Universal's Islands of Adventure

Firstly let me say right away that we were soooooo looking forward to Universal we could barely keep the smile from our faces.  You see, for those of you not in the know, Universal's Islands of Adventure houses the ultimate in park attractions for millions of people around the world, namely The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Heaven!

As you can imagine, upon arriving at the park this was to be our first port of call.............or

so we thought!  We headed straight through the park, past the hoards of tourists queuing for Jurassic Park and Spiderman, with our sights firmly set upon Hogsmeade.  We rounded the corner to be told that the 'area' was at capacity and everyone wishing to visit had to get a return pass.  We'd heard about the great 'Harry Potter queues' but kind of thought that due to it being early in the day, midweek and the middle of February queueing would be in our favour.  Nevertheless, we hovered around the park and returned two hours later.  The 'world' itself is made up of the little village of Hogsmeade complete with many of the shops and sights from JK Rowlings imagination and Hogwarts castle. 

The Three Broomsticks, Ollivanders, Honeydukes and Zonko's were all present but were a little disappointing.  Choice of stock was limited and compared to Disney seemed very expensive.  The queue for Ollivanders alone was longer than that for any of the rides within the area, hence to say we didn't bother but all bought wands from the little stall outside Hogwarts.  Butterbeer however is delicious!  We bought 2 large tankards (which you get to keep afterwards) one was liquid and one was frozen - we had a great debate of which one was the nicest.  Without giving too much away Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is a must.  The queueing area takes you through Hogwarts castle with many famous sights along the way.  Once through the queuing area we boarded 4 seater cars that took you on an amazing journey through Harry's world.  I'm embarassed to say I had my eyes closed for much of it especially due to inclusion of spiders!  You may be picking up a bit of a theme here that, yes, I'm basically a coward.

Now, other than the Harry Potter section of the park I have to say we were very disappointed on the whole with Islands of Adventure.  This may have a lot to do with the fact that, as I've said before, we're not big on 'rides' and this really is a 'rides' kind of park.  We did go in the Jurassic Park Discovery Centre and upon entering it all looked great, all decced out like in the movie but then after spending a bit of time in there it just seemed to be lacking.  We all agreed that it could have been made a whole lot better.

One things for sure though, we will never be returning to Circus McGurkus Cafe Stoopendus. The name Circus McGurkus Cafe Sick would be more appropriate!  The food here was just horrible - all precooked and left on warming plates, fries were like rubber and tables not cleaned.  In fact I had to clean our own table before we could sit down.  There just weren't enough staff to keep up with the sheer volume of customers.  The music was also ridiculously loud that you couldn't even hold a conversation.  Strangely enough, within 24 hours we'd all been a little ill!  We made our feelings quite clear to the market researchers who were keen to get our opinion outside the park.

So that's it, my post on Islands of Adventure is at an end and is probably half the length of the posts I've written on Disney.......................this should tell you something :)

Holiday Countdown

It is now 2 weeks until we set off to sunny Florida for a holiday of a lifetime and I can't begin to tell you how excited I am!  It's not just our imminent Disney encounter but for me it's the whole experience.  This will be the first time we've experienced a long-haul holiday as the furthest we've travelled before is Tenerife or Majorca.  Although I'm a little nervous at the whole 7 - 9 hour flight thing, I think 3 weeks in the sunshine state (and a few glasses of vino before the flight) will make up for any anxiousness.

We've hired a villa in the city of Davenport and we're flying over with Virgin atlantic.  We have 14 day ultimate tickets to Disney and Universal with extra tickets to Sea World and the Kennedy Space Centre.  I think though, the absolute pinnacle for us will be the visit we have planned to Discovery Cove on 4th March where we have booked to swim with dolphins.  'A's favourite creature is the stingray so she is over the moon at the prospect of being able to experience these lovely fish while we're there.

As we're visiting for 3 weeks we're hoping to also slot in a visit to one of the beautiful beaches and will maybe combine this with our trip over to Kenndy.  Our Sea World and Kennedy passes also include a free return visit so hopefully we'll get to visit more than once.

I can't believe it's now only 2 weeks till we go as I feel like we've been planning this holiday forever!  I feel like my life currently consists of list upon list, checking and double checking that we've done, bought and thought of everything we need to.  We're actually off to P's brother and sister-in-laws tomorrow night for a full on disney 'heads up' as they've done the trip twice before.

There are so many things I'm looking forward to, one of which will be the new Harry Potter world at Universal Islands of Adventure.  I have to say, I've never been a good 'rides' person but believe me, I will be making sure I experience everything there is to offer while we're there, with or without sick bag!

Harry Potter - A Family United

The count down is on, it's now officially 8 days till Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is released in the UK.  I for one can't wait!

There is something about the Harry Potter series that is just so enchanting.  I love the fact that when I get immersed in the story I feel like I'm a child again where anything seems possible.  I'm transported to a fantasy world away from the humdrum of everyday life/chores/work etc where magic is commonplace and good must conquer evil.  I still marvel at J K Rowlings imagination in creating such a complex world of magic and characters with names such a Peter Pettigrew, Bellatrix Lestrange and Albus Dumbledore.  The woman is a genius!

The other thing I love about Harry Potter is that (cheesy as it is) it unites us as a family.  We've all read the books, watched the films, discussed the actors/actresses and even played the game.  Believe me, with a 10 and 13 year old it's often difficult to find things we can share as a family.  Harry Potter is that thing!

Of course I have certain favourites from the films and the books and I believe some Directors have done the series justice and others just weren't to my taste.  I am still a huge fan of Chris Columbus' direction of The Philosophers Stone.  Something just felt comfortable and homely about this version whereas my least favourite film would be Alfonso Cuaron's 'Prisoner of Azkaban'. Hogwarts was portrayed in a different light as were the characters - something just didn't feel right!

My favourite character has to be Bellatrix Lestrange and had I actually made it to Drama School when I was 18, this is a part I would have loved to play!  Helena Bonham Carter is amazing as Bellatrix and has just the right amount of sinister and insanity about her.  I also adore Alan Rickman's portrayal of Severus Snape and I can't wait to see how he plays his part in the last two films.

I loved the Delores Umbridge character in 'The Order of the Phoenix and Imelda Staunton played this fantastically with just the right amount of pink mumsiness with an edge of venom.  In 'Half Blood Prince' I felt there should have been more about the 'Young' Tom Riddle as this part of the story gives us a such a massive insight into the beginnings of Voldemorts malevolent nature.  I know I'm asking for a lot though as a 4 hour film just wouldn't practical!

One things for sure, family TFAMMM is truly looking forward to Part 7 of Harry Potter and the 19th November can't arrive soon enough!