I Wish I May I Wish WE DID! ~ Day 8 ~ Wizards, Wands and Wet Clothes

Day 8 ~ Hard Rock Hotel, Diagon Alley, Universal Studios and Hard Rock Café.

12th November 2014

I think this is more of a photo report than a trip report as I took soooo many photos (as usual)! But I hope you enjoy it!

Despite the unwelcome alarm wake-up at 5:45am, I woke up feeling happy in anticipation for the next stage of the holiday. Today we will be leaving Old Key West to check in to Hard Rock Hotel for our one night stay, and would be spending the next two days at the Universal parks.

I got up and had a shower as quietly as possible as we didn't want to wake the kids up too early as they would be grumpy for the rest of the day, and they are easy enough to get ready just before we leave anyway. I think they woke up around 6:30am and we all had a quick cuppa before heading out of the door, leaving all our belongings in the room at around 7am. We took our valuables with us, but Sam put a 'do not disturb' sign on their door, which stopped Mousekeeping from entering to change their beds (and ours as we discovered on our return).

We drove to HRH without a hitch (thank the lord for Daniel's directions on his phone!). I think the roads were pretty quiet that morning, being so early, and we arrived#at 7:30am.

 

 Paul, #Daniel and the kids had to wait outside with the car while Sam and I went inside to check in. Sam went first. When it was my turn to check our lot in, there was a bit of a hitch. Something to do with only having one car between both parties I think. When they asked to hold our credit card details for security, I had to go and get Paul as it was in his name. Whatever the problem was, it was minor and they gave us our room keys and told us they would sort it out while we went and enjoyed the parks.

 We unloaded the car and left our luggage with bell services who locked it away as our rooms wouldn't be ready until later. Then we went and parked up the car and went back in to the lobby to get our photos taken for our Front of Line Passes. After a bit of faffing about trying to find out how to get to the Universal from the hotel (including trudging up and down a huge flight of stairs 2-3 times with pushchairs), we finally found our way and took the short, pleasant walk to US and we were there in around 4-5 minutes.

 

 We went through bag search and flashed our room key at the next set of  'cast members' to get into WWOHP early.
I nipped into the Hollywood Character Zone store to get my Star Card which I had prepaid for before we left the UK.

We stopped for a quick photo using the Star card for the first time…

Then we continued through the park to Diagon alley. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! This wasn't open on our last visit in 2012, and after so many months following its progress online, it was great to finally be here experiencing it!


 

 

 We had a wander around and took in the sights and the amazing attention to detail. Then we decided to get some breakfast as our muggle tummies were starting to rumble. So off to The Leaky Cauldron we went.

 

 We ordered at the counter and they gave us a candle stick with our number which we took over to a table.

 We had: x2 American Breakfasts for Paul and I, a Pancake Breakfast with apple juice for Oliver and
Amelia asked for "just pancakes" so we got her a Child's pancake breakfast, but then moaned that she wanted sausage and bacon so had a bit of everyone's in the end I think and left 90% of her pancakes!

Total with tax $64.29



 The theming in the Leaky Cauldron was great. Here's a few pics (not mine, although it wasn't much busier than this!)…

 

Comfortably full, we went and looked around some more. Gringotts was showing a 15 minute wait so Sam and Daniel went on while we looked after Sarah, and then we swapped over when they came off. We had to take the girls into the shop as the sound of the dragon kept scaring them when it snarled! Even the ceiling in here was amazing.

 

 

 When Daniel and Sam came out, they said it was brilliant! Oliver was adamant he wasn't going on all morning and no amount of persuading was going to get him on until Sam told him he'd regret it if he didn't, and just like that, he changed his mind! I couldn't believe it! He is such a wuss when it comes to rides. Maybe he was finally going to try some after all this time! We rushed on before he could change his mind again, leaving Amelia with the others. I was gutted that I'd left my camera with Daniel, so didn't get any photos of the queue. I snapped a couple on Paul's phone but they didn't come out too well. We did have a photo connect one taken which they put on our Star card though. When I was reading up on this when I bought it, I was under the impression that photos from Gringotts weren't included, but I was pleased to see this one was on my account when we got home.

 The ride was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! There's no other way of describing it. If you can only do one ride in the Universal parks, do this one! Even Oliver liked it!

