Sunday 3 December 2017 Universal Islands of Adventure

Universal has two adjacent, linked parks. Today we focused on Islands of Adventure, although we spilled over a bit into Universal Studios. We hired a shuttle bus for 8 AM pickup at our hotel and 7:30 PM pickup at Universal.

My favourite ride here was Skull Island, based on the latest King Kong movie. You ride in a vehicle while various 3D scenes are played on both sides and the vehicle shakes. Others really enjoyed the Harry Potter rides and attractions. Darren’s family really enjoyed a couple of water rides, including the aftermath of buying tokens to shoot water at other riders as they went by. The boys also greatly enjoyed a large play structure area, where they played "catch me, catch me" with Grandpa and also engaged in water cannon battles with all comers, again including Grandpa.

 

We all met for lunch at Three Broomsticks in the Harry Potter part of Islands of Adventure. We were supposed to meet up at the Chocolate Emporium for supper, but we were blocked by the daily 5:30 PM parade. Carla warned us about this, but, by the time everyone finished their rides, got back together again, and had a bathroom break, we were trapped. Then the twins had to go to the bathroom. Brett took them, but crossed the parade path further along a loop in the route. By the time they finished, he was blocked in on the other side of the route and could not get back to us. Meanwhile, the parade had passed our location, so we crossed and tried to message Brett what we were doing. However, he was still stuck, did not get our message, and returned to our previous position to find that everyone had gone. I went back looking for them and eventually we all hooked up again. However, it was too late to join Carla and Tyler without missing our shuttle, so most of us went to Burger King while Sue and Justin went to a hot dog place.

Louisa had a short nap in the shuttle and went to bed quietly.