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

[klacey1]

Augh, that Mears experience sounds terrible! Thank god there were low crowds when you got to IOA, but that's still stress you shouldn't have had on your vacation!! I seriously can't recommend staying onsite on US enough-- getting in the WWoHP early and the unlimited express pass are amazing!! I think for our September trip we're going to do six nights in Disney and two at Universal. With Diagon Alley, I think we'll need a day and a half to do US/IOA! I'm really hoping that onsite hotels get early entry into Diagon Alley, also...
Haha love my shout out! 10 points to Slytherin is right!!
I can't tell you the exact words I would have said to that team member who made that child swap remark, but they would not have been polite. WTH?!
Ahhhh I'd love a butterbeer right about now!

 

[princess_momma]

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!

Yep, it all did definitely end up okay! The details blew me away! Can't wait to see what they do with Diagon Alley!

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.

You are going to love it!! Glad I could help!

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!

Um…YES!!! We would have the best time at Diagon Alley together! Let's just plan on that. YAY FOR HARRY POTTER LOVE! And we will rent a car too. I was so over that shuttle! Can we go to Mythos as well? I've also heard it's good. I agree with you on how amazing WWoHP is. I don't think I could ever skip it again. I need my HP fix!

Augh, that Mears experience sounds terrible! Thank god there were low crowds when you got to IOA, but that's still stress you shouldn't have had on your vacation!! I seriously can't recommend staying onsite on US enough-- getting in the WWoHP early and the unlimited express pass are amazing!! I think for our September trip we're going to do six nights in Disney and two at Universal. With Diagon Alley, I think we'll need a day and a half to do US/IOA! I'm really hoping that onsite hotels get early entry into Diagon Alley, also...
Haha love my shout out! 10 points to Slytherin is right!!
I can't tell you the exact words I would have said to that team member who made that child swap remark, but they would not have been polite. WTH?!
Ahhhh I'd love a butterbeer right about now!

I was definitely understanding why you stay onsite on US…it was a hassle getting over there! Live and learn. AHHH I'm dying to see Diagon Alley. I hope they give people who stay on site the early entry. It kind of irks me the time I read that the most popular things are excluded from the on-site perks. Like those are the reasons the perks are needed!

It was a little sad that even though they were on par with Disney details and making the land so realistic and amazing, they can't get that service matched. Oh well…at least they have butterbeer!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Loving all of your pictures from IOA! I'm making plans to visit both Universal Parks when we go in summer of 2015 since we'll be staying at Orlando for a little over a week. Last time I was there was 2001 so lots to catch up on and we've been waiting for the kids to get a little older and taller to fully enjoy the attractions. WWoHP just looks awesome!

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

KIMMY!!! How did I not know you had a report going for your October trip?! Well, I'm here now and am going to go back and read. WOOOO!

 

[jenny105]

Um…YES!!! We would have the best time at Diagon Alley together! Let's just plan on that. YAY FOR HARRY POTTER LOVE! And we will rent a car too. I was so over that shuttle! Can we go to Mythos as well? I've also heard it's good. I agree with you on how amazing WWoHP is. I don't think I could ever skip it again. I need my HP fix!

Absolutely! I've never been to Mythos and the menu looks delish. http://touringplans.com/islands-of-adventure/dining/mythos-restaurant/menus/all-day-menu

 

[marDgreen88]

I'm sorry about all the stress you had that morning, but I'm so glad you still had a great Harry Potter experience! That place sounds amazing. Admittedly, I have never read the books, and I only JUST watched all the movies back in the fall for the first time! I loved them though and I really want to read the books now!

 

[princess_momma]

Loving all of your pictures from IOA! I'm making plans to visit both Universal Parks when we go in summer of 2015 since we'll be staying at Orlando for a little over a week. Last time I was there was 2001 so lots to catch up on and we've been waiting for the kids to get a little older and taller to fully enjoy the attractions. WWoHP just looks awesome!

