Dr. Jones and the Spitting Camel - Link to Alaska Cruise TR 9/18

[Happydog]

I read your post but didn't get a chance to respond, earlier! SO here I am back again. POOR kid! Least expected that, I am sure! But that heat can really sneak up on you. We all do pretty well, but when the heat advisories are going here in MD, I always worry someone is going to get too much sun! I am glad he bounced back.. Being dehydrated can really knock you out. I bet he was ready for WWOHP!!! I know I am!!!

 

[englishrose47]

All caught up !!I am interested in finding out about your experience at Universal, as next year we are doing yet another Free Trip and have asked for Universal !!!

 

[eandesmom]

all caught up last few days sounded good, and i liked all the pics from tappen edu thanks...most people only show a few, i enjoyed them all.

They weren't great shots but you do get a feel for the experience

and a good transfer to a new location sorry to hear he got sick...happened to candi when she was in disney pregnant with parker, 4 on our 1 year trip.

we didnt eat breakfast or drink much and she almost blacked out while in AK...luckily i got her some water quick and she recovered twe didnt make that mistake again.

bad thing was a few CM's saw it happend and me help her to the bench, but none of them came to offer help

That's horrible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It happened to me in my teens at Mesa Verde which was scary as I could have fallen.

I read your post but didn't get a chance to respond, earlier! SO here I am back again. POOR kid! Least expected that, I am sure! But that heat can really sneak up on you. We all do pretty well, but when the heat advisories are going here in MD, I always worry someone is going to get too much sun! I am glad he bounced back.. Being dehydrated can really knock you out. I bet he was ready for WWOHP!!! I know I am!!!

It's funny, thinking about it there must have been something that made me realize what it was but for the life of me, I can't recall what helped me connect the dots.

He was SOOO excited about WWOHP! I was SO relieved he recovered!

All caught up !!I am interested in finding out about your experience at Universal, as next year we are doing yet another Free Trip and have asked for Universal !!!

It's a very different world but great in it's own way.

 

[eandesmom]

Friday August 20th. Today was THE day. The day we went to see a Wizard!

Apparently months of repeating crowd warnings, line warnings, what time we needed to be up and out actually sunk in with the entire crew. Our goal had been to leave the hotel by about 7-7:15 am, to be at the gates around 7:30-7:45 hoping that they did in fact let resort guests in before 8 as we’d been told.

Amazingly, everyone was up. With enough time for Jeff and I to grab a cup of coffee from the quick service location in the hotel as we headed out to catch the boat. Somehow, I didn’t take a single picture. Who knows why, I know I kept my stuff to a minimum and I might have not actually been carrying the camera at that moment, or just been busy drinking my coffee and then figuring out where we needed to go to get in line. As I’d not made it to CityWalk the night before due to Eric’s illness I wasn’t positive of our direction.

I needn’t have worried. We just followed the herd.

We were in line at 7:30. Our first rope drop and it wasn’t even at Disney! Go figure. Sure enough at 7:45 they started letting folks in. Not only did you need your ticket but you needed that magic room key. They checked it at the turnstiles.

They checked it as you walked into the park. IOA folks were staged all along the route to directly people straight back to WWOHP. Nothing else was open and WWOHP was ONLY open for resort guests. They keep you in a certain path, herding everyone along the entire way. Even with all that, it really does rival or exceed any kind of TSM stampede you can imagine. People ran, speed walked, you name it. As you approached the entry, key cards were checked, AGAIN.

With the speed at which we were walking, not wanting to get out of the line, I did not get my camera out. Time was of the essence here. I did later in the trip so you will see pictures of the walk but…not right now!
I can’t begin to describe the feeling of walking back towards WWOHP, seeing Hogwarts rise up in front of you and entering Hogsmeade. I confess. I was probably the biggest fan of the group. I’d read all the books long before the rest of the gang, they borrowed mine. I’d seen all the movies. Of the kids, the E’s and K had read all the books but the rest, not at all. All had seen the movies. To say I was excited was an understatement. Having done my homework, we knew we really had 2 options upon walking in. Go straight to the Forbidden Journey or go to Ollivanders. The lines for both, even with the early entry, would get out of control, quickly. The decision had been made to go to the Forbidden Journey today and then if Eric wanted to, on Sunday we could do Ollivanders first as Saturday would be spent at Universal.

