The Other Happiest Place on Earth

Being the incredibly smart and caring parents that we are, we came up with a wonderful idea for a family tradition.  As each of our kids reached their 12th birthday, we would take them each on their very own trip.  Sounds like a great idea, huh.  Of course, in our minds we were thinking about something along the lines of a trip to Lagoon or West Yellowstone.  Well, Mr. Alex had different plans…

We are suckers very caring parents, so of course we would agree to take Mr. Alex (aka… Harry Potter junkie) all the way across the United States to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Orland0 (it might also have a little to do with the fact that Ms. Mommy is double the Harry Potter geek that her oldest child is).

The two dorks in heaven…

Don’t you wish you had to keep your textbooks in a cage?

The two manly men checking out Hagrid’s hut.

Honeydukes… it was absolutely crazy.  Of course we had to bring home a couple of chocolate frogs.

No trip to Hogsmeade would be complete without eating at the Three Broomsticks (twice… as it turns out… the food was quite tasty… quite a refreshing change from the food at Disneyland).

Alex had a certain souvenir in mind… but I am not that big of a push over (I told him he can’t have his own broom until he gets his driver’s license).

 

It was amazing… it made you feel like you were really in Hogsmeade in the middle of winter… even though you were actually in Orlando in the middle of the summer… so I guess it really didn’t feel much at all like the middle of the winter… oh well… it sure felt “English”… in a Southern Florida kind of way…

Alex found a pretty sweet ride for his future car.

We promise… it was legal butter beer… apparently it was pretty tasty (especially the frozen ones).

One final stop that we just had to make was the wand shop… because who in their right mind could leave without purchasing their very own toy collectible wand (or maybe 3 of them… because, heaven forbid that the children that got left at home… one of whom couldn’t give a flying crap about Harry Potter… went without their very own toy collectible wands)…

One of the highlights of the trip was that Alex was chosen to have a wand choose him.

We also spent a little quality time inside of Hogwart’s Castle.

It really was a “magical” place.

Day Two of Mr. Spoiled Boy Alex’s special trip was spent at the original Universal Studios Park in Orlando.  Not quite as “magical” but still quite fun.

Alex got a little carried away…

We found the perfect place to eat… on a side note… it made me feel really old when Alex asked me “what the heck was a Dagwood sandwich”.

Alex did a little deep thinking…

Mandee “went to her happy place”.

We may have done one too many roller coasters…

Then some dude in leotards showed up… it was a little awkward for everyone involved…

We got to hang out with a one-eyed twinkie… or maybe he was from some obscure movie or something (which just happens to be Maggie’s favorite)…

Mandee was once again completely blown away by the amazing romantic abilities of her husband.  I took her way back to the night we were engaged… if you don’t know the story… it is probably better that way… I would like to keep what remaining shreds of my dignity that I still have left…

Quite possibly the most enjoyable part of the day…

Personal side note… my wife is horrified that I am a closet “Simpsons junkie”… please don’t tell anyone… but Homer is one of my heroes.

I have always wanted to go to a Kwik-E-Mart… check that one off of the bucket list.

A little friendly advice from a friend…

And… just to make most of you feel old… Alex hadn’t the slightest idea what this car was… wow… Come on McFly!!!

All in all, it was a wonderful trip.  It was one of those once in a lifetime things that we will remember forever.  It was really great to spend some time just with Alex.  We don’t tell him enough how great of a kid he is (and, it turns out that he is actually quite fun to be around… who knew?)