Saturday morning we woke up bright and early and were out the door by 7:15. Because we were staying on site, we had express passes for all rides with the exception of the Harry Potter rides (the best ones). However, we did get early admission to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure. So we were able to get into the park an hour early.
As soon as they let us in, we went straight to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Sam wasn't tall enough so I waited in the child swap room while Tom took Ellie and Jack. Poor Sam was so furious he could not ride. I was so relieved when Tom returned so I could pass Sam off to him and go on the ride myself with Ellie and the kids!
We then rode Flight of the Hippogriff together as a family. The other park, Universal Studios, opened at 9 so we stood in line for Hogwarts Express at 8:45. The kids and I loved Hogwarts Express! So realistic.
When we got to Universal Studios, we stopped to take pictures with the Knight Bus Conductor. The shrunken head in the bus talks to you and responds personally to your questions and comments. It was pretty cool.
We then went into Diagon Alley. This was our first time to see Diagon Alley and it was AWESOME! We rode Escape from Gringotts (poor Sam had to child swap again) and then explored the Alley. We went to Gringotts Bank to exchange our Muggle money for Wizarding money.
Ok, I was going to do a play by play of what rides we went on like I did for my Disney posts, but I just don't feel like it. We loved Universal. I think we might have liked it more than Disney. It was a much more relaxed pace and not near as crowded. Also, we had express passes so we didn't have to stress about wait times and getting to rides at certain times.
Most of the rides at Universal required you to be 40" to ride. Sam was exactly 40" but they never believed us so they would measure at the door and then again before loading on the ride.
I think they felt he was probably too young for those rides because many are very visual, but Sam is a different sort of kid. He doesn't get scared, but he will get furious if he sees his siblings do something without him. Anyway, it was fun being able to do the majority of the rides together as a family.
As for food, one day we ate at Three Broomsticks and the second day we ate at the Leaky Cauldron. Ellie and I were in Harry Potter heaven eating there!
The second day, we left the park by 3:00 because we felt we had already seen and done everything at both Universal parks and we were ready to get on the road. We drove to Tallahassee where we stopped for the night. Tom was getting sick at this point so he slept while I took the kids swimming. We then took the kids to dinner at Steak n Shake, but it was cut short by a major Sam meltdown. Everyone went to bed early that night!
The next day, we had a long drive home. Tom was sick, but still refused to let me drive. Let's just say it was a long drive home that included a stop at Chick-fil-A where I had to carry a kicking and screaming Sam out to the van while everyone stared. Then he got loose and ran into traffic. Not my best moment. We were all extremely relieved when we pulled into our driveway.
So, looking back, the vacation was definitely the most exhausting one I have ever been on and all the sickness made it a little stressful. We were together 24/7 for over a week, even all sleeping in the same small room, and it was a bit much at times, but I would do it all again in a heartbeat. We really did have so much fun together as a family.