We continued around Diagon alley. The Olivander's show was a walk on. An American lady called Laura got picked despite my best efforts shoving our two to the front! Lol.

Oliver went to spend $47.50 on a wand but as soon as I asked him if he was sure if he wanted to spend all of that days money on it, he got upset saying he wasn't allowed one (which of course, he was)! He left it in the end but did exactly what I do and sent the whole day wishing he'd got it. We agreed to go back for it in the morning if he didn't find anything else he wanted. Sarah got one though (Hermione), and we had fun following the map around Diagon Alley to the various magic points and casting spells.

We paid a visit to Knockturn Alley which was so cool. There was lots of merchandise in the shops I could have sent a fortune on. I have a bit of a girl crush on Bellatrix and wanted a T-shirt until I saw the price! All of the HP stuff was soooo over priced!

 We made our way over to Kings Cross Station passing the Knight Bus and Grimmauld Place on the way…

 

We waited for Kreacher to make an appearance…

We saved the Hogwarts Express as a surprise for tomorrow, and continued to walk through into Universal Studios. Everyone wanted to go on Men in Black, but it's not really my thing (I don't think I've ever seen any of the films all the way through) and I didn't think Amelia would like it, so I told the others to meet me afterwards and I would take Amelia on Kang and Kodos' Twirl and Hurl.

I was half way over the bridge towards Springfield when Sam and Sarah caught me up as Sarah didn't want to do MIB either, so the four of us rode the twirl n hurl.

 It was OK. Typical kids ride really. The view over Diagon Alley was good though.

 The others met us afterwards and we had a wander around Springfield. There were a lot of changes to the Simpson's area since we were last there in 2012.





 Amelia wussed out, so I took Oliver over to meet Krusty and Sideshow Bob. They had fun with him, messing his hair up and going to shake his hand, but pulling away at the last minute.

 

 Then the kids sat with Milhouse for a few snaps

 

 And then, despite being stuffed from breakfast, we just HAD to try the obligatory Lard Lad doughnut! ($4.99)





 It was huge and delicious! We all tried a bit of it and then it got stowed under the pushchair for later, although I think Oliver demolished it most of it!

We all rode The Simpsons Ride. Paul and I would have been quite happy to skip this one as we're not good with motion simulators, but we went on because Daniel, Sam, Sarah and Amelia had not done it before. We all came off feeling sick and vowed not to go on any of those types of rides again!

Next up was Animal Actors on Location which was just about to start and had no queue (and the sit down was quite welcome after the Simpsons ordeal!). I don't think Amelia had never done this before, and being such a huge animal lover, I knew she would love it. When they asked for someone to go up on stage I've never seen her put her hand up so high. Unfortunately when she wasn't picked either time, she cried her eyes out! The promise of Curious George Land, coupled with stroking the dogs at the end of the show soon cheered her up though.

We made our way over to Fievel's Playland and let the kids let off some steam for a bit. Oliver took Amelia on this little log boat ride which was unheard of! It was nice to see them both getting on for 5 minutes! She couldn't stop giggling when she got off!



 Then we went over to Amelia's favourite part of the park… Curious George Goes to Town (she was, and still is to an extent), a huge George fan! Oliver went off and took the girls inside the play buildings while us adults sat on the benches watching and waiting (hoping) that one of them would get soaked by the huge cascading buckets of water when the bell started chiming! Aren't we cruel?! Lol. Soon enough, the moment we'd been waiting for happened ….





Whilst playing in there, Sarah fell over and scratched her knee, and we waited for what seemed like forever for someone to come over and check her over after Sam reported it. Oliver kept Amelia busy by playing in the water sprinklers while we waited with Daniel and Sam on a bench in front. I had been carrying a travel first aid kit with me in the Disney Parks, but typically had forgotten to pack it for our Universal stay . So we waited…. and waited… Our two had fun in the water sprinklers and I kept nipping behind the benches to check on them and take photos…

 

I didn't mind them getting a little bit wet, but I was concerned about Amelia's new Skechers that had flashing lights. I didn't want them breaking after only a couple of wears. Oliver took it to extremes though, and they both came over a few minutes later looking like this…

I was not amused!

