**COMPLETED 4/30**Life Is Way Too Short to Take It Slow - October 2013 TR

[princess_momma]

***CONTINUED FROM ABOVE POST***
By now, we were getting pretty hungry! I’m a big fan of Flame Tree Barbecue and I thought it would be something that Garret would enjoy too.

Landon got a hot dog with lemonade, grapes and a cookie. I got the half chicken/half ribs combo with a bottle of water. Garret got the turkey sandwich meal with a Coke. The total for all that was $49.39, but we used our dining credits.

And of course, they forgot Garret’s sandwich! So he had to go back, but said that they seemed to be expecting him because there had been one floating around with no order!



And the forgotten sandwich.



My meal was good, but pretty heavy. Garret LOVED his sandwich so much--thought it was very fresh and light but filling.

By the time we were done, it was time for us to go on a safari!!

The interesting thing here was that they said we didn’t all need to put our magic bands up, and they were just having one person per party scan it. I was confused by this. Could we have gone on 3 times in a row, using each band once? We definitely probably could have brought people without fast passes on with us too. Does anyone know if they are still doing this? It was so weird to me! (Don’t worry, we didn’t cheat the system! Just seems like it would’ve been easy to!)



We were seated quickly in the second to last row.

I completely forgot that klacey reported that this guy hadn’t been completely accepted by the other rhinos. And now I feel like he looks so sad and lonely in this picture that I get so sad! Poor rhino!











Every time we would see an animal, Landon would try to find it on the guide! It was so cute and he did it for every single one we saw without fail! Precious.



There were no lions out for us, but other than that it was a pretty successful safari! We made it back only to immediately head out for another expedition! This time...to Everest!

It was wonderful and perfect, as EE usually is. Landon thought it was a “little scary”. (You’ll see when I post the trip video!)



Often on this trip, I was screaming in pure joy. But I look like a sort of unflattering terrified. I should put more thought into this!

Our next FP was for Kali so I knew we would be getting wet! So I made sure that we stopped at my favorite PP spot in AK for an “anniversary shoot”! So glad I did...I love these pics!

Everest makes for an excellent backdrop!

Kali was a huge success! Landon loved it a lot! We had a lot of fun joking with the family in our raft about who was going to get the most wet. It had appeared like it was going to be us, but at the last second it turned and got them! It was pretty funny!

After that, I just had to go say hi to my tiger friends! So we trekked through Marahajah!







We were about ready to leave, but we had one more EE fp burning a hole in our pockets!







Landon was still willing to go despite thinking it was a little scary! We’ll never know how his face looks on this one because it got cut out!



I was video taping the whole time and got blocked too. Great pic lol.

By then we were all getting tired! We had done a lot of walking all over AK and wanted to rest up before our big night! So we headed back to Pop to find Bronco Mickey playing on the iPad!



Landon was exhausted so he grabbed the blanket and took a quick power nap!



Would the rest of our anniversary be as great as the morning?! Stay tuned!

 

[jenny105]

Wow! Good for Landon going on EE not once but twice! What a brave kid.

Every time I go on Dinosaur I get people next to me who have no idea what the ride does. Usually elderly people and I feel horrible trying to explain it to them lol. That is not a relaxing ride!

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your day!

 

[klacey1]

That is crazy that Epcot was so crazy! I've never seen it like that.
Our AK PP pics were some of my favorites, too!! Everest is the BEST backdrop.
Awww, that poor rhino! I hope he makes friends soon

 

[marDgreen88]

Aww, this was my birthday! And I was at work... darn you. Hahahahah

Good choice to head to AK! THAT is why you get park hoppers!

This update is really making me wish I was at Animal Kingdom. Love. Omg, what on Earth, that poor rhino!!

 

[princess_momma]

Wow! Good for Landon going on EE not once but twice! What a brave kid.

Every time I go on Dinosaur I get people next to me who have no idea what the ride does. Usually elderly people and I feel horrible trying to explain it to them lol. That is not a relaxing ride!

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your day!

I think looking back, EE is probably what he would call the scariest. But he'd still go again!

