A Potterhead Goes to Hogwarts - An IOA Day Trip UPDATED DAY 6 - ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE!

[PennyLane1084]

Day 3 - Sunday, April 29th

You know those Folgers commercials where people are awoken from their slumbers by the delicious scent Folgers Coffee being brewed. Well I woke to the delicious smell of bacon cooking in the kitchen.

"The best part of waking up, is Bacon in your belly"

Breakfast consisted of Bacon, Bagels and cream cheese, and fresh cut fruit. It was so good. And the bacon was baked opposed to fried so it was a little healthier.

After breakfast we all got ready for the journey down the river. That's when Karen started her Shenanigans. She stared an argument with Roland about some financial things involving her son, who had moved down to Florida to attend college. Karen has such lovely tact and often discusses things out in the open that should probably be discussed in private. Not when you have guests! To make matters worse Steve and his siblings got brought into the argument and Roland asked our opinion in the matters. Karen started huffing and puffing and threatening to stay home and not go on the boat with us. Roland managed to calm her down saying "Don't ruin the kids vacation."

Soon things blew over and we were on our way to the Yacht Club Roland and Karen belong and where they dock their Pontoon boat. We all got settled on the boat and off we went.

Here is Captain Roland on the left and his first mate Steve on the right. In the middle is the cutest passenger of all, Angel!

As we cruised along the river Karen's mood lightened. She asked if anyone needed any sun screen and since I am always vigilant about using sun screen I grabbed the bottle. Now this was one of these new fangeled spray bottles. I've never used these before but sprayed myself self down generously. I decided to move to the front of the boat into the sun and work on my tan, leaving Steve at the back to the boat in the shade to read.

Just because it's so darn cute, here's a close shot of Angel's sun hat.

The St. John's River

Here's a picture I stole from Karen's Facebook of Me and Steve on the boat

We cruised on until we got to Lake Monroe and decided to turn around and head back down the river. We took a detour through what is called "The Channel of Life."

The Channel of Life

Karen in her favorite place in the whole world

As we were almost back to the dock I hear Roland say "ooooo Kristin got some suuuun." He laughed and I thought he meant I got a nice tan. We docked the boat and were ready to make our way back home. Karen stops me and says "Whoa Krisitn, you're all red. I looked in the reflection of her sun glasses and indeed I was REALLY burned on my shoulder and the top of my chest. I had some weird tan lines from the brim of my baseball cap blocking out the sun, a patch of bright red skin and then straight line from my tankini top. Then I had a line of sun burn going down my left arm where the spray stopped. I guess I hadn't rubbed the sun block in very well. DOH!

Karen and Roll invited Steve and I to grab a snack at the Club, but we were both tired from the sun and decided to head back to the house for a nap.

We had left overs for dinner and Rol, Karen, and I took a dip in their hot tub. Roland only stayed in for a little while and Karen proceeded talked my ear off about a lot of things I really REALLY didn't care to hear. She was a bit tipsy from her time spent at the Club and wanted to vent about the argument earlier in the day. Not wanting to be rude I sat and listened while my skin wrinkled in the hot water.

The next day, Roland would put in some hours at the office, and we'd pick him up and head up to St. Augustine. We all went to bed very excited for the next day.

Up Next....
St. Augustine

 

[PennyLane1084]

Day 4 - Monday, April 30

The plan for today was to head up to St. Augustine for the day. I was really excited because I've always heard about St. Augustine from my best friend. Her Aunt and Uncle own a Bed & Breakfast there and she would visit them every summer. So I was pretty stoked to finally see it for myself.

We awoke early that day, Steve's Uncle was taking the car to his dealership to have the issue with the air conditioning fixed. Steve drove his Dad to his office where we'd pick him later that morning.

Karen was in a much better mood this morning and apologized for talking my ear off the night before. Her exact words were "I probably said a little TOO much." I thought to myself "Gee ya think?" But I didn't want to be rude and merely said people have to vent sometimes and left it at that.

I can't remember if it was today or the day before, but I found a recap of the Royal Wedding on TV, since it was the weekend of their first anniversary. While watching this I almost broke the cardinal rule of weddings: I almost gave something away about my wedding dress! Steve and I are engaged and I pick out my wedding dress on St. Patricks day this year. I forbid him from seeing or hearing ANYTHING about my dress until THE day. I joked that my train was as long as The Duchess of Cambridges'. Then I stopped and thought, um....maybe my train is in fact as long as Kate's. Uh Oh! Did I give away some crucial clue about the dress. GASP! Ah well, he's going to see it eventually.

