Islands Of Adventure ~ Universal Orlando

Home of the exciting new attraction The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter, it's obvious just how busy this park is.  Most attraction lines were at least 80 minutes wait, some were over 2 hours. 
There isn't much shade or inside air conditioned lines, so it was HOT!!!  Then add the huge crowds, it was very stuffy!!  I expected more fans with mist in line and more misting stations.  Thankfully, beverage prices are resonable & you can bring in your own bottled water so staying hydrated isn't too difficult!

You can purchase the Express Pass and get on the rides faster by bypassing the regular long lines.  The pass costs from $19.99 to $59.99 each (in addition to the ticket price) depending on the day, obviously peak dates are the higher priced.  Guests of each Loews Hotel at Universal Orlando Resort get the Express Pass for Free!  Unfortunately, you can NOT use the Express Pass on any Harry Potter rides!

Overall, we had fun!!

First we came into MARVEL SUPER HERO ISLAND

Incredible HULK Coaster had a long wait line all day so we didn't experience that one, although it looked really cool!

We did ride The Amazing Adventures of SPIDERMAN.  That was fun, and it was inside & air conditioned!!




Next, we were off to Ripsaw Falls.  It looked like a fun water ride ~ unfortunately there were technical dufficulties and they had to close while we were in line!

JURASSIC PARK ~ RIVER ADVENTURE was next!  Awesome!!  The dinosaur detail is very realistic and the darkeness keeps up the suspense!

My daughter had a BLAST in SUESS LANDING!  The rides are great, a little quicker than the average kiddie ride.  Calm enough to not scare smaller children, quick enough to keep older children and even adults interested and having fun!!

We walked through THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER, but it was so packed and hard to walk through.  The line for BUTTER BEER was at least an hour long.  I've heard, at times some of the wait times for the HARRY POTTER rides have been 8 hours!  It was 3 hours when we walked through, so we decided to check out the rest of the park and come back that evening!

It was a little less crowded in the evening.  My husband & sons waited in line for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.  (We thought my daughter would be scared, so she & I went back to Suess Land)  According to my family, waiting in line was awesome!  The line went through the castle & out through what felt like a scene from the movie.  The ride was a lot of fun & very detailed!  I was told later that my 3 year old daughter would have been able to ride & would have loved it!!

We ended the night with our Butter Beer!  I think that was my favorite part of the day!  It was better than I expected ~ a frothy butterscotch drink.  I would have loved a cup of just the foamy top!!