Day 7: Islands of Adventure/ Harry Potter Land

We had decided before that there was no way we could fly all the way to Florida and not go see Harry Potter land! I was so excited! It is at Islands of Adventure which is right next to Universal Studios. It only took us twenty minutes to get there from our hotel so that was awesome! When we got there we went straight to the Harry Potter area as that gets crowded the fastest. In the Hogwarts Castle was the main ride. There were free lockers to put your stuff in because you can't take any bags with you. After we checked our bags we started walking through the Castle. It was so cool looking. The pictures talk to you and move just like in the movie. The sorting hat talks to you, you walk through a classroom where Harry, Ron and Hermione are projected into and they talk to you. I really felt like I was at Hogwarts. Of course I didn't take my camera! I was so mad, but we thought we would do the single rider line so it would be faster and I could take pictures then. Except the line skips everything! We only saw the sorting hat again and the talking pictures so I at least got pictures of those. The ride was really fun, it can definitely make you a little dizzy going on it two times in a row, but we all loved it! The outside of the Castle was really cool to look at. They did a great job building.

 

We were able to see Hagrid's house while we waited in line for the kid roller coaster, which was actually very fun!

 

Hogsmeade wasn't as large as I thought it would be. There weren't very many shops that you could actually go in either, but the atmosphere was still really fun. You could buy post cards and there was a place you could take them and they would stamp it from Hogsmeade. When you went into the bathroom you could hear Myrtle talking. It was kind of creepy. In the movie she is a ghost who stays in the bathroom.

Ollivander's Wand Shop, You could go inside and someone from the group will get chosen to get a free wand and have the wand pick you like in the movie. The line was very long so we didn't do it, but you could go in the store in another door to see all the wands. There were robes, scarfs and other things for each "house" that you could buy for lots and lots of money!

The Three Broomsticks. This is where Harry, Ron and Hermione would go to get their butterbeer. They serve it warm with other weird foods that were on the menu. It didn't look very appetizing to me.

In the joke shop I found this and laughed. The constipation medication. There were things in there from the movies that looked kind of fun to buy, but we didn't buy anything sadly.

Below are pictures of Honey Duke's Candy Shop. It got my mouth watering for yummy treats. They had chocolate covered frogs, pumpkin juice and all sorts of other candies that you could buy. It was decorated really cute inside.

My brother Tim and his wife Ashli had been here before and they told us how good the cold butterbeer drink was. We couldn't wait to try it and I have to say that I could drink it all day long. It tastes like butterscotch with cream on top. It is like a slushy almost. I didn't know what to expect, but it was so good. We had to go back later in the day to get more because I loved it so much and I didn't know when I was going to get back here so I might as well drink up!

CJ was so cute to take the kids on rides. They would ask when we were going on a ride that they could go on so CJ would get Wyatt and go ride some rides. I have the best hubby! Beckett was big enough this time to go on the kid coaster so he came too.

After we thought we had spent enough time in Hogsmeade we decided we better explore the rest of the park. There was a Jurassic Park area that had a water ride. Luckily I was in the very middle and hardly got wet. We ate lunch here and it was really good.

In Toon Lagoon there was a raft water ride where you get drenched. On other rides like this you can possibly come out with only a few drops on you, but this one you get soaked wherever you are sitting. People were taking their shirts, shoes and socks off for the ride. A lot of people were wearing swim suits to go on it! We decided to wear our ponchos. I know, I felt really lame, but I did not want to walk around the rest of the day sopping wet. In Florida it is so humid that you don't dry no matter how long it has been. It was very fun though, even more so because I was dry after!

Below is Marvel Super Hero Island. They have a Spiderman ride that is very similar to Indiana Jones. It was really fun. There were other fun rides and stores to look at. 

While we were on the Spiderman ride they brought out these bikes and put them in the street. We waited for a few minutes and then Spiderman, Captain America, Storm, and two other characters jumped on them and drove off. It was fun to watch.

Seuss Landing was probably my favorite section in the park after Harry Potter Land. They had it decorated so cute and the rides were fun. It was for little kids, but I still enjoyed it. There was a store with all the Dr. Seuss books and stuffed characters. There was a store just for the Grinch that was cute.

The Grinch was really fun to watch and my nephew Beckett asked him "Are you nice now?" It was so cute. As you can tell from the picture above, he is still a little naughty.