April 2023 Trip

[BostonEd]

Hi. I don't post "real" trip reports like you find here. More like "random thoughts" from my trip, which I hope is OK.

Family of four mostly interested in Harry Potter.

Saturday, April 15:
Arrived in the early evening after checking in to RPR. First stop Diagon Alley. Wow, that is a looong walk from the entrance. So long, we stopped for dinner at Louie's Italian Restaurant on the way. Eh, it was OK. I've had worse. The ordering/pick-up system was weird, to say the least. Luckily we got there before a huge rush and didn't have to wait in line too long, because the service was slow.

Enjoyed the Knight Bus, saw the creepy window on the London street, then went into Diagon Alley. Very short line for Olivander's. My daughter, 10, call her Hermione, was dressed in a Griffindor robe, and was selected! She was over the moon for hours about that.

Walked around Knockturn Alley, then rode Escape from Gringott's. What a fun ride. We did not go on the Express Pass queue. Lines were short at 8PM, even though this was the Saturday after Easter, so still technically a high crowd week.

Walked around some more, the kids cast some spells. (Oh, I also bought a wand for my son, 12, let's call him Harry.) I budgeted $60 each for wands. With tax, they are up to $67! Weren't they just $30 a couple years ago?

This was a bonus day. We weren't planning to go three days, but if our flight and check-in went smoothly, which it did, we went ahead and visited. So, we didn't do too much, and took the loooong walk back.

While I agree with Disney's theming strategy of not allowing you to see more "lands" than the one you are in, it was fun seeing Springfield all lit up across the lake.

OK two more days coming soon.

 

[BostonEd]

Sunday, April 16:
That "bonus" day was also good for this reason: the original plan was to get up early today for rope drop, and get to Olivander's, so that Hermione would have a better chance of being selected for the wand. Since we did that already, and we weren't doing Hagrid's today and had express passes, we could sleep in a little. We had a small "snack-y" breakfast in our room.

So, around 9:30, we moseyed on over, did a few more spells around Diagon Alley, and then had breakfast at the Leaky Cauldron. Butterbeer, both frozen and regular, was tasty but a bit too rich. Even splitting the two drinks between four of us, we left around a third to a half in the glasses. Food was fine, but some odd choices in the menu: croissants with the pancakes? That's like asking for a side of pasta with your risotto. But still, we enjoyed looking around at the wall hangings.

And then... one more time to Escape from Gringotts! Then a few more spells and sightseeing in the Alley, and back out to the streets of London to catch the Express from Platform 9 3/4. Was a bit confusing for some reason to find the station! Not sure why, once you're there it's pretty obvious.

After checking out Hogsmeade a bit, we were off to Forbidden Journey in Hogwarts Castle. There wasn't much of a line (around noon on a Sunday), so we skipped the express line to enjoy the sights in the queue. Wow, Sweetie (the wife) has motion sickness issues, and this really did her in. The kids and I had a blast, but even I was a little queasy. Still, the kids and I went right back on through the express line to do it again. OK, that was enough for me for a little while.
We walked it off and were pleasantly surprised by some singing frogs!

We got some ice cream from Honeyduke's and made the looonng walk back for some pool time.

After a long break, only Hermione and I came back. One more time on Forbidden Journey! Actually, having a semi-full belly from supper by the pool, I did not get so queasy this time. Hermione spotted Flight of the Hippogriff on our way out earlier and wanted to ride it. We did, twice.

We were going to get up early tomorrow to ride Hagrid's, so we ended early and strolled back, stopping for a pleasant ride on The High-In-The-Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride.

 

[BostonEd]

Monday, April 17, Part 1:

It seems that in every vacation above, say, 4 days, something goes wrong. This morning was it. Hermoine and I got up early for rope drop to ride Hagrid's. We made it over in time and had a decent spot in the queue. Probably would have been 20 minutes tops if the ride was running? But it was not running; it was raining with lightning. I actually had a bad feeling about it when I looked out of the window before leaving the hotel, thinking, "I don't know if we should do this". So we were stuck in the line for 2 hours. I kept checking the weather app, and it had the little lightning bolt ending at 9. Then at 10. Then not until 1. Finally around 10, with the forecast getting worse, we decided to bail. Hermoine was a trooper; she actually said she didn't want to wait anymore. I agreed and we left.

OF COURSE AS SOON AS WE LEFT AND WERE IN FRONT OF THE ENTRANCE THE RIDE STARTS UP!

I'm wondering if Universal knew more than we did? The weather forecast I was looking at showed no signs of the lightning letting up until at least 1PM, and it kept getting worse every time I checked. But if that were actually the case, would Universal just allowed us to stay in there for 5 hours or more? Or would that have made everyone leave?

Since it was still raining but not lightning, we bought a couple ponchos from Dervish and Banges and window shopped. Grabbed our stuff out of the Hagrid's locker. Then just missed entry into the Three Broomsticks for breakfast, and didn't want to wait to do lunch there. So, we hopped on the Hogwarts Express, because we were going to meet Sweetie and Harry back on the other side. We got there a little early and rode Escape from Gringotts again!

