Disney World Trip - Day at Universal Studios - Island of Adventure

The title for this one is a little weird because our over all trip was to Disney, but our second day was at Universal.

When planning our trip we wrestled with whether or not to rent a car. Staying at a Disney resort made most things easier, but they don't make it easy for you to visit their competitor. We could have rented a car from the airport, but then we would have to either keep it the whole time, or return it during the week and ride the bus back to the resort. We weren't sure if the bus would take us back and forth if we weren't flying in or out (they check your airline tickets before you get on at either end). Another option would be to rent a car from Disney, as they have a car rental place inside their property. But the time it would take to get to the rental place and get the car would eat into our amusement park time. So, we decided to take a taxi. Fair warning: this isn't cheap, but it is the easiest way. We paid about $40 there and $50 on the way back. The increase in price was due to traffic. It makes me think that the price would be much higher in the summer when there is a lot more park traffic.

But we got to Universal right when it opened and got our ticket for the Islands of Adventure park. We opted to get only one park because we were there primarily for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. From advise I'd read online I knew that the big Harry Potter ride was the most popular ride in the park and so we had to get to it first. The theory is to get to the park when it opens, to immediately to HP ride and ride it two times and then start looking at the rest of the park. The article I read said that the line for HP can get up to FOUR HOURS long and so you get it done right away before the line is bad.

We half walked/half ran our way to the HP area of the park (along with everyone else...like seriously it's kind of weird because you're in a big group of people completely passing by all the other rides). The first thing you see is the little snowy town of Hogsmeade, which is so cute!

It's a little weird to see the 'snow' and not be cold. But while everyone started walking slow to look at the shops we just went straight to the back to the big ride. They did such a good job with Hogwarts, thanks to Instagram my picture of it looks pretty good (kind of sad that my iphone + instragram got a better picture than my expensive camera!)

It was pretty fun to see the reaction of all the adults walking up to it... it was pretty much the same reaction all the little girls make when they see the Disney Cinderella castle for the first time ("I knew it was REAL!"). The designers of the ride did a great job making the line you wait in interesting. The beginning of the line is more like a normal ride, rows back and forth to slowly walk through. I'm so glad we just walked by all these rows!

After you get done with this part you get to enter the castle and the fun starts. They have so much stuff from the movies to look at while you wait it makes the wait part of the fun. Most of my pictures didn't come out great because we were walking through it so fast.

These pictures move and talk, but the impressive part is that they don't look like computer screens, the surface had brush strokes and didn't look like glass.

Dumbledore's office...sorry this guy is in the way

This picture cracks me up because I got the timing just right...she was talking a bunch but this looks like she's posing for the picture. :)

Sorting Hat was pretty cool looking.

We ended up riding the ride twice and then a third time later on in the day. The line was never more than 20 mins. I have to say it was the best ride of the trip. It makes sense, since it's newer and therefore has better technology. It really swings you around though. Universal provides lockers at the front for all your bags/purses/ect. The lockers are only free for a while, then they charge you. We noticed the time period that they are free adjusted to how long the line for the ride was. When we first got there the line was 15 mins long and the locker was free for 30 mins. The second time through the line the wait was 30 mins and the lockers were free for 45 mins. I thought that trick was pretty smart of Universal. Basically if you're using them as intended, you don't pay. But if you want to keep your stuff there all day while you walk around then they will charge you.

After the big ride we decided to go grab a Butterbeer... and by we I mean LJ. It was a little chilly outside and he got the frozen version. I wanted a cut picture... for some reason pictures of LJ normally turn into a series of goofy ones before I get a good shot:

Brain Freeze!

LJ, where are you looking?

I call this his grinch smile...the corners of his moth curve up so high! (And still not looking at the camera.)

Finally a good one...but I wish the lady in the background was wearing clothes that fit.

 We then took the time to see the rest of the park. I'm not going to write much about it because honestly, in comparison it was kind of ... eh. I did find a poster that showed you all the old coat of arms for English names. I found Decker! Apparently we're kings of stags? 

We finished the rest of Islands of Adventure fairly quick and went back to HP world for lunch at the Three Broomsticks. It was pretty cool inside. I love all the detail.

Love the Butterbeer 'on tap' next to the real beer :)

 The food was actually pretty good. And mine was pretty healthy for an amusement park. LJ had fish n'chips while I had the chicken, corn & potatoes (mine was with cider instead of Butterbeer - FYI the 'cider' isn't hot, it's pretty much just apple juice...stick with the Butterbeer).

Next we took our time looking at Hogsmeade. Lots of little details to take in.

Some of the stores are just false fronts (you can't actually go in) but the detail in the window displays are pretty neat.

This little guy was moving around and shrieking on and off

And the typical "I'm pretending to be cold because the roof has snow on it" picture :)

Zonko's is an actual store you can go in, it's pretty cute.

They even have a choir that sing with their big frogs. It's not the greatest show in the world but if you're strolling along anyways it's worth listening to. But can someone tell me why this guy in the Nike pullover thinks it's ok to wear shorts that short? EWWWWWW

Eventually we'd seen all there was to see and it was time to go. We were done with the whole park by 5pm and so we headed over to Bubba Gump for dinner (located in the Universal version of Downtown Disney that is right outside the park).

This was our first time, and I see why people like the place so much. Good food, good service and a fun atmosphere.

See those two in the picture on the left? They work on my floor. It was so weird to see them on the insert.

I had the salmon skillet with rice and veggies...yummm. LJ had the shrimp po'boy (I kept forgetting to take a picture of his food too!)

 After dinner we stopped by AMC (across from Bubba Gump) to check out the new Bond film. We really liked it.

So we got to visit Harry Potter world, eat at Bubba Gump and see 007 all in the same day. Definitely a day to remember. :)