The last day of our stay in Orlando, Dave and I spent at Islands of Adventure. We visited this amusement park a few years ago, but decided to re-visit it. We went through the attractions that we missed last time and enjoyed our favorite rides again. We started our journey with the most popular The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Island, which was already crowded.
We started with the Hogwarts castle, where we walked through the classrooms and corridors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry discovering more new details. Then, we took both Dragon Challenge rides (on the red and blue dragons) and our absolute favorite, the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride. Then, we moved to Diagon Alley, a shopping strip normally invisible to non-wizards. This is a themed area that resembles London of the Potter books. Last time we missed the Ollivander’s attraction, so we got in line to visit Ollivanders Wand Shop.
Ollivanders Wand Shop is a very popular attraction in Wizarding World and it always has a long line. This attraction is a re-enactment of the scenes from the first Harry Potter movie and book, when Harry was first selected by his own wand.
Finally, our group of approximately 20 people were admitted to the dark room of the shop. A kid, around 10 years old, was chosen to experience the wand selection with Ollivander’s assistant. After trying several wands, using different incantations, it was announced that the wizard had finally met the right wand.
After the demonstration we moved into the Owl Post, outer chamber of Ollivander’s, where everyone could purchase his/her very own wand or replica of one of the character’s wands from the Harry Potter films. Here is The Monster Book of Monsters, which bites.
Walking around the park, we passed the Hogwarts Express train at the Hogsmeade station in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
Now, with the newly built Hogsmeade Station, visitors can board the Hogwarts Express to King’s Cross Station in Universal Studios and vice versa. In this case, a Park-to-Park admission ticket or Annual Pass is required.
The Hogwarts Express is a pleasant, leisurely train ride through the Scottish countryside and downtown London. Many characters and locations from the Harry Potter films and books make an appearance. Once the ride is over, passengers disembark at the other Wizarding World of Harry Potter (in Universal Studios or in Universal’s Islands of adventures). This is something for us to explore during our next visit to Florida. 🙂
Walking through Diagon Ally on our way out of the Wizarding Warld of Harry Potter.
Took some pictures next to the Hogsmeade snowman near the entrance.
We passed The Lost Continent Island, didn’t do any activities this time.
We enjoyed Seuss Landing. This place is so bright and colorful!
Walking under The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride.
Cat in the Hat attraction, which we attended during our previous visit.
Caro-Seuss-el with Truffula Trees upfront.
Very cute Comic Strip area.
Delicious ice-cream from Cathy’s Ice Cream shop.
We had the best turkey legs in the Thunder Falls Terrace restaurant. This place is enormous and really pretty.
Marvel Super Hero Island has been one of the most popular areas of Islands of Adventure since the day it opened and over the years the attractions and characters featured on this island are just as popular. The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk Coaster and Doctor Doom’s Fearfall are some of the most thrilling attractions in the entire park.
Of course, we couldn’t miss the Incredible Hulk Coaster.
We did all the water rides in the afternoon, most of them twice. The water rides we took that day were Dudley Do-Right Ripsaw Falls, Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges, and Jurassic Park River Adventure. The weather was very nice in the afternoon, compared to a little chilly in the morning. The warm weather definitely had people in the mood for water rides, but the lines were not bad at all. Last visit we missed the Dudley Do-Right Ripsaw Falls ride (in the picture below), so I am glad we did it this time.
A little tired, but happy, we left the park and Orlando around 4 pm.
Being in Florida, we were invited to the local theater for the musical comedy Young Frankenstein. This comedy is a re-imagining of the Fankenstein legend based on Mel Brooks’ film masterpiece. The story follows young Dr. Frankenstein (that’s Fronkensteen) as he attempts to bring a corpse to life, but not without scary and hilarious complications. We had a good time.
We stopped at the beach to see the ocean in the morning on our way to the JAX airport.
While walking on the boardwalk, we noticed a sign warning about the Leatherback sea turtle nests. The three sea turtle species that nest the most in Flagler County are Loggerhead, Green and Leatherback, followed by the rare Hawksbill and Kemp’s Ridley.
Here are a few facts that we learned from the sign. Leatherback Sea turtles are the largest sea turtles in the world (can reach the size of a Volkswagen Beetle). They eat jelly fish. The Leatherback, unlike other species, can regulate its body temperature, enabling it to dive deeper and to migrate thousands of miles.
Only mature female turtles come ashore to deposit 80-120 eggs in the sand. In about 55 days, turtle hatchlings dig their way to the surface for their first breath of air. They make a mad dash to the ocean while facing natural and man-made obstacles, both on the beach and in the ocean.
As always, we enjoyed our Florida visit. Now, we need to start planning our visit to Florida next year. 🙂