Ride all the boats, meet all the characters - a first-timer's Jan '15 TR 7/28 updates and conclusion

[SarahDisney]

I'm glad we went because I truly wanted to see WWoHP, but at the same time it was ridiculously expensive for one day and Grant was very bummed to leave the Disney bubble.

I totally get that - I think it's why I haven't been back to US since I went in 2011 (right after Hogsmeade opened). I really want to see Diagon Alley, but when I'm travelling with my sister, who is not a Harry Potter person, it's hard to leave the Disney bubble

If you've been here, you know they make you put your big cameras in the lockers (I should have told them we were doing child swap and hung onto it) so the rest of my pics are phone pics and it is SO DARK everywhere. Here are a few that you can kind of make out.

I know it would be a lot harder/more chaotic, but I really wish the lockers were closer to the ride so that you could keep your stuff with you going through the castle.
You did get some good pictures, though!

Anyways, you get the idea. I loved wandering through the castle, they've done an amazing job. I actually wish the line was slower through this part.

Agreed - when I went, I stood around in line outside where it was boring for a while, and then we were rushed through the castle area, where there was a lot more to see.

Jon came back and said it was amazing and assured me you didn't go upside down or anything so I jumped on. I have to say, as a non ride person, this was amazing! I really enjoyed it, I thought you felt really secure and when the simulation felt too fast I would just close my eyes for a second. I wish we had been able to go again later in the day.

I'm glad you enjoyed! I really think it's well done and it's so fun to be riding on a broomstick with Harry!

Once the presentation was over, Olivander had us stay back. He said we were alone now and I was allowed to take pics. He dramatically found a wand for Grant (I was in heaven) and since he had taken note of Grant's reactions, this first wand was magically made just for him and caused good things to happen!

This is so sweet! I'm so glad to hear they did this for you - it's so special!

I think for me, an amusement park version of HP is always going to be odd - If I could go hang out there alone it would probably be amazing haha but to be fighting crowds to see anything was tough.

Yeah, that's what I hated about when I went - it was so crowded that I didn't really get a chance to walk around and explore. I think that if you can find a time when it's not so crowded and you just take the time to walk around and notice all the details, it's probably really amazing. The crowds really do kinda ruin the experience a bit.

 

[STLMickeyMom]

look at all the fun I missed during my dis-absence! all caught up now--looks like you all are having so much fun!

 

[ach222]

Thanks for posting about your day at Universal. My wife and I really like harry Pttoer - though not as into it as you are - but our kids haven't gotten into it at all so we have been holding off. Some day though. Glad you are happy you went though, despite the challenges and cost



I believe they call the workers "Team Members" at universal



This sounds like an amazing experience and so great that he could read Grant and how he would react to things. I think if I were in your shoes that interaction alone would have made the day worth it.

That is a major bummer about the train being down though - I almost feel like they shoudl at least refund the up charge for making your tickets park-2-park when that happens (I know that is unrealistic, but seems like you weren't able to get the full benefit and should be compensated some how)

You are absolutely right about the Olivander experience - above and beyond for sure

I get why they can't refund us but yeah it would have been nice. If it had been earlier in the week, we might have been up for hiking back to the other park.

I totally get that - I think it's why I haven't been back to US since I went in 2011 (right after Hogsmeade opened). I really want to see Diagon Alley, but when I'm travelling with my sister, who is not a Harry Potter person, it's hard to leave the Disney bubble



I know it would be a lot harder/more chaotic, but I really wish the lockers were closer to the ride so that you could keep your stuff with you going through the castle.
You did get some good pictures, though!



Agreed - when I went, I stood around in line outside where it was boring for a while, and then we were rushed through the castle area, where there was a lot more to see.



I'm glad you enjoyed! I really think it's well done and it's so fun to be riding on a broomstick with Harry!



This is so sweet! I'm so glad to hear they did this for you - it's so special!



