My sweet babies were a BIT tired the next morning...
I kind of wish we would have had more time to explore this beautiful property, but we woke up and headed out to spend another day at Universal. (I mentioned in the previous post about staying on property, and it was definitely worth it for us. Kevin had learned that by staying on property, you were eligible to get "Unlimited Passes" (that let you go in a shorter line on almost every ride) on the day you check in AND the day you check out. The passes were $99 per person, per day, which was crazy and would have cost our family a total of $800. By staying on property (which was an extra $200 above Kevin's hotel credits), we were able to get the passes for "free". Or $200 rather than $800!)
Colby wanted me to hold him as we waited for the water taxi at 9 AM, so I figured we were in for a long day, but he was totally fine once we got going in the park. I was relieved, haha!
As we entered Universal Studios, we saw the characters from Scooby Doo...
And some classic cars outside a 50's diner...
Brooke said, "Send these pictures to Papa and tell him I got a new car." She knows Papa Meador loves classic cars and would appreciate her selections :) Once outside the diner, Kevin decided that he needed an "emergency cheeseburger", which has become a family joke. I wasn't hungry at 10:30 in the morning, but we all sampled his fries and chocolate shake.
Once we were all fueled, we checked out the Despicable Me Minion experience, Revenge of the Mummy, Fast and the Furious, and Transformers.
We took another picture by the Night Bus, with Colby pretending to be Harry...
We then rode the Hogwarts Express over to Islands of Adventure for some lunch at the Three Broomsticks. My Rotisserie Chicken Salad was pretty terrible (and overpriced), but Kevin enjoyed his meal and the kids loved the tall cups of fruit.
And of course, the experience was totally fun :) Can't wait to watch the movies again and say, "Hey, I've eaten there!"
We checked out the Flight of the Hippogriff, Hagrid's Magical Motorbike (again), Skull Island: Reign of Kong...
Then it was off to The Amazing Adventures of Spider-man, the Cat in the Hat, and the Caro-Seuss-el...
The whole Dr. Seuss area was really adorable...
My BRAVE girl!! She'd been saying that she wanted to ride the Hulk before we ever made it to Orlando, but seeing it in person was a whole other story. It looked so fast and scary, and was actually closed down due to storms in the area. She was unsure about the whole thing, but we waited around to see if they would open again and when they finally did and she realized she could be the first one on, she agreed to go. I was so emotional watching her walk away. It takes a lot of courage to do something scary. I waited on pins and needles for her to come out (while listening to Colby complain about how unfair it was that he wasn't tall enough), and guess what?? She loved it!!
As we walked past Hogwarts one last time, I asked someone to take our picture. As soon as I looked at it, I felt a big lump in my throat. Our family has been anticipating this trip for months and since we've been so immersed in all things Harry Potter the last few years, it was pretty amazing to take a trip like this and experience it all with our kids.
Before we left Universal, the kids wanted to pick out some souvenirs. (Months ago, Kevin and I explained that we would buy their wands, but if they wanted other stuff, they would need to pay for it themselves. During those few months, they saved nearly everything they earned and had about $30 each.) Colby talked constantly about wanting to buy a Nimbus 2000, but in the end decided on a zap gun from the Minions Store. Brooke wanted the the time-turner necklace from the Harry Potter store and a few other things, but in the end went for a Secret Life of Pets stuffed beagle. Totally not what I was expecting, but they were sure happy :)
And that was a wrap on day two in Universal! Couldn't have planned this picture any better if I would have tried :)
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