The Houghs' Return to Florida: Day II

(contd.)

Day II

Universal Studios: Islands of Adventure

A very Star Wars-esque start to our first, full day of vacation. . .

Suited up and ready for battle.  The girls really wanted each member of the family to don shirts that represented each of the four Hogwarts houses from the Harry Potter series.  I'm not huge into the books/movies or whatever, nor am I about to explain what each of the houses stand for, only that our own personalities eerily match the character traits tied to each of these four houses.  And if our kids want their parents to wear Harry Potter shirts to Harry Potter Land or whatever the hell it's called, then - Goddamn it - we're gonna do it.

Taking the 'creepy' elevator down to the ground floor.  This elevator, inexplicably, didn't have finished walls.

For those of you not in the know, both Universal theme parks - Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure - share a common parking structure and a common, free-access shopping/dining district called Citywalk.  We had to pay (a lot) for parking, then trek about twenty minutes through a series of walkways with those horizontal escalators (whatever those are called) in order to reach Citywalk.

. . . and OF COURSE we were forced to park at the very top level of the parking garage, without any shade whatsoever, about four and a half feet from the surface of the sun.  We were really looking forward to how hot the car was going to be when we came back from a day of sun in the parks.

Taking a series of escalators down to the level of the structure that bridges over to Citywalk. . .

Once through a security hub, we continued on across these horizontal escalator-thingies - across the streets below - to reach Citywalk.

Entering Universal Citywalk. . .

Many, many shops we never once stepped foot in. . .

About 45 minutes until the park opened.  Morale - along with the temperature - pretty high at this point.

Abby requested a picture of her riding this surfboard as we continued through Citywalk.

Alayna, doing it wrong.

Once you reach a certain spot in Citywalk, the pathways split off, with a line of shops and restaurants veering off in the direction of Universal Studios.  We continued forward, walking across a bridge that overlooked some sinister-looking chocolate factory, and the Orlando Hard Rock Cafe.  That we didn't eat at.

The entrance to Islands of Adventure.

Crowds were substantial, but not too crazy quite yet.  It was forecast to be pretty jam-packed with people this week (9 on TouringPlans.com's 1 to 10 scale, in fact), which is insane when factoring in the forecasted temperature of 95 f***ing degrees.

Already super dehydrated, and we haven't even stepped one foot inside the park.  It was going to be a LOOOONG day. . .

Kris had all of our tickets on her phone saved as .jpegs, so whenever we entered a park (and we did a bit of park-hopping today, as you're about to see), she had to whip her phone out.  I'm sure colored bracelets or some shit would've been easier.

If you say so.

Walking into Islands of Adventure, you first run a gauntlet of shops and restaurants, just like you'd see at Magic Kingdom's Main Street USA.

They roped off the rest of the park until it officially opened at 9am (we got through the ticket lines and were inside the park by 8:40am), so crowds began to gather at the rope lines, right before the Marvel area and the Dr. Seuss area (where we were.)  While the kids waited impatiently, we temporarily distracted them by asking them to pose on this random motorcycle. 

Honestly, whatever it takes.

It was already into the high 80s, with no shade.  The packs of sweaty tourists standing around in close proximity of one another did little to ease the misery of the girls.  Fortunately, the employees, fearing a riot, dropped the rope five minutes early and we all streamed in, the Hough Family making a beeline for the Harry Potter area of the park:  Hogsmeade and Hogwarts.

Leaving Dr. Seuss land, entering the Lost Continent. . .

Poseidon's Fury - very low on our must-do list for the day.

Entering Hogsmeade, at long last. . .

The Hogwarts Express (in the movies, the main characters annually take this train from London to Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.)  The Houghs would end up riding this train later on in the afternoon to Universal Studios and back, and all so Abby could get a specific f***ing plush dog.  But I'm getting ahead of myself - I'll tell you guys all about that later.

Our top priority for the day was for the girls to try out their interactive, wizard wands they got from Dad and Cindy at Christmas.  This early in the morning, most of the crowds you see in the background of these pictures were passing through Hogsmeade on their way to bigger attractions, and therefore the girls didn't have to wait in any lines in order to try out their wands at the interactive stations.

At various, designated locations throughout the Harry Potter areas at Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios, kids (and I guess some super-nerdy adults) can use their wands to create 'magical effects.'  These locations are shown on a map included in each wand's box upon purchase (one park per side), and further identified by bronze medallions/plates on the ground in front of each location.  Both indicators show the spell name and the wand movement required in order to obtain each desired effect.  It's a pretty cool thing for kids to try out, and our girls were really looking forward to doing it.

