Islands Of Adventure (Day 11)

We had a great day for Patrick’s birthday today and went to Islands of Adventure to celebrate it. We made it onto Harry Potters Forbidden Journey (exceptional), Jurassic Park (got soaked) and a few others before finishing off with the REALLY Amazing Spider-man ride. Some shopping, nice food and then a few hours in the ‘upside down house’ (which had loads of cool exhibits in it) to finish off the day :)

The Cheesecake we deserve, but do not need…

Ok, finished up early yesterday to have a bit of a break (there wasn’t much happening anyway. So back to last nights dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, which was the first of Patrick’s special birthday dinners. We didn’t anticipate how busy it would be to had to wait an hour on a table. As the restaurant was located in a Mall, we spent the time looking around the shops and taking PG to get his birthday present - Batman Arkham Knight for the X1. He said I could play it too (awesome) and I got him the strategy guide to go along with it. He then wanted to buy me The Witcher Strategy guide and everyone else some gifts too - how cool is that? Unfortunately the Mall comprised of shops like Gucci, Prada, Armani and the like so I said he might want to wait till he get gifts for everyone else :P And then on to the restaurant where the food was excellent. There were some many nice things but I went for the fish tacos, nice and fresh! Then dessert. Now I don’t normally do desserts however as this was a restaurant that specialized in cakes and it was P’s birthday, I decided I would have one and pretend to share it with Ann. Loads and loads of different types and I picked some sort of caramel pecan flavour (coz I love pecans). Patrick went for the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake and I think my dad opted for a mango key lime. They brought out Patrick’s and sang Happy Birthday. He really loved it. Struggled with the cheesecake though, as did everyone else (even those sharing). It was v. late by the time we ate and eventually got home, so decided to ditch breakfast in the morning.
So the next morning we all got up, wished Patrick Happy Birthday and he opened some cards from us, my mum & dad and his other grandparents. He got some money and we decided it would be a good idea to split in for a PS4 ;) So of course he wouldn’t shut up about it all the way to Islands Of Adventure. No breakfast as discussed, but we grabbed some coffees and smoothies before we hit the road.

Islands of Adventure!

Weather was forecast to be hot with a very low chance of rain, which would make up for the previous day. This was the last park to do and the one Patrick wanted to do on his birthday the most. It was pretty unanimous that no one was wanting to go on The Hulk, which I was a little disappointed about but when I seen it up close was probably a wee bit glad - maybe next time? :P Got a badge for Patrick’s birthday at the park (apparently its the thing to do to get some extra special attention, which kinda worked). The tower at Islands Of Adventure reminds me of Myst or the lighthouse from Lost so was kina cool and eerie at the same thing. We made a bee line for Harry Potter as we wanted to do that before the queues got too large, so headed counter clockwise through Seuss Landing and The Lost Continent, whereas everyone else see to go in the opposite direction. Woot. It still amazing me how much detail and magic they cram into Hogsmeade and even though we headed their first it was still busy with similar minded people. The Forbidden Journey first and Gracie was too small to ride, which was a shame as it was my favourite ride. They did offer Child Swap so everyone else in the party could ride and meant that Grace could see the inside of the castle, which is as equally as brilliant as the ride (well near enough). I think I was annoying the party in the line behind us as I kept stopping to take photos of the castle! Me, Ro and Ann sat in the child swap room watching HP 1, while the others went on the ride first. Then it was our turn to swap over and Patrick got a second go as he was wearing his birthday badge! I’m gonna wear it next time, defo. The ride is better than I remembered, such an amazing attraction and still my #1 as far as attractions go. We then popped on to flight of the Hippogriff next door, before grabbing some frozen Butterbeer. Patrick got his for free because it was his birthday! He also got lots of people wishing his a Happy Birthday and giving him a high 5 throughout the park :D The Butterbeer is amazing stuff though and EXTREMELY COLD so brain freeze was a certainty :)

We’re back on the third to take a more leisurely stroll through that park and take in the sights and sounds so we pushed on to Jurassic Park and would return for the missed out areas later. So went to this lands main attraction, the River Adventure, a water ride with a little twist at the end. Ann and GG didnt make it on this one last time so we all managed to ride this one! Patrick told me that Jurassic Park was his favourite theme tune and I pretty puch agreed. All set to GoPro the adventure too but was told to put it away. It seems that Universal, for copyright reasons or another are very secretive and dont like to taking photos or videoing most of the rides here, with is a stark contrast to Disney, who let you video most things. Its a shame as this one would have suited the GoPro well. Nice we ride though the park until the Raptors got loose and it went all dark. Big scary t-rex at the end with a pretty surprising drop (for those who hadnt been on it before). Got soaked. Good job I had a waterproof cover on my camera bag :)

Made it around to Super Hero Island and due to the wait time on Spidey, opted to hit some smaller rides for Gracie first back in Seuss Landing. We completely missed this section of the park out in 2013, due to a weird dining plan we thought would be a good idea, so made a point this time to see what it had in store. Went on nearly everything, High in the Sky, Caro-Seuss-Sel, One Fish, Two Fish & The Cat in the Hat which was really good (for umm Gracie). The Lost Continent didn’t seem to have much appeal though, apart from looking freaking amazing so we headed back round to Spider-man before we headed off. It was great, another top attraction, and after being on both simulator/thrill rides Universal & Island had to offer, my preference is slightly leaning more to Spider-man than Transformers, most likely due to the subject matter. There was also a wee cameo from Stan Lee at the end which was a nice touch :)
We had our Coca-cola cups from last time so only cost us a few bucks to reactivate and use them for today. Food wise though the kids had some pretzels but that was it for the day so we were more than ready for dinner. Before that, we went to Walmart (my mum and dad headed home to the hotel for a bit) and bought loads of American goodies including A1 Steak Sauce, Lime Hot Sauce, Cinnamon Pecan ground coffee & Maple Syrup as well as the usual My Little Pony & Pokemon cards (oh dear).

After a quick refresh we went to Millers Alehouse for dinner. One of my favourite places as well as everyone elses I think. And when they offer you a pitcher of beer for $6, you cant really say no, can you? It was also Patrick’s second birthday dinner (US timezone), so we again had something to celebrate. Went for a signature dish of 35 shrimp, which doesn’t really seem a lot but really it. Ann & PG got a Chicken Nacho starter to share, this thing was MASSIVE and even with everyone else chipping in (sorry), the plate still left the table unfinished. I really couldn’t manage dessert this time, but Patrick got a free chocolate fudge cake as it was his birthday (how jammy?). Will be back again here to try our some there delights and maybe a cocktail or two :)

After dinner, we went to Wonderworks - a sort of funhouse with lots of exhibits and fun things for the kids (and adults) to play with. They had lots of stuff and we spent a few hours going round the attraction, which we had free tix for (though is well worth the $26 admission fee). They had a bed of nails (which Grace kept calling a nails of bed and would continue to repeat that she wasnt going on it. Of course, I had to try it and it turned out to be only mildly uncomfortable. We also had a Hurricane and Earthquake experience, a 4D theatre (so funny), a 360 simulator, a bubble factory for making huge bubbles (which Grace loved) and a myriad of optical illusions. Lastly we hit Laser tag, even GG who wanted to be in my team (though it was a free for all). Team Awesome! She got 4125 points all in and beat Ann who managed on 3100, so she was well chuffed.

Really successful day for Patrick’s birthday today and I think he really enjoyed it. Now just passed the half way point in the holiday and we turn our sights towards the next few days leading up to Independence Day. Epcot PM tomorrow, so will be able to grab a half decent sleep tonight! :)