The tour bus sent us to Buffalo Niagara International Airport. We were finally on our own, free and easy with hotel stay and transfers which were included in the tour package, plus 2-day tickets to Disneyland theme parks and 1-day tickets to Universal Studios theme parks.

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It was freaking hot and we didn’t bring any shades for the summer tour. We managed to buy two caps for ourselves at the nearby 24-hour shop. Warren reminded us that there would be security at the park entrance and we need to queue up for security check if we brought along any bags. So, we tried to bring as few items as possible for hassle-free security check.

There were already many tourists when we reached the park entrance. We passed the security quickly but some tourists with big bags took a longer time for security check.

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We had tons of fun in Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure!

Universal Studios is separated into six different areas: San Francisco/Amity, New York, Production Central, Hollywood, Kidzone and World Expo.

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Our Disneyland Passes allowed us to enter four theme parks: Magical Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studio (It was called MGM Studio when we were there.) and Animal Kingdom. We had two days to tour around four theme parks.

We visited Animal Kingdom, followed by Epcot in the afternoon as there would be a round of spectacular firework display throughout the night.

To go Disneyland, we need to take designated buses to the theme parks as the hotel shuttle bus would only stop at the theme park bus terminal. We were impressed to see that the buses could be lowered or “kneeled” by the bus operator and were equipped with a wheelchair ramp for the disables.

My first thought of Animal Kingdom was just another zoo, but it’s definitely more than a zoo! We were already there queuing up before 9am to beat the lines for the rides.

Finally, we entered the park and were ushered to a big open space where Mini, Goofy and Pluto greeted us and introduced the icon of Animal Kingdom - Tree of Life, a 14-storey and 50-foot wide tree with the swirling tapestry of 325 animal carvings.

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We embarked on another exciting journey for the day. Epcot has a lot of attractions, rides and a World Showcase.

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We boarded the hotel shuttle bus around 7:50am and took the designated bus at Disney terminal to Magical Kingdom first as we thought it would draw more crowds later in the day due to firework display at night.

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Having done with Magical Kingdom in the early afternoon, we hurried off to the last theme park on our list – MGM Studio, a movie theme park drawing inspiration from the heyday of Hollywood.

We were just in time for the Disney Stars and Motor Cars Parade. It was drizzling during the parade.

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