I must say, I really did enjoy my time at Universal! There will definitely be a lot of new stuff and I can't wait to see YOUR pics from WWoHP!!

KIMMY!!! How did I not know you had a report going for your October trip?! Well, I'm here now and am going to go back and read. WOOOO!

LAUREN!!! I am so glad you found me!! Landon still thinks WDW = Jake since he loves looking at pictures from that trip!!

Absolutely! I've never been to Mythos and the menu looks delish. http://touringplans.com/islands-of-adventure/dining/mythos-restaurant/menus/all-day-menu

Mythos looks so good! I'm so excited now...lol like I wasn't before.

I'm sorry about all the stress you had that morning, but I'm so glad you still had a great Harry Potter experience! That place sounds amazing. Admittedly, I have never read the books, and I only JUST watched all the movies back in the fall for the first time! I loved them though and I really want to read the books now!

Harry Potter can basically fix anything. I'm sure you've heard it before...but you HAVE to read the books. Prepare to have your life changed, Marissa. They are magnificent.

 

[princess_momma]

So fun fact. I have a quarter as many pictures of the rest of Universal as I do WWoHP pics. (No joke...39 “other” pics and 163 WWoHP.) I believe this is an appropriate time to say “sorry, not sorry”. But don’t worry...the rest of our day was great too!

So I left off with Landon and I wandering into Jurassic Park. We were entering from opposite sites that Garret and Brandon would be coming, but didn’t think too much of it. I had thought the Discovery Center was a central location for the land.

When you come from WWoHP, you can find all the vehicles/dinos coming out of trees.







We entered from the top level of the Discovery Zone, which is a restaurant on the right, gift shop on the left, and then actual things to be discovered on the lower level.







Look how little.



We also watched a Velociraptor hatch. No big deal. We were too far away to be given the honor naming it, but it was still wonderful. (We love dinosaurs.)

Eventually, we meandered outside so we could see the iconic entrance to the Discovery Center.



Garret and I had been texting, and they didn’t go deep enough to get to the Discovery Center and were waiting outside the Jurassic Park ride. They were actually farther apart then we realized.

Jurassic Park was another walk on...literally a 5 minute wait. The premise is that you are just touring the Park and seeing all the dinosaurs and it’s all serene and lovely and then something goes awry and the tour boat goes “the wrong way” and to this day, Landon tells people how we were having a great time but then our boat went the wrong way. LOL!! I love how real everything is to kids.

Our ride photo was so perfect, I had to buy it. For your viewing pleasure:

I think this drop is WAAYYYY more intense than Splash Mountain. We LOVED IT. Even Landon...he was never scared or anything.

The fun continued in the gift shop.



After that, we were famished so we walked BACK to Burger Digs inside the Discovery Center.

I got the Grilled Chicken Sandwich Platter with Bacon. It was pretty dry.



Garret got the Double Bacon Cheeseburger. I swear the burger is under there somewhere! It says it was “alright, was dry”.



Landon got the kid’s Cheeseburger, which he loved.



We continued through Universal from Jurassic Park back towards the raft ride. We didn’t go on it again, didn’t want to get wet. I think we skipped a few more water rides on our path. Definitely a lot more to come back and do!

Eventually we made our way to Spiderman.



This ride had the 2nd longest wait posted of 25 minutes. We got in line at 12:43 and were on by 12:55, so way less than even posted. The ride was AMAZING. You are basically in a vehicle going through life and it’s all 3D and you fell like you are speeding, falling, get splashed, the whole she-bang. I can’t think of any Disney equivalent.

Next was Dr. Doom’s Free Fall. We literally walked on without even waiting for the prior ride to finish. This ride...OMG. We were all psyched out. (Landon wasn’t tall enough for this either...he walked through the line with us and then one of us waited in a room.)