Soon we were on our way to the Oldest City in the United States!

After parking, Roland was determined to find "The Main Drag" as he called it. St. Augustine has a charming street lined with shops, cafes, and old Inns called St. George Street. The street is pretty narrow and doesn't allow car down it. After cutting through and alley or two we made our way to St. George Street at last.

We found it!

The weather this day was perfect for a lovely walk among the old Spanish architecture built by the Spaniards who once occupied the area. A lovely breeze was blowing off the bay and though sunny wasn't too hot.

Karen and Roland walking down St. George Street

We we're nearing the end of St. George Street and I noticed the parking lot we had started from was just across the busy street. Huh, I chuckled to myself when I suddenly realized if we would have taken a left instead of a right when we started out we'd have run right into it. We actually walked in a big half circle from where'd parked to where we started on St. George. Steve and I followed Karen into a little shop while Roland took some bag back to the car. The shop was nothing special just little cheap souvenir type merchandise. Walked out and Karen was no where to be found. We decided to rest our feet on a bench in front on this charming Mill.

This was what we saw across the street. The Oldest School House in the city

We grabbed lunch at a charming little cafe on St. George and enjoyed lunch al fresco. I really wanted to take some food porn pictures, however, I knew Karen would start asking questions and I didn't want to seem weird. Sorry to disappoint you but this trip report is completely devoid of food porn. Sorry folks. I can describe the food for you. Use your imagination.

We started off with some Spicy Crab dip which was DELICIOUS, served with home made potato chips. It had a nice kick but wasn't too over the top. I think I ate half of it myself. I ordered I avocado turkey club, Steve ordered a Cheese Stake and Roland and Karen split a Mahi Mahi wrap. My turkey club was just standard. Everyone enjoyed lunch and we continued to explore.

Next on the agenda was Ice Cream! Roland is a man after my own heart. He loves ice cream as much as I do. I couldn't literally eat ice cream everyday and never tire of it. It was the perfect dessert after our lovely lunch.

Soon our parking we going to expire in the lot so we decided to check out the Fort Castillo De San Marcos. But before heading that way, I found a charming little book store called The Lion and The Mermaid.

Here's a picture taken from their website

Next we were off to the Fort after a quick stop at the car. We noticed very large crowds assembling in front of the Fort and we thought it was the line to get in. As we got closer we discovered people in period costumes demonstrating a very large musket.

Also for anyone who is a fan of the TV show "How I Met Your Mother" will be familiar with Doppelgangers. I found my friend Kevin's Doppelganger leading the demonstration.

Here's a comparison picture. Patriot Kevin & Real Kevin.

They explained that due to the events caused my mother nature, things like the wind or the humidity in the air could cause the gun to misfire. Well, that exactly what happened. They tired 3 times before calling it quits. Just then a HUGE group of young kids on school field trip went into the fort. Karen decided not to go inside because of this so we just walked the outside perimeter of the Fort.

Cannons! And my attempt at an artsy picture.

Execution Wall. Watch our Roland and Karen!

Soon it was time to head back home. It was a lovely day in St. Augustine and we're planning on going back during our honeymoon to see the Lighthouse and do a Ghost Tour.

 

[vleeth]

We see the same dino everytime we go to see my in-laws...they live in Ohio. Can't wait to read your wwohp report!

 

[PennyLane1084]

**Disclaimer - I did not make the GIFs on this page, I got them from various Tumblr blogs**

Day 6 - Wednesday, May 2

And now the moment you've all been waiting for! The day I finally step foot in Orlando, FL and visit the Islands of Adventure for the first time since 1999!

You might be thinking, what happened to Day 5? Did you sleep the whole day away? Did you use a Tardis and go into the future? No, we just relaxed that day and did a whole lot of nothing. We bummed around the house. I floated around the pool. The most exciting thing I did that day was purchase our park tickets.

I knew in advance that people with bags have to put them in a locker before getting on The Forbidden Journey. I made sure to pack a pair of cargo short for this purpose. I have to say it was quite liberating not lugging a purse around all day.

