Girls’ Weekend @ Islands of Adventure – Day One

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View more pictures from our trip to Universal’s Islands of Adventure here: My Islands of Adventure Photos. View my Project 365 photos here: http://mariloujaen.com/365/

                                                                                                                                        

I have a confession to make. I spoil my kids. Mostly, I spoil the little one with affection, and the older one with time. I also have a weakness for Harry Potter. I just read all the books this summer, and I secretly want to read them again. Don’t tell my husband because he will kill me if I read them again. (I had some pretty late nights because of those books!)

My daughter is also a huge Harry fan. And a theme park fan. And that makes two of us in this house. You need this back story to forgive me for taking ONLY my daughter to Islands of Adventure. Also, I wanted to take pictures – lots of them. And no one likes their pictures taken more than Isabel. But really, we wanted butterbeer.

And so we went, just the girls, to Islands of Adventure this weekend. And we named it Girls’ Weekend instead of Harry Potter weekend (because Girls’ Weekend is more cool). And we stayed in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter as long as we wanted. Which was pretty much two whole days, minus the two short hours we took to ride the Jurassic Park River Adventure, Spider-Man something or other, and Pteranodon Flyers, only to realize we really were just interested in our buddy, Mr. Harry Potter.

On Saturday, Isabel had some birthday money to burn (thanks, Tia Angie and Tio Ruben!), so she did some shopping…

At Zonko’s, the toy store… She considered the Extendible Ear and decided it was too expensive. Good girl.

But the sky was the limit at Honeyduke’s, the candy shop. She spent more on candy than that ear would have cost! (It’s HER birthday money, Grandma!)

As much as she can carry… That’s how much candy she wants!

She also got a Pin Set. It included five pins, one for each house and a Hogwarts pin. Those will decorate her pin collecting neck strap.

And her final purchase, a ‘time turner’ necklace (collectible, with case) from Dervish and Banges. She is in love with it. (In case you are wondering, the necklace stayed in that little bag, its styrofoam packaging keeping it nice and safe.)

On the Pteranodon Flyers, a 45 minute wait for a 1 minute ride. All worth it for this picture.

Back to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter for another cup of BUTTERBEER!

And this evening shot, which are among a few that all melt my little heart (click the photo for more).

Followed by some wand shopping (maybe some candy purchase regrets? Never!)

After this, we rode the Hogwart’s ride – Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey – for a second time. This time, instead of an hour-long wait, it was only a 20 minute wait. Much better. We were the second to last pair of the night to ride it, which I found pretty cool. For the record, I think the last couple deliberately walked too slowly, so they’d have the last bench honors to themselves. Punks.

Did you see Isabel in that last shot? Completely accidental. She could have been on the ride for all I was noticing. (Whoops!)