Basically, you get strapped in and then it lifts you up, maybe 10 feet off the ground. At this point, I was FREAKING OUT. I had no idea what was going to happen. We have a similar ride at our local amusement park that basically carries you slowly to the top, where you get to psych yourself out and then it drops you unexpectedly. I was expecting something similar and was waiting for what felt like a LONG time to slowly be carried to the top to be dropped. This is not what happened. Suddenly we get launched like crazy into the air!! Then we keep going up and down, and eventually it becomes rather peaceful. But I must say...that weightless feeling of dropping and going up is my favorite, so this was probably my favorite. Not surprising why ToT is as well!

I was the lucky one who got to go on Dr. Doom twice! Score. Later, after our trip, Landon was asked what his favorite part of the trip with Dad was, and he said “waiting at Doom’s Fall and snuggling with Daddy”. Awwwww!

From there, we walked on the Hulk Coaster. Once again, we encountered a less-than-pleasant employee. She was telling everyone what row to line up on that would correspond with their seat (common Disney practice) and was just saying to everyone, “come on, people, it’s not a hard concept.” Apparently, in Universal, customer service is?

Right next to the Hulk is the “Storm Accelerator”, which is basically an X-Men themed tea cup ride. Landon really wanted to go on it and Garret doesn’t do spinning things, so I took him while Garret and Brandon went for another ride on the Hulk.

Man, did that Storm Accelerator go fast! It was a hoot!

Then we found the Hulk car!

At this point, we had basically encircled all of Islands of Adventure and walked over to the Universal park.

It seemed way busier than IoA had. The Despicable Me ride had about a 45 minute wait so we decided to skip it. We were headed towards Rip, Ride, Rock It.

This ride intimidated the heck out of all of us because it basically looks like it’s going straight up and then straight down! This ride was posted as a 15 minute wait, but from what I remember, we walked on. I picked Glamorous by Fergie. It was just the first thing I saw and I was so scared I didn’t care too much!

RRRI was soooo fun!! It’s a definite thrill! Not to mention their child swap room was air-conditioned!

From there, we stumbled upon Megatron and definitely had to go on the Transformers ride!

The wait was posted at 30 minutes. We got in line at 2:39, but were on 3:02. So once again, we were under the wait time. They did a really good job with the ride, but it was basically the same thing as Spiderman, but with a different story line.



We went to the Mummy next...posted 10 minutes, but we walked right on. Landon was too short, which was fine because it would’ve terrified him. I would probably saw, of all the Orlando attractions I’ve been on, the Mummy is the spookiest! I really loved it though and wish it could’ve been longer.



We headed over to the Simpsons ride next. The wait time of 25 minutes was almost spot-on, as we got on at 3:42 and were watching the pre-movie at 4:07. We were on actually ride at 4:12. The wait felt like it was the longest by far. I don’t know why, maybe because the queue was the hottest? It just felt unending!

This ride was also pretty decent. I was beginning to see what kind of rides US favors. It honestly was just another simulation ride. It felt similar to Spiderman or Transformers in concept, even though the story was completely different because it was the Simpsons.

Right next to the Simpsons is Men In Black. The wait was posted at 15, but it was more like 10. And for the first time in my life, I WON AT ONE OF THESE SILLY GAME RIDES. I think I got a bonus somehow, but I’ll take it!

After that, we did everything we truly wanted to do so we decided to head out. We had some time before our Mears pick-up reservation so we went to Margaritaville.

Leaving Universal.



Now here’s where I have to bring up the silly carding issue. I had not gotten carded ONCE. Not even for a huge, strong lapu lapu. Now at Margaritaville, only one of us got carded...and it was Brandon! Mind you, Brandon is a year older than Garret and like 4 years older than me. WHAT THE HECK?! But whatever.

Then, we went to the podium and said we basically just wanted drinks and they invited us to seat ourselves at the bar, which we did. We went up stairs towards the bar area and sat at a table...and then one waitress got all grouchy with us, like what are we doing in her section? Sorry...we thought it was bar area. Here is how close we were to the bar.



