Cass, Rob & Kira - Disney & Universal August 2018 - The heat index is what???

[Timon]

Love your comment: "too bad so sad, doll face!"

I am enjoying reading your report and seeing your pictures. Thanks for posting.

P.S. And, how very sweet of ya'll to help out that lost family! Very nice! And, I am sure they are still talking about that nice couple that helped them out!

LOL, I say that a lot

Thanks for the comments

They were very sweet and we were just walking around anyway, glad we could help

 

[Lesley Wake]

Rob and I wanted to walk over to Art of Animation to check it out but Kira was not happy about it so we let her go back to the room and read her HP stories while we enjoyed some grumpy-free, romantic time

I did the same thing when we stayed at Pop (explored AoA, not read HP stories ). We weren't supposed to be there anyways, but Hurricane Irma caused us to arrive 2 days earlier to avoid our flight being cancelled. In theory we were going to bring our work laptops and work on the flight there and then on Friday daytime so we wouldn't take any other vacation time, but after 15 minutes I was through with that plan, so while my sister had to take a conference call I did a lap around hourglass lake to check out everything.

I loved how each area is so distinct and even things like the the foliage or pavements or lightposts change! I think Lion King was my favorite.

As we approached the main lobby building, we saw a family struggling with their luggage, looking very lost. In true Rob fashion, he asked them if they needed help. They were staying in the Little Mermaid section and had no idea where it was so Rob grabbed a suitcase and I lead the way.

Typical Canadians! Whenever people ask why I'm helpful I point out I may be from Los Angeles, but I was raised by 2 Canadians and then went to university up there! But I'm sure that family totally appreciated the help!

 

[Terra Nova guy]

As we approached the main lobby building, we saw a family struggling with their luggage, looking very lost. In true Rob fashion, he asked them if they needed help. They were staying in the Little Mermaid section and had no idea where it was so Rob grabbed a suitcase and I lead the way.

Seriously, love it. I would probably want to help them too. I don't know if it's a Canadian thing, or a Disney fanatic thing..or maybe a bit of both!

I figured out where their room was exactly and Rob took them up. They were sweet enough to let Rob grab a few pics.

My DD has been begging to go to a LM room ever since we stayed in a Nemo suite there. But those rooms are never part of the discounts and there's always been a better deal. It's also quite a hike getting back there.

 

[Timon]

August 24th, Part 1

Finally, today is a low-key day! So low key, in fact, that I can do the entire day in one post!

For starters, we slept in! I think we all needed some extra sleep and just a day to not have anything scheduled. The only thing that I actually had scheduled for the entire day was dinner at Homecomin', which I ended up moving to the following week and then ended up canceling because the timing didn't work out the following week.

I did have plans but there was no rush, no set times to be anywhere and it turned out to be exactly what we needed!

My main goal today was to hit up Kohl's. There's only one Kohl's in the area and that was over in Hunter's Creek. I also wanted to hit up Target and have breakfast somewhere so I decided to head over to S. Orange Blossom Trail and start with breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Rob and Kira had never eaten at a CB and there's a Target in the same parking lot, so it was a good fit.

We were all laughing about how ridiculously huge the menu is here! And they had a huge breakfast menu AND a huge lunch menu.

Kira's got the pancakes...

Rob got the blueberry pancakes...

Along with some bacon and eggs.

And I got this...

They brought out this tiny bottle of syrup, which Kira ended up not loving and since she had poured it all over her pancakes, she ended up not eating much of them. We offered her other stuff but she refused and said she was good.

We continued to have a little fun with Kira and her obliviousness, due to her face-in-phone syndrome

There was a huge line to pay the bill so Rob and Kira explored the store a little.

Don't even think about it, kid.

Breakfast was good! It wasn't fantastic (except maybe for the hashbrown casserole!) but it was good and it filled our tummies. Well, not Kira's but she had her chance!