Upon entering Hogwarts you are asked to put all of your items into a locker. This is a recurring theme throughout Universal and IOA on several rides and is a bit annoying. But they are free and right there, it’s just an extra step. There is however a bit of a time limit on it though I can’t recall what it is. It does however limit the picture taking! That and the bazillion warnings that picture taking is NOT allowed. Items put away, we headed into the line. Which was moving quite quickly! The queue is absolutely amazing and I really don’t want to spoil it for anyone. If you are a fan of the books, and the movies, you will be enthralled and entertained. You start out going through herbology, then into the Defense of the Dark Arts Classroom, the portrait gallery, Dumbledore’s office. We went through it so quickly the first time, I barely took anything in. The FJ has been decribed by some as Soarin’+Spiderman+ Haunted Mansion. It is a “dark” ride and I have to say, a truly amazing experience. I think all of those descriptions apply but somehow the sum of those parts is even more.

Getting off from our Journey you exit, of course, into a dump shop. Aka Filches. Which was already insanely busy with people looking at their ride pictures and buying items. With our locker window closing we elected to risk it and go right back on the ride!

Even MORE amazing the second go round. Partially due to a slower line but also the ability and time to observe and absorb so much more. Exiting the shopping behag. A very cool Dobby shirt for Evan, a black and gold sparkly T for Kendall. Eric however had something else on his list. Something he’d been wanting for months. We had been in the park for about an hour and a half at this point and all we’d done was FJ twice and shopped (and hit the restrooms lol).

It looked like this

Luckily, I knew there was a wand kiosk right outside of Filches so we could avoid (that day) the insanity that was Ollivanders

Choosing a wand is a very personal thing

Eric had a certain amount of souvenir money left. Just enough for a wand.
Which one would he pick?

Harry’s, Hermione’s, Voldemorts?

Or one that was just his..a “birthday” wand. There are about 8-10 different wands that are associated with your birthday. It’s not an exact month match so I can’t say I know how it lines up but they figure it out for you.
He was torn but ended up with a Birthday wand.

And given that his birthday would occur in two weeks…after purchasing his wand we looked at him and said “Happy Birthday!”. He wouldn’t have to use up all his money after all.

Check out the wait time (and your first peek of Hogwarts). At this point, the park had been open to the public for a whopping 39 minutes!

The crowds. It was 9:37am

Oh look, it’s butterbeer!

I love the detailing of Hogsmeade

It was looking to be another scorcher

The window at the Owl Post

The alley that heads into Dervish and Banges, the broom shop

This is a bit confusing as you see this huge line and think it’s for Dervish and Banges but a lot of it is Ollivanders line. Still, the line for Dervish and Banges was long enough on it’s own that we decided it could wait till Sunday after Sandie and Paul were gone and the crowds hopefully not as bad with many schools starting back the next day.

More snowy roofs

This is a covered area outside of Ollivanders, the Owl Post, Dervish and Banges

We could see the crowd heading into Honeydukes from there and several other shops and windows.

Continued in next post

 

[eandesmom]

The butterbeer cart was busy!

The entry to the Three Broomsticks. We couldn’t go in there yet, it would open to the general public at 11 for lunch but for now was only open to those who had purchased a special WWOHP package that included breakfast at the Three Broomsticks.

Right next to the Three Broomsticks is Hogs Head

I hoped to check it out later.

We could have bought some of this to cool off, Pumpkin Juice but it sounded a little scary.

Instead, a few of us decided to go here while the rest sat in the shade and hid from the crowds

For those of you who’ve been to IOA before, this used to be dueling dragons which was one of our FAVORITE roller coasters ever. Some of my best memories from our 04 trip was racing through this with my sibling and spouses, half of us on fire, half on ice to see who could get back first and if we could face each other as the dragons raced.

Dueling dragons had been rethemed around the Triwizard cup and I was very curious to see what it would be like. This time, I hung on to my camera, despite the locker requirement.

Team banners

The locker area for the Dragon Challenge

A peek at the Hogwarts express

A look back

Entering the queue, who would we root for?

Another look back, you can’t have too many Hogwarts pictures

Continued in next post

 

[eandesmom]

Uh oh, the Whomping Willow and the only child brave enough to go on the Dragon Challenge with Jeff and I

Hagrids Hut

Eric seems a little nervous

Entering the gates for the challenge

I guess that makes us champions

Look! We won!

Can anyone guess what these are?

