Our Happily Ever After: Universal Studios Vacation, Part 2

We were up and early and back at the parks for Day 2.

We found some ways to stay entertained while waiting for the parks to open.

Our plan was to ride Hagrid's first thing, but it was closed that morning, so we walked over to Velocicoaster instead and rode it double- twice for me and Matt and four times for those roller coaster loving kiddos.

Katherine entertained herself while she waited for the rest of our family to ride.

Then we walked back over to Hogsmeade to ride Flight of the Hippogriff.

Katherine is always fun to ride with.

She always, always wanted to ride any ride at Universal with her daddy. She'd fake cry if she ever had to ride with me. I'm chopped liver compared to Matt at Theme Parks.

We also rode Forbidden Journey since we were right by the castle. It was such a huge, amazing ride when it opened, but now there's never really a line, and the newness has worn off some for us.

But the queue will always rank as one of the best.

We tried to cast some spells, but we realized later in the week that one of our wands was broken, which is why the kids had such a hard time.

Then we explored Seuss Land. It was a little bittersweet, because even though Katherine still enjoyed it, it was definitely not a favorite. These kids are growing up and looking for more thrill and adventure.

First up was Cat in the Hat.

Then it was time for One Fish, Two Fish. This has got to be the best little spinny ride there is. The theming is cute, the music and rhymes are adorable, and the water element just takes it up a notch. Even the big kids happily rode without complaining.

We couldn't visit Seuss Land without riding the carousel. This girl was a huge fan of them when she was younger. I have the sweetest memories of her yelling "Horsey" at Disney World, naming her animals that she rode on, and giving them kisses goodbye when the ride was over. She's heading out of the carousel loving phase, but I'll cherish those memories.

After we got off the carousel, we ran into Thing 1 and Thing 2. Katherine ran up to give them big hugs.

We also met Sam I Am and the Grinch.

Sam I Am had to get a picture with the other Sam I Am.

We rode everything in Seuss Land except the trolley, because it had a decent line, so we decided to walk over to Jurassic Park and ride the Pteranodon Flyers and the Jurassic Park River Adventure.

There's never a dull moment with our little red head, even waiting in lines.

Jurassic Park River Adventure is always a favorite of mine. I'm a sucker for a log ride, and I just think the theming and storyline are clever (even though I'm not a huge Jurassic Park fan). I was a little concerned about Katherine being scared. We did show her a youtube video before our trip, but the T-Rex is pretty intimidating, but she did great and loved it. And she's so short she can bend down and avoid getting wet. You can't even see her in the picture next to me, ha!

We were ready for lunch after so much fun and decided to try a restaurant back over in Seuss Land. Then we rode the trolley and caught the very end of the Seuss character story time.

Since Hagrid's was closed at opening, we grabbed some butterbeers and decided to brave the 60 minute wait (which really only ended up being 40 minutes). Hagrid's also has a decent queue. And bonus, we actually got to watch the preshow. Every other time we've ridden it (and closed in on more than 10 I think over our two trips), the line has never been long enough to watch it, so that was fun. I also downloaded the head's up game on my phone and that was such a fun way to pass the time in line.

I really wanted a picture of us in front of the castle in our Harry Potter shirts, so we did that after we got off Hagrid's.

The kids had been begging to play at the Camp Jurassic playground ever since we rode the Pteranodon Flyers that morning, so we took them there to play in the heat of the day- they didn't mind. While they played, Matt took Nathan to ride the King Kong ride.

After they played for about an hour, we walked over to watch the Poseidon's Fury show. It was closed during our last trip, and they've all had an interest in the Greek Gods through some of the books they've read. The show was fine. There are some cool water effects which made it exciting.

Since it was a hotter day, we decided to brave one of the water rides (known for soaking us).

As we walked over the bridge we took a quick photo of the boys with Velocicoaster.

Rip Saw Falls is a great log ride, with a double drop, but we were all happy to only ride it once on our trip. It got a decent wait time in the afternoon, and the queue is probably one of the worst.