This Trip brought to you by Truck Fire & Eye Surgery ~ Magic Cruise 11/24/12

[vleeth]

You wll have a blast over at universal...now it's not the same as Disney...different, but if you go in knowing that and enjoy what it offers, you'll love it. The Harry Potter area is fabulous!

I'm super excited about the WWOHP! Dave & I have been to IOA before...but that was many years ago. It will be all of ours first time at US. I'm also excited about seeing the Christmas stuff in Whoville.

 

[vleeth]

Park Day 6 ~ Islands of Adventure aka the park that has The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Hope is now obsessed with all things Harry Potter. I've only let her watch the first couple of movies and we've read the first book together. She wants to be chosen for Ollivanders. I'm going to make an Ollivanders shirt for her in the hopes that the shirt will increase her chances of being chosen.

She's also a fan of the "The Cat In The Hat Knows Alot About That" show. So overall I think she'll love IOA.

This will be my 3 time and Dave's 2nd, but WWOHP will be a first for all of us.

I'm a little concerned about the lines getting long that day because 1) it's saturday & 2) it's the first day of the Christmas decorations at Universal. That being said, we will get there super early, spend the hour before the park opens in WWOHP and perhaps another hour after the park opens. I can't decide if we should hit Jurrasic Park and then Spiderman or backtrack to JP. We stood in an awefully long Spiderman ride last time we went and we would like to avoid that.

Then on to Whoville and maybe back to HP before we leave. If its warm, we may try the water rides. If Hope turns out to be a coaster lover, we may try hulk. If time permits we'll hit Sinbad & Posiden.

Since I don't have any pictures for this day, I'll leave you with pictures of the box that we are using for the big reveal. I have a pic of it in it's original state on the first page. Here are pictures after I put some stickers on it.

And the back

 

[vleeth]

I made some magnets to put on our hotel room door. If you see these at All Stars Movies the week after Thanksgiving...you'll know its us!

 

[vleeth]

At the end of Park Day 6 we will start driving home. Not sure if we'll make it all the way or if we'll need to stop and sleep somewhere.

I may end up having to redo all of these plans. Remember Dave's eye surgery, the one back in March, that caused us to cancel our June trip...well that whole situation is rearing its ugly head again. We finally got him scheduled for his lens replacement surgery...but not until Oct 25th. Then his dr tells him there is a 'significant chance' that he may drop some of the pieces of lens into the back of his eye during surgery. If that happens, he'll have to have another surgery to get those pieces out. This is all getting way to close to my trip! But we've decided not to cancel again. If he is restricted and can't ride the 'jerky' rides, we will have a very laid back trip...but we are STILL GOING.

 

[reyasmommy]

I want to WWOHP SOOOOO bad! But I think we're going to save it for another trip. We are already over budget on our trip and I can't justify spending that much money. I remember the days when they had their own version of FP's. Now you have to be a guest there and their hotels are overpriced. I heard they're going to open a "VALUE" resort, but you're not entitled to the UNIVERSAL EXPRESS passes. ~~~ LAME! ~~~

I hope everything goes well for your husband. I'll keep positive thoughts!

 

[vleeth]

I want to WWOHP SOOOOO bad! But I think we're going to save it for another trip. We are already over budget on our trip and I can't justify spending that much money. I remember the days when they had their own version of FP's. Now you have to be a guest there and their hotels are overpriced. I heard they're going to open a "VALUE" resort, but you're not entitled to the UNIVERSAL EXPRESS passes. ~~~ LAME! ~~~

I hope everything goes well for your husband. I'll keep positive thoughts!

Rumor has it they are expanding WWOHP. If we really enjoy our time at Universal, I think I will plan on doing Disney and Universal on separate trips. It's too crazy trying to fit all 6 parks into a week. I agree the hotels are overpriced and I don't intend to stay there. I'll just plan on going in the off season and getting a partner hotel so I can get in early and get a jump on the (hopefully low) crowds.

 

[jenseib]

Rumor has it they are expanding WWOHP. If we really enjoy our time at Universal, I think I will plan on doing Disney and Universal on separate trips. It's too crazy trying to fit all 6 parks into a week. I agree the hotels are overpriced and I don't intend to stay there. I'll just plan on going in the off season and getting a partner hotel so I can get in early and get a jump on the (hopefully low) crowds.

