Universal Studios Vacation, Part 4

On Wednesday we were back at Islands of Adventure for early opening. We played rounds of heads up to pass the time until the gates opened. That app was a fun memory for all of us, such a great way to pass the time. 

Big smiles to start the day!

 

Once again, Hagrid's was closed when the park opened, so we walked over to Velocicoaster for our first ride of the day. Katherine and I snuggled in the child swap room while the rest of the family rode. 

After braving the raptors, we walked over to Hogsmeade to ride Flight of the Hippogriff and Forbidden Journey. 

Then we decided to hop over to Universal Studios for a bit. 

We boarded the Hogwart's Express for the journey over to London. 

Universal Studios opened an hour after Islands of Adventure, so it was empty when we arrived. We snapped a few photos in Diagon Alley. 

We tried to get a family selfie, and a nice mom offered to take a family picture for us. 

It turned out so great! I was thankful for her. It's one of my favorite pictures of the trip! She even got one with the dragon breathing fire, but Samuel's head was turned in that one. 

We rode Escape from Gringotts twice in a row since there was no line. The last time we visited the preshow was closed, so it was fun for the kids to see it this time. It helps the story of the ride make more sense. 

Katherine's bravery shown the more and more we rode this ride. It ended up being in her top three favorites of the trip. It's a totally different ride with your eyes open, ha! She was the one who asked to ride again after we got off. 

As we left Diagon Alley, we phoned the Ministry of Magic. We each called the number and got different messages each time. I appreciate the cute little "extras" all throughout the parks. 

We walked over and rode Men in Black and the Simpsons another time. We also rode ET. 

As we were getting off ET, we ran into Shrek and Fiona. The kids had all recently watched Shrek the Musical, so Shrek and Fiona were fresh on their minds. It was a fun character greet. 

Katherine never hesitates to hug any character she meets. 

We wanted to eat lunch at the Three Broomsticks back in Hogsmeade, so we were back on the Hogwarts Express at Platform 9 3/4.

We fed these hungry kids at the Three Broomsticks. 

Then we tried casting a few spells around Hogsmeade. The kids were still struggling a bit with their wands though. 

After lunch we decided to ride Hagrid's since it was closed that morning. The wait was only 30ish minutes, and the crazy thing was, that 30 minute line was practically the only line we waited in all day long. The parks were so empty. It was just lovely! I follow a data company that posts crowd calendars, and the actual crowds that day ended up being a 1 out of 10. They track Disney too, and out of all our trips to Universal and Disney, I've never been to a park on a 1 day. Let me tell you, I highly recommend it, ha!

After we got off Hagrid's, we spent some time in Jurassic Park. We took another whirl on River Adventure- I still love that one!

Since we had already been at the parks for several days, and ridden all of our must dos (multiple times), we decided to visit the Jurassic Park Discovery Center, an interactive play exhibit. 

I had hoped we'd have time to do little, fun things like this, and it helped to be in air conditioning during the hot afternoon. 

We even got to see a baby dinosaur hatching. 

We debated back and forth for awhile on whether we should ride the rapids or not. We ultimately decided on a one time ride. No regrets!

All smiles before the soaking began. 

We got just a little wet, ha! That ride is the equivalent of jumping into a swimming pool. Matt at least had the good idea to have everyone take off their socks before riding, so one article of clothing was dry at least. 

Next to the rapids was a ship playground with water guns to shoot the people on the rapids below- as if they weren't wet enough! 

Do you see all of their evil grins?!?

To dry off, we rode some super hero rides again. The big kids also rode Doctor Doom's Fearfall, along with Spider Man and Hulk. 

Islands of Adventure closed early that evening, so we hopped back over to Universal Studios to end the day. We had planned to ride a few things, but after we rode Transformers, we walked back to Diagon Alley to cast a few spells, and ended up closing down the park at Diagon Alley. 

The kids tried using their wands and were able to cast a few spells. 

One cast member noticed we were having problems and sent us to Ollivanders for a free wand repair. The kids were still struggling even with a very nice cast member helping them. She inspected the wand again and walked us over to Ollivanders for a second wand repair. The magic there is pretty great, because it looked like a brand new wand ;). The kids were so excited about it!

The sweet cast member even showed them a secret spell.

And then she offered another fun surprise. Katherine was downing the butter beer I had just bought, and I commented to the cast member about the magic of disappearing butter beer. We laughed and then she asked if I wanted another one. She proceeded to bring us back two free butter beers. I know they call stuff like this pixie dust at Disney, but Universal's version of it was pretty sweet. She helped create such a fun memory for all of us. 

We spent the next 45 minutes casting spells all throughout Diagon Alley which felt almost deserted. 

There are several dark magic spells in Knockturn alley. That's such a creepy place. It's dark and empty and feels like it should be restricted or something (well done Universal on the theming). 

We stayed past closing time casting spells and exploring. 

It was another open to close day for us (except closing time was two hours earlier that evening. Still counts, though!)