Day 50 - Orlando

Early start today (which was really hard for me as I wasn't in bed until after2am!) as we were heading off to Universal!! Alarm went off at 6.15am so we could be ready to be at breaky by 7am and then ready for the shuttle at 8.10am. All was a bit stressful as I had ordered (& paid for) the tickets online but they hadn't come through! We decided to hop on the shuttle and hope for the best and luckily they hit my inbox about five minutes before the shuttle arrived! Mental note - organise earlier than 2am that morning!
Decided to do Universal Studios first and after lots of googling heeded the advice to head straight to Harry Potter World and Diagon Alley!! It was fantastic!!

There was the Knight Bus outside King's Cross station where you can hop onto the Hogwarts Express to go to Hogsmeade. Inside Diagon Alley is just like the real thing. There's a huge, fire-breathing dragon that shoots real fire out every now and then. There was The Leaky Cauldron, Gringotts Money Exchange, Ollivanders, Florean Fortescue's Icecream Shop and so much more. You could go into a shop and buy school supplies, or quidditch gear or even joke stuff from Weasley's joke shop. It was very cool!
   
We went on the Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts ride which was a multidimensional ride inside a car that makes you feel like you are riding around Gringotts Bank!

Then we crossed through the wall at Kings Cross Station to get to platform 9 and 3/4. Went into our cabin and watched London go by as we headed to Hogsmeade. Had a brief look at Hogsmeade, bought some butter beer which was really good, & then jumped back on the train for the return trip to Universal Studios.

Next walked through 'San Francisco' to 'New York' and did the Revenge of the Mummy ride which we loved! Maybe even better than Indiana Jones.  Then to the Jimmy Fallon 'Race through New York' which was another multidimensional one and really cool!  And then on to the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit which was a roller coaster that lets you pick the music that's playing while you're riding!
 
Had a quick stop for lunch and then continued on! The Men in Black ride at World Expo, the Simpsons ride (which I loved!) at Springfield, Terminator 2 in Hollywood, and Transformers at Production Central.

Went back to Hogsmeade to have a good look around and for the kids to try and work out what they are going to spend their money on. We went to Ollivanders wand shop and Josh was picked by Mr Ollivander to see which wand was the right wand for him. The first wand almost caused a storm when he waved it, the second one made all the drawers go in and out and lastly the wand that lit up the room!! The 'holly'. Josh was really nervous being picked out but it was so cool and he was so stoked at being picked and knowing which wand is right for him - of course he had to have that one now!!

Found a good spot to sit and watch the parade and then watched the Shrek 4-D movie and finally the Despicable Me Minion ride.
Then we went to The Leaky Cauldron for dinner!!  All the staff in each of the worlds at the parks are dressed and act in character which makes it even more amazing! We had such a good time! And it was really yummy.
  
After dinner we went to get a spot for the show which was done on a water screen on the lagoon. It showed all different patterns in the water and then excerpts from all different Universal movies over the last 100 years with some fireworks thrown in. It was really cool.

Wandered back slowly and got a few more pics. Had a bit of a walk down the Universal City Walk and then got an Uber  back to the hotel. Another big day tomorrow!