The Three Broomsticks restaurant, which is always ridiculously crowded.

Alayna tries out her wand (belonging to her favorite character from the series, Ginny Weasely.)  Note the medallion/plate on the ground in front of her feet, that shows the required wand movements.

It took the kids quite awhile to get the hang of this.  Unlike the comically-bad, large sweeping motions I'm doing here, you need quick, tight movements that are focused on the location's sensor (think the lens of a camera.)  The wand acts as a Wii mote, so to speak, so the sensor picks up the wand's movements and trigger's an automated response.  Some stations - like this one - were much harder than others.

Finally. . .

SUCCESS.

Abby tries her luck with Hermione Grainger's wand. . .

Since the crowds were super low at this point of the morning, I decided to pick up the kid some frozen Butterbeer (a butterscotch-tasting frap/slurpee thing with whipped cream on top), a favorite drink from the Harry Potter movies.  Throughout the day, whenever we'd pass by this Butterbeer stand, there were always dozens of people queued up in line under the sun.  There was no wait at all, so I said 'screw it.'

This much sugar at 9:15am?  Vacation, folks.

Two very, very happy children.

Juggling wands and Butterbeers. . .

(Kris doesn't know what she's doing.)

Abby requested her picture in front of this store (which isn't a real store, just wall decor.)

After about a half an hour of hitting up the various wand locations and letting the girls try their wands out, it was getting pretty hot out, and the girls wanted to focus on devouring the ice-cold Butterbeers they were carrying.  So we decided to continue on through Hogsmeade and onto Hogwart's Castle itself. . .

I wanted a beverage, too. . . but it was still a little too early.

Inside this giant castle is one of the park's most populated - and badass - rides:  Harry Potter's Forbidden Journey.  The wait time was only a half an hour, since it was still pretty early in the morning, so we decided to get it out of the way before the lines built up (for the rest of the day, it hovered around an hour-long wait time, so this ended up being a solid move on our part.)

Honestly, this Harry Potter stuff at both Universal theme parks rival the attention to detail of Disney's theme parks.  I was thoroughly impressed, and I consider myself somewhat of a theme park snob.

Nearly empty lines leading up to the ride itself, which is deep within the castle.

Entering Hogwarts.  I neglected to take any pictures and video of the inside, because a.) I wanted to enjoy the moment, and b.) I knew that I'd be able to find much-better quality video of the line queue - which is exceptional - and the ride itself online via Youtube.  And, since I'm such a nice guy and everything, I've included it below for your viewing pleasure.  You're welcome.

I apologize for the lack of quality of this video - this is honestly the best version I found online.  The ride itself is super dark, being an inside ride, and is a mix between a hanging rig (think Disney's Soarin'), a traditional coaster, and a simulator.  A pretty cool ride, for sure, but there were several parts that were kinda scary for the girls (namely when the Dementors attack.)

After exiting into a gift shop and perusing a crap load of Harry Potter merch (most of which could be found elsewhere between the two parks), Kris and I scoped out our Universal Resort app to check wait times for rides.  We'd end up relying on this app on a regular basis over the course of our time at the Universal Parks - along with wait times, it gave you menus for restaurants, locations for shops and bathrooms, and all kinds of other crap one would need to know on the fly.  As we checked out the app on our way out of Hogwarts Castle, we saw that the Flight of the Hippogriff ride - right next door - was only a 15-minute wait, so we decided to hop in line there.  The picture here is of Hagrid's house, who keeps a Hippogriff named Buckbeak as a pet in the books/movies.

This ride was a small-scale coaster.  Much like Disney's Thunder Mountain Railroad. . . only about one third the length.  Very smooth, but ridiculously short.

Waiting in line.  Again.

Buckbeak himself.

Aaaaaaand that's it.  Seriously.

The girls enjoyed it, though.

Back into Hogsmeade for some shopping.  Like I mentioned before, the girls came down to Florida with about $300 in souvenir money apiece, and they were itching to start blowing it.

Browsing through merch.

Different shops specialized in different types of souvenirs, but nearly all of them showcased items that represented each of Hogwarts' four houses.

