Our second park day was at Island of Adventure - an offshoot of Universal. Since the parks are great at one thing - making money - they figured out that if you split something across two parks it'll make people buy park hopper passes so that they can experience the full "world". So, for example, Harry Potter is split across both Universal and Island of Adventure. You can see Diagon Alley and ride a few rides at Universal, and then you have to get on the Hogwarts Express to journey to Island of Adventure where you can visit Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. Smart...gotta give it to them! But, I knew it would be unlikely that we'd want to spend enough time doing rides ands standing in line to make a park hopper pass worth it. After a little research we decided on Island of Adventure and all in all, I am really happy with the choice. It was clear that the parks had put a lot of time and energy (and money) into making this area of the park amazing - and it was definitely the most crowded area of the entire park.
We upgraded our tickets to allow us to use the express lanes (worth it, though, if I had it to do over again, we didn't ALL need the upgraded tickets). I think in the end, Dad went on only one ride for the entire day. Dan went out a few more than that, and I was only on 5 rides myself. So, paying for all of us to have the upgraded tickets probably wasn't worth it - I'd say "next time" but honestly, I'm not sure if we'll be back again for quite some time. We're hoping we can check "Disney" off the kids bucket lists. We'll see!
Since I knew the rides would likely make me sick, the three things I personally wanted to experience were:
- Get the kids wands and help them do magic (this was really really cool and worth the cost!)
- Have a Butterbeer (the kids didn't like it at all....surprisingly because they are basically a cup full of sugar)
- Walk around and be able to see all the decorations/recreations etc.
While Erin, Mom and Ryan went on one of the bigger rides (Jurassic Park - Ryan said it was his top 2 lifetime favorite ride...and only because he wanted to give room in his scale for a FUTURE ride)...Dan, Dad and I took the kids to Oleanders where we watched a wand picking ceremony (did you know that the wand actually picks you?). Unfortunately the kids weren't picked for the show, but they did promptly funnel you into the giftshop where each person could pick their own wand (or rather...the wand could pick you - LOL!). It was really quite cool. Abby ended up selecting a wand that is carved with vines (turns out it's the same wand Hermoione uses in the books) and Hazel picked one that had a pink jeweled handle. The wands themselves are cool, but the true genius lies in the tips. Each of the wands has a special sensor built in that interacts with areas of Hogsmede. So, as you walk around the town there are window displays (marked by gold medallions in the ground) where you can use your wand to cast spells and make the windows move/change/interact with you. Even as an adult, I gotta say, it was cool!
Abby did amazing at this park. There were quite a few big rides that she was big enough to go on (unfortunately Hazel was a few inches too short for many of the rides even WITH the cute hairstyle I gave her for the day trying to make her seem taller). But Abby was so brave that she went right alongside Ryan, Erin and Mom on nearly every ride. I think last year's few trips to Great America were good for her and she's slowing getting more and more brave and more excited to try out the big rides and roller coasters. She's not quite ready to do the upside down rides, but I bet it won't take her long to be willing to try.
Man I love these stinkers so much!
Our final ride of the day was a water ride. The grandparents decided to sit this one out and while I knew we'd end up soaking wet and cold, I figured I'd live with whimsy and join them on the ride. Turns out I was right....wet (really wet) and cold, are exactly how to describe it. It probably wasn't QUITE warm enough for this ride (low 70's) but we were headed home so I figured what the heck.
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