Universal Studios

I was talking to the lady at the RV office when I mentioned that we were heading to Universal Studios and she said we should be ready for a 2 hour drive.  I checked our GPS and it said 35 miles and it would take just over an hour.  An hour for 35 miles seemed like a bit much but it didn't deter us.  Universal opens at 10:00 so we left at 8:40 and 1 hour and 45 minutes later we pulled in.  There was a lot of construction combined with rush hour which we understand starts at about 4:00 AM.

Universal Studios is much like Disney but with fewer people and shorter lines.  All good things.  The kids hit every ride in site and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.  Most of the rides were roller coasters or 4D rides and I prefer to keep my lunch in my stomach so we decided to take the Studio Tour and  browse the shops.  How boring.

We had purchased a ticket for 2 days however we covered most of what we wanted to see on day 1 so I doubt we will brave the L.A. gridlock for another day in Hollywood.  This opinion was confirmed when our drive home took 2 hours 15 minutes.  We heard that L.A. has the worst traffic in the world and I have no doubt that this is true.

Hogwarts in Harry Potter World.  

Also in Harry Potter World and no thats not real snow.   
We also got a glass of Butter Beer.
The shops included all sorts of Harry Potter paraphernalia from robes, 
scarves and even magic wands. 

Notice the lack of people.  Lots of the restaurants and shops were closed.
Perhaps open on weekends or during peak season. 

The buildings at the bottom of the pic are the Universal Studio backlots.
We took a tour which included being in the middle of a flash flood
plus a 3D King Kong show and a 3D Fast and Furious show.  

This broken up Boeing Jet liner was part of the movie War of the Worlds. 

This Transformer was one of 3 that put on an excellent photo op for people.
It was amazing how lifelike the robots movements were.

At one point Milo couldn't join the rest of the family on a ride due to a height restriction.
He was relegated to a playground under the supervision of Grandpa and Grandma.
He was not a happy camper.

After moping a bit he slowly got into hanging around with some of the other kids. 

Then he decided to change his perspective by hanging upside down.

All was forgiven when he was presented with an Ice Cream cone almost as big as him.  

Thursday the kids headed back to Universal Studios and we stayed at the RV Park.  Their drive home on Wednesday was only an hour versus our 2 hour plus drive.  The big difference was they didn't return till 6:00 and missed most of rush hour.  We are somewhat restricted in how long we can stay away as Charli can only hold it so long.

We spent Thursday taking Charli for a few walks around the Park and gave her a bath in the do it yourself dog wash located in the Park.  The RV Park is also stocked with all sorts of fruit trees and since most are in season we ended up picking a bag of 3 different types of oranges plus some limes and lemons.  We can pick all we can eat and am looking forward to enjoying them over the next few days.  Other than that we relaxed in the sun and 80 degree temps.  Keeping up with the grandkids is not an easy task.

Friday we are heading back to Disney in the afternoon and staying till 10:30 so we can take in the Main Street Electrical Parade and Fireworks.

Till then.