I like to be in America: Wingardium Leviosa

“Oh the places you'll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all.”
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You’ll Go!: Yellow Back Book

Finally, I've been to Hogwart's

Finally, I've ridden a hippogriff.

Hippogriff's nest

I do love a good theme park, don't you? I don't love the queueing though. But I guess that is part of the experience. We older people settled on Universal's Islands of Adventure theme park for the day while the more youthful ones decided to take a two day pass and explore the other Universal park first. It turns out we picked the good one as the kids went there the next day and declared it the best. Have to say I was a bit jealous and wished I could spend two days there. It takes all day just to get around and hardly any time for the rides (by the time you stand in queue for up to three quarters of an hour) so having reconnoitred it, it would have been great to go back and focus on the stuff I wanted to see.
At least I did get to visit Hogwart's! The kids and I have been huge Harry Potter fans since the first book came out. We used to have to order two every time a new one was published because of the sneaking and stealing that went on. We learnt NEVER to put down the book unguarded because it wouldn't be there when you got back.
We rode the hippogriff and wandered happily around Hogsmeade and even got to try some Butterbeer which actually tasted quite good on a stinking hot day. Although most of the other stuff we ate didn't live up to the promise of its looks.

Looks good but...

Butterbeer slushy.

There were six 'islands' each with a different theme. We particularly enjoyed Seuss Landing - a Cat in the Hat themed area, with some rather sedate rides. We loved the souvenir store there too. Rich couldn't resist buying the kids a T-shirt each. He was very pleased with himself. We realised how much they had all grown up when they actually agreed to put them on and pose for us later that evening.

They weren't the only t-shirts we bought that day either. Having enjoyed the thrill of the Jurassic Park ride so much , we did it again. "Heck" we thought " we're already saturated, how much wetter could we get?"

It turns out - a LOT. Even having paid our 5 dollars to stand in a little booth that was effectively a huge blow dryer, we were still sodden, so went into the nearest shop (they were never far away) and bought some dry gear to wear.

Big blow dryer.

We were so terrified we did it again.

I was amazed at the detail each island theme had. There were several areas under reconstruction so they must be constantly updating. It felt so solid and seemed, dare I say it, so real. So much to see and do. It really was fun.