Roland said it would take about an hour and 1/2 to get to Orlando from Deland in the morning during rush hour. The park opened at 9am and I wanted to get there right away. So we planned to leave the house at 7 am leaving a 1/2 hour for breakfast. I showered the night before so all I had to do was get dressed and go. Since my plans for waffle house were foiled on the way down to Florida, I found a Waffle House less than a block away from Universal Resort.

We were on our way snapping a quick picture of Mr. Blue on the way out the door. I just loved the way he looked in the morning light. Observe:

We exited the highway right by HolyLand the bibical theme park. I've seen this in Bill Maher's documentary Religulous. At the same time, Steve phone over heated and shut it self down. I have a bad case of Adult ADD, here's how our conversation went:

Me: Here's our exit.....crap the phone shut it self down again
Steve: Do you remember if we were suppose to head East or West?
Me:uhhh....HEY LOOK HOLYLAND!
Steve: That's great babe but East or West?
Me: uhhhh.....

Steve:

I'm going west.

Luckily he chose correctly because after a few minutes we say the wonderful Yellow sign Wafflehouse sign in the distance. We stopped in a steve looked at me this "Really? this is the place you' won't shut-up about?" and I said "Just wait till you taste it"
This was me as we stand down at our seats:

I ordered a waffle with bacon, Steve ordered a waffle with sausage and we split an order of hashbrowns. By this time I was so glad to be eating my beloved waffles I didn't even take time for pictures. We paid the bill and headed back on the road. We did even need to GPS anymore because soon we saw signs for Universal Resort. Homer was excited as well.

Welcome sign

I was so excited I was literally jumping up and down. My plan for the no bags helps us out at the gate because we didn't have to wait through at bag search line and we zoomed on through.

Soon were saw this:

I wanted to go this so bad:

But I walked calmly through the crowds. We entered the park at 9:15, not too shabby.

Being the total over planner I am, I checked the park map online to find the most direct route to the Harry Potter section. We were going there first!

Once we entered the park and got to the lagoon we turned right and headed through:

We continued through Suess Landing into the Lost Continent and saw
This:

And This:

Then soon we came upon the gates of HOGSMEAD!!!!!

Hogsmead Village

Me and the conductor of the Hogwarts Express

We had a quick chat about Qudditch I'm guessing because I was wearing an Internation Quidditch Association Shirt. He asked if I liked the Chuddly Cannons and I said my favorite team was the Holyhead Harpies. He thought they were doing well this season.

More Hogsmead

And finally HOGWARTS CASTLE!!!!!!

The line for the Forbidden Journey was only 10 minutes so we hurried in. I was so excited, I totally lost my sense of direction and sort of started wandering aimlessly. Steve had to actually steer my toward the entrance of the ride.

Things got really confusing when we got inside the castle. There was a CM(I don't what CMs are called at IOA ) directing people with bag towards the lockers. They just told people without bag to go on. But Which Way? Now I bet if the there was a line to queue with, this wouldn't have been a problem because we'd have been walking slower. But my eyes had a really hard time adjusting to the sudden darkness and I couldn't see where we were going. I basically grabbed on to the back of Steve and told him to lead the way. He was having a worse time because he has transitions lenses on his glasses. He shouts to me "Your taking to the guy whose glasses where just sun glasses!" We quickly found out way. The line was moving so fast I didn't even have time for pictures. Plus my camera takes REALLY bad pictures inside without flash. So I doubt if they have come out anyways.

My review of the ride:
This ride was really REALLY cool. I found it to be kind of scary. I don't think kids under the age of 10 should ride it. I will admit that I closed my eyes in the section with the spiders. I REALLY don't like spiders. I screamed pretty loud when all of a sudden Aragon was in your face. The part with the Dementors was pretty hair rising as well. Some people say this ride can upset your stomach if you suffer from motion sickness. I was the tiniest bit nauseous when I immediately got off the ride but it subsided really quickly.

When you exit the ride you're led to a dump shop called "Flich's Emporium of Confiscated Goods" Here they sell all kinds of Harry Potter Merchandise. I saw a few things I wanted to get but resisted the urge. We made a plan to not purchase anything until we were done riding all the rides.

We left the shop and can upon the Flight of the Hippogriff. I wasn't sure if they'd let us on if we didn't have any kids with us. But we decided to join the queue anyways since the posted time was only 5 minutes. The main reason for riding this was to see Hagrid's Hut in the queue

I love the way the ride is designed to look like it's made out of Wicker. I have to say this ride was pretty fast for being a kids ride. Really Fun!

