The Buschelmans take a Vacation

As many of my faithful readers are aware, the boys have been reading the Harry Potter series for the last 5 months.  A couple of weeks go, Will read the last word on the last page of the last book.  Dom is not far behind, but it being March...one can understand why he is not reading as much. At any rate, Eric and I decided it was in our power to visit Universal Studios ts a prime time for the kids to experience the magic of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  We were not let down.  It is really a pretty magical place.  I really wish I had thought to put a recorder on Will for all of his enthusiasm and observations.  Starting with his sneaking his wizard robes into his suitcase.

(By the way, he was far from the only costumed visitor)

 Our day started quite early.  Everything I read said that Harry Potter's domain was the most popular area, so you wanted to get there early to avoid lines.  It helped a great deal we could go in the slower time of the season, but even other people manageable lines (40 minutes approximate) can feel like an eternity with 1-year-olds.

 But, the kids had great attitudes about the early hour and John thought he had hit the jackpot with this totally awesome ride.  Naturally, we all played along (those are Quidditch goggles that Dom is modeling)

I am very grateful that we can go when it isn't so crowded.  We entered the park right at opening and walked quickly through the Super Hero area, the cartoon area, and Jurassic Park.  And then we saw the towers of Hogwarts and started hyperventilating a little.  It could have been excitement or the fact that is the most exercise I've gotten in a year.  Probably a bit of both.  

My pictures are complete rubbish (say that in a British accent, please), but you maybe get an idea of the amazing detail that went into the design of this area. It was incredible.  We headed to the first ride: "The Forbidden Journey" and I said a little prayer that we would survive the wait.  It turned out great.  Wait times can get up to 2 hours, but we had maybe 30 minutes, which was just about the perfect amount of wait to really get a good look at Hogwarts castle and listen to the talking pictures and Dumbledore and Harry, Hermione, and Ron.  

 Molly and John found many ways to entertain themselves.  Most of them would not get them into trouble.  Mostly.

Universal has a child swap program, too, which allows a parent to wait while the other goes on the ride and then you swap places.  Best part was that the child who rode with the first immediately got to go on the ride again.  Will and Molly loved this feature.  Dom never took advantage of it.  Dom knows himself, and he does not like roller coasters.  He'll try it, and then he is just fine, thank you very much!

 After riding a couple of rides, it was time for an early lunch.  Eric ordered a butterbeer and the kids got water.  Protip:  They sell 'Gilly Water' for $4.25 a bottle...or you can just ask for a cup of water and tell your kids it is Gilly Water.  For free.

After wandering around Hogsmeade, we decided it was time to find a diversion for John.  Seuss Landing was just a short walk away and we headed there for some quality time in a brightly colored area with zero wait time for rides.  Bonus feature was that the rides in this particular area were more Dom's speed as well, but all of the kids enjoyed them.  

 Let's play: Where's John?  He and Eric spent some quality father/son time while I took the older three on some of the rides.  Though, truth be told, they were so tame, I'm thinking John could have ridden them also.

Molly quite unintentionally dressed to match the decor of Seuss Landing.  But, then what do you expect from a child who has lived most of her life in a town called Niceville?

Molly grabbed my phone and immediately was better at navigating its features than I am.  She probably would have remembered to charge it as well...and so ends the pictures from my camera.  As well as Eric's and my ability to text those three magic words: 

Where are you?

But! Eric had his phone and I told him he needed to document the remainder of the day.

Which was good because we rode the Hogwarts Express!

 And visited Diagon Alley...and can I say, Diagon Alley is a little claustrophobic.  Maybe it was later in the day and I was tired, maybe it was the crazy crowds, maybe it was the fact that they main attraction was spending a lot of money...but, I preferred Hogsmeade to Diagon Alley.  Actually, I also preferred Knockturn Alley to Diagon Alley.  It was dark and cool there.  

Harry, Ron, and Hermione

It was about this time, I realized that though we had planned to spend two days at Universal, there was no reason we couldn't postpone the second day.  Some comments from Eric made me think he might be open to this idea also.  The main comment being:

I don't think I can do this again tomorrow.

I suggested we stay until the park closed and head back to Niceville the next day.  Sort of live to fight another day scenario.  Will was the only one that we even had to convince at all.  And he even saw the wisdom once he tried to crawl out of the park later that evening.  Because his feet hurt so badly.  The Butterbeer bribe also helped.

 Once we made our decision, we game planned the remainder of our day.  Will and I went to ride: Escape from Gringotts while Eric took the other three to an animal show.  It's rare that Will and I get one on one time.  Not because we don't have the opportunity due to the other siblings, but he would prefer to be in their company or his friends' company.  I got him all to myself for about 50 minutes.  He had observations about everything.  He was eager to show me aspects of the ride (he and Eric had ridden it earlier).  He commented on the speed of the line.  He let me know when I was going to 'LOVE' something.  His opinion on the 'safety goggles', he whispered he didn't really think they were safety goggles...but, let's just let these people think we believe them.  It made me appreciate that waiting in line in not a waste of time if you spend it getting to know the person you are with.  In this case, my 7-year-old son.  Who thoroughly enjoyed pretending for this one day that Magic really exists

 Some sights of London.  12 Grimmauld Place and Platform 9 3/4 (how do you make a fraction?)

 The only way to ride the Hogwarts Express which connects Islands of Adventure to Universal Studios (and the two worlds of Harry Potter) is to have a park to park pass.  Due to a glitch at the ITT office on base (and the fact we waited until the last minute to buy our passes), we elected to go with the more expensive passes (which they could conveniently process...hm...).  Since this enables us to visit the parks three separate times and have access to everything, it may be worth it.  But, if you are going multiple days in a row...I wouldn't spend the extra money.  Just my opinion.

 One does not go to the Wizarding World without contemplating the purchase of a wand.  Eric and I had decided we would get an interactive wand which allows people to do 'magic' through the wizarding world.  But, as the day progressed and as Ollivanders was crazy crowded, we gave the kids the option of just buying whatever they wanted in Honey Dukes.  They agreed with the thought that we may eventually get a wand (though I think I will continue to build my case against this purchase...they seem to do just fine with sticks and rods that they fine around the house).  The purchases at Honey Dukes consisted of two chocolate wands and a chocolate frog.

Which they happily consumed the next day during a rest stop:

 Dom's wizard card was Helga Hufflepuff.  And his frog did not leap away.

We had a really lovely time as a family.  And as an added bonus we now have a credit card bill that has these happy reminders of our foray into the magical world of Harry Potter: