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Now for our second day in the parks. This time we're going to concentrate on the Universal Studios park which contains lots more than just the Diagon Alley Harry Potter area. Sure, we'll go there, but we'll see plenty more.
A water taxi serves the Hard Rock Hotel and while it's an easy walk to the parks from here, the boat looked like fun and there it was right there, so why not go for a boat ride?
We did this several times and we always sat in the back for some reason. Rocky, why was it we always sat in the back?
Oh boy, breakfast at the Hard Rock Cafe.
Rocky is so excited to be here he's doing the Rocky shuffle.
But wait, the Hard Rock wasn't serving breakfast, so how about the Chocolate Emporium?
They were serving, but they weren't quite ready for us so we hung out in the Chocolate Emporium gift shop where they seemed to feature...chocolate.
And hats. Joe tried on a hat.
And then we sat down to a decadent sweet breakfast feast. Mmmm, strawberries (one covered in chocolate) and blueberries and gooey stuff on a flat pastry with whipped cream. Pretty good. Not great, but pretty good. That pastry was tough. Joe or Rocky ordered this.
Mmmm, bananas Foster with a chocolate covered strawberry and gooey stuff on French toast with powdered sugar and chocolate whipped cream. Somewhat better. Lily ordered this.
What is this? French onion soup for breakfast? Bill must've ordered it. Or was it Joe? Coulda been Joe. Whatever, it tasted just like French onion soup.
Now we're full and we're waiting to get into the park.
First stop? Minions, of course.
What happens here is everybody gets a seat and then the entire audience is zapped by a Despicable Me ray and turned into Minions.
And boy is the audience's life as Minions exciting! Fortunately near the end the raygun failed and we all turned human again.
Just outside there was a line where you could stand if you wanted to meet...
Minions@
Rocky hates to say goodbye to his new friends.
Next up: aliens.
We're making our way through the Men in Black headquarters.
There are some odd creatures here.
Very odd.
Now we are about to ride off into the unknown.
Where we will blast our way through danger. Don't Push The Red Button!
Now back in London, Joe is knocking on the door of the Ministry of Magic.
Somebody up there got annoyed at Joe.
And then he went away, mostly.
There's a currency exchange near Gringott's Bank.
The goblin at the exchange seemed a bit grumpy.
Now back out on the street.
I've seen that dragon somewhere before.
Well I do declare. He's breathing fire again.
Rocky is making sure he's big enough to ride the Gringott's Bank ride. Yep, he's big enough.
Whoa, this is a fancy place. And it certainly looks safe. I'd keep my money here.
I think they would too.
Now we're heading into the vaults.
And it was quite a ride. We had a great time here. In fact, Lily and Joe came back later in the day by themselves for just one more ride.
Joe and his butterbeer.
There's a magic shop in Diagon Alley. What a surprise.
Let's all go in.
The snake is talking to Joe. I didn't know he could speak parseltongue.
Rocky is casting spells on everything he sees.
But not everything responds.
I'd heard of bloodsuckers but I think these were the first I'd ever seen.
The kids never once got tired of Lily and me asking them to turn around for a picture. \
See?
Rocky likes that car.
It does have a certain something.
E.T. is a pretty old ride, original to the park. But still nice.
Now boarding a flying bicycle.
Hold on tight!
Off we go!
Wave to E.T. It's a sweet old ride, but compared to everything else around here it's getting a bit long in the tooth.
Lily and Joe have gone back for one more ride through Gringott's Bank while Bill and Rocky are taking one more ride with the Minions.
Rocky loves his Minions.
And while we wait for Lily and Rocky to rejoin us, he loves to bang on trash cans.
Rocky may turn out to be the drummer in Joe's rock band.
Rocky wanted a Minion pop.
And Bill had no objection to eating Minions.
It's Mardi Gras season and Universal Studios is celebrating.
It's a Mardi Gras parade!
Now we're hungry and where better to eat than the Hard Rock Cafe. Again.
Now that's a good looking flatbread pizza. And healthy, too! (I'm pretty sure I see something green.)
Rocky got a chicken sandwich with a knife stuck in it. You can't get much better than that!
It's been a long day. Let's go home.
Out the security gate.
So we've walked and walked and walked all day and ridden the rides and cast the spells and stood in the lines and do you think Rocky is tired after all that? Or Joe? Are you kidding?
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