POTTER!

I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures of Big Girl and My trip to Orlando!

Our first look at Hogsmeade

 

Fish and Chips and Butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks!

The butterbeer was delicious!  All the food and drinks in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter are authentic to the books...no diet coke here.

The town of Hogsmeade.

Big Girl was chosen by Olivander at the wand shop.  She got to be part of the magic when her wand "chose her".

Got to see the Hogwart's Express and meet the conductor. 

Hogwarts!  Just as I imagined it.

Hermione's gown for the Yule Ball.

Big Girl rode the Dragon's Challenge 4 times.  I waited in baby swap...I'm not crazy! Or I'm a big wuss. Can't decide which.

Entrance to Dragon's Challenge.  We were Team Potter, of course.

This is another view of Hogwarts...statues of Warthogs?  There is a great ride/tour inside.  A little scary but I managed...I might have closed my eyes a little bit.

This is the Boar's Head Pub.  I had a Boar's Head ale.  Not a beer fan and this was pretty strong stuff.  Had to get the cool souvenir mug, though.

Oh, yeah! We did some other stuff at Universal. 
We pretty much had the Universal park to ourselves since everyone was over at Harry Potter in Islands of Adventure...Donkey was HILARIOUS!!

 

We loved Jurassic Park.  Made it look like a separate theme park like we'd stepped into the movie.  Very fun.

 

 Universal has really come a long way with their shows.  Very fun and realistic.

But then it was time to hurry on back to Harry Potter...That is why we flew across the entire country!  Had a great time.  Highly recommend if you are a fan of Harry Potter.  Next time, though we would stay at Disney World and take a shuttle over there for a day.  A day is plenty of time if you go in the off-season.  

Really appreciate Hubby for sending us and staying with Little Girl (who is not a fan of Harry or flying or hotels or leaving the house...)
The only thing he was jealous of is the butterbeer so he found me a recipe online.  It was ALMOST as good as the real thing.

Recipe for Butterbeer:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/333367/harry_potter_top_10_butterbeer_recipes.html