We continued our tradition of a solo trip at age 7, and Carter wanted to go to Universal to Harry Potter World just like Charley. I can't imagine a more perfect way to celebrate our girl than a few days of giving her all of our time and attention. To know Carter is to love her! She has such a great attitude, is extremely independent, has the sweetest, tender heart, is content and so easy to please, fiercely loves her family and friends, and is down right hilarious. She was so excited to be the "boss" of our trip.
The weather didn't cooperate with our plan of celebrating our girl at Universal on her actual birthday, but Carter didn't mind at all. Her happy to just be there attitude was a true testament to how well she adapts when things don't go her way. We hung out in the hotel for part of the day, found spaghetti for a late lunch, and after the storms stopped, we made our way over to City Walk to get our tickets to the park and celebrate our girl! Carter loves all things chocolate, and the Chocolate X5 milkshake was the perfect choice. I had packed a candle in my purse for her birthday dessert, and we sang to her on the patio of The Toothsome Chocolate Emporium. Some of the tables next to us sang along. It was the sweetest!
At the last minute, Craig decided to buy fast passes for Friday and Saturday, and I am so thankful for that decision. We rode every ride, and some things more than once. We should have bought Carter a shirt that said "I am 48 inches" instead of "It's my birthday," because she was so close to the cut off for several rides, they always pulled her aside to check her measurements...except for when they remembered us on the Forbidden Journey ride because we rode it so frequently. Carter rated her top 10 favorites, and we made a list so we wouldn't forget.
1. Hagrid's Motorbike...OMG, AMAZING!!! Two times on that was not enough!
2. Broom Ride...aka Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey...also amazing...Carter rode it 10 times, because she was determined to break Charley's record of 6. It is definitely still a family favorite.
3. Mummy...the first ride she rode, a little creepy, but she loved it!
4. Gringots
5. Minions
6. ET
7. Men in Black
8. Hippogriff
9. Spiderman
10. Transformers
Carter has to be the least selfish kid and insisted that we ride all of the roller coasters that she was too short for while she waited. How precious is that? We didn't want to take away from her fun, but we did take her up on it for the VelociCoaster, Hulk and Hollywood Rip Tide Rocket. The VelociCoaster was awesome, and we immediately realized our age and needed dramamine to finish the day (both days actually). We walked just under 15 miles on the first day, and Carter didn't complain one time. We spent our second day at Universal re-riding all of our favorite rides and letting the birthday girl eat all the yummy treats.
We had to go home early on Sunday because it was Halloween, but besides being exhausted, we had the most incredible trip. Craig said occasional solo trips with our kids is one of our best parenting decisions, and I couldn't agree more. As we were leaving, Carter said, "can we go back to Wednesday?" (To start all over.) She really is the coolest kid!
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