We love Cowfish.
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This is the way.
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Day 3
This was a long day but so much fun! We left the room just before 7 am and didn’t return until just before 8 pm.
We were up very early to get ready and have breakfast in the room before heading to IOA for early entry. Only issue was that the coffee maker stopped working when DH went to make his cup. He had to wait about half an hour until the Starbucks in the hotel market opened to get some.
Took the walkway from HRH to the parks again. Stopped in front of the Universal globe to get a picture.
There were only three people in front of us at the tapstiles this morning. Gates opened about 7:45. Unfortunately DD18’s fingerprint wouldn’t scan and the guy on the gate was a trainee so it took a bit of time to straighten out. I didn’t care since it was only a minute or two but DD started to freak out that she was messing everything up for us. Luckily she calmed down once they let her through and we started off towards Hogsmeade.
The only fly in the ointment today was that Hagrid’s was down at opening and didn’t open up until 9 am. So we didn’t end up riding it. We still have early entry tomorrow morning to try to catch it one more time.
Instead, DH and the girls did Velocicoaster again. They were off by 8:05! We then did Forbidden Journey. That was done by 8:30. The only other thing open was Hippogryph and it was already posting a 45 minute wait so we decided to come back to it later when we could use Express Pass.
We looked around the shops a bit and got some Frozen Butterbeers. The plan was to take the Hogwarts Express to USF at 9:00 but it didn’t open on time. I think it was because Hagrid’s had just opened and the line extended in front of the train station. We decided to walk over to USF stopping to ride Cat in the Hat and Spiderman.
At USF DH and the girls rode Rip Ride Rock-it. I planned to do the Minions ride while they were gone but ended up bailing out of the Express Pass line after thirty minutes when I was still nowhere close to the ride.
After rounding up my daredevils we walked around a bit to check out where the Bourne show was located. Several rides were down so we decided to go back to Diagon Alley. On the way we did ride Transformers. It’s a much more fun ride than I remembered! There are several moments where it really feels like you have driven right into the movie screen!
Rode Gringotts again. By then it was after 11 am and a long time since breakfast at 5! Since Leaky Cauldron was so close we tried out the mobile order. Surprisingly easy to use and we got to head right to a table. The only problem was that the app wouldn’t let us check off on preparing the order because it refused to recognize that we were in the restaurant! Had to get a team member to assist.
Lunch was delicious. I had the cottage pie/fisherman pie combo. The fisherman pie was so good!
After lunch we rode MIB then backtracked to Diagon Alley to buy pumpkin pasties. With the hot sun beating down we chose to watch some shows. The Bourne stunt show was super and the Horror Makeup Show was hilarious. Finished our rides in USF with ET. That is one strange ride!
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Continuing from my last post, we took Hogwarts Express back to IOA and did Hippogryph and Forbidden Journey. The Express Pass line for FJ is an insane time saver. The posted wait was 75 minutes and we were off the ride in about 10 minutes!
It was just starting to drizzle as we left FJ. Within minutes it was a complete downpour. We took refuge under an overhang for about twenty minutes until the rain slowed down. Then we walked over to Poseidon’s Fury. Another very fun show!
Now it was time for dinner at Toothsome’s. We shared some appetizers and a flatbread. DD15 and I both had milkshakes. The milkshakes are tasty but way too much for one person to drink. The girls grabbed some dessert from the candy shop on the way out.
Walked back to HRH arriving almost exactly thirteen hours after we left! What a day. Not everything worked out perfectly, but we had a great time. Tomorrow we’ll spend the morning at the parks before transferring to WDW.
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Challenge accepted!! 
I’m so glad you are having fun! Please keep us updated!!
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So much fun to follow along!
I hope you got to ride Hagrids today!
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I actually like this ride better than Spiderman. Maybe I should post this in the unpopular opinions thread. 
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Day 4
Early breakfast in the room again. Coffee maker worked for everyone this morning! We packed up most of our stuff before walking once more to the parks. I love how short a walk it is from Hard Rock Hotel to the parks!
Two people in front of us at the tapstiles. Opening was at 7:45 and we walked straight to Hagrid’s. It was open this morning and we were on and off by 8:20. I rode the motorcycle this time. It is such a fun ride!
Then the others rode Velocicoaster one last time. When they got to the locker area they somehow got chosen for “VIP” status. They got sent up in an elevator skipping part of the line and got to choose their seats! They chose the back of course.
Forbidden Journey was down for the whole morning so we took the train to USF planning to ride Gringotts. We got in line at 9:30 expecting to be off in 30 minutes with Express Pass. Unfortunately the ride went down temporarily and we ended up bailing out. We needed to head back to the room to finish packing, drop the bags with bell service and check out. That was done easily and we were back at USF before 11:00.
Lunch was sandwiches in the Today Café. The smoked salmon and lox bagel was delicious. So much salmon!
We did two rides on MIB. I really enjoy that ride but I am so bad at it! I did manage to hit the red button on the second ride.
One last ride on Gringotts and a stop in the sweet shop to buy pumpkin pasties. DH and the girls rode Rip Ride Rock-It. Then it was time for souvenir shopping. Both girls got Hogwarts House mugs, Slytherin for DD18 and Hufflepuff for DD15. Their big purchases were a Honeydukes Loungefly bag for DD15 and a replica Slytherin locket for DD18. They’re both really neat!
Finally it was time to say goodbye to Universal. We had a fabulous time and now we get to move on to WDW!
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I started a trip report for the WDW part of our trip. It’s linked here: Canucks do Disney World: A 16th turned 18th birthday trip
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So glad you got to ride Hagrids!
Awesome souvenir choices
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How have I never seen these? 
Glad you had such a great time at UOR, hope Disney and AKL are equally fantastic!
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This is making me wonder if we should try it….we didn’t like Spider-Man whatsoever (also an unpopular opinion!)
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VIP for Velocicoaster?!?!? What the what?!?! That’s amazing!
Loving that Honeydukes bag, but I also own a lot of loungefly bags, including 3 Disney ones that still have the tags on them (sorry, not sorry)
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If you didn’t like Spider-Man you probably won’t like Transformers unless it’s the story you don’t like. The ride experience is quite similar. It’s the exact same ride vehicle.
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They are very nice mugs. I would take a picture but then I would have to unwrap them from all of the protective packaging to keep them from breaking on the drive home.
They are a solid colour (green for Slytherin, yellow for Hufflepuff) with a house crest on one side and a list of house characteristics on the other. They did only have Slytherin and Hufflepuff though, no Gryffindor or Ravenclaw.
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Agree. That’s sad.
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They might get more back in eventually. I think the other houses were just sold out.
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Feeling stressed and dealing with it by putting 5 Loungeflys in my Amazon cart. I will not buy more than one and maybe none, but man is it tempting!
Also love the Honeyduke’s bag!
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Stress-shopping? You’re my kind of people!
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