3 sisters + 2 worlds=5 days of Orlando fun! An Aug. '10 TR...final thoughts p. 45

[meeko_33785]

Too bad you didn't get to spend too much time at AK. It does sound like you managed to get a lot in anyway though.

I really like the picture on the safari with the rhino and the bird. Nice work.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Nice update! Your safari pics are great! I love the hippo one

Your vinylmations are so cute! The Peter Pan is adorable!

Glad you liked the pictures!

They are all so cute. I am still amazed we managed to get six different ones between the 3 of us.

You did sure do a lot for just a couple of hours in the AK. I really enjoy that park in the cooler months, but in the summer it is just too hot! One time in January we stayed from open to close and that was a great day (they closed at 5:00.) Can't wait to hear about WWOHP and see how it compared to our visit there.

I think it's funny how so many people say that about AK. I can honestly say I don't think it feels any hotter there than any of the other parks.

So excited to talk about about visit to WWOHP!

loving the trip report!

Welcome! Glad you are enjoying it.

Too bad you didn't get to spend too much time at AK. It does sound like you managed to get a lot in anyway though.

I really like the picture on the safari with the rhino and the bird. Nice work.

We did get a lot done. Five things in just a couple hours isn't bad and we hit the major attractions too.

Thanks!

 

[MiaBella05]

Can you briefly explain how the mears process work to getting to universal. Like how far advance you scheduled? I heard that was the best and cheapest way to get there!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Can you briefly explain how the mears process work to getting to universal. Like how far advance you scheduled? I heard that was the best and cheapest way to get there!

Sure, we had looked into the different ways to get to Universal pretty much right after we knew we were going. I ended up calling the week before our trip just to verify the process because I had read you can book a couple days ahead of time. The lady I spoke with said that as soon as we knew when we wanted to be picked up we could arrange for a shuttle. Since we knew we wanted to get to IOA for park opening, we decided on the 7:30 am pick up time. That way we knew for sure we'd be on. It was pretty easy to do. The only downside is you have to operate on their times...it's not like if you had a rental car you could go whenever you wanted. But overall it worked well for us.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Alright, is everyone ready?! Time for our Universal day!! Woot!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

So this was our big day. The main event of our trip. Remember, originally we had reservations for December (still kind of sad we aren't going now but oh well) but after the Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened, Emma, who is a HUGE Harry Potter fan, decided she couldn't wait until December. That would be too far off and everyone else was already going. Needless to say she was super excited. Actually, we all were. We had only been to US one other time a couple years ago and couldn't wait to see what WWOHP was like.

As I mentioned, we booked a shuttle with Mears to get us there since we didn't have a rental car. Our pickup time was scheduled for 7:30 am, which would give us plenty of time to get there for park opening. Since WWOHP was the main reason we were going, we wanted to get there early.

After a quick breakfast, we started walking over towards the Carriage House where we would be picked up.

A couple early morning shots of SSR. Because it was so early the resort was so quiet. Just a couple people out walking.

While we were waiting for our shuttle, I kept thinking about the Forbidden Journey ride. I knew it was the headlining attraction at WWOHP but the descriptions I read about it made me a little nervous. I just didn't know if I had the guts to do it. Maybe it's because it was something brand-new but the unknown kind of makes me nervous. Like the first time I rode Tower of Terror. Even though I love it now, I was so scared to even get on it. The more I thought about it, the more I thought it might be a game-time decision for me if I rode FJ.

Anyway, there was one other family who was waiting for the shuttle with us. I overheard them talking with one of the CMs about the Wizarding World and he told them to do FJ first since it gets so busy. That was definitely going to be our plan of attack too.

Our shuttle ended up being about 10 minutes late. When it got there, we paid the driver our $54 ($18/person round-trip) and he gave us our return ticket. Then we were off!

It did not take long to get to Universal at all. Even with the shuttle being late, we still got to the park by 8:00 or shortly after. We still had plenty of time before opening. Of course since we are not that familiar with Universal, we had to figure out where we were going. We decided that following the crowd would probably get us to the right place (now I know what a Disney newbie feels like, haha).

The layout of Universal is so different than Disney. Basically, the shuttle dropped us off at one of the bus stops and then you have to go up some stairs where they do their bag checks. That takes you to a moving sidewalk that leads to CityWalk, Universal's version of Downtown Disney.

It was so exciting seeing all the signs for Harry!

A couple shots my sisters got of the entrance/CityWalk:

Before long we could see the parks, woo hoo! Islands of Adventure (and the Hulk!) straight ahead!