When a "cast member" finally came over with a paper towel for Sarah, we left Curious George and went and sat down and sorted them out. I went over to 'Kid Zone Cart' (a little cart selling Minion merchandise) and brought Amelia a dress which is made out of swimming costume type fabric. It was $29.95 which hurt a bit, but I thought it would come in handy for future water rides, and it was a bit big on her, so may even last her through to future trips . There was nothing for Oliver's age, so we just had to wring him out and hope he'd dry! Their shoes were the main problem as they were drenched! This unfortunately became a problem as I'd only brought one pair of shoes each for the boys to HRH for the two universal days, and being so cold in the evenings, we couldn't have dried them out on the balcony overnight - and as it happened, we didn't have a balcony in our room anyway!). So a little tip: Pack more than one pair of shoes if you're doing a one nighter at HRH!

We managed to bypass Barney (phew). Then Amelia spotted the Woody Woodpecker rollercoaster and wanted to go on it. We were all going to go on, but Oliver wouldn't ride it (Really?! ). So I took her on on my own. She absolutely LOVED it and screamed all the way around with her hands in the air, and then said she wanted to ride again at the end, which we did another two times! Loving these front of line passes!

 We caught the end of a parade which was pretty lame. Universal just can’t do parades like Disney can!

 I stopped to take some photos of the kids in front of the Mystery Machine while the others walked on ahead. Then Daniel came back to tell me to go around the other side where we found these guys! Apparently they just opened the side doors and came out! Talk about being in the right place at the right time!

 

 Next up was ET. This was Amelia's first time as she was too small last time we were here. Daniel and Sam weren't impressed by the ride, but we like it because it's a classic! The kids had some photos taken at the end which they just didn't get and waited outside. Haha!

 

 

 No one was bothered with The Terminator and Shrek 4D was closed, so we headed over to Minion Mayhem. This opened the week after we left Florida in 2012, so we hadn't ridden it before. I also had no clue what sort of ride it was. The queue was cool. I loved the little drawings on the walls…

We donned our 3D glasses and walked on to what can only be described as hell! I spent the whole ride wishing it was over as I was thrown backwards and forwards and in every direction in between. I came off with the biggest headache. We all vowed AGAIN that that really was the last motion simulator type ride (until tomorrow )! If you don't get motion sickness then you'll probably love it, but unfortunately it wasn't for us.

 I spotted a Desicable Me Dippin' Dots cart, so I got a tub so everyone could have a try ($4.99). Oliver and I had tried some in Seaworld last time we were in Florida, but no one else had tried them before, and these were banana flavour. They were sooooo good and everyone was tucking into them. If you've never heard of Dippin' Dots, they are tiny little balls of flavoured ice cream in small tubs. We are now big fans!

 We decided to take 5 and sat down on the corner of 7th Avenue, debating whether or not any of us were brave enough to attempt Rip Ride Rocket. Paul really wanted to go on and kept badgering Daniel to ride it with him after I flatly refused. But he's not big on coasters and didn't want to go on without knowing what it was like first. In the end I backed down and said I'd go on with him and then we could tell Daniel and Sam what it was like afterwards. You only live once and all that jazz. And I'm sure I would have regretted it later if I didn't go on. Oh what a mistake that was! I regretted saying I'd go on it the whole time we walked up to it! I had heard that you can have Evanescence (my favourite band) playing in your "cart" during the ride, so I focused on that as we made our decent. I was gutted though when there was no option for music and I didn't hear anything all the way around apart from my screams! It was, hand on heart, the worst ride I've ever been on and one I will never do again. The long winding bit behind Despicable Me actually wasn't that bad, but the part straight after the first decent was brutal and at one point I thought I had broken my arm! Paul didn't like it either and when we told Daniel and Sam what it was like, it made it easy for them to decide they wouldn't ride!

 

 We had all been looking forward to riding The Revenge of the Mummy, so that was where we went next. Daniel and Sam went first while Sarah waited with us and then we swapped kids after. Paul and the girls busied themselves playing a game on Sam's phone and I nipped into the Twister store to look at all the Wizard of Oz merchandise I hoped to own one day! I didn't buy anything though unfortunately.

 

 The Mummy was as brilliant as I remembered from last time, if not better. We were at the front this time which pleased Paul immensely! Thanks to the FOL passes we managed to avoid the creepy guys scaring everyone in the line too which was a bonus (they scare the jebeesus out of me!)