The Cannonball tries out different wizards' wands at Dervish and Banges.  At this particular store, I dropped about $75 and bought the girls two heavy-duty, padded bronze display stands for their wands.  They have 'The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Universal Resort Orlando' engraved on the top, too, so I figured this would be our gift to them to remember the trip (and keep their wands nicely displayed.)

The store was pretty crowded by this point in time in the day, so Kris and the girls waited outside in this back alley while I finished paying for the display stands.  I had the store send the wand display stands up to the front of the park - a service Universal provides to guests, just like Disney - where I could pick them up at the end of the day.  They were pretty heavy, and were bulky as well, being wrapped in protective bubble wrap, so I definitely didn't want to carry that bag around all day.

Messing around with another interactive wand station.

Snapping a quick picture to post online.  'Cause we're really bad at sharing vacation pics on Facebook while we're still on vacation.  Some folks manage to post tons of shit, while they're still on their vacation, but I use an SLR as my primary weapon of choice, and I don't have the time nor energy to sort through 1,000 pics a day to find a couple good ones to share with the World Wide Web. 

Inside Honeyduke's candy shop.  The girls, not surprisingly, lost their Goddamn minds inside this store.

When I checked out with Abby, the young woman that rang us up ended up being from Takoradi, Ghana.  Was able to talk shop with her while we paid for Abby's candy haul, so that was cool - always enjoy talking with genuine Ghanaians when I can find them.

Posed in front of the candy shop with their candy.  We had to steer them away from blowing all their money on candy and chocolates quite frequently, usually saying shit like, "Don't waste your money on that.  It costs $10 here, but you can buy that at Kroger or Meijer for $3.99."  They'd usually listen.

Leaving Hogsmeade, having done some a fair share of shopping.  By this point in time, we had been in the parks for about two and a half/three hours, and had only done two rides, focusing instead on using the girls' wands and checking out all the shops before they got too crowded.  Now that the crowds were starting to fill up in Harry Potter land, we decided to branch out and check out some other stuff.

That train conductor can't be having a good time in that outfit, not in this ridiculous heat.  Later on in the afternoon, I'd eventually pass by the same guy again - still standing in the same place - and ask him how to get to the Jurassic Park area (more to come on that in a bit.)  Of course, the dude doesn't break character at all, and says to me, "Well chap, I do not know what you're getting at with this Jurassic Park business, but if you're looking to depart from Hogsmeade, you'll have to take the bridge heading west, right before you reach the castle."  Honestly, he was either really good at his job, or else was suffering from severe heat exposure, and was consequently out of his frickin' mind.

Here's where our plans got way-laid a bit.  We used Touringplans.com to sketch out our day somewhat, but the site unfortunately doesn't factor in dining times very well, and so we ended up 'going rogue' after a couple hours into the park.  Abby kept asking us to go to this plush animal store so she could buy a stuffed version of Hagrid's giant dog, Fang.  The problem with this, of course, was that the store - Magical Menagerie - was located in Diagon Alley in Universal Studios, so we'd have to take the Hogwarts Express to get there.

Generally the wait time for the Hogwarts Express is around 30-45 minutes, but at this point of time in the day, it was only 5 minutes, and - seeing how the train ride itself is kind of a ride - we said 'what the hell' and agreed to go get Abby her dog.

We got to walk right up to the train without standing in line at all, which was awesome.

The Hogwarts Express pulls into the station.

Abby worked on this lollipop for a couple hours at least.  Surprisingly, it only cost $4.

The train ferries guests to and from either theme park in about five minutes, and holds eight guests in each train 'cabin' (or whatever they're called.)  The train runs so frequently that the queue lines for the train doesn't get too ridiculous, despite the few number of guests who can ride the train at a time.  See the window on the right?  That's a video screen - there's a video that plays while you're going, and the opaque 'glass' doors and windows of your cabin are also screens, so there are shadows that move in the hallway during your trip - I've attached a video I snagged off of Youtube so you can see what I'm talking about.

Pumped.

Having survived our trip from Hogsmeade, the girls walk into King's Cross Station, and enter Universal Studios.

Heading into Diagon Alley.

In the movies/books, this is where wizard students buy all their wizarding school supplies for their upcoming years at Hogwarts.  See the Dragon perched atop Gringott's Bank?  That's the Escape from Gringott's ride, which we'd be tackling tomorrow.  We were on a simple shopping mission, and weren't about to waste any more time going on rides.

Kris and a love potion.  She needs all the help she can get.

