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

[shan23877]

Nice updated tantrum picture. They must drive you crazy sometimes!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Poor you bonding time with the step

The Bros version of you with the angry face is toooooooo funny!!!

That picture will always haunt me. They will be at my funeral and the memorial picture on display will be that one.

Nice updated tantrum picture. They must drive you crazy sometimes!

Only sometimes.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

May 17th continued

After my blow up at the Owl Post and Alek and Erich's fun with their wands we made our way out of Dervish and Banges and towards the main attraction of the Wizarding World, Hogwarts School or Witchcraft and Wizardery! Housed inside Hogwarts is the VERY popular ride, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

I think they did an amazing job recreating Hogwarts for the park.

Mom opted not to ride, I can't remember why, she grabbed a seat outside to wait for us. The posted wait time was 25 minutes.

You enter Hogwarts through the dungeon level.

When you enter there will be a bunch of craziness to your right, that is the locker area. You can't carry anything bigger than a small camera onto the ride with you so you have to store your belongings in the lockers. If you are not using a locker avoid that mess and veer off to your left to enter the queue.

The queue takes you throughout the dungeon level where you will see various things from the books/movies.

The Mirror of Erised from Book 1

It was really dark in the queue making it difficult to take pictures.

Eventually you end up in the greenhouses which is where we found the line. This is the only outdoor portion of the queue.

This is where I noticed Univesal had skimped.

Couldn't they have done anything to disguise the big white building housing the ride? Granted you can only really see it while in the greenhouse line but still! That is just sloppy!

Mandrake

Continued in Next Post

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

From the greenhouses you reenter the castle, this time on the main level.

The House Points

Just like in the books and movies the portraits move and talk.

A really dark picture of Dumbledore's office.

You enter the Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom and Harry, Ron and Hermione show up and convince you that you should skip out on class and go flying with them instead. Alek pointed out that this is very uncharacteristic of Hermione. Tsk tsk.

You then continue a little further down the line until you reach the Sorting Hat. Apparently it gives out instructions for boarding the ride but I was too caught up in everything to notice.

After passing the Sorting Hat you arrive at the loading platform. This is a continuously loading ride which can make things tricky if you are not quick and agile. An employee made me get up from my seat to stow my camera as I had it dangling from my wrist. Apparently one of the things the Sorting Hat had told us was that there is a little compartment in the back of your seat to store your camera, wallet etc. Camera stowed away just in time we were off for our broomstick ride with Harry and the gang.

I don't really know how to describe this ride. It was a mix of everything. It is definitely not a gentle ride. You are swooping and twisting and turning constantly. Some parts there is a screen like Soarin and other parts you are going through an area where animatronics are jumping out at you. It was a pretty awesome ride although the storyline seemed a bit disjointed. It was a ton of fun though! I can see kids becoming frightened on the ride though due to the motion and some scary aspects.

When we got off Alek and I both felt like we were going to be sick. Erich said he felt fine. I thought this was really ironic as Erich is the ride chicken and Alek and I are the thrill ride junkies yet we were the ones who felt nauseated afterward. So my tip to you, if you are even slightly susceptible to motion sickness, take something before going on this ride. Apparently people getting sick after riding is fairly common.

The ride dumps you out into a gift shop, Filch's Emporium of Confiscated Goods, that is connected to the locker area. As you can imagine this gift shop gets rather crowded. There was lots of neat stuff to look at but we exited without buying anything. I was still keeping my eyes open for a gift for Caroline (our cousin) and of course I would end up buying stuff for myself. I was trying to not buy on impulse though so we were just looking to start out with and would make our purchases later in the day.

We met back up with Mom and I apologized for my Owl Post blowup earlier.

Where would we head next?


[post=42898429]Click here to continue[/post]

 

[GeminiAngel]

pfft heres a better picture of Lessa and mom

 

[GeminiAngel]

This made me think of you hurting feet.

Fast forward to 2:40 mark.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOSK-7Vrijg

I have lost a toenail from overhiking.

-------------------------------

Sorry you and StepMonster had bonding time.
I get aweful motionsickness. Guess that ride is out for me.
I get sick on Test Track if you can believe it.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

You shouldn't encourage them!

