Universal Studios, Part 4

Wednesday morning we continued with our early morning vacation routine. One thing we were pleasantly surprised about at Universal was their bus service. It was incredible! We've been used to Disney World buses where we were always, always waiting for a bus. I don't think we ever had an experience at Disney where we arrived at the bus stop and a bus was waiting for us. I snapped a picture though because at Universal it was rare for a bus not to be waiting at the bus stop, and sometimes there were multiple buses waiting. It was such good service! I know it's easier for Universal because there's only one stop at City Walk and not multiple parks like Disney World, but still, Disney needs to step up their game after our bus experience at Universal. 

We usually passed the time waiting for the gates to open at the parks by taking pictures. We are all ready for Day 3!

When I told Elisabeth I was going to make shirts for our trip, she specifically requested an ice cream dress. She designed it herself by choosing the colors and pattern. It turned out cute!!

Of course, our first stop for the day was Hagrid's. The kids rode it for the seventh and eighth time that morning. 

Then we did our other morning routine except we skipped Forbidden Journey because the line was long that morning.

We got in line for the Hogwarts Express and hopped over to Universal Studios for the morning. 

Matt and I were wearing our Gringotts shirts, so Escape from Gringotts was a must do on Wednesday. 

That queue is close to as cool as the Forbidden Journey queue- so elaborate and immersive. 

While we did rider swap, I took some pictures of this Cutie on Hagrid's motor bike.

We grabbed a morning ice cream treat from Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. Matt and I ate at this place umpteen times during our last trip. Turns out it's a lot more affordable and fun when it was just the two of us, ha! It was still a yummy treat. 

We spent some time that morning exploring Diagon Alley and finding the rest of the wand areas the kids hadn't done. 

Nathan also wanted to watch the Tales of Beedle the Bard show in Diagon Alley, so we watched that. And I have to say that Universal does a lot of things really great, but shows aren't one of them, ha! They should leave the shows to Disney. 

After the show, we walked over to the kids' area of Universal Studios that we hadn't made it to yet. 

Katherine liked Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster almost as much as Flight of the Hippogriff. We rode it a couple of times while we were over there. 

We also rode the E.T. ride which everyone liked. Katherine was excited to ride on the flying bikes. It was a cute ride. 

We also rode Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket. Nathan was the only kid tall enough for that roller coaster, so the other kids rode Minions again while they waited.

The big kids wanted to ride the Transformers Ride. Katherine was tall enough to ride, but Matt knew it would be too intense for her, so she opted out. 

While the big kids were in line, I rewarded Katherine with a unicorn bubble wand for being such a good sport hanging out during the rides she couldn't ride. 

I did rider swap with the kids to ride Transformers again, and we also rode the Mummy roller coaster, before we got in line for the Hogwarts Express. That line was the longest of our entire trip. We knew it was long, but we had to do it at least once because it's a different ride going from London to Hogsmeade, and we wanted the kids to experience it. We were all so tired from waiting in line that walking through the wall at platform 9 3/4 was a little anti climactic. 

We finally made it to the train!

We rode Forbidden Journey once we made it Hogsmeade since we missed it that morning and then walked over to ride Jurassic Park River Adventure. It's one of my favorite ride, but because of reduced capacity on the boats, the line was always at least an hour long. We saved it for the very end of the day when the line was only about 15 minutes long. 

When we got off the ride, Elisabeth said, "Well if I had to choose between getting eaten by a giant dinosaur or getting dropped in a lake, I guess I'd choose getting dropped in the lake." 

This Cutie and I played with her bubble wand while the other kids were on the ride.

And a few minutes later, this happened, ha!

The park was getting close to closing when we finished riding Jurassic Park, but we had to head back to Seuss Land to get some pictures of Samuel in his Sam I Am shirt. I think Wednesday was the only day of our trip that we didn't spend time in Seuss land, and of course that's the day he wore his Dr. Seuss shirt. 

We made it just before closing, so the kids rode Cat in the Hat real quick and then Matt snapped a couple of pictures. 

He was still wet from the Jurassic Park ride in these pictures. Memories, right?!

I'll never take these sleepy snuggles at the bus stop for granted. 

We went back to the room, put the baby to bed and fed the other kids popcorn for dinner because it was late and we were tired. The kids thought it was the best dinner ever!