That is crazy that Epcot was so crazy! I've never seen it like that.
Our AK PP pics were some of my favorites, too!! Everest is the BEST backdrop.
Awww, that poor rhino! I hope he makes friends soon

It was so strange! I figured the F&W Fest would be, but it was just everywhere!

Aww, this was my birthday! And I was at work... darn you. Hahahahah

Good choice to head to AK! THAT is why you get park hoppers!

This update is really making me wish I was at Animal Kingdom. Love. Omg, what on Earth, that poor rhino!!

Lol don't you hate when other people are at the WDW on your birthday? LOVE park hoppers! I just want to be friends with that rhino!

 

[princess_momma]

So since it was our anniversary, Garret and I had planned on some kid-free time! We had reserved a spot for Landon in the Cub’s Den, which is the kid’s club at the Wilderness Lodge. Hopping on a bus to the MK made the most sense, but the line was so crazy! So we just got in the Epcot line and got on the bus with a whopping 9 other people.

We had left Pop at 5:10 and with bus-hopping via Epcot bus, made it to the Wilderness Lodge by 5:45. The Cub’s Den wasn’t hard to find...from the bus stop, just head up like you are going into the Lodge, but it’s just outside the entrance to the right. So we checked him in.

Landon was very excited about it. I think he was ready to just play and take it easy as a kid instead of running from place to place to place. Garret thought it looked boring. Just one large room with a few toys, a TV and some computers on the wall. It really was nothing special.

We did have dinner reservations at Artist Point, but instead of going there jumped back on a bus to DHS! Why? So we could ride Rock n’ Rollercoaster!

We hopped on the single rider line for times sake. Although I didn’t write down the time. My apologies.



And did you really think I could truck it all the way over to DHS and NOT ride ToT? That would be silly. I would never do that. So we stood by on ToT after that.

There was this guy who was in this big Spanish family. (The spanish only important because I have no idea what they were actually saying.) But the dad kept pretending to wander off, walk away, go under the ropes...he even crawled under a table in the movie room! It was walking that fine line between amusing and awkard. At first it seemed like he might be avoiding his family and then became very clear that he didn’t want to ride. When he came off, he was literally drenched in sweat! Poor guy.

Anyway...we had a good trip to another dimension but sadly, made it back.


(We are in the way back of this one!)

We then took a bus back to WL. We had an 8pm reservation and checked in at 8:02.

We had a nice little spot to sit and relax while we waited. Then our buzzer went off and we took it up to the podium where there was a very long line. It turns out the system had crashed and so they paged everyone waiting back up to re-do it manually or something? It was pretty messy. And then people’s claws started coming out. This one lady made a HUGE scene...apparently they had been waiting well over an hour past their ADR time. I doubt I would’ve waited that long...we ended up waiting a half an hour. Which is the longest I’ve ever waited past my ADR time, but what can ya do?

So to the food...

Let’s just start by saying how much I had anticipated this restaurant. I love interesting meats and was always dying to try the buffalo I heard about it. It all looked so good and I read so many rave reviews. Plus, it was my anniversary dinner and my first and only kidless meal in Disney? I was anticipating such a magical night. *sigh* Oh and also, if anyone was wondering, All Ears menu does not look up to date for Artist Point. But if you go to “View Menu” on the Disney site, it matches what menu we received that night.

We got bread. Nothing special, especially nothing to fill up on. (Really, the only bread that is worth that is the bread at Kona. Hard to live up to that bread.)



But I didn’t care about how boring the bread was...I wasn’t here for that!

We first ordered the “Whiskey Glaze Confit Natural Bacon” - described on the Disney website as “sunny-side up quail egg, red curry, silk and almond butter blintz”.



This is more of a pork belly that a bacon, but I usually love either of those things. However, I didn’t really think there was anything to cut into the fattiness and make it more palatable. I wasn’t a fan.

So luckily, I swapped my dessert and got the cheese appetizer! The “Artisanal Cheese Selection” has Reypanaer Gouda VSOP, Formage d’Affinois de Brebis, and Rogue River Blue Cheese with seasonal garnish according to the Disney website.