This made me think of you hurting feet.

Fast forward to 2:40 mark.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOSK-7Vrijg

I have lost a toenail from overhiking.

-------------------------------

Sorry you and StepMonster had bonding time.
I get aweful motionsickness. Guess that ride is out for me.
I get sick on Test Track if you can believe it.

I hope my feet weren't that bad!

Wow, sick on Test Track, that is bad!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Okay, I had no idea there was a little compartment on the Forbidden Journey for cameras and such! What a ding dong I am!

I agree, Hogwarts is a little on the dark side for taking pictures. Makes you feel kind of guilty when you are using your flash.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Okay, I had no idea there was a little compartment on the Forbidden Journey for cameras and such! What a ding dong I am!

I agree, Hogwarts is a little on the dark side for taking pictures. Makes you feel kind of guilty when you are using your flash.

Well that would make me a ding dong as well since the ride assistant had to make me get up to stow it away.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Happy Thanksgiving/Columbus Day weekend!


I am happy to have the long weekend to get caught up on school work but unfortunately I am sick! It all started last Sunday night. At first I thought it was just a cold but now it is in my lungs. I guess I will have to go to the doctor (sure hope it isn't anything too terrible!) but no idea when I will manage to do that as I work all weekend!

 

[KatMark]

Great pictures of the Harry Potter section at Universal. We stopped going to Universal because we can't handle all of the coasters and ET, Jaws, etc., could all use an overhaul (and to be truthful, we are not Harry Potter fans so that does not draw us in).

Your pictures of your hiking day were terrific.

I'm sorry you aren't feeling well; I hope you feel better soon (it seems a lot of people are coming down with colds, etc., right now).

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Great pictures of the Harry Potter section at Universal. We stopped going to Universal because we can't handle all of the coasters and ET, Jaws, etc., could all use an overhaul (and to be truthful, we are not Harry Potter fans so that does not draw us in).

Yeah, doesn't make much sense if you aren't into the thrills or Harry.

Your pictures of your hiking day were terrific.

Thanks!

I'm sorry you aren't feeling well; I hope you feel better soon (it seems a lot of people are coming down with colds, etc., right now).

Sadly what seemed to start out as a cold is now bronchitis (I actually diagnosed myself with my nursing skills ), went to the doctor and he confirmed this afternoon. Gave me some antibiotics so it should be all cleared up in 4 days.

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Oh, The Forbidden Journey looks so cool! I love how they have such authentic replicas of props from the movies. Though I think it would be cool if they made the Mirror of Erised show Harry's parents, that would be cool. I can't believe they skimped out on the ride arena. That's one of those things that sets Disney apart from most theme parks, they pay attention to the fine details and that isn't even that fine anyways. But the ride still sounds wicked cool. I can't wait until the day I finally get to go there

Glad to hear you apologized for the whole Owl Post blow up, too

Can't wait to read more!

 

[GeminiAngel]

Feel better soon!! My little one is just getting over that herself. Yup 4 days is the magic number.

 

[oOJulieOo]

I'm all caught up on your TR. I had to laugh at your meltdown over the letter you were sending. I tend to have similar meltdowns with my mom when we travel together. I wonder if that will ever go away???

I am loving all the pics of your hiking adventures. Gordon and I would love to go to Banff someday and your pics make me want to even more!!!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Oh, The Forbidden Journey looks so cool! I love how they have such authentic replicas of props from the movies. Though I think it would be cool if they made the Mirror of Erised show Harry's parents, that would be cool.

Ahhh, but see if they showed his parents in the mirror it wouldn't be authentic,! What you see in the mirror is meant to be unique to each person and their heart's inner most desire. So unless your heart's inner most desire is to see Harry's parents they couldn't get away with that.

I can't believe they skimped out on the ride arena. That's one of those things that sets Disney apart from most theme parks, they pay attention to the fine details and that isn't even that fine anyways. But the ride still sounds wicked cool. I can't wait until the day I finally get to go there

Yeah, they really should have done something to disguise the ride building. A big bright white building is super obvious.