We drove over to Target and we all went in. I needed some time to shop on my own (I was looking for a few things for my kiddo's upcoming birthday) so they went to look at some shoes and some other stuff while I enjoyed some alone time.

Found a few things and then we met up and while they headed to the car, I headed to the till. Is that a Canadian thing? If it is, I will translate for you...I headed to the cashier/cash registers

On our way to Kohl's, we were passing a McDonald's and I asked Rob if he wanted a coffee. Not one to pass up a coffee, we hit up the drive-thru and somehow totally missed the order area! The signs were SUPER tall and the "order here" sign was so high up that we missed it entirely!

Just as we were about to order at the window, I asked Kira if she wanted anything and by anything, I meant a drink or something. She blurted out "Big Mac & Fries" so fast that it almost made me snort.

WHAT??? You just ate!

But then I realized that she hadn't really eaten much and that she was apparently starving

Rob dropped me off at Kohl's and they stayed in the car and ate and drank.

I found a few things that I had wanted but felt kind of rushed with my family waiting in the car for me. They were great, very patient but I didn't want to leave them there too long so I just grabbed the few things that I knew I had wanted and then we headed back to Pop. I wish we had Kohl's in Canada!

Back to our first floor, corner room, in that perfect spot. If you turned right at the Rubik's Cube, you would be at the computer pool. Like I said, perfect location for us. Not so perfect if you needed to go to the lobby area a lot but we didn't

We chilled some more in the room, watched a movie on Rob's ipad, which he awesomely hooked up to the nice big TV in the room.

While we were cuddling in bed watching said movie, Rob had gotten up to do something (from the left side of the bed) and he ended up falling into the rolling door that separates the bathroom sink area from the rest of the room. When that door is open, there really isn't a lot of room to get by and it kind of sticks out and he ended up whacking his foot or knee on it and then hitting the ground pretty good.

It was too funny not to laugh at and as soon as he told me that he was okay and nothing was broken, I burst into laughter.

At that point, Kira started to laugh too. I could tell she was trying not to laugh because, well, it was her daddy but the second I laughed, she laughed with me

Rob was not amused

Kira and I have very different senses of humour compared to Rob. We watch AFV every Sunday night together and laugh until one, or both of us are in tears and practically unable to breathe. Then, Rob will come in to see what's going on and will watch for awhile with a straight face while Kira and I are on the floor.


And if Rob finds something funny, Kira and I will just look at him weirdly, shaking our heads.

Every once in a blue moon, Rob will say something that just KILLS me! I mean, full-on, side-splitting- laughter-funny but over the course of almost 23 years now, it's pretty rare.

The laughter got worse when I pointed out that Kira, did indeed, get her clumsiness from her dad. Kira is so clumsy that it's almost ridiculous! I honestly have never met someone as clumsy as her and I always say "You get that from your Daddy!" and Rob always denies it so when she said "Obviously, I do get it from you" to Rob after I said "You see!", her and I just lost it.


Poor Rob, he was having a tough trip. He's lost his phone, his magic band, fallen off the bed into the wall. I genuinely felt bad for him, however, that did not stop me from laughing my butt off.

After a good laugh, we hit the road again.

Every time we passed this place, I thought of my friends, Nancy & Chuck, as it's their favourite place to stay.

Back to Disney Springs we go!

I love my family. I love how they just blindly follow me, trusting me to plan every facet of every vacation. They didn't even know what we were doing. I just told them it was time to head on over to DS and without question, they just follow

By the time we passed here, Kira started asking me what we were doing...

I told her "Something".

She's at the age now where she doesn't blindly follow me anymore without questioning it. She needs to know what we are doing next because she sort of now has the option of refusing.

By the time we rounded this corner, she was getting a little miffed that she didn't know all of the details. I told her we were doing something fun and new to all of us.

Even after I checked in, I still hadn't told her exactly what it was so I got this look...(toned down for the camera, of course!)

