Skip to main content

Theme Park review: Entertainment in Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure

Quidditich World Cup performance Universal Orlando

There's More to Do Than Just Ride Rollercoasters in These Parks

Revised 4/2021

Dear Polite Traveler,

Turning 60 is a major life event for a woman.  Or, is that just me?  For my 60th, I wanted to play like a kid again and indulge my love of everything Harry Potter.  Consequently, I decided to spend my hard-earned vacation dollars at Universal Studios Florida.  Nevertheless, I couldn’t just spend all my time, drooling over the new Diagon Alley and Hogsmead—which includes the Hogswart Castle.  I hoped for Galleons of entertainment.  After all, Universal Studios is an active movie studio.  Was I disappointed?  Follow along to find out.

Muggle note: Galleons is Wizarding Money.

Note: Follow CDC and park guidelines when visiting.  Always wear your face mask when in public.  

Meet your favorite movie, cartoon, and comic book characters.

Rebecca Black and Marilyn Monroe Universal Orlando

Smitten with superheroes?  How about a classic movie actor of the past?  Well, I certainly am. I don’t know of any place—except the perfect dream—where one can meet Marilyn Monroe and Spiderman, except right here at Universal Studios Florida.  I met the lovely Marilyn as she leisurely walked down the road, had my picture taken in front of the Scooby-Doo mystery machine and marveled at the massive Megaton—all on the same day.  

Enjoy live entertainment.

Whether you like music, action, or live theater, you won’t be disappointed here.  As a Harry Potter fan, I found the live theater/puppet show depicting the legend of the Deathly Hallows from the book The Beedle and the Bard (held in Diagon Alley) enchanting.  

Held in Hogsmeade, the presentation of the “Triwizard Spirit Rally” reflected a portion of the movie “Goblet of Fire” quite nicely.  The Durmstrang students were spot on.   

Also in Hogsmeade, the musical group, “The Frog Choir”, sang a few A cappella tunes and wowed the crowd.  Each presentation included plenty of humor as well. 

My favorite, however, was the Blues Brothers.  They rocked the crowd!  People of all ages sang, danced and clapped through their entire musical and dance presentation.  All four entertainers nailed their parts!  

(Video by Elias Alberto Elvir Godoy) 

Buy an interactive wand and create your own entertainment!

Me performing spells with my new wand in Universal Orlando

For a mere $55 anyone can become a wizard or witch, performing spells while at Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade.  Bronze medallions mark spots where the wand will work.  At each location, you can wave your wand—each spell is engraved in the medallions—and watch as a flower awakens, a skeleton dances, an old suit of armor reassembles, and more.  Serious Harry Potter fans shouldn’t miss the fun.  I didn’t.

There is so much to see that it is absolutely free with the price of admission.  Not a ride person?  No problem.  Just watch all the free shows and enjoy the beautiful and sparkling clean parks.

Tip: Carefully read the map you receive as you enter the park.  It includes the schedules of all the live entertainment.  

Please Read

Exploring the Streets of New York Universal Orlando Theme Park

Exploring the Streets of San Francisco in Universal Orlando

Exploring Diagon Alley Universal Orlando


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Kauai Vacation: Room Review

The Room Over The Power Plant Revised 4/2021 The Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas offers guests beautiful rooms, which include kitchens or kitchenettes, outdoor grills, and a number of pools.  Most often, it includes an excellent restaurant, poolside bar, and small store.  A large grocery store is within walking distance as well.  Thus, the theory is that guests will not have to leave the property once they cross the big pond to reach it. Great theory, but that’s not necessarily true when the only on-site restaurant is closed.  Add to that the incredibly loud room...well, let’s just say I needed a break from the property at times.   Note : Follow Hawaii and CDC guidelines when visiting.  Always wear your face mask when in public. May we just see the room we should have had? After an exceptionally long journey that included a broken plane and a rushed connection—not to mention airport security—we were surprised to find that our hotel had our room ready an hour early.

Look Closer at the Hilton Garden Inn, Waikiki

  Why We Might Not Return: Hilton Garden Inn, Waikiki My dear polite travelers, Imagine waiting three years to revisit a pleasant memory.  You’d probably be thrilled to be on that journey.  Right?  Well, I am, and ...well, I’m lukewarm to some aspects of it, especially our room: #1537.  But the Ocean is Right There! In our room, #1537, we have the ocean view and the fresh breezes associated with it.  Still, due to the central, otherwise excellent location, it’s noisy—very noisy.  Thus, those breezes remain outside all night.  Darn.  The pleasant sweet-ocean-air-in-our-room-memory I dream of often eluded us on this trip.  Now, it’s just sad. The Good & the Weird Beyond the noise, it is a comfortable room—especially the shower—but there’s not enough counter space.  Instead of a long counter or desk, the hotel designer thought a long built-in seat would be a clever idea??  Hint.  It’s not.  We can only use it to store our suitcases and bulky items.   The only place to us

Sonoma, California: DoubleTree Sonoma

Updated 4/2021 Our Stay in the DoubleTree Hilton Hotel Sonoma Wine Country in California As over-worked small business owners, we decided to play hooky traveling through Sonoma County for a couple of days.  Since we recently experience excellent service on our last stay in a DoubleTree, we booked a room at their Sonoma Wine Country property in Rohnert Park. Our Journey Through Sonoma County Our drive from our home in Davis pleasant with light traffic.  We chose a slightly longer route through Sonoma so we could take in the beauty of the Glen Ellen area vineyards.  The vineyards here are quite beautiful with green rolling hills as a backdrop.  Arriving at the DoubleTree As we arrived, I mentioned to my husband that since this trip would focus on cheese tasting, it would be perfect if we were given a free upgrade to a room with a refrigerator.  The hotel appeared fully booked, so I assumed that was impossible.   Astonishingly, when we asked about an upgrade, the polite rec