It eventually got figured out and we didn’t have to move, but the waitress was soooo irritated we were there. It was borderline embarrassing how offended she was that we dare sit there. Sorry we thought being in arm’s reach of the bar constituted as bar area and we were wrong.

We were now cutting it close to our Mears pick up time, so I didn’t even finish my drink and ran solo to IoA to pick up our Jurassic Park picture. (I really should’ve ran solo to HP&tFJ, but lesson learned.)

With pictures obtained and margaritas consumed, we headed back to the bus station to wait. Our pick up was scheduled for 6:15 and the bus showed up at 6:08 and left at 6:21. They played Ice Age. Everyone was just about passed out, but Landon was hysterically laughing. It was adorable. The bus then stopped at SeaWorld at 6:36 and left at 6:40. We arrived at Caribbean Beach at 6:59...then the bus got lost and had to turn around. it looked like we were in a cast member area. We arrived at Pop at 7:10, so 55 minutes past our pick up time, if anyone cares about that time frame.

Dinner was burgers and cupcakes for everyone! YUM!

Landon’s:



Mine and Garret’s:


(Garret’s fries did not have cheese!)

Cupcakes:



I have no further notes or pictures from this night, so what happened will forever remain a mystery!

 

[jenny105]

I am always amazed how the JP building looks exactly like the one in the movie.

Spiderman is amazeballs! I love that ride. MIB is SO fun. I never tell anyone about the button push bonus so I always get it lol. I love the Simpsons ride! I think the queue where your waiting to go into the preview movie is the best. I love when Patty & Selma come out and make fun of everyone. You're making me want to go to Universal!!!

 

[marDgreen88]

Glad y'all had fun at Universal!

 

[klacey1]

I don't know why I never commented on your most recent update! I'm really sorry you experienced such rude TM's at Universal!
There are definitely a lot simulators at US, which I like. Men in Black is the ONLY shooting game I ever win at and only because I know the "push the button" trick.
The Mummy is definitely spooky but fun! The first time I rode, when the mummies jump up from the sides, I SCREAMED! I'm so jumpy and it scared me to death lol.

 

[princess_momma]

I am always amazed how the JP building looks exactly like the one in the movie.

Spiderman is amazeballs! I love that ride. MIB is SO fun. I never tell anyone about the button push bonus so I always get it lol. I love the Simpsons ride! I think the queue where your waiting to go into the preview movie is the best. I love when Patty & Selma come out and make fun of everyone. You're making me want to go to Universal!!!

I was definitely more impressed than I thought I would be with Universal. :good vibes LOL MiB will be our little secret!!

Glad y'all had fun at Universal!

Thanks!

I don't know why I never commented on your most recent update! I'm really sorry you experienced such rude TM's at Universal!
There are definitely a lot simulators at US, which I like. Men in Black is the ONLY shooting game I ever win at and only because I know the "push the button" trick.
The Mummy is definitely spooky but fun! The first time I rode, when the mummies jump up from the sides, I SCREAMED! I'm so jumpy and it scared me to death lol.

It was weird encountering rude TM's. But don't worry, I still enjoyed it! I do enjoy the simulators too...I just hadn't realized there would be so many! Lol that's funny that you screamed on the Mummy...the spookiness definitely adds a great element to the ride!

 

[Disneybuckeye]

Thanks for sharing Kimmy! We also loved WWOHP and can't wait for Diagon Alley to open. You should try DL sometime. Cars land is in the same vein as WWOHP. Sorry you missed Olivanders. It is a cool show for Potter lovers. I also thought the food was good at Three Broomsticks.

 

[princess_momma]

So after our fun filled Universal day, we wake up for another wild adventure in Animal Kingdom!

Before we left Pop, we got breakfast. We shared a cinnamon roll and chocolate croissant and they were both delicious. When we got out to the bus stop, there was a bus already waiting for us! We got on at 10:11 and arrived at AK at 10:31.



We hopped on Everest first…definitely a favorite!





