Last day in Orlando

Our last day in Orlando we went back to Animal Kingdom, mostly because it was less crowded and we could easily get to and from our car in the parking lot so we could head to the airport at 3:00pm to fly home. We didn't really have the full day but it was enough to go see a few more things that were to rainy to do when we were here a few days earlier.

Checkin out the tigers

Then the sheep and goats

Chris is on this rollercoaster. Can you see him?

Sophie is on this one

One more round visiting with the characters













We then had to leave at 3:00 to catch our flight home. Sophie somehow had it in her mind that we were going back to the hotel to go swimming. When we told her we had to go to the airport. She was so sad. She cried and cried the whole drive to the airport saying no airport! Go hotel swimming! She was so sad to leave the happiest place on earth. We got her to calm down once we turned in the rental car and got checked in. She was so tired from all the fun she slept most of the way home on the flight which was nice for us. We left 78 degrees that day and came home to 20 degrees. Something is definitely wrong with that.

Backup

My hard drive in my computer died a few weeks ago. Luckily I had backed up our pictures at the end of the year and still had our Orlando trip pictures on the camera so I didn't loose to much other then some documents and maybe some things I can't remember I had on my computer. Thanks to Shane, I have a new hard drive in my computer and we are back up and I am backing everything up on 2 external hard drives! Just getting things reloaded on the computer then will post some more... Stay tuned! Until then here is a cute picture of lil miss.

Day 5 - Universal Orlando = Harry Potter!

Our 5th day in Orlando we went to Universal Studios mostly to check out the new Harry Potter Wizarding World. I love the Harry Potter books so I was pretty excited to go see it. We had heard it gets pretty crowded due to the park being so new so we went on a Wednesday. It wasn't too bad, it got a little crowded between 11-3pm but by late afternoon the crowds had left and there was only a 10-20 min wait for the rides. (Warning there are lots of pictures)

All aboard the Hogwarts Express!




Hogsmeade Village


I love the Crooked Chimneys


Dervish & Banges - where you can buy all your wizard supplies. They had Omnioculars, sneakoskopes, monster book of monsters & quidditch supplies, broomsticks, quaffels, clothing etc. Seriously crazy store. There were people walking out of here with broomsticks and everything.

Butterbeer = Yummy! The butterbeer was so good and fun to try. It's basically cream soda with a butterscotch whip cream on top. They had 2 kinds of butterbeer frozen or regular... We tried the regular (Soda) first, then got a frozen (Slurpee) one in the afternoon. I liked the frozen best and Chris like the regular/soda kind. It was a fun treat but pricey! $4.50 each! Our friends got a pumpkin juice to try as well. They said it was like apple juice with a pumpkin spice mixed in.



The Owl Post - here you could buy stuffed owls and postcards with a Hogsmeade address stamped on it.








Hogwarts Castle



The Hogwarts Green Houses - This is where the line started for Harry Potter & the Forbidden Journey. We had about an hour wait as we were here around 11am at it's busiest. The wait in line took you through the Green Houses, the Castle, Dumbledore's office, History of Magic classroom and stairways before getting on the ride. It was nice as they had a baby swap room so we could both ride it and not have to go through the line again.

The ride was a simulated flying journey where your riding a broomstick through the grounds, castle and a quidditch match. It was pretty cool from a scenery perspective but halfway through the ride I wanted off, I got so sick! After getting off and picking up Sophie from Chris in the baby waiting room, I quickly exited outside to get some fresh air. I just about lost my breakfast. Our friends were smart and took some dramamine before the ride, but even with that we were all a little woozy after the ride for the rest of the day. Another fun thing (which I'll post here as I was frantically looking for the bathroom in case I had to puke) the bathrooms have Moaning Myrtle talking to you as you do your business. Funny!




Entering the castle



The entrance to Dumbledores office


Dumbledore's office - Dumbledore was also being projected in 3-D and talking



The Sorting Hat


History of Magic classroom - they had Harry, Ron & Hermione talking to you while you waited in line. It was pretty cool they must have used some sort of 3-D projection of the actors.



The stairways - all of the portraits moved and talked as well again probably with some sort of rear projection



Olivander's Wand Shop - While Chris went with our friends to ride the Hulk roller coaster in another part of the park, Sophie and I got in line to see the Wand show. They took us in groups of about 20 into the wand shop and Olivander came out and chose a kid from the group to come up and choose a wand. (they seemed to be going for the 11-12 year olds) The kid tried several wands and various magical things would happen or not happen until he found his wand. It was a fun little demonstration, after which they send you off to the wand shop to buy your own wands which people were snatching up for $30-$50 a piece!





HoneyDukes Sweet Shop - I wandered around in here twice. They had so many fun sweets all from the books, chocolate wands, chocolate frogs, lemon sherbets, cauldren cakes, you name it. I picked up a chocolate wand and box of chocolate toads for my souvenirs. Next door was a Zonkos Joke shop as well.


My Honeydukes souvenirs (I don't know if I'll ever eat the chocolate wand, it's just too fun to eat)







Flight of the Hippogriff Ride - Sophie was barely big enough to go on this little roller coaster and she loved it. There was never more then a 10-15 min wait to get on and by the end of the day they went over and over again with no lines, they probably rode this thing 10-12 times.







Hagrids Hut



The Flying Ford Anglia



During the day they had several shows going on. I happened to catch the end of the Hogwarts Students and Frogs singing.




We pretty much stayed in Harry Potter Land the whole day. We did take Sophie over to the Dr. Seuss land for a bit (I'll post pictures from there later) and did a few rides there but I never saw the rest of the park, which was fine as I had a lot of fun just wondering around at Harry Potter. There are so many fun details. I thought they did a great job on the park. Wish they would open one in California.