What lovely experiences for having his birthday button on.......and congrats again for getting chosen for the wand ceremony.........yep you had to get that wand......love that they announced his birthday in such a way in MiB!!
Your pictures are beautiful........they really are.......never really seen the curious George area daytime, only during HHN where it’s not as lively.........
I find so many people are wearing celebration buttons at Disney now that they don't really garner the same special attention they used to. So it's nice at Universal that it's still special to see someone with a button and a lot of attention is given to their celebration. DS has gotten lots of attention the last two visit with his birthday button on!
Thank you! I'm happy to have DH's talent for taking and editing photos to make my TRs pop!
I don't think we had ever ventured past the Woody Woodpecker coaster before this trip so it was interesting to see another corner of the park we usually ignore.
That ball studio sounds like a kid's wonderland. I had no idea about it, but I'm glad to now know there's another kid-friendly place inside the Universal parks. But no air conditioning or air circulation? Yikes. That probably gets rough in the dead of summer.
Hooray for Paxton getting chosen again for the wand ceremony. It would have been really hard to pass up on buying that wand! And between that and getting called out on MIB, I'm sure he was having a fantastic first day! No doubt he's going to remember how awesome these one-on-one trips with his parents were.
I really didn't either until I started reading about it in Facebook groups. I figured we'd better check it out while DS is still young enough to enjoy it, but there were plenty of adults having fun in there too. I guess you're never really too old for the joy of shooting someone unexpectedly with foam balls. lol The no a/c was a bit frustrating. If it were air conditioned it would be a GREAT place to spend an in-park break relaxing on a bench while the kids burn off some energy. At least we were out of the direct sunlight, but still.
It was a lot of great birthday attention to kick off the first day! He acted embarrassed at MIB but I know he was loving it. And although it doesn't always show on his face at Ollivanders in photos, I know he loves getting chosen there too.
I hope these will be special memories for him, and I hope we will be able to do something similar one-on-one for DD when she is a bit older, though I know that will probably be tougher with an older child who understands he is being left behind and what he is missing out on.
ET!! Good choice!
That ball area looks pretty fun, not gonna lie hahaha
Cool that DS was picked for the wand show..but maybe not so cool since he walked away with a new wand!
But hey it's part of the experience!
I LOVE ET!! I recently listened to a podcast with a guy who rode it 50+ times in one day. I think I could ride that many times and love it every time. It's so classic!
It was a nice place to get off my feet while DS ran around. But I could see running around with him more had it not been so HOT in there!!
I have to wonder if the wand choosing had happened later in the trip if we would have been willing to buy yet another one. lol But with it being the first day and the excitement of being there for another trip, I'm sure that swayed our decision! But it made him so incredibly happy, so it was worth the purchase of another one. And now at least when we go next fall and take DD we will already have 2 interactive ones so they don't have to share!
Love the pictures of Curious George area! I remember my boys splashing around in there when they were small! Great memories!
So nice that DS got recognition while wearing his Birthday button!
This is definitely a birthday he won't forget!!
I wish we would have brought DS's suit so he could splash around because I know he would have loved that. We may have to plan on that next trip. He was looking at the water play area longingly as we walked through to get to the ball factory. lol
I certainly hope so! It's been a lot of fun for all of us getting to spend his last couple of birthdays there.
I'm right there with you. I think I enjoy the queue as much as the ride!
I love everything thing about that ride, from the start of the dated video with ET and Steven Spielberg to the very end when ET says my name!!
Oh my...that looks like fun! I wonder of grown men are allowed to play too?
I think the last time I was there it was Feivel's Playland and a Curious George splash pad. Has the ball pit replaced one of those?
Yes, there were plenty of adults playing around with the kids!! lol Fievel's Playland is still there, then the Woody Woodpecker coaster, then the Curious George area in the very back of Kids Zone. The splash pad is still there, with the ball area at the very back of that. We had to hurry through it so we didn't get soaked trying to get to the ball factory!
Wow, that's a change, trying to get people to come in! I remember when it first opened in Hogsmeade there was a huge line outside and about an hour wait to get in.
I know!! While the one in Diagon Alley has always been less of a wait than Hogsmeade, I don't think I ever see it where they are trying to encourage people to come in so they can fill up a show! I guess that's mid-September for you.
I don't blame you. I would have done the same thing (and of course Universal knows that so it's why they have that show...)
ABSOLUTELY. They know all us Potter nerds are not only there hoping to get picked ourselves, now we are bringing our kids too and if they get picked, you better believe we are buying that wand. lol
Following along
What a great start for your ds for the trip...a name shout out and the wand ceremony!!! Wow!!!
I do know all about long car trips. We live in northern Canada ( Alberta ) and honestly when we " travel " it is always a long distance. We visit my family which is an 11- 12 hr drive, and the dd has moved out into the big city and it takes about 7 hours to see her. My kids have learned from a very young how to travel long distances in the car. We do look forward to them as it is part of our " trip" and it is just down time from the busyness of our lives. We read, listen to podcasts and watch movies too!!! I have finally learned to sleep a bit too while traveling, which is nice - or maybe it is just me getting older
Living vicariously through your trip report...we have had crappy fall weather ( cold and snowy already ) and it seems winter is coming fast and furiously. We were hoping to be able to do a first trip for the dh and our boys this year...but the dd is having a destination wedding in May in Mexico, and the older ds will be graduating and the youngest ds is turning 16 so another young male on our auto insurance. Since all 3 happen within a 2 month span, any thought of a trip in the near future has been crossed off until all that is done. ( And yes, I need to update my signature )
I can't wait to hear more about the trip!
It was such an amazing start to the trip, it seemed like it would be hard to top! But we still had SO MUCH FUN ahead of us on this trip, we just didn't know it yet!!
We have sort of avoided long road trips with our kids as much as possible, but now that we are having to buy airfare for 4 of us as an alternative, I guess I should start getting used to them!! lol We have several long road trips coming up in the next year, so by the end of that I'm thinking we will all be pro travelers. At least I hope so!
We have had to scale back our vacations a bit lately because of our upcoming
Disney Cruise, so I can understand that. It's a huge financial undertaking, so it's really blowing the travel budget!!