I love cheese so it’s pretty hard to be disappointed in that. It was just exceedingly small. Which I thought would be fine because I was VERY excited for my entree...but I wish I had more cheese.

Garret and I ordered the same thing for our entree, the Pacific Northwest Trio - slow-roasted buffalo strip, venison loin, and wild game sausage with herbed spaetzle, late summer vegetables, red onion marmalade and berry gastrique.



Now, I know all those meats could be unappealing to some but I actually like all those kinds of meat! However, this meal was just not good. It was all so bland that if I was blindfolded I couldn’t have told the difference between any of them. Heck, if it were for the textures, I probably wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference between the meats and the bread! It was like, have they ever heard of salt and pepper? There was nothing.


And of course our waiter had disappeared. This whole meal just sucked a lot out of us. Between the wait and the disappointing food, I just wasn’t feeling it. I started getting sore and tired and just blah. At one point, Garret was to the point where he said it felt like we hadn't done anything all day. Um…if anyone was counting, we had already done 3 PARKS that day! And we had one more to go!

Garret didn’t want his dessert but our waiter eventually came around and offered the kid’s dessert for us to take to Landon. We accepted just because we wanted to get out of there!



I would honestly not be able to recommend Artist Point to anyone. Maybe they were having an off night, and maybe one day we’ll try again but for a long time, Artist Point is out of the rotation.

 

[princess_momma]

We took a quick stroll over to the kid’s club and picked Landon up. He had fun and asked to go back, so it couldn’t have been that bad. (Still today when I just asked him, he asked if he could go back.)



I thought it would be a good idea to take the boat over to the MK so we had to hike through the lobby. Which was fine because we got to see Humphrey!!



However, it then turned out that it wasn’t a good idea. The boat ride was very long. I believe we had just missed one and so we had to wait and it just felt like forever!

We finally made it to MK only to get stuck behind the parade. Then we were raring to go and Landon needed a bathroom break!

Garret knew how tired I was so the plan was to split up and he was going to party in the MK until 1am with his friend, Brandon, while Landon and I did stuff Garret wasn’t too thrilled with...like the Little Mermaid, Dumbo, etc.

New Fantasyland was so gorgeous at night! We were headed right to VotLM which only had a wait posted of 25 minutes. But after like 10, we hadn’t moved at all, so I gave up and left the line. Ariel was posted for only a 15 minute wait so we went in there!

I was sooooo excited about meeting Ariel in her tail. I remember on my first trip to the MK, where I only had ONE day to take in all the magic, I was dying to meet Ariel in her grotto. The line was always sooo long at 2.5 hours or so, or she just wasn’t out. Then since I’ve been back now that I’m older, the grotto hasn’t been there!

The wait wasn’t bad at all...eventually we were the first people in a new room and we had the BEST time with Ariel. Since I have a 5 year old, characters seem to forget that I might be MORE excited than him to meet them. But luckily Landon and Ariel had such a good interaction that I didn’t mind at all!

Basically, Ariel asked what he had done today and Landon couldn’t remember. So she goes, “you must have short-term memory loss like my friend, Dory!” To which Landon stared at her blankly and nodded. She asks if he rode any rides, and he said yes, but of course he couldn’t remember which ones. Eventually he said a boat ride, and she asked if he was a sailor and he told her yes. So she asked what kind of boat he had and he didn’t know, of course, so Ariel says “oh I forgot - short-term memory loss!” Then she had him “say bubbles!” and take pictures with her!














As we were leaving, she told Landon that she hoped he’d remember her because she would remember him. It was so precious! Then we all waved goodbye and she said “splash ya later!” I LOVE ARIEL SO MUCH! LKJFLSDKHJHDF!!

After our perfect time with the little mermaid, we decided it would be a good time to go ride a flying elephant.

I had heard so much about the Storybook area at night so I was elated to finally see it! I had actually never even seen it in the day, so this was another first! I was blown away...it was so beautiful!

