We drove to Orlando from the beach house. The kids got so excited as we got closer and closer.
We got our temperatures checked and were allowed to enter the hotel.
That night we went swimming and listened to the screams from The Hulk ride over the fence.
The Kelvingtons were doing Disney with some friends, but fingers crossed they would spend one day with us at Universal.
DAY 1
Because we were staying at a Universal Hotel, we got to go to the park an hour earlier than John Q Public. We headed straight for the Hagrid ride. It is new and it doesn't take fast passes, so this was the best chance to get in a shorter line.
There we were - all of us in line, watching the rollercoaster super fast zooms past us. The children were somewhat nervous, but they didn't yet know that they were afraid of roller coasters.
I did have a thought "are we ruining them with this as their first ride?" but on we went.
Turns out that it was a VERY frightening ride for our kids. They were a tad traumatized. From here on out, they quizzed us on every single detail of every ride, not trusting us. All trust was lost.
But for the record, the Hagrid ride was so awesome. The best ride in the park.
Andrew is beside me as I write this and he said "We had a terrible start".
We didn't waste any time getting some butterbeer. Especially after we subjected the poor children to such an amazing roller coaster.
I can't really remember a lot of details. I just remember that I loved it all so much, and every night when we walked back to the hotel (after a day of walking 11 miles) I would be so relieved that we get to do it again tomorrow.
(Andrew saw this picture and started humming the Jurassic Park song)
That first day we were naive about getting wet.
Let's sit front row on the Jurassic Park ride!
Let's go on Dudley Do-right water ride!
Let me tell you something: Do not go on those rides without a tarp to cover you entirely.
The Dudley ride was especially ridiculous. We got soaking, soaking wet.
Right off the bat it takes you through a pouring waterfall. Later Jamie told us that Andy yelled "UNNECESSARY!" when they went through it. haha. It was SO unnecessary.
And you probably know that I have an under layer of thick garments as my underwear, so there is NO way I was getting dry. We even paid the 5$ to stand in the giant human blowdryer.
Eventually I went in the bathroom (with Andrew while he went number two) and took off the wet under garments. That way I had a modicum of a chance of drying.
All day my clothes were a wet/dry/stretched out situation.
The first of one million donuts. How do you say no to a Lard Lad's Donut?
I feel like they did the best they could at keeping the park open and being COVID safe.
At the front of the lines they would give you a squirt of hand sanitizer. We bathed in it all day.
There was lots of spacing and some mask police would walk around and make sure you kept it above the nose, below the chin. After a while you don't even notice the mask, strangely.
I didn't know for sure if the Kelvs were going to come to Universal, but then I got a text from Jamie saying they were here! Woo hoo!
We eventually made our way over to Jurassic world to eat lunch together.
We had just got done getting soaked on Dudley ride, and inside the building was freezing with air conditioning.
It was so fun being with cousins.
We went on a few rides together before we split again for the night.
Remember waiting in the Kong ride for an hour with that weird witch lady yelling at us?
Then when the ride was over, Jamie said "that was it? I give it a 3 out of 10". haha
Tough crowd.
It was a long loud wait though. Plus the kids deemed it the "loudest ride in the park".
One time while riding it, I exclaimed: "UNNECESSARY!" at how loud it was.
Diagon Alley is the most amazing place. The amount of details blows my mind...it's so fun.
We ended the first day over at Diagon.
We went home a bit early because it started raining and we were so sick of being wet all day.
It was the best to get in nice warm jammies.
The kids passed out pretty much immediately, cuddled up to their new stuffies.
I was so relieved that we could go back tomorrow.
DAY 2
The second day, me and Avery dressed to get wet. I was not going to walk around with wet-stretch clothes on all day.
Also, I realized Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley was a totally different experience if you have a wand. There are so many cool interactive things all over the place with a wand.
So we got some and they were the top favorite thing we did.
See those lanyards? They hold our Express Passes. That means we get to go in the fast line. That means we get to pass all the people and go on the rides over and over.
We took the Hogwarts Express over to the other park, and a lady behind us took a picture of Andrew walking through the wall. King's Cross Station is so great.
At the other park we did a lot of Simpsons stuff,
and we went on the ET ride. The kids LOVED that ride. It's so safe and fun. Once when we walked out of ET it was raining, so we got back in line and rode it again while the storm cell passed.
Lunch at Moe's!
There was Simpson's dialogue playing in the background, and Barney kept burping and I was like: stop burping! that's disgusting.
We had a virtual line held for the Hagrid's ride, so we went and rode that, and of course it broke down while we were in line, and the kids were out in the park waiting for us, and we had no way of communicating with them (we were just doing the old fashioned "meet at the stage" routine.)
So when the ride was over and we finally got back with the kids, I felt so bad. They were kind of worried there all alone not knowing where we were.
