Florida Day 2

We (Zack's parents, sister Amy, plus Zack and I) got up early to get to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure when it opened. We went straight to Harry Potter world and waited in line for a long time to ride the castle ride, which was pretty great (the ride was great, not the line).

Harry Potter world as a whole was way cute. I know I enjoyed it. But it was so so crowded, and while we were there, we decided that there were several things they could've done better to pare down some of the crowds. Oh well. Fun anyway. There are only 3 rides in the Harry Potter section: the castle ride, which we ultimately ended up riding twice; a hippogriff roller coaster, which is "family friendly"-- we chose not to ride that; and a dragon coaster that has 2 "dragons" running at the same time-- high thrills, short line= fabulous ride.

Here are some photo highlights.

The Hogwarts Express

Waiting in line to get into the castle. Here I am in the Hogwart's greenhouse

The Sorting Hat

A funny sign

Hogsmeade

We ate lunch at the 3 Broomsticks

We drank butterbeer... and more butterbeer... and more butterbeer.

Although we spent the bulk of our day in Harry Potter world, Islands of Adventure had other attractions. We saw a really corny Simbad show. We rode the Jurrasic Park ride. Zack and I were wimps and wore ponchos because we didn't want to get wet. We're not big fans of water rides.

Here's Zack by the Incredible Hulk coaster. We never did ride that, but it's a cute picture. I know he'll be just THRILLED about me posting it on here.

The kids' section of the park was Seuss-land and was absolutely adorable. Here's Zack being sad that he doesn't have a star on his belly like the other Sneeches.

The Lorax

One Fish, Two Fish

And, in the spirit of the old people that we are, we wrapped up our theme-parking relatively early in the evening, hit up an Outback Steakhouse for dinner on the way home, and then bummed around for the rest of the evening. I think we watched Megamind. Yay!