Next we stopped off at the Hogshead for some Butterbeer. I'd been waiting SOOO long to try this. My friends and I make an alcoholic butterbeer using creamsoda and buttersotch liquor. It's good but REALLY sweet. Steve and I split a frozen butterbeer. It was DELICIOUS! My favorite part was the butterscotch topping. MMM mmm mmm.
Here I am with my Butterbeer moustace

We looked through the other shops in Hogsmead. Honeydukes, Zonkos. There was a really long line to get into Ollivanders Wand Shop and as much as I wanted to see it, I wouldn't die if I didn't.

Inside Honeydukes

I thought about going on the Dragon Challenge, but I can go on steel coasters at Six Flags close to home, so I opted out.

We moved back through the Lost Continent, and Suess Landing and made our way to Marvel Island. I don't know why but I don't have any pictures of Marvel Island. We toyed with going on the Hulk since the line was only 5 minutes but we both REALLY wanted to check out Spiderman since it's been refurbed. The line for that was 25 minutes. The new spiderman was really cool. Since I haven't been on it for 12 years. I really couldn't remember what was different other than the High Def 3D. Steve has been to IOA since I have and said the movements of the ride are the same but the things you see are
different. They also had a little bit of water squirt you when Water Villian guy (his name is escaping me) comes at you.

We walked through Marvel Island, walking past Wolverine, Captain America, Storm and Rogue taking pictures with people and signing autographs. Steve jokingly wondered if there would be a shop that sold comics on Marvel Island as we were walking through the Spiderman queue. He's been reading the new Avengers Vs. X-Men series and I wanted to pick up the new one. As we turned the corner I see a store with the words "Comics" on the roof. We raced through and looked through the shop. He did find the series but they didn't have the new one in.

We continued through Toon Lagoon but didn't ride any rides in this area. They're all water rides and I didn't want to get wet. I did however find an entire shop that featuring Betty Boop merchandise. My mom Loves Betty Boop and thought this would be the perfect place to find a mother's day gift.

Next up was one other thing I REALLY wanted to do that day: Find the Jurassic Park Discovery Center. The last time I was here I remember eating burgers for lunch inside but never getting the chance to look around much. My brother thought it would be boring and didn't want to looking any further. This time I thought it might be a good chance to get out of the sun for a bit. We kept walking and walking and for a moment I thought I was crazy. I knew there was a building here that looked just like the one in the movie. Once again, since the big ride here was a water ride we decided to skip it. Then just when I was about to turn around, we found it!

We walked around looking at the dinosaurs. Jurassic Park is one of my favorite movies, and I was really excited. It felt like you were really there. Steve and I popped a squat on a bench, when I gentlemen in a lab coat came up to us. "There an egg that's about to hatch." He pointed behind us to the Incubation Lab and there were "Dinosaur Eggs." We walked over and I pulled out my camera to get a video. When I tired it on, the screen said "Batteries Exhausted." BAH!! The show was really cool. There was a young women in a lab coat explaining to the crowd about the incubation process as the "Dinosaur egg" hatched. Soon an animatronic baby Velociraptor was sticking it's head out of the egg. It was really neat.

Jurassic Park leads through the other end of Hogsmead, so we walked through again. It was only noon and we walked the entire park. I wondered how much it would cost to upgrade our tickets to go to the other park for the rest of the day and decided to walk over to Guest Services to find out. We also discussed lunch. I had planned on eating at the 3 Broomsticks, however as Fluer Delacour says in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire "Your food at Hogwarts, Zit iz so heavy!" They serve traditional english pub food at The Three Broomsticks and I didn't want something so heavy in the heat.

Speaking of food it's lunch time so I will finish this when I return.

To be continued....Will we go to Universal Studios and where oh where will we eat lunch?

 

[Brownie54]

I absolutely LOVE your trip report! It's the next best thing to being there myself. I love your obsession with Waffle House and Steve saying "this is what your so excited about?". BTW, the CM's at Universal are also called CM's. I suppose they should be called DSCM's(dark side CM's). Anyway, thanks for posting and I can't wait to read the rest.

 

[BrinkofSunshine]

I absolutely LOVE your trip report! It's the next best thing to being there myself. I love your obsession with Waffle House and Steve saying "this is what your so excited about?". BTW, the CM's at Universal are also called CM's. I suppose they should be called DSCM's(dark side CM's). Anyway, thanks for posting and I can't wait to read the rest.

