Amyblog

MAGIC!

The whole reason for going to Universal Studios was to see Harry Potter World. Luckily for us, some friends loaned us two wands to use so we didn't have to purchase them ourselves. My co-worker told me that a few years ago, he took four of his grandkids to Universal and spent $700 on wands for all of them!! The cheapest wands at Univerdal were $50. My co-worker told me that there would be specific places where you can "perform" magic spells and make things move. So if you don't have a special wand, you can't experience the magic. Well, I'm so glad that we didn't have to buy the wands because the "magic" was very underwhelming. You'll see a few pictures of the kids "performing" magic spells at the storefront windows below. All the magic are performed in front of these special storefronts. Luckily for us, the entire place was practically empty so the kids got some one-on-one time with the Universal staffs on what to do. Basically, there are instructions on the ground for what you have to say and what hand gestures you have to make to perform the magic. The key is the hand gestures with the wand, I don't think saying the spell really matters (see this geeky discussion about making your own wand with a retro-reflector). The magic are little things like making a pot bubble, making a plant dance, or making a feather pen move. To me, the whole thing would not be worth it if we had to buy our own wands, or had to wait in long lines (which would be the case during normal times), or both. Thankfully, the kids got to try out performing all the magic and we will not likely have the need to do it again!

Comparing Harry Potter World to Disneyland, we feel that Universal did a better job of designing and building the facades of the buildings. The whole place just looks more realistic than Disneyland. But I guess Disney focuses more on the make-believe and fantasy whereas Universal Studios is in the business of movie making. Some of the architectures at Harry Potter World are just amazing. In a small way, I wish we did have to wait in line for the Forbidden Journey ride inside Hogwarts so we could spend more time inside the school. It was quite gorgeous inside Hogwarts. I wish they had made it so that you can wander around inside without going on the ride. Also, due to COVID, the park closes at 6pm, way before sunset this time of the year! It would've been quite amazing to spend time at night at Harry Potter World and seeing some of the lights from the streets and storefronts. But then again, we did get to spend tons of time inside the wand store admiring all the amazing wand designs. The basic wands were $50 but there were tons of wands costing well over $100 each. I guess this is Universal's equivalent of the light saber at Disneyland! The wand store would normally be crowded with people, I'm sure. But we were the only ones inside the store almost the entire time!

The other experience we didn't do at Harry Potter World was trying the Butterbeer. We gave the kids the option to get Butterbeer or a Krusty Burger slushy and the slushy won out. We also tried the Krusty Burger milkshake (which was awesome). Hey, life is all about making choices and we only have one stomach each! Other then that, Harry Potter World was awesome and we are so glad to have gotten this once-in-a-life-time experience at Universal Studios.

Posted on May 21, 2021

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS!!!

Let me go waaaay back to over one year ago. It was March 2020 and we were planning a trip to Universal Studios to celebrate Ahgoo's 8th birthday. About six months before that, I had a discussion with Mr. BAW on whether we should renew our Disneyland annual passes or do we stop it for one year and, instead, take the kids to Universal Studios to see Harry Potter World. I had observed, on our last visit to Disneyland, that the kids had exhibited a slight decrease in the excitment they used to show. Granted, they still love Disneyland, but I thought that perhaps they are now old enough to enjoy Harry Potter World and some of the other attractions at Universal Studios. Mr. BAW agreed and so the plan was to take the kids to Universal Studios in March. Well, the very DAY we had our trip planned (we even have tickets already) the park closed due to COVID-19!!! We were very upset by the news...especially me! I had been looking forward to sharing Universal Studios with the kids since I have fond memories of going there when I was young.

Fast forward one year later, Universal Studios announces that they are opened to California residences only and if we already have tickets, we can make reservations online!!! This news comes only a few weeks AFTER both of us got our full COVID-19 vaccines! The stars aligned and Mr. BAW was able to reserve the first Wednesday of May. We picked Wednesday because the kids are still zooming for school on Wednesdays and it's only a half day. We thought going to Universal Studios was worth missing a half day of zoom school for!

