I am really fine with just a laid back trip, although mention butter beer and I might be walking to IOA!
That said... yes, you want to wrap up your US portion to move on to WDW... and I want to wrap up my TR to move on to a PTR.
I know how you feel about losing readers.. but rest assure I will read your entire TR! Even if I fall behind every now and again.
A Fond Farewell to Harry
I ask the attendant where the entrance to the castle only tour is and she points me back through Filchs to the entrance.
We head up some stairs and into a different portrait hall then what is in the ride line.
I think it is cooler with the staircase and all, more like the movie. From there we head down a narrow hallway which opens into Dumbledore’s Office along side the ride line.
We spend some time hear watching Dumbledore emerge, give his speech, and disappear again…although it feels weird because we are standing in front of those going through the ride line. We also check out all the theming details and what a lot there are that we had missed when we were walking through the ride line. From Dumbledore’s Office we follow alongside the ride line and into the Dark Arts Classroom.
Where again we watch the show with Harry, Hermione, and Ron emerging, give their speech, disappear under the cloak of invisibility and making it…
We leave the classroom and this is where the tour ends with a set of stairs back down into Filch’s. The castle tour is neat and you get time to enjoy all the little things that you don’t have time to stop for when you are in the ride line, but you also miss so much and don’t have the AHHH of going through the greenhouse to the entrance of Hogwarts.
My suggestion is that even if you are not riding FJ, do the rider line (if the wait time is reasonable) and take the chicken exit once you get to the sorting hat. Depending on how fast the rider line went, go back and do the castle only tour so you can enjoy the 2 large rooms at your own pace.
Back outside of Hogwarts (forgive me for a moment when I post one of my favorite pictures of Ab on the trip)
Ab and Boo both decide it is time for some Butter Beer and I have some unfinished business in Honeydukes, so we make our way down the street in Hogsmeade and into the Boar’s Head Tavern where we order a round of Butter Beer and take it out to the patio to enjoy the view of Hogwarts and talk about our touring plan.
Ab and Boo decide that they have done everything they want in WWofHP (and it is only about 7:45 am) and are ready to move on, since the rest of the park is about to open and we have no real plans until 9:30 am. The Butter Beer seems to have done the trick and Boo acts for the time being that he is over his Moaning Myrtle impression so we head back out onto the street in Hogsmeade where we see the conductor has arrived and stop to take a picture with him and see if we can stump him with some HP trivia.
Honeydukes is still calling my name...I had promised myself a cauldron cake so in we go and pick up a little treat.
Back outside we take a look at the crowds and decide that we are done in WWofHP and bid Harry a fond farewell.
Once we step outside of the arch way leading into WWofHP we are asked "Are you sure you want to leave? There is no re-entry once you leave?" What, looking at my watch it is 8:15 am and we realize that WWofHP is now standby entrance over in Jurassic Park. Really the park has been open 15 minutes to the general public and it is now at capacity...this is not looking good for our touring plan today.
about WWofHP already being at capacity!!! Those pictures are crazy!
A Grinch-y Breakfast
Last Christmas Abigail decided that the Grinch is her favorite character so this Christmas, I scheduled for us to have breakfast with the Grinch as a special treat for her. Goo laughs and says she likes the Grinch because he as attitude just like her, which lands him a loving pop on the head from his big sister. They both giggle and poke their heads into the dining area, where Goo spots the Grinch and asks if Max is here too. About the same time our name is called Boo arrives back, looking a little better and saying he is hungry (a good sign that maybe today will not be a disaster and we can be a family again). We are greeted by Mike, our server, who takes us over to a table near the back of the restaurant. Goo asks if Max is around, and Mike not missing a beat to a 6 year olds question tells Boo that he will have to go look and see if he can find them. Mike takes our drink order, explains the buffet and sends us on our way. Maybe we will have a good waiter, it is looking promising. The buffet is set up across the room near the entrance and we go to fill up our plates. The selection is not bad including a few themed foods like green eggs and ham,
little rice krispe treat Christmas trees, and waffle snitch stars.