Inside a Quidditch supply store.

Every ten minutes, on the dot, the dragon breathes fire.  It's pretty awesome.

Fang.  At long last.

Like I said before, Universal really stepped up their attention to detail when they created all this Harry Potter stuff.  So much more like Disney's level of quality, and a stark contrast from the rest of their park attractions.

Waiting while I pay for Fang.  After purchasing this giant, plush dog, I convinced Abby to let the store clerks bag the dog and send him up to the front of the park, assuring her she'd be absolutely miserable carrying around that damn dog all afternoon and evening.  She eventually relented.

Inside yet another shop.  Kids definitely tackled a lot of shopping today.  They bought a couple leather journals with their respective house coats of arms represented in pewter medallions on the front cover, along with some quill feather pens.

By the early afternoon, the girls were tired, hungry, sweaty, and thirsty.  We needed a plan of attack, and we needed one fast.

Morale low.

Outside Ollivander's wand shop, wherein the books/movies, young wizards get their wands for the first time.

Leaving Diagon Alley.  We decided to return to Islands of Adventure, having checked out the wait times of many of the other rides throughout the park and deemed it time to hit up some of that park's other attractions.  The girls ate a protein bar and drank a bunch of ice water, and having sat down in the shade of Diagon Alley for a bit, they were slightly recharged for another couple hours.

Back to King's Cross, about an hour and a half after arriving.

The wait time for the Hogswart Express had risen to 25 minutes, but it ended up being about 15 minutes.  That kinda stuff happened all the time.

Heading to the 9 3/4 Platform. . .

This queue went pretty fast.  Like I said before, the train arrived every ten minutes or so.

Hedgewig (animatronic, of course) - Harry Potter's pet owl in the books/movies.  Alayna would end up buying a plush version of this owl off of Amazon, as it was far cheaper, far better quality, and far better rated than the one that was sold in the Universal Resort stores.

Abby, still working on that damn lollipop.

The train rolls in.

Pay close attention, folks:  the video on the trip from Diagon Alley to Hogsmeade is different than the one from Hogsmeade to Diagon Alley.  A pleasant surprise.

On the bridge that led from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter to Jurassic Park, as previously mentioned by our sweaty train conductor friend.

Welcome to Jurassic Park. . .

We contemplated eating at one of these dinosaur restaurants, but it was still in that lunch window when crowds were pretty high, and the kids weren't really all that hungry yet on account of the protein bars they had eaten in Universal Studios.

 

The wait time for the Jurassic Park ride was ridiculously long - something like 50 minutes - but that's understandable since it's a water ride and it was brutally hot and humid out.  We were gonna pass on this, but then saw that the standby single rider wait time was only 10 minutes.  I told Kris that her and the girls should go, and that I'd stay back with all the bags, as stowing them in preparation for a water ride in a guest locker would cost us about $20, which was frickin' stupid as hell.  So, that's what they did:  the Hough gals waited in line together for ten or fifteen minutes, then split off to ride the ride separately.  We were curious to see how the girls would handle this one, as there are definitely scary moments throughout the ride (Velociraptors jumping out at you, etc.), not to mention a considerable drop (it's like Disney's Splash Mountain, just more intense.)

Kris ended up being in a completely separate boat for the ride, but the girls were right in front of one another in the following boat, as you can see here.  I waited about twenty minutes or so for them tops, then was able to take some pics and video of them as they came out from the ride.  They clearly loved it.

Alayna would later say that, of all the rides in all the theme parks we went to on this trip, this was her favorite ride.

Leaving Jurassic Park land, entering. . . comic strip/cartoon land, or whatever the hell it's called.  I have no idea.

Kids were starting to get hungry and sweaty and thirsty again, so we knew it was time to stop for a late afternoon lunch.

Having lapped the entire lake that Islands of Adventure is built around, we finally entered the Marvel area - the last themed area before returning to that Main Street USA -esque entrance into the park.

While I sat down with the girls inside Captain America's cafeteria (or whatever it's called, I couldn't really catch all the damn names when it was as hot as it was outside), Kris snagged the girls a few quick snacks from a kiosk.  Namely, cheeseburgers, chips, waters, and - apparently - foot-long hotdogs.

This was what I had for lunch.  Kris knows me so well, this is all she brought for me.

 

Captain America showed up while Kris and the girls were finished eating, so I got in line outside under the horrifying Florida sun so the girls could 'meet him.'  They came out from their air conditioned lunch just as we were coming up next in line for the meet-and-greet.

