70 to Freezing in 7 hours. A Nov/Dec 2011 trip report. Updated 4/28

[petals]

That grinch sound hilarious! I would love to see that someday!

The face grinch is hilarious it's totally worth going to see at least once. The other Grinch still played up his part when we saw him even though he couldn't talk though. They don't like Disney books at all!

 

[petals]

I promise there's less reading in this one:

Day 12, part 3:
So after the Wholiday fun we decided to take the High in the sky Seuss Trolley Train ride before moving to our next destination. The queue was really long for this. I don’t remember how long I just remember wondering if we were ever going to reach the top.

Headed for the big top:

I loved the names on the backs of the trains as well:

After the train ride we headed towards the Lost Continent saying farewell to Seuss landing.

Momma was amused by where the birds lined up:

And then it was straight back to Hogsmeade. Oh I love this place. It is so cool the way the whole place is themed.

Even Honeydukes had Christmas decorations on the door (including what looks like a hidden mickey from the way I took the pic lol):

We went into Honeydukes and Zonkos for a look and I was surprised and delighted they had new merchandise and now have boxed exploding bon bons. They only had the jars of Honeydukes sweets when we were there in 2010.

The caged the pygmy puffs and got purple ones. I got the pink one in 2010 and I had to try so hard not to buy that purple one to go with the pink one:

the pumpkin face in a box were also new:

We decided not to do Ollivanders this year as the queue was far too long and we don’t like rollercoaster’s so Hogsmeade for us is just about trying the butterbeer, browsing the shops and taking in all the Harry Potter stuff. I did want to see the shows this year though as we missed them both in 2010. But anyways we headed for Dervish and Banges there and I was surprised to find they’d added on an extra room to the shop. It’s still tiny regardless though. They had moved the stamping station to the entrance door in the Owlery so Momma was waiting there ringing home for the millionth time and I got postcards in Dervish and Banges for me and my Harry Potter loving friend who works in Disneyland Paris.

I loved how all the shops had little touches of Christmas decorations:

Next up: Will I ever get to see the Wizard shows?

 

[petals]

Day 12, part 4:
So after getting my postcards stamped. We headed up towards the castle to have a lookie. We stopped at a cart along the way. Momma got a fruit cup. I took a pic of the pumpkin juice:

Then we went around the corner to the second most amazing sight ever (first most amazing sight being Mickey’s house with the fairy lights on obv!):

We don’t do thrill rides as I’ve mentioned before but with Hogwarts the chickens in the world can do a walk through of the castle instead of going on the ride. I think they made the walk through longer though because we definitely saw more this year especially in the portrait area and Gryffindor common room:

Dumbledore’s office:

Defence against the dark arts classroom:

Gryffindor common room:

We came out into Filch’s Emporium where I found a hoodie I had been looking for. Also saw this which I thought was cool:

There was a pin cart outside Filch’s where I got a Dobby pin as well. Receipt says it was the Hippogriff cart. I also took more pics of the castle and area:

I think this is my fave pic and it's only the roofs lol!

And then the first show started. This one was welcoming foreign witches and wizards to the Triwizard tournament:

We waited in the same area for half an hour after this and I took pics to pass the time:

Squirrel:

And then the Frog choir came along with a somewhat cute Ravenclaw:

I think Momma may have fallen asleep during this. They sang various songs from across the series of films. I was happy to see both shows once but I dunno if I’d wait for them again.

Next up: IOA have push to… kind of!

 

[amandaw]

The WWoHP is so wonderfully themed! I just love it there! If it only it was bigger! But, I think I read that they are going to do an expansion to it.

I really enjoyed all of your pictures. I was thinking we probably wouldn't get back to the Harry Potter area when we go on our trip to IoA this fall.....since we're mainly going there for superhero & Seuss stuff for our little boy. But, I have to at least go walk through there again. I just love it!

 

[petals]

The WWoHP is so wonderfully themed! I just love it there! If it only it was bigger! But, I think I read that they are going to do an expansion to it.

I really enjoyed all of your pictures. I was thinking we probably wouldn't get back to the Harry Potter area when we go on our trip to IoA this fall.....since we're mainly going there for superhero & Seuss stuff for our little boy. But, I have to at least go walk through there again. I just love it!

They are doing an expansion as such. They're building a section over where Jaws is in Universal Studios side. I reckon it'd be cool if you could take the Hogwarts express from Studios to IOA though when it's all done.

You should def try walk through it once anyway. It's so cool looking.

 

[vleeth]

I'm sooo excited to go to the wwohp. Your pics were great!

