The Icicles at UHS Look Aggressive

Just sayin'.

I Wood Not Do It

Here's the stereo I use in my classroom. Everything came from a thrift store, even the pencil sharpener.

I use this DVD player to play CDs. It cost $1.99 at Goodwill, and I picked it because it has a silver faceplate that looks similar to what was used on vintage audio equipment. It's too bad that wood grained DVD players were never a thing.

To make it blend in a bit more, I wrapped the silver metal shell with some shelf paper I left over from my multi-cade cabinet.

I wish I had used a darker wood grain design, but this looks passable. And it makes me smile when I see it in the morning at work. That in itself is worth the price of admission.

Putting shelf paper on a DVD player might seem like a waste, but I can think of a bigger one. It wasn't that many years ago when people were stampeding over each other to get to a Black Friday sale on DVD players. Now these players aren't worth as much as a Starbucks coffee.

I don't care what it is, no product is worth hurting someone.

What Are You Thankful For?

This is the hallway where Charlotte hangs up her coat and backpack before school. I often escort her to the coat hooks before signing her in for Adventuretime. 

I like to check what is posted on the walls. You never know what you're going to see. Today I had the chance to read the "Things I am grateful for..." list. 

I love this kind of stuff. 

Let's zoom in.

I'll try to remember these when I think I am having a bad day.

Late for work? At least you remembered deodorant (#60). 

Spilled lunch on your shirt? Target (#74) sells more. 

Low Fuel light on in your car? At least you have shoes (#54) if you have to walk.

Something in the fridge stinks? Thank goodness you can tell (#97). 

Headache? Take an aspirin (#55 and #80). 

Feeling old? A birthday (#31) is better than the alternative. 

Monday? Just remember Friday (#12) will eventually get here. 

I am also grateful that lists like this exist.

A Surprise Vacation for Charlotte: Final Thoughts

Would I want to go back to Universal for another vacation? Well, I really enjoyed experiencing Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade with my family. We can't go anywhere else and experience these same Wizarding Worlds. If these areas continue to expand, then yes, when Char is older, I can see going back with the girls.

As for the rest of Universal... nah. I'm good. Once was enough. I'd feel the same way about Disney. Theme parks are fun for awhile, but they are limited. They can only offer manufactured experiences, calculated surprises, and actors with scripts. 

There are so many real places in this world I still want to see.

I don't need another vacation with 20,000 of my closest friends. It's like Barbara Pym's quote on the top of my blog, "The small things of life were often so much bigger than the great things..."

For example, we spotted this alley when we were visiting Kingston, Ontario.

We discovered a small pub that was serving breakfast at the end of that passage. Daphne and I both ordered Breakfast #1. It came with eggs, toast, beans, and bangers. We were surprised by the beans and bangers, but they were very good.

That meal was very similar to what we ate at the Three Broomsticks in Orlando. But in the Kingston pub there were no queues, no costumes, and no cast members. Instead of a soundtrack, we could hear a Blue Jays game playing in the background. Our waitress had time to talk to us, and I felt like I was giving a tip to a person, not a corporation. 

When we left Universal's Three Broomsticks, I asked Daphne, "Okay, which breakfast would make you smile more when you remember it, the one here or the one in Kingston?" 

"Oh, Kingston for sure. That was so fun!" She beamed at the memory.

I agreed. 

And guess what? We didn't even need an Express Pass to get into that pub. 

A Surprise Vacation for Charlotte: Simpsons, Suess, and a Parade Edition

While looking for lunch, we ended up in the Springfield area.

Char hadn't seen the cartoon before, and she became enamored with the Simpsons while watching the TV clips they show while you wait in the restaurants' lines.

We rode the Simpsons Ride at Char's request. They showed cartoon clips in that line, too. Char was so hooked. She watched the first season of the Simpsons on YouTube back in our hotel room, and now she's almost done with season two. I think it is safe to say that she's officially a Simpsons fan.

I had a Krusty Burger just before we got on the Simpsons Ride. I wouldn't do that again...

After the ride, we chilled out by the lake. They have a water show that reminds me of the Fountains of Bellagio in Las Vegas.

The Beat Builders also put on a good show.

We celebrated New Year's Eve in the parks by watching the 5:30 Macy's parade.

Insert the sounds of paper horns tooting here:

We were back in our hotel room by 8:30 p.m. Char insisted on watching the Simpsons until it was "at least midnight", but we negotiated the time to 10 p.m. We all laid on the same bed watching YouTube on my old laptop. It wasn't the most exciting New Year's Eve, but it was one of our nicer ones.

Not surprisingly, we were up early on New Year's Day. The parks felt almost empty until noon when they swelled back to capacity again. With the extra space in the morning, we were able to cross off the last items on our to-do lists.

Char might turn ten this year, but she still enjoys checking out playgrounds and other "little kid" attractions. 

One of her last to-do items was to eat green eggs and ham in Seuss Landing.

