[TBD]: Florida 2022

We had a harder time getting out of bed and to the park this morning, not able to take advantage of the Early Park Hours this morning arriving just before 9 to the park.

We walked to the park again and right at the hotel we saw the cutest little baby black duck? Quote" it was like a little fluffy black cotton ball" and so small. Can you see it in the photo below?

Once at the park and AA and Lola headed to The Incredible Hulk Coaster which had only about a 15 minute wait. While the others waited, B and T went on the Storm Force Accelatron. The 4 of us enjoyed our first rides of the day.

Reunited, we tried to head to Spiderman, but it was delayed.... so we ventured through Jurassic Park, and found some dinosaurs that we were searching for the day before. The Spinosaurus was a fan favourite, especially DD.

We walked into Hogsmeade (Harry Potter) to catch the Hogwarts Express. On our way we saw the pixies in a bucket which T talked about most of the day, hoping to see them again.

The Train took us back to Universal Studios Park where we took a lot of the attractions. First up was The escape from Gringotts. Previously, MBMell and Lola were the only ones that experienced this ride on our first trip (in 2017), so couldn't remember much about it. The ride didn't disappoint the adults, but the kids didn't really enjoy it. B and T both commented on how many times they closed their eyes during the ride. The walk through with the bank tellers is definitely a highlight.

This was another front row of a ride the kids have gotten, and MBMell got in trouble for walking on the seats as we exited the ride. The kids really liked the dragon on the top of the bank, and got very excited when it did something "special".

After the ride we headed for an "early" lunch. Mobile ordered and the food was brought to our table, including an extra drink Lola ordered without anyone knowing, and all of a sudden the drink showed up! The meal was good, and everyone enjoyed their drinks, Butterbeer, real beer, and pumpkin juice. Sitting down was nice, as we are all pretty tired today. The food did not disappoint, cottage pie, bangers and mash, Irish stew and .... a chicken burger (gluten free).

After lunch we ventured out of the land of Harry Potter and stopped...at the washroom. To put on sun screen and go to the washroom, and headed to the kidzone, Woody Woodpecker's. Stopping at the Badguys poster, as they kids have read all the 7 books, and really enjoyed them. They were hoping to find a movie poster to take a photo of....and there it was.

There DD, Lola, B and T went on the kid roller coaster. It was so good, the kids wanted to go again... but we had places to go. Next up was the ET Ride, it is quite dated, but we had to try it. You fly around on bikes with ET in your basket. This was not a highlight of the day.

At this point AA and Lola split from the group to do some "adult" rides while the others went to the show "Animal Actors on Location". We had a great time on "race through new york starring Jimmy Fallon". This ride wasn't open the last time we came, and since we watch this show pretty much daily, we had to go on. The entrance feels just like Rockafeller Center, it was so neat. The ride was a motion simulator and so much fun, you felt like you were in the audience at 30 Rock, racing Jimmy Fallon through the streets to make it back to the studio.

The wait was short, so we headed to Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket. This roller coaster we had done before, and Lola was excited to try it again. Just before the ride, AA got a phone call from his brother, who was checking on our house. The alarm was going off...AA got things settled with his brother and the alarm company, and the house was fine thankfully. We have gotten a lot of water back home, so it was nice to hear that our house was ok.

Onto the roller coaster, the last time we got to pick the music, but this time it seems that feature was changed, Lola was pretty disappointed, but the ride was still good. The coaster is a not as smooth as the newer ones, but still fun, there are lots of loops on this coaster.

We met up after the animal show, that they seemed to enjoy. There were a variety of animals doing "tricks" including lots of birds (MBMell loved that part.....not), pigs, dogs, cats, porcupine and a skunk.

We had some times before the next show at 3, so we split up again to try and get this park done today. MBMell and the kids went back to Woody Woodpeckers Nuthouse Coaster, while the other 3 went to the Fast and the Furious ride. Once it started Lola knew she was not going to enjoy it. It was just like the movies.... lots of unnecessary stuff, and over the top.

We meet the others back at the ride, and bolted to the show. We didn't make it into the theather for the pre-show, but got to sit in the air conditions for the Borne Stuntactular. This was not a kid show but they managed to stay awake and manage all the fighting and guns. The visual effects and stunts were pretty amazing. It was hard to tell sometimes the difference between the real people and the people on the screen.

The show was over, and we had 1 more thing to do.... get ice cream from the Harry Potter's Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Palour. Butterbear, pistachio, chocolate with chocolate chips, and the most interesting Chocolate Chilli. Lola wasn't able to participate in this event, but handled the napkins and photo ops. They all enjoyed it, but wow it was a big cone and it melted quickly.

One last Selfie before leaving the park

We then decided it was time to head back to the hotel to get some pool time. We headed out of the park and onto the boat where it takes us right to the hotel.

Kids sat with Lola on the boat

It was nice to take off our running shoes and enjoy the pool. It wasn't very busy, and we had a lot of fun. MBMell and DD even taught Lola how to float! She has been practicing, but wasn't very good, but now she can do it. The waterslide was not too big, but still a lot of fun. During our swim, 2 mallard ducks joined the fun, by swimming in the pool.

We ordered food to the hotel, from a Fish place. We were all pretty hungry so it was a quieter meal until the kids starting asking us our 2 and 3rd favourite or least favourite rides.