Sneaky bonus 6 nights at Universal Feb 2020- Day 3

[rafjen]

Another early start today. 4 year old woke 3.30am- 5am for older two. We had kelloggs variety packs and had bought milk last night in the market area. Given the early start we decided to head to IOA and rope drop Hagrids.

By 7.40 we were in Voodoo donuts again. This time the hitdonut was a triple chocolate ring with chocolate cereal bits on top, I tried the Pride donut - which had custard in it my husband bought a large pecan monstrosity. We got some apple juice and coffee and headed to IOA.

We arrived to a few short queues but only about 12 people in front of us. It was a long wait but the kids did okay. After we arrived the queues spread to other turnstiles so others arriving after us actually got in before us. At 8.50 they announced Hagrid's wasn't opening until the afternoon. Everyone was annoyed. We later found out it was closed as MTV were videoing and also similar happened 2 days later. Personally I was really annoyed by this- they could have pre-told people to save them queuing needlessly. Especially since this was a pre-organised event. It also seemed unfair that on 2 of our days they didn't open the headliner until later afternoon for filming. I could understand technical issues but this seemed less fair.

Anyway we cracked on and hit Hulk for my oldest son and the Spiderman one of our favourites. We also headed to meet Spiderman- the queue was only a few families but the family ahead of us took a loooong time. Every family member (7 of them) took several poses alone then combinations this after a long chat.

We bypasses all the water rides- no one bar the 10 yr old wanted to get wet. We also stopped for Kong which was a walk on with express. We then decided to queue for the Pterodactyl flyers. My 4 year old was really keen and its such a slow loader its usually 45 min+ with with no express on this. We decided 30 min was doable and it was actually good fun. The staff were very slick at getting you on and off but the queue moves very slowly.


We decided to risk the Jurassic park ride -we child swapped and all got very wet- much more than usual. I had applied via annual passes to throw beads on the Mardi Gras parade but hadn't gotten picked. On the day, on the app you can sign up and by luck while in child swap I got spaces for 3 of us that evening. I checked back over the next few days and never saw the slots open again.

We then bypassed meeting the raptor as no one fancied another 30 min wait. I've never seen a short queue for this.

We blasted through Hippogriff and Forbidden Journey with express. Hagrids was still closed.
By now we were hungry so decided to go to 3 Broomsticks for the first time. The kids options are better here than The Leaky Cauldron- it has a 15 min wait but soon we had food, beer and frozen butter beer. I had fish and chips-always yummy, my husband had rotisserie chicken which was fab and kids had the kids fish and chips and mac and cheese. My husband was a little disappointed his favourite dark beer from the Leaky Cauldron wasn't here but he made do with another wizzard exclusive beer. The entire time we ate Hagrid's was running cars but not opened. I don't think it opened for another hr or so.

We caught the train across to Daigon alley, did some magic and grabbed some ice cream. These are lovely but there is always a long queue, they are expensive and too large for the kids- we need to share in future. I loved the banana soft serve, son the loved butter beer soft serve- the others all opted for chocolate.

We did the Mummy and Rip Ride rocket. My eight year old loved this- its the first time she met the ride height. We had a package including the video so we grabbed this. My husband and older 2 kids needed to go to the parade spot by 3.50pm for a 5.15 parade-we got a little lost but got them there on time.

I took my 4 yr old to scope out a spot to watch as he was too short to join in. We decided to do transformers to kill some time then settled in to watch at the start point - so we could catch them twice- in and back. It was a glorious day 30 degrees and so pleasant just to sit watching the world go by. A lot of Sponge bob characters came out and we met Patrick- son wasn't fussed on anyone else.

The parade was fab and seeing my family on a float throwing the beads was amazing. They were having so much fun. Later they said it was a little dull waiting but amazing to get to experience. By the time we met them the park had shut. We hadn't realized this but there was a private event and it wasn't on the website when I checked a few days earlier. So we had to leave a little earlier than expected.

We were tired and hungry and had the hotel had good QS we would have headed back but we decided to try citywalk. This was a mistake as the kids were now grumpy, tired and hungry. We had heard good things about Panda express but the kids were not impressed on seeing the food Just as we arrived they needed the rest rooms unfortunately these are located a good 5 min walk from the restaurant down the lift/stairs . Eventually we got back to ordering. We decided to get food for the adults and just get them something from BK next to it. Unfortunately, after ordering we realized BK wasn’t open despite staff being at the counter. My four year old fell asleep and my daughter ate off our plates. My son managed to gets some tacos from a nearby QS. I really enjoyed the orange chicken and would head back- hopefully with BK as back up for kids.

We caught the boat back and collapsed into bed. Our relaxed trip was turning out just as busy as our usual trips. Not to worry tomorrow was Volcano Bay.


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[mick]

A good day a great some of your family getting on a float


Joan

[Jules32]

Another great day