Woo Hoo! Universal Day 3!
We were up again bright and early to head to Universal Studios Florida - that was the park we decided to concentrate on that day.
Bri was ready in her Minion shirt...
We decided to forgo breakfast again (I'm sure some of you are shaking your heads about that - oh well, we were on vacation). Grabbed the shuttle bus at 7:15 again.
Walked down the long moving sidewalks to get to CityWalk...
We had to walk again through CityWalk (Google image below)...
Stopped for a cute photo opp though...
We finally reached Universal Studios Florida. It was pretty chilly and foggy that morning...
Waiting for the gates to open...
Everyone wandered (some sprinted) to the back of the park to get to Diagon Alley...
Triple decker bus again...
Welcome, welcome once again...
Instead of walking into the Gringotts ride that day, we hit a long line. We were quite confused about that because there weren't that many people there yet and we walked right in the day before. Well, we realized quickly that the ride wasn't working and it wasn't open yet. Employees were explaining that they didn't know when it would open.
The good news for us - we had ridden it twice the day before. The bad news - there wasn't much else to do there until we needed to go to the train (we planned to head to the train station to get to the Hogsmeade side again by 9AM). I really enjoyed Diagon Alley, but the only ride in Diagon is Gringotts and the rest is just shopping and restaurants. And, we did kind of want to ride Gringotts again. We decided to just wait in line and see what happened. If we had to leave the line to get to the station, then we would. About 10 minutes later, the ride luckily did open and we got on pretty quickly...
Briana really wanted to stop in the Weasleys' Joke Shop before heading to Hogsmeade...
The attention to detail in there (actually in every little crevasse of Harry Potter World) was astounding...
Back to Kings Cross Station for the train...
Once in Hogsmeade, we went straight to the "Flight of the Hippogriff." We only had to wait about 5 minutes this time. We missed it the day before because of the long wait...
Then we popped over to the Jurassic Park section really quickly (Camp Jurassic) to get on the Pteranodon Flyers (we had missed that one too the day before due to wait time)...
The Pteranodon Flyers is a kid ride. The only adults allowed on the ride are the ones accompanying a child. Two women really wanted to get on it and were told it was only for kids.
Luckily, I had a kid!
Bri and I waited about 15 minutes to get on it (Doug didn't get on), and it was totally worth it! I actually really loved it myself. It's a bummer they don't make one for adults too!
Really fun...
After that, it was time for a big cookie. Eating big cookies for breakfast on vacation is totally ok...
We walked back to Hogsmeade so we could catch the train back to Diagon Alley/Universal Studios Florida.
We grabbed a Butterbeer on the way...
Hogsmeade station...
We hadn't seen the "scenery" out the window on the way to Diagon Alley yet.
(FYI - when you are are in the train car, make sure you also look on the side where the door is too. There will be shadows of Harry Potter characters interacting opposite the window. It is like they are standing in the corridor of the train)...
Finally, we arrived in Diagon Alley.
We left Diagon Alley to start venturing into the Universal Studios Florida main park. We came across a cool construction worker act (The Beat Builders) where the San Francisco section turns into the New York section...
Doug and I were a kind of hungry (Bri was still full from her big cookie), so we stopped in Louie's Italian Restaurant (in the New York section) for a quick bite to eat...
Because it was only around 11AM, the restaurant wasn't too crowded at all. And Miss "I'm Not Very Hungry" did end up stealing food from both Doug's and my plates - heh.
Well, this seems to be a good place to stop this post. Next, I'll get into lots of other stuff that Universal Studios Florida has to offer.
1 Kind Words:
Sounds and looks like you all had a great time. We went 2 thanksgivings ago for 2days. Loved the memories your pictures brought back.
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