Universal Studios, Part 5

Thursday was our final day in the parks. We prioritized the attractions we wanted to re ride. 

The girls took some surfing pictures on the walk through City Walk. 

Dad Daughter Team was ready to ride some coasters!

We rode Hagrid's for the last time. I guess five times in one week (double that for the kids) was enough for a couple of years. 

We had ridden it so many times, Elisabeth started posing for the camera. 

Then we walked over for a final ride on Velocicoaster. 

Elisabeth nailed this picture too! I love it (and her feisty personality) so much!

After we got off Velocicoaster we rode River Adventure again. Funny thing- at the end of the Velocicoaster ride, there's a radio recorder of a worker saying, "Um, Owen when you get a chance we need you over at River Adventure for a situation. Ha! Love the theming even among different rides. 

Then we walked back to Hogsmeade for  a final ride on Flight of the Hippogriff. 

We also cast a few spells with our new wand. It worked much better than earlier in the week. 

Her little dance at the end when she gets it :)

After we cast our spells we hopped on the Hogwarts Express and said goodbye to Islands of Adventure.

Katherine asked to ride Escape from Gringotts for a final time. Again, I was grateful for low crowds and short lines for all the rides on Thursday. 

There was one other secret spell I researched at Diagon Alley. The kids asked to do it before leaving.

Then we rode Mummy- Elisabeth's must do for our final day.

To end our day at the parks, Samuel requested Rip Ride Rocket, so Matt took the big kids to ride that, and Katherine and I rode Race Through New York. 

We met back up and took one last picture at Universal Studios. 

See you Next Time!! 

Since we had thoroughly enjoyed Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios, we decided to spend the afternoon back at Volcano Bay. We ate lunch and changed at our resort, and then walked over to Volcano Bay. We were able to ride all the slides that afternoon. 

We used our Tapu Tapu to reserve the aqua coaster when we arrived at 1:30 that afternoon, knowing that if there was another slide that needed a reservation, we'd lose it, but thought it was worth it to try. Thankfully, the crowds were super low that afternoon and all the other slides were "ride now" so our 200 plus minute was for the Water Coaster was fine. Unfortunately, once it was our time to ride and we got in line, a storm rolled in and they closed the slide for lightning. That was poor timing, because we were all excited to unexpectedly get to ride it again, and it was going to be our last ride of the trip, so everyone was a little deflated as we left. 

But we took it as a time to be grateful because we waited in virtually no lines and had zero weather delays up until that point in our trip. I mean, we really couldn't complain. No rides broke down as we were in line or anything (I'm looking at you Disney). It was just a wonderful, seamless experience at the parks until that very last ride. 

We walked back to our room to change and eat dinner at the resort cafeteria. 

Matt caught a rainbow on our walk to dinner. 

After dinner, we grabbed an ice cream cone and visited about our week. I asked the kids if Universal was everything they thought it'd be, and Katherine quickly said NO. Then she responded with, "I didn't know it would be this good." 💓 I think that sums up everyone's week at the park. It was a week of adventurous, brave kids (who are at the best ages! I just love this stage with them), great weather, low crowds, awesome rides and plenty of quality family time. I'm so thankful for the memories!