Rob was already shopping

Rob, being the huge Star Wars fanatic that he is, figured out what it was. He is part of the 501st, which is a worldwide Star Wars costuming club for true SW fans and had heard about this in that circle but Kira was still bewildered and unamused. I told her that we would grab our wristbands and then I would explain it all.

Wristbands procured, I explained to her that it was a Star Wars-based Virtual Reality Experience. I knew if I told her more, she would dissect it and probably try to get out of it. She does not do well with new stuff and has a lot of anxiety with certain things (hence the fear of any bigger rides) especially when she has nothing to compare it to.

I have zero experience with VR so I couldn't really compare it to anything either really so I told her that it was a new experience for all of us that I think we would enjoy. Before she could really argue that point with me, it was time to go in!

We were teamed up with a solo guy, introduced to our mission, chose our colours and then into the room where we get fitted for our pack and helmets.

The pack you carry is much heavier than I thought it would be, about 21 pounds if I remember correctly, so I was a little worried about Kira at this point but nothing I could do about it now. She had a bit of a challenge with her helmet but it was all sorted out and then we were off.

I won't spoil it for anyone but it was very cool! It was a little weird at the beginning and definitely took a little getting used to but it was super fun and sadly over before we knew it!

It was pricey, a little over $100 USD for the three of us, plus about $14 for a printed/digital photo plus the shirt that my husband just had to get but it was worth doing at least once. I don't know that I would do it again, at least not this story line. They have other themes at other places that I would definitely try but this, for me at least, was a one-and-done kind of thing.

VOID selfie after the experience

And here's our incredibly expensive photo of us in all of our gear, taken immediately after we finished

Killing storm troopers made us very hungry so we hit up one of our faves...Wolfgang Puck Express.

Kira's cheese pizza...

Mine and Rob's pepperoni pizza...

Delicious as always! Now it was time for some shopping!

The World of Disney Store has really changed. It wasn't complete yet so it was small and always crowded but it was nice that there was more room to maneuver now.

There's Kira and I spending a few dollars I had been eyeing this tea cup mug for years now and I had intended to get it at that moment but I totally forgot about it. I knew I was coming back very shorty so I figured I would get it then but when I did return, they didn't have the purple one, only the blue one so I didn't get it after all.

Oh well, next trip hopefully!

After some shopping, we decided to split a dessert...

It was delicious but so rich, the three of us couldn't even finish it!

Kira grabbed a few more pressed pennies and then we headed back to the resort.

I think we may have enjoyed some more pool time but not 100% sure as we don't have any photos.

Tomorrow we are checking out of Pop Century and heading over to Universal.

 

[Lesley Wake]

It was pricey, a little over $100 USD for the three of us, plus about $14 for a printed/digital photo plus the shirt that my husband just had to get but it was worth doing at least once. I don't know that I would do it again, at least not this story line. They have other themes at other places that I would definitely try but this, for me at least, was a one-and-done kind of thing.

Yeah, it was super fun when I did it (I've actually done it twice because a friend wanted to try it too)! They are bringing a Wreck it Ralph storyline which I'm actually really excited to try!

 

[JenLovesMM]

I wish we had Kohl's in Canada!

This! totally! I always easily find clothes I like at Kohl`s.
Loving your trip report as usual!

 

[buteraa]

What a great trip report. Looking forward to the Universal part next.

 

[Timon]

August 25th, Part 1

This morning we slept in quite a bit, showered and got ready for the day then packed up all of our stuff. We would be saying good-bye to our awesome Pop Century room and heading over to Cabana Bay.

One last time through the massive construction area near Wide World of Sports and out onto the I-4.

Our first stop today was breakfast at a new place, Keke's. I discovered Keke's on The TimTracker's YouTube page, which I have been watching for many years. I just love Tim & Jen and if you're thinking "Who the heck is Tim & Jen?" well, then you need to google that They've been doing daily vlogs since 2009, before anyone else was doing it and I think they are awesome.

