Harry Potter World. Didn't matter what else was at Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, as long as we went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter then the day was a success.

Unfortunately, today was the first day we encountered crowds. We have come to expect to be able to wait a maximum of ten minutes on any ride, and we were shocked to find the wait was 40 minutes wait to ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. The ride was worth the wait, thankfully!

The upside was that at Universal Studios they have this excellent concept of the Child Swap Room. Basically, if some of your party are intelligible for the ride due to height, and both parents want to ride, you walk up to the gate, the little ones and a parent wait in a room next to the ride entry/exit (this had a tv showing the first HP movie). When the first parent gets off the ride, the second hops on, straight away. Awesome!

The kids had been desperate to see Olivanders Wand Shop, but there was an hour wait to get into it! We decided it could wait for us to return another day.

Likewise the children had promised heir friends they'd buy them something from Honeydukes Sweet Shop and Zonkos novelty shop. Sadly these shops were not only crowded, they were also expensive. A single chocolate frog was $14! And the "Farting Powder" or whatever disgusting thing Matty thought would be cool didn't exist. Shame.

Sorry friends who were expecting big things in terms of souvenirs, it just didn't happen.

Next was Jurassic Park, which was fun, especially the River Adventure in which we- you guessed it- got wet!

We went along to Toon Lagoon, in the hopes that there were more "small kid" friendly rides as to date, Joe had been only able to go on two out of five so far. The first one we came across was the Popeye & Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges. Matty and Siobhan were game, so off they went. Hint for the future: look at the people coming off the ride before you get on! They didn't just get wet - they were completely drenched! Which was funny at first, but walking around in wet jeans and socks the whole day stops being fun pretty quickly. Eventually we purchased new tshirts for them to wear the rest of the day.

We decided that we'd try our luck at the other park - Universal Studios. We stuck to the Woody Woodpecker Kidzone pretty much. After a while, we decided to head for home. We were all tired, some of us were wet, and most of the roller coasters and attractions here were aimed at the older teen crowd.

I think Paul and I are feeling Amusement Park Fatigue. Both of us are feeling a bit stiff and sore from the jarring, rattling coasters, and are feeling a bit old truthfully! I suppose hitting six theme parks in nine or so days is pushing it for us!

We are looking forward to the four night Cruise leaving for the Bahamas on Sunday. No roller coasters!