Then we used FP’s for Kali River Rapids (which Landon LOVED) and then took another spin on Everest.



(Apparently Landon didn’t make an appearance in the EE pics today.)

Next we were going over to ride dinosaur, but Garret was hungry so we decided to stop and get something to split. I think it was Restaurantasaurus we went to, but I can’t be sure. We decided to use a quick service credit and split a chicken nugget meal. OMG, we LOVED these nuggets. They were really good and hit the spot. The cheesecake was horrendous though.



(There were more chicken nuggets than are pictured!)

We walked onto Dinosaur after that.



We took another safari through Kilamanjaro after that. I noted what different groups of animals are called. A tower of giraffes. A parade of elephants. A troupe of mandrills. A crash of rhinos. I had got more on our previous safari because one time at work we were discussing what you call different groups of animals. My main goal was to find out what you call a group of penguins, but I never did.

I did also learn that cheetahs can run up to 30 seconds and then need 12 hours to recuperate. Makes sense to me! Lol…

After that, we started to walk over to where our lunch was.









We finally made it!

 

[princess_momma]

Yak & Yeti was such an anticipated restaurant for me! I’ve always wanted to eat here!



There is so much interesting stuff to look at inside. I’m in love with the detail that all of AK is just dripping with. It’s perfect.

For drinks, Landon got lemonade, Garret got a Berry Cherry Limeade, and I got a Big Bamboo. (I HIGHLY recommend it…I’m very picky with my drinks. I hate when they are sickeningly sweet and I also hate when you can taste the alcohol too strongly, even though I do want some strength in my drinks. So it’s a highly drinkable drink where you get your money’s worth of alcohol but won’t be tasting it or feel like you will go into a sugar shock!)



Landon just got chicken strips, with shoestring fries and apple juice. Looks very plain and boring to me, but he loved it.



Garret and I both got the Shoaxing Shrimp & Steak. Very good! Everything about this dish was superb. I especially loved the shrimp, but shrimp is somewhat of a specialty to me as I live in a landlocked state. All of it was so good though. (And by all of it, I mean shrimp, steak and rice. I don’t eat veggies. The sweet chili sauce was good too.)



Landon got a scoop of ice cream for dessert. Again, looks very plain to me but he loved it again.



Garret and I both got the cream cheese won tons with pineapple. OH. MY. GOSH. So, so good. We’ve discussed not using the dining plan next time and ways to save money, and discussed skipping dessert most places…but knew we couldn’t do that here. Then we briefly discussed sharing and couldn’t do that either. We both want our own. It is THAT good.



At the end of the meal, our waiter offered me another Big Bamboo. I was hesitating and I think he could tell it was because I didn’t want to sit there longer and sip it (which I was) and he reminded me that here, I could walk and drink and offered one in a to-go cup! Sold!

If anyone is curious to what this meal would’ve cost without credits, here is our receipt.



After our meal, we were ready to head out of AK. But not before stopping for PhotoPass!







An interesting thing with that last picture…I had been checking our photos daily on the Photopass site to make sure they were all there and just making sure I liked how they looked and all that…well when I saw the baby Simba picture, they sized Simba all wrong! He was just hovering in Landon’s arms! I never emailed them about it or anything, it wasn’t a big deal…but it somehow ended up magically fixed on the cd!

After that we headed back to our hotel.



We gave Landon a bath and then all sorts of drama happened. Now, Landon always uses my bathtub and my razor is always in there. His whole life. He knows better than to touch it. But I don’t know…maybe he decided it’s not a good vacation without some blood shed because he decided to just grab it! I didn’t even realize what happened at first. I don’t think he did either and it didn’t appear to hurt at all because he didn’t even cry at first. We both noticed it when he touched something else and it was getting blood everywhere (he was bleeding from his thumb) and then it scared him and got pretty hysterical.

