The Wizarding World

After returning from Adam's graduation, Matt and I were able to take a much needed mini-vacation. Leaving town for the graduation was the first time I left Nate overnight (minus the night they wouldn't release him from the hospital due to jaundice) and I was a little weary. My mom was in town to watch him, but it was still hard. Matt and I came back in to town on Sunday and spent a little time with Mr. Man before heading off to Orlando. I love Mr. Nate, but it was nice to get away and have a grown-up trip. Matt and I decided to go to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure to check it all out. Since Nate was not with us we were able to ride rides and see some shows.

When we got into town Sunday night we headed to Downtown Disney and ate at an Irish pub called Raglan Road. It was a fun time and we were even able to see the dancers. After traveling most of the day we decided to call it a night after dinner.

Monday morning we decided to travel to Universal Studios. It was hot, but we had a fun time. We rode several rides including the Rockit roller coaster and the Revenge of the Mummy indoor coaster. The Rockit coaster is cool because you get to choose a song to listen to as you ride, but it is a very rough ride. We did a few other rides and wanted to try the MIB ride, but we were not willing to wait in the line. Besides, we had a dinner date with some medieval jousters!

We left the park and were able to get back to the hotel for a quick shower before heading over to Medieval Times. It was my first trip and I enjoyed it. We got to the show a little early so we could tour the village and see various artifacts from the time. My camera battery was almost dead and Matt decided to use what was left of its life in the torture chamber. We have a few pictures....

We were supporting the red and yellow knight! Matt was not expecting me to take his picture which is why he has the weird look on his face. 

Turnabout was fair play and I had to have my picture taken near the candle-making apparatus.  

If I remember correctly, this loom is 800 years old! 

They had a display on how to make chain mail.  

This device is called a head crusher. It pretty much does what its name infers. 

Some form of torture table... 

I was pretty much finished with the torture chamber after the first few displays, but Matt said I needed to come back and take a look at the chastity belts.

On Tuesday we headed off to Islands of Adventure and Harry Potter world. It was a blast! The lines were not horrible at all and we were able to ride most of the rides we were interested in (a few lines were long and a few rides were closed). Amazingly we were able to ride The Hulk in 8 minutes! The wait time said 30 minutes, but from leaving our stuff in the locker to getting on the ride - 8 minutes! We were able to ride both coasters in the Dragon Challenge in a reasonable amount of time, too. The longest line of the day for us was the line for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. This is the ride that is inside Hogwarts. We decided to go see Blue Man Group after our adventures. While waiting for our show time we went to City Walk. We ate at Pat O'Brien's and enjoyed some piano music. As we were getting ready to leave the dueling pianos started. I wish we could have stayed longer, but Blue Man was calling. Matt and I thoroughly enjoyed BMG. I highly recommend their show if you are able to attend.

Hogwarts! (except Matt cut off part of the castle) 

I think I did a better job of getting Matt and the castle in the same shot! 

Okay, so this picture looks rough. Really rough. However, there's only so much you can do when you're trying to take a picture of yourself!

 We ate lunch at Blondie's Cafe inside Islands of Adventure. This is a Dagwood sandwich!

By Wednesday it was time to come home. We were missing Nate and getting tired! We stopped by the outlets and grabbed a quick lunch before heading back. Nate was excited to see us and loved his car we brought back as a souvenir. Our trip was a fun adventure and I'm sure we'll make plans to go back soon!