Today was our last day, and we spent it all together at Universal Studios. Today was our tamer day because Evan is not a fan of the crazy rides.... or so he thought. I'll get back to that... We started in the original park.
You have to hand it to Universal, they do give you a chart right as you walk in with height requirements for every ride. Saves you lots of time wondering....
I asked the street photographer to take a group shot of us all. Finally, one picture with everyone! :)
And Evan made a friend before we even entered the park. Probably because he had Evan's signature thumbs up move too!
We were heading straight to Diagon Alley, but Ally wanted to do the Transformers ride on the way (since it had a 5 minute wait!). Evan was too scared still so Arthur and I took him to Olivanders while the other three rode the crazy ride. Yesterday when we saw the line for Olivanders to get a wand, it was way too long and not worth the wait. Plus Ally wanted to be sure to pick out her own wand... But today when we got there, there was almost no line at all! And inside they pick one lucky person from the audience to see if a wand chooses them, and Evan was picked! He was so excited he was speechless! And of course the first two wands made strange things happen (shelves crash, flowers wilt...) but the last wand made him glow!
Guess this was the one that picked him!
He was only sorta excited about the whole Harry Potter wand thing right up until that moment - and then he was over the moon crazy excited about the whole thing. Here he is with his wand.
We had to immediatly run around and try it on EVERYTHING. It was much better in Diagon Alley. The only sad thing? Allison forgot to bring her wand today! :( But her brother is kind enough to share. I had to take this picture below because it made me laugh. That girl in the background must be the Borgin because we have the Burkes....
Meanwhile, Evan was off making it rain on people....
And controlling a skeleton with the wand.
This one was cool - Ally had to try it too!
Seriously, over the moon with this wand.... Best. Souvenir. Ever.
This fountain would turn on below... except once in a while the wands would make it spit out water above on the OPPOSITE side - so basically you just hit a stranger with water.
And it would only happen when Evan did it. Because, you know, the wand choose him.... He thought this was HILARIOUS.
Ok, enough with the wand. Time to head to the other park, and again we took the Hogwarts Express. This was the opposite direction from yesterday, so we were curious if it would be the same.
Just before boarding with my babies.
And just because they look so cool.
On the train and still smiling. It was at this point we realized the park was significantly less crowded than the previous day. Definitely a nice surprise.
The ride to Hogwarts is much more treacherous. On the other way people would walk by talking in the hall and stuff. On the way to the school, Dementors boarded the train! But, you know, Harry's patronis scared them away so we were all good.
Posed with the Hogwarts express in Hogsmead.
Evan like the picture of the cauldron Ally made tip yesterday so we had to find that spell spot.
And he wouldn't stop jumping when he made it tip too!
It was again pretty hot, although slightly cooler than the day before. We knew we could grab a quick bit at the Three Broomsticks because we did the day before, so we took a break from spell casting for some food.
Afterward, we were getting tired of following Evan around while he cast spells. Plus, the ones in Hogsmead are much more finiky - they were harder to get them to work and Evan started getting frustrated. Time to head onward to other rides. Next we did Posidon's Fury.
I remembered this ride because it has a tunnel of water that you get to walk through and the effects are cool. I had forgotten that it has a wait that feels like an eternity and that the big bad guy that Poisodon is fighting is.... drum roll... Lord Darkem? I don't remember that guy in any greek mythology that I ever studied. And the name? It's like the "unobtanium" they had to get in Avatar - who comes up with these names? Oh well, suspension of belief and all that.... Thankfully the kids were still smiling even after the eternal wait...
After, if you waited in line you could get your picture taken with Poisodeon's trident. I didn't see the appeal, but Evan was adamant that we do this, so much so that he didn't even give a thumbs up! ok then....
After that wait we needed a few quick things. We went to Seusse land to jump on their high in the air slow moving train...
And then the Cat in the Hat. Notice all the photos are of these goofballs but nothing with the rides? Yep, they are super strict about that whole "no photography" rule. And I like pictures of these goofballs anyway.
The last ride we went for in the Original Universal park was Spiderman. We walked right by the Hulk roller coaster, against Ally's wishes. Sorry kid, you scrambled my brain all day yesterday! This is the first ride we pushed Evan to go on - it's a car with a 3D component (which Universal really likes these days) but it was the first one they had so it is a little tamer than others like it - like Transformers. He was smiling, but he was nervous.
And then he LOVED it. LOVED! Wanted to try every ride like it..... sigh. Had that happened earlier in the day they would not have all had 40 minute wait times but now... Oh well. We figured we would see what we found and headed over to the Islands of Adventure. This was on the way and the kids thought it was really funny to try posing.
Evan couldn't really reach the pedals well though so they switched and my goofball in the back made himself comfortable!
We also passed a super cool car on the way and Evan wanted a photo.
We just got in at the perfect time for Shrek 4D, which is a 3D movie in a movie theater with moving chairs. It was better than I thought it would be! Then we ran over to ET (even though my kids have never seen ET and have no idea what it's all about)
Heading back towards the Minion ride, we stopped to take the only character photo we had done all week. But how can you not when it's Optimus Prime?!?!
We kept passing this roller coaster. I refused to go on it, and Ally is still annoyed at me for it but look at that thing?!?! Are you nuts???
Finally, the ride Evan dressed for - the Despicable Me ride.
That was going to be the last ride, but Evan decided he REALLY wanted to do the Transformers ride now.... so Arron, Ally, Evan and Nana went on the ride while Arthur and I went to get a beer! I think I got the better end of that bargain!
On the way out, they wanted to try this little set in front of a surf shop. Can you tell my kids have never been surfing?
Thank you for reading and sharing our trip with us. We will be home tomorrow!
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