Mmm, Butterbeer

Yesterday, Hotrod and I went to Universal and had a day of silly fun. It's the best kind really, riding rides, watching shows, eating stuff you're not supposed to, you know.

One of the things we got to do was visit the new Harry Potter section of Universal's Islands of Adventure. The Forbidden Journey ride, a 50 minute wait while the rest of the park's rides were 15 minutes tops, was worth it. (The wait was made especially interesting due to me pointing out to Hotrod that one of his socks was on inside out, and then his insistence on fixing it in the middle of the line. *sigh*) Once you get inside the building, you're entertained with talking portraits, giant statues (Hotrod asked me if Portugal was the natural habitat of griffins. I swear that man is losing his mind.) and 3-D holographic images of Harry, Hermoine, Ron and Dumbledore that look amazingly real. Also, it snowed on us. In the building. Awesome!

The ride itself, despite an over abundance of large, spitting spiders, was pretty good. I commend Universal for making the ride nice and long. It's a good payoff for the wait, IMO.

After that it was lunch time and we headed to the Three Broomsticks to eat. We had fish and chips (tasty!) and butterbeer. I had a frozen one and Hotrod had the non-frozen. It's completely non-alcoholic in case you're wondering.

Butterbeer, which I believe is only available at Universal, might be Hotrod's new favorite drink. It tastes like rootbeer made from shortbread cookies and butterscotch, minus the root. It was good, but very sweet and not that thirst-quenching on a hot day. And it's definitely better frozen. There was a table of kids next to us who had their picture taken with their butterbeer mustaches, something almost everyone drinking the stuff had because of the thick foamy almost ice cream like head on the stuff. Dessert in a cup, really.

We had a great day. I love Universal. No matter how many times we go - and we go often because we're season passholders - we always find something new to do or see and have a great time.

When's the last time you took a day off in the name of fun?