Yes, where jaws used to be is where the new part will be. They say there will be the hogwarts express going between the 2 parks.

 

[reyasmommy]

Yes, where jaws used to be is where the new part will be. They say there will be the hogwarts express going between the 2 parks.

Any idea when this is supposed to be done?

 

[vleeth]

Yes, where jaws used to be is where the new part will be. They say there will be the hogwarts express going between the 2 parks.

I've heard that rumor. I think that would be super cool.

Any idea when this is supposed to be done?

No clue. We're not even sure what they are doing. They are already doing construction (that looks like a bridge in London) but they aren't saying what they are doing. I wouldn't expect it to be ready for another year or two...maybe more.

 

[vleeth]

These shirts didn't come out as planned...but they aren't too bad.

Notice the 'hidden' Mickey at the bottom of the photo.

 

[vleeth]

I just officially changed my cruise. I was going for a 6 night out of Texas for Spring Break. But changed it to 7 night in October next year. Hope has Fall Break and should only have to miss 3 days of school.

I spend so much time planning my November trip that I wasn't planning for the cruise at all. And with Christmas and our trip to Ohio not long after Disney, I wouldn't start cruise planning until mid-Jan. And the cruise was in March! Now I'll have much more time to plan and its an extra night and its $500 cheaper!

 

[vleeth]

Here's the sweatshirt I made. I plan on using it to pull over whatever I'm wearing that day when it gets cooler at night. Hopefully it won't be freezing the whole week...because then I'll have to make more...and I won't know if it will be freezing until right before we leave.

 

[vleeth]

Officially less than 2 months!

Need to start watching our pre-trip movies. Actually we started last weekend with Mighty Ducks.

The list we made this morning includes Mighty Ducks 2 & 3, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Dumbo, Cinderella, ET & Harry Potter 1.

We'd better get to work!

 

[vleeth]

I'm going to Disney next month!!!

And Universal!!!

 

[jenseib]

I just officially changed my cruise. I was going for a 6 night out of Texas for Spring Break. But changed it to 7 night in October next year. Hope has Fall Break and should only have to miss 3 days of school.

I spend so much time planning my November trip that I wasn't planning for the cruise at all. And with Christmas and our trip to Ohio not long after Disney, I wouldn't start cruise planning until mid-Jan. And the cruise was in March! Now I'll have much more time to plan and its an extra night and its $500 cheaper!

Which line are you going on?

Any idea when this is supposed to be done?

No...but probably at least another head or two.

These shirts didn't come out as planned...but they aren't too bad.

Notice the 'hidden' Mickey at the bottom of the photo.

Cute!!!!!!

 

[vleeth]

Well, um...I canceled my trip.

We decided to do the Disney cruise this year and WDW next year. The cruise is $1000 cheaper than what we have booked for next year. And Dave still has 1, maybe 2 more eye surgeries. The first being at the end of Oct and if he needs a second one, the beginning of Nov.

This is insane for me. When I think about the hours I spent planning this trip and once again I'm missing WDW at Christmas...and still not seeing Harry Potter. I'm okay with the idea, I know its for the best and we'll enjoy the cruise. I just like to plan and I won't have as much time to plan this cruise as I would have liked to have.

But anyways, it looks like this pre-trip report is done.

 

[jenseib]

Well, um...I canceled my trip.

We decided to do the Disney cruise this year and WDW next year. The cruise is $1000 cheaper than what we have booked for next year. And Dave still has 1, maybe 2 more eye surgeries. The first being at the end of Oct and if he needs a second one, the beginning of Nov.

This is insane for me. When I think about the hours I spent planning this trip and once again I'm missing WDW at Christmas...and still not seeing Harry Potter. I'm okay with the idea, I know its for the best and we'll enjoy the cruise. I just like to plan and I won't have as much time to plan this cruise as I would have liked to have.

But anyways, it looks like this pre-trip report is done.

Holy cow!!!! Which cruise line? When are you going?

 

[vleeth]

We will be on the Disney Magic, November 24th out of Texas.

 

[jenseib]

We will be on the Disney Magic, November 24th out of Texas.

You are gonna have a blast. I hope to get my TR started this week on that trip.
You can still continue your PTR here about the ship.

 

[vleeth]

I look forward to your trip report even more than usual... Lol

Yes, I think I just might continue on. Thanks for the encouragement. I know we will have a great time!