Disney Trip 2016 - day 4 - part 1 - Universal - Diagon Alley

Wednesday August 24. We got up and breakfast here at Riverside. I again had the omelette.
We took a checkered cab/van to Universal Studio Parks. On the way there, Cheryl realized that she had forgotten her tickets so we got off and she had another trip back to the resort for them and back to Universal. She would meet us at Diagon Alley. Our trip only cost $40 after tip.

At Universal, they have nice moving sidewalks to get the people in, and the first section is all restaurants and shops before you even get in to the ticketed place. All of which are very nicely themed.

We started in the Islands of Adventure and walked through Suess Landing, past the Lost Continent and Sinbad, and popped into Hogsmede long enough to take the Hogwart's Express train over to Universal Studios Florida, getting there just as it started to rain.
We waited it out a bit but it didn't stop so we went on to Diagon Alley. We looked around and went into Ollivander's. We were able to get into the wand demo and Gee was able to have a wand selected for her. We were the only ones in that showing.
The kids picked out interactive wands - Gaby got Hermione's and D3 got the generic one with the skull end. The rain was still coming down so we bought four ponchos as well. We had brought eight ones from the Dollar Store to Florida but had none with us that day.

Gaby and Cheryl had gone on the Escape from Gringot's tour by the time I got out. I went on the single rider line which had a wait of 40 minutes and was done before them. Shan and D3 had taken the tour part of the ride while waiting. I also picked up a key at the Gringot's Money Exchange.

By the time they finally got out the rain had mostly stopped. We looked around some more and Cheryl and the kids tried out their interactive wands at the fountain, and by the blacksmith.
We got Butterbeers for Gaby and D3, Butterbeer ice cream for me, and Shan had the lemonade and got some meat pastries.

We looked around a bit more. I bought some Bertie's Beans for the boxes. I keep hoping Gaby will do a Harry Potter-themed party one year.
While waiting for the Dragon to spout fire, I caught some wizards fighting a Dementor. After a longer wait than had been up to that point, I finally got another flame picture - head-on this time - and joined the rest out by the Knight Bus.