When we got to the gate, they were already letting people into the parks. It was so funny because a majority of the people were going to IOA. Hardly anyone was going to Universal Studios.

Once we were through the turnstiles, we had to go left. The shorter way to WWOHP was to the right, but the only people who could go that way were the ones who had the Express Pass (kind of like fastpass except you pay for it. I know Dad and I did that when we went to Universal Studios Hollywood).

As we were walking we could see the top of Hogwarts!

One of the directional signs...we had to pass through Toon Lagoon and the Jurassic Park area to get to the Wizarding World.

Another sign with Harry!

Now, in all honesty, my sisters did more research about WWOHP than I did. They were making comments about how it was good we hadn't come to a stop yet. I guess there had been some pretty huge lines just to get into the area shortly after it opened. We made it pretty far into the Jurassic Park area before we saw this guy:

Here's the line! Atleast we were in some shade.

Now we just had to wait for them to open the area.

up next: Our Forbidden Journey

 

[RachelNinja]

Going back to catch up! I'm starting from your update on AIE.

WOW, that Aaron Kelly is such a baby! Haha, I like that you included the link to something he sang because I wouldn't have the patience to YouTube it myself, haha.

Interesting fact about the "pump up guy"! Haha, do they write that on their resumes? "DHS AIE Pump Up Guy."

I know we've talked about it before, but I love love love that you and your sisters don't waste food. I was raised to never waste, so it also pains me to see how much can be thrown away! The only time I throw away food is when I know eating it will make me sick (that comes up later on in my trip). Otherwise we save it. Haha, I think I posted the latest entry on my TR (I know, I need to update!) about how I ate the leftover chicken nuggets! I gotta make sure I bring a little cooler and ice pack in February!

Haha, before I even read your commentary about loving the bulletin board stuff at the Lotso meet and greet, I thought the same exact thing! I was like, "It's probably because I'm a teacher, but I think it's cute that they have the drawings on the bulletin board and they even went to get border!"

I think I need that "How to Treat Others" poster for my room, haha.

Wait, Lotso smells like strawberries in the movie? Hmm, maybe that's why the CM at our local Disney Store kept insisting that I smell the stuffed Lotso's tummy ...

OOoOOoO, I love the "magnificent" + "malevolent" thing for Maleficent! I would've guessed the malevolent part just because I remember learning that word during my junior year of high school in Latin. When we learned "mal" is bad, we had to look up all these different words in the dictionary that had mal as the root.

Love all the Vinylmation Jrs too! So adorable!

Haha, I think it's funny that you get scared with the Dinosaur part in KK3. What about the Expedition Everest part? Does that scare you when you ride it now? I can't imagine that part of the book because I've never ridden it myself, so I probably have a really odd picture of how it all looks on the inside!

Looking forward to your WWOHP update! Definitely going to be sending the link to my cousin and her boyfriend!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Those are some great updates!!!! I really need to get in gear and finish reading my Kingdom Keepers book! It seems like every time I go and pick it up, I find out I failed my Praxis and then have to devote the next several weeks to reading that horrid book than KK! My results are posted on Tues so if I passed, it will be KK all the way!!!!

Can't wait to hear about Universal! I thought I heard somewhere..maybe even the Dis Podcast that if you bought Universal Tickets that there was a free shuttle from WDW to Universal..maybe I'm wrong though I'm sure the Mears got you there just as fast!

 

[dismagiclover]

So exciting to read about someone elses Universal experience. As you know we were one of the lucky ones who went to the right to enter (one of those on property perks.) I'm interested to see what it is like for you at normal park entrance because we hightailed it out of there at 9:00.

 

[Queenofallthings]

I can't wait to hear/see more from US.....the last time we visited was in 2002....we're hoping to get there next summer!!!

 

[brookelizabeth]

You guys got a ton done in AK for only being there for a few hours! That is awesome! Gotta love those low crowds.

I'm really liking the IOA pictures, we've never done those parks - waiting until Henry gets older - so it's really fun to see and hear about the different layout, etc.

And for the life of me I cannot figure out who this guy is supposed to be. I'm sure its obvious...but.... Who is he????

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Hi there! Catching up again all the way back to your AIE update.

I so want to do the AIE this trip but I'm the only one who wants to. I'm going to try and at least sneak a visit in to the finale.

Ooo-ooo, I'm a Gleek! Grilled Cheesus

OK, Lotso is pretty cute but I'm still not sure what Demetri is going to do. Come to think of it, it might be pretty cute to hear what he tells him he thinks about him!

Yay, Disney trivia! Without looking ahead to the answers.....