I also wanted to hit up a different Target because there was something I had spotted for my kiddo at the Hunters Creek location but they didn't have her size. So, our best choice for Keke's would be the Mall at Millenia location because it had a Target just across the way.

It was a Saturday and there was a 20-minute wait but it was inside so we didn't mind. Happy to finally get seated and eat, we were starving.

And this was my view out the window...

I'm a tree girl, in particular, a palm tree girl.

This is what I got...

Kira's one pancake. It was bigger than her head

Kira's on the left, Rob's on the right...

And Rob's Florida pancake.

Let me just say now that this was the BEST thing I ate the entire trip!

It was hot, fresh and sooooo freaking delicious! The breakfast potatoes were out of this world!

And it was a lot of food! Well, I ate every single morsel of mine and was sufficiently full but I guess the pancakes were really filling and Rob and Kira were too full and couldn't finish theirs.

I told them to make "full faces" and....yeah, I don't know what they are doing here.

We packed the rest up to go and I even ordered an extra side of those potatoes so I could have them for lunch. Yup, they were THAT good.

Over now to Target, I didn't take too long but I did notice they had way more Disney stuff here than the other one.

Now it was time to drive over to Universal. We passed the newly-opened Aventura Hotel...

See those people crossing the street? Don't be those people okay? There is no crosswalk at this intersection from CB to Aventura/Sapphire Falls but we saw tons of people cross it and almost get hit several times over the course of the next 7 days. There is a crosswalk bridge at the end of the street or you could easily hop on one of the buses from Cabana Bay as the ones marked Aventura make a stop there first before heading to CityWalk so you could be there in the same amount of time it takes you to almost get run over by walking there.

On to our destination, one of my favourite hotels...

Rob dropped me off so I could check-in. We were really hoping that our room was ready but no such luck.

I had requested a room somewhat near the main elevators and she did say that there was a room available now over in one of the new towers but we stayed there last year and we just really wanted to stay closer to the lobby area this time so I told her I would wait for something closer.

We parked our car over in the garage and then walked around a bit.

First stop would be the stores.

Kira is a massive Harry Potter fan and is obsessed with the Marauders Map. She loves the history behind it and just what it is, in general. They were selling TWO versions of the map (for $50 & $60! ) and there was a phone case and a scarf and a t-shirt and a mug and so on and so on.

Ten minutes in that store and she was wishing she had saved all of her money for today.

I told her during the entire week that we should save some because we were hitting up Harry's world but what do I know, right?

Rob and I were done so we waited in the lobby for our kid to finally come out.

As she was walking towards us she says "Okay!! I gotta get out of that store now before I start crying!"

They were supposed to text me when the room was ready, they even did a test text message to make sure it was working so I made sure I had my ringer on and the volume all the way up. No text yet so we walked over to Bayliner Diner and grabbed our mugs for the week.

We were really hoping for some new ones but they only had the same design as last year

Still no text so I decided we would walk over to Volcano Bay to upgrade Kira's 3-day ticket to a 4-day ticket. I also had to get my ticket figured out because although it wasn't supposed to have any blackout dates, it had this week listed on the back of the ticket as a blackout date for Volcano Bay! Well, that wasn't going to do because we had planned on going to VB three times!

The great thing was that it was so close and super easy to get to from Cabana Bay. It's like they made VB as Cabana Bay's own private water park. Sounds weird but it's really not easy to get to from anywhere else but Cabana Bay!

Once there, we hit up Guest Services to figure out what's going on. Apparently, they knew about this glitch and said that whenever I wanted to go to VB, just to stop off at Guest Services and they would issue me a 1-day ticket every time. Ugh. It was not very convenient, that's for sure but at least it was fixable. While I was dealing with that whole thing (it took awhile!) I had checked my email on my phone and saw that I got an email from CB saying our room was ready and to head back to the check-in desk to get a new room key.

Umm, what??!!!

