There are few reasons for me to get up before 6am, but getting ready to go to Universal Studios for early admission is most definitely one of them! It was another beautiful day, and we could not wait to get back to Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, and Diagon Alley!
We had early admission to Universal Studios, so we headed straight over to Diagon Alley. It's so cool!
We waited outside Ollivander's wand shop for about 20 minutes or so because getting a new wand was top of Mia's wish list. We saw how Ollivander helps the wizards get matched with a wand which is pretty cool. Then we began our search for the perfect wand for Mia. We looked at just about every possible one before Mia decided that the one that looks like Fleur Delacour's is her best fit.
It was the right one! She was able to use it to cast spells all over the park which is super fun.
Next up was another item on Mia's wish list: a new Gryffindor robe. We found a great one which also has the perfect wand holding pocket inside of it so wizards can always have their wands at the ready. After this we were ready to ride Escape from Gringott's which is an awesome 3D ride.
After all this fun, we knew exactly what we wanted: frozen butterbeer. Mia exchanged some muggle money at Gringott's and then bought herself this treat. We found a quiet little bench and enjoyed.
By now, Islands of Adventure had opened up so we started to head that way. First up though was stopping in the phone booth to call up the Ministry of Magic.
Time to head to King's Cross station to find the Hogwarts Express on Platform 9 3/4. When we asked the attendant where it was, she said we must be confused; there could be no such thing.
Thankfully we found it!
We were glad to make it to Hogsmeade!
Our first stop was to Honeyduke's. Look at all this yummy candy!
We scoped out what we wanted to come back and purchase before leaving but we knew we needed to go ahead and get a chocolate frog.
What a beautiful site to see!
Now it was time to try some rides. We started with Flight of the Hippogriff which walks right by Hagrid's Hut. This coaster scared Mia several years ago when we went, but this time she acknowledged it was an easy one.
After that ride, we rode the Forbidden Journey which is inside the Hogwart's Castle. Super cool. Then we decided to give Hagrid' Motorbike Adventure a try. It was is the most amazing roller coaster I've ever been on! It goes so fast, has sharp twists and turns, goes backwards, and even has a drop in it. Truly amazing! We loved it and immediately rode it again.
By now, we were worn out! We decided to return to Diagon Alley so we could have lunch at the Leaky Cauldron.
We took a little stroll down Knockturn Alley after lunch to get a taste of the Dark Arts. We explored all over Diagon Alley and then decided to head back over to Hogsmeade to finish out our day. We stopped in the Owl Post to buy a postcard pack. We wrote one to Jackie Briggs to thank her for being an awesome travel agent and planning this trip; we wrote one to Ryan and Lily too because we missed being with them. Then we decided to ride Hagrid's two more times because it's just so cool!
We were thinking we were ready to wrap up our day, so we decided to get some goodies to take home from Honeyduke's and then walk through the rest of Islands of Adventure. This included Jurassic World and the Marvel comics area which was fun to see and window shop through. Of course it also includes Suess Landing which I've always loved!
We rode several of the rides here, including the classic Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue (where Mia got us wet!), and The High in the Sky Trolley. Unfortunately the carosel was closed for renovation.
After all this, we realized there was about an hour left before the park closed which meant we had time to go back and ride Hagrid's again. We thought that would be last our ride of the night, but as luck would have it, we got off the ride and were able to get right back in line before the closed admission for the night. We were some of the last people to get to ride that evening! We had to buy the souvenir picture to commemorate this awesome ride and how much we had.
We were able to ride Hagrid's six times today which was so great. I'm so glad Mia started loving roller coasters! We had such a blast today. We were closing down the park, so we made our way back to our car and decided to make a quick stop at McDonald's for a late dinner. We finally made it back to our hotel, showered, and climbed into bed, so very happily exhausted.
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