I never went to the theme parks with my parents. I remember going to Disney in Florida with my grandparents as a tween and maybe with friends to Kings Island. When I had my child, I swore I would make sure he knew theme parks. If for no other reason to be able to catch allusion and references. To feel in the know. When he was small, five maybe, we did Disney. He probably remembers the Mickey Bar (a dilly bar with ears). Not sure he has any more memory than that. However, we did do Universal … twice.
The first time he was young. NYE of 2010, which would have made him 10. He had round wire glasses and honestly looked a great deal like Harry Potter. In fact, one of the highlights on the trip for him was being selected in the store to have his wand personally selected for him… apparently, they thought he looked like Harry Potter also. He kept telling me, out of all those people they picked ME! I wonder if those workers know the power they have in little lives. We drank Butter Beer, rode rides, nothing too big and scary and he slept through the fireworks brining in 2011 while we were back at the hotel. It was fun, easy fun.
We went back five years later and thankfully the pictures were still in a digital album my husband had created, so we tried to recreate a few of the pictures. This trip was a lot more rollercoaster and scary rides. But still the same amount of easy fun, laced with more adventuresome meals. We ate giant pretzels and donuts. He road rollercoaster as we grownups stood on the sidelines or ok, waited on a bench and rested. He didn’t get selected for a personal wand, but it was fun to see what he remembered and what was new for all of us.
Traveling with a 15-year-old is much different than a 10 year old. They were trips to the same place and yet different. We all were different and I am so glad we did it and that we took pictures of both!
kkdonk 