Day 3 - Universal Studios Islands of Adventure

Day 3 - Universal Studios Islands of Adventure

Our last day at the parks, we spent at Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure.  H has been reading the Harry Potter books this year along with her friends in her classroom.  She's currently about half way through book #5.  (Book #5 is the longest book of the series at almost 1000 pages.)  She has kinda stalled out on book 5, but she still really likes Harry Potter.  We might rent the movies for her this summer if she's interested in seeing them.

Regardless, many of her friends at school have visited Harry Potter world at Universal.  So, since we were going to be there, we thought she should too!  Neither D or I have ever been big Harry Potter fans.  We don't know anything about the books or characters.  So, it was very interesting seeing it through H's eyes.

Universal was a little bit farther away than the Disney parks.  So, we got up and out the door by 7.  We'd heard that as soon as the gates opened, there was a mad dash to Harry Potter world, so we wanted to be there to beat as much of the crowd as we could.  We were at Universal by 8 and the gates opened at 9:00.  Everything that we had read was true.  There was a mad dash from everyone at the gate directly to Harry Potter world.  No one, literally no one, stopped until they were in Harry's world.  It was INSANE!!   Oh, and to make matters even more exciting, Harry's stuff was on the complete OPPOSITE side of the park from the gates.  So, it was quite a hike!

We'd read that the first thing you should do when you get there is wait at Oleander's so that you can get a wand.  There were already about 60 people in line when we got there, but D and H jumped in line as soon as they saw it.  (I, on the other hand, had to go find some stroller parking.)  Due to the fact that Oleander's is so small, they only allow about 20 people in at a time.  So, we had to wait a few cycles.  Since they wouldn't allow strollers in the line or in Oleanders, I had to hold E.  Talk about trouble!  He wanted down, then up, then down, then up...  He swung on the chains...  He took D's hat off his head...  He pulled H's hair...  He got mad b/c I wouldn't put him down so he started hitting.  (oh, this is quite the topic for this trip...  will have to fill you in later)  Anyway, we FINALLY made it into Oleander's.

Waiting in line.  Love the Pluto hat.  D told her that they might not let us in if she was wearing that Pluto hat.  She didn't understand why.  I think he was just trying to get it off her head!  :)

Once we got inside Oleander's, they grouped us in this little room.  The room was filled from top to bottom with little boxes.  Each box contained a wand.  Oleander, himself, was there.  He randomly picked someone out of the crowd and asked her to come to his desk.  He went through a whole skit of the want chosing this girl.  It was really quite neat!  H (and even E) enjoyed it immensely!

After the skit was over, they pushed us on through to the gift shop where we could purchase our own wands.  H wanted to get Harry's wand, so she did.  However, she had to inspect every other wand in the store first.  Crowded doesn't even beging to explain how packed that little store was.  I think the store was about the size of H's bathroom at home.  Insanely tiny.

Next stop...  The Harry Potter ride.  This ride was inside the castle.  I didn't get to ride it, but D and H really seemed to enjoy it.  There was about a 30 minute wait for the ride.  It was one of those simulater type rides, but it was supposed to be extra exciting.  As I was waiting for them to exit, many of the folks coming off the ride were saying that it was either scary or nausea inducing!  Lovely!  D and H didn't complain of any of that though.

While we were waiting for D and H to exit the ride, E and I had a snack.  After two days in the parks already, I was starting to wise up.  The night prior, I decided that I should actually freeze some water bottles and apple juice boxes so that they will stay colder longer.  Duh!!  Why didn't I think of that earlier??

After H was done with the Harry Potter ride, she honored me with her presence on a little roller coaster ride that was adjacent to it.  It was a short little coaster, but it was fun!  I'm glad I was able to actually ride something with her!

One of Harry's favorite snacks is Butterbeer.  So, of course, they sold butterbeer in Harry Potter world.  I won't tell you how much this cup of butterbeer cost.  Let's just say it wasn't cheap, but it was cheaper than the plastic souvineer cup that you could purchase full of butterbeer!  For the record, butterbeer is a cream soda with a marshmallow type top.  It is SUPER sweet, but it was good.  We got the frozen version, so it was more like an Icee.  We had heard it was the best.

So, that about wraps up Harry Potter.  On our way out of Harry Potter land, we stopped at the candy store and the joke shop.  (There are Harry Potter names for these, but I can't recall what they are.)  Also, I have a friend at work who is a HUGE Harry Potter fan and was planning to come visit the park this spring.  Unfortunately, her plans changed and she wasn't able to go.  So, I had H pick out a Harry Potter keychain for her.

We were done with Harry Potter.  The next adventure in Universal was the Jurassic Park area.  D and I rode the Jurassic Park River Adventure ride and the Flying Pteradactal ride.  Luckily, there was a little park by these rides so I could get E out of the stroller and let him run around a bit.  Let me just tell you though, when you try to make that boy do something he doesn't want to do, WATCH OUT!!

He was getting ready to go down some stairs at this little park.  Obviously, he is not capable of doing this on his own, so I picked him up.  He didn't like that very much so he hit me.  This is something that started back up really badly while we were on vacation.  Well, this time, he hit me so hard...  in the face... that it knocked my glasses off!!  I have tried EVERYTHING I can think of to curb this hitting habit.  We've done time out, we've put him down immediately and ignored him, we've yelled at him, etc. (His reaction to this, for the most part, has been to laugh!) I struggle internally a GREAT deal with regards to spanking.  H is eight years old and I have never raised a hand to her.  I haven't had to.  Let me just tell you, I was so ticked when E smacked me this time, I popped his leg.  It stung my hand, so I'm certain it stung his leg.  He was stunned for a few seconds and then started crying.  He had been doing this hitting thing for the past 4 days and I was done.  I couldn't take it anymore.  But, now that I popped him, I felt SOOOO guilty.   I tell ya what though, he thought twice before hitting me again.  :( 

Since we've been back from vacation, he hasn't hit at all.  (He's just pushing his friends now.)  Argh!
After we all regrouped, it was time for lunch.  We at lunch at the Burger shack and it was delicious.  The food there was SO much better than similar food at Disney.  Why is that?  Anyway, we all ate a really good lunch.

After lunch we walked on over to a different area of the park.  The most exciting ride in this area was Dudly Doo-right's Ripsaw Falls.  It had to be the largest, fastest water log ride I've ever seen.  Of course, D and H had to go for it.  It was getting hot so E and I left to find some shade!  It took about an hour for them to ride that ride.  During this time, E fell asleep.  (Yay!)  He took a long nap on this day.  After D and H got off the falls ride, they went to the next water ride, a rapids ride.  E slept during this entire ride too!!

By this point in the afternoon, after three days of family park fun, I was getting pooped.  I wanted to go home.  D and H weren't ready yet though.  We found an ICEE stand and decided to stop for a little refreshment.  Even E at some ICEE!!

After the ICEE, we were off to Seuss land.  All four of us rode the Caroseussal.  (Dr. Seuss Merry-Go-Round)  Dave and Hayden riding two more Seuss rides and that was it.  i was toast!

We left the park and headed back to the resort.  We stopped by Target for some hamburger meat for spaghetti and things for lunch for the next day.  (the next day was our 'rest' day and it was needed)  We cooked dinner, the kids played, we rested for a while and it was time for bed!  Whew!

Other Pictures: