theDIBB - A Surprise return To The Beach Club

Today we were up early (for us!) as we were heading to Universal Studios, so we obviously went in the car. As we drove up to the parking areas at the Studios the lines of cars were very long waiting to get in but we got parked and those lines were nothing compared to the chaos and crowds waiting to go through the bag scanners! I've never, ever seen so many people together at Universal - and there was no organisation or order! Nightmare. It took ages, kids were crying, adults were pushing - not a great start to the day.
Once we got through there, then the ticket machines and were finally in the park, we made a rookie error and went to the first ride which was Despicable Me - again we queued longer than usual but really enjoyed the ride ! Yay, one ride done 😊
After this we went to Transformers which again, is a great ride; and then needed a cold drink! We decided that today we would concentrate on the Harry Potter areas as we knew we'd be back another day to do the rest, so we went straight to Diagonal Alley as DD hadn't seen this part. We wandered around checking out all the shops, and the nooks and crannies of the theming before going on the Gringott's ride, we had decided to go as single riders as the wait time was 45 minutes. This plan worked and we were on in 10 mins and in cars quite close to each other. Then we went in again! Great fun 🎢. We waited and caught the dragon breathing fire, then had a gorgeous ice cream from Fortescue's.
next was the Hogwarts Express over to Hogsmeade, and again lines were longer than expected but worth the wait. We had a good look in shops and spotted some of the singers, the headed to the Forbidden Journey where again we used the single rider line to go on twice. On there it really doesn't matter if you're sat together as you can't even see each other on the ride. By now we were ready for lunch so the 3 Broomsticks was calling us - we all liked the 2 Smoked Chicken Platters, 1 Chicken Salad and a side of Wedge Fries.
After our late lunch, and a Butter Beer for DD we went for a less hectic attraction and went to go on Poseidon and the rides at Seuss Island , then went for a Starbucks and DD went in the arcade for a while. The day had taken longer than expected, but we had 'done' Harry Potter thoroughly as we wanted, and DD wasn't feeling great so we left and drove back to BC. None f us we're hungry enough for a proper meal, so we hot snacks from BC Marketplace - DD and I had the Clam Chowder which is a snack credit and is the same chowder that Cape May serves. We enjoyed the day, but in all the time we've been going we've never seen Universal as busy especially on a Monday in November!