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

[dismagiclover]

Great update! I remember being amazed at how small those stores really are. Especially Zonko's! I think many people have closets that are bigger than that store!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Again..loving the pics!

Ew..earwax?! I think I gagged a little...

Glad you like the pictures.

haha, yup, earwax. There are lots of crazy flavors in the books!

I love hearing about WWOHP. We never seem to get off of Disney property.

LOL. We don't go off property much either but we always end up having a good time. The other parks may not be Disney, but they are still fun to experience!

I can't imagine waiting in line to get into a store

I know, right?!

Yay for more Harry Potter! We had a store around here that had Bertie Botts every flavor beans and they had ones like earwax and vomit. We just had to try them and yes they were entirely disGUSting!

Yum for a chocolate frog and I LOVe the look on the conductor's face!

Yeah, they sell them around here too and I can't imagine even trying some of those flavors. Gross!

haha, I know, his look is pretty funny.

Wow,wow,wow! Love all the HP stuff!! Expecially Honeydukes. Thank you so much for the great report on WHHOP. One of these days I'll get over there to see it....

You're welcome!

Another great update!! I have to go.....I just have to go and see this!!!

Yes you do have to go! Hopefully soon!

There's a candy store here called Dylan's Candy Bar that sells Bertie Bott's Beans. I remember seeing the earwax flavor. I haven't tried them though. It looks like WWOP has every flavor listed in the book, which is cool yet disgusting at the same time lol! Uh oh...those Pygmy Puffs are pretty cute! I might cave next month and get one :X

I don't think I want to try some of those nasty flavors. Yuck.

The pygmy puffs were pretty cute but I still have plenty of Disney stuffed animals...

All that candy looks good, can't wait to see what you did end up buying. Did you just purchase a one day pass to the park, it seems like it is pretty expensive for one day. I would love to go, but with such short trips to WDW I hate to spend too much time at Universal.

Yes, we did end up getting the one day park pass (without their version of the hopper). It was definitely our most expensive day of the trip but like I've said before, it's not like we go to Universal that often so it was worth it to us. We really wanted to see WWOHP.

Mmmm all that candy looks so good! That whole Harry Potter area looks really pretty, it's too bad it's so small!

All of the detail was just amazing. Hopefully because it's so popular they'll expand it soon. That would be cool. We're already trying to come up with more rides they could do.

Great update! I remember being amazed at how small those stores really are. Especially Zonko's! I think many people have closets that are bigger than that store!

I know, especially when there's so many people IN them! I honestly feel sorry for the people who work there and have to deal with that. Yikes! I would probably be going home super grumpy. LOL.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Boo, it's already Sunday. But I'm OK with that. Well, not really but this week is a short week thanks to teachers' convention. That means only 3 days of school for me! I told Dad that if I would've known I didn't have to do anything I would've planned a quick trip to WDW to go to one of the Halloween parties. Oh well, maybe next year...

But I also have some other good news! Since I'm on our WWOHP day, how about some brief Harry Potter talk? If you are a big HP fan, you know that the first part of Deathly Hallows comes out in less than a month (November 19!). For the longest time, my sisters have been saying how they want to go at midnight to see it but thought they wouldn't be able to since it's during the school year. See, we all went to Half Blood Prince at midnight but it was also during the summer. But, they've pretty much decided to do it anyway. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to with school. Then last night I was thinking about it since Chamber of Secrets was on the Disney Channel. November 19 sounded like a familiar date. Aren't conferences right around then? So I went to check it out and sure enough, there is NO SCHOOL on the 19th! And I already know I don't have to work at all for conferences (the joys of being an assistant!) so I'll be able to go after all! I know it's crazy to go see a movie at midnight but we honestly had so much fun the last time. Plus we've gone to a couple of the book parties too. I know, we are obsessed. Part of the fun is knowing that so many other people are doing the same thing. Just thought I'd share. Now back to the report...

