Being primarily a Disney family, we weren’t entirely sure how we could maximize the total experience of our first family adventure at Universal Studios Orlando. My wife and I had been to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure before, though it had been a few years, but we’d only really experienced Disney World recently. In fact, we’d finally become enchanted enough by ‘the mouse’ that we became a Disney Vacation Club (DVC) family back in ’23! Much more will be shared about that, the DVC universe, later.
To best describe our approach, one that ultimately was very successful, make sense I have to go back to the beginning…
It started several years ago with a beloved children’s book, Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and grew into a stream of experiences built around some amazing stories that had now found their way into the hands of my kids. That first time, the experience creation process was quick. I enticed my son to read the book by offering him and his little sister a trip to a local candy warehouse on a day where we would buy sugar laced treats then sit down as a family to watch the movie while enjoying every bite. He did, and we did and we LOVED the experience we shared as a family.
The process has evolved somewhat over the years. Several of Dahl’s stories and the movies that are based on them that many people enjoy have been subjects of our family’s book and experience process many times. We have even transitioned the idea into preparing book or movie themed meals for our post-book movie nights. We have introduced audiobooks, and walking challenges based on the Lord of the Rings.
This past year though, as you can probably guess, became all about a collection of books that nearly anyone you ask that has interest in Universal theme parks has read or seen the movies of. That’s right, Harry Potter became our family mission for just under one year leading up to our Epic Adventure.
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