So, first off, I did NOT receive a text nor had I known to be checking my email to see if our room was ready and we had to go back to the front desk to get new keys??? WHY???!! Why would they give me the keys in the first place if they weren't going to work in the door of the room they assigned us to???



UGH! So, back into a now-huge line at check-in. I am finally about 2 people behind the front now and someone with an ipad comes around and asks everyone if they were checking in. Two of us were returning to the desk to get new keys and she pulled us aside. That would have been handy about 25 minutes ago.

So, after waiting another 10 minutes for her to go in the back and figure it out, she comes out with new keys and shows me on the map where our room is.

In the Beachside Tower.



Ummm, NO.

Sorry, we could have had this room 3 hours ago!! I have been waiting this entire time to get a room closer to the main building. If I had wanted Beachside, I would have taken the room that was ready three hours ago.

So another 15 minutes of waiting before she finally comes out and gives us (again) new room keys to a room in Americana at the second elevator bank.

That was way harder than it should have been.

I had texted Rob that our room was ready (the beachside tower room, before I knew the location) so he had gone to the garage with Kira to grab our luggage. Poor guy had been waiting at the elevators this entire time for me to tell him where to go. But I forgot that he still had his key (which I assumed he could just use once it was assigned, silly me!) so Kira had to run over to me at check-in to give them all of the keys. Really, I just don't get why they had given me three keys to begin with if none of them would work in our room

So finally, we had our proper room number and he had our luggage but we had to go and meet him first because he didn't know where to go.

BAH! I was rather grumpy by then.

A few pics of the room...

And the view from our window...looking left...

And then right...

Tune in next when my grumpiness wears off

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Interested to see your experience at USO... we spent one day there on our trip 2 yrs ago and other than the HP stuff, did NOT love it. We are not super thrill ride people and not lovers of all the VR (simulators?) stuff that USO does. We absolutely loved all the HP stuff tho.... so amazing and incredibly well done!

 

[Timon]

August 25th, 2018 Part 2

We unpacked and got settled in to our home for the next week. Kira and I were wanting to hit the pool but the amazing lightning in the sky had other plans.

I tell ya, we got some amazing storms the entire trip but this last week was the best week for storms

While waiting for the storm to pass and the pool to reopen, we watched Black Panther for the billionth time and ate our leftovers, so yummy!!

Thankfully we had a pool view (barely) and we could tell when they opened up the pools so we headed down ASAP!

Rob went and filled up our tubes while Kira and I played in the pool.

Then we hit up the lazy river. I love this pool, this resort...everything about it

Rob was laughing at us in our towels.

After we had our lovely fill of the glorious pool, we got changed and headed back down to Bayliner Diner for dinner!

They have really good food! The chicken tenders are always fresh and delicious and the burgers are soooo good! I think I ate every morsel and almost regretted it because I was so full.

Hard to tell here but I had the best view of the Volcano while eating.

You can see it better here, same direction but this one was taken past the glass doors.

Back up on our floor, we snapped a couple pics outside the window near the elevator.

I had every intention of checking out that rooftop bar later but I never got around to it.

The storms were brewing again and we watched them from Kira's bed for a good hour or so

I managed to get this cool one with the lightning coming through the cloud

As soon as they opened up the pools again, we all headed down to the Courtyard Pool. Kira and I hadn't explored this one yet so we rode the slide and swam for another good 90 minutes or so while Rob read his book. The first 30 minutes was especially nice because there were only a few of us in there. After that, there were swarms of teens/tweens and it was a lot less fun as they kind of took over the pool.

While we both loved this pool, I still think the other side (Tower pool) is the better choice, mostly because of the lazy river. The slide here was kinda of dinky so not really enough to draw us back over here the rest of the week.

It was a fabulous rest day, exactly what we needed but we had to get some sleep because tomorrow we had an early start to the day!