1. my favorite villian and I had to look up the answer
2. Octavious (sp?)
3. Charming

How'd I do?

Your Stitch drawing is great! "No one gets left behind". Oh Ariana knew the Angel question! We were at the Disney store the other day and she was in the big pile of stuffed characters. I held her up for Ariana to tell me the name (I didn't know) and she immediately told me it was Angel. :

I'm glad the rain held off for your AK time. You have some great safari shots!

Harry Potter!!! Oh the Hogwarts Castle! I'm so excited! Ah man. Waiting in line sucks.

 

[tinkgurl]

Whew, you guys got a lot done at AK!

I love looking at all the details on the Tree of Life. And the Tree of Life looks even better at night when it's all lit up.

Where the Cousins embarassed when the plate broke? Or did they play it off?

Aw..that Peter Pan Vinylmation is SO cute!

So..I am enjoying your Harry Potter pics since I don't know if we'll ever make it over there.

 

[Jennifer48]

More WWoHP please!!

 

[onelilspark]

You guys got a ton done in AK for only being there for a few hours! That is awesome! Gotta love those low crowds.

I'm really liking the IOA pictures, we've never done those parks - waiting until Henry gets older - so it's really fun to see and hear about the different layout, etc.

And for the life of me I cannot figure out who this guy is supposed to be. I'm sure its obvious...but.... Who is he????

Cinderella. I got it and had to look it up

 

[wdwgirl03]

Going back to catch up! I'm starting from your update on AIE.

WOW, that Aaron Kelly is such a baby! Haha, I like that you included the link to something he sang because I wouldn't have the patience to YouTube it myself, haha.

Interesting fact about the "pump up guy"! Haha, do they write that on their resumes? "DHS AIE Pump Up Guy."

I know we've talked about it before, but I love love love that you and your sisters don't waste food. I was raised to never waste, so it also pains me to see how much can be thrown away! The only time I throw away food is when I know eating it will make me sick (that comes up later on in my trip). Otherwise we save it. Haha, I think I posted the latest entry on my TR (I know, I need to update!) about how I ate the leftover chicken nuggets! I gotta make sure I bring a little cooler and ice pack in February!

Haha, before I even read your commentary about loving the bulletin board stuff at the Lotso meet and greet, I thought the same exact thing! I was like, "It's probably because I'm a teacher, but I think it's cute that they have the drawings on the bulletin board and they even went to get border!"

I think I need that "How to Treat Others" poster for my room, haha.

Wait, Lotso smells like strawberries in the movie? Hmm, maybe that's why the CM at our local Disney Store kept insisting that I smell the stuffed Lotso's tummy ...

OOoOOoO, I love the "magnificent" + "malevolent" thing for Maleficent! I would've guessed the malevolent part just because I remember learning that word during my junior year of high school in Latin. When we learned "mal" is bad, we had to look up all these different words in the dictionary that had mal as the root.

Love all the Vinylmation Jrs too! So adorable!

Haha, I think it's funny that you get scared with the Dinosaur part in KK3. What about the Expedition Everest part? Does that scare you when you ride it now? I can't imagine that part of the book because I've never ridden it myself, so I probably have a really odd picture of how it all looks on the inside!

Looking forward to your WWOHP update! Definitely going to be sending the link to my cousin and her boyfriend!

Aaron Kelly sort of reminds me of David Archuleta. almost like him better. He was really good. I was so sad when he got voted off.

Yeah, I really can't stand wasting all that food. It still amuses me that last August people were giving us their extras because of the dining plan! And the one lady who threw out an unopened bottle of orange juice. That really kind of irritated me.

LOL, guess good (teacher) minds think alike!

Oh, I wouldn't say I got scared...it would be scary if that really happened though! If I got scared of all the rides they went on in KK I'd be afraid of a lot of rides.

More WWOHP coming up...

Those are some great updates!!!! I really need to get in gear and finish reading my Kingdom Keepers book! It seems like every time I go and pick it up, I find out I failed my Praxis and then have to devote the next several weeks to reading that horrid book than KK! My results are posted on Tues so if I passed, it will be KK all the way!!!!

Can't wait to hear about Universal! I thought I heard somewhere..maybe even the Dis Podcast that if you bought Universal Tickets that there was a free shuttle from WDW to Universal..maybe I'm wrong though I'm sure the Mears got you there just as fast!

I hope you pass your Praxis! Not only so you can get to KK but because it seems like you are an awesome teacher and deserve to pass!

Hmm, that could be. Maybe it was with some certain package. Who knows. All I know is the Mears shuttle was fine for us. LOL.

