Since I don't scrapbook, sometimes I use this blog as a photo journal. This is one of those days.
My two sweet sons surprised me with a trip to Universal Studios / Islands of Adventure (focus on Harry Potter) this week for my birthday gift. They and my husband had all been previously but this was my first time. Needless to say, I had a fully charged camera battery for this outing. :) The three of us have enjoyed all the HP movies; my younger son and I had fun reading all the books (I finally read them all this past summer); my husband was really interested in just seeing the park since he had been only once. This was going to be fun for everyone. Come along and re-enjoy it with us. There are some videos from YouTube embedded in some of the links.
NOTE: If you're planning a trip to this theme park, take some cash. Parking is $15.00 but it is covered garage parking. Some meals are less expensive than others and portions are large enough to share in some cases. Expect to spend $10+ for souvenirs if you want any.
We started out with the Spiderman ride (similar in feel to Star Tours at Disney) and walked through Jurassic Park. The theme for each movie you pass through is playing throughout the park.
The cartoon Cathy by Cathy Guisewite is one of my favorites. I wasn't expecting to see her here.
I thought that just walking through the big gate in Jurassic Park was pretty neat.
The new
Wizarding World of Harry Potter (WWofHP) section of the park was the main attraction for us and where we spent the most time. My husband took the day off from work (he could only stay 1/2 the day though), my younger son worked ahead in his schoolwork and my older one skipped one college class so we could all go on a Tuesday rather than the weekend. What a wonderful, fun-filled day we had.
I took about 300 photos, so here are some of the highlights:
WWofHP is divided into two sections...
Here we are in a not-too-long line waiting to get into the thrill ride at Hogswarts. You can also skip the ride and just walk through this which I did the 2nd time around after my husband had to head home. Being a Tuesday, we literally walked right in the 2nd time. I was then able to go very slowly and take flash photos.
There's so much to see inside the school but it's pretty dark. Here's the talking Sorting Hat...
And a few familiar faces talk to you as well...Dumbledore...
...Harry, Ron and Hermione.
...the fat lady at the entrance to Griffyndor dorm.
The
Forbidden Journey ride is quite turbulent but really thrilling. To go on the ride, they require you to put all loose items that won't fit into your pockets into a locker (free during the ride). I had never seen a locker system like this. It locks and reopens using your fingerprint. It would be an easy way for Homeland Security to see who's in the park. My back cracked 3x on this ride but felt great the whole day! Be aware if you are sensitive to this sort of thing. You don't completely turn upside down, but almost... let's just say I was glad to NOT know this before riding it and VERY glad to be in a harness rather than just a seatbelt.
We walked all through Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley, got our Butterbeer and went into the gift shops. Butterbeer really IS delicious. $3.50 a cup; $4.50 if you get the frozen; $10.00 if you buy the souvenir mug. I kept our plastic cups. :) I found
this recipe for butterbeer online and we are definitely going to try it soon. If you google
butterbeer recipe there are
many others as well.
The only thing missing in the candy shop was that little old lady with the rolling cart asking Do you want some sweets, dearie? :)
As with all gift shops, souvenirs are quite pricey.
Wands are about $30.00 and there are about 12 to choose from named after each main HP character. My younger son was telling us whose wand was whose and we were quite impressed until we realized he was reading the labels which we could not see at the time. :) These colorful scarves were about $35.00. I couldn't believe I saw a man buy a $100 Hogwarts student robe for his son for Halloween!
Just before lunch we went back to Jurassic Park and rode the
River Adventure ride. There is a very high drop and a BIG splash. My husband lost his favorite autographed cap in the water. :( It had been signed by
Rubens Barrichello (if you know who that is). He had had lunch with him at Disney last year and had gotten this hat at that time. He took it pretty well that his special cap was lost "forever"...
We had lunch and then about an hour later went back to look one more time for the cap. We even prayed about this and what do you know? He found the cap floating in the water! An employee spent about 20 minutes and got very wet while he retrieved it out of the water for us. :) I contacted Universal after we got home to let them know what he did that day.
My husband had to leave after lunch so my sons and I went back to the WWofHP. I walked through the ride while my sons rode it again and was able to get some good flash photos of the darkened rooms. It's a shame they don't have a bit more light in these rooms because there is so much detail that you miss walking through. Most of the pictures on the wall talk to you.
I'm pretty much a wimp about heights, drops, going too fast but got talked into going on a roller coaster with my sons--Flight of the Hippogriff--it was not too bad. High, but over in a few minutes. I would have missed seeing Buckbeak if I hadn't gone on it.
Once we got to this height I put my camera down, held on and screamed.
Our sons had already gone on the
Dueling Dragons roller coaster with their dad but wanted to go again. No way was I getting on that one, so I took photos of them riding it.
We stopped at
Dervish and Banges and had only about a 3-minute wait to get inside. The line for Olivander's Wandmaker Shop was around the building. People don't realize that the stores are CONNECTED, so if you go to Olivander's and the line is long, take the back entrance.
One more butterbeer and a few photos and that was our outing at the WWofHP.
I found an affordable souvenir at Dervish and Banges--this Hogwarts pin, about $9.00. I'm wearing it to the HP7 premiere with my younger son in a couple of weeks! :)
Since this was my first trip to this theme park, my sons wanted to show me the other side so we walked through Universal Studios, went on the Jaws water ride and did the Men in Black shooting ride. Very fun and similar to the Buzz Lightyear shooting ride in the Magic Kingdom. In this one you shoot different aliens rather than Zorg and your score tallies up throughout the ride.
What's nice when your kids get older, is that THEY drive you home and YOU can sleep in the back seat. :) All in all, a very memorable birthday gift for me and an outpouring of love and generosity from my two sons (and my husband). My older son worked out a barter for our tickets and they shared the costs of food, parking, etc. I think I have the most thoughtful sons in the world. We had talked about doing this over the last few months and they remembered that I wanted to go and made it happen. :) I so enjoy family events and time shared together even moreso than the boxed gifts (although I still do like presents :) :) :)
Truly a day I won't forget.
]. Happy Birthday. 