 

[afwdwfan]

Well, I guess we'll get to try out WWoHP in a few months. I've yet to go there, but it looks cool. I've never read any of the books or seen any of the movies though, so I have no idea what any of the stuff is that you were talking about though.

 

[jenseib]

I love the WWOHP !!! I think the castle is just amazing.

 

[petals]

I'm sooo excited to go to the wwohp. Your pics were great!

Thanks

Well, I guess we'll get to try out WWoHP in a few months. I've yet to go there, but it looks cool. I've never read any of the books or seen any of the movies though, so I have no idea what any of the stuff is that you were talking about though.

I think you really need to read the books to understand most of the merchandise and shops but it's prob still cool if you haven't read them

I love the WWOHP !!! I think the castle is just amazing.

It is amazing. I really want to go to the studio tour in London now as well.

 

[petals]

OMG the ticker says 2 months and so many weeks. That thing is flying! I was doing more of my holiday dvd from last year. The Seaworld Christmas bits and Shamu show made me cry yet again big baby! Anyways decided to do another update to mop up the tears:

Day 12, part 5:

So when I left off we had just managed to see the two Wizard shows and we decided to leave Hogsmeade for a while and head over to see the dinosaurs.
The bridge between Hogsmeade and Jurassic Park has some very pretty views of Hogwarts so we stopped to take pics:

In Jurassic Park we went into the Discovery Centre to look around for a while:

After that we headed towards the Lost Continent to wait for the The Eighth Voyage of Sindbad stunt show. While we were waiting we could hear this strange snoring. We had no idea where it was coming from though! Anyways stunt show began and we didn’t think any more of the snoring:

Sindbad Stunt show is major bleh! Maybe it was because we had already seen the Motor stunt show in DHS but Sindbad stunt show was boring. We only stayed because we had no place better to be for a while lol! When we came out we figured out the source of the snoring though (and it was nothing to do with the Stunt show either) around the corner from the Stunt show entrance we used there was this fountain called The Mystic Fountain. It says on the map that people should make a wish in this magical fountain! When we saw it though the fountain was talking to a bunch of kids like Push the talking trash can style except with water! It was hilarious. Most of the kids were boys down from some part of America for some sort of base-ball competition or something like that maybe it was football I can’t remember but it was some sport competition involving teams anyway. The boys were teasing the fountain which was squirting water at people and saying that the fountain wouldn’t get them so fountain kept aiming at them. Then at one point the fountain started crying because the kids said they had beaten the Florida team fountain said that made him sad. There was another funny part where the fountain dared the kids to get closer and they did and it started squirting water and the kids were jumping away from the squirts and fountain did evil laugh going dance humans dance! I think there was music at one point as well to get the kids to dance. The fountain kept asking people their names and if people left before the fountain was finished talking he said goodbye to them as well. We stayed until the Fountain went back to sleep it was hilarious watching it though:

So anyways after the fun with the talking Fountain we decided it was dinner time so we said we would go to the Three Broomsticks for food or so we thought:

When we got there we were told it was closed “due to technical difficulties” eh sorry what how can a restaurant have technical difficulties?!
So what do we do now?

Next up: End of IOA day

 

[amandaw]

I love the Mystic Fountain! It can really be lots of fun!

So sorry y'all didn't get to eat at the 3 Broomsticks! We ate there back in Dec 2010 & thought it was really good.

 

[Caretames1]

Even though I don't now anything about Harry Potter (Gasp!) I do think the Castle is awesome looking! Very foreboding!

Nice photos, and the roofs one is very artsy!


Now Jurrasic Park is something I'm familiar with! Love the movie, I know we'd enjoy seeing it all.


Technical Difficulties?? No Power? Out of Food!

 

[petals]

I love the Mystic Fountain! It can really be lots of fun!

It was hilarious. The dance humans dance with the evil laugh and water was the best bit

So sorry y'all didn't get to eat at the 3 Broomsticks! We ate there back in Dec 2010 & thought it was really good.

We ate there in 2010 and Momma didn't like it but ya have to eat there if you're a Potter fan. I was going to try something different plus it was "proper" food for Momma. She deems burgers and fries as not proper food with me if I can eat it and it tastes good it's all food so I don't care.

Even though I don't now anything about Harry Potter (Gasp!) I do think the Castle is awesome looking! Very foreboding!

Nice photos, and the roofs one is very artsy!

Thanks You need to read Harry Potter it's brill. The whole area is very well themed although the shops are tiny they're still cool though.

Now Jurrasic Park is something I'm familiar with! Love the movie, I know we'd enjoy seeing it all.

