Emma was up three different times in the night looking to see if the Disney Fairy had come! Thankfully, she went back to bed each time and she and Ben discovered their gifts in the morning!
We headed to Universal Studios this morning and when we finally got there (after a bit of scenic route), we paid for priority parking. It was definitely worth it as we were on the same level as the park - and still had to walk quite a ways to get to the park entrance! Wish we could have got a family picture here, but I was behind the camera!
Our initial plan was to head straight back to the Harry Potter section, but when we got to the park, it had opened earlier than we realized. There were lots of people already, so we knew that there would already be lines whether we hurried back or not. We decided to try out the Despicable Me ride. It was a lot of fun and Ben loved it.
We then found the Transformers ride - which Ben told us was too scary because there were too many bad transformers in it.
We stopped for a quick picture with Jaws - although Ben was crying (again) because Emma got the best spot...
Quickly after this, we found the Knight Bus! The shrunken head even talked to Emma! Ben wouldn't even get close to the bus...
It was so cool going in to Diagon Alley. You wouldn't have even known it was there if you weren't looking. We went around a simple brick wall and discovered the open brick wall that let us in to the Alley. Very neat atmosphere!
We popped in and out of a bunch of the shops and could have spent SO much more time here! Emma loved the pigmy puff!
The dragon on Gringott's bank was pretty awesome, especially when it breaths fire! It definitely shocked the kids though! When we got to the ride entrance for 'Escape from Gringotts' we were surprised to see a short wait time listed, so we quickly put our backpacks in a locker and got in line!
I always find it amazing the the line ups are just as interesting as the rides sometimes! They certainly hit the nail on the head with this one. Very neat!
The ride was awesome and I would have done it again. As usual - Emma loved it and Ben said it was too scary. Once we got our backpacks out of the locker, the kids were anxious to go get wands. We found Ollivanders and headed in. Unfortunately, they weren't 'chosen' to get their own wands, but we didn't want to stand in line again and again on the hopes that they would get chosen. We did let them choose the wand they wanted though (and spent an arm and a leg to do it too!).
Ben picked Dumbledore's wand.
Emma wanted Hermione Granger's wand!
Of course, we had to try out the famous Butterbeer! We got one regular one and one frozen one.
Both Lennard and I liked the regular one best for the flavor but the kids liked the frozen one. They were both very good!
We had to stop and place a call to the Ministry of Magic... and teach the kids what a rotary phone is! Ha! Ha! They couldn't figure out what to do, so Lennard showed them.
Heading in to King's Cross station to take the train over to Hogsmeade in the other park. Only people with park-to-park tickets can ride the train. The kids were so excited!
The best part of the ride was when dementors came and the kids both held up their wands to save us. The people riding with us definitely got a little more than they were planning for as the kids gave a running commentary throughout the ride! Emma was a little disappointed that she didn't actually get to see Harry, Ron and Hermione.
Heading in to Hogsmeade from off the train we discovered quite a few people. It made it a little hard to enjoy the area as we were constantly watching to make sure the kids were right next to us. It was close to lunch, so we decided to try out the Three Broomsticks.
We got two meals and decided to share with the kids. They loved the corn on the cob and had some of the chicken and shepherd's pie too.
After a quick bathroom stop (and getting to hear Moaning Myrtle in the bathroom), we decided to head out of the Hogsmeade area and get in a few other rides that the kids wanted to do.
To say that Ben was excited to see Super Heroes would be an understatement! I love that I caught him running towards the Spider Man ride!
We walked on to this ride too and Ben loved it.
When we got off the ride, there was a sign to meet Spider Man. Thankfully, we ended up being first in line! They had a photographer take the picture and add a background, but we didn't want to pay the crazy price for one picture. This will have to do!
Ben loved all the cartoon figures everywhere and even ASKED to get his picture taken!
Not quite sure who these ladies were supposed to be, but they spent quite a bit of time visiting with Emma and then posed for a picture. Emma loved it.
The kids loved Seuss Landing! There were so many things for them to do! They played for quite a while in the little play area and then we went on a few rides.
The One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish ride sprayed water and got you wet... so Lennard took the kids on it while I watched!
We then tried out the carousel!
I love this picture of Lennard! Ha! Ha! It was getting to be a bit later in the afternoon and we had walked SO much!
Ben sat by me on the carousel and said he was honking the horn!
We tried out the trolley train ride that took us all around Seuss Landing and then we decided to head back to the other park.
Taking the train back, the kids were ready to fight the dementors again, but it was a different show on the way back.
We fit in one more ride and went to Shrek 4D and then when we came out, we found out that a parade was coming! Only five minutes after we came out of the ride, the parade came by!
We got back to the resort at about 6:30 only to discover that we were locked out! We called security and they came pretty quickly, but he couldn't get us in either. We then had to wait for maintenance come from the main building across the resort. It would have been okay if both kids hadn't been needing a bathroom! Thankfully, they both held on and maintenance came soon and changed the batteries in the lock! Once again, we ended up eating a late dinner at about 7:30pm!
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