I need a Butterbeer Machine in my Kitchen- pronto

On Sunday, I spent a wonderful day at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure in the most ridiculous heat. Welcome Back to Florida!

Mostly this experience happened because I wanted to set my beautiful eyes upon the magical world of Harry Potter again in my life. An old friend of mine graciously gave us a discount to get into the park, in which I exchanged a piece of red velvet cake from my favorite bakery in NYC for. That's a side note- sorry.

We got to the park nice and early and surprisingly enough even though that it is a) the summer and b) the weekend before a holiday, the park was pretty empty. First we rode some silly Dr. Seuss world rides- Cat in the Hat and then this train thing that I'm not sure what it is called but I've never done before. And then the magicalness happened- we entered the world of Hogsmede.

look ma! I'm a star-bellied Sneetch!

I had been here before but it was several years ago when the area first opened. I forgot how beautiful it all was.. We did the single riders line for the Hogwarts ride, didn't die of motion sickness (yay!) and then just mozied about the area. Some Hogwarts students sang us some fun songs with giant toads- that was pretty cool.

Moving on we hit up Jurassic Park area and became mildly wet from the drop in that ride. At this point the friend who let us in told me (via text) that if we wanted to go to this other water ride, Popeyes and Blutos, that we should just walk up the exit ramp and tell them that she had sent us. Sure enough we walk up and get right on. Basically we walked into a shower, because when we came off we were legit sopping wet. This made for an actual pleasant experience with the heat of the day.

I checked my phone again and had another message from my friend- when we finished, we were to find a certain employee and he was going to give us access to any other ride we wanted. Day made!
He let us onto The Hulk roller-coaster. We left the people after us a very nice surprise in their seat- a puddle of water. I hope they enjoyed it!

After the roller-coaster we headed back to HP world to eat lunch. The food there is quite delicious and I appreciated that they do not have soda, because obviously HP didn't drink soda either. I did try this pretty delicious fizzy Pumpkin Juice. Yes, fizzy Pumpkin Juice.

Pumpkin Juice Fizz- you get my vote

We did some shopping afterwards, mostly consisting of a bunch of candy for me to bring back to my friends. The day ended with a tall, delicious glass of Butterbeer, which I savored for as long as possible.

Next time I visit the new Diagon Alley section will be open- and you bet your bottom dollar I will be there absorbing it all.

train to Diagon Alley

peace out homefries, now I'm headed to the beach 

 Happy July! Don't forget about the fantastic $110 paypal cash giveway I've got going on with Becca, from Becoming Adorrable, and other awesome bloggers! Find the entry here.