Garret worked on getting him out of the tub and I walked all the way over to the gift shop for bandaids. Goodness. So much for a relaxing break! Once everything was settled down, Landon says to me “When I’m bleeding, my favorite color is orange but when I’m not, it’s blue.” Good to know. (Also…notice how those are both Broncos colors! WOOOOOO!! And no, no one needs to bring up anything silly like a recent Super Bowl or anything.)

So, with me changed and Landon bandaged up, we are finally ready to head to Epcot!

 

[princess_momma]

We head to Epcot ready for a nice relaxing night!! We have barely even been in this park! I was so excited.



Our first stop was Spaceship Earth. Out of the 3 of us, Landon and my head was selected. I should start picking different things. I feel like my story is always the same.



Then we headed to the Seas to see our dear ocean friends!



We went on the Nemo ride and then waited for the next Turtle Talk showing!







The Crush show was great. It’s stuff like this where it really comes out that I’m such a kid at heart. I just crack up at all the jokes and get SO into it! It’s so magical!

At one point, Crush goes, “Do you see Nemo? Yeah, Nemo’s my friend. One time he was lost and it took us all like an hour and a half to find him.” Then we all start shouting “Dory’s behind you!” when she shows up and Crush is all “Where? Where?” because of course, he keeps missing her. So he goes, “Is this a game? Let’s call it Finding Dory!” And then I erupted into laughter and life was perfect and I love Crush.

After that, it was time to head to dinner!



As we started heading towards the World Showcase, I saw a rat run by! So nasty! Ahhh.

When we got to the World Showcase, it was CROWDED. The F&W Festival really makes it insane. We did pass Boyz II Men performing while we were heading to Italy! So that was fun. I love them! I have seen them before though, so we didn’t stop.

Our dinner was at Via Napoli! My first meal here was in 2010 when it was soft opening and I’ve gone every trip since! It is SO GOOD.

I took this picture because Firenze is the name of a centaur in Harry Potter.



From what I can gather on Google, Firenze appears to be Florence in Italy. I don’t know if that’s what they call it or if it’s a place there, because it all just comes up together.

We got sangria - surprise, surprise! Love that stuff!



Garret and I each got the pepperoni pizzas.



Garret loved the pizza as much as I do, but wished he could’ve done more customized toppings instead of the signature pies allowed on the dining plan.

Landon got the fruit cocktail (which he barely touched), the cheese pizza (which he loved), and chocolate gelato.





I think the gelato was too rich for him, because he said he was full (and he loves ice cream) but then when he saw our desserts, he wanted a bunch of them! We both got the zeppoles!



I somehow had never ordered these delicious balls of fried dough, but I’m glad I finally did! They are awesome!

This was just such a perfect night - enjoying pizza and sangria with the people you love most! We actually even ordered a 2nd pitcher and sat talking with each other and our waitress and just had the best meal.

It’s also here in my notes that I wrote about celebrations…they just don’t seem as big as they used to be. It used to be so easy to add them online and then there would ALWAYS be confetti on the tables and often something free and the servers would always mention it and just make it seem like a big deal. This trip, it was a pain in the butt to get them added (had to call opposed to doing it online) and then I never saw any confetti. Landon did get cupcakes at Ohana but he kind of asked for those. This isn’t one of those whiney “Disney is going so downhill” posts, just an observation that it didn’t seem to matter whether or not a celebration was noted on a reservation. Wearing celebration pins however, did get us noticed more it seemed.

ANYWAY…by the time we got out of Via Napoli, World Showcase was dead! It was magical. We stopped in Karmel Kuche for some caramel corn and a salted caramel.



We really wanted to do one more thing so we decided to do Soarin’ standby! I knew all you have to do is get in line and you get to ride!

We got in line at 10:37 and the wait was posted at 30 minutes. (Park close was at 11.)

We got on rather quickly and while we were getting loaded to the pre-show area, this jerk says to the CM “you got 6 minutes, lady!” Like we were THAT close to being on the ride, do you really think if at that point the clock turned 11, we would just be kicked out of the loading area? If you didn’t think you would make it in time, maybe you shouldn't have gotten in line! Lol…ignorance can be bliss, or in this case, just plain rude.