I’m fairly certain Dumbo was a walk-on. Or at least less than 10 minutes. What an improvement to how those lines used to get! (Or maybe since it was after 11pm, no one who wanted to ride was still awake?)









We were then going to ride the teacups and they had just loaded up a set of people so we were in the next group to get in. However, they were having some technical difficulties and had everybody who had just loaded up get off, so we hopped out of that line.

It is SO HARD to leave the MK for something as silly as being tired, so we went on the People Mover next.



It was relaxing as usual. While we were on, Garret texted me and wanted to meet back up. So we just kind of hung out in Tomorrowland while he made his way over to us. Turns out in all that time we had been there, he’d only been on the Haunted Mansion. Our late night in the MK turned out to be pretty low-key...but hey, still better than a night anywhere else!

We did have to get SOME shut eye that night though...we were going to Universal the next day and needed to maximize our time since we only had that day!

 

[jenny105]

Sorry your meal at Artist Point was so bad. I've always wanted to try the place because it gets nothing but rave reviews but the menu has held me back. Kris is a picky eater and I can't see him liking anything that place has to offer.

I hate Ariel. She is a brat. That is all.

 

[marDgreen88]

Ugh, I'm sorry your meal at Artist Point was so... blah. This is actually the second bad review I've seen of the place lately. So odd. Doesn't really make me want to try it any time soon!

Omg, the interaction with Ariel sounds perfect! I love her so much.

 

[emmysmommy]

Important things first Kimmy.... CONGRATULATIONS on your beloved Broncos winning the playoffs for a spot in the Super Bowl!

Landon sure is not afraid of those thrill rides. He did great on Dinosaur considering that one is pretty scary.

I'm with you on Artist Point. I'm just not a fan of anything but the overpriced smoky Portobello mushroom soup. I prefer to go to Territory Lounge next door and order off their bar menu. Sorry your nice evening wasn't as you expected. I love the dress you wore, very pretty!

Oh my gosh!! Landon's interaction with Ariel is precious. Great photos capturing the occasion.

 

[klacey1]

Oh no! I'm sorry Artist Point was so disappointing! I loved the food in 2011, but the service was...weird. Our waiter was just odd. And the newest menu doesn't interest me at all, even though we'll be staying at the WL again.
Glad Landon had fun in the kids club though! And that's precious how shy he was with Ariel-- she seems like she was awesome with him!

 

[princess_momma]

Sorry your meal at Artist Point was so bad. I've always wanted to try the place because it gets nothing but rave reviews but the menu has held me back. Kris is a picky eater and I can't see him liking anything that place has to offer.

I hate Ariel. She is a brat. That is all.

Yeah I definitely wouldn't try it, especially if you don't think Kris could find anything he liked anyway! So many great options out there.

You and Ariel…it kills me.

Ugh, I'm sorry your meal at Artist Point was so... blah. This is actually the second bad review I've seen of the place lately. So odd. Doesn't really make me want to try it any time soon!

Omg, the interaction with Ariel sounds perfect! I love her so much.

Weird! I remember only reading the rave reviews too…but it just wasn't on spot that night!

Ariel was wonderful! I'll always treasure that memory!

Important things first Kimmy.... CONGRATULATIONS on your beloved Broncos winning the playoffs for a spot in the Super Bowl!

Landon sure is not afraid of those thrill rides. He did great on Dinosaur considering that one is pretty scary.

I'm with you on Artist Point. I'm just not a fan of anything but the overpriced smoky Portobello mushroom soup. I prefer to go to Territory Lounge next door and order off their bar menu. Sorry your nice evening wasn't as you expected. I love the dress you wore, very pretty!

Oh my gosh!! Landon's interaction with Ariel is precious. Great photos capturing the occasion.

YAY YAY YAY YAY!!!! So excited about the Broncos!!

Landon kept impressing me with the thrill rides! I'm so glad he liked them!

I was tempted to just go sit in Territory Lounge instead…now I know! And thanks!! I had never thought maxi dresses would like good on short little me until I found that one!