 It was getting on for 3pm now and thanks to the FOL passes, we had done everything that we wanted to do. As we slowly made our way out of the park we got caught up in the Blues Brother's performance. They were really good, and when one of them came down into the crowd, he started dancing with Sarah! She was shaking her tail feather! It was so cute!

 

 Amelia was starting to flag a bit and fell asleep on Paul's shoulder for a little while.

 Sulky face!

 

 On the way out we spotted a transformer outside the ride having photos taken. Daniel, Sam, Oliver and Sarah had their photos taken with him. Unfortunately I can't find the pic But here's one on top of the building



 We took some obligatory photos in front of the globe. Obviously …

 …Then took the short walk back to HRH.



 We were given directions to our room and was told that our bags would be brought up shortly. We were in room 5057 on level 5. It overlooked the roof of the building, but we weren't fussed on a view as it was only for one night and we would literally only be using the room for sleeping, showering and changing.

 

 

 

 

There was a coffee machine in the room, but unfortunately for me, there were no tea bags. Paul did go down to the lobby that evening to ask for some, but he only came back with two, so I saved them for before bed and one for the morning. I don't function without tea in the morning!

 There was a sink area with mirror which was handy for applying my make-up whilst someone was in the bathroom. And on the left of that was the door to the bathroom.

 

 The room was great for what we needed. It was so clean and I loved the décor. Although I did think the mirror resembled something from a crime scene! Bell services brought all our bags up but left them in Daniel and Sam's room. So I went and picked it up and then we got changed into our cozzies and hit the pool!

 The pool was really great and the kids had loads of fun on the slide. There was a young guy at the top who kept talking to Oliver about Arrow when he told him his name was Oliver (Oliver Quinn apparently - I haven't seen it). Oliver still talks about it now.

We stayed in the pool for a couple of hours. Sam and I went in the Jacuzzi for a bit which was lovely and warm, like a bath. I could have stayed in there all night. Then it was time to go and get showered and dressed for dinner at Hard Rock Café.

 Paul nipped out for cigarettes and was shocked at the price in the hotel… $10.65 for a pack of 5!

We headed out at around 6:20pm, checked in at Hard Rock Café and was given a pager which would go off when our table was ready.

I took a few pics to pass the time…

 

 

 

 

 

It's scary how tall Oliver is in this photo!

A short while later, the buzzer went off and we were taken to our table. The walk to it seemed to go on forever! HOW BIG IS THIS PLACE?

Our server was Wendi and she took our drinks orders. Paul had a Bud Light, Oliver had a Coke, Amelia had a vanilla milkshake and I had a non alcoholic Mango Strawberry cocktail which was out of this world! Seriously the BEST thing I have ever drank!

 The menu was vast, but we were all in the mood for big fat burgers! We had been snacking on a few small things throughout the day, but we hadn't eaten properly since breakfast at the Leaky cauldron, so we were all looking forward to this. It didn't disappoint! Paul and I had Legendary Burgers, Oliver had the hickory burger and Amelia had a kids cheeseburger which came on a little guitar plate. They gave her and Sarah a little activity book and some crayons which kept them occupied until our food arrived.

 

 Sorry, I didn't get a photo of Oliver's as he'd more or less eaten half of it before I'd got my camera out! He's such a gannet! I don't know where he puts it all!

They were absolutely delicious. Sadly Amelia hardly touched her burger and fell asleep on my lap during the meal. The early morning was starting to affect us all. We decided to skip dessert and asked for the bill which came to $83.24, which I thought was very reasonable.

 We went upstairs to use the restrooms before we left which were up a HUGE spiral staircase to discover a whole other floor of empty tables! It was the biggest restaurant I'd ever been in! I can only imagine how busy they must get in high season.

To leave the restaurant you have to walk through an over-priced gift shop which is a bit sneaky. We didn't buy anything and headed straight back to the hotel, got ready for bed and fell in straight away. I was annoyed to find this huge dirty mark on the sheet as I got into bed but was too shattered to do anything about it and slept on top of the bed. Had it been noticed when we first got in the room I would have most certainly complained. I mean, how could housekeeping NOT notice this?



 We were all asleep by 10pm, absolutely exhausted after such a long day, but ready to do it all again in the morning! 

 

 

 

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