I think baby boy was less then a week old when Dr. J turned to me in bed one night and said, "So what are we going to do from Fall Break. Fall Break, those random nine days off your kids get in October. J had gotten the nine days off and he wanted to do something. So five days after I had a baby we booked a trip to Disneyland. It was nuts. Who does that? We do that. So with a six week old baby we headed to California. Originally our trip was going to be three days at Disney, one day at Legoland, and one day at Sea World (look I felt a little guilty about that one but J really wanted to go and so we went). It was part of our city pass. Honestly that felt like a lot but then one of our kids asked if we were going to go to Harry Potter Land. We hadn't really planned on it, but since we were going to be in California we figured, "What the heck." Here is the thing though about "What the heck" and Universal Studios and a family of six plus a baby, what the heck cost well over 600 bucks, but we still went and the kids loved it.
Cheetah was able to get on a lot of the rides but there were a couple that she wasn't. The nice thing about Universal is there is still stuff to do if you can't ride the rides. We watched a Pets in the Movies show, think Owls from the Harry Potter movies, old Air Buds, and a bunch of animals running all over the stage, including a chicken. We also hung out at Super Silly Fun Land. With the other kids we watched Universal Animal Actors and the Special Effects Show. She did get to go on Flight of the Hippogriff, Shrek, Despicable Me, Minion Mayhem, and Jurassic Park the ride, which SHE LOVED! The kids were all going to go on Transformers as well but the ride broke down and after standing in line for 45 minutes they decided to ditch it. J tried to get the older kids to ride The Mummy with him but the only kids we have who could finish that movie was too short to get on it so we skipped it. The older kids also really enjoyed Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. While waiting for them to finish that ride Cheetah, Baby Boy and I bought Pumpkin Juice and Butter Beer. We also watched the Triwizard Spirit Rally. The kids had a good time at Olivanders and the candy shop although their dad balked at $50 wizarding wands. We went back and forth on this five or six times with Captain E. E wanted one really bad but J told him that if he picked it that would be the one souvenir we would pay for. He wanted it, then he didn't. Finally he decided he didn't want it but it was an all day debate. We did buy them each a Chocolate Frog and some Everything Beans.
In the end we had a good time but I still go back and forth on weather it was worth it or not. The hours the park is open in October and honestly most of the winter months are not that late. We ended up having to leave while it was still light out and we didn't have time to eat at the Three Broom Sticks. Also as fun as Harry Potter Land is Harry Potter Land should be it's own park. I'm not kidding at all. Just imagine it. You could have a Hotel that was set up like the school. There could be rooms in the dungeon, rooms by the kitchen, rooms up in a tower. There would be an eating area where they projected the sky on the ceiling. You could have a water ride where you ride a canoe across a lake, with a lake monster, and rain. You could have a Whomping Willow Ride, a flying Car ride, a ride Quiditch Ride. I mean every book has a ton of shows you could do or rides you could make!
Come join me in Harry Potter Land. Check out my cute date for the park.
Hanging out in the Candy Land. I waited until the end of the day to buy my chocolate frogs because I didn't want them to melt but apparently I was not the only one with this idea.
Cheetah and I hanging out at the Pet Show. Baby boy sleep through most of it.
Hanging out with our chocolate frogs.
I can't be the only one who loves this unicorn from Despicable Me. I want to own a huge one but I also didn't want to haul that around for a week. I did let Cheetah play a carnival ride to get this tiny one.Oh my gosh, look at that six week hair and belly button! Dr. J worked up until the day we left and he was beat. He tried to catch his zzz's when he could.