Feeling Hot Hot Hot! The Rain Curse is Broken! Two Weeks of Fun in the Sun! COMPLETE

[PopArtGal]

lol Yep I'm swooning and single hehe

 

[GeminiAngel]

Hey alec isn't chop liver either ya know.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

lol Yep I'm swooning and single hehe

Hey alec isn't chop liver either ya know.

Oh geez, it is a good thing they haven't been keeping up with the report, they would be getting inflated egos!

 

[PopArtGal]

I like how Ariel is now "younger". She seems to be acting more like a young girl than before in the parade. She used to be a poised princess and now she's a bit more hyper. Do I make any sense?

 

[PopArtGal]

BTMR also made my dad sick. He hates it with a passion now lol

And I have to say that the jerkiness doesn't help someone like me who gets migraines all the time.

 

[PopArtGal]

Lovely family picture with the castle.

 

[PopArtGal]

I wanted a Liberty Swirl during our last trip but the machine was broken. I was sad.

 

[PopArtGal]

I prefer Spectro too.

There's a reason why they changed it in the first place, right?

 

[PopArtGal]

Note to self, I'm on page 103

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I like how Ariel is now "younger". She seems to be acting more like a young girl than before in the parade. She used to be a poised princess and now she's a bit more hyper. Do I make any sense?

Yes, I get what you are saying. The girlish act is more in line with her personality in the movie, she is only meant to be a teenager after all!

BTMR also made my dad sick. He hates it with a passion now lol

And I have to say that the jerkiness doesn't help someone like me who gets migraines all the time.

That is too bad, I would hate it if a ride I loved suddenly started to make me sick.

Lovely family picture with the castle.

Thanks!

I wanted a Liberty Swirl during our last trip but the machine was broken. I was sad.

That bites! You will just have to get one next time!

I prefer Spectro too.

There's a reason why they changed it in the first place, right?

No idea why they changed it. It was first brought back for their "Summer Spectacular" thing two years ago where they showcased the old fireworks show as well.

Note to self, I'm on page 103

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

May 17th continued

After the wand ceremony you are led out into Dervish & Banges/The Owl Post. You can find all sorts of merchandise in this store - tshirts, pillows, wands, cups, etc. Pretty much anything you might want to buy you can get here.

I was on the hunt for Hogwarts stamps so that I could mail my cousin's Hogwarts letter via Owl Post. Mom asked one of the shop attendants and they pointed her in the right direction. She told me that she would stand in line and I could look around.

Here are some random pictures from around the store. I could have taken hundreds of photos in there but it was crowded and I didn't want to waste precious park time. The park had just opened and would only get busier.

Monster Book of Monsters

Here is a story that I am not so proud of. Mom had been standing in line to buy the Hogwarts stamps to mail Caroline's letter. When we got to the counter to buy the stamps I noticed that Caroline's address had been printed incorrectly on the envelope. I had typed up the letter but Mom had typed up the envelope. She had put ON (Ontario) instead of OH (Ohio). I lost it on her! I was going on about how her letter was ruined and how could she do something so stupid! I was pissed! I know it was irrational but something in me just snapped. It was easy enough to fix, we simply borrowed a pen from the shop attendant and turned the ON into an OH. Doing so destroyed the look of the envelope though as it had been printed in a pretty green font and the fix had to be scratched on with a black pen. So lesson learned here folks, always check that what you want to send via Owl Post is correctly addressed before you leave on vacation! That shop attendant probably though I was the biggest you know what she had ever seen after witnessing my temper tantrum. Mom was pretty ticked off at me as well. Stamps bought I marched outside, still in a rare temper, to find where they stamp the mail for Owl Post.

Here is how Owl Post works: You can put a regular stamp on your letter/postcard or you can buy a sheet of Hogwarts stamps in The Owl Post. You can then pop outside into the shaded seating area where there will be a "witch/wizard" at a stand/podium who will stamp your letter with an Owl Post stamp. You can then deposit the letter in the stand which serves as a mail box. You don't need to be mailing anything to get the Owl Post stamp, they will stamp anything for you for no charge.

I didn't mail Caroline's letter right away as I knew that I might want to include a small souvenir in the envelope.

Having secured the Owl Post stamp I went back inside to finish looking around the shop. I ended up in the wand section. They have all sorts of wands for purchase. They, of course, have character replica wands such as Harry, Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore, Voldemort etc. They also have "unique" wands that are not associated with a character and are only sold in the shop. You can buy the character wands pretty much anywhere (the airport, City Walk shops, etc.) but these unique wands you are only able to get inside the Wizarding World. I thought most of the wands were fairly ugly but I did like Hermione's wand and one of the unique wands (the Holly wand I believe). I considered buying Caroline (and myself) a wand but they were $30 so I decided to walk away and think about it before splurging. I was so proud of myself!