Yeah, that's what I hated about when I went - it was so crowded that I didn't really get a chance to walk around and explore. I think that if you can find a time when it's not so crowded and you just take the time to walk around and notice all the details, it's probably really amazing. The crowds really do kinda ruin the experience a bit.

I feel like you get me on this one haha!

look at all the fun I missed during my dis-absence! all caught up now--looks like you all are having so much fun!

Glad you are back!

 

[WDW-WOW]

Love your report! Your son is adorable. My son is a bit of a ride wuss, too. He's gotten much better now that he's older, and even rode (and loved!) Rock-N-Roller Coaster last year when he was 9. That dragon would have freaked him out at age 5, too.

Too bad he started with Barnstormer. I hate that ride and I bet he would have really enjoyed the Mine Train or BTMRR. Looks like there's a ton of stuff he did enjoy, which is great!

 

[ach222]

Love your report! Your son is adorable. My son is a bit of a ride wuss, too. He's gotten much better now that he's older, and even rode (and loved!) Rock-N-Roller Coaster last year when he was 9. That dragon would have freaked him out at age 5, too.

Too bad he started with Barnstormer. I hate that ride and I bet he would have really enjoyed the Mine Train or BTMRR. Looks like there's a ton of stuff he did enjoy, which is great!

Welcome and thank you! Yes, Barnstormer was such a bummer but I was really wanting to say 'yes' to everything he wanted to do, I'll know better next time!

 

[librarygeek]

What a fun Epcot day! Turtle Talk is adorable, and your trip around the World Showcase looks great. I love all of the character interactions! Too bad the crepes weren't that great - I've been meaning to try one but I always get sucked in by the ice cream shop there because it has the best ice cream ever!

That avocado margarita sounds really good too. I really enjoy flavored margaritas and I've recently become a bit of an avocado addict. That may be my drink of choice next time I'm there. And it was great to read about Biergarten as we are eating there on our next trip for the first time. I love the grapefruit beer even though there's almost no alcohol in it haha.

I was honestly blown away by the new HP stuff at Universal (I had seen Hogsmeade before but not the new Diagon Alley). But their rides do seem to break down a bit too often. We waited about 45 min. for Gringotts and then it went down for a couple of hours. They gave us passes to come back but it was still a pain. As for your comment on being able to be there on your own without massive crowds - I attended a few Harry Potter conventions down in Orlando that had private theme park nights - it was I think only around 1000 people, all huge Harry Potter fans in costume and the parks were not crowded at all with that few people - it really felt like a big group of us literally hanging out in Hogsmeade! Definitely one of the coolest things I've ever done.

 

[ach222]

As for your comment on being able to be there on your own without massive crowds - I attended a few Harry Potter conventions down in Orlando that had private theme park nights - it was I think only around 1000 people, all huge Harry Potter fans in costume and the parks were not crowded at all with that few people - it really felt like a big group of us literally hanging out in Hogsmeade! Definitely one of the coolest things I've ever done.

Well that's clearly the coolest thing EVER. Maybe at least one of my boys will be a big fan and I can use that as an excuse to go to a convention!

 

[ach222]

Thursday Part 3 - DTD

After our day at Universal, we got off of our feet for 30 min or so back at POR. We filled up our mugs and lazed a bit. I really wish we had had more time to explore the resort, I can see the appeal of resort days. I was pretty quickly ready to get going as I hated wasting 'Disney time'. So we headed back down to the boat dock and made our way to DTD.

I wanted to stop by Goofy's Candy Co and make our own treats so that was our first stop.

This was my creation - it was delicious and was an amazing road trip snack on the drive back Saturday.

and Grant's

This was going to be our last trip to DTD so we headed into World of Disney and shopped for everyone back home. After getting everyone set up in souvenirs, we still had a bit of time before our ADR at Raglan Road so we wandered a bit aimlessly. We stumbled upon Bar on the Wall and grabbed a glass of wine for me and a beer for DH and sat at a table for a bit. There's soooo much construction in that area but it was a nice break nonetheless.

