Author: John

We had dinner around 4:30 PM at the Three Broomsticks. We ordered a dinner for four which came with roasted chicken, ribs, vegetables, potatoes and corn on the cob. Way more food than the 6 of us could eat.

We also split a hot butter beer.

After minions, we went to see the Waterworld 3:45 PM show.

There was a pre-show with some minor stunts, which was pretty good.

The main show was wonderfully violent with lots of firearms.

A mini gun and bazooka effect was also used.

The plot was a little weak, but it was still very exciting.

Harry gives the show 2 thumbs up 

After a short break, we went on the Minions ride around 2:30 PM.

After lunch, we went on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Maggie and grandma stayed off. Maggie is too short and Grandma is too scared.

It was a 45 minute wait which wasn’t too bad for such a great ride.

Daisy and Harry loved it. So did I.

The dementors scared Daisy a bit but she survived. She didn’t care for the giant fuzzy spiders either.

I love that this ride is basically and industrial automation robot on a track.

We don’t have photos because this ride makes you use lockers as you are almost put upside down and I think even my phone could have slipped out.

The tour took us onto the actual Universal Studios lot. We saw actual soundstages that are actively being used to film shows and movies.

They also had a few attraction like areas for us to go through, like a 3-D King Kong adventure, a violent car chase from Fast and the Furious, and a pretty cool earthquake/water simulation in a subway station.

I had to hold onto Magnolia a few times on some of the scarier parts. 

In the queue at 10:50 AM.

Our Super Nintendo Land early entry gave us an Express Pass for this.

It’s apparently about an hour long.

Exited Super Nintendo Land at approximately 9:30 AM and entered Simpsons queue. Waited around at the upper lot for mother as she needed her special transport again.

The kid’s like to entertain themselves in line with Rock-Paper-Scissors.

Almost met Princess Peach but the line was way to long and already closed to more people.

Very, very unique ride. They mixed augmented reality via a headset with steering controls on a dark ride track. It’s a little disorienting and very confusing in the beginning, but probably the coolest tech I’ve ever experienced in my life. 

Finally made it into Super Nintendo Land around 8:35 AM. It took quite a while to park and go through security and then walk all the way to Super Nintendo Land.

Super Nintendo Land is on the lower lot which meant we had to take multiple escalators down to get there. Grandma had to take an elevator and then a special shuttle took her to the lower lot. She received a private tour from the shuttle driver.

We are in line for the Mario Kart ride. We probably won’t have too much time to do anything else in this land. 

We arrived promptly at 6:30 AM for breakfast, grabbed a quick bite and then rushed down to our rental minivan around 7 AM.

It took us 5 to 10 minutes to get the scooter disassembled to put in the back of the minivan but then we were off around 7:10 AM.

Current arrival time is 7:54 AM. That’s a little late, but it could be much worse.

So far traffic seems very reasonable and Leanne is using the carpool lane because there is six of us in here. 

Today we are going to Universal Studios Hollywood. We had to rent a car as that was the cheapest transportation option to get there. We have to leave at 7 AM as that is the earliest we possibly can leave if we want our free breakfast at our hotel. It is only 60 km to Hollywood however, due to traffic, it could take us up to an hour even on a Saturday to get there.

We purchased early access for Super Nintendo Land, which should give us access to the new Mario Kart ride in the land for an hour before the park is open to the rest of the public. We need to be there by 8 AM. The timing will be tight.

Apparently six-year-olds need a little more sleep than adults. Poor Maggie has been getting up at 6 AM every day and going to bed after 10 PM. She is exhausted but still manages to be her sweet little self most of the time.

After a quick ride on Alice in Wonderland we braved the crowds and found a spot to watch the fireworks. We arrived at our spot by about 8:40 PM. Fireworks start at 9:30 PM. We are all very tired.