All I remember from Jurassic park when I was little was the dude on the toilet and the dinosaur ate him
Seriously though at the Discovery centre there's actually interactive things and places you can touch a dinosaur egg and stuff like that. Kadence would prob enjoy exploring that.

Technical Difficulties?? No Power? Out of Food!

Yeah I wondered about that. Maybe one of the ovens broke down or something but I just think technical difficulties refers to a machine or like a roller-coaster or something not a restaurant.

 

[petals]

Let's finish the IOA day
Day 12, part 6:
So we just got turned away from the Three Broomsticks so what do we do now? We take more pics around Hogsmeade while we think about where to eat now:

We eventually decided to just go to the Burger Digs back at Jurassic Park for food. I had a cheese burger:

And Momma had a chicken burger:

I believe at this point tensions started to run high about something so the burgers were eaten in silence. After that we didn’t feel like hanging around the park any longer so we headed back through Hogsmeade towards the exit:

I stopped to get butterbeer along the way as well:

We went through Seuss landing and it was all lit up for Christmas:

We went out to Citywalk and looked around the shops:

We decided to wait for the cinema as tensions had cooled down again and while we waited we went to a little café just beside the endangered species store that I can’t remember the name of. Momma got tea and she got this for me:

Looks lovely but was stale. I also got a drink from a nearby cart that had these cool looking bottles:

Maybe I’m just easily amused. The coke bottles had cute polar bears on them to which I felt needed a picture:

While we were filling in time I decided to write the postcard to my Harry Potter loving friend. This is the stamp from the Hogsmeade Owlery:

After that we went to see Puss in Boots. I think Momma feel asleep for a while but she said she thought it was good. After that we went back to the hotel to finish packing. I had bought way too much. Our luggage allowance was one suitcase and one piece of hand luggage. I had the suitcase stuffed and kinda may have had four pieces of hand luggage oopsie!

Next up: Time to move on!

 

[amandaw]

Overall, it sounds like y'all had a nice day at IoA!

I love sweets but I found the Butterbeer to be too sweet after a while. Did you get the frozen or the regular? I've only tried the frozen.

Glad y'all got to see the movie. UGH - I hate packing to go back home.

 

[afwdwfan]

I've seen that Sinbad show... I know what you mean. Bleh may be a little bit too nice for it. I kind of feel that way about most of the US/IoA shows though. They just typically aren't quite as good or worth the time. Especially when they have the Hulk over there begging to be ridden.

 

[petals]

Overall, it sounds like y'all had a nice day at IoA!

It was a good day. Another slowish relaxing day

I love sweets but I found the Butterbeer to be too sweet after a while. Did you get the frozen or the regular? I've only tried the frozen.

I don't like the sound of the regular and have only tried the frozen. I think actually they told me that the regular one the machine was broken so they only had the frozen. Anyways in 2010 I got it and couldn't finish it myself but last year I was hungrier when I got it and just sipped it as I went around and finished the whole thing. I think they are heavy so if you aren't hungry you won't finish one alone.

Glad y'all got to see the movie. UGH - I hate packing to go back home.

I'm teasing now but we may not be packing to go home yet... It did give me a fright when I saw the amount of hand luggage though.

I've seen that Sinbad show... I know what you mean. Bleh may be a little bit too nice for it. I kind of feel that way about most of the US/IoA shows though. They just typically aren't quite as good or worth the time. Especially when they have the Hulk over there begging to be ridden.

My niece's Christmas play was better and they're 11 years old like The Grinch Christmas show was good but Sinbad noooooooo! Although the talking fountain made up for it.

 

[Caretames1]

All I remember from Jurassic park when I was little was the dude on the toilet and the dinosaur ate him

That was a great part! I just watched it with Kadence this summer, and while she was bit scared at points, she liked it. It's a great movie, plus the sequels are good too!


Sorry tension arose, but sometimes that happens. John and I were very silent to each other in Jan 2009 over a map reading incident... He got over it quickly.

Have you seen the commercials for the Coke Bears, the Christmas ones? Sooo cute!

 

[petals]

That was a great part! I just watched it with Kadence this summer, and while she was bit scared at points, she liked it. It's a great movie, plus the sequels are good too!

It was pretty scary if your young but that was my favourite part though.

Sorry tension arose, but sometimes that happens. John and I were very silent to each other in Jan 2009 over a map reading incident... He got over it quickly.

I suppose we were lucky they were so few on holidays but they do kind of bring the day down a bit for a while.

Have you seen the commercials for the Coke Bears, the Christmas ones? Sooo cute!

I haven't seen them yet. We normally don't get those until November. I love the Coke Christmas ads though.

 

[momabaarjo]

Looks like you got to enjoy Hogsmeade without a lot of crowds!