Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida

What a day we had on Wednesday, November 12, 2025! Exhausting, but so much fun! In Orlando, Florida, Art, Cindy, Jay, and I went to Universal Studios. We left our RV park at 7:30 a.m. and didn’t get home until after 8:15 p.m. That’s a long day for a bunch of oldies, but we had so much fun, Dear Readers. We walked almost eight miles on this day alone. And I went on some rollercoasters – something I usually say “no way” to. Here’s the entrance:

They are getting all decked out for Christmas. We also took photos at the Universal World. Art & Cindy:

It was so great to reconnect with our friends. And Cindy and I laughed and laughed so much! She is so much fun! Here’s Jay & I:

I used to love the spinning rides, but as I’ve aged (we always hope we’ve done so gracefully, but maybe not so much that as kicking and screaming), I’ve found they make me sick. So what do I do instead? Well, in this case, I rode some minor rollercoasters. Except one wasn’t so minor and almost made me pass out. Yes, really. That was Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure. It was on the twist this way, then immediately twist the next way. Somehow, I survived to tell the tale! LOL.

Our first ride, though, was The Revenge of the Mummy. On this ride, you step onto a moving floor and have to walk to the seats. I struggled a bit, so Jay had to hold my arm until I gained my balance. It was based on the movies starring Brandon Fraser. I love him! I was so excited, I didn’t take any photos.

My favorite part of the whole visit on this day? Everything Harry Potter! I love the Harry Potter series. When the books were released, my child was around eight (for the first one). We read them every night at bedtime. I remember Shiloh begging me to read “one more chapter. Please, Mama?” How could I say no? And taking them out of school to see the premieres of each of the movies. J.K. Rowling did more for getting kids to read again than any other author ever has. I worked in a school district at the time, and kids who never read were carrying around her books. I hated to see it come to an end.

Do you remember reading about the Knight Bus? Or seeing it in the movies? The shrunken head, Dre Head, cracks a lot of jokes. Stanley Shunpike is the name of the ticket taker on the bus. A live actor was there playing him, and I took a photo with him, too. The Knight Bus:

Stanley and I:

As we made our way to Diagon Alley, we stopped to see the place where the Order of the Phoenix secret society met to plan and to keep Harry and his friends safe. When you knock on the door, Kreacher looks out one of the windows at you. See him just above the door, standing on a dresser?:

And then on to Diagon Alley. Yep, that’s Jay on the right of the photo:

The famous dragon everyone wants a photo of while he’s breathing fire on top of the Gringotts Bank:

The Three Broomsticks for a meal, where we had dinner, has this sign hanging outside:

My first Butterbeer. Yummy:

We spent time in Diagon Alley, where we checked out some fun shops. I had hoped to purchase a wand, but they are ridiculously expensive, so I did not. We did, however, go through the Ollivander’s Wand Shop Experience. The actor chose two kids who were around nine or ten. He took them through the process of choosing a wand. It was so exciting for them. Really cute! We were not allowed to take photos during the show, though. Here are stacks of wands to shop for:

They ran from $65.00 to $85.00, depending on whether you bought first or second generation. Ah, no, thank you. Not when you can buy one for $25.00 that lights up on Amazon.

We rode the Escape from Gringotts ride, which is a roller coaster with 3D motion simulator elements. That kind of roller coaster I can handle! Gringotts is wonderful inside, just like in the movie, with the big chandeliers and pillars:

And animatronic Goblins who will look up at you as you walk by them:

They look real, don’t they?

The front desk goblin:

As you make your way to the ride, you have several displays to look at:

Secrets were being discussed behind these doors, where you could see shadows and hear conversations:

This door had a different one. It looks like Harry, Ron, and Hermione:

There were photos of “prominent” goblins of the bank. I only took one photo because the light made it difficult to get a good, clean shot:

They had a little movie along the wait line in which Bill Weasley shows up to talk to this goblin:

This next section of the movie:

Art, Cindy, and Jay rode all the wild roller coasters, too, while I did some interesting people watching. It’s amazing how many different accents and languages you can hear. I heard Australian, British, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and some type of Russian area language. Perhaps Czech, Ukrainian, or something like that. I can’t distinguish those languages/accents as well as I can some others. Watching the kids, young and older, was awesome, too. They clearly were having so much fun, many dressed in Hogwarts robes with wands. Some had the entire school outfit on.

I loved this phone booth. I wish you could step in and go into the Ministry of Magic. Alas, you could not:

Of course, Art made a joke about using the toilets to get into it. LOL.

After this, it was off to the Hogwarts train to visit Hogsmeade (the second park). We went to three, the third one on Saturday. This is on the way to the train:

The luggage waiting to be loaded onto the train:

Looks like Hedwig to me:

I made it to Platform 9 3/4!:

No wall to walk through, though:

The train connects you to the second park, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade – Islands of Adventure. The first is called The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley – at Universal Studios Florida.

The train with Jay and me in front of it:

And the front of the train:

Next Up: The second of three parks – Harry Potter again!