Friday arrived earlier than we wanted; so we taught it a lesson and went back to bed. We’d already been to each of the parks on our agenda and still had days on our Universal Studios passes, so we planned to park hop, hitting just the highlights. The mornings at Universal Studios felt less crowded and we definitely wanted to end at Islands of Adventure. So…
We made it to Universal Studios by 11:30 am, that’s still morning, right? We headed straight to Rockit. Our wait was around 30 minutes, plenty of time to catch all the instructions more than once. This time I chose “Hella Good” by No Doubt while my daughter went with “That’s the Way (I Like It)” by KC and the Sunshine Band, my wife decided not to rock it. I’m not sure why but when the music started I heard more of KC than I did of Gwen Stefani.
Since we hadn’t seen Twister yet we went there next. It was ok, but like Jaws, my daughter wasn’t really attached to that one. After that we hit the Mummy, MIB till my daughter beat her high score, then the Simpsons where we laughed some more. We finished where we started with one more trip on Rockit. I went back to ZZ Top, my daughter went with MC Hammer. After we came home I found out you can unlock hidden songs on Rockit, if you know how. Wish I had known that when we were there.
We park hopped over to Islands of Adventure with lots of time left in the day. In fact, way too much time. Remember that deal I made on Tuesday in order to avoid getting wet? Well, it was time to make good. Like it or not I was going to get wet. And I was mentally prepared for that. But the wait, I wasn’t mentally prepared for that. When we got there the projected wait time was 75 minutes, down from 90 minutes the other day – my daughter remembered that much. My wife tried to persuade, then badger, and in desperation she almost made an executive decision to skip it because of the wait time, the most we’d waited for anything else on this trip was 30 minutes; not counting Manta when it broke down on us. But, alas, my honor was at stake. I had promised and I couldn’t go back on it. I tried to make the best of it. C’mon, it’ll be fun, I said, not even convincing myself. My wife just glared at me. The line at first was a little deceiving, we walked through what felt like a mile of waitomazium before we caught up with the rest of the sheep. I even let myself think that the projected wait time was incorrect. Idiot! We were outside at first, but they had nice fans strategically positioned and some shady spots. Plus they were playing peppy music. I never realized then that I had it so good.
Five minutes passed, then ten, actually the first half hour wasn’t too bad, did I tell you they were playing peppy music? It was about the time we went inside the building that time slowed down. We seemed to go fifteen minutes at a time without moving an inch. It was hotter inside than outside, and it was stuffy, oh man was it stuffy inside there. And did I mention the peppy music? Well they were still playing it, the same peppy music. I consider myself a reasonably patient man, but by the time we stepped into our log if you told me I had to wait five more minutes I would have gone all Anakin right there on the spot (for my wife: that means I would have turned to the dark side, honey). Years later, wrapped in a straitjacket sitting in a padded cell I’m confident I’d be able to remember that peppy, haunting, music. Harry Potter had Voldemort, Spider-Man had Doc Ock and the Green Goblin, the Fantastic Four had Dr. Doom, and I have Dudley Do-Rights Ripsaw Falls.
I’d like to say the log ride part was fun. I guess I wasn’t in the right state of mind to truly appreciate it though. My daughter on the other hand, she liked it. Mission accomplished. This time it was my wife and I moping out of Toon Lagoon – I mean dripping out of Toon Lagoon. We looked up at the Pteranodon Flyers and thought, “That would be a great way to dry out, up high in the wind.” But the line was too long. Instead we explored Camp Jurassic. We climbed up rocks and nets, slid down slides, and even walked across a rope line over a bubbling pool in a misty cavern.
We could have spent more time in Camp Jurassic, but we got hungry. Being so near Hogsmeade the Three Broomsticks is all we could think about. Luckily the line was short and in no time we were feasting on Fish n Chips, Rotisserie Smoked Chicken, and Chargrilled Ribs, with butterbeer to wash it all down. I told you we were hungry. The prices on food in the Three Broomsticks aren’t discount level, but the food was top notch. This was hands down the most enjoyable meal of our trip.
Fully satisfied we had nothing else to do but visit Hogwarts castle, like a moth to a flame. I had a nagging desire for another Harry Potter souvenir: a Deathly Hallows necklace, like the one Xenophilius Lovegood wore. So it was win win to ride the Forbidden Journey again. The ride was good again, and I was equally happy to end up in Filch's Emporium of Confiscated Goods. I searched meticulously for anything resembling the Deathly Hallows symbol, but came up empty handed. My wife asked a witch who worked there, because I’m a man and I don’t ask questions like that, if they had any Deathly Hallows merchandise. The nice witch said to try over at Dervish and Banges. Thankful for a wife who’s willing to ask questions I’m unwilling to ask, our next stop was Dervish and Banges, of course. I entered the shop on a mission: locate a triangle with a circle inside it, and with a line running through the circle. Once again I searched meticulously and once again I came up empty handed: 0-2. This time my daughter came to my rescue, like mother like daughter – she’s well on her way to being a perfect wife. Anyway, my daughter found out that the really cool stuff is in the back room at Dervish and Banges on a shelf behind the cash register – a good tip for anyone else like me unwilling to ask. They had a Time Turner necklace, a Horcrux ring, a prophecy crystal ball, and oh yes, a Deathly Hallows necklace. The boys at home were asking for one too, but the price was too steep to get more than one, sorry boys. It was around $50 and came with a triangular display case. The circle does rotate around the line, in case you were wondering. I couldn’t have settled for anything less.
Another mission accomplished, thanks to my wife and daughter. But in my defense they really hid the Deathly Hallows necklace in that store very well – probably because they were afraid the Death Eaters would find it. After the shopping detour we picked back up on our ride routine, next stop was the Dragon Challenge. Since we weren’t sure what we were going to do on our final day we went on Dragon Challenge several times, enough to fill up our memories, just in case we didn’t make it back.
Once we’d had our fill we left Hogsmeade, possibly for the last time. We always walked through the Lost Continent, and I always felt bad we didn’t spend more time there. They had some really interesting buildings and cool shops with appealing souvenirs, but they weren’t Harry Potter appealing. It must be tough being right next to the most popular place in the park. We tried to see Poseidon’s Fury on a different day, but it was experiencing technical difficulties. This time we were in luck, it was operational. The actor/park worker who lead our “tour” was pretty good, but there were a so many people in our group it was hard to see, especially for my diminutive daughter. It was fun nonetheless, for sure worth going on once.
The last leg of our routine was always Hulk, then Spider-Man. My daughter loved running ahead to be the first to spot the projected wait time – it was 5 minutes. I remember because she was so excited about it; single digit wait times are always exciting no matter what the ride. Riding on the Hulk I learned how to keep my head from banging against the restraints; I had to, my daughter loved that ride. The secret is to push your head forward so it’s outside the restraints, and forcing your shoulders up against the restraints helps keep you from moving around so much. It mostly worked. Ending on Spider-Man was much more relaxing. I never get tired of the 3-D in that one, especially when Spidey stands on the front of the Scoop.
We left that day feeling like we’d done everything we wanted to do; and with tired feet.
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