Universal Studios - Post 1

We are started our trip on delayed flights.  My daughter only had a 1/2 hour delay, but I actually was delayed a little over three hours.  But....we got out of our respective airports and got to our hotel by 12:45 am!  As long as we didn't lose any time at the parks, I was okay with it!

Day 1 - Our first morning, we were up at 6:15 and at the park by 7:00 - the sun had not even risen yet!  But we didn't care, we were going on the Gringott's ride no matter what...and God was good to us.  We got on three times in a row!!  Unbelievable!   It was so much fun!   They really did a great job with the theming and the goblins and the bank itself.  (If any of you have not read the Harry Potter series, then I apologize, but you probably won't understand a lot of this!!)

These photos are from our first morning.  The sky was still dark.  We walked into Diagon Alley and we were so excited (I cried, but I'm weird)!  

The goblins were very life like, I have more photos in another blog!  Then we got Gringotts Money(I know it is upside down)  and we spent it on Butterbeer Ice cream!!  I WISH we could buy this somewhere besides Diagon Alley - it was so good!   

We went to the Leaky Cauldron for Breakfast - it was just an american breakfast and we split it because it was big and then we got to see the dragon!!

He sits atop Gringotts and spits fire every 20 minutes!  Like clock work!

 The Hoppity Pot is where you can get drinks - we opted for the Fizzy Green Ale which is a Cinnamon/Mint drink with blueberry popping balls on the bottom.  I can't explain the taste, but one gentleman says it tasted like Christmas to him.  I thought the blueberry balls were awesome!! We also got a Lemon Squash which was like a funky lemonade - not sure what was in it, but it was really good.  Another day, we got our Pumpkin Juice - it is really orange and sweet!! Not my favorite.  My favorite is the pear cider!!

 Another view of the dragon atop Gringotts.

 This is Hagrid's bike - he rode it in a few of the movies in the Harry Potter series.  We sat in it and on it, but Elizabeth must have that picture!!

 This is the inside of the Leaky Cauldron.  It is very rustic and realistic looking.

 This is Kreacher - he was in books five and seven, I think.  He is the house elf for the Black home.  He pops his head in and out of the curtains at 12 Grimmauld Place (and you all know what that is!).

 This is a replica of the statue that sits in London with the statue of Eros at the top - they really did a great job of replicating Wyndhams Theatre and the underground and the homes and King's Cross station in London!

 Our favorite platform - 9-3/4!

 The inside of King's Cross.  This is the major London railway station.  I have never been to the real one, but those that have says it is a darn good replica!  You take the Hogwarts Express from King's Cross Station to Hogsmeade when you travel from park to park!

Elizabeth and the conductor at the station in Hogsmeade!   We spent the rest of the day in Islands of Adventure Park after we took the Hogswart express train over to that park.  We did the water rides and got soaked to the skins - so badly that we used one of the people dryers (which doesn't work very good, by the way).  We did every water ride, because we knew we wouldn't be doing them again.  By 3:00 we were exhausted and still wet and went back to the hotel for a nap.  Five hours of sleep just wasn't enough that first night!  Both parks closed early that night so we went to Margaritaville at CityWalk for dinner and then strolled City Walk for an hour or so.  We were both in bed by 8:30 because we knew we were going for round two of Harry tomorrow at 7:00 am again.