Actually Universal employees are called Team Members (TM's)

OP, great trip report so far! Although it kind of breaks my heart that you skipped so many incredible rides in IOA. Even at the risk of getting wet, the water rides are some of the best in the country. And the coasters are incredible, especially Hulk's lunch. I hope that you eventually decided to try them!

 

[Brownie54]

Actually Universal employees are called Team Members (TM's)

OP, great trip report so far! Although it kind of breaks my heart that you skipped so many incredible rides in IOA. Even at the risk of getting wet, the water rides are some of the best in the country. And the coasters are incredible, especially Hulk's lunch. I hope that you eventually decided to try them!

Sorry, my bad. My brain must of had a BM.

 

[PennyLane1084]

I absolutely LOVE your trip report! It's the next best thing to being there myself. I love your obsession with Waffle House and Steve saying "this is what your so excited about?". BTW, the CM's at Universal are also called CM's. I suppose they should be called DSCM's(dark side CM's). Anyway, thanks for posting and I can't wait to read the rest.

Thanks for reading. Yay Steve enjoyed the food at Waffle House but he's not as nuts about it as I am. It's more so a nostalgia thing for me because I used to eat there when I'd drive down to Florida with my parents as a kid.

 

[PennyLane1084]

Previously on "A Potterhead Goes to Hogwarts"

We're finally at Islands of Adventure! We took a Forbidden Journey, had some butterbeer, saw a Dinosaur hatch, my camera died. We were deciding whether or not to upgrade our tickets and head over to the other park and where to have lunch.

I've heard Mythos was very good but a tad pricey. We took a look at the menu on our way to Guest Services. We also discussed again about eating at The Three Broomsticks. I didn't know if there was anything Steve would really eat there. He assured me if this was were I wanted to eat he would find something.

On the way to guest services I had a socially awkward penguin moment. Just as we were exiting Suess Landing, there was a band playing Caribbean sounding music. The Guitar player walked close by me and I thought I'd accidentally walked into the band's space and quickly moved out of the way. Steve turned and said "You didn't want to Dance?" Then I realized that the guy with the guitar was dancing next to me and trying to get me to join in. D'oh. And now for your viewing pleasure, Socially Awkward Penguin:

We made our way over to Guest Services at last and talking to one of the reps. The women checked my ticket and said it would be $37 per person to upgrade our tickets. She tried to get us to buy them right then and there but I wasn't sure yet. Steve saved the day by saying "We're going to discuss it over lunch and we'll be back to pick them up."

We grabbed a park map a took a look at what other rides we'd want to see at Universal Studio. We debated whether we should spend the extra cash or not.

Another place I'd contemplated for lunch was Confisco Grill. We looked at the Menu and I noticed it was a little cheaper than Mythos and they had more things I'd like here. But I really REALLY wanted to eat at Mythos, so we made our way back to the Lost Continent. We put our names in at the counter and there was about a 15 minute wait. The hostess gave us a menu to look over while we waited. I stared at the menu for a good 5 minutes thinking of what I'd like to order once we were seated but nothing really jumped out at me. One thing I really didn't like was the fact that the menu was so limited. I really wanted to eat here for the dining atmosphere rather than the food initially. By this time it was around 1:30 and I was getting hungry. And I kept thinking of the Trader Wings at the other Restaurant. I also really wanted to eat at a trade service restaurant as apposed to a counter service place.

I looked at Steve and gave him the best puppy-dog-eyes I could:

"Hey Babe, I know we were just over there, but can we go back to the other restaurant? I don't really want to eat anything here and now I have a taste for those Buffalo Wings!"

Instead of doing this like most people would:

He said "No Problem, Darling, if that's where you want to eat, that's where we will eat"

Then I told him:

We were seated right away and the hostess was really shocked when I said I I hasn't been to IOA since 1999.

See this cat? This is EXACTLY the face she made

We started off my Trader Wings with Buffalo Sauce and I was a happy camper.

Steve ordered the Tex-Mex wrap and I got the Chicken Quesadillas. Everything was really good. We also got these little deserts. I had Chocolate something-or-other. It had layers of Chocolate mouse and Chocolate cake and Steve had apple strudel. It was a delightful lunch for around $35 before tip.

