Universal Studios Island of Adventure

We left the land of Disney for Universal Studios on our final day so we could discover Hogsmeade.  Hogsmeade was supposed to be our first stop of the day, but as Jeremy passed under the Incredible Hulk roller coaster and it only had a wait time of 20 min., he, my mom, and the girls made a quick detour.  The boys and I waited in the land of Dr. Seuss.  We rode through The Cat in the Hat ride, took a few spins on Red Fish, Blue Fish, and just finished up on the Caro-Seuss-al when the big kids greeted us.

Once we were all together we walked into Hogsmeade.  Even though we were in sunny Florida, there was snow on the village roofs and it had a festive air about it.  There were so many visitors in Hogwarts gear and robes, that it almost felt like a school holiday.  We made a stop at the Owl Post so that McKenzie could pick up her souvenir of choice, an interactive wand.  She was able to use Luna's wand throughout Hogsmeade to perform spells; Alohomora, Ascendio, Descendio, Arresto Momentum, Wingardium Leviosa, and others.  Watching her practice her spells reminded me of Ron and Hermione practicing in Charms class, "It's levi-o-sa, not levio-sa!"  No wonder these students needed practice!  It was hard!  But watching the spells successfully do what they were supposed to do was so cool.  

We made our way up to Hogwarts to ride the Forbidden Journey.  Walking through the castle was really cool, as they had staged it so well.  I have to say though, after spending time in London at Warner Bros. Studios where they have the actual props, this was cool, but not as awe-inspiring.  We had to walk through the castle so quickly we didn't get to enjoy each room.  The ride itself was fun for the kids, and a little too intense for the adults.  It made me wonder how I'd fare on a real broomstick!  

We spent some more time wandering around enjoying the Flight of the Hippogriff and even listening to the frog choir. 

Honeydukes was fabulous!  We all felt like kids in a candy store! 

The Hogwarts Express

There was more to explore so we started walking.  We didn't have a destination in mind and ended up stopping at Jurassic Park River Adventure.  We grew a little nervous as we watched the riders exit the ride pretty wet.  We pulled out all of the jackets again and hoped for the best.  The ride through the jungle was nice and calm, but then we made our way into the containment facility and barely missed being eaten by a T-rex!  At that exact moment we plunged down back into the river.  We were pretty wet.  Daxton was screaming.  

The kids were loving life.  

To make up for it a little I took Daxton, Kelton and McKenzie on the Pteranodon Flyers.  It was a pleasant, gentle ride that I quite liked.  I wish covid restriction were different, because we passed over and through the best playground...that we couldn't experience.  But Daxton enjoyed the ride, and was happy to be there again.  We walked off the ride in hunt of the ones we left behind.  We found them barefoot and soaking wet.  They had tucked themselves off the path a bit so they could wring out their socks, jackets, and shoes.  They went on the Bilge-Rat Barges and were completely soaked from head to toe.  McKenzie and Kelton were a little disappointed they missed out.  I wasn't!  We ate lunch and watched the boats plummet down Jurassic Park River.  The kids started hanging out near the splash zone, and running away from the area just as the wave hit the pavement.  Most of the time they made it past without getting wet, but once or twice they weren't fast enough and were soaked.  

Exploring more of the park we found a comic book section, and the kids were able to put themselves in a comic strip.  We also rode Dr. Doom's Freefall a couple of times and the Reign of King Kong before heading back to Hogsmeade.  Had it been a hot day, there were so many fun wet rides that would have been awesome.  We just didn't want to start drying out all over again.

  

Now that the sun was setting and it was getting a bit colder, we knew it was time for some warm butterbeer.  We went over to the Hogshead Pub and ordered a variety of butterbeer; hot, cool, and frozen.  That night, the hot butterbeer was the most popular.  It was so delicious.  But I can see on a hot summer day how refreshing the frozen would be.

