The week before Thanksgiving my mom and I took the boys for a 4 day 3 night trip to Universal!! I've been wanting to take James to Harry Potter world ever since he's gotten so into the books, so my mom and I worked out the best time/deals for doing it. We were so excited!! Rett got really, really sick three days before the trip: night terrors at night, not eating or drinking, a high fever. I thought he was getting better, so we brought him along as planned. Since we were staying at a Universal hotel, we figured someone could always rest with him in the hotel room if we needed to. As soon as we got there Wednesday afternoon, my mom and Rett rested in the room while James and I took our first trip to Universal. We were so excited, we couldn't wait for the shuttle bus from the hotel and ended up walking to the entrance.
James had no interest in anything in Universal Studios or Islands of Adventure that wasn't Harry Potter World, so we made our way straight there. Hogwarts at last!!
Our first stop was to Ollivander's to choose a wand. I warned James ahead of time that he might not get picked to do the wand experience, and sure enough they picked an older boy to test out the wands and find the one that chooses him. James didn't mind though, he was so excited to look at all the wand options. He asked questions nonstop about what type of wood each one was made of and what the wand cores were. He ended up picking a replica of Professor McGonagall's wand. Here he is doing his first spell!
Finding all the spell locations was so fun!
Then we rode the Hogwarts Express train over to Diagon Alley. Before the entrance of the alley, we found the visitor's entrance to the Ministry of Magic. We dialed MAGIC on the handset and got to hear a ministry official tell us that the entrance was out of order.
We also got to talk to Stan Shunpike and the driver of the Knight Bus. He asked James if he was a Hogwarts student and what house he is in. James was very proud to tell him that he is a Ravenclaw.
12 Grimmauld Place, the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix! Every few minutes you can see Kreacher the house elf peek out through the second story window.
This mermaid water fountain was really fun. You perform a spell to make the fountain turn on and sometimes the mermaid spits water out at you.
The dragon on top of Gringott's bank breathes out real fire!
Then we rode the train back to Hogsmeade. The train ride performance is different when you are going the different directions so it was fun to see the differences.
One more picture on our way out of the park, heading back to the room for dinner and some rest. Coincidentally, that night was the first night of a Harry Potter marathon on tv, so we got to watch a different Harry Potter movie every night of our trip!
The next morning we loaded Rett up in the stroller and we all ventured out to explore Universal together. Rett was not happy about it. He kept asking to go back to the hotel and nothing got him excited about being there.
James was just as excited as the day before, he couldn't wait to show Grandma everything Harry Potter.
Showing Grandma how to do spells:
This one makes thunder crack and rain fall from the umbrella:
Rett had only one request: to ride the Transformers 3D ride because he saw Ryan on Youtube ride it when he went to Universal. Both of the boys hate rides, especially intense ones so I knew he would hate it. But it was literally the only thing he asked to do, so we did it. They both hid their heads the entire time, screamed in fear, and suffered through it. I thought it was fun!
Bumblebee came out to take pictures with the crowd. The boys were done.
Rett couldn't last any longer and we were getting hungry, so we stopped for lunch on our way back to the room. We got nachos and guacomole from Margaritaville. It was huge!! James also got a great photo bomb.
This poor boy was so tired from sitting in the stroller all day, he curled up and went right to sleep in the restaurant. I was starting to get worried about him and he seemed to be getting worse instead of better. This was his 5th day of being sick! Usually when he gets sick he bounces back really quickly, so this was really unusual for him. I called Anthony and got him to take a sick day from work so he could come get him and take him home to rest. It is so hard to take care of a sick kid in a hotel and I knew he would be more comfortable at home.
I told James that he and I would go back closer to the afternoon and stay until closing. The entire time we rested in the room, he asked me over and over if it was time to go back yet. He didn't get tired once! Rett was glad to be back in bed.
Anthony got to snuggle and hang out for a little bit later that night, before he headed home with Rett.
More time with Grandma at Hogwarts!
Since James didn't want to ride any rides, it took me until the third day to realize that the escape from gringott's ride had a lot of neat decorations and things to see while you are in line. We told the workers that we weren't riding the ride and got to slowly walk though the see everything. So cool!
Helga Hufflepuff!
The cashier at the candy store told him that the trick to eating magical chocolate frogs is to bite off their legs first so that they can't jump away :) So James ate the legs first!
After coming back from lunch, I forced James to ride the Minions ride with me. This is how he felt about being forced to do something non-Harry Potter. After we got inside he perked up and thought it was really funny. Not funny enough to do it again, but good.
The deal was that once we rode the minion ride, we would go straight to Harry Potter. On our way, we happened to see this roller coaster broken down with people in!! They were stuck like that for over 15 minutes!! What a nightmare, seriously that would give me the worst panic attack if I were on it.
Trying out Hagrid's motorbike:
The next morning we decided to start at Universal Studios this time (instead of Islands of Adventure). That direction brought us past Voodoo Doughnuts so we had to stop and buy a few for breakfast.
So many choices!!!
James loved this one the best because he said it looks like a beyblade.
We decided to do the Ollivander wand experience again, this time at the Universal side in Diagon Alley. There were kids dressed in head to toe Hogwarts robes and I was sure that they were going to pick one of them. The wandmaker walked slowly around the room and said, "I'm sensing a very strong magic in this room...." and stopped right in front and James and picked him!! I was jumping up and down inside, I was so excited for him to get picked!!
She had him come to the front and asked him a few questions about himself. Then she started pulling wands for him to try. The first one tried accidentally made it thunder and lightning in the room, so she pulled it away and said it definitely was not his wand.
The next one she had him try was supposed to ring a bell and it made all kinds of noises go off, so she took that one back and said that wasn't it either.
Then a spotlight fell on a wand and she pulled it out and handed to him. Then a light came on over him, wind blew through the room, and music played. The wand had chosen him!!
Here he is examining it afterwards. It is made of reed with a phoenix tail feather core (James was very interested in the wood core types of the wands all week so it was important for him to know the details of his wand)
Looking at the vanishing cabinet in Borgin and Burkes. If you listen carefully you can hear birds chirping inside of it.
Cool chocolate factory at city walk:
We got to watch the frog choir (acapella group) perform.
Then we got to see performances by Durmstrang and Beauxbatons
Later that night back at the hotel, we roasted marshmallows at the fire pit at the hotel. James still wasn't tired!!
Early the next morning while my mom slept in, James and I got up to get our last hours of Harry Potter in before checking out and driving home. I brought my wand that I purchased years ago (and was completely scratched up) and got it "repaired" (replaced) at Ollivander's.
We never could get this spell location to work for us, so we were determined to get it before we left.
Hagrid's hut!
I was able to get a video of James walking through platform 9 3/4! I didn't realize it until I saw someone else doing it, but if you wait while the other person goes around the corner and look through a special luggage cart it looks as if you are going right through the wall.
Goodbye Universal, we had a blast!!
No comments:
Post a Comment