(Before I get to the report of the day, a couple of quick messages:
Grandad - good to see the cricket result - hope you had a good day in front of the TV watching it.
Bec - thanks for the comment, and congratulations on the extension to the family!!)
We were up just after six this morning, and amazingly we were all out the door and on the road to Universal by a couple of minutes after seven. Being the lazy souls that we are, and using Nicky's ankle as a convenient excuse, we took advantage of the valet parking at Universal, which meant that we didn't have to do the long walk / travellator ride from the car parks.
We'd ordered our tickets on-line yesterday evening, which saved us a few dollars over the gate price, and went to one of the will call (never quite understood that phrase?!) kiosks, and with a quick swipe of the credit card and entering of our reference number, our tickets were printed out.
And so we joined the first queue of the day - for the entrance turnstiles. Because we'd made such good time, we had about 15 minutes or so to wait for the 8 o'clock park opening time, but it did mean that we were only a couple of families back from the front of the line (although there was a steady flow of Universal resort guests who were getting in early before us).
Once we were allowed through the gates, we were swept along with the tide, through Seuss Landing and the Lost Continent, and to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and straight into the queue for the ride, after a brief bit of pallaver as everyone was being shown the detour at the start of the queue to put all of our bags, hats, cameras and so on into a locker.
The queue itself was pretty impressive once we made it into Hogwarts, passing through various classrooms and studies (sorry, blog being written by non Potter expert!) and we made it onto the ride after about a 30 minute wait.
The ride was great - another one which is a mixture of live action and screens, as the ride vehicle is twisted and turned in all directions. We have the on-ride photo to prove that we all survived it. Sadly one of the few pieces of IT kit that I didn't bring on holiday was a scanner, so that sharing that picture will have to wait until we get home.
The next priority in the land of Potter was Butter-beer! We were confounded when we got to the front of the line and asked for two, as the question came, would we like carbonated or frozen? Playing it safe we went for one of each!
They went down well, and the grown ups were even allowed a sip!
The boys decided that they should both get wands, and so selections were carefully made, and spells have now been cast!
By now Potter-land was getting pretty alarmingly busy, with the line for the ride closed (wait time 90 minutes, but new arrivals needing to pick up a ticket for a return time) and so after a few more photos, we made our retreat.
Stopped off in Seuss Landing to go on the elevated train ride (seeing as it was the first time that we had ever seen it operating) and then Owen and I tackled the Hulk coaster whilst Nicky and Jake went on the Accelatron.
Again we have the on-ride Hulk coaster picture to prove it, but that will have to wait.
We were on a mission to get one more ride done - Spiderman. By now the queue was up to 50 minutes, but it was worth the wait. First time on this ride for both Owen and Jake (seeing as Jake was only three when Nicky and I last went on it!).
By this point we were well and truly ready for a sit down and some sustinence, and so we grabbed an early lunch of nuggets and chips and rested our weary legs.
Over lunch we decided that moving parks was the thing to do, and so we made our way over to Universal Studios, and made a beeline for the Simpsons ride. The line was pleasingly short (I think that Potter is making the lines longer generally at IOA) and soon we were zooming around Krustyland, although I have to confess that my simulator-meter was getting perilously close to the red zone by now.
Next door to the Simpsons is the Men In Black ride. This one again had lockers, and staff insisting that everything needed to be stowed away before riding (which was very strange given that the ride is considerably tamer than others which don't have this requirement). The queue for the lockers was chaotic and long, so I took this as an opportunity to suggest that I be left sat quietly on a bench with all the stuff whilst the others went on the ride (does this mean I am turning into Nanny?!?).
The MIB ride was deemed a success, and Nicky claimed the highscore!
Wandering along the top end of the park, we wondered what to do next. The line for Jaws looked pretty long, and so we headed for the Disaster ride. The line here was about 30 minutes, and just before we went inside the heavens opened, but we managed to stay under cover. The ride is a revamped version of the old Earthquake ride, with some new audience participation and storyline, but still with the subway car ending with the floods and fires.
When we came out of the ride it was still chucking it down, so we dashed over to the bakery across the street and had some cakes whilst we waited for it to stop. It didn't take too long to pass, and soon enough we were on our way.
Our final choices for the day were the Beetlejuice review, the Twister experience, and the Shrek movie - all good fun.
By now we were pretty much done in, and so after a look around the shops we headed for the exit. Dinner was at Bubba Gumps - I won't relay the entire list of choices (again for fear of being accused of turning into Nanny!) but I will just report that I had clam chowder.
On the way home we popped in to Walgreens to pick up some provisions, as well as some new sunglasses for Nicky, as her previous pair had not survived the Spiderman ride.
Amazingly, the boys had enough energy left for a trip to the pool, but are tucked up in bed now. No alarms are being set for tomorrow morning, and hopefully no-one will text us in the middle of the night (mentioning no names Heather!!).