Feel better soon!! My little one is just getting over that herself. Yup 4 days is the magic number.

Thanks! I can already feel myself clearing up although now I have a killer headache. Don't know if it is from the coughing or a side effect of the meds.

I'm all caught up on your TR. I had to laugh at your meltdown over the letter you were sending. I tend to have similar meltdowns with my mom when we travel together. I wonder if that will ever go away???

I dunno, we are both grown adults now, I think it is something that will be sticking around.

I am loving all the pics of your hiking adventures. Gordon and I would love to go to Banff someday and your pics make me want to even more!!!

You guys would love it!

 

[PopArtGal]

I wonder if I would feel sick after the ride. I did feel bad after Space Mountain... Maybe it was the darkness? But I think I would definetly try it.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I wonder if I would feel sick after the ride. I did feel bad after Space Mountain... Maybe it was the darkness? But I think I would definetly try it.

Yeah, I would definitely try it, everybody reacts differently. Just go in knowing that it might make you motion sick and take precautions if you need to.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

The Crazy Stepmother Chronicles: August 2011

Day Nine: Banff National Park: Valley of the Ten Peaks

Another freezing cold morning arrived, right around 4C(39F). I was bundled up really well as you can see in this picture that Dad took of us all "enjoying" our breakfast.

Here is the tattoo that Erich "won" the previous night. I especially like how you can see his goosebumps in the picture.

That morning we were heading back to Moraine Lake to hike the Valley of the Ten Peaks. We would be hiking the Larch Valley/Sentinel Pass trail and then backtracking and going down the Eiffel Lake trail. I was having serious doubts about this hike. I wanted to do it as Dad promised it would be beautiful but he said it was at least 10 hours and would be the hardest hike of the trip. Well with slow poke Lessa along and with the level of difficulty he was stating I was afraid that I would hold the group up and we would be out there for much longer than the stated 10 hours. I was seriously considering staying behind at Moraine Lake for the day with my camera and a good book.

We had to skirt around the edge of Moraine Lake to get to the trailhead.

It was so early in the morning that nobody else was around.

The first part of the hike was all uphill along a switchback. 15 minutes into the hike I decided that I shouldn't continue as I would hold everybody back. Maria refused to give me the keys to the car so that I could go get my book. So basically she forced me to continue with the hike. I was pissed! How dare she! Well, it turned out being for the best as the hike was not nearly as difficult as Dad had described and did not take as long as he had said either so I guess I should be grateful(?) that she was a you know what and refused to hand over the car keys. I did not get over my annoyance quickly at the time though and was not in a good mood for most of that first part of the hike.

Who's a good boy?! Not Marcus! He was rather naughty that whole day. He kept trying to kill whoever had his leash at the time by trying to chase after some creature, often by wanting to charge down an incredibly steep slope.

Entering Larch Valley

Continued in Next Post

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Not sure what this little guy was, probably some kind of ground squirrel. There were a few of them and they were all making this squeaking/chirping noise. They were so cute!

Here is a panoramic video of the valley. If you turn the volume up you can hear the squirrel? chirping in the background. Video: Valley of the Ten Peaks

Another one of those little creatures.

We were now out of Larch Valley and making our way to Sentinel Pass. This part of the hike was in a very exposed area. It was very windy and very chilly!

Sentinel Pass

You are probably thinking that doesn't look too bad. In person it appeared to be very steep and the path looked very narrow. There was no way I was going up there. I would have been terrified and probably got sick just from looking down.

Dad decided that he would leave Marcus and I behind at the lake while the rest of them climbed the pass. He said it should take about an hour for them to get up there and then back down.

Alek and Erich took a little break before they all set off.

Here is my very first attempt of a Panoramic shot. It is naturally of the Ten Peaks.

They decided that they would take off their packs and leave them with me at the lake where Marcus and I would be waiting. I asked Dad for the bear spray since it would be just Marcus and I and I was paranoid and a little scared to be left alone although it was a very open area as you could see so I would definitely see something scary approaching from very far away.

After he showed me how to use it they all set off leaving Marcus and I behind to protect the bags and fend off the wild creatures.