 

[CJK]

Your pictures have reminded me how much fun Cabana Bay can be! I live in that lazy river too. Looks like a great day with some storms to enjoy! We came sooo close to booking Cabana Bay again, but went with HRH at the last minute. I love it too obviously, but now I'm reconsidering. Keke's looks delicious!!!! We must try it. It's fun having new things to do, even when you're Disney veterans, eh???

 

[jaspocti]

What a fabulous resort. Now I just have to convince my husband to try Universal again. His first visit wasn’t too great.

 

[jenseib]

Rob was busy chatting away with the family, by the time we got the their building, they were all best friends.

Wait...Rob was chatty?

I have an even better idea...how about we meet in WDW and go to B & C and go enjoy some patty melts together.

Sounds like a plan!

It was too funny not to laugh at and as soon as he told me that he was okay and nothing was broken, I burst into laughter

I remember a similar incident when I was the victim!

I honestly have never met someone as clumsy as her

Are you sure?

We were teamed up with a solo guy

Well you didn't tell me you met Han Solo!

The World of Disney Store has really changed

We don't like it anymore. We hate that it is basically so empty in there and it hardly has anything like it used to. The last few trips we have looked and just been disgusted.

See those people crossing the street?

We crossed there too (several times ) when I went with our work gals. That bridge is just way too far.

We parked our car over in the garage

Wait...they have a parking garage there now?

because although it wasn't supposed to have any blackout dates, it had this week listed on the back of the ticket as a blackout date for Volcano Bay!

This is such a pain. I looked at that ticket and it initially says in fine print that there may be black out dates, then when you go to find the dates none are basically listed. I emailed Universal and they replied that there were no black out dates. Why even bother putting it online then.


Loved all the updates! I totally cracked up with Kira at McDonalds. That's so Claire. I pull in for a diet coke and ask her what she wants.....Large fry please....um...we are just getting drinks.

 

[Timon]

August 26th Part 1

We were up super early this morning because we were checking into Portofino Bay for 1 night. We were keeping our room at Cabana Bay as we didn't want to have to pack up everything but we wanted to take advantage of having Express Passes for 2 days so we were ready to go before 7am.

Grabbed a chocolate croissant and a bagel for Rob and Kira first and then caught an Uber over to PB. We didn't want to deal with the car because parking at PB was atrocious, something like $25 per day, so it was cheaper for us to just Uber there and back.

Got to PB about 7 minutes later and tried to hurry but take a few photos as well as I've never even visited this hotel before. Early Entry started at 8am so we wanted to make rope drop, or close to that anyway.

I checked us in while Rob and Kira dropped our two bags off at Baggage Services. Our room was not ready but we grabbed our room keys, which act as your Express Passes. Gone are the separate tickets with the funny pics that you used to have to get. This is the way it used to be a long time ago so I am glad they switched it back.

Bags dropped, keys procured, we headed down to the main level to grab a water taxi.

There were tons of fish, ducks and turtles here, neat!

The lady in front of us was kind of enough to snap a group photo of us on the way.

Passing my favourite resort.

And then a quick photo op at CityWalk.

We had made it for early entry, woooo!

We were going to ride Despicable Me first but it was closed at that time.

So, you've read about Kira's incentives to do the Disney rides so you're probably wondering what her incentive was for Universal rides, right?

Well, honestly, we didn't give her any. None of us thought she would do Hulk or Dudley Do-Right's or Mummy and she certainly wasn't going to do Rip Ride Rocket!

I didn't want to set her up for failure and I certainly didn't want to push her too far so that she would be scarred for life and not wanting to try them on a future trip but as we were walking by RRR, Rob said to Kira "We'll give you $25 each to ride Rip Ride Rocket & Hulk."

She just looked at him and said "Maybe later."

Just for kicks and giggles, as we were approaching Mummy, I asked Kira if she wanted to ride it and to my utter surprise and delight, she said yes!

I totally did not expect that but I guess with some newly found confidence, she decided to give it a go. And she ended up loving it!