So exciting to read about someone elses Universal experience. As you know we were one of the lucky ones who went to the right to enter (one of those on property perks.) I'm interested to see what it is like for you at normal park entrance because we hightailed it out of there at 9:00.

You might be surprised how it all worked out for us...stay tuned!

I can't wait to hear/see more from US.....the last time we visited was in 2002....we're hoping to get there next summer!!!

More on Universal coming up! Hope you guys get to make it next year!

You guys got a ton done in AK for only being there for a few hours! That is awesome! Gotta love those low crowds.

I'm really liking the IOA pictures, we've never done those parks - waiting until Henry gets older - so it's really fun to see and hear about the different layout, etc.

And for the life of me I cannot figure out who this guy is supposed to be. I'm sure its obvious...but.... Who is he????

Yeah, there really isn't a whole lot for smaller kids at Universal. I know they have a couple areas designed for kids like Seussland but it's definitely not as kid friendly as Disney, atleast IMO.

The one vinylmation is actually a she...it's Cinderella!

Hi there! Catching up again all the way back to your AIE update.

I so want to do the AIE this trip but I'm the only one who wants to. I'm going to try and at least sneak a visit in to the finale.

Ooo-ooo, I'm a Gleek! Grilled Cheesus

OK, Lotso is pretty cute but I'm still not sure what Demetri is going to do. Come to think of it, it might be pretty cute to hear what he tells him he thinks about him!

Yay, Disney trivia! Without looking ahead to the answers.....

1. my favorite villian and I had to look up the answer
2. Octavious (sp?)
3. Charming

How'd I do?

Your Stitch drawing is great! "No one gets left behind". Oh Ariana knew the Angel question! We were at the Disney store the other day and she was in the big pile of stuffed characters. I held her up for Ariana to tell me the name (I didn't know) and she immediately told me it was Angel. :

I'm glad the rain held off for your AK time. You have some great safari shots!

Harry Potter!!! Oh the Hogwarts Castle! I'm so excited! Ah man. Waiting in line sucks.

Aww, that stinks nobody else wants to see AIE! If you can squeeze it in you'll enjoy it.

LOL, that episode was good. Better than the Britney one. I still think they should do a Disney episode. Don't know how that would work but I'd love to hear them do Disney songs.

Yeah, I wonder how many comments kids have made about Lotso! I'm sure there are some good ones.

You got the Octavius one right!

It's funny because we saw an Angel stuffed animal somewhere and Claire was like hey, it's a pink Stitch! Then we found out who it really was. haha

Waiting is never fun, but honestly it wasn't all that bad.

Whew, you guys got a lot done at AK!

I love looking at all the details on the Tree of Life. And the Tree of Life looks even better at night when it's all lit up.

Where the Cousins embarassed when the plate broke? Or did they play it off?

Aw..that Peter Pan Vinylmation is SO cute!

So..I am enjoying your Harry Potter pics since I don't know if we'll ever make it over there.

I still have yet to see the AK at night. So sad. And it doesn't look like there are evening EMH when we go in March either. Boo!

They just kind of played it off. People who were watching kind of reacted though.

All of the vinylmation jrs are so cute! I really want to get the Nemo one. hehe Or Figment.

Glad you are enjoying them...lots more to come!

More WWoHP please!!

Going to start working on the next update after this!

Cinderella. I got it and had to look it up

Yup, it is Cinderella.

Hope you had a good trip!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Wednesday, August 11, 2010 cont'd (part 2)

I have decided that in order to fully get the Harry Potter experience from this post, I am going to provide you with some background music. Seriously, whenever I think of Harry Potter I always think of the theme song, Hedwig's Theme, from the movie. In fact, whenever we watch the movies I always hum along (do Do do do do Do do do, do DO do do do do....my attempt at humming over the internet...LOL!)-and it kind of drives my sisters nuts. They always ask me why I do that. Sorry, can't help it. So just click on the link below and imagine yourselves walking around with us.

HEDWIG'S THEME

Since we still had some time before they opened WWOHP to the non-Universal resort guests, we decided to call home. We talked to Dad for a while and I asked him if he thought I should do Forbidden Journey. Of course he said I should...we both kind of thought I'd regret it if I didn't (who knows when we'll be going back...hopefully soon though since Dad wants to see it!). I should also note that I took a Dramamine too. Even though it might not have helped, it sort of eased my mind knowing that I took one. But I still had some butterflies. My sisters on the other hand, could not have been more excited. They were ready to go.