You have to pick your dragon (Norwegian blue hornback or ??? something redtail/ridge) I forget, I bet someone else will remember)

These folks were trying to pound there butter beer before heading in

At this point the camera went away. With our Front of the Line Passes we whisked right in. We did elect to wait for the front and that added a little bit of time but all told it was about 30 minutes including the wait for the front. Which is TOTALLY worth it. Despite his nervousness, Eric loved loved loved it!

The colored tracks indicate your dragon

I think I have better pictures of the ride itself later but it’s a great rollercoaster!!

Coming out it appeared the crowds were even worse. It was now 10:30

We wanted to go in here but couldn’t deal with the crowds

Same thing here

Forget the butterbeer (for now)

We did want to visit here

And get at least one picture with some of the gang, Evan already sporting his new dobby shirt.

And with that we left Harry and friends, hoping to be back soon. Where would we go next? Our lunch reservations weren't until 1:30. It was time to do a little exploring in the Islands of Adventure…..

Whack a Mole

 

[All7OfUs]

WOW! Those crowds are insane! I think I'd have suffered some severe claustrophia in there! But your pictures are great! Really the theming is so amazing even for someone having only seen the first movie and never having read the books. Such an other-worldly look to it all.

That is crazy about the lockers... wierd.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

I am such a Harry Potter fan, I can't wait to see it someday. Tell me more about Forbidden journey. As it is I'm too chicken for rock n roller coaster, expedition everest or mission space. Could i survive this ride? At a minimum, know I want to explore the queue!

Hope E's wand has served him well! A

Looking forward to more!

 

[eandesmom]

WOW! Those crowds are insane! I think I'd have suffered some severe claustrophia in there! But your pictures are great! Really the theming is so amazing even for someone having only seen the first movie and never having read the books. Such an other-worldly look to it all.

That is crazy about the lockers... wierd.

The crowds that day were everything I'd read about and dreaded them to be. I was SO grateful for staying onsite, having the extra hour early access and the front of the line pass it wasn't even funny. It completely saved the day. I can't imagine it otherwise.

It is such a magical area, it's hard to capture. They did an AMAZING job with the theming.

I am such a Harry Potter fan, I can't wait to see it someday. Tell me more about Forbidden journey. As it is I'm too chicken for rock n roller coaster, expedition everest or mission space. Could i survive this ride? At a minimum, know I want to explore the queue!

Oh the FJ is simply amazing! We all went on it and Sandie and Paul can't do coasters either. I really do think you could survive it. You'll be so amazed and mesmerized you won't have time to freak out. Paul and Sandie LOVED it. We all went on it again, immediately.

This is a pretty good description of the experience without giving too much away. Every time I rode it, I saw new things.

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey utilizes KUKA robocoaster technology, which allows the seats to pivot while being held above the track by a robotic arm. However, the ride is not a roller coaster but a scenic dark ride. The experience includes scenes such as flying around Hogwarts castle, encountering the Whomping Willow and a horde of Dementors, and being caught in a Quidditch match. The ride performs such movements as dropping, spinning around, twisting and turning. The ride does not ever go upside down, though there are a few moments when riders are flat on their backs. Over-the-shoulder bars are used to secure guests in their seats, and there is a single metal bar shaped somewhat like a parabola which gives guests something to grip. At the conclusion of the ride, guests exit into "Filch's Emporium of Confiscated Goods" gift shop.[3][5] Universal Express Plus is not available for this attraction at this time,[6] but it does offer a Single Rider queue.

Hope E's wand has served him well! A

Looking forward to more!

It did and it has! We sent it up to the front for pick up so we didn't have to cart it around, along with the shirts and I think a beer mug for my dad, a bday present for Eric's best friend. It will make more appearances in the TR and often shows up around the house when you least expect it. It attempts many a spell, most notably Accio, Expelliarmus, and Lumos.

 

[MRYPPNS]

Dueling Dragons was/is the only rollercoaster that is a front seat must for me!

KUKA robocoaster technology

I *believe* that is the same technology that is used for the Sum of All Thrills at Epcot.

 

[KathyRN137]

Wow!! Those crowds are ridiculous!

Great to see all the Harry Potter pix; I don't get to read to many reports from the "other" park!



Kathy

 

[glennbo123]

Wow! It looks really awesome! Except for the crowds...I wonder if they'll die down in a year or so? Yeah, probably not.

That's great that you were able to get 2 rides in on Forbidden Journey before 9:30.

