Universal Studios, CA ~ June 14, 2022

I can't believe this was over 9 months ago!  We decided to visit Universal Studios before our big move to Illinois.  We just never thought about coming here while we lived here. Maybe it's because none of us really like going on too many rollercoaster rides?

9am to 9pm! Woohoo... here we go!

A photo just in case we forget where we parked:

Another reminder (see the Frankenstein??) on the way up the escalator:

We are here!

Just had to take all these photo in front of these iconic signage :-)

Just the boys this time.  Everyone is really excited!

I'm glad it's not too busy:

Our first stop, a Kung Fu Panda show.  I love the tiles in here. Ha!

It's amazing what can be done with technology these days. This was just the intro and then we walked into a theatre for a 3D show:

Okay, not a bad start!  Moving on!

Chimneys are too cute! We find our way into Hogswart:

Impressive castle!

But first, Graham is eyeing some wands:

I think each wand was at least $60.  Yikes! So needless to say, we didn't approve of the purchase. Although, we did notice that these wands can be used to do different things in this Harry Potter area. But still, that's a lot of money for what is practically just a stick when you leave the property!

There's a rollercoaster in there! We decided not to ride it:

Charlie and I did put on a brave face and went on this one instead.  Well, Graham and Charlie are trying out the seat first:

Graham decided not to join us and Bobby is not too much into rollercoaster rides. So it's just me and Charlie!

Phew! The ride was fast but thankfully just short enough for me to survive it.  Ha ha!

Back to the rest of the crew:

I don't remember what drink this was now. Obviously loaded with sugar, I'm sure. Ah yes, Butterbeer - butterscotch, sugar, and water! What else can you NOT search up online these days. Ha!

There's the train!

Okay, moving on to another section.  We find the world of the Simpsons.  Charlie is trying to chomp into the donut :-D

Graham has asked if he could watch The Simpsons but I don't think he is of age yet. 

There was another ride in here but after watching a video online of the ride, we decided to not do it. We are getting smarter after going on a ride at California Adventures - "The ride we don't speak of" now. LOL!! 

I think the tour around the backstage is probably more relaxing for us:

Thankfully the wait to get on the bus wasn't too long.  I'm not sure why Charlie is wearing glasses??! Ha!

No filming today, just us on the tour going by:

Parts of this tour ends up being some of ride with movie effects. This one is obviously in the dark!

There's the tunnel we just came out from:

Aaahhh!! Dinosaur!!!

This other moment is a remake of a flood. Here comes the water down the hill!!

I remember this one from waaaay back when I was visiting during college. The infamous Jaws!

I can't remember the name of this set now, but the damage here is definitely realistic:

It's an airplane! Or was an airplane:

Well, that was fun.  Time for the biggest ever pretzel. I think it was like $20!! 

Next on our list is to watch the WaterWorld show. It's a rather long wait but thankfully the phone is available to the boys.  What did we do prior to cellphones??!

This is quite the set!

Pretty neat when you have an airplane crashing on set!

Graham and Charlie definitely enjoyed this one:

We went to watch a bird/pet show after that.  I think this lady is actually holding a big hawk. But it's a bit tricky to see because the bird looks rather fuzzy with too many feathers??!

Alrighty, time to move to the lower section of this park:

Of course, it had to be a race to see who would get down quicker:

No messing around on this escalator. It is a high one!

It's "Blue" the dinosaur from Jurassic Park!

We are all debating if we want to go on this ride.  Hmmm....

We eventually did go on that ride at the very end of the day.  But of course, we watched another video online of someone else that had gone of the ride.  Ha ha!

Transformers!!

We finally let the boys buy something, but I bet you they don't even remember what it is now.  There are still so many of their boxes littered with toys all over the lower level of our current house. Sheesh!!

For some reason I'm not remembering this one.  Ah, I think this is the Jurassic Park ride:

We did get a little bit wet after the ride, but thankfully that drop at the very end wasn't too scary.  Phew!

It's a Decepticon from Transformers but the line is too long to take a photo.  I'm glad the boys are not too persistent about photo-taking when it comes to these or any characters:

Boys are having a fun time with this motorcycle and side-car here:

Ha! Look at these boys, such actors! Graham is now on the motorcycle and Charlie is in the side-car:

Who knew there was a waterpark here!

Time to go on the Despicable ride:

For some reason, I have no recollection of what this ride was about.  Money well spent. LOL!

And we are back at Hogwarts - this time actually taking a photo with the train conductor:

I think we really wanted another serving of Butterbeer. But we had to chug it down pretty quickly because this one little area we went into did not allow drinks.

We are surrounded by boxes and boxes of "magic" wands!  I think Bobby had to actually chuck the other half of our Butterbeer drink. Boooo... and nevermind that, the show in here wasn't all that great either!  Oh well, now we know.

We go into the Universal Studio downtown to find some dinner:

Looks like we found some stuff animals which the boys just had to have :-P

More family we-fies!

We wanted to eat somewhere else but the wait time was too long, so we end up at a Chinese restaurant:

Cool King Kong!

I don't remember this store - must have been while we were waiting for some dessert?

Somehow we managed to convince Charlie that we didn't need any popcorn after dinner:

What a long but fun day!

We are going to miss California for sure!!

Yup, a successful day for sure :-D

The one amusement park we didn't take the boys was SeaWorld prior to leaving CA. We were a bit torn about going because we do love animals but do not agree to how the orcas are being held in captivity there. We'll see if our views of that change on day.  But in the meantime, there are still so many places in Chicago that we have yet to visit. Or even in the other nearby states. Sometimes it's easier to travel elsewhere than to actually drive into downtown Chicago. It's crazy!

We are hoping to eventually travel back to California for a vacation. Some day as we definitely miss the sunshine!

By the way, here are the couple of souvenir t-shirts that we bought for the boys:

Obviously a tad large, especially Charlie's. Ha ha!

Hopefully they can still find these shirts in their closet. I'm guessing it might actually fit by now :-)