Sadly, it's almost the end of our Florida adventure but I wanted to share with you the most magical place:
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!
(and also Universal Studios)
I can honestly say that I had never been to Universal Studios until Monday but I've been wanting to go ever since the Harry Potter park opened up. I always thought of Universal as the "Theme Park for Grown Ups" since Disney is such the go-to for kids, what with the princesses and all. I'm not hating on Disney, in fact, I wish we could've made it to
Babycakes at
Downtown Disney but oh well. Maybe next time...I really wanted to see how much Downtown Disney had changed since the last time I was there
(1998).
Anyways - the view of Hogwarts was amazing and inside was even better! I had so much fun riding the
Dragon Challenge (we were the Chinese Fireball), which, I have NO idea how I was okay with it since roller coasters scare me now more than ever. To be honest, what was scarier was leaving my purse in a locker that had a time limit and could be opened with my fingerprint. That was definitely new to me and it made me a little uneasy the first few times but once I got the hang of it, it was quite convenient. The only downside was that I was phone-less during our indoor excursion into Hogwarts to experience
The Forbidden Journey and while checking out other places around the park.
Universal is FULL of simulators and I loved it! I was able to experience the same stomach-flipping sensations of a roller coaster without actually being on one! So much fun for a wuss like me! I really enjoyed the Terminator 2 theater experience for 2 reasons: 1) Live-action, 3D fun theatrics and 2) Actors miming video of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton and Eddie Furlong!! I was so not ready for video footage of my sweet, sweet 90s teen dream Eddie Furlong! It was so much fun, I was front and center in the second row! NERD ALERT. For those of you who don't know, one of my all time favorite movies, besides
Jurassic Park and
Top Gun, is, you guessed it,
Terminator 2: Judgment Day. I don't know why but I love it. Okay, I do know why but I'll spare you.
The walk to Springfield was AWESOME! I felt like I was in The Simpsons game app! Silly, I know, but it was so much fun seeing things I've been dying to see in real life since my childhood! We stood outside of Moe's Tavern, Krusty Burger, Lard Lads and the Kwik-E-Mart! It was amazing! While standing in line for the Krustyland ride, we saw the Simpson's iconic living room+couch set up as a photo booth! Too bad we forgot to take a photo there. Oops! But there was SO MUCH to see and do!
By far, one of my most favorite attractions was the
Disaster Ride. It was a hilarious interactive ride that cast audience members for a Disaster Movie that they played back for you on the subway car ride portion. It was such a great experience because I was thinking of all the kids who had experienced it and thought to themselves that they want to make movies when they grow up. Imagine that!
I hope everyone is having an awesome Thursday!