Landon still always talks about "that mermaid girl I met"

Oh no! I'm sorry Artist Point was so disappointing! I loved the food in 2011, but the service was...weird. Our waiter was just odd. And the newest menu doesn't interest me at all, even though we'll be staying at the WL again.
Glad Landon had fun in the kids club though! And that's precious how shy he was with Ariel-- she seems like she was awesome with him!

I love the WL but it will probably be quite a few years before I give AP a shot again! Even though our night was kind of a bust, it was nice that Landon had a great time!

 

[princess_momma]

AUTHOR’S NOTE: THE INTRODUCTION TO THIS POST IS WORDY. IT EXPLAINS POSSIBLE POOR PLANNING ON MY PART, HOWEVER IF YOU EVER PLAN ON GOING TO UNIVERSAL FOR THE FIRST TIME, I RECOMMEND IT SO THAT YOU DON’T MAKE MY SAME SILLY MISTAKES!

Our Universal day was finally here. Garret was ecstatic for some bigger thrill rides, but I literally did not care about anything but the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It probably would’ve been very hard to convince me to go to the dark side without that area.

Because like...HARRY POTTER. BUTTERBEER. HOGWARTS. BUTTERBEER. DRAGONS. BUTTERBEER. I had to re-read AND re-watch the whole series before we left and it got me amped up more and more! (I do that every year anyway...but still.) I grew up those books, I remember the first time I read the first book! So to say I was excited was an understatement.

The park open at 9 and I scheduled our Mears pickup for 8:25, per the unanimous recommendations on the Dis US boards.. I knew we probably wouldn’t get there at park opening, but I thought we would be close. It was hard enough to make it to the designated spot by 8:25...I was freaking out and we were basically running through Pop Century to make it there on time.

I guess I misunderstood Mears shuttle. When I think “shuttle” I think like a 15-passenger van. I wasn’t expecting the huge ME sized ones. Mears is, of course, written on the side of nearly every taxi, van, etc. So as our pick up time passed, we thought everything was the vehicle there to pick us up! But they weren’t.

So for our 8:25 pick up time, we were actually picked up at 8:47. Apparently, they don’t give staggered times (i.e. let’s schedule the first stop for 8:25 and then second stop for 8:35, and then the final stop for 8:45). I feel like it should’ve been explained that we were on the 8:25 route, not an 8:25 pick up time. It was frustrating to be worried about making it to the pick up spot on time and then they were 20 minutes late. For 2 adults and 1 child, it came to $57.

I was getting more and more upset. I just wanted to get to WWoHP! I had read everywhere that it was the most popular ride and was expecting that I would have to wait some ungodly amount of time if we got there too late. So then, to add to my frustration, we stopped at Sea World first. OMG! I had never came across that little tidbit either in my research.

If anyone wants to know the time frame, if they would like to use Mears for Sea World and/or Universal...we left Pop Century at 8:46, arrived at Sea World at 9:05 and left there by 9:06. From there, we arrived at Universal at 9:18. Yep...53 minutes past our scheduled pick up time.

So I was quite miserable. I felt like an awful planner, I was still upset over our failed anniversary dinner the night before, not to mention my feet were hurting for the first time ever on a Disney trip AND I was losing my voice.

The other thing I hadn’t realized was how Universal was set up. I’ve heard it’s all within walking distance, but I still wasn’t sure what to expect. Basically, from the bus stop, you go up some stairs and walk across a pedestrian bridge that leads you to the security check point where they check everyone’s bags and such. From there, you walk down City Walk, which is where all the restaurants and stuff are. Then you can go around to the right to Universal Studios or to the left side to Islands of Adventure side. We were headed to the IoA side and finally made it in the park at 9:41.







I expected Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey to be like TSM...you have to get there at rope drop or wait over an hour. I could’ve cried. We walked with purpose to WWoHP...it’s basically in the back, right corner. I did snap a few pics on the way.









The Dr. Suess land was deserted. I mean it was literally us and the employees. We didn’t see anybody else in that land at all. (Sadly, we never made it back either...just a quick walk through. Sorry, Dr. Suess!)