This guy (who I, personally, doubt is the real Captain America) actually took his time talking with the girls, which was pretty cool - asked them all about the Harry Potter stuff and their wands and all that.  More like when you meet one of the Disney princesses at a designated meeting place, instead of snagging a random character walking through the park on the fly.

He had them do this, as if they were casting spells.

Kris really wanted to do the Hulk coaster, and was bummed neither of the girls wanted to go on it with her.  She was going to skip it all together, but I know my wife and knew she really wanted to do it, so I urged her into line (which was only 30 minutes anyway.)  In the meantime, the girls and I went to the neighboring Storm's Accelatron ride (think the Tea Cup ride at Magic Kingdom, folks.)  There was no wait time, so it was a no-brainer.

Getting into the 'tea cups.'

Again, courtesy of Youtube. . .

Kris on the Hulk.  No.  Thanks.

This was the longest twenty minutes or so of the entire day.  Sitting out in the direct sun, waiting for Kris to get off the roller coaster.  I had to promise them all kinds of shit just to get them through this grueling period of time - ice cream, prolonged swimming sessions back at the hotel, you name it.  Whatever it takes when you're on vacation, folks.

The Hulk.

After Kris got off the Hulk, the girls were basically done.  They were unaccustomed to the Florida heat, and had spent all day walking around and sweating, and they wanted nothing more than to return to the hotel and swim in the pool.  This would ultimately be the hottest day, temperature-wise, of our entire stay, so we relented.  It was about 4pm.

Kris checks her steps.  We each averaged about 15,000 - 18,000 steps a day.

Hitting up the big Trading Post souvenir store on our way out of Islands of Adventure.

The only souvenir Kris really wanted from this trip was an ornament for our Christmas Tree.  Fortunately, Universal Resort had us covered (though we didn't end up getting anything this time around.)

Who knows. . .

It was that kinda day, folks.

Leaving Islands of Adventure, having picked up the girls' wand display stands from Port Provisions (the designated spot where guests pick up all the items they send up to the front of the park to collect later.)

. . . now it was just a matter of walking through Citywalk to the front entrance of Universal Studios to collect Abby's stupid plush dog, Fang, then backtrack through Citywalk to the parking complex.  Frickin' kids. . .

Here's that weird chocolate factory we didn't set foot inside. . .

Old people selfie.

Changing battery packs.  I took a shitload of pictures today.

Here's this giant globe thing.

Citywalk, from the entrance of Universal Studios.

Having collected Fang from Universal Studios' equivalent of Port Provisions (I didn't bother to learn what the name of it was), we backtracked around the lake through Citywalk, and up to the entrance of the parking garage. . .

This was Alayna for the better part of the last two hours.  A total blast to be around.

Holding two five-pound bronze display stands.  Kinda sweaty.

Thank God for these horizontal escalator thingies. . .

Arriving back at our car, still parked on the SURFACE OF THE F***ING SUN.

As you can tell from Alayna's initial reaction here, it was about 400 degrees inside the vehicle.  There was no way in hell anyone was going inside that car for a long, long time.

(We ended up running the A/C on full blast for about ten minutes before finally getting in.)

Meanwhile, back in Michigan, Cindy sent us this pic of Watson hanging out with some of his bros. . .

After arriving back at the hotel, everyone stripped off their sweaty clothing so that Kris could throw them in the washer for tomorrow's second day at Universals (we had another day of Harry Potter crap before us, and the girls wanted all of us to wear our Hogwarts houses apparel again.)  Everyone changed into swimsuits for an evening in the condo's pool, and I took a few minutes during this time to off-load the 800-plus pictures I took throughout the day onto my laptop (this dining table, as previously mentioned, served as my impromptu Command Center for the week.)

Having a few drinks poolside, watching the girls swim and unwinding from an exhausting day of parenting.

(The girls are in there somewhere.  You'd probably have to zoom in.)

See that tiki hut on the other side of the pool?  That's where we ended up ordering dinner for the evening.  The lady that ran it was super nice, and cooked everything herself.  Simple bar food - burgers, chicken tenders, fries, wraps, hotdogs, nachos, etc. - and all super cheap (burger was $6, fries were $4, etc.)  We'd order food from there a few times throughout the coming week.

A great poolside beer from Dogfish Brewing. . .

To be continued. . .

- Brian