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itdisneymatter · 7 years

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Day 13 - Islands & Universal

TLDR: Island of Adventure in the morning, Universal in the afternoon. Spent lots of time doing Harry Potter things today including some previous attractions (Forbidden journey & Dragon Challenge) and also some new things (Spells, Hogwarts Express & The Knight Bus). It was bloody brilliant (as Ron would say). We also squeezed in a few other rides, Men In Black (which I don’t really want to mention) and other classics like the Simpsons & Transformers. Seen a parade, strange but it had Spongebob in (or is that why it was strange? Hmmm). Dinner and a Guinness at a wee Irish bar too.

Up and out to Universal & Islands today. The kids have brought their wands so we're gonna spend some time in the Harry Potter sections to do some magic as well and anything we feel like over the two parks. The way these parks work is that there's one main entrance then it forks and you can go to either Islands Of Adventure on the left or Universal Studios on the right. We chose Islands to start with (as we were in Universal a few nights ago) and pretty much headed to Hogsmeade straight away (The Lost Continent which we always pass through can stay lost for now).

Grace was a little bit more formidable this time around want to go on all the rides she could, so we started of with excellent The Forbidden Journey. When we exited through the gift shop (which is mentioned in The Simpsons and now GG always looks for one after every ride), the boys stumbled across some nice Harry Potter merch. All of the Horcruxes where available in fine detail as well as other bits and bobs, so Patrick selected the Time Turner and Robert The Deathly Hallows necklace. Grace got this week pink thing that apparently Ginny Weasley had a familiar, its called a Pigglepuff or something - it looked weird. Grace then asked if she could borrow Patrick’s time turner to go back on the ride! :P On the subject of Harry Potter comes Patrick’s Fun Fact Of The Day (as I told him he had to be a little more relevant with his topic choices):

Daniel Radcliffe (aka Harry Potter) was allergic to his first pair of glasses that he wore on set.

It's LevIOsa, not LevioSA!

Now was time for wands, we took them out and went to our first casting point ant a shop called Spintwitches. They had to make a gesture and say Wingardium Leviosa! No matter how many times the tried it didn't seem to work - great witches and wizards my kids turned out to be! After the third spot a cast member came to the rescue to show all of them how to do it. Relief! We then stopped at the candy store to have a look and Robert picked up a Chocolate frog and everyone else opted to share some Butterbeer fudge. Hot days and huge amounts of fudge are NOT a good combo. Robert wanted to go back on the Dragon Challenge next, so I joined him - after a few roller coasters this week we were both more than prepared. It was great, though Robert in true form said it wasnt as difficult as the first time.

Now originally we were going to continue around Islands but as we hadnt tried the train yet, altered our plans to get the Hogwarts Express over to Universal next and do a few rides there. We all waited at the station until the train pulled up then got in our own wee cabin on the train. It's a great experience and the children including Grace's wee Pigglepug thing were looking on in amazement. Off at Kings Cross Station and spotted the Knight bus so headed over to him first. The driver was chatting away to the kids giving them all the time in the world and even the a wee shrunken head dude was chiming in with one-liners like his relatives comes from Scotland too - HEADinburgh! Chortle. Wee quick photo after that and we were on our way.

Now Escape To Gringotts in Diagon Alley was quite busy so we headed around to Simpsons Land, via Men In Black. A shooting game, and we all know how they turn out, don’t we? ME, Patrick & Grace in the front row, with Robert and Ann in the back. After giving my two wing-men some tips to increase their score the game was on. And I finished.... second. SECOND! Can you actually believe it??? I’m pretty sure it was because I helped them really :P Anyway here’s the scores for today’s shoot out.

Patrick 183250

Gerry 170500

Ann 13500

Robert 9375

Gracie 3325

It took me quite a while to get over the shock, Ill tell you. With the new winner very much still gloating, we reached The Simpsons ride. We all love this one, and you still can't help chuckling at all the jokes. Now was our time to make our way back around to Harry Potter, but thought Id sample the local delicacies first and have a nice cold Duff Beer. Nine bucks! And not even a customised logo on the plastic cup I was given it in! Wow, so much for authenticity - Duff Man would be ashamed! Nice to have a cold one on an absolutely roasting day outside. And at that, Robert said that the Springfield curse (of it raining while we were here) had been lifted - and he was so right!

Back to Diagon Alley to go to Escape From Gringotts next. Grace was a little scared the first time due to some sudden dips and darkness but she practically skipped onto it today. Front row too. This is one ride that is more than the ride itself, the details and goblins in the bank, the special effects with major Harry Potter characters and a cool elevator that makes you think you are going miles underground (except that you probably don’t even move).

We walked down the back row of Universal and came across Richters Burgers where the old Beetlejuice used to be. We always loved this spot as we would always be reminded of it when one of our family favourites came on - If I had a Million Dollars by the Barenaked Ladies. It played last time we were here and... it came on again! We all looked at each other and laughed! By this point we were all getting quite hungry having had little breakfast and living off Butterbeer fudge all day. We talked about heading home and going out for a meal, but thought we'd check out what was available here first (as restaurant parks can be quite pricey ). Then however we happened across a wee Irish bar called Finnegan's which seemed fairly reasonable and they had tables nearly ready so we waited outside and watched the parade while our tables were getting sorted. It was a pretty odd affair but had some familiar faces.

After it had finished we piled into the restaurant and sat down. First on the agenda was a Guiness (well it is an Irish pub, right?). Ordered our food which was typical Irish pub food and were treated to some of the most amazing just baked Soda bread Ive tasted, as an appetizer. The only thing missing was a wee band or the Celtic on the TV but hey were in a theme park in Orlando so I gotta go with what Ive got :P Food was one of the best we’ve tasted yet, so we were all pretty satisfied (though the place was very cold for some reason - it was like actually BEING in Ireland). Another trip to Transformers as well as doing a meet and greet with Megatron (boo, hiss) and finished with the Minions (at a request from Grace) to round the day off.

Shopping again tomorrow with Cirque Du Soleil in the evening - I’ve always wanted to go see so can't wait for tomorrow night - expect plenty of pics! :D

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