The Hagrid's snafu also confuddled our lunch plans. Hermoine and I, since we only had a tiny breakfast, had an early lunch at Moe's Tavern. Then we met up with Sweetie and Harry, and Harry decides he wants a Krusty Burger, just as H and I were finishing. So we were stuck in a fairly blah fast food joint for much longer than we needed to be. Ugh, I won't get into anymore scheduling problems. The food was... edible at Moe's. Actually, Harry did enjoy his Krusty Burger, but it was way too difficult to ask for modifications. The donuts from Lard Lad were not that great. I would put them in the same category as Dunkin'. But hey, I got to eat a donut like Homer's.

Anyway, we made it to The Simpsons Ride. And I loved it. As you might have guessed, based on her reaction to Forbidden Journey, Sweetie did not! She was not a fan of Universal at this point! I have to admit, up until the Simpsons Ride, I was a little grumpy at Universal myself, for how they handled the Hagrids line.

I've got more from this day, but need to take a break. Be back soon.

 

[BostonEd]

Monday, April 17, Part Deux:

My kids are slightly on the old side for SpongeBob now, but who doesn't love SpongeBob?? We shopped a bit in Spongebob's Pineapple, and Harry got a stuffed crabby patty burger. He's also a little old for stuffies, but being a burger fan generally, I guess he couldn't pass it up!

My kids saw E.T. for the first time last year around Christmastime. And they really enjoyed it! So, while Sweetie went to grab a sandwich at Today Cafe, the three of us went on the E.T. Adventure. The ride was enjoyable enough, but the plot was kind of... dumb? Was it based on some third-rate sequel I've never heard of? But big plus: at the end of the ride, E.T. said our names! Fun.

Sweetie took forever because the service at the Today Cafe was snail-like. But while we were waiting we saw Shrek signing autographs. Oh, and Doc from Back to the Future was wandering around for some reason.

We wanted to head back over to IOA and figured taking the Hogwarts Express was the best way to go from Springfield.

After another stroll through Hogsmeade, we ended up at Jurassic Park River Adventure. I kind of insisted we go on, because we hadn't seen enough of the rest of Universal. Everyone loved it! So much so, they wanted to go on it again right away. They did, but I did not. Because I went on the VelociCoaster instead.

Holy moly. That's about all I can say about that. Wow. Makes the Hulk coaster look like Goofy's Barnstormer.

The river ride was a bit of a thrill as well, so after we met up again, Sweetie decided she just wanted some more pool time and went back to RPR. The kids and I headed over to enjoy The High-In-The-Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride, second time for me and Hermione. After some churros and slushies from Moose Juice & Goose Juice, we also went back to enjoy some pool time.

"Dinner" was either snacks from the Tuk Tuk market, or from the pool bar. Around 7:30 or so, Hermione wants to go back to try Hagrid's again. Harry kind of was done for the day, and Sweetie was done with rides generally, so it was just us two. I guess I should call myself Albus? Or I always liked Severus, and he sort of turned out not so bad? Well, off we went, got there around 8 to a 45 minute wait. 45 minutes! If I had known it was only going to be that, we wouldn't have bothered with rope drop, rain or not!! (Actually, that is not true. The previous day, I had also considered going to Hagrid's late in the day, but it broke down sometime in the late afternoon and it never came back up. So I knew waiting until later was risky. But that's what we ended up doing anyway. Whatever!)

So we finally rode Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure. I know the only reaction I could muster for VelociCoaster was "holy moly", but Hagrid's was not just fun, but quite surprisingly fast as well! And I don't want to give any spoilers, but there is one part in the official Universal YouTube video that is shown much slower than it actually happens!

Wish we could have hopped back in line, but the park had already closed. And so, the looonng walk from Hogsmeade to the park entrance.

 

[BostonEd]

Tuesday, April 18:

This will be quick. We had a very nice breakfast/brunch at Islands Restaurant, packed up leisurely since we got a noon check out, grabbed a couple final souvenirs, and took a Lyft to the Car Care Center in Disney World! I'll do some sort of trip report in the WDW forums, I guess!

EDIT: Here is the WDW part of the TR!

 

[erinch]

Great thoughts! Thank you!

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Sounds like you had a lot of fun & very HP centric visit.

I very much like the evening Olivander's plan, it's generally a very short line & usually also less waiting around for the wand spots too.

You'll have to hop on Mummy & Transformers the next time too! Also MiB so you can show the kids up with your marksmanship skills.

 

[ClapYourHands]

Sounds like you had a lot of fun & very HP centric visit.

I very much like the evening Olivander's plan, it's generally a very short line & usually also less waiting around for the wand spots too.

Agreed that Ollivander’s is usually much better in the afternoon or evening. There’s often a big crowd in the morning as people naturally want to get their wand early so they can do the windows throughout the day. For someone who wants to get picked, not just see the ceremony, the odds increase later in the day.