 

[DisMomAmy]

Wow - The Harry Potter area looks amazing but sooo crowded. I'm really worried about how the boys will handle that in April. Our school vacation week is later than most others and we'll probably be there toward the end of the week so hopefully it won't be that bad.

Did you notice if it was busier on Saturday & Sunday with locals than it was on Friday?

Our plan is to stay in our off-site villa so DBIL & family can join us for the Universal part of our trip but the special access you got by staying on-site seem so tempting...

 

[Poolrat]

WWoHP looks amazing. Except for those crowds of course.

Someday I will go back. They have added the mummy ride and WWoHP since we have visited last.

 

[KatMark]

Sorry that Eric got sick...poor guy. Your room looks lovely.

Those are some crowds at WWoHP. We've not been to Universal since 2004 when we went with Andy for his high school graduation (he and his then gf went to IOA and Mark and I hung out in the old park).

 

[wdhinn89]

I just found your trip report! I so far have only read the first paragraph and I am already hooked! I am super excited to read this trip report becaue for my brithday this year we are going to disney and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan so I really can't wait to see it.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Hi Cynthia! Love seeing the HRH! The pool makes me want to head over to the dark side, but it probably won't happen. I felt so bad for poor Eric - I'm glad he was able to recover pretty quickly - you got some beautiful night shots of your view!

Wow the HP area looks great. I'm not a HP fan either, and I don't know what you are referring to - but I can see how you can just immerse yourself in the theme! Were the crowds deterring you from rides, or just shops It seems strange that there was such a crush at shops and restaurants so early in the day.

 

[eandesmom]

Dueling Dragons was/is the only rollercoaster that is a front seat must for me!

It is a must and absolutely worth the wait. Which, with our pass, wasn't that bad.

I *believe* that is the same technology that is used for the Sum of All Thrills at Epcot.

I still haven't done SOAT! That makes it a must do next time, I've just got to make that one happen.

Wow!! Those crowds are ridiculous!

Great to see all the Harry Potter pix; I don't get to read to many reports from the "other" park!

No, not many people go to the dark side (or admit it lol). It's kind of funny. Fortunately I'd expected the crowds and was prepared or it could have been a bit of a nightmare.

Wow! It looks really awesome! Except for the crowds...I wonder if they'll die down in a year or so? Yeah, probably not.

Well, day of the week and time of year makes a HUGE difference as you'll see, it changed quite a bit just over the 3 days we were there and I know a month later were even more different. I would still expect summer to be pretty awful though.

That's great that you were able to get 2 rides in on Forbidden Journey before 9:30.

I was thrilled with that and the dueling dragons. Bummed we didn't really get to do the shops and such (though we did a lot of damage at Filches and the wand cart) but I knew we'd be back either later that day (Crowds die down late at night) or 2 days later.

Wow - The Harry Potter area looks amazing but sooo crowded. I'm really worried about how the boys will handle that in April. Our school vacation week is later than most others and we'll probably be there toward the end of the week so hopefully it won't be that bad.

I would imagine they have something comparable to a GAC, I'd look into it.

Did you notice if it was busier on Saturday & Sunday with locals than it was on Friday?

It was a LOT better on Sunday than the Friday. You'll see the difference in pictures when we get there. I think the difference was tourists as folks headed out on Sat for schools that started that Monday. I also know just 3 weeks or so later it was a ton better for Rebecca (sleepingbooty) who was staying at WDW and just did a day trip over. Outside of HP, for the most part, crowds were not bad at all.

Our plan is to stay in our off-site villa so DBIL & family can join us for the Universal part of our trip but the special access you got by staying on-site seem so tempting...

You can buy the pass but it won't get you in the hour early, and it will be just one "front of the line" pass per ride I think. As it doesn't work on the FJ, I'm not sure it's worth it to buy for just WWOHP (would be good for one dueling dragon) but for some rides like Spiderman, and Hulk, that pass was golden for us as you will see.

 

[englishrose47]

Great Report on HP !!!Explain in careful detail to me the Harry Potter Ride !!I am hoping I can attempte this !!!Roller coasters are out but I LOVE Soarin, Haunted Mansion so I am thinking I would be Ok!!We have asked for a Free Trip there next year!!!

 

[jedijill]

Great report on WWOHP. I'm (finally) reading the HP series now...in the middle of the Order of the Phoenix and I can really picture what everything looks like. I get a free 1 day pass to Universal through work (my company bought NBC/Universal this year) and I need to set up a time to go see WWHOP.

Jill in CO