Universal Studios

 I think one of the reasons why everyone wanted to call it a little early yesterday is because we knew that we needed to wake up a little earlier to make the drive up to Universal Studios. Universal from Disney is only 35 miles but because its through Los Angeles it took us close to 2 hours to get there. But we made it right at opening and was able to get handicap parking with moms plaque so the walk to the front wasn't bad at all. 

When we got in we had to first go and get a scooter for Jill and mom and then off we went. We started the day with a 3D show of Kung Fu Panda, which was really fun because the seats moved as well. It was a lot of fun and super cute. But the one place Shaylee and I were looking forward to was...HARRY POTTER.

Kilian was particularly excited to see the Hogwarts Express Train and meet the conductor. The conductor was super funny and good with Kilian. We checked out more of the shops and buildings and even grabbed some Butterbeer.

Then we headed up to the castle to ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. It took a LONG time for us to wait and as soon as we got on the ride I had a feeling it was a bad idea. For Kilian it was scary, fast and it made Shaylee, mom and I extremely SICK. When we got off the ride we all had to get some water and just sit for a bit. Shaylee and I had to run to the bathroom because we thought we were going to throw up. I was worried that the whole day was going to be shot. We did get to see a performance which was a great way to try and take our minds off of it. 

Once we felt we could move on we headed over to Springfield and got to meet Bart Simpson. Jill and Avery didn't get sick on the ride so they headed to the Simpsons 3D ride that the rest of us wanted to steer clear of. Apparently most of the rides at Universal are very motion based and 3D which doesn't bode well for us that get motion sickness easily. So while Jill and Avery went on the ride the rest of us walked around Springfield checking out the stores. Kilian, Shaylee, and I got to meet Homer Simpson. They also had some carnival games, Kilian wanted to play one that you threw darts to pop the balloons. He wanted the stuffed donut and the lady told him he had 7 darts and had to pop 4 balloons to get the donut. He popped 3 right from the start then was having some bad luck the last dart hit right beside the balloon. At first he started to look upset, but then the balloon his dart landed next to blew off its peg. Kilian got so excited and asked the lady if that counted. She said it counted and that the "ghost" helped him out to win. 

When Jill and Avery came back from the ride we headed over to Krusty Burger for lunch. 

After we took the backlots studio tour which I was a bit skeptical on whether or not I would enjoy it. But I figured it was a good chance to sit for awhile and get out of the hot sun. It turned out to be kinda interesting and fun...course our tour guide was Super cool. We were sitting in the front row and because Kilian is so talkative and friendly our tour guide locked on to him right away. We got to see some of the sets that were used in a wide range of TV shows and movies. Like Bruce Almighty, The Good Place, Bates motel and other horror shows I don't know. We also got to see some of the cars that were used in Fast and the Furious, Jurassic World, The Mummy and more. My favorite though was the town and Amity and JAWS!!!!! With of course a special appearance by Bruce the shark. 

After the tour we wanted to go to the lower level there was A LOT of escalators headed to the bottom, but because Mom and Jill had scooters they had to take a shuttle down. So Shaylee went with them while the kids and I went down 5 yes FIVE long escalators. Going on those escalators was a ride all in itself to Kilian. when we got to the bottom, I called Shaylee and find out the shuttle they needed to take was going to take them about 20 to 30 minutes. SO while we waited the kids and I had some fun. I wanted to meet Blue and we just barely missed her, but her "younger sister" was out so the kids and I went to meet her. SO CUTE!!!! (yes I know she's not real, but still).

We headed over to see if the Transformers were out, but they were done for the day. I was shocked to learn that Universal Studios closes at 6PM!!!! Way to early for a theme park in my opinion, but that just meant we had to try and see as much as we could before closing. Still waiting for the others the kids and I headed over to Super Mario World. Ok truth time.... It was actually really fun to just be the kids and I. I didn't feel pressured or anything, it was just my kiddos and I exploring and having fun together. We got to see lots of fun stuff in Mario land and even got to meet Toad. 

After awhile though I got the call from Shaylee that they were finally on the bottom level. Jill and SO mad and was going off. I asked what everyone wanted to see and Jill said she didn't want to be at the bottom, she wanted to got on the other roller coaster ride in Harry Potter. I had been go with the flow and easy going this whole trip, but I did hold my ground when I said I wanted to meet Blue. Upset Jill said she was just going to go off on her own. Avery wanted to go on a roller coaster type ride too. We finally reached an agreement. Mom was going to stay with me, she said she would be fine walking for a bit. Avery took mom's scooter and her Jill and (poor) Shaylee went back to the shuttle to take them back up to the top. It was only going to be 5 minutes till Blue came out again so we found a nice sorta shady place and waited. SO WORTH IT!!! Blue came out and was posing with Kilian and even tried to eat his donut. :)) Her trainer had to have her back off. Then we all got a picture with her. So much fun. After Blue we decided to head back to the top level, and Kilian was super excited to show Grandma how many escalators there was. Back at the top we slowly made our way back over to the entrance of Harry Potter. We found a nice shady spot, got some drinks and waited.

 

We met up with everyone again and was able to go do some souvenir shopping before the park closed. Overall it was a pretty fun day, but for the price I feel like Universal Studios is kinda overrated. Again the drive back to our hotel was about 2 hours, we did stop at a restaurant for dinner, but I was pretty happy to see the hotel and BED...SLEEP :D