World of Harry Potter
We were so excited for our first day in the park! No one even complained about getting up earlier than a school day! We decided to focus on all things Harry Potter!
For Christmas I got a Cameo Silhouette machine and I was so proud to make us family themed shirts - Hogwarts Family Vacation!
The shuttle to and from the hotel was so convenient and easy. A straight ride from the hotel to City Walk.
Yep, he was very excited!
We were pretty early and had beat any crowds going through City Walk, so we took advantage of these photo ops.
Love the excitement of being on vacation, seeing something new, and sharing it with people love you love most.
Seeing the Night Bus was our first spotting of Harry Potter stuff! So glad to see Ernie and have a little chat with him
It's 13 Grimauld Place! Knocking on the door made Sirius' mother screech! So fun!
We made it to Diagon Alley! We spotted lots of shops and other places noted in the books.
A visit to Gringott's was lots of fun!
The kids were very excited to get a wand from Ollivander's. We had heard the wand shop can be very crowded and a long wait for the "show" where someone is selected to have the audience watch as their wand is selected. We had no wait and although neither kid was selected, they enjoyed the show and were just eager to see all the wands.
Sarah Graves chose Hermione's wand.
Charlie chose Harry Potter's.
The real fun started when we left the shop and were able to use the wands to cast spells!
There were plenty of staff around to help guide when the spell was difficult!
Sitting on Hagrid's motorbike!
Getting the spell right was so gratifying!
Ready to head to Hogwarts!
Yep, we burst onto platform 9 3/4!
Enjoying the train ride with a compartment all to ourselves!
They did an awesome job of incorporating scenes from the movies to make you feel like you are really there!
We could not resist a trip to Honeyduke's for sweets!
Checking out the house points tallies! Gryffindor for the lead!
Fun ride with some intense scenes! So cool to feel like you are flying over Hogwarts!
Not gonna lie, we waited a long, long time to ride Hagrid's Motorbike ride. After waiting over an hour and a half, the line came to a standstill and finally we heard the announcement that the ride was broken. Then, it became a debate of how long to wait for it to be repaired before getting out of line. When we got in line it said it was a nearly 3 hour wait, so we opted to give it some time. As more and more people got out of line we crept along. Charlie became very frustrated with the wait and required a piggy back ride for a while, but really both kids hung in there. I saw teenagers complain more than they did, so proud parent moment there. Finally, they got it working and we only had a short wait to get on.
As you can see by the smiles on our faces, this roller coaster was totally awesome and so worth the wait! There was delightful surprises, it was fast, incorporated storytelling, and surpassed all my expectations!
We got in line for the ride with the intention of missing the noon lunch hour and avoiding that crowd. By the time we made it to the Three Broomsticks for lunch at 3 o'clock, we were so hungry and so thirsty. We were not overly impressed with this restaurant, but the butter beer was so yummy!
Sis was very excited to get her popcorn and had waited a long time for it!
Aaron was picked from the crowd to get on stage with Celestina!
The kids were so tickled to see their Daddy up their and I think Mrs. Weasley would have been pleased with the performance!
Who knew that Universal does a Mardi Gras parade! They did a great job of capturing the spirit of Mardi Gras even if we were already in Lent.
While looking for a restroom, Sissy and I were separated from Aaron and Charlie and then the parade started to roll. After the parade it was tough to find them and the kids were pretty worried. Relief and joy when we found each other!
While we were watching the parade, Sarah Graves caught sight of Bumblebee and had to get her picture. She very sweetly got autographs for her and Charlie.
Waiting for Jimmy Fallon's Race Through New York was a lot of fun! There were interactive games that thrilled Charlie and the chance to see #Panda! The attraction was fun and the kids appreciated the crash course in New York City tourism!
We spent 13 hours in the park and by the time we left, we were all exhausted! So much so that Sarah Graves got in the stroller and fell asleep! Yep, our 10-year old baby got in when she couldn't go anymore! Phew! What a fun day!
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