Up and waking by 5 and walking to the parks by 6 for a 7 am start. As Universal hotel guests we get in an hour in the parks before the gates open for everyone else. This means we are done the big Wizarding World rides before the gates even open. So much winning!
Pb&j Sandwiches for breakfast. I am glad we had them then because the leftover sandwiches got squished in the backpack.
Our plan this morning was to follow a Harry Potter fan’s touring plan of seeing all of the wizarding world in a day.
A touring plan is a cleverly mapped out way to see as much as possible with the shortest waiting lines possible. We have followed professional ones before, calculated by statisticians, with resounding success, so our expectations were high.
We were nearly first in the queue so we arrived at the most popular and quickly-clogged Harry Potter ride and walked right in. I was so terrified, I screamed throughout. Simulation rides just get better and better!
We celebrated being in Hogsmeade with an icy delicious Butterbeer before catching the Hogwarts Express over to Diagon Alley.
Kara, in that first ride, began to mention a persistent cramp in her foot. This ache turned out to be more serious and I walked her to the exit after only a couple rides and watched her head out to catch a shuttle home
The only thing with this touring plan was that there are not a lot of rides in the Wizarding World. The touring plan included a lot of browsing the world. This meant that the older kids wanted to go off- plan and go out and do more rides. Flynn however was zeroed-in on ticking off all the things on the Wizarding World plan.
The compromise was that we left Flynn and Andrew to complete the original ‘touring plan’ and the rest of us went rogue. We really enjoyed our old favourite The Simpson’s and discovered a new favourite, Jimmy Kimmel’s ‘Race through New York’.
(photos of the Wizarding World)
(The boys knocking at 12 Grimmauld Place to get Kreacher to come to the window. He only appeared after they left. 🤣)
(Walking like an Egyptian! Near the Mummy ride. I didn’t get the connection until just now. At the time, I was like ‘wha?’)
(From the Spongebob Squarepants parade and float.)
We got home and rested our aching feet.
We decided to do a Panda Express Uber Eats.
I decided to have a go using an American vending machine as I waited to pick up the food from outside the lobby.
I inserted my card where it looked like a card should go. The machine groaned in protest and the little box whirred as it tried to expel the card. What on earth. With the food order 10 minutes away, I crouched down to peer into the payment box. Oh dear; I had put card where the cash should go!
I tried to tease the card out with a spoon. Nope, just some wiggling.
I ran to the little supermarket to tell them what I had done and 2 minutes later a guy with a belt of tools was handing me my card. I gratefully arrived to the lobby entrance with 1 minute before dinner was delivered
We fell asleep early with my feet and hip still stinging and aching from over 22 km of exertion.
Dory the Explorer 