Sonya's Blog - Day 211 - Universal Studios - Islands of Adventure

Sonya’s Blog - Day 211 - January 19th - Universal Studios - Islands of Adventure

We were up bright and early to get to the park for opening. We had made lunch the night before, so that helped us get out on time. Natasha even got up without us asking her to, it’s a MIRACLE!!! We were out the door at 8 AM and parked in the parkade by 8:30, Blake was so excited.

There are miles (well it feels like it) of walkways to walk through before you actually get to the entrance to the park. There is also a bag check, which is always a party. After you get through all the walkways, you have to walk through CityWalk (where there are a bunch of restaurants and shops that are part of the Universal properties, but not in the parks (they are open much later, as they are hoping you will stay and eat or drink once the parks are closed).

Universal has two theme parks. They are right beside each other and separated by a lake (probably a man-made lake, sure looks like it). As you are walking up towards the park, if you go left you will go to Islands of Adventure and if you go right then you end up at Universal Studios (the original park).

The kids wanted to go to Islands of Adventure first. This has many sections to it, including the original Harry Potter theme park. Universal has added onto this their Harry Potter theme park. They have added the Hogwarts Express, Diagon Alley and some other stuff. As it turns out, they did not add this onto the Islands of Adventure park, but to the other park. The Hogwarts Express takes you between the two parks. The drawback of this, is that you have to have a park hopper pass in order to ride the Hogwarts Express. We did not know this, we did not buy the park hopper as it is about $60 more per ticket. On our previous visits, it has not occurred to us to park hop (one park is exhausting enough, thanks very much) and it adds a lot to your ticket price. Bummer.

Natasha was fine with this and Isaac was up for anything, as long as we were at a park. We started walking through the park. We have to walk through the Dr. Suess section, which is all for the little kids. There was no line up for the Sneetches ride and our kids loved that book. So we went on The Sneetches and it was cute. After that we headed over to Harry Potter World. It was already getting busy there, it is the most popular section of the park. We went to Hogwarts Castle first to walk though the castle and take the ride (Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey). Hogwarts Castle is really well done. First you walk through the Herbology gardens and then you enter the castle. Upon entering, there are statues of the founders of Hogwarts and hourglasses with the housepoints tabulated in them. At the end of the hallways is the entrance to Dumbledore’s office with a large Phoenix statue guarding the entrance. You then enter the hall of portraits and if you wait around they start to have conversations with each other. We waited, because we have never done that before. It was pretty funny. Hard to get pictures though because it is so dark in the castle. There are a number of moving portraits on the walls as you walk down the next hallway and then you come to Dumbledore’s office. It is decorated, just like it is described and he gives a little speech about what is happening in the castle right now. As you go up a bit more, you come to Harry, Ron and Hermione talking to you from a balcony and telling you they are going to take you out on a broomstick so that you can go see the Quidditch Match and not listen in on Binns lecture (as he is so boring). You are close to the ride at this point, first you pass the fat lady and she spouts of some stuff to you. Then you are at the ride. The car fits 4 people, which is perfect for us. This ride is a mixture of a roller coaster and simulation. The roller coaster part I can handle, but not simulation (it makes me sick). I have done the ride before, so I thought I would brave it. It starts out in simulation mode with you flying out of the castle and encountering a dragon that Hagrid has lost. You then go through some simulation and then some animatronics and then back to simulation when you get out on the Quidditch field, etc. I had to close my eyes for almost all the simulation (over 1/2 the ride) and I didn’t feel great at the end. Blake and the kids loved it, they can handle all that stuff. The castle is really neat though, and the parts of the ride I saw were cool.

We then walked through some of the shops and Hogsmead. They have done a really good job, it looks very much like in the movies.

We decided to head over to The Lost Continent and Natasha had an uplifting conversation with the Mystic Fountain. It was pretty funny. He sang his rendition of Oh Canada, which involves hockey and beer and Natasha told him her favourite part of living in Canada was taking her Polar Bear to school and that our Prime Minister is a Moose. That is when he drew the line and told her he wasn’t that stupid. He knew about the Loose Moose Theatre in Calgary, so he had probably been there. As we were walking away he was singing about the Loose Moose and Calgary, he was very amusing. We then went in Poseidon’s Fury, which is a show. You move through sections of the theatre as a group as crazy things happen.

We had some lunch after that and then we went into Marvel Super Hero Island. The kids wanted to go on the Spiderman ride, which is all simulation so I was out for that. They did a few more things, including getting a picture with Captain America:

We also explored the Jurrasic Park area, Blake and the kids went on the Jurassic Park River Adventure. They only got a little wet, so that was good as it still wasn’t terribly warm. We went and had a close up and personal session with a Velociraptor. It tried to nibble Natasha’s hair and I got in trouble for putting my hands up.

We tried to go on Pteranodon Flyers, but we could not. We neglected to read the sign on the way in and you have to have a little one with you (under 36”) in order to ride. Whoops. We got some Fast Passes for one ride (excluding anything in Harry Potter). The kids used it on Dr. Doom’s Fearfall at the end of the day.

At some point we ended up back in Harry Potter World and had some warm butterbeer. It was tasty, but super sweet. We then had the brilliant idea of riding the Dragon Challenge. This is a rollercoaster. You pick whether you want the blue side or the red side (they each stand for a dragon from the Tri-Wizard Tournament). We picked blue. This is a top track rollercoaster (so the tracks are above your head and feet are dangling below you). It is very fast and has some upside down parts. Well, while this is a smoother roller coaster than traditional ones and you don't get jostled around as much, it certainly makes you dizzier. After having the super sweet butterbear and then riding that, I didn't feel the best. I never get sick or anything, just don't feel great.

We left at 4:30 and thankfully we didn’t hit any traffic on the way back. We take the Florida Turnpike, which is good because it doesn’t back up with traffic. When we have been here before, we always ended up on super busy roads at rush hour and stuck in traffic. We are not staying in the main hotel area, so it is pretty smooth sailing for us.

When we got back to the RV, Blake and Isaac headed off to the grocery store right away. I took Kizmet for a very long walk, she deserved it for being so patient and such a good girl today. Natasha had a shower and then did some homework.

After supper, Blake and the kids finished watching Terminator and I finished my book. It was really good, just as good as the first two. There will be a fourth one released this year, so that will be good.

Sonya