Islands of Adventure: a memoir

This is a long overdue continuation of the recap I'm posting of our January Orlando adventure. Need a refresher on part one? Here 'tis.

The sleep I got that Friday night was...pretty terrible. I was dead tired, but my mind was racing. I had bizarre dreams and was just plain awake starting around 4 a.m. So when the alarm went off at 6:30 I was relieved it was finally time to do something but also nervous about my ability to make it through another long day. I'm not a girl who can just get by on a few hours of sleep, no siree.

I rallied, though, and we made it downstairs in time to get coffee and croissants at the hotel cafe and catch our shuttle to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. The parks are right next to each other but you have to exit one to get to the other. We had a park-hopper pass and had mapped out a plan to let us get through the rides with the longest waits first. Through Neil's thorough research, we knew the crowd forecast was light, and that in general the crowds don't even show up to these parks until after lunch (who knows why), but we still showed up before the gates even opened, just to be safe. I'm so glad we did, though, because we were inexplicably admitted to a nearly empty park a good thirty minutes before the official open time.

We made a beeline through Dr. Seuss Landing and the Lost Continent to get to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Guys, it's incredible. The snowcapped shops of Hogsmeade, the train and its accompanying timetable, the Butter Beer stand, the moving Wanted posters -- every detail was there. We thought the first order of business was to ride Harry Potter's Forbidden Journey, but the actual first order of business was to find it. We ended up just standing in the first line we saw for a few minutes, because we assumed it would lead to The Ride, but Neil did a little recon while I held our places there and just as I discovered I was in line for a magic show, Neil called me over to the giant castle in the back of the park. The ride was inside Hogwarts castle!

The line for the ride was relatively short, but we still spent a fair amount of time winding through the halls of Hogwarts, taking in the talking portraits, the statues of the founders and the Sorting Hat. At one point we heard Ron, Hermione and Harry quibbling, but we couldn't see them (invisibility cloak, duh), but then we did see them, or at least very realistic-looking holograms of them. I already forget the details of what they said to us (I was too busy thinking how real they looked) but all of a sudden Hermione was reciting a spell and it started SNOWING INSIDE HOGWARTS. Not fake snow, either. Real snow, that melts soon after hitting the floor or the top of your head. To say we were impressed is an understatement. And remember, we were still in line to get on the ride at this point.

The ride itself was a bit of a blur. But here's what I remember:

+ Crumbling Walls

+ Riding a broom over a cliff

+ Playing Quidditch

+ Getting really close to real fire

+ Dragon snot

It was scary and disorienting. I watched a good portion of it through my fingers.

Perhaps the most satisfying part of this ride, though, was exiting (through the gift shop, always) and seeing the line wind all the way out the castle doors. "We totally won the Harry Potter ride," we thought (okay, and said out loud) as we made our way to the Dragon Challenge.

The Dragon Challenge is my kind of roller coaster. The shoulder harness holds you in, your feet dangle below your seat, and you go really fast and upside down. I loved it and was tempted to ride it twice since it's really two coasters that come within inches of each other a few times during the course. Just when you think you're going to crash, you don't! Brilliant!

We headed to Marvel Super Hero Island next to ride the Spiderman ride and The Hulk ride. If I had to choose which one I liked better, I'd have to pick the Spiderman ride. It was a 3D, indoor experience and I think I kept my hands over my ears the whole time (have I mentioned I have a fear of loud noises?) but it had a pretty cool free fall drop at the end. The Hulk ride, on the other hand was an outdoor roller coaster that I thought I would love, but it ended up hurting my ears with all the sharp turns. They kept knocking against my shoulder harness. Neil and I made some pretty raging Hulk faces to show our discontent.

Before leaving for Universal, I dragged Neil onto a teacup-esque ride called G-Force. It was silly but a nice break from all the coasters. I let Neil spin us while I snapped pictures of him in his new pair of croakies, which were purchased the night before our trip so he could keep his glasses on during the rides.

G-Force!

So here we are, about halfway through our Saturday. We were ready for lunch and ready to see what the other side of the park, Universal Studios, had in store for us. But that's another post, perhaps for another day...