The theme parks were scheduled to open at 9am but as hotel guests we were able to enter an hour early. However, when we checked in the day before, we were advised to actually be at the gates of Islands of Adventure at 7.30am if we wanted to be the first at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Our plan was to have breakfast in the Islands Dining Room but when we arrived at 6.30am there was already a line of people waiting to be seated so we decided to skip it and head straight to CityWalk instead. We walked down to the dock and got on the first boat at 6.45am. We asked the captain for a recommendation of somewhere to grab some breakfast and he told us of a little cafe/restaurant that would be open. We walked over and it was closed but the staff were inside setting up and opened for us. This became our breakfast stop for the next 3 days - we would arrive at 7am, they'd open for us and we'd have coffee and bagels before lining up at the gates.
When we finished breakfast we walked over to IOA where the crowd was building and exchanged our print out tickets for our 7 day passes. We then joined the line and at 7.30am the gates were opened. They directed the non hotel guests to the left where they lined up again but we were lucky enough to be allowed to go to the right, through Seuss Landing and The Lost Continent directly to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter! The first thing we saw when we entered the gates was the Hogwarts Express
and then the amazing Hogwarts Castle itself
We made a beeline for the Forbidden Journey ride
and joined the line after putting our stuff in a locker. The line was only about 10 minutes and actually moved too fast for me as I was trying to take in everything in the castle! The ride was fantastic, seriously the best ride I've ever been on. The detail in both the castle and the ride itself were fantastic!
Next up was Flight of the Hippogriff where we used our Universal Express passes for the first time. We checked out Hagrid's Hut and then walked straight on.
Buckbeak
It was a pretty tame coaster so I was able to take photos on the ride
We walked back towards Dragon Challenge, checking out the details along the way.
Gryffindor fans
The line for Ollivander's was huge already so we decided to leave it till later
and went to Dragon Challenge instead. Sammy wasn't tall enough to ride so he and Alex hung out in Hogsmeade while I took Emily and Harry on. They wanted to ride it again straight away but once was enough for me, so we did a child swap and Alex went on with them. We all went through the line so that I could take photos though.
The flying car
The Goblet of Fire
TriWizard Cup
Champions Tent
By that stage it was 9am and Hogsmeade was now open to the general public so the crowds were swarming in. We decided to go against the crowd and leave Harry Potter for now. We left via Jurassic Park
and walked straight on to the River Adventure. We had a lot of fun in Camp Jurassic, it was hilarious seeing the kids scream and run when an unseen dinosaur would roar at them! The kids rode the Pteranodon Flyers
before we moved on to the next land
We walked through Toon Lagoon but didn't feel like getting soaked yet, so we continued on to Marvel Super Hero Island. Sam and I waited while Alex and the big kids rode Doctor Doom's Fearfall. He had fun trying out the test seats
but was not keen to try the real thing! While we were waiting a small parade of superheroes came past
and when the others were done we rode The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman and then moved on to The Incredible Hulk Coaster where we used child swap again.
I was happy to sit out Storm Force Accelatron as I'm not a fan of the spinning teacups.
We walked back to Toon Lagoon where we did Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls and Popeye & Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges and got absolutely soaked on both! Then we headed over to Seuss Landing, marvelling again at the view of Hogwarts from the Port of Entry
In Seuss Landing we rode The Cat in the Hat and the The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride
and then we decided to take our afternoon break. We headed out to CityWalk and went to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch.
We were seated under the AC/DC and Kiss memorabilia
and after lunch we wandered around and had a look at all the other cool stuff.
We walked back out to the dock
and caught a boat back to the hotel. We spent the afternoon at the pool and then walked back to IOA and Hogsmeade.
The line for Forbidden Journey was at 120 minutes and there was a 40 minute wait for a table at the Three Broomsticks so we wandered back into Jurassic Park and had a counter service meal, then rode the River Adventure, getting soaked yet again.
Seeming as we were wet anyway, we went back to Toon Lagoon and rode the water rides again before leaving the park and strolling around CityWalk. We checked out the Nascars
and then walked back to the hotel.
No comments:
Post a Comment