Our Second Day At Universal Studios Florida

When we headed to Universal Studios Florida in the morning, my hubby made two trips. He dropped my oldest daughter and oldest son off first, and then came back for the rest of us. He played chauffeur for two days while we had 6 people for a 5 person Prius. It was easier the day before when we went to Islands of Adventure with the driving, but I appreciate him doing the driving!

We may have the same walk...

We joked around as we headed there that Amber would be riding the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit™ with my oldest son. We were kidding that it would be the first thing she did, but it turned out to not be a joke when my son said, "Ready to ride the coaster?" So, off they went. Not in this lifetime will you see me on that ride! Ha!

From there we headed off to Diagon Alley™ to see what wonders awaited us. Amber is the one who started with the Harry Potter series so I knew she'd really be fascinated with it. Once again, the developers did a phenomenal job. They know how to transport visitors into the world of Harry Potter. We walked through all of the shops. The kids made some purchases and then got in line for Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts™. It was about an hour wait and they'd probably been in line for 30-45 min, but my youngest decided to do the single rider line. He was one of the next ones on when the ride shut down. Unfortunately, they shut down for the rest of the day. Thankfully they gave them express pass tickets for another ride and used it on the Despicable Me Minion Mayhem™.

While my crew was waiting in line for the roller coaster, I headed to Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour to get some ice cream. That was a long line, but it was a way to pass the time. I got two scoops: Salted Caramel Blondie and Chocolate. I wanted to move out of the way to get some good shots of the fire breathing dragon. As I did, I tipped over and I dropped my entire ice cream. That was such a bummer!

Now, like I said, Universal Studios has really cornered the market on the virtual reality rides.  The TRANSFORMERS: The Ride-3D was pretty amazing! I liked it better than the Spider-man one at Islands of Adventure. That was a ride I could've done over and over again! And yes, I kept my eyes open on that one.

Shrek 4-D was ok. It was a "experiential" ride is how I'd explain it. The theater seating gives everyone the same view. Occasionally you could feel spits of water, the seats would jostle around, and puffs of air would touch your back. Not my favorite ride, but I think little kids would love it! I sort of felt the same with the Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon™. Buddy wanted to do it because he loves Jimmy Fallon so we all went. I think the best part was the entertainment before the ride from the Ragtime Gals.

I got in line to do the Revenge of the Mummy™ because I thought it might be a virtual reality ride and I was totally onboard with all of those! Turns out that it's an actual roller coaster. Yea, I left that ride faster than you can say, "hieroglyphics!" The guys all seemed to enjoy it.

We went to Mel's Drive-in for lunch. It was a good, quick meal that we all found something to fill up on. I had been wanting a burger for a couple of days and it fit the bill. It was a fun 50s themed restaurant. I was surprised that we found seats for all of us because that place was bustling with people!

This phone box was a hoot! My son wasn't able to get it to work the first time he was in it. I went in with him the second time. There's a rotary phone in there and he said to me, "I don't know how to dial on this phone." I nearly died!

The last ride I remember doing before we left the park was the MEN IN BLACK™ Alien Attack™. It's a fun shooting game. This was another ride we did as single riders. The youngest was able to sit in the single seat behind ours. I got the most shots/points for our car! When Fred got to us, the boys went with him and they all got way higher points than I did. lol I'm sure they cheated.

When we were leaving, the Rockitt roller coaster is one of the last things you see. This was the last coaster the kids ended up riding. That straight up ride isn't to my liking, but a couple of my kids absolutely love those types of rides. More power to 'em!

We ended the day with Brieanne and I taking a shuttle back to the time share. What a miserable experience. I definitely wouldn't recommend it for our time share. It was suffocating and only dropped us off halfway to our building at the villa. Thankfully it was the last time we were going to use it. Fred was going to just make two separate trips for the next day. Thanks honey!