Wednesday, August 11, 2010 cont'd (part 6)

To continue our shopping, we crossed over to the other side of WWOHP to visit Dervish and Banges. As I mentioned, we had to wait to get into that store as well. Atleast we'd be able to listen to some of the HP music while we waited (Hedwig's theme!!! hehe). There were also some girls behind us drinking butterbeer and we knew we'd have to try some of that later on. It looked so good...I kind of wanted to just snatch it from one of them to taste. I also spotted this adorable little boy who had just gotten a wand so he was running around pretending to cast spells on his sister. There's one scene in (I think...??) Prisoner of Azkaban when Harry is casting a spell and then collapses. The little boy even did that. It was pretty hilarious.

Since we knew it was going to be a while before we got in, we just tried to take in some more of the atmosphere. Claire found this sign on one of the walls:

The store is close to the exit of Dragon Challenge so every once in a while there'd be a big group of people passing through which was kind of annoying.

I think it took us about half an hour before we finally got in the store. The lady who was manning the door would let in maybe one or two people for every five that left. Grrrr. But atleast we made it inside. If it's possible, I think Dervish and Banges was even smaller than Honeydukes and Zonkos. It was packed!

This store has more of the actual Harry Potter merchandise, like the house robes, scarves (Emma really wanted one until she looked at the price...it was something like $35!!!), even broomsticks.

I don't think those brooms were available for purchase, they were just decoration.

We also spotted the Monster Book of Monsters.

There were also smaller items like pins, keychains, and mugs. I don't really know what I was expecting but we were kind of disappointed in the selection. Maybe they were out of a lot of things but there just wasn't a whole lot to choose from. I did end up getting a Gryffindor house pin, lanyard and a postcard.

The funny thing is that even though it was so small, we still managed to get lost. LOL. Claire and I paid for our stuff and went outside to get our postcards postmarked (you can have someone stamp it so it looks like it is really coming from Hogsmeade! I'll have to post a picture later...) but we didn't know where Emma was. Turns out she was still inside but man, that place was nuts. I feel sorry for the workers who would have to deal with those kinds of crowds every day. Yikes!

By that time it was getting to be 11:00 or a little after. We knew we wanted to eat lunch at the Three Broomsticks. I suggested we go right away just so we could avoid another possible wait.

There was a line, but it wasn't too bad. It actually worked out OK because they have a preview of the items on the menu so we were able to figure out what we wanted to get. Emma and I decided to split the roast chicken and Claire got some fishsticks. And then of course we all were going to get the infamous butterbeer to drink! WOOT!!! Emma and I also splurged so we could get the souvenir mug as well.

It didn't take too long to get our food and our drinks. I could not wait to try the butterbeer! That is, if it didn't all spill before we found a table. It was amazing how much that stuff foamed! Seriously, how could you resist something that looks like this?

That is the regular version of the butterbeer (there is also a frozen variety that Emma got). After the first sip I was in love. SOOOOOOO good! I guess you could say it's sort of like cream soda but with more of a butterscotchy flavor. It was an interesting combination with the icy coldness of the drink but the foam was kind of warm (well, atleast compared to the rest of it). Since Emma got the frozen kind, we traded drinks so we could have a sip of both. We all agreed that the frozen version wasn't as sweet as the regular kind but both were delicious. Yum.

Oh, and here's some of the food:

Overall, it was a really good meal. Kind of expensive (thanks to our souvenir mugs...otherwise it wouldn't have been that bad). And it did work out going earlier because when we left the line was out the door.

A parting shot of the Three Broomsticks...

up next: exploring the rest of IOA and how long did we wait to ride Forbidden Journey again?

 

[Angies1274]

Great updates Sarah!!!

I've really enjoying reading all about the WWOHP!! YAY for conquering FJ!!

Love all your pictures!! Wow...so much candy! But...earwax flavor...ugh!

That butterbeer looks so yummy though.....

Can't wait for more!

