During Balloon Fiesta while we rented our house out, we decided to go to Universal Studios in Florida. The boys are HUGE Harry Potter fans, so it was a much-anticipated trip.
First we had a stop in Louisville where Lamoni and I had a business function. We hired a babysitter with 5 star reviews and had security cameras in our hotel suite so we could keep an eye on things. They loved her and it all went smoothly!
Peter could ride all but 2 of the rides at Universal. Lamoni was happy he had a buddy who could do those other two with him!
Diagon Alley
We took the earliest bus every day to get to the park right when it opened. I felt *huge* but looking at pictures I wasn't! That's not how I felt walking around 14 hours every day, though...
Liam was so exhausted when we'd get back at night that he'd fall right to sleep.
The epic chocolate shake we shared at Chocolate Emporium.
Liam wouldn't get in the picture with us, but here's a partial family picture!
This is the Hogwarts Express. Probably Liam's favorite ride.
This is the line for the Gringott's ride. I couldn't ride anything fun because I was pregnant, but some of the lines were really cool.
Choosing their wands. The boys earned a couple hundred combined in spending money. They were all going to share a wand, but one thing led to another and we ended up with three $70 wands.
The flight there
All out of order, but here we are in Kentucky. We met up with my parents and Lamoni's uncle and had some good times together.
Not sure why this one is in here, but Lamoni made a cobbler at home in his dutch oven in the firepit.
Liam bought Hedwig at Universal
We took turns next to the window on the flights.
It was a VERY early flight home.
Waiting in the hotel lobby for our Uber to the airport to head home. I was SOOO ready!
Okay, back to the Universal pictures again...
Liam and I spent 5 days in Dr. Seuss Land. There are 5 rides there. With waits up to 60 minutes long. It was a blast. Did I mention how hot and humid it was?
Sometimes Peter joined us when Lamoni and Benjamin went on the two rides he couldn't.
We were there for Benjamin's birthday so he got a badge that got him some special attention.
There was a splash pad at Dr. Seuss Land that we spent a lot of time at. Liam even warmed up enough that he liked it!
On one of the last days we realized that Liam was tall enough to go on the Hipogriff rollarcoaster!
And the last day we stuffed his shoes a little bit so he could go on the Minions ride too.
Liam loved to look at the map the boys got with their wands.
The best crepe ever. The food kept me going!
Our hotel had a swimming pool. We took 1 day off of the parks and swam and shopped.
The boys bought Wizards chess.
There was a boat ride that took us by the fancy resorts. We stayed at the Holiday Inn. :-)
Peter bought this shirt.
Benjamin considered this shirt but bought a different one.
Liam begged and begged for a wand. Lamoni and I decided to surprise the boys and told the boys we'd buy them 1 toy each. Liam picked a wand and never let it out of his sight.
Benjamin's birthday dinner at the restaurant attached to our hotel.
We got birthday donuts instead of a cake.
Liam carefully picked out some candy each day to buy with his money.
It took me a couple days to convince Liam to go on this ride where he had the potential of getting wet.
This is at the Three Broomsticks restaurant. He fell asleep on my lap waiting for Lamoni and the boys!
We found an animal show that Liam absolutely loved! It was nice to sit down in the shade and have him entertained. We watched the show a couple of times.
Butterbeer ice cream
The wands were interactive and could perform spells throughout the parks.
We gave the option to go in later each morning but the boys would always turn us down even though they were exhausted.
We had a 1 bedroom suite, and they all ended up on the same bed watching cooking shows.
Naptime in Dr. Seuss Land listening to the same annoying line of a song on repeat for hours.
We ate dinner at both of the famous Harry Potter restaurants. The food wasn't amazing, but it was a cool experience.
The robes at Universal were a couple hundred dollars, so we had bought a $20 robe for Benjamin's birthday in advance from Amazon and brought it for him to open.
Insisting that he didn't want to ride it since he might get wet.
The Cat in the Hat was a great ride since it was air conditioned and didn't have a long wait time.
It was a fun adventure. I'd never do it again pregnant and with anyone under 7, but we survived. Lamoni and the boys had an absolute blast. I'd also not recommend going for longer than 3 days!