I think that waterfall guy is a restaurant. Or near a restaurant. (IoA pro here, ladies and gentleman.)

Getting close. Getting close.



And then FINALLY…

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[princess_momma]

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FINALLY I SAW THIS LOVELY LITTLE SIGN!





GUYS...IT’S HOGSMEADE!! I know you are probably freaking out too, but please respect the spell limits. If I had to, you have to.

As soon as we step past the sign, we get to see the Hogwarts Express. Oh, the memories.



To your left, is Zonko’s Joke Shop. Pick up any fun joke you want...I’m probably just going to send my owl an order to Weasley’s Wheezes though.



The whole village looks AMAZING.



Like...there’s no way I’m in Central Florida right now.

Continuing past Zonko’s, we find Honeydukes - find your favorite magical sweets here!



Look quickly to the right...you might see a dragon! Getting past one is the first challenge in the Tri-wizard Tournament!



Back on the left side is the local pub, Hog’s Head!


Zoom in on the incredible detail over the entrance.



Over on FB, Kylie successfully recognized that symbol. 10 points to Slytherin.

We continue our stroll through the snow-capped village.







There is just so much to look at and see...you really get transported to Hogsmeade!



And if you made it this far...if you haven’t passed out from the joy of literally walking through your favorite books...then you get your breath taken away all over again...because at the end of Hogsmeade, you come to a castle.

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[princess_momma]

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I present to you, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.













Isn’t it magnificent?!

If you couldn’t tell...just stepping in this land completely erased all my silly misery from the morning. All that worry and stress seemed so far away. Heck, I seem so far away. It’s so real! And, of course...the worries were for naught. We arrived nearly an hour after park opening (9:55 to be precise!) and the wait was only 20 minutes for Forbidden Journey. AND, we got on by 10:10, so it was really only 15.

But I’m getting ahead of myself...there’s so much to show you in the line! (Although...I can’t show you as much as I would like...couldn’t get any good pics with my camera!)

First, we pass through the Herbology greenhouses. Have you ever potted a mandrake?







Love the talking pictures.


DUMBLEDORE!!!!



Have you been sorted? Which house are you in? I’m a Gryffindor myself!

As we passed through the halls, we saw Dumbledore’s pensieve, a dragon skeleton in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, the House Cup competition jewels, the Fat Lady’s picture (she covers the entrance to the Gryffindor common room), and so much more. It was amazing. We almost (ALMOST) went through the line too fast.

They really did an outstanding job with Forbidden Journey. It basically has you strapped into a roller coaster seat that are 4 in a row, all side by side. Then you are able to go along a track and you get turned every which way. You go past screens similiar to Soarin’ but then through other things, some things are actually there and not projections. It’s all very incredible and well done. AHHH can I just go back and ride it now?!

Landon wasn’t tall enough for this ride. We weren’t sure how to even do child swap, so Garret had taken him on Flight of the Hippogriff. (Brandon and I went first because I am the obsessed one and he felt bad to tell Brandon to sit out with Landon on the first ride of the day so his parents could ride, lol.) I asked the ride attendant when I got off and they were nice enough to let Garret and Brandon just come back up through the exit instead of going in standby again. The correct way would’ve been to have us all go through the line, then Garret and Landon would’ve waited in a room while we rode and then switched.

I wasn’t going to wait in the room though! I wanted to get on Flight of the Hippogriff too! It’s a kiddie coaster but you can see Hagrid’s hut and I love Buckbeak so I just had to get on! It was a 15 minute wait, we were on at 10:10.



I sadly wasn’t to get a good pic of Hagrid’s! Oh well. You still get some pretty good views on Flight of the Hippogriff so I highly recommend if you like to snap photos!





BUCKBEAK!!!! I love him so much!!



My little hooligan! Love him so much, too!



Love this view of Hogsmeade...although all those roller coasters in the background make it less immersive than when you are on the ground!



The wait seemed to be less and while we waited for Landon and Garret, we looked around the gift shop that you go through as you get off Forbidden Journey.







