Day 2: Islands of Adventure

Day 2 of our trip was our first full day at Islands of Adventure.  However, since Universal Studios opened an hour earlier, we decided to go back there first.  The boys wanted to ride the Escape from Gringotts again and I wanted to spend some quality time in Diagon Alley before it got too crowded.  This section of the park is packed by around 9:15, so from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. I had plenty of room to explore.  

My first stop was to the "Knight Bus."  I had planned to get a quick picture with Stan Shunpike, but instead I ended up having a delightful conversation with the shrunken head and Mr. Shunpike - who has to be an improv actor.  This was a great experience!

We snuck a peek at the back of the bus.



No. 12 Grimmauld Place.  If you knock on the front door, Kreacher pokes his head out from behind the curtain.



Do you see the lady in the pink shorts?  This is entrance to Diagon Alley!  The next several pictures were all taken inside Diagon Alley.

Whilst exploring I happened upon this giant snake in the window.  I hate snakes, so naturally I made Finn and Sam get their picture made in front of it.  I instructed the boys to "look scared."  About the time they were getting ready to pose for the picture, the dragon atop Gringotts let out a load roar which truly scared Finn.  So I was happily able to capture a real reaction.



Knockturn Alley was my favorite.  Again, it is a huge area that we just stumbled upon.  It is dark and spooky back there. Borgin and Burkes had a vanishing cabinet, Mad Eye Moody's travel trunk, and all sorts of dark wizarding souvenirs.







The Leaky Cauldron - so neat!





Gigi worked really hard for this photo!

Once the crowds started pouring in, we opted out and went back to the front of the park where Finn, Michael, Grandad and Gigi rode the Rockit.  It is apparently the most intense ride in the Universal Universe.  Sam wasn't big enough to ride, so I waited outside with him.  Much to Finn's chagrin, I never made it back to ride.  Finn's unspoken moto in life is "misery loves company."

Sam and I waiting outside of the Rockit ride. Once we were all back together we rode Race Through New York City with Jimmy Fallon.  Collectively, this was one of our favorites.  The graphics were really smooth, we were had a shark encounter and we landed on the moon.  Plus, it was really silly and fun - which the boys appreciated.  The ride queue was cool - it was like you were inside the Tonight Show Studio. It was a nice surprise and we rode this over and over!

It was finally time to head over to Islands of Adventure. Because the new Hagrid Motorbike ride opened in Islands that same day we were not able to take the Hogwarts Express over to the other park.  So we entered Islands of Adventure from the front entrance and made our way around.  Our first stop was to Spiderman - another favorite.  Then we rode King Kong Skull Island for the first time. 

Next it was time to enter the Jurassic Park area.  We spent a lot of time at Jurassic Park. Our first ride was the Pteranodon Fliers. This ride was specifically for people shorter than 52 inches. The only way an adult could ride is if you had a child with him/her. We decided to let Finn (who was too tall to ride on his own) to ride with Sam.  They thought it was so neat to wait in line without us and ride completely unsupervised. 

After the ride they played in the kid's play/climbing area for a good long while.  I have to admit that this a really fun and intricate play area for kids.  But for parents it is a bit nerve-wracking. Once you lose sigh of them it is really hard to find them again.









Then we went to the Jurassic Park River Ride. Another favorite.  The Express line was always really short and the boys love the drop at the end. We rode this several times.

The Jurassic Park area and Hogwarts abut in the park, so after leaving Jurassic Park we took a stroll through Hogsmead.  It was about 2:00 p.m. in the afternoon and looking really dark.  We decided to go back to the hotel for a lunch break and a nap.  Right about the time we got back to the room it started to pour which made us feel much better about leaving the park in the middle of the day. During our break we stuffed our bellies with Giordano's Pizza and then took a much needed nap.

We got back to the park around 6:00 p.m. that evening.  I love going to the park at night. The parking is free (so no need to shuttle), there a fewer people, the weather is a bit cooler, and the naps always made us feel much better.  Once back at the park we rode Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey - Sam's other favorite ride. We rode this three times back to back.

The Flight of the Hippogriff ride.





We took advantage of the low crowds to get a few pictures at the Jurassic Park entrance.



We also took a few turns on Kong again.










We stayed in the park until they closed it down.  Before turning in though we rode Spiderman again.





Finn and Sam getting a smashed penny.  This turned out to be a big deal for them.  Nana gave Finn a penny collectors book in his stocking this year, so he and Sam were keen on collecting as many pennies as they could from the parks.



The Chocolate Emporium at night.