Universal Studios

Tanja and I took a mini vacation, left Karina and Snoopy with Mormor and Morfar, and went to Orlando for a weekend while we were in Miami.  The big draw was the recreation of Hogwarts at Universal Studios.  We thought the park did an excellent job with this area, and think it rivals Disney World for authenticity (although no amount of movie-prop magic was going to convince me that the snow on the rooftops was real when the temperatures were so warm).

One of the main rides at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was called the Forbidden Journey.  The line for the ride went into Hogwarts Castle.  Universal went to a lot of work to make the line seem just as cool and fun as the ride with replicas from the movies, holographic projections, talking paintings, etc.  If we had gone during peak tourist season, I probably would have gotten bored, but since we were there during the off-season, the lines were fast and we had a blast.  Here we are inside of Hogwarts Castle with a phoenix (or something) in the background.

We made sure to eat at the recreation of Three Broomsticks (they served tasty pub-grub).  Their dining area was full, but the recreation of the Hog's Head bar served as overflow seating.  We laughed at the namesake hog's head as we sipped our pumpkin juice (the butterbeer we had later tasted much better).

We also had to take pictures of the Hogwarts Express train.

The conductor insisted that we were missing something from our picture and then came in for the second one.  I thought he was funny.

We had originally asked the conductor to take the picture of us, but he refused, claiming to not know how to operate muggle contraptions.  He did kindly find another muggle to photograph us though, before barging into the second shot. 

Here I am oblivious to the dangers of allosaurs at the entrance to Jurassic Park.

This trident was pretty cool.

Curious George was host to a play area for little kids.  We didn't spend any real time there, but our nephew is a huge Curious George fan, so I had to go take a picture for him.  This one's for you, Grant!

Tanja at the Simpson's ride with Abu trying to sell us some overpriced snacks.

They had a Disaster film studio for a fake new movie, Mutha Nature.  They asked for volunteers to be cast in various roles for the film.  When they asked for evil geniuses, I jumped up and down shouting, "Pick Me!" so of course, they did.  As it turned out, my role had nothing to do with being evil.  I was just some scientist in the trailer dodging flying debris.  It was a fun time anyway...world domination can wait.

Some of the cars were fun.  Here's Tanja with an old school New York City cab.

Me with the Back to the Future DeLorean.

And finally, Tanja with a Deuce Coupe outside a 50's diner where we closed out our second night in the park.

It was a great time to get away, and we had fun spending time with each other.  Thanks Mormor and Morfar for babysitting!