2013 April Vacation - Orlando, Florida - Day 3:

Island of Adventure

As I suspected this side of the park was the bigger hit.  I mean we got to go to Hogsmeade and Hogwarts, what is not to love about that!  In fact that is where our day began.  We knew that the new Harry Potter ride, The Forbidden Journey, was going to get long lines fast so we headed there first.  Because I’m not great on rides, and have been on one “real” roller coaster in my entire life, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to ride (as much as I really wanted to).  We asked the attendant for some more information on the ride, basically what I needed to know was if there were any drops (like a roller coaster) because otherwise I wasn't sure I could ride.  I also got very queasy on the old Back to the Future ride (which is now The Simpson’s Ride) so I asked if it was similar to that and she said no so YAY, I decided to give it a try!  Walking through the queue was very cool.  They did an amazing job with the design of Hogwarts.  The special affects with the picture frames were pretty awesome.  Let the adventure begin!

There are a few rides on this side that are basically designed to get you wet (or soaked!), including a splash pad playground in Seuss Land!  So we decided to put the boys in their bathing suits for this side.  I even wore mine!  The rapid rides are my favorite!  

Heading into the park and ready to get a little wet today!

The boys couldn't even wait until getting inside the park to get soaked...they found a splash pad right outside the entrance and had a little fun!

Our first stop of the day was in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!  I already mentioned what an amazing job they did making you really feel like you were there, but it's worth mentioning again.  If you walk in from the Lost Continent side you are immediately welcomed by the conductor of the Hogwarts Express.  SIL and I stopped for a picture!

Hogwarts Express!

Then you enter Hogsmeade.  I wish I had more time to spend in all the little shops, but I knew the boys were anxious to get on some rides!  So we head straight to Hogwarts, where some of us headed right for the Forbidden Journey.  Like I mentioned above, the queue was amazing!  You really feel like you were in Hogwarts.  You walk through the green house and into the castle.  Right past the entrance to  Dumbledore's office, I said Sherbet Lemon but it didn't open, oh well!  Before getting closer to the ride you see the entrance to the Griffindor common room, the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom where you meet up with Harry, Ron and Hermoine.  Then it's time for the ride.  It was just as awesome as I had hoped, and the best part was it didn't make me feel queasy, though I'm not sure I could have done it twice in a row.  They did a great job making you feel like you were really there and really flying.  I'm really glad I gave it a try.  

Right outside Hogwarts the kids were able to ride on the Hippogriff roller coaster   Shaun surprised us by wanting to go on, he had been pretty apprehensive to the rides over on the other side so I wasn't sure how he would like it.  But as you can see from the picture below, he LOVED it.  He rode this roller coaster 3 times!

Shaun and Daddy waving after a really fun ride!

It was time to move on from Hogwarts, I knew we'd go back one last time before we left to get our Butterbeers but we had other areas of the park to explore.  Next up was Seuss Land.  We had already walk through this section to get to Hogwarts so the kids were very excited to head back!  Here they had lots of fun rides designed for the little ones!  Evan, just as I expected, loved the train ride!

Ready for the train ride...TOOT - TOOT!

After a couple more of the rides, we headed over to meet some of the characters.  We got to meet Thing 1 & Thing 2, The Grinch, The Cat in the Hat and Sam I Am.  The boys were pretty excited, and even Grammy got in on the fun!

Scottie, David and Shaun with Thing 1 & Thing 2

Evan gets a hug from the Cat in the Hat!

Grammy and The Grinch

Lastly, before moving onto Toon Lagoon and Jurassic Park, we let the boys run around the splash pad.  This was probably one of the favorite places of the day!

Shaun under the BIG shower head!

We walked through Super Hero Island to get to Toon Lagoon and as we were walking through we saw a bunch of motorcycles pull up in front of us.  On those motorcycles were Super Heroes!  I think Shaun just about died and went to heaven!  He got to meet Captain America!  

Shaun and his Favorite Super Hero!

After we took some pictures it was time to get SOAKED!  We headed into Toon Lagoon and went on Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls.  David decided to try it out, even though he knew there was a big drop, I think he really wanted to get soaked!  It was after all, why he wore his bathing suit!

David on the Ripsaw Falls, still smiling...

After we got pretty wet riding on the Ripsaw Falls, it was time to get really SOAKED on Popeye and Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges, a water rafting ride.  I was able to convince Shaun to give it a try.  I think he was a little unsure about it, but he had fun and was still smiling after!

SOAKED!

After we dried off a bit, we headed into Jurassic park.  Shaun really wanted to try out the Pteranodon Flyers, it was like a cross between a swing ride and a train.  Unfortunately the line was 45 minutes long for it and only little kids could ride.  We decided to let them play in the Jurassic Park themed playground instead, before heading back through Harry Potter and Seuss Land one last time.  And since no one was interested in getting wet again, we skipped the River Adventure.

Heading into Jurassic Park

Back to Hogsmeade for our Butterbeers and it was everything I hoped it would be and more.  I'm not even exaggerating when I say it's the most delicious drink I have ever tasted!  We got the frozen versions which is basically the consistency of a Dunkin Donut's coffee coolata.

Butterbeers, frosty and delicious!

After the butterbeers we did walked through Seuss Land one last time, where Evan got to ride on the train again and Shaun got to go on the Cat in the Hat ride again.  

Evan with the Lorax!

After we did those rides one last time it was time to hit the final destination - Marvel Super Heroes Island.  We had one last ride to go on before calling it a day, and that was the Amazing Adventures of Spiderman, a 3D ride, which ended up beating out M.I.B for Scotties favorite ride!

Before we got into line, we saw that there was a line for people to meet Spiderman, so the grandparents took the little ones to meet him while the Doc, SIL, Scottie and I headed over to the ride.  Once we exited the ride we saw that all the super heroes were back so we were able to get a couple more character pictures.  

Here are the boys with Wolverine!

And with that, it was time to head home.  We plugged through the park without taking a mid-day break so that when we got back tot he house, we would have time to swim in the pool before heading out for dinner.  I can't even tell you how nice it is to have a pool all to ourselves!  The kids had a blast swimming, but I think it was the grown ups that enjoyed it more...enjoying the hot tub at night after the kids were all asleep!

All of us lounging in the hot tub!