 

[jwwi]

That butterbeer looks so good, and I think the mug is worth it. You are such a huge HP fan, so I think you would have regrets if you didn't get it.
Thanks for the great TR on WWOHP!

 

[brookelizabeth]

That mug of Butterbeer is HUGE! So, it's not beer at all, I always thought due to the name...? (Probably shows how little I know about HP. )

I heard the area was small, but whoa! It's tiny! I wonder why they made it all so small when they were expecting huge crowds?

The food looks delish though!!!! I'm craving corn on the cob now!

 

[Jennifer48]

I've been to the midnight showing for all the HP movies at our iMax theater and I plan to do the same for Deathly Hallows

Man your post really makes me want to go down to WWoHP! So awesome that you can get postcards postmarked with Hogsmeade!

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Woo hoo! November 19th eh? You know as much as I've been anticipating this movie coming out, I didn't know the release date. Something to look forward to before we go!!! Are you dressing up?

That Butterbeer looks delicious!! Can't remember if I said this already but I've already told George that on our next trip we are going to WWoHP no matter what! He just laughed at me. I took that as a yes.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Great updates Sarah!!!

I've really enjoying reading all about the WWOHP!! YAY for conquering FJ!!

Love all your pictures!! Wow...so much candy! But...earwax flavor...ugh!

That butterbeer looks so yummy though.....

Can't wait for more!

Glad you enjoyed the HP updates so far. I still have a couple more before I get back to the Disney stuff.

The butterbeer was very yummy. I could really go for a glass right now. haha!

That butterbeer looks so good, and I think the mug is worth it. You are such a huge HP fan, so I think you would have regrets if you didn't get it.
Thanks for the great TR on WWOHP!

Yeah, and atleast the mug is practical (though I have yet to use it since we got home...). But it was more fun to get the mug anyway.

That mug of Butterbeer is HUGE! So, it's not beer at all, I always thought due to the name...? (Probably shows how little I know about HP. )

I heard the area was small, but whoa! It's tiny! I wonder why they made it all so small when they were expecting huge crowds?

The food looks delish though!!!! I'm craving corn on the cob now!

Nope, it's not beer at all. I think there'd be a lot of disappointed kids if it really was. LOL.

I know they made the stores small because JK Rowling wanted them to be authentic, but who knows why the rest of the area is so small. Probably the same reason.

The food was so good! Definitely a great lunch.

I've been to the midnight showing for all the HP movies at our iMax theater and I plan to do the same for Deathly Hallows

Man your post really makes me want to go down to WWoHP! So awesome that you can get postcards postmarked with Hogsmeade!

Wow, all of them?! Nice! It's funny...the first time we went to the book release party was for Half Blood Prince I think and we really only intended to go see what it was like around 10:00 that night. But we ended up staying and had to go to the one for Deathly Hallows!

You should definitely try to go to WWOHP if you love all the books/movies!

Woo hoo! November 19th eh? You know as much as I've been anticipating this movie coming out, I didn't know the release date. Something to look forward to before we go!!! Are you dressing up?

That Butterbeer looks delicious!! Can't remember if I said this already but I've already told George that on our next trip we are going to WWoHP no matter what! He just laughed at me. I took that as a yes.

Yup, Nov. 19 is the big day. It's cool that they're finally starting to show commercials for it on TV. My goal is to reread atleast the first half of the book by that time but so far I haven't gotten around to that...

 

[dawnbu40]

I'm all caught up

Nice updates. I'm now thinking we have to make time to visit the WWOHP next year! That butterbeer and corn look so good

 

[Cat0727]

The pygmy puffs were pretty cute but I still have plenty of Disney stuffed animals...

I was actually looking around my room yesterday and realized I had way too many of those Muppets 3-D stuffed beanie toys. So I am putting a ban on myself and will not buy anymore stuffed animals. And the pygmy puff is a bit too expensive for me anyway.

