Mixed Nuts: Disney Day Five

Quotes

"There is no better way to thank God for your sight than by giving a helping hand to someone in the dark." - Helen Keller
When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me." ~Erma Bombeck
You may never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice.- Unknown
Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow' ~Helen Keller
Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.
Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."- Dr. Seuss
"Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it."
"God doesn't give children with disabilities to strong people: He gives them to ordinary, everyday people, then He helps the parents to grow stronger through the journey. Raising a child with special needs doesn't TAKE a special family, it MAKES a special family."Author Unknown
I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go – Abraham Lincoln
Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. ~ Benjamin Franklin
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is a miracle - Albert Einstein
The journey of a 1000 miles starts with a single step
Sometimes in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives you a fairy tale
Where there is great love, there are always miracles - Willa Cather
The Difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a little longer
Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness
There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings.
Be the change you want to see in the world
Don't tell God how big the storm is, tell the storm how big Your God is..........
Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it
Fall down seven times - get up eight - unknown
Despite our differences, we sink or swim together
Life may not be the party we expected, but while we are here, we might as well dance
"The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones." -Confucius

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Disney Day Five

Universal Studios and HARRY POTTER WORLD

Day five we found ourselves going to a non-Disney park. We normally wouldn't have done this, but I (I will not lie!) wanted to go to the new Harry Potter park at Universal Studios. My mom was right there with me - another Harry Potter fan - and Arlington has been reading the books, so she was excited as well. Arlington had gotten a Harry Potter Robe for Christmas, and was excited for a chance to wear it. At least for a little while.

We had to take a cab to Universal Studios from our hotel, since it wasn't associated with Disney. This was easy to do, but cost a fortune. We got to Universal around 9:30, and the place was already packed. We (and everyone else) headed right for the Harry Potter park of the park. It was jammed, but we expected this. It has been open less than a year, and with such a large following (and very cool place to visit) I wasn't surprised to see so many people there.

Mat's Aunt Betty was at this park this day as well. She has been down in Orlando vacationing for several months and we had a chance to see her on this day for a little while. It was great to see her - we haven't seen her since Christmas. She was with other friends of ours - the Branthoovers - so we had a chance to say hello and catch up with them for a little while.

We were able to ride one ride all together as a family in this park - it was a roller coaster that the littles were big enough to ride. It was called "Flight of the Hippogriff" (for all of you Harry Potter fans). Very fun. We didn't have to wait exceptionally long for this ride because it wasn't the main attraction of the park.

(Hagrid's Hut)

Once that ride was finished, the littles, Mat and my dad headed out of Harry Potter world and left Arlington, my mom and I there to continue to look around. We had some Butterbeer (For you non-Potter fans this is not beer, but butterscotch flavored yumminess). And we had Pumpkin juice (this was also yummier than it sounds) another HP favorite. We then eyed up the large line leading into the enormous Castle. We decided we would wait the 90 minutes to go inside and look at the castle and ride this ride.

It was worth the 90 minutes.

If you ever go - you cannot miss the "Forbidden Journey" ride inside the castle. I wish I would have been allowed to take my camera in (you couldn't' take anything that didn't fit in your pocket) because inside the castle was amazing. For you HP fans - they had the pictures of the wizards that talk and move. They had a classroom, a common room, Dumbledores office. It was amazing to see and really well done.

And the ride was amazing. It was fun, and fast, and very well done. If it wasn't such a long wait, we would have ridden it again. Arlington loved it!

After we rode that ride, we went to the candy shop (to get Chocolate Frogs and Every Flavor Beans). We had to stand in line to get inside! Again. But it didn't take longer than 10 minutes. We enjoyed looking around the candy shop and joke shop, and feeling - for a little while - like we were really there.

Nope - not embarrassed of my love for Harry Potter at all. :)

After our morning at Hogwarts, we went to join the rest of the family in the rest of the park. The kids rode several rides and had a great time. This park was not nearly as nice as the Disney parks, and much less organized. But we are not sorry we went.

The kids got a chance to take pictures with some of their favorite super heroes. This was huge for especially Cainan. He talked about it for days.

The park was only open until 8pm, and we left before closing, since we had to take a taxi to get back to our hotel. We left there with several Harry Potter goodies, and Cainan got a Spiderman, so everyone was happy.