Alek and Erich had been hanging around the wand section as well. They were using the wands in a non-traditional way...

Some more pictures from around the shop courtesy of Alek and Erich:

Alek captured that special moment where I was losing my mind over the envelope address snafu. It was completely by accident as he was taking a picture of Erich and we didn't realize my temper tantrum had been captured on film until we were reviewing the pictures at the hotel later that night.

[post=42858085]Click here to continue[/post]

 

[IheartDDuck]

No worries about your little moment. As you saw on my report, I had a few moments myself too. I think with the stress of vacation, it sometimes just can't be avoided.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

No worries about your little moment. As you saw on my report, I had a few moments myself too. I think with the stress of vacation, it sometimes just can't be avoided.

Yeah, but it is pretty embarrassing though when you freak out on your mother in the middle of a packed store in front of an employee.

 

[GeminiAngel]

Can we say SNAPPED!

Oh well, it happens.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Can we say SNAPPED!

Oh well, it happens.

And it happens to some more than others.

 

[jenbear123]

I wish my younger step-sister was still young (she's 20 now) but a huge Harry Potter fan. It would've been fun to send her mail via owl post. Heck, I might even send one to myself just for fun Don't worry about the little tantrum episode. It's bound to happen on vacation at some point. You don't even look that angry in the photo. No arm waving or fist shaking or feet stomping that I can see

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I wish my younger step-sister was still young (she's 20 now) but a huge Harry Potter fan. It would've been fun to send her mail via owl post. Heck, I might even send one to myself just for fun

You are never too old for Owl Post! Caroline is 15 but is still really into all that kinda stuff.

Don't worry about the little tantrum episode. It's bound to happen on vacation at some point. You don't even look that angry in the photo. No arm waving or fist shaking or feet stomping that I can see

Thank goodness for that!

 

[PopArtGal]

I'm a huge Harry Potter fan too. But not that much into rides. I went to Island of Adventures once in 2000. And other than the WIzarding World, I don't see what else my parents would want to do. So I'm not sure I want to make them pay the admission price and not really do anything, you know.

But that new section looks really cool.

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Dervish and Banges looks like such a cool store. This is all making me REALLY want to go check out WWoHP. I could totally use it as an incentive for a reason to go back to Florida (and Disney) And that's so cool they have unique wands, I totally want one. It would be cool if they made a bigger selection and the wand ceremony wouldn't be too much of a show, but something they'd do at the counter, that would be wicked cool!

Ohhhhhh... tsk, tsk Lessa, yelling at your mother like that... I think you did just "snap" having brought that all the way there to notice there was a mistake that could throw off the whole point of why you brought it, very frustrated. But I'm glad to hear this was a rare occasion and don't beat yourself up too much for it.

Can't wait to read more!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I'm a huge Harry Potter fan too. But not that much into rides. I went to Island of Adventures once in 2000. And other than the WIzarding World, I don't see what else my parents would want to do. So I'm not sure I want to make them pay the admission price and not really do anything, you know.

But that new section looks really cool.

Hmmm, if you only want to go for the Wizarding World and are not interested in rides you might want to wait a few years and see if they expand it to make it more worth your while. I don't know if we would have gone to Universal if we were only interested in Harry Potter. Seems a waste of money to only spend a few hours in the park.

Dervish and Banges looks like such a cool store. This is all making me REALLY want to go check out WWoHP. I could totally use it as an incentive for a reason to go back to Florida (and Disney) And that's so cool they have unique wands, I totally want one. It would be cool if they made a bigger selection and the wand ceremony wouldn't be too much of a show, but something they'd do at the counter, that would be wicked cool!

Ohhhhhh... tsk, tsk Lessa, yelling at your mother like that... I think you did just "snap" having brought that all the way there to notice there was a mistake that could throw off the whole point of why you brought it, very frustrated. But I'm glad to hear this was a rare occasion and don't beat yourself up too much for it.

Can't wait to read more!

It would be cool if there was a wand ceremony whenever you bought a wand but I imagine it isn't possible because of how long it would take to do that with each wand.

Unfortunately I snap quite often such as when I am tired, when I am hungry, when I am bored, when I am stressed, when I am awake too early, when I am awake too late, when there are bad driver's on the road, when there are ignorant pedestrians on the road, the list goes on.