Day 3 - Monday February 20
Jon's sister is a doctor, the mother of three very different children, and her ex husband wasn't exactly the type to actually pull his weight. She is now married to a man we consider our brother, her kids are older than ours (19, 17, and 15.) I also want to say that, as an only child, I married into a pretty large family (Jon has a full brother, a half brother and two half sisters, and two step-sisters and a step-brother!) and I like to joke that I married him to get his family but that's sort of true. Amanda is the sister of my heart and we are quite close and I adore her and her entire family. Her youngest, Zach, is our god son. Her middle child Jessica was also going to be there for this trip but Nate, the eldest, had to work, sadly.
We were just about to leave RPR when we got the text that they had arrived at the Hard Rock. By the time we were in the HUGE LONG line at security by Margaritaville, they were waiting on the bridge for us. Yes, on the bridge from Margaritaville over to the entrance of IOA, a full 30 minutes before early entry. It was SO crowded, more so than even right after Christmas - we got there half an hour early then and were right near the front of the line. I guess the difference between a 7am early entry and an 8am early entry!
There was a family from our town right behind us in line - we had gotten to talking, found out were were both from New York, and then from Long Island, and then wow, we are both from the same town. We had mutual friends and our youngest kids were in the same grade but in different schools.
We got into line with Amanda and the rest - I felt a bit guilty to push into line but really, there were so many people just bunched up it didn't matter much. Their plan was to go straight to Hagrid's - which we knew from experience (and from how far back we were in the line) was a terrible idea. But Jon was determined not to try to take control because, well, family dynamics. So we shrugged it off.
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They had been told by the check in people at HR that Express Pass at Velocicoaster would begin today - a rumor that started in a Facebook group about a week before our trip. I had seen a few posts about it but nothing substantiated. And Hagrid's was closing for maintenance after today so I wasn't sure I believed it at all. I tried googling on my phone but there was nothing - until around 10am when I saw a Reddit post that they were indeed doing EP!
Amanda mentioned they had picked up their tickets during check in and Jon and I both got a sinking feeling. They are a "Disney Family" and we were indeed right - they had been told at the front desk that their Express Passes were also their tickets. Which they found out when they tried to go through the kiosks. Amanda was understandably pissed, and they went to wait at Guest Services which had a huge line. So we decided to go with our original plan, which was to race for Velocicoaster because there was no way they were getting in at a reasonable time, and we were sure they would not want to wait in line for TWO HOURS for Hagrids.
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I am pretty sure this was the day that the team member at the bridge over to VC was telling people it was a delayed opening, but we decided to walk over the bridge anyway and go to Forbidden Journey instead - but, BEHOLD! VC was indeed open, and was a walk on. We were off within 15 minutes and Amanda texted us to say they were already in the park. They didn't have to wait at GS, they went to the ticket booth, which was a much shorter wait.
Jon found a bench and said let's sit here and wait for them and right then Anna pointed out that they were in the Hagrid's line right behind us.
So we got in line with them. Amanda was still in a bad mood, thinking we should have gotten in line for them to save time nd of course the ticket snafu. But really, it was probably a 15 minute difference at that point and the line was already over 2 hours long. Who in their right mind would do that?
Jessica was also crabby because according to her that delay had cost them hours. They didn't believe us that the line would die down around dinnertime.
It sounds like this day was not off to a great start - and it wasn't. But, we made the best of it and despite a few crabby ladies we still had a nice family chat and I did enjoy hanging out with my god son Zach. He's a very nice young man, a bit underrepresented because to be honest his older siblings are very good at taking attention, but he's very sweet and polite and good at just being in his own world and I enjoyed him letting me be in it. He and I are both laggards and spend a lot of time at the back of the pack. Usually it's just me trying to catch up to the rest of the fam. So we had a time to hang out and I could be his auntie for a bit.
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We did get stuck indoors when Hagrid's inevitably broke down, for about 15 minutes, which did not help Jessica's mood. But FINALLY after about 2.5 hours, we boarded. Thank the lord.
Jess was hangry after that so we stopped at a random cart in Hogsmeade and got some snacks, then went on Forbidden Journey. Zach really wanted to go on Flight of the Hippogriff - poor kid gets VERY motion sick and enjoys the smaller rides (he notoriously puked in the car on the way to Thanksgiving with the grandparents, the day after Finley was born - we were still in the hospital and everyone was supposed to visit but Amanda instead had to go to
Walmart for new clothes). But the line was 90 minutes and it's a very slow load, so we promised him tomorrow first thing.
Then we meandered over to King Kong, because Rich wanted a ride, and then Velocicoaster, which Zach sat out so he held on to our stuff for us. By this time EP was indeed open so we basically walked on. The others did get to briefly see the raptors chasing after the cars but we were rushed through that room. It was amazing how much time not stopping at the lockers saved, and amazing how many people had NO CLUE that they needed to dump everything there. The cast members were very good at shouting instructions and the people were very good at not listening!
JP River Adventure was back up and Zach mentioned wanting to go on that. So I made a mental note to make sure he got his ride. But we were all hungry now and needed to hop over to the other park for food.
That was quite a bit for a morning! More to come.
Rich had gone over to get some Duff beer, so we walked that way and landed on Mexico for our first food booth stop. Both families ordered one of each - pork tacos (which Jess would not eat), street corn, and shrimp tostadas.
It's one of my favorites so I was happy we got to go. In December, I missed the Christmas Parade entirely - we kept putting it off or being too tired and then they cancelled it on our last day and the one and only thing I really wanted to see, I missed. 
We found a great spot near the start of the parade route. Sadly, there was a loud group of teens sitting on the wall behind us and all of the float people tossed their beads over the kids heads to give to the louder bunch. Eventually they were told to move but my kids did not get nearly as many beads as in prior years.
