Harry Potter and the Excruciatingly Hot Day

We left our hotel in Burbank and drove twenty minutes to Universal Studios Hollywood where we spent our day. We were allowed to enter the park an hour early and headed straight for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I'm a huge fan of Harry Potter (though not to the level of Disney) and enjoyed watching the films and reading the books. We had visited the land in its Orlando location back in 2013, but I enjoyed exploring it again. Since it was a short wait time, we went on the Forbidden Journey ride first. The line takes you through various sections of Hogwarts castle including talking portraits, Dumbledore's office, and the Gryffindor Common Room. The ride itself is well themed as you fly through different areas of the castle with Harry and friends. Afterwards, we walked over to Flight of the Hippogriff, a family-friendly roller coaster, and flew over Hagrid's hut on the proud creature. We looked through the different shops in Hogsmeade and listened to Moaning Myrtle speak to us in the bathrooms. The land is well designed and you really do feel as if you're in the magical world.

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Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry

The password is "Lemon Drop"

Hagrid's Hut

The next attraction we visited was the Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem in which you are "transformed" into one of the cute, yellow workers for Gru and run through a training course to prove you can fill the role. The ride itself was essentially a giant simulator and was enjoyable, though we definitely waited longer than the twenty minutes displayed outside the attraction. The wait was realistically forty-five minutes to an hour and was in the scorching sun. Did I forget mention is was 112 degrees at the park today? The heat was intense and consistent from the start of our day until we left. We searched for rides which provided shelter from the sun and the Simpsons Ride fit the bill. Although, the wait time stated fifty minutes, we waited closer to twenty minutes, and indoors no less. The standby queue contained numerous references to the show and the ride itself was quite humorous. This section of the park included many recreations of famous landmarks from the show including, Moe's Tavern, the Comic Book Store, and Krusty Burger all of which were well themed.

Definitely only a 20 minute wait

This could be your life as a minion

The Simpsons...

The last attraction we went on was Jurassic Park, a thrilling water ride with a seventy-five minute wait (couldn't imagine why). The queue was entirely outside and even with fans blowing mist, it was still sweltering hot waiting to go on the refreshing ride. After closer to an hour and a half, we finally sat in our seats and rode down the river of the attraction. This was the only time I can recall hoping a ride would break down because there was a nice waterfall we passed that I would have been more than happy to cool off by for a few hours. After the ride, it was around 2:30 pm and we had done everything we wanted to do in the park, so we decided to see a movie in the nearby theater in the City Walk in order to receive a few hours of cherished air conditioning. We saw Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp, a funny and great film. Afterwards, we returned to Universal Studios so mom could purchase an ornament for Christmas and I could buy some Butterbeer. We left the park hot and sweaty, but satisfied with our time there.

Welcome to Jurassic Lines

For dinner, Zach suggested we eat at Saved by the Max, a restaurant which recreates the set of the 90s show Saved by the Bell. We arrived, but decided not to eat there since it was pretty pricey. We ate at Baja Fresh instead and afterwards drove an hour to my Uncle Marc and Aunt Jackie's house, arriving around 8:00 pm. We chatted for a bit but now most everyone has gone to sleep. Tomorrow we will visit the Reagan Library and spend time with the family.

$51 per person, I'm gonna go with a solid no

For a difference perspective on today's events, read my mom's blog here.