We accidentally set a precedent in our family wherein a child gets to travel somewhere with a parent when they turn 11. This tradition was born on our eldest’s 11th birthday when I spontaneously booked a mom and daughter trip to New York City.
The thing about kids is that they don’t like it when a sibling gets something that they don’t. From the minute my oldest returned from the Big Apple, my second daughter has been telling us she will be going to Harry Potter World in Florida when she’s 11.
Which seemed only fair. And I was excited to go with her and get some quality one-on-one with my mild child. I was less excited to traveling to Florida. But that was a problem for my future self.
Turns out time flies when you’re dreading something, and before I knew it, her 11th birthday loomed. So I nervously booked our flights, made our hotel reservations, and bought the Universal Studios tickets.
It’s not that I have anything against Florida other than the humidity, the sinkholes, the Burmese pythons on the loose, the alligators at golf courses that eat someone every year and the general “Florida Man” of it all.
It’s just that I’m not a Florida pro like I am a California pro. And I’m not a Universal pro like I am a Disney pro. I’ve been to Disneyland so many times I can draw a map of the park with my eyes closed.
I am, emphatically, NOT a Disney adult. I just like to take advantage of the proximity of a family-friendly vacation within a quick flight or manageable drive from Utah. I know which hotel to book, what kind of ticket to buy and what food to order. I know how to game the Lightning Lane system and I know how to best divide a day between Magic Kingdom and California Adventure. I take pride in my efficiency and fun maximization.
I knew nothing about how to be efficient or maximize fun in Universal. So I boarded the flight to Orlando with the lowest of expectations. And that might actually be the secret to a successful vacation. Because I was delightfully surprised at every turn once we were there.
And I’m here to tell you the things that I wish I had known going in, so you can be better prepared than I was, should you someday choose to make a similar trip with “Harry Potter”-obsessed kids. Or just yourself. No judgment.
The first thing to know is that you will absolutely need to bring a portable phone charger to keep your phone’s juice at sustainable levels throughout the day. The tickets are mobile, the food in the restaurants is ordered by phone, and the Universal app lists all the ride wait times and entertainment schedules. You could try to navigate the parks like the luddites of yore, but I think it would be pretty difficult.
That’s parks, plural. Universal Orlando is actually four different parks: Universal Studios Florida, Universal Islands of Adventure, Universal Epic Universe and Universal Volcano Bay. Much like Disney World is an expanded version of Disneyland, Universal Orlando Resort is an expanded version of Universal Studios in California.
Volcano Bay is a water park, and has nothing to do with “Harry Potter,” so we chose to skip it. Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida are connected by the Hogwarts Express, and both have areas that are part of the “Harry Potter” experience. Hogwarts and Hogsmeade are in Islands of Adventure and feature the rides Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, and Flight of the Hippogriff. Diagon Alley, Gringotts and King’s Cross Station are in Universal Studios and feature the rides Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts and Hogwarts Express.
A park-to-park ticket is required to ride the Hogwarts Express between Universal and Islands of Adventure. Epic Universe is the newest park. It opened in 2025 and features the 1920s Paris of “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” and features the ride Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry.
The “Harry Potter” experiences may be what gets the majority of people to the parks, but there are plenty of thrills to be had with other IP-adjacent rides and lands. Especially in Islands of Adventure and Epic Universe. We spent the least amount of time in Universal Studios proper because there was so much to do elsewhere. The Velosicoaster in the Jurassic World area of Islands of Adventure is the closest I’ve ever come to throwing up, and the most scared I’ve ever been on a roller coaster. At the ride’s conclusion, my daughter said, “I don’t feel good. Let’s do it again.”
But our favorite park by far was Epic Universe, and it is where I would recommend visitors spend the bulk of their time. The $7 billion it cost to build was, in my opinion, put to good use. It wasn’t just the Ministry of Magic portion of the park that took our breath away. The “How to Train Your Dragon” Isle of Berk corner of was charming and magical, not just because of the very fun roller coaster Hiccup’s Wing Gliders but also because of the attention to detail. Everywhere we looked, there were life-size dragons hatching from eggs, sleeping in a stable or breathing fire.
Dark Universe and its feature ride Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment were just spooky enough to feel exciting for an 11-year-old. In fact, it was the ride she requested we repeat the most. Nintendo World was loud, overstimulating and very crowded, but also very cool. Stepping into it actually felt like stepping into the world of Mario. We did wait in line for two hours for the Donkey Kong ride only to be told it was shutting down due to rain right before we got on, but I believe vacations are about highs and lows, and it’s nice to know when you’ve hit your low.
Of course that low could have been avoided had I remembered to purchase an express pass that allows skipping to the front of the line before they were sold out. But I did not remember to buy express passes until it was too late and the price was outrageously high, so we waited in very long lines and I had the rare pleasure of being able to say to my daughter, “This is how we did it back in my day,” before fast passes were even a twinkle in theme park owners’ eyes. We were not very efficient and I was not maximizing our fun, but we actually had a delightful time waiting for rides. We quizzed each other using trivia apps while we waited, and if we knew a line was going to be really long, we’d buy a snack before hopping in.
And there were many snacks to be had, as well as meals, the quality of which I was genuinely impressed by. Our favorite meal was at Café L’air De La Sirène, where I had a ratatouille baguette and shared a lemon crepe. But I also enjoyed a salmon salad, if you can believe it, in Isle of Berk, a Rueben in a hidden Harry Potter alley, and popcorn, obviously. I also packed some protein bars for breakfast, not to save money so much as time so we could get to the park right as it opened.
The protein bars were the only real thinking ahead I did. I should have packed ponchos, because it rained every day. They do sell them in the parks at what I assume is a 3,000% markup. I paid $25 for two, and by Day 3, they were torn to shreds.
But even with my lack of preparedness and leaky ponchos, we had the best time. I’m happy to report, I didn’t see a single Burmese python or roaming alligator and we were not swallowed by a sinkhole. I can’t wait to go back with the whole fam.