I wasn't expecting tots, but I never say no to them. This was a great snack for the three of us.

Well, that's our trip. We arrived at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, and we had to meet our airport shuttle at 5:55 a.m. on Thursday. In between, we were either in the parks or in our beds.

After each park day my watch looked like this:

FYI: 25, 416 steps is a bit over 10.5 miles... I'll admit that sometimes this was one of the most welcoming signs for me to see. 

Charlotte told us last night that if she could repeat our vacation in Florida, she would want to do it every day for a year. I'm pretty sure my body couldn't handle that. Places like Universal can really beat a guy up. But if Char wants to do it again, that's a sure sign that our vacation was a success. 

A Surprise Vacation for Charlotte: Cars and Monsters Edition

Although the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was our focus, there were other things to see and do in the Universal parks. For instance, I didn't know I could visit the Mel's Drive-In from American Graffiti. It looked good in Christmas decor. 

That reminds me. We also saw a lot of cool vehicles. 

John Milner's '32 Coupe:

Steve Bolander's '58 Impala:

Dr. Emmett Brown's DeLorean:

The Mystery Inc. van:

The Bluesmobile:

A random Vespa near our hotel:

And I can't forget Sirius Black's motorbike ( It's only fair to let Daphne drive since she does all the planning for our trips):

Of all the vehicles we saw, I have to admit this was our favorite. 

Daphne had read that the Horror Make Up Show was a "hidden gem" experience, "In this outrageous live show you'll watch how top make-up and special effects artists craft some of the creepy characters you've seen on the big screen. Featuring movie clips, props, and interactive demonstrations, this experience offers fascinatingly funny insight into the moviemaking process."

I have to enthusiastically agree. It was an all-ages comedy act with fake blood and monster surprises. When the show began, one of the presenters ran through the audience with a knife handle sticking out of his bloody chest. When he asked Daphne for help, she started to get out of her seat. She promptly sat down when he explained he needed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. 

He replied, "Don't 'cha at least want to think about it?" She didn't.

Here are a few of the movie props you can see in the lobby.

The Thing (1982). This is one of the more memorable moments (to put it mildly) in this film:

An American Werewolf in London (1981). One of the funniest, scary movies I have seen:

Jaws (1975) This prop is from the other "popcorn in the air" scare:

I hadn't seen this poster for Frankenstien (1931) before. I really admire how the golden ratio is used to give this a sense of movement. 

Speaking of monsters, the Jaws ride may be gone, but you can still pose with one of the Sharks from the film.

I wouldn't ever want to see this in real life. 

Flirting with danger.

I'll finish up with this image. It's a nice transition to my next post.

A Surprise Vacation for Charlotte: Harry Potter Edition

The last Harry Potter film was released in 2011. That year I asked one of my sophomore classes who thought the Harry Potter books would still be popular ten years from now? Only two students raised their hands. One cynic growled, "This will all go away after the movie closes. No one will care after that." Many students nodded in agreement.

Yeah, that didn't happen. I personally know one Hogwarts student in 2020 who cares about the book and move series. A lot.

She dressed as Harry at school,

at church,

and she dressed up to see him on the big screen. 

She also had a Harry Potter-themed birthday party. As an English teacher, I sure wasn't going to dissuade her from having fun with the books.

Daphne and I discussed it extensively in September, and we decided to take Charlotte to Universal Orlando to experience the Wizarding World of Harry Potter during Christmas break. 

There were a few factors that helped us make this decision. One, we all enjoy the stories (I saw all of the movies in the theater with Daphne), so this would be a trip for everyone. Two, Char's only nine, and she still likes hanging out with her parents. Three, we had two whole weeks for the break, and we could go without missing any of our Christmas at home. Four, I can fondly remember events from when I was in 4th grade, and I think this trip will be etched in her memory, too.

We received this in the mail in the beginning of December.

There was a brief guide, three lanyards for park passes, and three luggage tags. We weren't sure how to surprise Char with the trip on Christmas morning, but this box solved our problem.

I shot three, short videos during the opening of Charlotte's big present. I'll be honest, I was hoping for more excitement. Char looked very disappointed when she opened the box and saw the lanyards and tags. She was sure the box held a Lego set... she didn't know what she was supposed to do with this stuff. 

Daphne explained it to her, and she warmed up to the idea.

Char really doesn't like to fly. That's why she asks in the above video.  Charlotte has no idea how lucky she is to get to travel by plane. I didn't get to fly until I was almost 21. All of our family trips were in the car, and it took forever to get anywhere.

Here she's reading a Harry Potter trivia book to clam her nerves.

She took this picture from her seat, and she was proud of it, "Will you put this on the blog, Dad?" Yup.

Daphne refused to watch any YouTube videos about the Wizarding World when we were planning this trip. She wanted to be as surprised as Char was going to be. With that in mind, I think I'll keep most of my spoiler pictures to myself.

The quickest way there is to take a water taxi from your hotel.