By the time we were done with lunch it was almost 3:00 and US would only be open for 3 more hours and decided there wasn't enough time for it. One thing I also really hoped to do while we were in Orlando was pick up the Bridal Mickey Ears from Downtown Disney. So we decided that since going to Downtown Disney didn't cost anything we get in or park that we'd finish up IOA and go there while rush hour died down.

We walked back through Marvel Island and noticed the time for The Hulk coaster was only 5 minutes decided to do it. There was no like until you get to the loading area. At first we hopped in line for the front row but noticed that we could get right now in the middle so scooted over. As we were going up the first incline I realized I was still wearing my glasses and luckily grabbed them and held them tight in my hand right before we went down the first drop. WHEW THAT WAS CLOSE!

The Hulk was pretty awesome. I really enjoyed it and was NOT expecting the spray of water. I was really startled by it and was cracking up the whole rest of the ride. Although, it probably wasn't the best ride to do right after eating. I thought I was going to loose my lunch.

We decided we cool it on the rides and let me stomach settle. We took a peak in the Fantastic 4 Arcade and saw that they had a new DDR Machine we'd never seen before. Some teenagers were playing and only played one song and walked away. Since Steve and I were next in line we jumped on their quarters. My right arrow was broken and wouldn't register. I was really mad cause I haven't played DDR in a while. We used up the rest of our quarters playing Air Hockey and Skii Ball. The cutest thing happened next. We each had about 10 tickets from the Skii Ball machine and there was a little girl about 3 years old with her parents. We gave our tickets to her and she was so excited. She took them from us with a HUGE smile on her face and started waving them in the air saying "TICKETS TICKETS TICKETS TICKETS." Her mom thanked us and we were on our way.

We decided it was time to start buying souvenirs. We went back in the store selling comics and miraculously the comic Steve was looking for was on the shelf. They must have put it up between now and the first time we were there. Then I picked up my mom a Betty Boop coffe mug for Mother's Day.

We walked through the Jurassic Park area again deciding not to ride any rides. I really wanted to ride the Pteranodon Flyers but being that it was only kids riding it I felt kind silly. So I opted out. I looked at the Amber jewelry in one of the stores but it was pretty pricey, more than I wanted to spend.

We then ventured into Hogsmead for the 3rd time that day. I wanted to take another look inside Filch's Emporium but as we were walking that way we saw the Hogwart Choir and ran back over to the performance space. I was really REALLY mad that my camera was dead because I really wish I could have gotten a video of the performance. If anyone's interested to see it here's a You Tube Video: The Hogwarts Choir at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. They sang a few different songs than they do in this video. They opened with the same song, "Something Wicked This Way Comes," they went into an a Capella version of the "Hogwart's March". Then an a Cappella version of "Hedwigs Theme" and then sang "Can you dance like a Hippogriff."

I have a theory about the theming of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I think it's suppose to be set during the time of the Triwizard Tournament. It has the Dragon Challenge, The Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students are in the area, and Hermione's Dress and Harry's Dress Robes are in the windows of Gladrags. So that's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

We followed the Hogwarts Choir back to the Castle and looked through Filche's Emporium but didn't find anything. We stopped in at the Hogshead again. I wanted to get a souvenir cup this time and try the regular cold butter beer. It was really good but tasted a lot like cream soda. I loved that it was carbonated. It only took us a few moments to finish this cup.

I had my eye on a hoodie I'd seen earlier in the day and stopped in Dervish and Bangs to look at it. It was a really nice grey hoodie that said "Hogwarts" in the from with the Hogwarts Crest in the back. My only problem was the fact that it was a pull over hoodie and not a zipper kind. I himmed and hawed about it for a while and decided against it. I knew there was another Hogwarts hoodie in another store I liked better. One thing about the stores in the area is fact that there's not much room when it's filled with people. I was glad to be out of there, I was getting kind of claustrophobic.

We decided we were done with IOA and decided to head out to Downtown Disney. One the way out we stopped in at the Universal Store. My parents had asked me to get them "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" shirts. So I knew they had them in there. I also found a very nice black zipper hoodie with the Hogwarts Crest on the front. When we first parked I took a picture of the section we were in so we could refer to it later. A lot of help that did us with a dead camera. Another D'OH!

We made it to Downtown Disney in 10 minutes. I saw something that instantly reminded me of being a kid: The Crossings. It's a shopping Plaza kiddie corner to Downtown Disney. We usually stayed in what is now Saratoga Springs and it had the closest grocery store, Goodlings. Plus my family always eat at the Perkins for breakfast in that plaza. I felt like a kid again. I had that same butterflies in my stomach when we drove pass the Walt Disney World sign I did when I was 7 years old.

