We decided to head back to Spiderman which Clare and Matthew got on as it was now working (it's not a ride I like so I nosed round the shops and took some pictures). There's too much spinning and jerking for my liking!
Once finished, we met back up and decided to walk up to Hogsmeade - the Harry Potter attraction in this park - and were still surprised at the relative lack of people. Matthew wanted to buy an interactive wand, so we headed into the wand shop (Ollivander's) and he selected one that was something to do with his birthday (and the fact is was shaped like an evil cobra seemed to help too). It comes with a guide on how to do spells and where you can cast them to see their effects. So we spent a little time wandering around Hogsmeade looking for 'spell spots'. Then Matthew had to perform the right 'swishing and flicking' of the wand in order to see the spell work.
There were several of these spots around Hogsmeade. Some seemed to work better than others, which might be Matthew was better at casting the spells of the camera sensors were in better positions on some of them. Whatever, he enjoyed himself, and that was alright.
We decided to take the Hogwarts Express to the Studios park, and with a minimal wait we were soon onboard. You get put into a cabin, similar to an old steam train in the UK, and there is a video wall instead of a window which plays scenes on your journey to Kings Cross. It had a kind-of 3D effect, without the need for glasses, which worked quite well. The Weasley twins advertising their joke shop was done particularly well.
Once our of Kings Cross (which was done very well, even down to the fierce air conditioning making it feel like an English winter!) we had a wander round the rest of 'London'. It was busier in this park for sure, but we were still able to see some of the sights quite well.
We were hungry to headed to our favourite Universal Studios bakery the Beverley Hills Boulangerie. Clare swears their cheesecakes are the best she has ever had, so she went for the New York Vanilla cheescake, whilst I had an oatmeal cookie and Matthew had choc chip. We sat outside, just after a rather noisy band had finished playing, so we could chat rather than be deafened. The Studios seemed very noisy - the volume on everything seemed to have been cranked up making conversations difficult even in the middle of the walkways.
We knew we had a lat night ahead, so decided to leave after our snack and do a bit of shopping. Clare wanted to visit the big Barnes & Noble bookshop near the Florida Mall so she could get a special edition book that only they stocked. We then headed back to the hotel and visited the pool and had a couple of Pepperoni Flatbreads from the Artist's Palette Quick Service restaurant.
About 4:30pm we got in the car and went to the Magic Kingdom as we had reservations at the Ohana restaurant at the Polynesian Resort. We headed to the Transportation Hub, where you can get monorails to resorts and the Magic Kingdom - or a ferry across the lake to the park - and did a short walk to the Polynesian resort. We got to the restaurant and were soon settled in to our seats. They bring a selection of food from a wood stove where they cook different types of meat. It's done in a Hawaiian style and it's done very well. There's entertainment for the kids and the views are great across to the Magic Kingdom and other resorts. The food was pretty good - the banana pudding being a particular favourite of mine.
We then caught the monorail to The Magic Kingdom and once inside found it to be absolutely packed! it was probably the busiest we had seen it, due to there only being a couple of nights where you can see the electric parade and the fireworks and the rest of the week is taken up with Hallowe'en parties (which you have to pay separately for). We were here especially for the parade and fireworks as Clare had really wanted to see them. We had Fast Passess for Jungle Cruise, which we had all wanted to do at night, and found even the Fast Pass line was a 20 minute wait. This was made longer by a boat breaking down and having to be towed back to the dock. Anyway, it wasn't too much longer before we were underway and all agreed that the lighting helped see some of the things that you might miss during the daytime. Well worth doing at night.
Matthew hadn't eaten much at dinner, as he had struggled to find things he'd liked, so we headed to a Quick Service restaurant to find him a hot dog. We ended up in Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe more by luck than judgement, as we'd got lost. We were pleasantly surprised as it was done in a diner style and was very large with plenty of seating and places to order. We found a table and whilst Matthew ate his hot dog were entertained by a character singing space songs and telling terrible jokes. Matthew declared the hot dog and fries to be very good.
It was 8:40pm now, so we headed for the Fast Pass are we had booked to watch the Main Street Electrical Parade. Good job we did as it was packed everywhere else. We'd seen people sitting at the side of the road at 7pm and wondered if they were saving a spot for the parade. Well, they definitely had been! We got to the front of our spot right in front of Cinderella's Castle, and I have to say it was well worth getting a Fast Pass for. The parade came by about 9:10pm and it was spectactular. The flights were all very bright and the music and choreography was well done too. Matthew and Clare particularly enjoyed it, although all those lights were very bright!
After the parade, we moved to the Fast Pass area for the fireworks, which was in the Rose Garden. It was nice to sit on the grass and watch the light show projected onto the castle followed by a truly amazing fireworks display. Probably the best I've ever seen. I'm not into fireworks very much, but these I was impressed by.
After the show, we headed for the People Movers - another ride we had wanted to do at night. It was also to allow some of the crowd to leave the park. It was a nice ride round the park, but it broke down for about 10 minutes which was a bit of a bummer. Still, we again saw things we hadn't noticed during the day time...
It was around 10:45pm by this point, so we headed out of the park and took the ferry to the parking lot. I'm sure it's a lovely ride across the lake, but when you are tired and it's pitch black outside it's just a pain to do it. I'd rather a 10 minute walk to the car, I think!
So it was a pretty late night, but at least we did something we hadn't done before. We've been trying to do something new every day, and this one was a biggie - but it was worth it...
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