.
The one draw back was that the pool felt a lot colder than Royal Pacific’s. Apparently the warmers had been turned off. The waterslide was nonetheless enjoyable, although, and we made just a few journeys down earlier than heading again.
As soon as we returned to the room, we packed our baggage, checked out, and had one closing lunch at Bula Bar & Grille by the pool. I ordered one other salad, which felt like precisely what I wanted after a number of days of theme park meals.
Last Ideas On The Journey
This journey ended up being even higher than I anticipated! I’m so glad nothing main went fallacious with simply me as the one grownup. Though having a teen along with his personal communication gadget definitely made it simpler than if I’d been with two youthful youngsters. The Harry Potter areas utterly lived as much as the hype. Any fan of the books must make a pilgrimage there a minimum of as soon as of their life!
! Now we have yet one more park to do in just a few years: Epic Universe! We’ll save that for subsequent time 🙂