Universal Fun

Day 3 of our park fun (day 4 of vacation), was spent at Universal Studio's Island of Adventure. This park's big draw, though it does have some other offerings, is its great thrill rides and its new area, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. After having spent so much time shopping, I was done and ready for some rides. We headed straight for one of the roller coasters - The Hulk!

While Emily would have loved to go on these rides with us, she didn't meet the height requirements...that means Dylan definitely didn't. Nana, not one for thrill rides, was more than happy to wait with them while all the adults and Patrick went on the roller coaster. For those of you that don't know this about me, I LOVE roller coasters and thrill rides. This love started at very young age. Every summer growing up, we visited, at least once, the Six Flags Over Texas amusement park. It was a day I looked forward to each year and enjoyed VERY much. In time, my appreciation for risk taking fun has not dwindled and I love these rides as much (or more) then I did. I was psyched!

The Hulk did not disappoint. Your normal click, click, click climb to the top of the first hill had a major twist in it on this ride. After clicking up the hill half way, you were then propelled at 60 miles an hour up to the top to drop down and take corkscrew twists for the duration. Great fun! Unfortunately for Patrick, his stomach was no match for the Hulk and he spent the next few hours not feeling great. Poor kid! So, taking a slower pace to help him recuperate, we split up the group and kept tabs on everyone to meet back up.

Just around the corner from The Hulk, there was a chance to meet Spider Man. I waited in line and had Mike and Dylan join me when I was at the front. Dylan kept pointing to Spidy's mask and saying "hat" then obsessing over the fact that his fan was "off." Not much interest in Spider Man himself but he was gaga over the little Spider Man stuff animal. Yep, it would be coming home with us.

We meandered, rode another ride and then joined the whole gang in toon town where Emily and Dylan had fun meeting some characters and climbing around the displays.


Extreme Cuteness



Popeye and Olive Oil

Emily, Dylan and Betty Boop

With Patrick still not feeling well and Dylan finally passed out in the stroller, Mike and I wandered off with Nana and Bumpa for our first sight of Hogsmeade! It was so exciting to see and did not disappoint. Universal did an incredibly job of recreating the sights and sounds of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. No detail was overlooked and the experience was truly magical! As we didn't want to do too much without the rest of the group, Mike, Tom (aka Bumpa) and I went on the Dragon Challenge roller coaster. When Mike and I were at the park several years ago, it was called the Dueling Dragons and already had a castle that you wandered through to get to the front of the line. Very conveniently, a few Harry Potter decor was thrown in and, voila, it meshed with its new surroundings wonderfully.

After some resting and some food, poor Patrick finally got to feeling back to himself (yay!) the Hickey family came over to the Harry Potter area with us, bringing sleeping Dylan and our camera which was also in the stroller.

The First View of Hogsmeade

Enjoying a Butter Beer. Super Yum!
It had a slight butterscotch taste
mixed with cream soda flavor..very good.

Hogwarts!!!

With only a 30 minute wait for the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride, Mike, Maureen and I hopped in what must be the coolest line at any part. First, you weave through the Hogwart's greenhouse.

Inside the building you weave through rooms including Dumbledore's office, the potions lab, the Griffyndor common room and some hallways. Within these rooms, you get to watch and listen to the paintings (which looked like actual oil paintings that moved and talked) and listened to holograms of Dumbledore as well as Harry, Ron and Hermione.

The ride was pretty interesting too. As a muggle, we got to fly through some adventures and got tossed about, spit on and made lots of near misses from dangerous creatures such as giant spiders and dragons. It was a fun experience.


Emily, Me and Dylan in Front of Hogwarts


Then it was on to checking out more of Hogsmeade. All the shop windows were fun to check out. Most of the store fronts are decoys but we did get to go inside and peruse Honeydukes and Zonko's.

Watching and Listening to the Mandrake Root

Three Broomsticks

Hogwarts Express

Self Family Portrait at Hogwarts

With a good chunk of our day enjoyed in Harry Potter land and time running short, we continued on through the park. Mike couldn't pass up the "midway" type games and stopped to play (and win!) the bottle toss game. Dylan got to pick out the prize. While none of the big winning prizes were small, Dylan, of course, picked out the most giant one available - the big blue bear. With the bear in the stroller and Dylan walking beside, we continued on to Seuss Landing.

Dylan, Me and Giant Blue Bear

This Seuss Door Was Just His Size!

The Caro-Seuss-el

With enough amusement park fun had for the day, we headed out to get some dinner away from the high expenses of Disney or Universal.

Headed Out of the Park

To keep things simple for all, we went to grab a bite at Olive Garden. A little ways into the meal, our seriously sleep deprived boy had had enough and had an uncharacteristic meltdown. So, Dylan and I left the restaurant and hung out in the parking lot\car while we waited for Mike to pay the bill and take us back to the hotel.

With Mike getting Dylan to bed, I met the family in the hotel bar again for our last night. It being Sunday night, it was a little quieter and we were able to chat more. We were also joined by one of the Disney "street" performers that is usually on the boardwalk outside. For Florida, it was really cold so he'd come inside to entertain. He chatted to us, generally, about himself and life as a Disney performer and then entertained us with a bit of his act. He had Emily spin a plate on her finger!

For our last night at Disney, we ended the day with a stuffed animal count of 5.