We bought some butterbeer and cheers'd in the little nook they were hiding in, and everyone felt better.
From then on, we never left the kids alone without a phone and a fanny pack.
That night we shut the place down at Hogsmeade.
We ate chocolate/caramel apples for dinner.
Me and Avery went around trying out the wands, and the boys went on the Hogwarts ride again. Evan LOVED that ride. It was a safe alternative to any of the other scary rides.
At the end of every day, we would walk home holding hands and talking (everyone talking at the same time, everyone trying to hold my two hands), talking about their favorite ride or what happened here or there.
We had some microwave popcorn, but no microwave in our room. I went on a mission to go find a microwave, and ending up in the bowels of the hotel in the employee break room. I had to walk in confidently, like I belonged there. No one cared about the tourist using their microwave though.
Then we went for a swim. I soaked my tired feet in the lovely water.
DAY 3
First things first: VooDoo Donuts for breakfast. Ugg. I am so sick of donuts.
Diagon Alley is the coolest place. Did I already say that?
A lot of these pictures are repeats. I just loved it so much.
We ate at Leaky Cauldron for lunch. I needed some real-ish food.
The British fare hit the mark.
So hungry.
We received our second COVID "economic relief" debit card right before we left home, so we used that government cheese on all food and gas and treats and souviners.
So to sum up: we used government money to travel (not advised) during the pandemic to the rouge state of Florida (public enemy number one).
There was an article that came up while we were there that said White House Considering Domestic Travel Ban for Florida.
haha
Remember we talked the kids into going on the Mummy? It was another ride that was too scary for their britches. They are so leery of the rides we took them on.
A few times we separated. We would go on The Hulk or the one that shoots you straight in the air, and they would go on the Seuss rides or ET or Spiderman.
This day we went back to the hotel in the afternoon for 2 hours of school.
It was a nice break, but we decided we wouldn't do that again. I didn't want to waste precious vacation time on school.
This was an animal show. It made us want to pet a dog.
The dragon on top of Gringotts blows a ball of fire every once in a while. I asked a lady if it blows fire on the top of the hour? or what? and she responded something like: The dragon is an independant soul who blows fire whenever she feels like it.
Every time she would go off, the crowd would shriek and cheer.
Someone's hair is going to light on fire one of these times.
Knockturn Alley is so dark and dark. Lots of Slytherin stuff back there.
We ended that night with me and Andrew going on the Minions ride, and Jim Avery and Evan going to the Jimmy Fallon show/ride.
While walking along, we ran into Bart. Andrew was so excited: "Take a picture of me!" and he stood and stared at Bart...I think expecting him to be funny. Then he gave a thumbs up and smiled for the camera.
Every night when we walk back to the hotel we hummed the Jurrassic Park song or the ET song. They were stuck tight in our heads.
DAY 4
The last day. Ugg. You think you will never run out of time, but then you do.
This is Avery doing school at Dino Dig.
She would check into her classes and listen for a little while, then hang up and go on a ride.
Evan said "Let's go on the Jimmy Sorensen ride!"
instead of the Jimmy Fallon. haha
At lunch time, this squirrel came and made friends with us.
Andrew named it "Itutchit" (I touch it).
Evan actually touched its tail. Gross
There aren't many pictures of the Seuss Land, but I love the memories of us riding rides there. They are made for the younger crowd, so the kids loved them (for better or worse.) There is one elevated train that rides around the Seuss village. Andrew clung to my hand, worried it would be a scary ride, but of course it was just a fun little family ride.
There was a lot of hand clinging.
Jim and I went on the Hagrid ride again sans children.
They hunkered here in this cove while waiting for us to finish.
They missed out on such a fun ride.
There are so many cool things that pictures don't do justice of course.
We hit all our favorite rides one last time,
then spent the last hours of the night in Diagon Alley.
It was so perfect because not many people were there.
We went on Escape From Gringotts ride two times in a row. We savored every last minute in line and on the ride.
We soaked up all the magic of the place and it was so perfect.
As we were walking out of Diagon Alley, Andrew grabbed my arm and pulled me "I don't want to leave!"
Then as we walked back to the hotel, he squeezed my hand and tried not to cry.
I know it's just a theme park and whatever whatever, but there is something so magical about the whole thing. The memories we have are so precious. We keep saying "I miss Universal" and "Remember (fill in the blank)?" It's just so much fun to be together. I was so sad coming home - afraid all the memories would disappear. I hurry and blog them so that I can relax, knowing at least part of the memories are kept safe here.
"Great. Leaving a theme park and then eating something this disgusting when we aren't even hungry."
(caption from Andrew).
To drown our sorrows, we stopped by the Chocolate Emporium and got these ridiculous shakes.
Andrew was right...they weren't even that good, if you can believe it.
Ugg. It was such a fun vacation. I loved it.