More Hogsmeade moments

The hardest ride to get on here was Hagrid's Motorbike Adventure.  The virtual line opened up three separate times during the day, and I tried every time to score tickets.  It was hard and I kept missing out.  Finally at 5:00pm I managed to snag tickets for our group.  What a relief!  They were timed entry, and there were plenty of people who were trying to sneak into the queue.  I was so glad we got tickets.  We had the same experience as we walked through this castle as we did with Hogwarts, there was so much to see but we had to cruise right past it.  The roller coaster cars were set up like a motorbike and sidecar.  I rode with Kelton and somehow I ended up in the sidecar while he drove the motorbike.  He couldn't even reach the handlebars!  It started out like any roller coaster, and we were having so much fun.  Then it did some things I never would have expected; it went backwards, it dropped off the track, and we ended up on different tracks.  It moved just like I would expect Hagrid's flying motorbike to move and was having a blast!  Daxton was too short, so we did a rider's switch with him.  I couldn't believe the kids' luck that they were able to ride it twice!  It was incredible.  

Not willing to leave Hogsmeade yet, McKenzie practiced some more of her spells. Daxton had ended up with a leftover straw from our butterbeer treat and used it as his magic wand.  There were a couple of automated window displays in the street and he was convinced that he was making the quill move, and the wizard chess pieces battle.  It was beyond adorable.

As we left the park, the boys and my mom took one last ride on the Dr. Seuss Trolley Train ride, while the girls, Jeremy and I went on the Hulk. I hadn't ridden on it earlier in the day and didn't know quite what to expect.  It did everything a crazy coaster can do; loops, twists, barrel rolls.  It was the first time ever I thought I might be actually sick on the ride.  I was beyond relieved when it was over.  The girls just thought it was cool!

After three days in theme parks, we were beyond exhausted and ready to call it a day.  I think we all fell asleep before our heads even hit our pillows, but that was par for course for this trip.  My mom had an early morning flight and left right away.  The rest of us woke up and enjoyed a quiet morning at the pool before we had to leave.  The kids put their boogie boards to use again while we swam.  They tied their straps to my ankle and I pulled them around the pool.  It was a great way to loosening up after everything, and the kids got to simply enjoy the ride.  The kids never complained once about being tired while we were running around, but once they stopped moving it was pretty easy to see how wiped out they were.  It was a whirlwind trip but so much fun!

Disney Hollywood Studios

By day two of our Disney adventures the kids all knew what to expect.  We arrived bright and early again, and I have to say that the approach to Hollywood Studios was a lot simpler than Magic Kingdom.  

We started off on Minnie and Mickey's Runaway Railroad.  Not knowing what to expect, we were all pleasantly surprised and knew we'd stop by again before the end of the day to go on that again.

  There were a lot of other early birds today though, and as we made our way to Toy Story Land we were already splitting up to take advantage of the best lines and wait time.  Toy Story Land wasn't up and running last time we visited.  No one creates ambience and immerses you in a story like Disney does.  We were in Andy's backyard and everything was built with Tinker Toys, blocks, popsicle sticks, and toys.  There were a couple major rides here, Toy Story Mania, Slinky Dog roller coaster, and Alien Saucers.  

All of us hoped that Daxton would be more warmed up for the roller coasters today, and that the appeal of Slinky Dog would be enough to make him happy to be there.  I mean, look how great this looks! 

We were wrong.  By the time the ride stopped (a really fun one by the way), there were tears trickling down his face.  

At that moment I told him that I wouldn't make him go on any roller coasters again.  We kind of compromised on few that I thought wouldn't be too bad, but it was pretty apparent that this kid does not like thrill rides at all.  He started protestesting as we stood in lines, grabbing whatever he could to keep from moving forward.  Message received dude.  

He did like the alien saucers though.  And Toy Storia Mania where we got to shoot like we were in an arcade game, was a blast for everyone.

As the big kids went on Slinky Dog a few more times, Daxton and I hung out and watched them rush past with huge grins on their faces.

My little superheros!

We thought that perhaps Toy Story Land would be the highlight of the day for the kids, we were so wrong.  Star Wars land was incredible.  Jeremy and Cambrie walked across the boundary, and both stopped in their tracks.  It felt like we were off planet in some bustling alien city.  There were shops, alleys, droids, speeders, distant mountains, Storm Troopers just observing the crowds, and the Millenium Falcon.  Instantly we knew we were not going to have enough time to spend here.  

