Benich Family: Last Spring Break Post: Universal!

This is it, I promise, the last Spring Break post. :-) Not only did we want to head down to warmer weather, we also wanted to visit Universal Studios (with a big emphasis on Harry Potter, since everyone but Kenny read and loved the books). So we ended up spending three days at Universal, taking a day off in between so that we had a chance to relax as well.

The first place we went was to visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, of course.

Pretty exciting!!! The first thing we saw was The Hogwarts Express, definitely a must for picture taking.

We checked out Hogsmeade in its entirety. The attention to detail was fabulous, and it was just neat to look at all the stores brought to life. Some of them were just store fronts and "closed," but you could still see inside the windows and they just looked as if the owner had stepped out for a moment. Others were actual stores that you could go inside, and the insides had just as much detail as the outsides did.

We stood in line to watch Ollivander find a wand for someone. We weren't lucky enough to be picked, but it was still really neat to watch.

Since Delaney already owned a Harry Potter wand (it was a birthday gift), she was okay with not getting another one. But Kyle really wanted one, so conveniently enough, when you exit Ollivanders Wand Shop after watching him find a wand for someone... you are right in the gift shop. :-) Funny how that works, right?

It was crazy crowded, literally bumper to bumper people in the store. Kyle selected a Harry Potter wand, and a Gryffindor quidditch t-shirt. Delaney ended up selecting a t-shirt as well, a Hogwarts Triwizard Cup. After carefully maneuvering around and getting all our stuff to purchase and waiting in line for a bit, Kyle decided he didn't want a Harry Potter wand. He figured everyone would have a Harry Potter wand, and he wanted a different one. SERIOUSLY?!? Taking a deep breath (so as not to throttle him), I explained we would have to lose our place in line as well as somehow navigate our way back to the wands and start all over. He understood; he was okay with that. (* sigh *) After explaining that this is a one time deal, your next wand selection will be your final wand selection... off we went through the crowd once again, carefully holding on to each other as to not lose anyone.

After much deliberation (as you can basically get a wand for any character in the book), he finally decided on Dumbledore's wand. After all, his was the Elder Wand -- which was reputedly the strongest. Now that the all-important final wand selection was made, we had to once again weave our way through the store, get back in line, and wait again to make our purchase. CRAZY!

Once we finally made it to the register, the salesperson was trying to talk to the kids. It's not that they weren't answering, but they also weren't being overly talkative either. I think we were all overwhelmed with the sheer multitude of people packed inside, and I commented to that fact trying to give a reason for their lack of conversation. And then freaking us all out even further, she said that we should have been there last week -- it was much better this week. !!! How crazy is that?! I guess we were definitely glad we were not there last week, as it was insanely crowded as it was now.

The kids and I were also dying to try Butterbeer, so we sent their dad off to find us some frozen Butterbeer. :-) He got the rather dubious honor of standing in line for one, while we kept looking around. Having two kids who are rather notorious for their issues with food at times, we were all rather surprised that everyone REALLY liked it! Good stuff!!! We ended up getting another one, so both kids have their very own Butterbeer mug. :-) Cheers!

Then, we were off to Hogwarts Castle. We couldn't wait to see the inside of it and then join Harry Potter on the Forbidden Journey.

The inside of the castle was basically the "line" for the ride, but it was still really neat to see the castle in person. You got to walk through classroom areas, hallways with moving and talking paintings, see Dumbledore talk, and much more. It was probably one of our longest waits, which is why we only rode it once, but the ride itself was pretty awesome. If you rode Soarin' at Disney, it was pretty much like that but only with a roller coaster effect thrown in. If you happen to ride it, just so you know, the cameras are right where the spiders are at (since I have many, many issues with spiders I chose to simply not watch at that point and when checking out the pictures later, Delaney was like, 'mom, your hands are covering your eyes -- were you like that the entire ride?'). Just for the record, I only covered my eyes until the spiders were gone. (* shudder *)

After we decided we pretty much did everything in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, we did finally venture out to other parks in Universal. We got to visit Despicable Me's minions, X-Men's Cylops and train with the Men in Black.

The kids weren't all that excited with the waiting in line part, so Cyclops and the minion were the only characters we got pictures with -- and that was only because we just happened to be in the right spot at the right time. :-)

We rode a lot of other rides too, although neither kid is hip on roller coasters -- so we skipped all the really big coasters. Kenny and I had already rode the Hulk several times before on our own Universal trip a while back, so I couldn't see waiting in line forever for rides that the kids wouldn't even try. While the weather was definitely nice, it wasn't overly hot so Delaney and I chose to skip all the water rides. But Kyle loved them, so Kenny and Kyle basically got soaked several times.

And Delaney had way too much fun spinning us at the Storm Force Acceleration ride; I don't think she stopped the entire ride!!! Between her soccer and weight lifting, she didn't tire herself out AT ALL. Kenny can't handle the spins, so he opted out of this one.

We had a lot of waiting in line, but we were prepared for it. We had books, 3DS's, and things to do... so while not the most fun thing in the world to do... it helped make the wait bearable. Thankfully, we had a very accommodating dad who was willing to lug a lot of things in a backpack for us! (Best dad ever!!!)

I would have to say that the Men in Black ride must have been their favorite, because they rode it countless times. After the first time, they went back through the 'single rider' option each time to shorten their wait.