The Fast & Furious Ride opened not too long ago and we would eventually try it but that morning, we had better things to do.

Back to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter we went....

 

[Terra Nova guy]

For starters, we slept in! I think we all needed some extra sleep and just a day to not have anything scheduled. The only thing that I actually had scheduled for the entire day was dinner at Homecomin', which I ended up moving to the following week and then ended up canceling because the timing didn't work out the following week.

Funny. I had lunch at Homecomin' that same day. We keep almost crossing paths on our trips
A rest day (or a partial one) is something I have tried to put in my last couple trips. They are definitely needed.

We chilled some more in the room, watched a movie on Rob's ipad, which he awesomely hooked up to the nice big TV in the room.

I'm a bit dumb when it comes to figuring out how to do stuff like that.

I also wanted to hit up Target and have breakfast somewhere so I decided to head over to S. Orange Blossom Trail and start with breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Rob and Kira had never eaten at a CB and there's a Target in the same parking lot, so it was a good fit.

My family ate at Cracker Barrel once years ago. I thought it was good, but nobody else seemed to like it for some reason, and we've never gone back. I would like to try again though.

Wristbands procured, I explained to her that it was a Star Wars-based Virtual Reality Experience. I knew if I told her more, she would dissect it and probably try to get out of it. She does not do well with new stuff and has a lot of anxiety with certain things (hence the fear of any bigger rides) especially when she has nothing to compare it to.

I had heard about this. It sounds like fun. I'm a Star Wars fan too (although not to the extent of being in the 501st). The problem is the rest of my family are not fans. At all. They have never seen the movies and have zero interest. I guess I would have to go solo if I ever did this.

The World of Disney Store has really changed. It wasn't complete yet so it was small and always crowded but it was nice that there was more room to maneuver now.

I was shopping at World of Disney that day, too!
There is more room to get around. But I do miss some of the figures and decorations they had hanging from the ceiling. I heard they may put some of that back once it all finished, but I don't know if that's true. It will be interesting to see it completed.

On to our destination, one of my favourite hotels...

I have only driven past Cabana Bay, but it looks like a nice place and I've read good things about it. On trips were we go to Universal, we normally rent a house during that time, so I don't know if I'll ever stay in a Universal hotel. But I would definitely consider Cabana Bay.

 

[lucas]

I am now enjoying your Universal review. We can never pull ourselves away from WDW, so it is interesting to see what Universal has to offer.

 

[Darkrobe]

I'm a bit dumb when it comes to figuring out how to do stuff like that.

Pretty easy really, for Apple you need the Lightning to HDMI adapter (about $50) which you'll use the HDMI cord to go from your device (iPad or iPhone) to the TV HDMI input (like input 2 or 3). Pretty much all TV's in your room will have more than one HDMI input. On your TV remote, you want to look for the input selector and go to that corresponding input for your device & VOILA! Instant stuff from your device.
Hope that helps you out!

 

[Timon]

August 26th, Part 2

Onward to Wizarding World of Harry Potter!

We were here last summer for a few days before our Fantasy cruise but we were all very happy to be back. Kira is a HP freak so she would be happy if we just spent our entire vacation here.

We peeked in the stores because we didn't get to do much of that last year. She really enjoyed all of the details.

I didn't even notice this spot last year, so much to see and explore!

We went to Gringott's but they hadn't opened the Express queue yet and the stand-by was already 30 minutes so we just explored a bit.

I told Kira that I would give her a few bucks in order for her to grab some Gringott's Bank Notes. She thought it was just a souvenir but then I told her that she could spend it on our next trip if she wanted too. It's kinda of like the old Disney Dollars but HP themed

We checked back and saw that the Express queue was now open so time to ride my favourite Harry Potter ride.

I LOVE this ride! Seriously, you cannot get any better than this sucker! The theming is out of this world, fits in perfectly with the movies/books and is perfectly located in Diagon Alley. It's original, not like anything else and I just love how it fits you into the story line during one of the movies.

