Hogwarts, Hogsmeade and Universal!

Thursday was a jammed packed day because Universal was only open for 9 hours total.  So we tried to make the most of it.  We started our day in Suess' Landing.  Did a couple of cute kiddy type rides and grabbed something to eat.  While we were eating we got the chance to meet the Cat in the Hat, Thing 1 and Thing 2, and the Grinch.  I was only able to snag pics with Thing 2 and the Cat but whatever, I dig that shit.

We then ventured into The Lost Continent and checked out Poseidon's Fury where we toured the remains of Poseidon's temple.  It was pretty neat.  We left the lost continent and made our way to the star of the day, HOGSMEADE!!

I'm not going to lie, this was secretly the whole purpose of the trip.  I promised the boys about three years ago that I'd take them to Disney when they were a little older (I wanted them to remember the trip).  I found out last year that they were building the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and made sure I booked the trip around the completion of this.  So here I find myself.  My holy grail.

I was in awe the minute we walked through the main gates into Hogsmeade.  The attention to detail was outstanding.  I felt like a little girl.  I got a stronger hop in my step and a bigger smile on my face.  We checked out all the shops, so awesome.  Gage dueled a dragon.  We went wand shopping and Hogwarts uniform shopping.  We hit up Zonkos for gag gifts and Honeydukes for candy before making our way up to Hogwarts itself.  The stroll through Hogwarts was nothing like I imagined.  It was so much better.  After touring the classrooms and hallways of Hogwarts we stopped at the Three Broomsticks for a bite to eat but most importantly for some pumpkin juice and frozen Butterbeer (which was probably one of the best things I have had to drink).  I wish we were able to bring Butterbeer home with us, but sadly we could only bring Pumpkin Juice.  After many hours of our day spent in Hogsmeade, we finally emerged and found ourselves entering Jurassic Park.

Roan got to study Dino eggs, and since none of us wanted to get wet and walk around the park cold, we passed on the ride in this section.  Only to come up on Dudley Doo Rights, Rip Saw Falls that Roan was adamant about riding.  Gage caved and went with him.  I held my ground.  Both boys came off that ride completely soaked.  We found a moment after this ride to appease Gage with some Ice Cream Dippin' Dots.  The ice cream of the future.

Marvel Super Hero Island was our last stop of the day and luckily we got to meet Captain America, Wolverine and Cyclops.  Lame, but exciting!! We did the Spiderman 3-D ride, which was pretty sweet I will say.  And Gage and Roan dared the Doctor Doom's Fear Fall and came out successful.  We wandered over to the Incredible Hulk Coast and Gage loved it.  Roan was too short to get on this one, though I'm not to sure he'd have done it even if he could.  He could actually see all the loops and twists.  Enough to alter his former coaster bravery.

We came back exhausted but are gearing up for our last day of fun in Florida with Universal Studios again.  I have a feeling Harry Potter is going to draw us back for a couple hours today.  Maybe Hogsmeade at dusk....