For the big surprise, I got them each new t-shirts and a journal (Mickey & Minnie for Mackenzie, Harry Potter for Rylan) and wrapped them up. We told them we were going to let them open one Christmas present early as they might need these things. Here's the video - it's a nice view of the recliner and cabinets - Nick put it on a tripod and wasn't watching so their faces are at the bottom of the screen most of the time.
Not sure why their excitement led to wrestling, but whatever. I thought Mackenzie would cry, but nope, just try to take Rylan down. Stinker!
We stayed at Cabana Bay Resort at Universal and it was great! We wanted to stay at one of the parks so we wouldn't have to drive at least one day. Cabana Bay Resort had the best rate for the space. Our room had a kitchenette, 2 bathroom sinks, 2 beds and a pull-out couch. Our kids are violent sleepers and they fight, so they can't sleep together and neither Nick or I want to sleep with them, so we wanted them each to have their own bed. Usually pull out couches are terrible, but this one was actually really comfortable so it was perfect! The kitchenette was perfect because we chose to buy groceries and eat breakfast in our room every day and pack sandwiches for lunch.
Here are the only pictures of the room - chips and dip for bedtime snack!
Pull-out couch in the foreground and two beds on the other side of the divider.
The bathroom set up was great - a sink in by the shower, a sink in the middle, and the toilet was in it's own room to the right.
The lobby at Cabana Bay - it was super fun to see everything decorated for Christmas while we were wearing shorts.
Palm trees and Christmas trees, I love it!
Okay, we didn't eat in our room every morning. We got in late the first night, so we ate breakfast in the hotel the first morning. They had a great cafeteria style diner. So many choices and they were delicious! Of course, the kids picked chocolate chip muffins! They were so big, they ate the leftovers the next morning too!
I should have taken more pictures of the whole resort - it was great. Not super fancy, but perfect for families. There were 2 pool areas, one had a waterslide and the other had a lazy river, both had sandy areas to play in. The kids only swam one evening as we were usually dead tired getting back each night. The evenings were a bit chilly (upper 60's) for swimming, but the water was warm so the kids had fun. Here's a link to the website - click on 'photo gallery' in the upper right corner to see photos!
When you stay at one of the Universal resorts, you get into Harry Potter Hogsmeade 1 hour early. It was totally worth it because the lines for the Harry Potter stuff were some of the longest later on. There are two different Universal parks: Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. We liked Islands of Adventure better, but we got the 2-day park to park passes so we could go between both for 2 days. They get you on that one, because you can only go on the Hogwarts Express (that goes between the 2 parks) if you have tickets for both parks. It was a neat train ride too, really felt like you were there. The whole Harry Potter world felt just like being on the movie set, it was amazing! I could have stayed there all day!
Waiting in line to get in on the first day!
Walking into Hogsmeade! (a wizard village from the books)
We were surprised how many people were visiting the park in HP robes - it wasn't hot, but hot in robes I would suspect. I appreciated it though, it added to the ambiance!
One of the first rides we went on was Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey - it was in the Hogwarts Castle and the line wound through familiar places in the castle, so there was always something neat to look at while in line. We only waited about 20 minutes, and it actually was perfect to be able to see everything along the way - talking portraits, one of the classrooms, Dumbledore's office, the Gryffindor common room - it was all like being right in the books! Here's the fat lady.
A classroom with Harry, Ron, & Hermione talking to us.
Dragon skeleton hanging in the classroom
The sorting hat. The pictures aren't great because they are from my phone and it was dark in the castle.
The ride itself was fun, but Mackenzie got off crying - I think she had no idea what to expect (none of us did) and some parts were a little scary. Each 'cart' sat 4 people side by side and we went through the ride seeing actual things and then screens that simulated flying on a broom. I had to close my eyes during the flying parts because it would make me feel a little sick, but other than that, it was super fun. But there was one part when a dragon head came right at us and blasted us with some heat. The seat where Mackenzie was sitting got the brunt of the blast, so she was scared by that part. But the next day we convinced her to go on it again and she sat in a different spot and said she liked it better. All the details of it all were just amazing.
Hogwarts Castle
It was spendy, but really good! The best part was the butterbeer! We were advised that the frozen version was the best and we certainly thought so! It was basically a cream soda slushy with butterscotch creamy froth on top - so delicious!
The Hogwarts Express (this was just a replica to take photos with)
On the train, you actually sat in compartments like in the books.
The window was a screen that played a video of what you would expect to see if you were actually at Hogwarts - it was very realistic. Even the frosted windows to the hallway were screens that had shadows and voices of the characters walking by.
The Knight Bus
Mackenzie laid her head on her hands in this photo and I didn't understand why right away. But we kept calling it the Knight Bus and she heard Night Bus. I didn't bother explaining it as we were quickly off to the next thing!
The Gringott's Bank ride was one of our favorites - it was part roller coaster, part simulator with screens and 3D images. Here is part of the line, in the bank lobby with huge chandeliers and animatronic goblins that look freakishly real!
We went on the Gringott's ride 4 times, and 3 of them right in a row. We discovered a neat little trick at Universal, but maybe it only worked because it wasn't that busy. When we got off a ride, we asked if we could get right back on, and almost every time, they would say yes and send us through a hallway or door to get back into the express pass line or the child swap line, it was great! This trick didn't work at Disney.
Checking out all the wands. Rylan wanted a wand pretty badly, but for $50, we told him no. They were pretty cool as they were interactive, so there were a couple dozen places where you could do magic. Through infrared sensors if you moved your wand in just the right way, something would happen at the various spots. But we were busy trying to hit all the rides, and we didn't want to be carrying a wand all day, so he was bummed, but got over it. They each got to pick out an ornament (something smallish and unbreakable) while there to remember our trip.
Here is a little video of us walking up to the Gringott's Bank. I tried to capture the magic of it, it really was amazing to feel like you were right in the movie! I was nerding out!
We happened upon the Frog Choir performance - we saw it labeled on the app, but didn't know when it would be - it was pretty cool. Here are two clips.
Speaking of the app, if you ever go to Universal, get the free app - it had a great map with all the wait times listed. We found that most of the rides had shorter wait times than were listed, so that was nice too! Much easier than trying to fight with a paper map.
Okay, that seems like enough for the first post! Stay tuned for more!
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