For his 7th birthday, Grandad and Gigi gifted Will with a trip to Universal Studios and Hollywood Studios. Will flew out with Grandad and Gigi early on Wednesday morning. I met them very early in the morning on Friday.
They spent their first two full days in the parks. They went to Universal and Hollywood Studios. Will loved Tower of Terror. It was favorite ride of the entire trip. He kept a journal while on the trip and drew pictures of Tower of Terror and the Rock-N-Roller Coaster because he loved them so much. Correction, he had me draw pictures for him.
I arrived in Orland around 1:30 in the morning on Friday. This is the place that we stayed.
My first day at Universal Studios with Will. Though he looks a little perturbed to be photographed, he was pretty happy to see me. When I finally arrived, he was sound asleep and didn't know I had arrived until he woke up around 7:00 a.m. on Friday morning. When he rolled over and realized that I was in the bed with him he yelled, "MOM!" and hugged me really tight. He pretty much stayed attached to my hip the rest of the trip. I think that I only had access to one of my hands for the next five days because he always had hold of the other one. It was a really precious week for me, and I am so thankful to have had this time with him.
Waiting in line at Spiderman.
At the King Kong ride. Will was so uncomfortable taking this picture.
Back at the Sponge-Bob store. We spent a lot of time in this store. No surprise. Will really wanted to take this picture for Finn and Sam.
This store is right next door to ET. Even though Will has never seen ET he was pretty excited about that ride. He was also excited about Jaws. We watched parts of that movie almost every night in the hotel.
Waiting in line at the Mummy Ride. If you stick your arm in the box, air will blow on your hand. It doesn't sound frightening. But when you aren't expecting it - it's terrifying.
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Looking for chocolate frogs. This was later in the evening. It was so hot during the day. We came back every evening first because it was cool and second so that we could try to ride Hagrid's.
One day I was able to spend the entire morning just leisurely looking around the park. I got up early, put in my headphones, and walked to the park. Grandad and Will stayed in the room and swam in the pool while I spent a couple of hours browsing around the park. Usually, I'm in huge rush to get to the rides. Well on this day I didn't ride any rides. Instead, I looked in every window and shop. I read every sign, and I watched every street show. I had the best time.
Jurassic Park Museum
When I got back to the room, I put my bathing suit on and went down to swim with Will. He and I raced for dive sticks for at least two hours while Grandad laid in the sun nearby. Dad told me that Will played in the pool the entire time I was in the park - which was at least 4 hours. Dad also told me that Will made a friend. Pretty soon after getting into the pool, Will introduced me to his friend. He said something along the lines of, "hey, this is my mom - this is who I was telling you about." I thought it was pretty sweet.
Later than evening we walked to Margaritaville for dinner. Will decided that he absolutely had to pull his tooth at dinner. Then he decided that he couldn't stomach the thought of pulling his tooth. He went back and forth for an hour.
Will wanted to send this picture to Finn and Sam. At one of our many stops at the Spongebob Store, Will decided that he too wanted a Mr. Krabs stuffed animal.
Calling the Ministry of Magic. We tried this on several occasions - and most times we couldn't figure out how to get it to work. Look at Will's face when we finally figured it out!
For some reason, Will decided to become a Simpsons fan this week. There is one ride in the whole world that makes me feel nauseous and it is the Simpson's Ride at Universal Studios. Maybe I'm still bitter than they took down "Back to the Future" to make room for the Simpsons. Anyway, this ride is awful. As luck would have it, Will loved it and wanted to ride over and over. I told him I'd ride it with him once and then made Grandad ride the other times. Afterward he wanted to meet all of the Simpson's characters, buy Simpson's t-shirts and then watch the entire series (to which Michael promptly said "No").
Will's other favorite ride was Hagrid's Magical Motorcar Ride. We rode twice. Both times we waited around an hour. He didn't complain about the wait. The first time that we rode, we rode in the front row, Will on the Motorbike, me in the sidecar. I have never seen him so excited on a ride.
Will also enjoyed "Men In Black." He is so competitive. It killed him that Grandad and I both scored higher than he did. My score had nothing to do with skill, it was only because I followed directions better than anyone else in my car. That didn't stop Will from being irritated with me.
The ride that Will hated the most was Jurassic Park River Adventure. I made a deal with Will that if he tried every ride one time, I wouldn't make him the ride again if he hated it. Well, he reminded me of our deal every time we walked by this ride. Check out his face! He looks terrified.
Will on the plane ride home.
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