For my birthday this year my husband asked me if I wanted to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Um, duh! We usually go to Disneyland around his birthday (because we love Christmas time at Disney), so I was very excited to go to California for my birthday. Only, a small snag, I booked a wedding on my birthday!
You may be thinking, you did what on your birthday?! But I was actually very excited about it! I absolutely love shooting weddings, so why not do it on my birthday? We planned to drive to California the next day and have a hang out day at the hotel, then go to the park on that Sunday on Monday (which are better days for lower crowd size anyways).
After much waiting, my birthday was finally here! We woke up that morning and headed downtown for a vegan breakfast at Nami. I had my second donut in the past two years and a breakfast burrito. (I have an egg allergy, so vegan breakfast spots are about the only place I can get a good breakfast.) We then went back home and I got ready to head out for my wedding. When I got there I got a big hug from the bride and her family sang happy birthday to me. Later that evening I got to dance to Spice Girls with the groom’s family! I had a blast! Then I headed home to get down on some mint chocolate chip ice cream with my sleepy husband.
The next morning we dropped the dogs of at the grandma’s houses and headed out to California. The drive was filled with lots of coffee and snacks. I may or may not have pulled a Heartbreak Kid signing and dancing wildly to crazy songs to keep myself awake while my husband was driving. Once we hit Indio it was my turn to start driving. I must have still been a bit sleepy because I accidentally took the scenic route through Riverdale (it wasn’t too bad, except for the traffic from accidents). We finally made it to our hotel and ate In-N-Out for dinner on the bed while watching reno shows on HGTV. Then we exchanged back-rubs and went to bed early. Seriously, a dream come true!
The next day we were off to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! We had an absolute blast! It was cold that day and rainy in the morning which not only made it feel more like Scotland, but kept the crowds away. We waited less than 15 minutes for everything we did! After we pounded down about 3 Butterbeers, visited every shop in Hogsmeade, watched all the shows, and rode the two rides, we decided to venture outside of the Wizarding World to the rest of the park.
I really wanted to do the studio tour because I had not been on it since I was a little girl. The earthquake part was my favorite when I was younger. So I wanted to see that again, and I heard about so many more things they added since. We loved the tour so much, that we did it again the next day! It was so much fun to see all of the places where the movies had been filmed. Part of the downtown area was set up for the show “The Good Place”. After seeing that, I am going to have to add that show to my list! We then watched the amazing Animal Actors show and the Special Affects show. I could have watched the Animal Actors one over and over and over! It was getting late, so we went back over to the Three Broomsticks for dinner and our two hot Butterbeers. After that we went back to the hotel room for a second evening of back-rubs and an early bed time!
The last day our our trip we got early entry into the park, which was really cool because we got to take all the photos we wanted with out a large crowd in the background! After that, we grabbed another Butterbeer to enjoy while getting the last few items we wanted from the shops. Then we hung out in the Three Broomsticks with two more hot Butterbeers just taking everything in for a final time. (If you are counting, that is 8 total Butterbeers in less than two days.) We jumped on the Studio Tour again, grabbed some lunch and hit the road back home.
The drive back home was very slow going as we hit some fog and a lot of rain. But we took our time and made it home safe. The pups were very excited to see us and we were very excited to be back in our own bed. So until next time Wizarding World! Thanks for all the magic on my birthday!