I love the pre-ride movie explaining it, the neat effect of the elevators and then the ride itself is just AMAZEBALLS!!

I think we might have done it twice too because the Express Line was so quick!

Rob and Kira were getting hungry so I promised them more food after a quick pit stop. Even the bathrooms are amazing, reminiscent of the movies with the tiniest, coolest touches

Be careful when you walk out of those bathrooms or you may get wet

Rob and Kira had decided to leave their wands at home this trip but we still had fun watching all of the other people casting their spells throughout the parks.

As promised...

They ended up splitting this...

I had a bite of the croissant, it was quite delicious!

And now for my favourite part of WWOHP....Knockturn Alley!

Man, do I love this place! It's so nice and dark, not crowded and wonderfully air conditioned!

I also have a dark side to me and this area is right up my alley.



See what I did there?

And the details! Oh my...the DETAILS!!!

If you listen carefully at the Vanishing Cabinet, you will hear a bird chirping

Tons of little nooks and crannies (most you can see but not explore) I could spend all day here!

To be continued....At my image limit

 

[Lesley Wake]

August 26th, Part 2

Onward to Wizarding World of Harry Potter!

We were here last summer for a few days before our Fantasy cruise but we were all very happy to be back. Kira is a HP freak so she would be happy if we just spent our entire vacation here.

We peeked in the stores because we didn't get to do much of that last year. She really enjoyed all of the details.

I didn't even notice this spot last year, so much to see and explore!

We went to Gringott's but they hadn't opened the Express queue yet and the stand-by was already 30 minutes so we just explored a bit.

I told Kira that I would give her a few bucks in order for her to grab some Gringott's Bank Notes. She thought it was just a souvenir but then I told her that she could spend it on our next trip if she wanted too. It's kinda of like the old Disney Dollars but HP themed

We checked back and saw that the Express queue was now open so time to ride my favourite Harry Potter ride.

I LOVE this ride! Seriously, you cannot get any better than this sucker! The theming is out of this world, fits in perfectly with the movies/books and is perfectly located in Diagon Alley. It's original, not like anything else and I just love how it fits you into the story line during one of the movies.

I love the pre-ride movie explaining it, the neat effect of the elevators and then the ride itself is just AMAZEBALLS!!

I think we might have done it twice too because the Express Line was so quick!

Rob and Kira were getting hungry so I promised them more food after a quick pit stop. Even the bathrooms are amazing, reminiscent of the movies with the tiniest, coolest touches

Be careful when you walk out of those bathrooms or you may get wet

Rob and Kira had decided to leave their wands at home this trip but we still had fun watching all of the other people casting their spells throughout the parks.

As promised...

They ended up splitting this...

I had a bit of the croissant, it was quite delicious!

And now for my favourite part of WWOHP....Knockturn Alley!

Man, do I love this place! It's so nice and dark, not crowded and wonderfully air conditioned!

I also have a dark side to me and this area is right up my alley.



See what I did there?

And the details! Oh my...the DETAILS!!!

If you listen carefully at the Vanishing Cabinet, you will hear a bird chirping

Tons of little nooks and crannies (most you can see but not explore) I could spend all day here!

To be continued....At my image limit

Man you are really making me regret cutting out my Universal day for my upcoming December trip! I just decided it wasn't worth the extra $$ for a 1-day ticket, when I really only like the HP stuff (I did most of the rides last fall and they weren't my favorites)

I'll just need to make sure I hit it next Christmas!

 

[Terra Nova guy]

Like @Lesley Wake I also am a bit sad that I cut Universal from my August trip. It was the first trip to Florida where we haven't gone to Universal. But, I just couldn't justify the $$$ especially for a family of four. My youngest is not into any of the Universal IP. Myself and my oldest enjoy Harry Potter, but are not obsessed. I really did like Diagon Alley though.