First Day at Universal

OK, the first few days were incredibly busy, and it's taken me a few days  actually clue you all in on exactly what went on.  Sorry about that.

Now, I'd never been to Universal Orlando before, so this was a bit new.  There are two separate areas of Universal, Studios and Islands of Adventure.  We had purchased the equivalent of a "park hopper" (yeah, I'm so Disney indoctrinated that I can only explain theme parks in their terms).  This is so that we could not only experience both halves of the "Wizarding World of Harry Potter" but so that we could ride the Hogwarts Express ride between them.

Anyway, arrived to Universal Studios after coughing up the extra ten bucks for preferred parking.  We waded our way through the crowds and got to the Hollywood area.

Where we found Shaggy driving the Mystery Machine.  I think Scooby was in there.

Then we found Mel's Diner with the white Thunderbird and a photo op for Christi. Sometime after that, we went on the ET ride, which I think I had experienced in Universal in California.  It was fun and nostalgic. 

We made our way to Springfield where a statue of Jebediah Springfield reigns.

We stopped off at the Duff biergarden across from Moe's Bar and had an early morning beverage.  Then, on to London and...

Diagon Alley where we bought our interactive wants and had a butterbeer.  There are places all over the Harry Potter area that you can activate if you find a plaque on the ground, stand on it, and wave your wand a certain way.  It was fun...and an excellent way for the park to make tons of money.

Here's the Weasley twins shop.  That was fun!  We were wandering about Diagon Alley when my brother called.  His annual pass had blackout dates during Spring Break and they couldn't come in like we had planned.  We went back out and met him at the Hard Rock, where he bought us all lunch. 

Then they went home after I made him pose with me for a photo.  This is my baby brother.

We went back in and saw some MIBs on our way back to Harry Potterland...

We then went to Kings Cross station.  This is where the Muggles were entering platform 9 3/4

And this is the Hogwart's Express.  It was totally fun!

We ended up on the Islands of Adventure side, which is Hogsmeade.  It was a madhouse! We thought it would be a good idea to come back in the morning as soon as the park opened to try to get on rides.  As we now knew the lay of the land...

So, we exited past Hogwarts...

And ended up in Jurassic Park...who knew?

Basically, we found a place to eat and visited a bunch of gift shops.  I think the only ride we did the first day was E.T.  It was back to our Disney hotel and an early night.