Universal Studios, Day 1

I'm updating from my phone, so this will be short.

We arrived yesterday, spent two hours waiting to get into our room, and then spent the evening at the pool. We are at the Hard Rock Hotel on Universal's site, mostly because we are so close to the park here. One perk of staying here is getting to get into the park an hour early, during which they open their two most popular rides, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, and the Spiderman ride. This seemed like a great idea, until I learned yesterday that the park opens at 8, so an hour early is 7, and that meant we'd need to leave the hotel at 6:45. But Harry Potter is the main reason we came here, so we did it.

And it was so worth it. We walked right on the ride, through Hogwarts castle, and the ride was just amazing. Then we went to Olivander's wand shop, where we watched a short show and the kids each picked out wands. We rode a smaller coaster, Flight of the Hippogriff, which was a family favorite. We rode it twice and also had lunch at the Three Broomsticks, complete with Butterbeer (which the kids did not like but at least tried it).

By this time Ben was a little queasy from the rides, and tired after our early morning. He and Sam went back to the hotel for a nap and swim, and Maria wanted to stay at the parks so we did. We visited Seuss Landing and rode the Men in Black ride while the boys were gone. By this time Harry Potter area was so packed with people you couldn't even walk through it. The rest of the park was still crowded, but not that bad. The weather was hot (90 degrees) but there was a breeze all day.

At dinner time Ben and Sam joined us again, and we rode a few more rides, did some shopping, and came back to the hotel around 8:00. We are all exhausted.

The saving grace of the day has been our Express Passes, that come free since we stayed on site, but basically get you on every ride with a much shorter wait. Except the main attraction for Harry Potter. For that one you have to plan on waiting at least two hours, unless you get there at 7:00. So we are doing that again tomorrow morning. The ride is just that good. Today was the first time I've ever arrived at an amusement park before the sun is up, and I'm doing it again tomorrow.