When we get back to the table, our drinks are waiting along with…
sitting on Goo’s chair. Mike comes back as we sit down and asks if we needing anything and tells Goo to take good care of Max or the Grinch might get a little, well Grinchy. As we begin to eat, Boo decides that since we are doing a Seuss breakfast maybe he should more Seuss-ish and dons his blue Thing hair (what Grinch matching shirts are not enough?) and the Whoos come to check him out.
Ab pulls out her copy of How the Grinch Stole Christmas and gets them to sign her book.
The Whoos have a great time signing the book, styling his hair and warning us about the green guy who is in the room that scares them. Before we know it the Grinch himself appears to check out the blue haired boy, tell Goo to eat his breakfast and don’t feed Max, and then to make a few comments about the cute blonde at the table.
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I must say that we love the Jim Carrey verision of the Grinch the best, and this guy does a great job. I had read that sometimes he is a little bit over the top during breakfast, but I really found him to be perfect. He spent a lot of time teasing the kids and being just plain like the Grinch. Near the end of the breakfast the Cat in the Hat arrived for his interaction time with the kids.
I think Jo liked him the best, since he is at the age where his teachers do a lot of Seuss themed days. Mike brings the bill and mistakenly gives it to Jeff who freaks out over the price of the meal, I quickly grab it from his hands to pay telling him that everything has been budgeted for in advance and quit being Grinchy which gets a big laugh from the kids. Overall breakfast was a good experience…good food (although it is really overpriced), great character interaction (except Ab was hoping to see Thing 1 & 2), and the best wait staff we have had at a meal (for which I gave him a large tip). With the bill paid and breakfast over, our next stop of course has to be…
Finally a good meal! I have to say though, the Grinch looks a bit scary! How cool that Ab got her book signed, that Goo got to have Max at his chair and that Boo's blue hair was such a hit. I have to laugh at Jeff's reaction to the bill. My dh had a similar reaction when he found out the cost of MVMCP. 
I too had it all covered...but my dh was all "well if I knew it was that much I would have said we shouldn't do it" At the time, I remember thinking it was good he didn't know every detail of the costs. He would have lost his mind. In my defense though, I tried to include him in the plans for almost a year. Not my fault if he "yeah, whatever'd" me the entire year. 
We had planned to meet Jeff at Mel's Drive In so the kids and I head down the Beverly Hills street to the end where the diner is located.
We were lucky enough to find a table open outside so we sat down and watched the show that being performed at the time a singing group. The group was an acopula group of 4 guys in their 20s, and they were pretty good singing a wide range of songs both 50s and current. The lead singer picked Ab out of the group and serenaded her, talk about being embarrassed thank goodness she had her sunglasses on!
More please.....
Your trip report and details are great.
Please be patient with me...and SO GLAD TO HAVE YOU ALONG!After my hand issues, work issues and computer issues I am pages behind..so I am going to comment as I catch up...
I sure hope that hand is getting better and you are getting back to your running...
I am so sorry dinner wasn't outstanding again. I really hope that your picks at WDW prove to be good. I mean... for now, I keep thinking... it isn't Disney... and that is the reason. Something tells me though... it has more to do with the time of year.. I think even Disney had more new employees to help with the added guests for the holiday season. Then aside from just the new employees who didn't know their stuff... there were those crowds. You had it even worse with crowds than we did. I am not sure how you managed.
I know how you feel about losing readers.. but rest assure I will read your entire TR! Even if I fall behind every now and again.
I miss your planning rants and dilemnas! But I so love hearing about the trip we all planned at the same time! I am sure the crowds were a factor, and I really was expecting the crowd thing...really the only time that the crowds were an issue was the night of day 3 when we wanted to go back into WWofHP just to look around. The rest of the time my planning kept us away from crowds, but then the stomach bug hit and messed up everything. See, just as I was saying you had it worse than we did with the crowds! I knew you did..but even at night?
I am reading on... hope your day 4 plans turn out well! (btw, thank you for putting day 4. I have a heck of a time keeping track of where people are in their trips usually. that is a reason I always list what day it is even on my own reports.)
actually you guys are a captive audience everyone else just ignores me around here!