We managed to score tickets to Rise of the Resistance (which I had to do by logging in bright and early at 7:00am to get a boarding time) and figured we wander and fit in a ride or two before boarding.  We were about halfway through the line to Smuggler's Run when we realized we weren't going to make it in time.  I asked a cast member about it, and he was incredibly kind.  He let us walk all the way through to the front of Smuggler's Run so we could ride it before Rise of the Resistance.  Little miracles like that happened every day: a jump through the line, free ice-cream, a free popcorn refill, line escapes and re-entries for potty breaks, celebration buttons, and even the catch where we learned I had booked our tickets twice and they instantly refunded nearly $2000 of ticket purchases.  I really felt like they went above and beyond taking care of us.  But I'm straying from the story.

Rise of the Resistance is one of the hardest tickets to get while in Disney World, and we learned why.  It was an all-inclusive experience, not just a ride.  We were assigned to troop ships, hijacked, arrested, and led through the Death Star as we tried to escape.  The blasters that were shooting at us were actually "causing damage" to the surrounding space ship.  By the time we made it out, I really felt like I had walked through a Star Wars action scene.  It was incredible.

Smugglers Run was just as awesome.  We boarded through the Millenium Falcon, and even though I'm no Star Wars geek, I was giddy to be there.  Cambrie had a huge smile across her face as she passed through the white upholstered halls and as she sat at the table to play alien chess.  It felt like we were there and would run into Han Solo or Chewbacca at any moment.  

We were divided into two groups, and hearing Cambrie's story about their experience was hilarious.  So much screaming was involved!  Kelton and Daxton ended up in the pilot's seat, which we didn't think would matter.  However we quickly learned that they actually DID have some control over the ship!  They tried to steer us through the adventure as we chased down a train that we were supposed to hijack and steal the payload.  Since they couldn't even reach the thrusters or steering buttons it was one crazy ride!  I guess Cambrie and McKenzie needed some work as team pilots also and were all over the place. It was awesome.  

By now we were running out of time to do other iconic rides in Hollywood Studios, like the Tower of Terror and Aerosmith.  We made our way over to those lines, McKenzie stopping to fill up her popcorn bucket on the way, and waited for the next round of fun.  

We also saw Santa drive by in his Hollywood style ride.

Daxton wasn't tall enough for Aerosmith so we picked up a few rider switch passes and went to spend time with Lightning McQueen.  We went through the simulator with him and the show was nice and calm for Dax.  

As soon as we exited, Cambrie came running over saying that Tower of Terror (which had been closed) had just reopened and there wasn't any wait time at all.  We literally ran over to the line so we could ride.  I thought that Dax might not hate this one too much because it was just one drop.  Well, they have made some changes to the drop pattern, and I literally just finished telling Daxton, "Don't worry, it's not the big drop yet," when we started falling!  Poor guy was not prepared at all!  "Cover my eyes!  Cover my eyes!"  He screamed.  I had one hand up and one hand covering his eyes as he waited for the horror of it all to end.  When we unloaded and looked at the picture taken on the ride, we all burst out laughing.  The whole family is having a blast, and Daxton is holding on for dear life just wishing this was just a nightmare he would wake up from.  The line was too long to ride that again, but I was grateful we rode it at least once.

We walked over to Aerosmith to take advantage of the child swap passes.  I rode it with Kelton and Cambrie, but the line was so short that they hoped in and rode it twice more!  It was a good thing that we had three adults to switch going on these more intense rides with the kids.  While the kids could just ride and ride, the adults could only go once or twice before needing a break.  

We had just enough time at this point to hit a couple favorite rides before calling it a night.  We rode Minnie and Mickey's Runaway Railroad again, and this time we knew exactly what to do when Daisy told us it was time to Conga!

We also made one more stop at Smuggler's Run again.  Jeremy and Cambrie both really wanted nice light sabers as their souvenirs this trip.  We had no idea that they would be buying their own legacy sabers.  

Cambrie picked up Rey's light saber.

And Jeremy picked up Master Windu's. 

A battle between the boys with their own sabers.

Now that it was dark, their light sabers looked fantastic.  Everyone posed with their sabers in front of the Millenium Falcon and it's one of the best shots of the day.  

We had another incredible day as we shut down the park. Hollywood Boulevard looks fabulous in its festive Hollywood glamour.  There is simply too much fun to be had at these parks!