So, this trip turned out to be an interesting one in that I didn't do much Disney. Still, it was really nice spending a week "living" in the Epcot resort area. I could watch the fireworks every night and took a lot of walks around Crescent Lake and up to the Studios entrance. Lots of boat rides too.
Our company's work event always culminates in a big offsite gala. Being on Disney property I fully expected the event to be some sort of private Illuminations viewing area and then EMH as Friday night they were open until 11. I guessed wrong.
Instead, they bussed us to a private party at Universal's Diagon Alley and NY Backlot areas. We had that section of the park to ourselves from 8-11, complete with food, drinks, several shows and three rides: Transformers, Mummy, and the new Escape From Gringotts.
First of all, if you've never been in a theme park when it is closed to the public it is AWESOME. I have been lucky enough to do it twice at USF as our gala was at Wizarding World at IOA a few years back. That was cool, but I have to say Diagon Alley is amazing. And I am not a Harry Potter fan. The level of themeing and detail that went into this area is stunning. Plus all the little nooks and crannies to explore - it's nuts.
As you can see in the pics, we had lots of food. Expecting it to be freezing cold, Universal was good enough to make sure there were lots of indoor areas, including the pizza restaurant. Turns out the night was mild and we didn't need it.
The Gringotts ride was ok. Better, IMHO, than the Harry Potter ride in the other park, but still too much dependency on large-format 3-D for my taste. The building that houses the queue is cool, complete with fire-breathing dragon on the roof and animatronic troll bankers in the lobby (or whatever they are.)
Transformers has in identical ride system to Spiderman. Aside from the decor and the movies it is virtually the same experience.
This all leads me to how refreshing Mummy felt as a ride experience. The conventional special effects, lighting, fog, and flame, felt old school and almost quaint. It was great. Still a fun ride. Plus, getting to ride as much as you want helps what is otherwise too short of a ride.
They had a few shows for us. Some singers in Diagon Alley, the Blues Bros. show, and walking Minion characters. In fact, there was Universal staff galore. Even though it was closed, they still had someone working the interactive Donkey animatronic that sits outside the exit to Shrek. Seemed like overkill as very few people wandered down this otherwise closed area. But the staff was great. Very friendly and lots of attention. Sure, it was a private party, but USF could've gone cheap. They didn't. We felt first class all the way up until our party ended at 11.
