Today was an early day today. Because we're staying on property we got early admission to Islands of Adventure. We passed through Suess Landing and went straight to Hogsmeade. There was still snow on the buildings! It must always be winter over here. We hit the feature ride first, "Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey." There's absolutely no space to bring any belongings on the ride so we put our bags in lockers. This first hour for the lockers was free and they charge you for time after that. Luckily we didn't have to wait longer than an hour to ride the ride. The line cue for this attraction is impressive. You go through Dumbledore's office, the defense against the dark arts classroom and the room of requirement. During the ride you get to tour Hogwart's campus and flirt with a little mischief. After the the ride we hopped on the Hogwarts Express to Kings Cross Station and checked out Diagon Alley.
Diagon Alley is the newest attraction at Universal Orlando and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. There's mostly shopping and dining but we were there for the main attraction, "Harry Potter and The Escape From Gringots." We grabbed lockers as quick as we could and headed to the line cue. The line cue for this ride was impressive as well. You start In the bank's grand marble lobby where there are many grumpy goblins hard at work. These guys look bigger in person. Then you shuffle to the back, around the corner, into a lift and down into the carts. My sister and I made a Haunted Mansion reference while in the elevator, "is this haunted room actually stretching, or is it just your imagination?" I don't think it was appreciated.
After the ride we took a bathroom break and went down the dark passages of Knockturn Alley. In Rowling's books Knockturn Alley is described as a shady shopping area associated with the dark arts and that's exactly how Universal portrayed it. One of the most notable shops is the infamous Borgin and Burkes where they have a very well rounded collection of dark arts objects, clothing and accessories.
The Weasley twins also have their own store in Diagon Alley called, "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes." It's a colorful novelty joke shop with everything you need to cause any type of mischief. It was crowded so I didn't spend much time there.
We headed out of Diagon Alley into the main part of the park and walked through a small part San Francisco. There was a burger place, seafood restaurant, Ghirardelli factory and a replica of the Fisherman's Wharf sign. I took more pictures of the Fisherman's Wharf sign at Universal Studios than I ever have at the actual sign in San Francisco and I've been to San Francisco numerous times! I don't even think I have any pictures of the actual Fisherman's Wharf sign. Funny how things work out, I had to go all the way to the other side of the country and got a picture of the replica sign.
The next few rides we went on were, "Transformers: The Ride- 3D," "Despicable Me Minion Mayhem," "Shrek 4D," and "The Revenge of the Mummy." The Transformer ride was really cool. You get mixed up in a battle between the Autobots and Decepticons and have to fight to keep the all spark from getting in the wrong hands. The Despicable Me attraction was a cute one. Gru needs new recruits for his latest scheme and he chooses you! But something isn't right... You're not a minion and you're not trained! So you get morphed into a Minion and go through a crazy training course with the girls-- Margo, Edith and Agnes. After you leave the attraction there's a minion dance party where you can take pictures with minions. The Shrek attraction was lame but the Mummy one was awesome! At first I didn't think I'd like the ride because I haven't heard much about it. This ride is a lot like the Indiana Jones ride. It's a super dark ride with a lot of sudden drops and movements. This evil Imhotep has awaken and you have to escape his wrath.
After those rides we went back to Diagon Alley and explored Olivanders Wand Shop, Diagon Alley's premier wand shop and saw the show they had there. They took a group of people into the back room, chose a spectator at random and helped them find a wand. There was lots of theatrics involved. We also got lunch at the Leaky Cauldron while we were there. I ordered a cottage pie which, to me, was just like shepherds pie. I had bought wands at Olivanders and the packaging was a little bulky so I went back to the hotel to drop them off after lunch.
I passed through Springfield to meet up with my group at the "Men in Black Alien Attack," but it had just broken down. What to do? What to do?
The park was closing early today due to an event with the Mark Travel Corporation so we went to grab food at Mel's Diner before it closed. I had a burger and fries that I was not impressed with.
On our way back to the hotel we got drinks at the bar during happy hour. When we got back my grandma decided to pick up her welcome package and coupon book at the attractions counter. It turns out that her travel package didn't include a welcome package or coupon book but the clerk gave her a coupon book anyways. She went back up to the room and called the travel agency. We were on the phone with the representative for an hour. During that hour we found out that we could use any of the amenities at the Universal properties. After we got of the phone with the representative we took the river taxi to The Hard Rock Hotel, the most expensive hotel.
The Hard Rock hotel is luxurious but laid back.They had live entertainment, a sand beach pool and lots of Rock N' Roll memorabilia.
It was getting late so we didn't stay at the other hotel very long. We made the trip back to our hotel by water taxi and retired for the night.
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