The Secret's Out! - August 2014 Trip - A 16th Birthday - Day 2

[Wozi]

Woke up around 6am this morning, and breakfast consisted of glazed donuts, toast, orange juice and tea.

Jordan eventually got up and opened the cards that we had brought with us. He had some breakfast, which I think for him consisted to donuts and OJ. He was then sent off to shower. Since it was his birthday we had decided to let him decide where we were going, and he'd picked Universal.

We parked in Spiderman 250, and took a short walk into City Walk, before heading to IOA. Our plan was just to have a wander round Hogsmeade, perhaps get a ride on Forbidden Journey, then catch the Hogswart Express to Kings Cross in Universal Studio's, grab an ice cream and basically just have a wander around.

Before going into Hogsmeade, we decided to do Poseidon's Fury, as we've never done this before. I have to say, now we've done it, I don't think we feel the need to do again. The wait time on Forbidden Journey was 45 minutes, and it was so hot, we didn't fancy waiting around. We had a wander around the area, brought a few snacks to keep us going, water, churro (for Jordan) and some grapes from one of the carts. Went into Honeydukes, where we purchased a few sweeties. Ellie and I then sat in the under cover area by the Owl Post, whilst the boys went on Dragon Challenge. We sat and watched many people come up with their interactive wands and cast spells.

We then made our way to Hogsmeade to catch the Hogwarts Express. We all absolutely loved it, and I will be catching the train again next week when we go. We had decided we wouldn't attempt Gringotts this time round, instead waiting for our overnight stay at HRH. So we were to wander around the area, taking our time to enjoy the atmosphere.

Here we are in Diagon Alley, if you look really carefully you might be able to see the dragon on top of Gringotts breathing fire.

Today was so hot we were melting, so apart from trying to cool down via nipping into the shops, we also decided to visit 'Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour'. Only 3 of us had ice cream as Jordan isn't a dessert person. I do apologise for the photo's, but they decided to eat them before I managed to take photo's.

We all went for soft whip with a sugar waffle cone at $4.99. Ellie had chocolate, Si had strawberries and cream, while I went for toffee apple. They were all really nice, but next time I'm going to try one of the hard pack flavoured ice creams.

After ice cream, we had a further look around. Including the twins shop.

The Knight Bus

Then we took a walk over to the Simpson's area, where we got Jordan's birthday cake/donut.

By this time, we'd decided we have all had enough as it was so hot, and decided to head back to the car. Jordan had decided he want to visit the big MacDonald's on I Drive. On the way out of the parks, Si and shared a Cinnabon and also decided to pick our Blue Men tickets up ready for Sunday.

We also activated our photo connect card, I'd purchased the 14 day version.

Originally the plan had been to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe, but for some reason, the boys decided against it. Turned out Jordan wanted to visit the big MacDonald's on I Drive. All well and good, but we struggled to find it so ended up at Longhorns.

Ellie had her usual chicken tenders, I went for 1/2 rack of ribs with fries and a salad, Jordan went for the burger, and Si had steak with a loaded potato. We had a beer, 2 diet cokes and a Mr Pim. Total came to $67 +tip

After Longhorns we popped over to Super Target, and brought some GoPro bits.

I was positive we had been in Super Target previously, but after our trip yesterday I wasn't so sure. We had visited Walmart at Cagan Crossing earlier in the day but they didn't really have anything in. I must say though I don't think we'll be off to Walmart again in a hurry, I do find it really quite grim and dirty in there. Whilst Publix and Super Target are so light and clean looking in comparison. I'm sure the prices probably reflex this.

[Megandllsmum]

Sounds like Jordan had a great birthday and you all had a fun day. We've been thinking about blue man group will follow your review of that with interest. Have a lovely day today. . . Maybe you'll find McDonald's

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New Photo Added by Wozi - 13 Aug 14 11:18 AM.

[Wozi]

Originally Posted by Megandllsmum

Sounds like Jordan had a great birthday and you all had a fun day. We've been thinking about blue man group will follow your review of that with interest. Have a lovely day today. . . Maybe you'll find McDonald's

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I think he enjoyed himself. I picked up a book of coupons in Walmart yesterday after our detour, and lo and behold found a coupon, which shows the address and zip code so am going to pop it in the satnav ready.

Yes, I'll do a review of the blue man group, it's not something either the kids or I are keen to do, but Si wanted to.

[Guest]

Loving the reports so far, keep'em coming x have fun

[SunriseLV]

Great stuff, Happy Birthday Jordan What a great way to celebrate your 16th - great memories for Mum and Dad too.

[Col&Ali]

Happy Birthday Jordan!

I know what you mean about Walmart hun ... much prefer Publix and looking forward to trying out Super Target

Looks like the weather has improved

[KittyBlackDog]

Belated happy birthday! Great day, nice and chilled. Longhorns seems like great value and def cheaper than HRC!

Would love to know what you think of the blue man group, I'm in two minds about whether to book tickets or not next year.

Keep having fun!

[KittyBlackDog]

Forgot to say, gotta love a glazed donut for breakfast on holiday

[WileyCoyote]

Great day, love your Universl pics, the attention to detail in Diagon Alley looks amazing. Yum yum, dinner at Longhorns . Happy Birthday Jordan x