An early start to get to the gates of Islands of Adventure well before the early opening time of 8am. When the gates opened we headed straight to Harry Potter World and the Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure ride. The theming is done really well, and our 30 minute wait before boarding went pretty quickly. One person rides the motorbike and the other the side car as it speeds you through the Forbidden Forest. At one stage you go backwards and then suddenly drop … we were not expecting that! Soooo good!
Next was Jurassic World and the velocicoaster. The wait time was posted as 50 minutes but it would only get worse during the day (and actually didn’t take that long). These two rides are the only ones we don’t get front of line access so wanted to get them done before the park properly opened. TJ didn’t want to do it so Mark waited with him while the girls and I joined the line. You have to put everything, including phones, in lockers and they then put you through a metal detector to check. The ride is awesome! You go very fast – there are 2 launches, 4 inversions and in at least one you hang upside down for quite a while.
We went for a coffee and breakfast at Croissant Moon Bakery. The kids enjoyed the bakery items but my mocha was decidedly average – will stick to Starbucks tomorrow. Next up was the Adventures of Spider-Man, a 3D ride where you soar above the streets, scale skyscrapers and battle bad guys – I didn’t particularly enjoy this – too jerky and nowhere near enough thrill level for me.
The girls and I then rode Dr Doom’s Fearfall, exhilarating but over very fast. The Incredible Hulk Coaster had finally opened up so we rode that next. Mark decided to go back to the hotel to get some work done. The kids and I rode it again and then Sophia & Greer rode Dr Doom’s Fearfall again and we had a look in a couple of shops.
We wandered over to Skull Island (via Dr Seuss land) for the Reign of Kong 4D ride. TJ really enjoyed this ride, the girls and I not so much. Onto Harry Potter World and we rode the Flight of the Hippogriff, a very family friendly coaster which is very short. Fortunately with our passes we didn’t wait long.
Next up, Happy Potter and Forbidden Journey. You enter through Hogwarts Castle and then follow Harry Potter and friends on a journey as if on a broomstick. It was warming up and the kids wanted to have a butter beer so we drunk that and watched a show while waiting for Mark to return.
We had lunch at the Three Broomsticks and sat outside in the sun overlooking the Velocicoaster. The food took a good half hour or more to arrive so everyone was definitely hungry by the time we got it. We had a quick look in Honeydukes Candy store and then headed back to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey (TJ sat this one out), then back to Honeydukes for our purchases. TJ got a chocolate frog and the girls some fudge – all of which were huge!
One last ride on Hulk and Dr Doom’s Fearfall before walking back to the hotel.
After a rest we headed back to Citywalk (well the kids and I ran and Mark came a bit after as he was catching up on some work). We had dinner at Vivo , an Italian restaurant – huge meals – not sure how anyone could finish them ?.
