Last Minute Trip to Universal

My annual pass for Universal is about to expire.  Since I don't plan on renewing it this year, I decided to take a day off work and squeeze one last solo trip in before I ran out of time.  It was a beautiful day with clear sky and weather in the 70s.  It's refreshing after weeks of rain, which is not normal at all (though definitely welcome with the drought we've had).

I started my day touring the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  The main ride wasn't open, but it gave me the opportunity to tour the castle without being rushed through the line.  Here are some of my favorite shots:

After that, I took a tram tour, my favorite part of going to the park (outside of Harry Potter of course). I think they were training, so there were some awkward pauses, but it was still a good tour.

I spent the rest of the day just wandering, taking random pictures.  It was a pleasant way to spend a few hours.  I didn't see any shows, but the shows aren't really why I go anyway.

Universal, it's been fun.  Can't wait to see you again in a couple of years when my little ones are old enough to enjoy it a bit more.

Day Trip and the First Look at Guardians of the Galaxy Tower

My family and I had the opportunity to go on another day-trip on Saturday.  It was a beautiful day for a trip.  And, we got to use our new stroller.  Now that our twins are 3, we invested in a cheap double umbrella stroller.  It takes up less space when we park it and just makes more sense since the kids spend more of their time walking than riding.  We got a Delta City Street LX.  We managed to purchase the version that usually goes for about $90 on Amazon for around $70.  For the price, it is definitely a good stroller.  No bells and whistles, but it's a place to put their butts, it's easy to steer, and even though my 6-year-old exceeds the weight limits, he can also fit in it and it's still easy to steer even with him. 

Now on to the day.  We arrived later than usual (around 8:30 on an 8AM opening) and headed to California Adventure.  There was no line to get fastpasses for Radiator Springs Racers, which is unheard of.  So, I quickly grabbed passes for a 10:30 return and we took off to ride on Toy Story and Little Mermaid.  After a bathroom break, we went back to Radiator Springs, where we took turns riding with our oldest while the other watched the little ones. 

Tried to get the twins on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree.  My boy twin loves it, but his sister wouldn't even sit.  She wanted nothing to do with it.  Oh well, maybe next time.  On our way out of Carsland, we stopped to take a shot of the recently uncovered area of the former Tower of Terror, soon to be Guardians of the Galaxy warehouse.

My thoughts on the new facade so far?  Well, I know it's not finished, so there's that.  In some ways it reminds me of DCA 1.0 (California Adventure pre-Buena Vista Street).  On the other hand, it looks cartoon-y.  This will probably be fine when it's surrounded with other Marvel features, but right now it looks kind of awkward.  It's not the most ugly thing I've ever seen, but it's not really an improvement over the dilapidated Tower of Terror either.  We will see what happens in the coming months I guess.

We had a delicious lunch at the Pacific Wharf Cafe, where the clam chowder in a bread bowl really hit the spot on a cool day.  The kids enjoyed their turkey sandwiches and fruit, too.  Everyone loved listening to the live Mariachi music while we ate.

 After lunch, we headed to Disneyland.  It was a bit more crowded than I was hoping considering there was a chance of rain and it was raining our entire way through Los Angeles to get there (somehow the rain never touched Disneyland Resort).  We were able to go on Small World, walk through Toontown, and check out the Star Wars exhibits in Tomorrowland before we had to leave.

Overall, it was a nice day.  I wish we could go on a non-crowded day, but those seem few and far between these days.  At least we made it before the price hike on Sunday (had to get my mother an AP before prices went up).  It was really fun (insert sarcasm) reading the article out loud while we were standing in line and having all the non-APs ask us to give them more information.