We did not pay the extra money for the Express Pass (it's like a Fast Pass at Disney in that you get to go in the shorter line for the ride but it's unlimited). However, we really didn't need it that day. We generally waited 5-10 minutes (or less) for all the rides. I think we waited 20 minutes maybe twice. We did take advantage of Child Swap since Gray was too short for most of the rides. At Universal, everyone stands in line the first time and then there is a waiting room near the loading area for the ride you wait in to swap the little ones. This allowed the big boys to ride most of the rides twice without waiting at all the second time.
I think we rode every single ride at the park that day (several of them more than once). There were a couple Rylan was too short for but that was it. A lot of the rides were 3D/4D and completely different than anything we'd ridden before. Even though there weren't many regular roller coasters, the rides were just much more intense than those at Disney and I really liked that.
Here are the few pictures I took at Universal!
After the Minion Mayhem ride, we got to meet a minion. Gray was scared to death. In this picture the minion is pouting because Gray punched him (softly) in the eye when he wouldn't leave him alone.
The Transformers ride was one of my favorites (as well as Rylan's).
Brian and Gray waiting in the Child Swap room for the Men in Black ride ...
I liked their matching bored faces :)
Before going to Universal, I rented the first two Harry Potter movies from the library to show the boys. Carter really liked the movies and Rylan was interested in parts of them. But they both thought it was awesome when they saw things they recognized at Universal. Even while walking through the line for the rides, there were scenes from the movies that the boys thought were cool.
The Harry Potter section of the park was by far the most crowded area but still wasn't horrible.
Both boys even decided that getting a wand would be their souvenir for the trip. It was pretty cool to get to go in a shop that looked just like the one in the movie and pick out a wand.
Carter is now working on reading the first Harry Potter book. So far he seems to like it (and the paperback version doesn't look nearly as intimidating as the hardcover which Carter refused to even give a chance to before because it looked so long).
Gray's favorite ride (which he did several times) was Kang & Kodos' Twirl 'n' Swirl (which is like a Dumbo ride). It was one of the few rides he could do at Universal too.
We sat down to watch the parade in the middle of the afternoon. Since we were right by the Revenge of the Mummy ride and it only had a 5 minute wait, Brian and I each took a turn to sneak off and do that ride again.
Despicable Me floats (the boys can't wait for #3 to come out this summer!) ...
Gray slept through the parade :) He was able to take a nap each day at some point in his stroller.
We went on E.T. Adventure near the end of the day (Gray was barely tall enough for it).
I think he was a little scared at times!
We had an awesome day at Universal. Even though the boys had only seen a few of the movies that rides were based on (Despicable Me, Shrek, Harry Potter, and E.T.), they were familiar with the basis of some of the others (like Transformers). I think that made the rides more fun for them.
That night we realized we could see some of the Disney fireworks from our hotel room. They weren't close but it was still fun to watch them before bed.
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