We immediately headed to World of Disney to find my Bridal Mouse Ears.

I sent this picture to my mom. Sorry for the crappy quality, I took it on my crappy phone.

We walked around Downtown Disney and soaked in the atmosphere. Steve nerded out in the Lego Store at the Star Wars stuff. I saw all the little girls coming from the Bibbity-Bobbity Boutique all dolled up in their princess dresses. I kepted looking at Steve saying "One day we'll bring OUR daughter to the Bibby-bobbity Boutique!" He smiled and kissed me on top of the head and hugged me close. We both knew that the next time we'd be standing in Downtown Disney we will be Husband and Wife. I get choked up now just thinking about it.

This had been one of the best days I've had in a long time. Even though my feet and legs were killing me on the way home I just could not wipe the smile off my face.

 

[Darkfirewolfe]

Boo at your camera for dying, but hooray for such an awesome day!

 

[PennyLane1084]

Boo at your camera for dying, but hooray for such an awesome day!

And the kicker was that I HAD batteries in my purse back at the house!

It was a really awesome day indeed!

 

[drsvanhorn]

What a great way to end a great day! So sorry about your camera!

 

[bstarprincess37]

I love your TR! It is hilarious, and I know I laughed out loud a number of times reading. Sounds like you had a great trip to IOA. There is a ton more to check out. As I found out after the first trip, I always discover something new each day I go- just found moaning myrtle in the bathroom the second time, so I hope you get another chance and maybe then you can check out US too!

I have been two times already this year, (myself somewhat becoming a potterhead only this year after finally reading all the books). I am already trying to find another chance to go back before the end of this year...

 

[PennyLane1084]

I love your TR! It is hilarious, and I know I laughed out loud a number of times reading. Sounds like you had a great trip to IOA. There is a ton more to check out. As I found out after the first trip, I always discover something new each day I go- just found moaning myrtle in the bathroom the second time, so I hope you get another chance and maybe then you can check out US too!

I have been two times already this year, (myself somewhat becoming a potterhead only this year after finally reading all the books). I am already trying to find another chance to go back before the end of this year...

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I do plan on visiting again in the future and I definitely want to check out US!

 

[PennyLane1084]

Anyone see the new hotel that will be going up at Universal? I'm so excited that there will actually be a hotel on property at Universal I can afford!

 

[TeamTilson]

loved loved loved your PTR!! So funny! And your gifs were spot on! I was just like that on my first trip to WWoHP! I had been training to run a 10K but, secretly, I was training to run from the gates at opening to the entrance of Hogsmeade.

I did read the article about the new budget-friendly hotel coming to US soon...but it unfortunately doesn't come with the Fast Pass...and the Fast Pass is the way to go there! We found a great last minute deal to US with a stay at Portofino which included flight, hotel, tickets, and breakfast at the Three Broomsticks for 3 days, 2 nights. Always check out the US Resort website to see if you can snag any deals.

Thanks for the great TR! I know it's been a few months, but I just registered on the boards and I'm so happy to see that they are WWoHP friendly.

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

Hi, again, Kristin! I'm sorry I never got back to you! I have been on and off the boards because I got laid off and I had to reschedule my trip too! I'm really happy your fiancé was able to find another job and that you got to go on this trip I totally know what you mean about feeling like a PTR can jinx a trip because I was feeling that way too!

I always go to Waffle House when I'm on a road trip but I didn't realize until just now that I've never taken my kids to a Waffle House! Does that make me a bad mother? St. John's River looked really beautiful! That must've been a nice day on the river - minus the sunburn ouch! St. Augustine is pretty! I'd like to go there and tour the place. It's funny you mentioned a ghost tour because as soon as I saw that fort I thought, "I bet that place is haunted!"

Now on to Hogwarts! That was a good idea to wear cargo shorts. I love your Quiddich Association shirt! Hogsmead looks so awesome! I love the snow on the rooftops. I might have to try out your alcoholic version of Butterbeer! You guys got through the lines so quickly! That's great that you got to see everything. Jurrasic Park Discovery Center looks really cool. I think my kids and I would like that. That is so sweet how you were thinking about how next time you stand in DTD you'll be husband and wife Are you doing a Disneymoon PTR?