Christmas in "The South" Day 3 Universal Island Adventure Park

As exhausted as I was from the drive and little sleep, I was wide awake when that alarm went off.  I knew in just a few short hours I would get to see HARRY POTTER WORLD!  :-)  We got ready and grabbed some breakfast while we waited for our cab. 

A very short cab ride later and we were headed through the gates of Universal Orlando Island Adventure.  Following the crowd and signs to Harry Potter.

I was so excited at the first sighting of Hogwarts as we got into an already ridiculously long line. I told everyone in the car on the way down NOT to laugh at me if I got all giddy and good thing I had my sunglasses or Eric would have made fun of me for tearing up for just a moment.  I was just so excited!

Not entirely sure where we were going we just stayed in the line snapping pictures like crazy until we found it was leading us right to the main Harry Potter ride. Perfect!

The inside of Hogwarts is where the line wound through taking you to the ride but not before you passed all the awesome props.

The halls of photos.

Dumbledore's Office

The Fat Lady.

Harry, Ron and Hermione spoke to you. They don't allow large cameras inside so we had to do the best we could with our phones.

One of my favorite things was the Daily Prophet on the wall and the main photo moved just like in the movies.
The ride was great, a combination of roller coaster, props and simulator.  I would have purchased the photo but it took it right in front of Aragog and I was squinting with 678 chins so no bueno.

After the main ride in Hogwarts we made our way around to the other rides and through the shops in Hogsmead.

Hagrids house waiting in line for Flight of the Hippogriff.

In front of the Hogwarts Express, where Melissa, Domonique and Kim waited while Eric and I road Dragon Challenge.  

Ollivanders Wand Shop.

A giant chocolate frog from Honeydukes that jumped around.

There were also carts of Butter Beer all around so of course Eric had to try one.  It was carbonated so I only swished it around for the flavor, but it was a combination of sugar cookies and butterscotch. Yum.

Next we moved onto Seuss Landing and The Lost Continent areas of the park riding different rides like the Cat in the Hat and Poseidon's Fury.

I love that Eric has the attitude in this pic.

From the Lorax movie.

Thing 1 came along for the fun.

I took a picture with a Who to show Clara, she was a little obsessed with the Grinch cartoon this Christmas.

My chocolate bear was tired of standing while we waited for Poseidon's Fury.

However after the show he was refreshed and ready for more fun.  So we headed over to Marvel Super Hero Island.

That giant green coaster you see behind him is The HULK and because Kim, Melissa and Domonique are pansies I had to ride the scary thing with Eric.

The lines were so long because I picked the busiest part of the year to go. We had 45+ minute waits for most rides.  This is my sad face after being in a 70 minute line for Spiderman. 

Eric thought it would be funny if he got a photo of me giving Spiderman a corndog.  I have to admit he was right. :-)

After some lunch in the Toon Lagoon we made our way to Jurassic Park.

We all had to fight off the tyrannosaurus rex on our way to the river adventure ride.

Melissa and Domonique did the river adventure ride by themselves since Eric and I have been on it in Hollywood and didn't feel like getting wet.  We got a picture of them as they came off the big drop at the end.

After a very long day of walking and rides we were ready to leave the park.  As we headed for the exit I got one last photo of Hogwarts in the distance.