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[princess_momma]

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I actually managed to not buy a single thing!

We never did the wand show (which I hear is quite good) but if you want a wand without the waiting in line, this wizard sells them right outside of Hogwarts!



After the boys enjoyed their ride, we headed over to the Dragon challenge! But not without taking a family photo!



The queue for Dragon Challenge was themed around the Triwizard Cup...lots of school spirit type of stuff.















Along the paths, they had some great views of Hogwarts too!





Landon cracks me up in that picture! Just dancing in his own little world!



We also saw the enchanted Ford Anglia. I loved all the details everywhere you looked!

The ride was fun. I believe we were on the Chinese Fireball. The wait had been listed as 10 minutes, but we literally walked on and the seats weren’t even completely filled. Freaking magical! I love when crowd levels are like that.

The child swap here was also set up so that everyone goes through the line and the child and an adult wait in a room. Then you switch. No big deal. There wasn’t even anyone in the room with us...but when we came out for our switch, the ride attendant yelled at us! She was all “how many times are you guys going to child swap?!” And we hadn’t even done it yet. It was shocking how rude she was. She apologized and admitted she thought we were someone else, but really lady? For starters, the ride was a walk on that wasn’t even filling the coasters. Why get mad? Oh well...guess we aren’t in Disney anymore!

After battling our dragons, Garret and Brandon walked across the park to ride the Hulk Coaster together while I wandered through Hogsmeade! We had plans to meet up in Jurassic Park later!

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[princess_momma]

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I snapped some pics through the shop windows first. Found Hermione’s dress she wore to the Yule Ball!



There was a display with some of the Wizard cards you can get from chocolate frogs.



I REALLY wanted one but just couldn’t fork over the $10 for a frog-shaped piece of chocolate and a card. Maybe one day I’ll give in, but I was strong this day!

Another window showcased Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans. This remind me of a class party we had in 6th grade...these jelly beans were all the rage!



I took lots of pictures inside. (Zonko’s and Honeydukes are connected inside.) There wasn’t a lot I would necessarily buy but I was SO impressed at all the things they had that were directly from the books.

Pygmy puffs!



Fanged Flyers!



I was especially delighted by all the sweets they had that were straight from the stories!











They had a tiny little bakery spot right next to this silly guy.









I opted for the pumpkin tart, which came to $3.15. With that in hand, we went outside. I took some pics of Landon near the Hogwart’s Express! Only 6 more years until he gets his owl!



We grabbed a Butterbeer for $3.75 and then went a little corner at the end of Honeydukes and to the left of the entrance to Hog’s Head. We sat to enjoy our treats!











OMG these treats were SOOO GOOD!! The pumpkin tart was basically just a fancy, uber delicious pumpkin pie! I dream of that tart! And Butterbeer. OMG butter beer. My one regret in life is not going back for another!

Finally, it was time to move on. But which way would we go?



To Jurassic Park! HA!



And shockingly, from there we were able to get one more view of Hogwarts!



Now to attempt to find Garret and Brandon!

 

[emmysmommy]

Wow! Good information if I ever want to use Mears to get to US/IoA! Sorry that was completely disappointing getting there late. Sounds like it ended up ok once you arrived! Having seen the movies when my kids were little I'd forgotten a lot of the details until I read through your updates.

Sounds like a great day thus far!

 

[pixleyyy]

So excited to read about WWOHP. We will finally get the chance to visit late this year so it was a lot of great info for me. Thanks.

 

[jenny105]

Ok. We NEED to go to the new HP section of US together. Cause you match my love for Harry Potter. The first time I went to WWoHP I was skipping through Hogsmead I was so freaking happy.

Your experience with the shuttle is precisely why I now rent a car when we go to Disney. I'm OVER the shuttle experience.

LOL that "waterfall guy" houses a restaurant called Mythos. I've never eaten there but I hear it's very good.

WWoHP is amazing. IMO Disney has NOTHING on it. Universal did a spectacular job with it and I can't wait to see Diagon Alley!