Orlando Day 2

Our package with Universal included early admission to the park and 2 breakfasts in the park. Our first breakfast was for the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. That's on the Islands of Adventure side of the park.

We got up bright and early, donned our Harry Potter themed tanks and headed to the park gates.
We stopped for a few pictures along the way :)

We arrived to Hogsmeade and oh my land- it was all so real! We walked right on to the front row of the blue coaster for Dragon Challenge. Then got off to go immediately back onto the front row of the red coaster. I love riding coasters, so knocking 2 out in our first 15 minutes in the park really set the tone for the day :)

We then got in line for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. It's a super high-tech dark ride that's known world-ride for what the Universal creative team accomplished. It was amazing. It's not your traditional coaster so even the non-coaster-lovers in our group happily rode.

That's me covering my eyes at a scary part. I tried to last through it every time but just couldn't. All I can say is that spiders were involved and this girl doesn't do spiders!

By then it was time for our breakfast reservation but we hopped onto Flight of the Hippogriff first. It's a mini coaster- just a lap bar deal. But for true HP fans, you have to ride it to get the best view of the Hippogriff and Hagrid's cottage.

The breakfast was delicious! We weren't sure what to expect of the theme-park quick service but it was delightful!

We explored Hogsmeade a bit more- the girls bought their wands and we tried out the interactive spell spots. Turns out we are NOT naturals. Haha!

Honeydukes!

We would have ridden the Hogwarts Express to Diagon Alley (aka Universal Studios) but it was down at the moment. So we explored more of IoA first.

We rode the Hulk (love that coaster!!), posed with Thor, and wandered through Seussland and Toon Lagoon.

We grabbed a fast lunch in the cafe right by the Hulk and continued exploring.

We got to Universal Studios and explored some before making Twister our first ride. As far as rides go, it's definitely one for the chopping block. I totally get why it was awesome when it first opened but the technology needs to be updated. Rumor is that's exactly what's going to happen it so I am glad we rode before it's gone forever. I'm also a huge Twister fan and used to play storm-chasers with my sisters on our bikes. So you know, nerd alert.

We wandered up to Diagon Alley and while the detail is just as exquisite we were not AS impressed. The crowds our weekend were some of the slowest of the year yet Diagon Alley was PACKED. It's a tighter space just by nature of design so it feels crowded a lot sooner. It's also obviously the most popular part of that park so every.one. is there.

Your public entrance to the Ministry of Magic!

Weasley's shop

We waited (for the first and only time that day) to ride Escape from Gringotts. It was ok. After the Forbidden Journey it was much less exciting and then our ride had a small glitch that kind of ruined the mood at the end. Plus we went back row at the asinine suggestion of a ride attendant. We decided to give it another try later but moved on pretty quickly (though the queue area was phenomenal).

Wave your wand right and the poor folks under the umbrella will get quite wet!

Then we explored more of the park: Rode the Transformers, Simpsons, and Men in Black rides. We grabbed dinner at a quick service restaurant there (Mel's Drive-In, yummy cheese fries!). We wandered and meandered for a bit to kill time since we wanted to see Universal's evening show. Finally Kari and I decided to just bite the bullet and do it. We rode the Rip-Ride-Rocket.

Lawsy- that coaster was hands down one of the most fun I've ever ridden. You pick a song to listen to while you ride. She and I chose to have the same song and selected Beastie Boy's Sabotage. So basically we're careening through the night with laser lights flashing on our car and track while jamming out to Beastie Boys. Want to feel like a badass? Do that!

We settled onto a park bench for the anniversary lights, water, and fireworks show. It was totally cool and amazing what they could do with their fancy special effects. All the lights in the park are dimmed so you can see the film montage played on screens of running water. The fountains in the lagoon are lit and synchronized to the soundtrack and fireworks go off at the climatic moments. Definitely worth hanging around for!

So to sum up day 2: we explored every inch of both parks, walked over 10 miles, rode almost every major ride, and were thoroughly impressed. And sore. Just a teensy bit sore. :)