We were up early, drove to the park and at the gate to Citywalk by 7am today. It was a much warmer 11°C when we left so no jackets and we all opted for shorts as it was going to be a nice day. Citywalk security were a bit late opening but they co-ordinate the opening of all gates so we still managed to get to the front of the queue at Islands of Adventure. We talked nicely to Erica from Orlando and she scanned our tickets and fingers prior to the park opening. We also saw the launch of Falcon 9’s GPS III-6 (Space X satellite) from the entrance gate.
As soon as the gates opened we ran all the way to Hagrid’s Motorcycle ride (typically on the complete opposite side of the park) and got on the first ride of the day.
They told us today we could wear our beltbags so we didn’t need to use the lockers – this saved us a lot of time. After, we went straight to Velocicoaster and everyone rode it today. TJ said after it was his favorite ride! Mark took a rest and we rode it twice more before the park officially opened at 9am.
We walked back to Hogsmeade and rode the Hogwarts Express to Universal Orlando Park and then TJ and Greer rode Rip Ride Rockit. We lay on the artificial grass for a while before getting the Hogwarts Express back to Hogwarts and Islands of Adventure. You have to walk through Platform 9 3/4 in order to get there.
Back at Islands of Adventure, TJ and Greer rode Hulk and Sophia and Greer Dr Dooms Fearfall and we were out the gates by 11am. Across at Citywalk Sophia tried a cinnamon roll from Cinnabon and the consensus was they weren’t as good as hers. Starbucks for a quick bite for everyone else before heading off for the much anticipated Blizzard from Dairy Queen.
The kids have been consistently asking for one of these since we left home. They are similar to a McFlurry – cream freeze (soft serve as Sophia keeps telling me to call it) with a mix-in. Sophia has Oreo’s and TJ and Greer had M&M’s. They enjoyed them but all agreed they weren’t as good as they thought they would be and that Coldstone Creamery was much better.
We made a quick stop at a Sephora for something Sophia was wanting and went across to a Marshall’s (a discount store – often some good bargains but you have to look) in the same complex so we had a look and all managed to find a good bargain.
Onto Disney Springs for the last few last bits and pieces before heading to the supermarket (a good piece of teamwork distracting TJ so I could find cupcakes and candy for his birthday tomorrow), fuel and a sports card shop for TJ, apparently the best they’ve ever seen.
At home, the girls had a swim, Mark did some work, I did washing and sorted dinner and not sure about TJ ?.