I think it was exactly 9:00 when the line finally started moving. It took us a little while until we could finally start to see Hogwarts again...

Just the sight of it made me start humming Hedwig's Theme in my head.

While Hogwarts is impressive, the actual attraction part of the building is kind of an eyesore. You can kind of see it in the above picture (notice the little bit of white on the far lefthand side, below the tree?).

Getting closer...now we could start to see other rooftops!

There's the entrance!

Hogsmeade!

Another shot of Hogwarts...notice there was also a skywriter that morning.

At last we made it to the entrance. Welcome to Hogsmeade!

And yet another shot of Hogwarts. It was just amazing seeing this castle in person. It just seemed so authentic.

It was really hard to take in all of the amazing details. One thing that I appreciate a little more now is this directional sign:

Why you ask? You know how ABC Family has Harry Potter weekends like every other weekend? A while ago we were watching one of the movies and I spotted that same sign! I guess I should have known better that something like that would be in the movie, but it was just funny because I was like HEY, I saw that at WWOHP!

The other thing that was awesome was that my song, Hedwig's Theme, was playing as the area music. I don't know what it is about that song but I love it!

We didn't want to spend too much time admiring all the details because we were ready to ride Forbidden Journey. So off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry we go!

continued in next post...

 

[Nermel9]

I know nothing about Harry Potter (never read the books or saw the movies ...I will someday, I know I will like them!) but the WWoHP looks amazing! If I was a huge fan, I'd definitely have to find a way to go there! I would like to see it, but I think I'd rather wait til I read the books and know what I'm looking at!

 

[wdwgirl03]

The first thing we had to do before riding Forbidden Journey is get a locker. Because of the ride vehicle, they do not allow any carry-on items, unless it's really small. There's no place to store them other than a super small compartment (which I don't even know where it was). So all of the following pictures are courtesy of my sisters.

The good thing about the lockers is that they are free for up to an hour and a half. The bad thing is it's just kind of a hassle. Plus, just like everything else, everyone wants to go to the first bay of lockers. Well, there are plenty more if you just go more towards the back! So after taking the advice of one of the workers (I guess I can't call them cast members...) that's what we did. The lockers are kind of small, but they are deep. Claire and I were able to fit our Vera Bradley hipsters in with room to spare.

After securing our items, it was time to get in line! The line starts outside and goes through the greenhouse before entering the castle.

We spotted some Mandrakes (I had to rely on my sister's facebook caption to remember the name of them ). I do remember them from the movies though. If I'm remembering correctly you have to wear earmuffs when harvesting them because of their shrieks. Adult mandrakes' shrieks can be deadly! Luckily we didn't have that problem. haha

Even though the line was so long, we were constantly moving. I think it took us about 15 minutes before we saw the entrance to Hogwarts. We're going in...no turning back now.

Right at the entrance were big statues of all of the Hogwarts founders, who the houses are named after.

And all of the house points. Gryffindor's in the lead!

We could never quite figure out how the house points work. It just seems so unfair how they award/take away points. It just seemed totally fixed. LOL. OK, anyway...

The entrance to Dumbledore's office. For you non-HP fans Dumbledore is the headmaster of Hogwarts.

According to my sisters you can take a tour of Hogwart's without doing the ride. I'm not sure how that works (if it's true) but it would definitely be worth it. For Potter fanatics it's just like heaven. So many details that are true to the books/movies. I'll let the pictures do the talking. It is literally an attraction in itself.

Moving portraits

Gryffindor common room

The pensieve

Dumbledore's desk

It was almost too bad that the line was constantly moving because we didn't get to enjoy all of the details in the queue. Like at a couple points they have projections of Dumbledore and Harry, Ron, and Hermione but we didn't know what they were saying at all. Oh well. More reason to go back, right?

This is where we saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Sadly the picture didn't turn out.

The last thing we saw was the Sorting Hat, who gave the safety instructions for the ride.

I really couldn't believe we were there already. It definitely didn't take as long as I thought it might...maybe 40-45 minutes? Remember though the line was moving super fast. We were soon ready to take flight!

(I know, all that and I haven't even gotten to the ride itself!...stay tuned!)

up next: Did we survive Forbidden Journey?

 

[dawnbu40]

Wow! Awesome pictures! My husband was reading your posts over my shoulder declaring that we "have to" go there next year

Can't wait for more!

 

[Mickey_Mom]

I love this update! My boys read it with me - Alex who has read the books over and over kept saying how cool it looked and Demetri, who has no idea who Harry Potter is, really liked it too.

I so wish we could have fit HP into our trip. Definately in for the next one no question!