When it was time to check in, we headed to Raglan Road and were seated at one of the tall tables right past the entry. We could see the stage somewhat well so it was fine with us. I ordered a Harp and Jon had a Smithwicks - I loved the Harp (Jon knew he would like the Smithwicks). The bread with the Guinness reduction was as amazing as everyone says - sooo good!

We had a great server and a really nice overall experience, we would for sure come back here. For dinner, I had the Raglan Risotto – Butternut squash risotto with shiitake mushrooms, shaved parmesan & arugula. Add chicken or shrimp. I added shrimp - it was decent, needed salt but a good meal.

DH had fish and chips and liked it as well. I can't remember what G had but he was so interested in the Irish dancers walking around that I'm not sure he ate much of whatever it was. One of the dancers saw G's interest and came over to him to chat. She asked if he wanted to dance next time and he very enthusiastically said 'YES!' so she promised to come back and get him.

For dessert, I ordered the famous bread pudding (Ger’s Bread & Butter Pudding Like no other pudding you have ever tried.Believe us.), Jon tried to do the same but I warned him of the size so he got something chocolate-y.

i may have read too many dining reports, because when my bread pudding arrived, I immediately took it all out onto the plate and poured the sauce over. The waitress laughed and said it took them 8 years to figure out that they should tell people that's the best way to eat it.

Above is G's ice cream which he adored.

After the ice cream it was time to dance! G's new friend came to get him and they went around the dining room together and recruited other kids. Grant had a blast with this - I took phone pics of this unfortunately but you get the idea. They received a certificate afterwards and a sticker - G was in heaven.

This was a great way to end the day - we headed back to the boat, took a relaxing ride back to POR and crashed!

 

[ariane37]

DH and I are just back from our quick anniversary trip to WDW so I'm catching up with all my TR's We're going again in Nov. and doing Universal. It'll be our first time back since 2000 and the first time for DS's 9 & 12 (who'll be 13 when we go), we're actually going at older DS's request. I'm excited b/c DS is excited, but not excited to be taking time away from my Disney parks! But at least you got to go, and now on your next visit you'll have a clear idea whether you want to just do Disney or try Universal again

 

[jshoemak]

I loved reading your TR and browsing through your pictures. What camera and lens did you use at Disney?

 

[SarahDisney]

The candy creations look yummy!

I love that you knew right away how to eat the bread pudding and the server was impressed! You really learn a lot here on the DIS.

G looks so happy during the dancing. I'm so glad to hear he enjoyed!!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

oh, POR pics.....I just loved it there so much! I agree, we're going to have plan a resort day for our next trip too. there's no much to enjoy there too!

raglan road looks so fun! the kids up dancing must have been so cute!

yummy food!

 

[Vernie822]

Looks like a fun day at Universal. We did it once when I was much younger, in the early 2000's. I'm not a HP fan so I haven't been back. Glad you had fun despite Grant getting a little scared!

We also did a boat ride to DTD for dinner at Raglan Road.. loooove Goofy's Candy Kitchen. I think a Mickey krispy treat with chocolate is a must have each trip. So yummy. Your meal at Raglan Road looks awesome. I got the schnitzel and I didn't really enjoy it, I should have ordered the risotto! I think I just chose poorly. We had the bread pudding too.. soooo delicious, omg. I can taste it right now!

 

[ach222]

DH and I are just back from our quick anniversary trip to WDW so I'm catching up with all my TR's We're going again in Nov. and doing Universal. It'll be our first time back since 2000 and the first time for DS's 9 & 12 (who'll be 13 when we go), we're actually going at older DS's request. I'm excited b/c DS is excited, but not excited to be taking time away from my Disney parks! But at least you got to go, and now on your next visit you'll have a clear idea whether you want to just do Disney or try Universal again

I think once my boys are your boys' ages we will for sure want to go back to Universal!