The Butterbeer looks so good! I think in the books Dobby got drunk on it, didn't he?

 

[wdwgirl03]

I'm all caught up

Nice updates. I'm now thinking we have to make time to visit the WWOHP next year! That butterbeer and corn look so good

Yes, definitely try to make it over there. It was well worth the trip.

All the food was so good!

I was actually looking around my room yesterday and realized I had way too many of those Muppets 3-D stuffed beanie toys. So I am putting a ban on myself and will not buy anymore stuffed animals. And the pygmy puff is a bit too expensive for me anyway.

The Butterbeer looks so good! I think in the books Dobby got drunk on it, didn't he?

LOL! I have a few of the safari stuffed animals that they still sell at the Animal Kingdom. I had to have one the first time we went to AK.

That very well could've happened, I haven't read the books in so long so I don't remember all the little details! But it does sound vaguely familiar. My sisters probably know more than me.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Wednesday, August 11, 2010 cont'd (part 7)

After our delicious lunch at The Three Broomsticks, we decided to take a little rest. The first thing we did though was go to the bathroom. OK, normally I don't talk about going to the bathroom but I just have to share another fun little detail they include in the Wizarding World. If you are familiar with the books/movies, you know there is a ghost who haunts the girls' bathroom named Moaning Myrtle. Well, if you listen closely, you can hear her talking! LOL! How awesome is that?! I thought it was pretty cool.

Then we found a spot outside the restaurant to sit down and just soak up the atmosphere. I just can't get over all of the details and how well-themed the whole area is. A few pictures...some are mine, some are my sisters':

The Hog's Head, which is kind of like a mini bar attached to The Three Broomsticks.

The Owlery

Ollivander's wand shop. They have a "show" here where someone is chosen to pick a wand. Well, the line was extremely long and we didn't feel like waiting an hour and a half for it. So it's something we'll have to do next time we visit. It sounds like it could be pretty cool.

Since the Wizarding World was starting to get pretty crowded, we decided to say good-bye (for the time being) and go check out the rest of Islands of Adventure. One last shot from WWOHP:

Good-bye Hogwarts!

At that point we didn't really care what we did since our main reason for coming was to see WWOHP. We passed the Jurassic Park River Adventure but it must've been down because they were sending the boats down but nobody was on them. Unless they all got eaten by the dinosaurs...haha.

Since it was after noon now, it was starting (starting??) to get really hot and humid. We could've done one of the other water rides but didn't want to get completely drenched. We really just wanted to get out of the heat for a while so we headed over to Seuss Landing where we decided to do the Cat in the Hat ride.

There it is across the way!

I think that was actually a dead end or something. Oops. That's what happens when you're Universal "newbies." We did finally make it over there though.

It's definitely a cute and colorful little area.

The one thing about doing all the Harry Potter stuff first is that the waits for everything else really started to build up. I remember passing an attraction board and some of the bigger rides like the Hulk and Spiderman had hour long waits or more. So I guess if you really wanted to do some of the other stuff, you might be better off saving WWOHP for later in the day. I've read a few trip reports where that seems to be a good strategy.

The wait for Cat in the Hat was half an hour, but because we were so hot we didn't even care. We just wanted to get in some air conditioning for a while. The queue area is kind of cute...it has projections of some of the lines from the book on the wall.

The ride itself is pretty comparable to all the Fantasyland dark rides. It's cute but the Disney rides are definitely better done. I'm not trying to rip on Universal but I just remember one scene where you could completely see the wire of one of the characters coming down from the ceiling which seemed kind of tacky. Oh well. Maybe I am just a Disney snob.

So this is probably where you're going to think we're completely nuts. After our ride on Cat in the Hat, we pretty much decided we were done with IOA. The combination of the heat and the long waits was enough for us. We headed back to WWOHP to see if by chance we could get on Forbidden Journey again and pick up some treats from Honeydukes. On the way over I called Mears to arrange for our shuttle pick up. Another tip: Mears only starts picking up after a certain time. I think the first pick up time was something like 3:15, so if you wanted to leave earlier you're kind of screwed. When I first called to arrange our shuttle I thought that seemed so early and didn't bother setting it up. Turns out I could've. Anyways...

