Today was the first day of our vacation!!
First stop was Universal Studios! We arrived and went straight to Dr Seuss land where there was lots to do for the kids – it was specifically for younger children. We walked upon a show that was happening with The Grinch, The Cat In The Hat, The Lorax, Thing 1 and Thing 2. They were dancing and telling a story. Afterwards we lined up so the kids could meet The Grinch. The Grinch is talked about so often in the family so we had to meet him! Avery and Beverly were SO scared and screamed and cried but Cameron was ok, but he didn’t want to give him a hug – it was funny. He just leaned his head forward for a 'hug' and The Grinch leaned forward and copied him and just patted his head. We then went on a Dr Seuss ride without realising you could potentially get very wet. Keith went on with Avery and I went on with Cameron. We all got off the ride happy but pretty wet, apart from Avery who was soaked through! There was a little playground and waterslide that we let the kids play on and Cameron loved the waterslide! He wanted to do it again and again and you got wet but it was nice because it was such a hot day!
One of my favourite rides was the ET ride. You sat on a bicycle and were flying through the sky to take ET home, and it was great – the kids loved it too. Cameron met Spiderman and was star-struck. He took lots of photos with him and Spiderman also signed Cameron’s Spiderman hat.
We then walked through Hogsmead (from Harry Potter) and it was really great! It looked just like the film, it was really cool, and we took the Hogwarts Express to the other half of the Universal Park. The Hogwarts Express looked just like the film too – you were enclosed in your own room of the train and whilst the train took you, it played a show on the window to look like you are travelling to Hogwarts and there were silhouettes outside the door of Harry, Ron and Hermione – it was really great!
Then we walked through The Simpsons Land where they had the Kwik-i-Mart, Moe’s Tavern, they sold Duff beer and had Krusty Studios too. We then watched Shrek 4D which everyone really enjoyed. The 4D experience is awesome anyway and it was playing a new Shrek mini film. Avery sat on my lap and really did love it! She kept the glasses on the whole time too.
After this we queued up for the King Kong ride and initially there was a bit of a fiasco as we had been in line for over an hour and then the ride broke down and the kids got understandably restless so we said we would come back later but the staff couldn’t allow us a fast-pass to come back, they said we needed to stay and wait in line, even though the ride would take at least another hour to begin again. Anyway we left and came back later and explained to the lady on the fast pass entrance what happened and she let us straight into the fast pass entrance so that was good that we didn’t have to wait in a line for over an hour all over again. The ride was 3D and was really good even though Cameron was a bit scared.
Afterwards we were going to go on a Jurassic Park ride which takes you above the park and all around in a hanging seat. (A Jurassic Park style monorail). It was a ride that 2 people could ride at a time and the kids had to sit in their own seat, by themselves, in front and then the adult sat behind them over an arm’s reach away. Gwen and Cameron went first and as soon as Gwen got back she said she was terrified Cameron was going to fall out because it swung all over the place and the ride only had a lap belt. It’s safe to say we didn’t let Avery ride!
The kids also met Curious George, although, again, Avery and Beverly weren’t too happy to see another ‘scary’ character in costume!
What a fun filled and great first day of vacation this was. The sun was shining all day and it was very lovely and hot. All the water rides we went on certainly helped! We got home and fed the kids and they went straight to sleep. Us adults then ate these delicious burgers – beef burger stuffed with cheese and onions – yum! We all had a glass of wine and an ice-cream and went to bed, probably just as exhausted as the kids had been!