I loved reading your TR and browsing through your pictures. What camera and lens did you use at Disney?

- thanks! I shoot a Cannon 50D and have my EF 35mm on it most of the time - I don't know much about it all though to tell the truth

The candy creations look yummy!

I love that you knew right away how to eat the bread pudding and the server was impressed! You really learn a lot here on the DIS.

G looks so happy during the dancing. I'm so glad to hear he enjoyed!!

Grant would gladly dance with them every night I think!

oh, POR pics.....I just loved it there so much! I agree, we're going to have plan a resort day for our next trip too. there's no much to enjoy there too!

raglan road looks so fun! the kids up dancing must have been so cute!

yummy food!

Such a great ending to our day, and yes, a resort day is in order for our next trip for sure. Of course I also want a day to go look at all the other resorts as well haha!

Looks like a fun day at Universal. We did it once when I was much younger, in the early 2000's. I'm not a HP fan so I haven't been back. Glad you had fun despite Grant getting a little scared!

We also did a boat ride to DTD for dinner at Raglan Road.. loooove Goofy's Candy Kitchen. I think a Mickey krispy treat with chocolate is a must have each trip. So yummy. Your meal at Raglan Road looks awesome. I got the schnitzel and I didn't really enjoy it, I should have ordered the risotto! I think I just chose poorly. We had the bread pudding too.. soooo delicious, omg. I can taste it right now!

Maybe next time I'll just get the bread pudding so I can eat it all!

 

[ach222]

Friday - Part 1

Friday was probably my very favorite day of our trip. We knew what we were doing in MK, weren't in a big hurry and just had great CM interactions all day. Grant wore a personalized shirt that day and I was blown away by how many CMs went out of their way to call him by name and ask him about his trip. It was fantastic.

We started our morning with breakfast at 1900 Park Fare - I loved this breakfast. It was fun to see the GF and the food was very good. Grant enjoyed the character interactions, even though he had no idea who Mary Poppins was. A character is a character lol.

Once we were finished with bfast, we hit the monorail (we had once again valet parked at the resort for the day). We missed rope drop by a few minutes and headed in. The crowds this day were relatively light, much better than Monday's MLK day madness! Grant had been talking about how much he liked TSMM for the past 2 days so we wandered into Tomorrowland so he could ride Buzz as the closest replacement. Our ride pic from Buzz is of 2 teenage girls rather than us so I don't have that haha! Grant liked it but wanted to move on rather than ride it again so we headed further into the park. G saw the teacups and wanted to take a spin.

I had switched our FPs around for the day as we had originally held another ride on SDMT and BTMRR - Grant and I switched ours out for Dumbo and Speedway while Jon got Space Mountain and Haunted Mansion. It wasn't FP time so we headed over to ride Dumbo sans FP while there were no lines. Grant and Jon took 2 spins on Dumbo - Grant could've ridden all day!

It was Jon's FP time for Space Mountain and G and I got in line to meet Cinderella and Rapunzel. Grant loves Tangled, so he was very excited. He loved the glass slipper in the castle and requested a picture with it.

We met back up with Jon outside of the Merida meet and greet and got in line. This is such a cute little meet and greet area. The coloring table was a great way for the kids to pass the time and loved the archery lesson after! Merida was a treat, very sweet.

We decided to head towards Adventureland and ran into these guys on the way.

 

[ach222]

Friday - Part 2

We continued on towards POTC and rode it with no line. Jon was looking forward to this one and we spent some time in the dump shop afterwards. The boys got a few souvenirs.

Grant saw the carpet ride and of course he was enamored!

At this point, I was getting a bit concerned about our evening plans. We were scheduled to go on the Pirates and Pals Fireworks Cruise, but the weather was starting to look ominous. I knew they would make a call around 5 about the cruise going or not. We had planned on G meeting Peter Pan that night after the cruise but it wasn't looking good. I figured if we wanted to ensure G getting to meet Peter, we better do it during the day as a back up. So we got in line to meet PP (and luckily this decision seemed to ward off the weather haha).