Being a school day and the park admissions limited by COVID-19 restrictions, our day at Universal Studios was AMAZING!! Just to be sure, we still got to the park early to ensure that we can hit all of the rides, especially Harry Potter World and avoid the crowd. The second we got to the parking lot, I knew it was going to be a great day crowd-wise. We paid a few dollars more to get preferred parking to be closer to the park entrance. It didn't make sense to have to park a mile away with very little crowd. Then we headed straight to Harry Potter World. It was practically empty!! In a way, it was kind of lacking in ambiance with no one there but us, but non-the-less awesome! Since Ahgoo was a few inches short to be able to ride the Forbidden Journey ride inside Hogwarts, I stayed with her and Mr. BAW and Buzz went on the ride first. They ran straight through into the ride, there was literally zero wait! Mr. BAW didn't take any pictures of the inside of Hogwarts! Luckily, when it was my turne to go with Buzz (he got to ride it twice) I made him stop at various places to take pictures. He just wanted to run straight into the ride passing all the cool places inside Hogwarts. See the picture below where Harry took his Herbology class. In the picture you can see where one would normally be waiting in line. I can't imagine how long the normal wait for the ride is considering the walk from the entrance of Hogwarts to the actual ride was about two blocks long!! I will make another dedicated Harry Potter post to show all the pictures from Harry Potter World.

As the day went on, there were more people at the park. But we were able to hit every single ride at the park. We choose not to go on the Mummy Ride because, based on what I saw on Youtube, I think it's still too scary for the kids. But we were able to go on all of the rides (some even twice) with the longest wait being the Jurassic World at 45 minutes. All the other rides were around 30 minutes or less. Mr. BAW and the kids rode Jurassic World but I opted out because the last drop is too intense for me! Turns out that Jurassic World was their favorite ride at the park! Ha, my favorite ride was the Forbidden Journey and the Studios Tour. You can see pictures of a fake plane crash and Jaws in the pictures below from the tour.

In a strange way, it was good that we had to wait another year to go to Universal because during that year, Mr. BAW had introduced the kids to The Simpsons. They've been watching the show from the beginning. So by the time we get to Universal, they had a blast at Krustyland! In fact, Simpsons ride is Buzz's second favorite ride. They also knew all the characters and had a blast in Kwik-E Mart store. I personally have not thoroughly enjoyed a day at the amusement park with the kids up until that day at Universal Studios. Having young kids, I've always worried about packing enough food, snacks, water, and clothing to keep them fed and warm throughout the day. I worried about losing them in a crowd, tantrums, and whether they are too tired. There's always a certain amount of underlying stress when we go to an amusement park. But this time, the kids are now 9 and 11, I was finally thoroughly relaxed! I barely brought any snacks and we knew it was going to be a warm day so I didn't worry about their jackets/coats. Due to COVID-19, the park closed at 6pm, much to Mr. BAW's chagrin. But that actually relieved much of my stress as well since we still had work and school the next day. We still had to drive an hour home so I actually didn't want us to stay until 9pm anyway. It was nice to be able to eat dinner and still have time to get ready for bed at a normal time. The park being at barely 1/4 capacity also greatly reduced my anxiety. We were able to have a leisurely lunch without having to fight for tables or wait in long lines to order food.

I think we are truly at the "honeymoon phase" with the kids. They are old enough to be self-sufficient but still young enough to enjoy being with you! When I went to the Forbidden Journey ride with Buzz in Harry Potter World, he led me right to the locker area and used the fancy thumb reader to get me locker for my backpack. It would've taken me a while to figure out how to use the machine to get a locker. For a second, I got a glimps of the near future when Buzz is a full fledge teen and I love it! I love that he's understands technology, I love that he's self-sufficient, and I love that he's now teaching me stuff! We went to Universal Studios only three day before Mother's Day. I consider the trip the best Mother's Day I've ever had since being a mom! Here's one set of pictures from our day at Universal Studios, enjoy!