The Knight Bus marks where you can find Diagon Alley. If you stand in front of the bus, you can wait in line to talk to Stan Shunpike and the shrunken Dre Head. You can see inside the bus if you stand in the back.

I'll talk more about this later, but I can tell you that those Knight Bus beds look mighty inviting after a day in the parks.

Here's Char tasting the Butterbeer. She has one at Flix, but she assured us that this "official" drink is better. We walked into the Leaky Cauldron and had three drinks in our hands after a 15 minute wait. One mother told Daphne that her family had waited in line for three hours to buy Butterbeers from the street vendor. Yikes. I think a restaurant is the better way to get your Butterbeer fix . 

You can choose how you want your Butterbeer: cold, frozen, hot, in fudge or you can have Butterbeer ice cream. There is no bad choice.

You can listen to a message from the Ministry of Magic if you know what number to dial. 

Our hotel choice came with Express passes and the ability to enter the parks one hour before the general public was allowed in. It felt elitist walking by lines of people who were not in the Express lane, and you do have to endure dirty looks, but it sure sped up things. It also made us get up pretty early to take advantage of the early entry time.

We were out of the hotel at 6:15 a.m. on the first morning, and at 7:15 a.m. for the other three. Voodoo Doughnuts wasn't open at 6:30, and their chair was wet with dew, but the girls posed by it anyway.

Here's Hogwarts (Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride) at sunrise. 

Charlotte loved the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride. There was only a five minute wait at 7:15 a.m., and everyone practically ran through the twisting queue to get to the ride. It was only a 20 minute wait when we got back in the queue to ride it again at Char's request. The idea was that we could actually enjoy walking through the castle and looking at all the details the second time, but we felt pretty rushed the second time, too.

Char is posing with the Pensieve - just one of the many details from the books that is fun to see in person.

It was also cool to see the Mirror of Erised. When I looked into it, I saw myself back at the hotel taking a nap.

We had two scheduled breakfasts. One at the Three Broomsticks, and one at the Leaky Cauldron. I had the traditional English meal both times. It was our first time to try black pudding - pork sausage made with pig's blood. It's not bad, but I won't be putting in any requests at Hy-Vee.

Incidentally, "HP" stands for House of Parliament, not Harry Potter.

We all wore Hogwarts t-shirts on Monday. I would guess about half of the parks' visitors were also wearing Harry Potter-themed gear. About 1/3 of them were also outfitted with robes, ties, shirts, and scarves. So, if you want to wear your Hogwarts robes in public without judgment, this is the place to be. Surprisingly, we didn't see anyone wearing Harry's round, signature glasses. 

Not everyone was wearing Potter gear. I could describe the woman holding this gentleman's hand, but you already know what she looks like.

Speaking of gear, they sell interactive wands in both Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. Using the included map, you look for markers in the ground. You wave your wand in the appropriate manner, and your spell can manipulate items in the shops' windows. This particular spell makes a small snowman glide across the surface of a cake in the bakery.

Here Char is doing the "Reparo!" spell on a small suit of armor.

The thing is, it is not easy to make the spell work. I watched many kids, including ours, get frustrated and walk away. You have to practice, and you have to know what the spell is going to do. Sometimes, Char did the spell correctly, but we looking in the wrong place, and we assumed she needed to try again.

Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade are in two, separate Universal parks - Universal Studios Florida and Universal's Islands of Adventure. If you want to ride the Hogsworth Express train, then you have to have tickets for both parks. Pretty sneaky on Universal's part.

"9 3/4? Think you're being funny, do ya?"

Obligatory dragon video.

Char's favorite ride was Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey in Hogsmeade. We rode it three times. Daphne's favorite ride was Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts in Diagon Alley. We also rode this three times. Here's a view inside the "bank."

You have to wear 3D glasses on the ride. The special effects are alarmingly good.

I didn't have a favorite ride. What I really liked was the mornings in the parks. Getting in one hour early was the only way we would have be able to ride the gal's favorites so many times. The lines were short, and you had some breathing room for a bit. By 9:30 AM, the Wizarding Worlds were deep with shoulder-to-shoulder traffic.

Daphne preferred Hogsmeade. Since it is supposedly located above the snow line, it always looks like winter. It really lent itself to be decorated for Christmas. Here it is after the park had just opened.

Charlotte and I preferred Diagon Alley. I fired up the first film when we got home, and we all watched the scene when Hagrid takes Harry to Diagon Alley for the first time. We wanted to see how close the Universal's Diagon Alley matched the one in the movie. They are almost identical. 

The park's entrance for Diagon Alley is mildly hidden behind a brick wall. You can hear the sounds of bricks rearranging themselves as you walk around the wall, and then you see the big reveal.

I really enjoyed watching the guests' expressions when they entered Diagon Alley for the first time. Smiles spread, jaws dropped, and often hands shot up to cover mouths. It didn't matter what language the guest spoke or the color of their skin. The reactions were always the same.

I think that might be the real magic of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It brings joy to anyone who wants to experience it.