Wizarding Wednesday

When the topic of school’s fall break came up a few weeks ago, Afton immediately said she wanted to go to Disneyland. Or, even better… Harry Potter World! I didn’t know there was such a thing, but apparently there are three of them at the Universal Studios parks. A trip like that is more ambitious than our typical fall break plans, and cost and time off from work made me reluctant. The boys both said they weren’t interested in going at all, so we tried to think of other options. Afton kept lobbying for a few days, but fearing she was pressuring me too much, left a cute note on my nightstand saying, “We don’t have to go to disnyland [sic] if you don’t want to.” Would we really go on a family vacation and just take her? I guess so.

We often have to strongly encourage Ethan and Gerrit to join us for family activities, so maybe they were just bluffing when they said they didn’t want to go, but we called them on it. That would be two fewer airplane tickets, and would be a nice practice run for when the boys are both on missions and we just have Afton to hang out with. So this past Wednesday, Shannon, Afton and I wandered into a simulated Hogsmeade in California.

They did an amazing job in the construction. There is a lot of real stone, from cobblestone streets to the buildings, that gave it an authentic feel. There is a broom ride simulator, the line for which winds through a re-creation of Hogwarts Castle. With very few people in front of us, we hurried quickly through to the ride, but later went back through with the realization that the castle itself is as much a part of the experience as the ride. That, and the first time we went on the simulator it stopped for a minute right as the Whomping Willow was about to whomp us, so we missed a section and wanted to see the whole thing. We also enjoyed fish and chips and butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks.

Here’s a magical mixture for you: Take a very early morning flight, walk for several miles, bike a couple more, get a bit sun-burned, ride some jerky spinning simulators with 3D glasses on, and have the Harry Potter soundtrack playing loudly and incessantly all around you. These are certainly some of the ingredients for Puking Pastilles. We didn’t get all the way there, but were close.

There are other TV and movie themed attractions and shows throughout the park, including the Simpsons Krustyland, a parody of a theme park made into a real theme park, The Mummy roller coaster, on which you travel backward for part of the ride, and the tour of the Universal Studios lots, where they are filming current movies and TV shows. The best ride was Jurrasic Park, because it eschewed all the twisting, jerking and 3D glasses for the clearly more pleasant 84-foot plunge down a chute. Getting drenched was just a bonus.

We also went out on a limb for this vacation and didn’t rent a car, opting to use Uber over our three days instead. We’d never used it, but one of my co-workers doesn’t own a car and still manages to get around reliably with ride sharing, so we thought we’d give it a try. It turned out to be pretty awesome because:

1. I didn’t have to drive around LA
2. I didn’t have to find or pay for parking (including at our hotel, at which the lot was completely full)
3. We got dropped off right in front of places we wanted to go
4. With some promotions, it ended up being cheaper than a rental car
5. We met some really interesting people as our drivers, like a makeup artist, a retired aeronautical engineer, a drummer for a rock band, and a film production assistant from São Paulo with whom we chatted about Brazil, Brazilian food, and trying to break into the movie business

Overall, the trip was a blast. And I’m sure Ethan and Gerrit also had a great time at home…