So on screen the photos are showing up huge, are they on yours too? If you know how to resize them let me know, I uploaded them to wordpress then copied the image link here.
Anyway, Pre-Cruise Day 1, Universal:
So we pulled into the resort and got all checked in. Our room was not ready but we were able to leave our bags with bell services and get our tickets and express passes printed at the resort. This next photo tells me that we were on the water taxi headed to Universal before noon, not to shabby!
We decided we would head right into the park and find a place to eat lunch inside. Now as much planning as I put into the cruise portion, I put very little into the Universal portion because everything I read told me that you don't need much planning in Universal. I would agree with that statement but do wish I had researched food options more, I digress.
I also need to back up a minute and share a little bit of anxiety I had with this trip. I already told you I"m not much of a parks person b/c I don't like the heat and crowds, but I was willing to go because the kids really wanted to see Universal. What I haven't told you yet is that my son can be very tentative and fearful of things. We live near Kings Island and Cedar Point. There are times that he will ride the rides, but there are also times that he will not, there is just no rhyme or reason to it. So I was nervous prior to the trip that we would spend all this money to go and then he would refuse to ride anything. Did that happen? Read on to find out.
Ok, so we walked into the park and the Main Street area was very busy. The 2 big rides up front are Minions and Shrek. Minions had a long line (even Express pass) so we opted to try Shrek first. My Mom had recently been to Universal in California with my brother and his family, she knew it was a tame ride so a good warm up. So we did that, which was fun but a little boring. By this point we were starving. There was a pretzel stand at the exit to the Shrek ride but we wanted something more substantial and soon came across the Monster Cafe. It was air conditioned and not crazy busy so we went in. What we didn't realize until after we all ordered our own meals (because I didn't do my research) is that its called the Monster Cafe not only b/c of its theming but b/c of its Monster portions. I got pizza, DD ribs, my Mom chicken, and DS this monster turkey leg.
Despite the huge portions we did pretty well on them, which made us feel better about the $$ we shelled out for lunch. Now it was time to explore the park.
We headed over the Jimmy Fallon's Race through New York yet. I had no idea what this ride was about, the people at the entrance told it was a simulator, DS was agreeable so in we went. There was only a 3 minute wait until our group was called and on we went. I won't spoil the ride for you who haven't been on it but its the moment I started to relax b/c both kids were laughing their heads off LOVING the ride. It instantly put everyone in a good mood. When we got off they both wanted to ride again but we convinced them to explore the park a little more first.
Next up Harry Potter World. I tried telling them if we waited until later in the afternoon it would be less busy but they insisted so we headed over. It was busy but manageable. We got into the Express line for Gringotts, which still was about 25 minutes. We also had our first encounter figuring out the whole locker thing, it was intimidating at first but by the end of the trip I got the hang of it. We wound through the line into the bank, grateful for the air conditioning and cool theming. When we got to the end part of the line where you climb the stairs to get on I started to get nervous. Adding to the nervousness was the fact I was a little worried about fitting into the seat as I am on the fluffy side and people have talked about having issues on the Harry Potter rides (spoiler alert I fit on everything I wanted to). And this is probably TMI but when I get nervous I have to pee, which is not a good combination. So when it was our turn I was really needing to use the restroom. So I got my family situated on the ride and then ran off to find the facilities. At the last second my son looked at me and asked if it was a rollercoaster. I played dumb and said 'I don't know'. I met up with them in the gift shop ever and they both said BEST. RIDE. EVER. They wanted to go on it again but I cajoled them into waiting until the line was less. We explored Diagon Alley a little bit and then found ourselves some Butter Beer.
We then headed out of the very crowded Diagon Alley and across the way to Simpsons world. We went on Krustyland, cute photo while we waited in line:
DS really liked this ride, DD not so much, said she felt claustrophobic with the door sliding closed next to her. From Krustyland we headed over to Men in Black, which the kids really loved, my Mom not so much. Then we headed over to ET which was nice and relaxing. With the Express pass we pretty much walked onto all these rides. During this time we got a text that our room was ready so decided to head back to the resort as we were getting tired and hot. On the way out we hit up Jimmy Fallon again, then headed to the hotel.
Our room was in Tower 3 of the resort which worked out well because it was near the Water Taxi (we got some good info about a short cut from the Bellhop who brought our luggage down). After organizing our luggage, resting, and eating some of the snacks I had brought for the plane ride we started to get our second wind. We headed to one of the Resort Restaurants for appetizers (I forget the name now but it was in Tower 1), the food was great but service slow. Then we decided to head back out to the parks.
We decided to try Island of Adventure this time, we walked through the gates about 7 o'clock. We Hotfooted to Hogsmeade which was in the back of the park. It was crazy busy because they were preparing for the Castle light show (again, lack of planning on my part). The kids wanted to ride Forbidden Journey. I was smart this time and checked out the test seat. Could not get the light to turn green. It was dark, and the attendant wasn't very helpful so I resigned myself to the fact that I would probably not be able to ride. So I went in the line with everyone so I could get the Castle tour, then held all the bags while the other 3 rode. My Mom and DS thought it was amazing, DD loved it except for the spider at the end. My Mom kept saying the seats were bigger than the test seats outside and I should give it a try. I half heartedly vowed to try in the morning just to appease her.
From there we heard over to ride Hogwarts back to Universal. That was a fun experience. Diagon Alley was still busy but not as crazy as it was earlier in the day. We walked by Ollivanders to find no line for the wand show. We hopped in, a few minutes later 1 other family hopped in line with us and then they took us back, only 2 families, and 3 kids, was an awesome show. The other girl already had a wand from earlier in the day, DS was hiding in the back because he didn't want to get picked, so DD got picked for the show, much to her enjoyment:
After the show we decided we were tired so we headed back towards the front. We rode Transformers on the way out, both kids really liked this one, it was a bit bumpy for my tastes.
We got back to the room and fell into bed, exhausted from our long day of travel and fun, but very very happy.