The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

We were up at 6:45 a.m. this morning to take advantage of the early morning hours at Universal Studios that were part of our hotel package.  We started at Diagon Alley and enjoyed all that they had to offer including a ride through Gringotts Bank, a stop in Olivander's Wand Shop where a wand found Cameron, shopping in Wheezley's Wizard Wheezes to checkout the Nosebleed Nougats and Fever Fudge, and sipping a Butterbeer from the Three Broomsticks.  As a Harry Potter fan, I absolutely loved it!

Once we had our fill of Dragon Alley, we walked over to Krustyland.  Cal was impressed with all of the Simpson attractions especially The Simpson Ride.  Afterward I talked everyone into trying the ET ride.  Brett, especially, thought it was as lame as Cameron did, but it wasn't too bad.  We also tried the Woody Woodpecker roller coaster which was too busy to ride the last time we were there.  No one really liked that one as it was short and we were cramped in the seats.  At least we could say we rode it.  We also found a Spongebob Storepants to do some shopping in before lunch.

                            

We left the park to walk over to Universal City Walk and have lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp.  We were seated right away and Brett ordered a Lieutenant Dan to start.  We enjoyed the food very much, but the atmosphere and our waitress's trivia questions made the experience even better.  Cal had bought Hannah-Marie a gift and Brett got a glass with his drink.  They both wanted to take their glassware back to the hotel, so we headed to the Loews Royal Pacific to drop off the packages and to rest for a little while.

The afternoon took us to Universal's sister park Islands of Adventure.  It was larger than the one this morning and had more thrill rides.  The boys started on the Hulk roller coaster.  I enjoyed watching it speed by as the Hulk roared.  They also tried the Force.  I sat out of that one as well as it was best describe by Brett as the Scrambler.  We decided that it was warm enough to ride Rip Saw Falls the Dudley Do Right log flume ride.  Cam and I had wanted to take Brett on it since we were drenched riding it a year ago.  Brett definitely loved it and got soaked just as much as we had hoped he would.  Since the boys were already wet, they decided to ride the Jurassic Park water ride.  Last year's experience was a tame one where Meg, Cam and I barely got wet.  That was not the case this time as I laughed out loud when I saw Cal walk around the corner.  He looked as though he had taken a shower in his clothes.

We ended the evening in Hogsmeade.  It was my favorite part of the park.  We walked through the Hogwarts castle to ride the Forbidden Forest.  It was just as fantastic as I remembered it to be.  It truly felt as though we were part of the Harry Potter series.  Cam and Brett rode the Hippogriff when we were done and the boys tried Pumpkin Juice before we walked back to the hotel to eat dinner at Jake's American Bar before calling it a night.