Anyway, this was Landon and Garret’s first time on Soarin’! I was so excited for them to ride it! We lucked out and got the top row without even asking! Landon was a little scared at first and asked us to both keep a hand on his leg but he absolutely loved it! I was so happy!

Then we wandered out of Epcot to sleep off another wonderful day. We would be going to SeaWorld when we woke up!

 

[jenny105]

I love your Lion King top! So cute.

I haven't been to Yak & Yeti in years and I think it's time to go back. I remember those cream cheese wontons. TO DIE FOR!

Yum. Via Napoli.

Disney IS going downhill. Let's be real lol. The service is slipping but the prices keep raising because the all mighty dollar is king, not the guest. I'm starting to become a little disenchanted by it which is why we're not planning to go back for another couple of years. I still love Disney but I need a break.

 

[marDgreen88]

Via Napoli is the best!!!

I think in America in general, customer service has gone down a bit. I don't think it's just Disney and I think they still remain on top of the customer service game. Who knows, maybe that particular night Via had run out of celebration desserts. Haha I don't know.

Sounds like a great day!!

 

[klacey1]

I love the dress you wore to Via Napoli! That color is very pretty on you!
I am dyyyying to eat at Via Napoli. Hopefully this trip! I'm sure I could put away that pitcher of Sangria on my own lol.
Aww, so glad Landon loved Soarin! It definitely takes your breath away the first time you ride it.

 

[princess_momma]

Thanks for sharing Kimmy! We also loved WWOHP and can't wait for Diagon Alley to open. You should try DL sometime. Cars land is in the same vein as WWOHP. Sorry you missed Olivanders. It is a cool show for Potter lovers. I also thought the food was good at Three Broomsticks.

I am definitely dying to go to DL! It's just hard since I usually can pick just one vacation, it always ends up being WDW! I definitely want to stop by Ollivanders next time I'm at WWoHP as well...sooooo excited about the expansion!

I love your Lion King top! So cute.

I haven't been to Yak & Yeti in years and I think it's time to go back. I remember those cream cheese wontons. TO DIE FOR!

Yum. Via Napoli.

Disney IS going downhill. Let's be real lol. The service is slipping but the prices keep raising because the all mighty dollar is king, not the guest. I'm starting to become a little disenchanted by it which is why we're not planning to go back for another couple of years. I still love Disney but I need a break.

I don't like most of the Hot Topic tops, but I loved the Lion King one!

Yak & Yeti is so delicious! Worth going to just for the cream cheese wontons!

I really don't think Disney is going downhill. Or at least I don't think it is as bad as most people do. Prices raise everywhere but I still think Disney employees are the best and make the experience more magical than most. But give me my gosh dang confetti!

Via Napoli is the best!!!

I think in America in general, customer service has gone down a bit. I don't think it's just Disney and I think they still remain on top of the customer service game. Who knows, maybe that particular night Via had run out of celebration desserts. Haha I don't know.

Sounds like a great day!!

I agree. Disney is still one of the best in customer service, imho. My current job loved that I had worked for Disney in the hiring process, so that just goes to show! Lol I don't even care about the dessert, but I had no Mickey-shaped confetti to find in my suitcase months later.

I love the dress you wore to Via Napoli! That color is very pretty on you!
I am dyyyying to eat at Via Napoli. Hopefully this trip! I'm sure I could put away that pitcher of Sangria on my own lol.
Aww, so glad Landon loved Soarin! It definitely takes your breath away the first time you ride it.

Thank you! I finally discovered mint last summer, and I love it!
Via Napoli has been a must-do for me for a long time so I highly recommend it! The sangria is delish, you have to get it when you finally go!
Soarin' still takes my breath away...although I do wish I could ride it again for the first time!!! Always so extra magical that first time!