Universal Studios, Part 2

We had early mornings everyday of our trip. Our goal was to be at the bus stop between 6:45-6:55 each morning. That's just how we roll with theme parks. We like to get to the parks at opening or before if it's a big, crowded park. It's always our strategy and even though waking up tired kids and getting everyone ready can be a challenge, I really love it and think that it's the best way to avoid the long lines and maximize our time and fun at the parks. 

All smiles at the bus stop! We were all excited to get the fun started!!

The buses took us to the City Walk entrance, and we went through security and walked over to Islands of Adventure. Every morning of our trip, Islands of Adventure had early park access for resort guests and annual pass holders, so it opened at 8:00am. Also, the huge headliner attraction, Hagrid's Motorbike Adventure is at IOA, and that's everyone's first stop as soon as the park opens. That was our plan because some of my research mentioned that once Hagrid's hits capacity, they switch to a virtual queue and that some people have problems securing a time in the virtual queue. We wanted to make sure we rode it (and really wanted to ride it multiple times during our trip), so we planned to rope drop it first thing. 

We made it to the park entrance about 7:15 and were close to the front of the line. 

Sweet Katherine had the biggest smile. She was ready for a fun day at "Harry Potter World."

We had a perfectly planned morning and then we walked to the Harry Potter section of the park and found out that Hagrid's was delayed- womp, womp. We weren't too disappointed because we had four other days to attempt riding it again, but it was a bit of a downer to have to rearrange our plans. Since Hagrid's was delayed we headed over to the Hogwarts castle to ride Forbidden Journey. 

It was our first ride of the trip. We walked right on the ride. The queue for Forbidden Journey is by far the most elaborate, intricate, immersive queue than any other attraction we've ever ridden. It really blows everything else out of the water. We walked through the greenhouse, Dumbledore's office, a classroom, the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, saw (and heard) the talking portraits, the sorting hat, the mirror of Erised, and mandrakes. It's just incredible.

The kids were excited to see Dumbledore in his office. 

The ride ended up being too intense for Elisabeth. I should have prepared her more for it, and she probably would have been fine. She started crying after the ride was over. The dementors and Aragog were a little much for her. I gave her a little pep talk, told her she could close her eyes during the scary parts, and she got right back on it with Matt. Then she ended up riding it about ten more times during our trip. I think knowing what to expect helped her with her fears. She did say that she was expecting it to be a tour of Hogwarts and riding through all the rooms. She and I both agreed that would have been a more fun ride. Samuel and I talked too about how we would have liked the ride just as much without the dementors scene.

While the big kids rode Forbidden Journey, this cutie and I rode Flight of the Hippogriff. It was her very favorite ride. I loved hearing her scream and yell woo hoo, and wave to Buckbeak, and say it was the best ride ever every single time we rode it. Her joy and excitement for life is infectious. 

Our original plan for the day was to rope drop Hagrid's and then head to the Hogwart's Express to park hop over to Universal Studios and sign up for a time to do the Ollivander's experience. So after we rode Forbidden Journey and Flight of the Hippogriff, we went ahead and got in line for the train. 

The Hogwarts Express if a fun train ride. They have projectors on both sides of the compartment showing scenes outdoors as we traveled from Hogsmeade to Kings Cross Station and on the other side, we saw shadows of students walking the corridors. So fun!

One of the must do experiences for our boys was the Ollivanders wand experience. Because of COVID restrictions, they limit the show to one party at a time, which is awesome because our kids were guaranteed to be chosen by the wand maker to have a wand choose them, but also hard to get a spot/long line to wait in for the attraction. By riding the first train of the day over to Diagon Alley, we made it to the station just as Universal Studios was opening and before the crowd at the front of the park could walk over to Diagon Alley, so we were close to the front of the line to reserve a time for the experience. We got a 9:30 return time, which was the perfect amount of time to ride Escape from Gringotts and make it back for our reservation. Escape from Gringotts is one of my favorite rides. I did warn Elisabeth after our Forbidden Journey experience that there were some scary scenes, and I think she closed her eyes for the entire first ride that she rode with Matt. She loved it though and couldn't wait to ride again with me. She kept her eyes open the second time and did fine. It was in everyone's top three rides at the end of our trip. Elisabeth is still quoting Bill's line at the end of the ride "If you're still interested in opening an account- after all, it's the safest place on earth."

Then we headed back to Ollivander's for our wand experience. 

This girl was being sill while we waited for our turn. 

The wand experience was cool, and I'm glad we did it, but I'm also glad we didn't wait hours in line for it- because it probably wasn't that good, ha!

Afterwards, the kids decided which wands they wanted. We had decided before our tip that all of us would contribute money for one wand to share, but Nathan wanted to spend his money and get his own wand. Samuel and Elisabeth had some trouble agreeing on a wand, and we ended up buying the wand that the wandmaker gave Samuel (and not Ginny's wand that Elisabeth wanted). 

The interactive wands were fun and a highlight of our trip. There were probably 15 or so areas around Harry Potter world where you could cast spells with the wands. The kids were so proud when they were able to successfully cast the spells. The first one we did made rain under the umbrella. 

We spent some time that morning casting spells and walking through shops, and the kids were even brave enough to walk around Knockturn Alley. 

 

We planned an early lunch at Leaky Cauldron which was a fun, yummy experience. We've been impressed with their food. It's definitely a step up from typical theme park food. 

The kids got to try butterbeer for the first time too. The boys liked it a lot. Elisabeth wasn't a huge fan. It was nice to sit in the air conditioning and relax for a bit too. 

After lunch we explored more of Universal Studios. We rode Men in Black which is a favorite ride for everyone. We also rode the Simpsons ride, and the Kudos Twirl and Hurl ride. Katherine didn't like the Simpsons ride. The giant baby was too scary for her, ha! The other kids loved it and were laughing the whole time. They've never watched the Simpsons (and won't for a long time, ha!), but the ride was funny.

We also rode Minions and Race Through New York with Jimmy Fallon. 

Then we hopped back on over to Islands of Adventure. One of the disappointing parts of our trip was the long lines for the Hogwarts Express. Their COVID restrictions greatly reduced the capacity of the ride, which made for long lines and an inconvenient way to travel from park to park. We ended up just walking back to Islands of Adventure. It's a quick walk, but I was still a little annoyed by it. 

We spent some time in Dr. Seuss Land for Katherine since had been such a trooper waiting patiently while her siblings rode the big rides without her. She was excited to ride the carousel. We also rode the Cat in the Hat, One Fish, Two Fish and had an ice cream treat. 

We walked back to Hogsmeade and saw that Hagrid's had a reasonable wait time and decided to ride it. 

My goodness, that was an amazing ride! I didn't really do any research about the ride before our trip, because I wanted to be surprised, and boy was I surprised! I thought it was just a little coaster ride through the forest to see some magical creatures, but it was a crazy fast, intense, amazing ride. I still can't get over the part in the the Devil's Snare. I've never ridden a roller coaster with that feature before. Crazy! SO, SO FUN!! Riding it the first time was the best part of the trip for me. 

We spent some time in Hogsmeade casting spells and exploring. 

We also took some pictures on the bridge in front of the castle with the kids in their Hogwarts robes. 

We left the park around 6:45 that evening of our first day. It was a full, fun, awesome, memorable day. It was a little too much fun for this baby girl. 

I know these sleeping toddler days are numbered, so I'll happily heave her around anytime she needs me. We headed back to our resort for a quick dinner and early bedtime excited to do it all again on Tuesday.