Universal, Harry, Here We Come!

We went to Universal Studios today! I wanted it to be a surprise for both kids, but try telling a 16 year old to get up at 7:30 a.m. without giving him a reason why. *sigh* At least our 6 year old was thrilled when she finally figured it out.

The park was surprisingly empty. October and no summer or winter breaks = a perfect time to head to any theme park. It was great. We spied Dora and Isabel was over the moon. No wait. We just walked right up to her.

Jacob and his new Tron shirt, which he loves and for which got stopped for several times by people wanting to tell him how awesome his shirt was.

Tired peeps.

We spent some time at the Universal Studios side, but what the boys really wanted to do was go over to Islands of Adventure, so we walked on over.

Isabel rides a tiger at the market place at the entrance.

Here we are, with Hogwarts in the background. Squeee!

Love her reaction to this 'toon. After hitting a few rides, we headed towards the main reason for going: The new Harry Potter attractions at Islands of Adventure.

Behold, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The wait for the ride inside, "Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey," was over an hour long. As we're going this Thursday with some friends visiting from California, we thought then would be a better time to attempt this ride.

Awesome sign!

As we're walking, we head towards some school banners, but then are told to please step back, a concert was about to start. We had front row for some Hogwarts Choir singing.

Of course, my batteries on my point-and-shoot ran out. Luckily I had replacements, but I missed the end of the song.

Isabel was the first to get her pictures made with two Gryffindors and one Slytherin. Plus the frog.

Off everyone went to Honeydukes, while I stood in line for Butterbeer!! It was like cream soda with a frothy sugar-buttery topping. I got one of each frozen and regular to try. We all agreed we liked the regular one over the frozen.

Mmmm, Butterbeer!

This is where all the people were. We didn't get a chance to look around much, but were not too disappointed. We'll see it again in a few days in more detail.

While David took Isabel to the Dr. Seuss area, Jacob and I headed over to "Dragon Challenge." This is not new. This is the two-colored roller coaster attraction "Dueling Dragons" revamped with a Harry Potter theme.

As we walked the empty queues (we made it to the ride in less than 10 minutes and then waited maybe 10 more to get on), we enjoyed all the HP paraphernalia.

*sniff*

The Ford Anglia kept revving its engine and honking. Cute.

The Triwizard Cup.

After the ride, we headed towards Olivander's, but the line was too long so we went in to Dervish and Banges.

There we saw The Monster Book of Monsters and the Owl Post. I didn't take many pictures because David had my bag. I couldn't take it on the roller coaster, and he was in another section taking Isabel on rides.

Heading out, we had one tired, but happy Princess.