Universal Studios Birthday Trip

We took Cass and three of his friends to Universal Studios. The idea was planted by Moses, one of the three kids who came along, a few months back. He joined us last year for Cass's Adventure City party, and when Corrie saw him recently, she asked what should we do for the party this year. He suggested Universal Studios. 

We committed before we checked the prices. (Gulp.) Oh well, experiences are too valuable to trip out on the price tag (gulp), and we're not destitute. Anyway, one of the weird things about the trip, before we get on with the park, are the kids. Last year, the kids who were invited were Moses, Jesse, and Olivia. And Ari, but we couldn't get that worked out. Jesse's family has their own thing happening, and he missed the trip last year. This year it was Moses, Jesse, and Olivia again, only this Olivia was different from last year's Olivia and Jesse made it this year. In any case, that's them above at the globe. Camille was with us, and so was Moses's dad, Tony. We carpooled up to the park, I drove Tony, Moses, Jesse and Cass; while Corrie drover Olivia and Camille, sort of a boys and girls car thing happening. Olivia and the boys got along totally fine at the park, so there wasn't an issue there. 

Having Tony there with us was so helpful. Just an extra pair of adult eyes with us as we traveled with five kids, three who were not me and Corrie's, and four who weren't Tony's. We pulled it off, and everyone had a great time. 

So, Universal Studios theme park has multiple levels, but really only two are for rides and other guest things. The Upper lot is the area in the vicinity of the entrance, and the Lower lot is at the bottom of four or five massive escalators:

I took the preceding picture along one of the platforms in between the escalators. Those suckers move people maybe 17 stories (by a rough calculation) from the Upper lot to the Lower lot. By any measure, a covered-yet-outdoor escalator dropping---or raising---you 17 stories is quite an experience.

The first ride we did, because the kids wanted to right away, was on the Lower lot (so we did all the Lower lot stuff first) was the Jurassic Park ride. It was fun, and we all got a little wet, all of us besides Tony, who, because of where he sat, got totally soaked. He spent the rest of the day getting dry. No good deed goes unpunished, I suppose.

Next we did the Mummy ride, as high quality a roller coaster as they offer. Camille was able to ride, and it was great. Afterwards, we went to the Mario Land:

It had some neat vistas, and we rode the Mario Kart ride. It was in Bowser's Castle, and here the line was one of the longest we stood in, and yet was less than a half-hour.

The ride itself gave you a fancy visor and controlled your trip around a track as you "raced" and blasted enemies. It was standard virtual ride, and I came in second place to Tony in our little octet as far as high-score rankings went.

We walked through the Simpsons land after stopping for lunch right outside Mario Land, and while some of the 3D Simpsons stuff is off-putting, other stuff is kinda neat:

The Simpsons land is on the way to the old-school, famous Tour Ride, which we did next. A covered tram ride for over 30 minutes? Sign me up. The ride hasn't changed much over the years, with the Jaws part of the ride unchanged for fifty years.

The Bates Motel part of the lot is also the same, but this time there was an actor playing Norman, stuffing a corpse into his trunk, and then chasing after us  brandishing a large chef's knife:

Along the tram ride was the wreckage of an airplane for the Tom Cruise "War of the Worlds" movie from 2005. Turns out they purchased the airplane from one of the airplane graveyards, transported it to the backlot in pieces, wrecked it some more, and here we are. You get a sense for how big the wreckage really is:

Eventually we made our way back to the Upper lot and headed towards the Harry Potter land. It was done very well, and if I knew more about Harry Potter, it probably would have landed differently.

There are two rides with entrances right next to each other: one in the castle/mountain structure below, and one right next door snaking through the trees. The one inside the castle/mountain is a combination of Soaring Over California and the Haunted Mansion, maybe, with a combination of long serious buckled-in benches that get lifted and jolted in front of immersive screens, but also being on a track that winds around other, non-screen decorations.

We rode the other ride first. It was a very cool, very family-friendly roller coaster that Camille could ride, and she loved it. When we went over to the castle ride, Camille was too small, and while she was a bit upset, she and Corrie just went back and did the other roller coaster a second time.

Once we were done with the castle ride, everyone wanted to jump back in line and do it again. Everyone except me. I was cool on doing it again, as the screen-stuff got me a little queasy. So, that time Corrie joined them and Camille and I did her roller coaster again, a third time for her. She loves roller coasters!

Soon after, we decided to head towards the exit, as we knew it would take nearly an hour to snake back to our cars. I did snap a picture of Travis Bickle's cab as we worked our way out:

All in all, it was a fantastic trip. Because of the protests against ICE blocking one of our homeward bound freeways, we took surface streets through Koreatown before bombing home along the 110, across the bridges at the ports, and safely landing only slightly later than we'd told parents. The kids all had a good time, and there were no meltdowns. It wasn't too hot and, while it did get quite crowded after 1 or 2 pm, the crowds weren't too bad, and there were no long waits for rides.

Score one for us parents. Happy Birthday Cass! Love you!