Mickey Gras and a Birthday Day 7 (Universal Day 2)

[buzznwoodysmom]

So today we were up and on our way early since we had the extra hour of Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Remember the toe I think I broke back on our first day in the parks in Disney? Well at this point it was still hurting, so much so that I was walking with all the pressure on the other side of my foot so that I didn't put any pressure on the toe. This morning I seriously thought I might have a stress fracture, or some sort of strain, on the side of my foot I had been putting all the pressure. It was very difficult to walk. But being the stubborn person I am I kept going! No time for Dr's or wheelchairs when we have Potterland waiting!

We didn't get there at 8 like we wanted, but were getting on Forbidden Journey by 8:30. The boys and I love this ride. It's just such a unique ride. Being the huge HP fans my boys are the entire WWOHP area is their favorite part of Universal. Heck I think it's their favoritre part of all of Florida! LOL. DH usually loves it as well, but when he got off today he felt awful. He said he thought he was going to vomit on the ride and was extremely dizzy and just didn't feel well once we got off.

After FJ we stopped in a few shops, rode Flight of the Hippogriff (sp?), bought chocolate frogs and Bertie bott's beans in the candy shop, and also had a light breakfast at 3 Broomsticks. Not in that order, but I really don't remember it all at this point.

Since we had EP we didn't hurry to do Dragon Challange till after breakfast had settled. It was the last thing we were doing before leaving WWOHP. Landon had been dreaming of riding this! We walked up and YES he was just tall enough to ride so into the line we went. When we got to the loading area they remeasured him and no kidding he was almost and inch too short at the loading dock. DH and I even checked to make sure he was standing straight. Needless to say we had a very devastated little boy on our hands. He was crushed. At that point he wanted to just go back to the room. Being the mean parents we are we made him "get over it". Back out in front he was still tall enough to ride by the measuring stick at the entrance to the ride. What the heck?????? We talked to a few workers and were told that if he didn't meet the height requirement inside then he couldn't ride, and no one could give an explination why the two measurements were so off.

The rest of the day is a bit fuzzy, but I know we went into the Dino Lab, not sure what it's really called, but Landon always wants to check to see if any baby dinos are hatching. None were hatching today. According to Landon "more disappointment". LOL. We did Spider Man, and Landon and I did Dr. Doom's Fearfall several times in a row. DH had felt sick ever since getting off Forbidden Journey, so he rode Spider Man with us, but had skipped everything else. Collin dosen't like "falling"type rides so he played in an arcade while we rode Fear Fall.

I am not even sure what else we did, but at one point DH was just feeling so sick (still from FJ) that he went back to the room. We found out later that my MIL also got sick on FJ (their very first ride of the day too) and spent the rest of the day in their room. I know we went back to WWOHP for the boys to look in the shops, and Landon wanted to measure himself at the entrance to DC again. He was still tall enough according to the entrance, but he didn't want to go through and give it another try. We had lunch at 3 Broomsticks before heading back to Hard Rock.

Back in the room I found DH sleeping it off so we grabbed swim suits and headed for the pool. SIL, BIL, and two of their kids were at the pool so we hung with them all afternoon. DH eventually came down and we all decided to go back to IOA for a few hours before dinner.

Back in IOA we went back to FJ, DH skipping it this time. The line really isn't bad in the late evenings. It wasn't much longer than it was in the morning for extra hours. Collin and his cousin decided to ride Dragon Challange, since we hadn't done it that morning. They ended up riding twice.

While they were riding I took Landon to the wand show to get his mind off the fact that he couldn't ride with them. Did I say he was devastated???? He was really upset poor little guy. Upon entering the wand store Landon was placed, by the worker, front and center in the room. Ok, so I'm thinking maybe they will pick him for the wand show. Plus he had his Griffendor robe on. But he was front and center a few years back, and had his robe on and they picked a kid from way in the back so I didn't get my hopes up. The show starts and guess what?????? They picked Landon!!!! He said he was so excited and nervous that he was shaking! Definitely the hightlight of the entire trip for him, and totally made up for not being able to ride Dragon Challange. Seriously, it's all he has talked about since we came home!

At then end of the show he looks at me, with wand box in hand, and says "Can you please buy this for me". A dad exiting the show looked at me and said "How can you say no now". LOL. Of course we bought the wand and he was happy, happy, happy!

Back outside we met back up with everyone. Collin and his cousin wanted to ride Hulk, and Landon wanted to take his little cousin on Dr. Doom's Fear fall since she loves Tower of Terror. I took the two of them to Fear Fall and Collin and Blake rode Hulk by themselves. No one else was up for riding it. At that point we were all hungry and had had our fill of IOA.

We had dinner at Bubba Gump's Shrimp. Always a great meal. DH and BIL stopped for drinks and cigars at the cigar place at CityWalk while the rest of us took the boat back to HRH. Then we spent the rest of the night at the pool bar. Landon and his younger cousin, Camryn, cuddled up in a chair to watch the Harry Potter movie playing outside. Collin and Blake played with some kids they met on the beach, then later played countless rounds of pool. The rest of us enjoyed hanging out by the bar at the pool. They had it set up with tall space heaters. It was nice and warm! The men had drinks till the bar closed and they kicked us out. Us ladies had ice cream cones from the ice cream shop inside. It was a very nice way to spend a few hours together just relaxing, talking about our trip and laughing together. It was then that my FIL said how very impressed he was with the entire vacation, especially Disney.

Today was definitely a much better day than yesterday, but still not without some sort of disappointment along the way. I think we just weren't feeling Universal this trip after the way it started. We'll definitely visit again, but I am seriously thinking of holding off till the rest of the Potter stuff opens up. It's never been a part of every one of our Disney trips anyway, so it shouldn't be hard to hold off till there is more to do there.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Sounds good, never been to Universal and HP is the only reason I would consider it.

[MizMissy]

Sounds like a much better day. I understand completely about being sick after FJ. I wanted to experience it and even tried taking motion sickness meds, but that ride really did me in ... of course, following it up with DD was probably not my brightest idea ever either.

My kids just loved Bubba Gump. And, surprisingly, we thought the food was pretty good too.

I think you just needed more Disney this trip. Maybe it would be better to hit Universal first since Disney is where you relax.

[buzznwoodysmom]

I think you just needed more Disney this trip. Maybe it would be better to hit Universal first since Disney is where you relax.

Karen,

So funny you say this. In Dec. 2011 we did two nights at Universal first then headed to Disney for a week. At that time I thought "wow, Universal is so much more relaxing/easy than Disney, we should do Universal at the end so that we have more down time at the end of the trip when we are really tired and needing a break".

Fast forward to this trip and I think your completely right. As much as we really like Universal there still is no comparision with how much we love Disney. I think leaving Disney, but staying in the area was not the best idea for us. It would be much better to do Universal first and have Disney to look forward to. And not having enough Disney time sure didn't help matters either.

Live and learn......

[faline]

Landon SO totally deserved to be recognized in the wand show! I'm so glad he was chosen after the differing measurments - must be wizardry at work!!

We, too, would opt to do Universal BEFORE Disney rather than the other way around - just our preference.

Buba Gumps - yum!!