When we got back to WWOHP we were able to go right in but the line for Forbidden Journey was INSANE. It's hard to picture if you've never been there before but it basically stretched all the way across the bridge that you have to cross to enter the area. It was nuts. And remember you have to get a locker before riding. Claire said it was probably an hour wait to just get to the lockers, and then you have the whole queue. So this is where my brilliant sisters came up with a great idea (Universal would probably hate us for it, but we can't be the only people to ever try it!). Here's how we cheated the system. Remember how I said you also have to get lockers to go on Dragon Challenge? Well...my sisters suggested we go put our stuff in one of those lockers instead of waiting at FJ (otherwise we'd definitely miss our shuttle). There weren't nearly as many people over there so it was easy to grab a locker.

We also decided we were going to do the single rider line, something we found that wasn't really advertised all that much. The worker directed us to the single rider line and we must've been the only people in the entire line. I am not kidding you, it took us maybe 5 minutes to get all the way through and to the loading area. Awesome!!! And since I knew what to expect that time around, I think I enjoyed the ride even more. So cool.

After our ride we picked up our bags from the locker and stopped at Honeydukes. We only had to wait a couple minutes to get in which was good. Emma and I got chocolate frogs and cinnamon apple cider and Claire got a huge chocolate cauldron. Mmmm.

Emma also took this one last picture of Zonko's:

And with that, our Universal adventure was just about over. We slowly made our way to the front of the park. We did also stop in the main gift shop where I noticed they had a nice selection of HP merchandise, including some things I didn't notice in the stores in WWOHP. I didn't get anything though.

A parting shot of Universal/CityWalk...

So overall it was a fun day. Some of you are probably thinking wow, why spend all that money if all you're going to do is WWOHP?!?! Do I regret not being able to do some of the other attractions? A little bit. But like I said, our main reason for going was for the Harry Potter stuff and we can't complain with how much we got done there. The crowds weren't all that bad since we got there first thing. And if I haven't said it enough, it was well worth the trip. The whole area is really well done and we can't wait to go back!

up next: How did we spend our evening once we got back on Disney property???

 

[Jennifer48]

So cool about Moaning Myrtle!

I'm dying to go but I just can't bring myself to tackle the crowds. I'm not a fan of them or long lines.

 

[Nermel9]

Great update! WWOHP looks really cute! So does the Dr. Seuss area! I kind of wish we were going to Universal this year, but it will be there next year, so I'll just wait!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Good call storing your stuff in the other lockers & doing the single rider line! Guess no one else was smart enough to figure that out

It looks and sounds like they did a really great job theming the WWOHP, you actually have me wanting to check it out. Of course there is no way I'll go until the crowds reduce significantly - maybe in a couple of years

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

I'm getting caught up!!! Looks like a great start to Universal!!! I enjoyed all of the HP pics and review

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Are you serious? Moaning Myrtle? How awesome! I'd imagine it be a little creepy if you're not familiar with the character though.....

Did you say the Griffindor scarves were $30? I think I want one..... That snowman is too cool.

Way to find the locker alternative! I can't believe others weren't doing that too. I've never been to Universal before, but from other reports I've seen I'd likely spend most of my time in WWoHP.

 

[cbg1027]

Well Sarah, I think you've convinced me - I have to go see WWoHP! Even though it will cost a fortune. I will definitely try the single rider line, even if I'm with someone. And I love your sister's idea of using the other ride's lockers! Genius! I wonder how many people have done that? I hope they don't catch on.

 

[dawnbu40]

All the pictures from WWOHP were so great that now I definitely want to go next year As for using the other lockers and the single rider line

Nice update