We decided to do a repeat of our Monday lunch and headed back to CHH. It was much busier this day as it was close to 12/12:30. We ate upstairs and had a nice break.

It was time for us to split up for FPs again, Grant and I head for the speedway. He was very excited to drive his own car! I was surprised at how slow this ride was, but G had a blast.

Grant spotted the People Mover around this time and asked to ride it. We headed into Tomorrowland and jumped on.

Grant panicked a bit on this. I had no idea it would go into Space Mountain and we'd be in total darkness. That freaked G out a lot so while it's a nice relaxing ride, it wasn't for him. He did spot Stich while we were up in the air and wanted to go find him. Amusingly, he has never seen the movie but he very much wanted to go meet the character! I didn't pay enough attention to where he was meeting so we wandered for a while but we did finally find him. This was a fun meet, Stich was full of energy and Grant loved him.

It was time for one last ride on Dumbo (we had a fp) so we headed over that way.

We were able to ride twice, Jon found us and took the second spin.

We decided to watch the parade over by Sleepy Hollow - Grant had lots of adults cut off his line of sight over and over. It was a little ridiculous, but since we had seen the parade Monday, it was ok for him to kind of peer around. Loved the parade again. We had a 4pm fp for A&E so we headed towards the PFH. We stopped and took a boat ride on Small World with maybe a 5 minute wait.

It was time for our much coveted fast pass with girls from Frozen. The CM checking our FPs was great, welcomed us all by name as we scanned our bands which I thought was a nice touch. Our Anna was kind of non plus but what a great Elsa, she spent so much time with each kid and seemed to just love it. Our MM pics with Anna didn't make it on but I snapped a couple.

This was a great meet and greet was so much fun with Grant, and he still talks about it.

I wanted to try and do the Talking Mickey meet before we left, so we headed towards the front of the park. It was around this time that I called in and found the rain threat was gone and our cruise was on, super exciting!

We waited for Mickey for quite a while. I didn't tell G that Mickey talked just in case he wasn't chatty that day. So when we got into the room and G heard him, OMG he lost his mind with excitement! He still says this was his favorite thing he did at WDW most days.

We said our farewell to MK - what a great day in the park!

We hopped on the monorail and headed to the Contemporary. Dinner at Contempo Cafe seemed the best plan, so that is where we landed.

I had a flatbread - it was yummy, this is a great quick service stop.

We then wandered through the shops on the 4th floor for a while while we waited for it to be time to hit the meeting room for the cruise. I'll cover the cruise next!

 

[SarahDisney]

Sounds like a great day so far! Lots of great pictures!
I totally don't blame Grant for not liking when the PeopleMover goes through Space Mountain ... I like Space Mountain and I hate that part! It's not the kind of ride that you expect to be that dark adn it freaked me out too. It's definitely not for everyone.

I hate when adults block kids' views of the parade ... I know sometimes it's not on purpose, but really, look around and make sure you're not blocking someone's view!

I'm glad you guys got a talking Mickey and that Grant enjoyed it so much! It really must be a very special interaction!

 

[jchurch0409]

Sounds like a great MK day!!

 

[Hawkeyegirls]

Enjoying reading so far! Looks like it was a great trip! My daughter loves peter pan and thats the m&g we couldn't fit it. Im interested to hear about your Pirates cruise, Im looking into that for the next trip!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

We have stayed away from DTD recently due to the construction but Raglan Road is one of our favorites! And so great Grant participated in the dancing

What a wonderful day at MK - Grant looks so happy with all the princesses - well, all the characters really ... even the ones he didn't know

Looks like you got on a ton of rides and had some good food - And the visit with talking Mickey was a great topper for the day