We went to the Gingerbread house for breakfast with pancakes (of course) then led the way to our first park- UNIVERSAL STUDIOS!!!! I know that a lot of people might think that Universal is lame in comparison to Disney World, but my kids love super heroes! Heck they are super heroes, just in miniature! First we went to Adventure Island to see if we could meet some of the Marvel super heroes. We got a lot more than what we imagined! First they came down the street on three wheeled motor bikes then jumped off to visit with the crowds that were on the sidewalks. We were a little sad since it seemed that there were just too many people. Austin had his magic button from Give Kids the World on his jacket, along with his Make A Wish button as soon as Rouge and Storm spotted that they cleared the way for Austin and got down on his level to visit with him. Then their helper person asked if we wanted to wait in a specific area and that they would have all the heroes come and visit with us. ALL? Yes, all of them. Oh man, the kids were excited and the 20 minute wait was long for them. It was sooo worth it. They came up to us and visited with each one in our family. They loved hearing Austin's story, and were amazed. They told him how brave he was, and how strong and helpful Emma was, and what good parents we were. Very cool. I teared up a little. They kids were so happy. Spider-man, Cyclopse, Wolverine, Captain America, Rouge, and Storm were there. Emma was very bashful around the male heroes, but with Rouge and Storm she was in heaven. They were very sweet to her, and by the end Emma became quite animated and comfortable talking. Austin loved meeting with everyone, and talked and talked. He told them stories about how he did super hero things, and how he beat this bad guy or that bad guy. And then told them how he had watched a show with them in it and what he liked that they had done. It was really great to see how engaged he was and how engaged they were. It was perfect. We spent over a half an hour visiting, and then took lots of pictures. They hugged all of us and rode off on their bikes.
We wanted to find a ride we could all go on. We found the Teridactical ride in the Jurassic Park section. Austin had seen the scary Jurassic Park ride on an advertisement, and really wanted to go on it. I tried to tell him that it would be on the scary side but he insisted that he was brave. He really liked it till the end. He then informed me he did not want to go on it again. From then on he would ask if I thought if this ride, or that ride would be scary. Poor bud!
We kept walking and hit Harry Potter World. Butter beer is amazing. I don't want to know the calorie content, as I am sure it is astronomically high. We went to Olivander's Wand Shop, and to see the Hogwart's Express. There was a roller coaster we could all go on, the Hypengryf. We all went on it a couple of times, then Ben was done. Austin and I went on it 8 times in a row! We would get off the ride and he would say "I wanna do it again!!!". And so we would.
After the roller coaster we took off to the Hogwarts Castle for the tour. Austin was pretty bummed he wasn't tall enough to go on it. The castle was amazing with moving and talking pictures and snow coming down in the common room. We went to lunch at The Three Broom Sticks with the shadows of crows flying across the walls.
We walked to Dr. Suesse Land and watched the show and met the characters. Austin was very excited to meet all of them. Thing One and Thing Two danced with him and jumped around. The Grinch gave him a huge hug. Emma sat there petrified, refusing to talk to anyone. She did enjoy the Dr. Seusse ride. We left the park to meet Stephanie and her family at Give Kids the World.
