disney vacation - day 5: universal studios

May 16

I am a huge Disney fan, but I am also quite the Harry Potter geek. Which means that a trip to Orlando had to include a day at Harry Potter World, aka Universal Studios. I think that this was Mitch's favorite day. He really liked the park, plus it had a Marvel section. We headed straight to Harry Potter World, then worked our way around the rest of the park.

Harry Potter World!!

We chatted with the conductor for a few minutes and then asked for a picture :)

Hogwarts Express

Tara in front of Zonko's Joke Shop.

I would have bought an extendable ear if it wasn't $25!

Hogwarts!

Makenzie kept saying that was Harry Potter's castle.

Inside the castle is the ride the Forbidden Journey.

Just walking through the cue to the ride was worth it.

You get to see all the different parts of the castle and so many details from the books/movies.

It was awesome!!

Tara in the Herbology area of Hogwarts.

There was every kind of plant, including mandrakes :)

Let's go to Dumbledore's office!

Seriously, walking through Hogwarts was great! The people in the pictures moved, they had the pensieve and floating candles. Universal has a child swap method, but it's done a little different. Everyone walks through the cue. Near the start of the ride there is a room for those waiting with the kids where you can watch a Harry Potter movie. One group goes on the ride while the second group waits with the kids. When the first group is done they go in with the kids and the second group goes on the ride. It was good we all got to walk through and see the castle and then those that wanted to ride could.

Next up we rode the Flight of the Hippogriffs. Makenzie was tall enough to go on this rollercoaster and she was pretty excited. It was her first rollercoaster and I was actually a little nervous for her. I didn't need to be though because she LOVED it!

Elyse and Makenzie in front of Hagrid's hut before the ride.

Inside Honeydukes.

They had every kind of candy from the book.

I wanted to try it all!

(but I'm not made of money)

They need to have a sampler pack.

I would have bought that.

I did get a chocolate frog :)

A group shot!

Enjoying our Butterbeers.

SO delicious!

Grandma tried the pumpkin juice.

She said it tasted like liquid pumpkin pie.

All of the shops were amazing. They had wands, parchment, quills, everything Harry Potter! They even had stuffed owls. Alex LOVED the owls. She saw one and hugged and kissed it. So, we bought it for her! It was her souvenir from the trip.

Next up...

the rest of the park.

As mentioned before, Mitch loved the Marvel section of the park.

Makenzie was surprised when Spiderman could talk to her.

He told her that she needed to go to college!

Our little princess is also a superhero!

Dr. Seuss Land

The girls were able to do the most here and they loved it!

More characters!

The Grinch,

the Lorax,

and the Cat in the Hat!

Near the end of our day we headed back to Harry Potter World to buy our chocolate frogs. We didn't want to buy them earlier in the day and then have them melt. While there Makenzie wanted to ride the Hippogriff rollercoaster again. This time she had to go with Grandpa! And she had to go multiple times!

Makenzie got a chocolate wand.

And we had to get some more Butterbeer.

It's SO good!

As we headed out of the park, Matt, Elyse, Bryan and I hit up a few more of the rollercoasters. They only had a 5 minute wait! It was a fun day! Harry Potter World was amazing and the rest of the park was great too! They are expanding Harry Potter World, which means we'll have to go back sometime in the future!