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Seeing as how we ran around like mad women at the theme parks I'm only going to give you the highlights edition. First up Universal and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Harry Potter looked just like you were walking onto a set. AMAZING! Hogsmead was brilliant. And the castle was awesome (if not a bit small :P). They had so much merchandise everywhere. They even had a Honeydukes, Dervish and Bangs and Olivanders. Olivanders looks exactly like the set in the movie (even though Olivander himself isn't the same). I was itching so bad to go on the rides but the only one that was ok for me to ride was Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. The ride is located inside Hogwarts Castle and takes you through scenes like Dumbledores Office, Professor Bins History Class and through the hallways of Hogwarts which are lined with talking paintings. Harry, Ron and Hermione sneak into the History class to warn us how boring it is (it really is quite a fascinating topic according to Hermione) and to ask us if we want to see the Quidditch match. The Fat Lady lets you into the Griffindor common room (much to her dismay - so many muggles to let through, no time for rest). Some of the conversations the paintings have a hilarious. The ride itself is a mix of real life and simulated motion. You are on bleachers the Hermionie enchanted to fly. You see a Quidditch match (and help Harry catch the golden snitch), a dragon, spiders and a lot of the Hogwartgs grounds. We met a few characters in the superhero town, including a very friendly Spiderman. None of the other rides that I could go on came close to the Harry Potter one. But I so wanted to go on the Incredible Hulk ride (high speed roller coaster up to 105km/hour) which went up down and around so many times. Siobhan and Emma went on and said it was awesome. We ate and drank at Margaritaville and also went to see Tangled (Thanks Disney for a great movie). The second Universal park was lots of shows based on movies and less in the way of rides.
Then it was off to Discovery Cove. We were in luck and we had a beautiful warm day. The park itself is very well set up and means you have to worry about nothing. There are three swimming areas - the coral reef, the general pool area with a heated tropical river which has a current that float you around the coral reef area and goes through the tropical bird aviary. We got to feed the birds in the aviary and made quite a few friends. Some of the birds were hand raised and would sit on you even if you had no food for them. Tara freaked out a little with some of them, and there were some other girls that were getting very freaked out. The coral reef is filled with thousands of tropical fish and huge rays. It is shallow in some ends and very deep in others (too deep for me to swim to the bottom). There are so many different types of fish and so many different colours. There are also a shark and barracuda tanks behind glass (which Tara refused to go near). You could also interact with the rays in a smaller area where you could actually touch the rays and they would swim past brushing your legs with their 'wings'. I had one come up to me and decide it wanted to search for food on my foot which gave me a little bit of a shock. The Dolphin interaction was amazing. We met two dolphins, who's names I can't remember at the moment (I think one was Hatch?). But they were clever and very friendly. The first one was one of the more mature dolphins. She was out with her fairly new baby who was being trained while we were meeting mom. We got to pat her back and have a feel of her skin (very smooth, looks like it is hand painted). She also showed us some of the many noises she can make and the funny thigs she could do. Like when we said 'Shark' she would make a scream like noise and play dead. We got to give her a kiss and had our photo taken. Tara couldn't get a good photo because she freaked out every time she got near it. She ended up getting a photo of her patting it. Next up was our swim with the male dolphin. We chose to swim out the the deep and get brought into the shallows. You had to hold onto the dorsal fin with your left hand and the flipper with your right and the dolphin pulled you along. But be careful not to get you feet in the way. Breakfast, lunch and snacks were all provided and we also got a souvenir snorkel. All in all it was an awesome day. I would so be getting a season pass if I lived here.
But then it was on to Disney. They know how to make an amusement park. Even down to the little details such as calling staff "characters". Hmmmm..so what are the Disney highlights? Well aside from the fact that we met so many characters and all the awesome rides lets see...We were getting photos with Woody and Jessie (Toy Story) and Woody decided that he wanted to be in the middle of the photo taking up the whole frame. Siobhan tried to push him out the way and he didn't like that. Trying to get a proper photo with them after that was impossible. Then he took a special liking to Tara and wouldn't let her leave, then decided to follow her. The looks on the faces of the people lining up to take a photo with them was priceless. Another funny photo moment was when we were getting a snap with the seven dwarfs. I tripped while getting up and managed to knock Dopey. Dopey would have gone tumbling over if Tara hadn't saved him. Very embarrassing. Also, I got proposed to...by a duck. Yep, Donald Duck got down on one knee, but I said no. The princess lunch for Siobhans birthday was really good. Not only did we get pictures with Cinderella, Bell, Ariel, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, but the food was amazing. Best food I have eaten since we left (especially since it wasn't fast food!). Magic Kingdom was my favourite park. Fantasmic was AWESOME!! Words cannot describe how good it is. Its light show where they mix lights with live action and images projected onto water. My favourite night show we saw. There were lots of fireworks. We saw two big shows at Magic Kingdom (over the castle) and Epcot. So many fireworks. And so many parades. We saw at least 4 parades. Animal Kingdom was also good. We managed to fit it into one day. We went on a safari (I went twice) and got to see a bird show and lots of animals. Were very lucky that day. The lions were up and about on safari and the male lion even give us a bit of a roar. The tigers were very interested in something at the window we were standing at. So much so that it got up on two paws to have a look on the window right in front of us. I think it may have been my shiny Minnie ears. We went and saw the Finding Nemo musical. It was good but not quite ready for Broadway. The Festival of the Lion King was great. It had some acrobatics and lots of singing and dancing and had many of the songs from the movie. Overall very colourful and uplifting. There were also lots of characters to meet in their safari gear. So overall Disney was amazing, spectacular, magnificent and just plain awesome. If you get the chance to go...TAKE IT! They really go out of their way to make it the most enjoyable experience ever. And again the attention to detail with everything from the rides to the restaurants, everything fits with the theme of the area. GO!! YOU MUST GO!! And have lots of fun while you're there.
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