First Timers Take on US/IOA(Results) Day 3

[Bastilleman21]

Thursday's here!! Rise and shine gang, it's Harry Potter day!! I got no response - teenagers. Not an easy task two days into our trip, so I had to crack the whip on these kiddos. After another wonderful, hot, fresh b’fast, we’re boarded onto shuttle “A” by 8AM, but then a snag. New bus driver, not familiar with the 5-hotel pickup route, delayed us getting to IOA. Looks of frustration on my DD and DN, so I to remind them about “PATIENCE” and that all will be fine. We arrive, we get through CityWalk and to the IOA entrance. It’s a healthy crowd people for a Thursday IMHO, but we make it through POE, and to an attendant that's directing EVERYONE to the left, towards MarvelLand. Once we pass the gates of Jurassic Park, we hit a line – a line of people to get into Hogsmeade!!. Good grief!! Are u kidding me?? Oh well, we knew this might happen, so we're prepped for it. We had all agreed that regardless of the crowd, this was our Harry Potter day, lines or no lines, we were going to soak up everything HP, no matter the situiation. Once in, we found ourselves staring face-to-face with HOGWARTS, School of Wizardry. One word, W-O-W!!! Castle on the mountain top built to perfection as seen in the HP movies. BTW - my DD and DN are self-proclaimed "Potter"heads, so you can imagine what was racing through their minds at this time. Photo ops everywhere we turned - from the locomotive that greets you at the entrance, to the Butter Beer cart, from HoneyDuke's Candy shop to the Broomstick tavern, from Ollivander's Shop of Wands to the snow topped roofs with their crooked chimneys. We're snapping pics, shooting video to our hearts content. We scoped out Dueling Dragons, the HippoGriff, and of course, the creme de la crème here, the Forbidden Journey. As anticipated, the crowd here in HP land was huge, but all in all, what a moment.

Now, knowing about all the talk on the forums about FJ’s ride restrictions, I was concerned I might not make it. I tried the “sample” seat that sits at the entrance and sure enough, I didn’t pass. I’m bummed, as is my DD and DN. However, the attendant manning the entrance suggested to go through the line anyway, to at least experience the magic of Hogwarts. He said before boarding, there’d be an exit door I'd be able to use. So, we enter the school of Wizardry with total amazement. Details here completely blew us out of the water! There’s even a section where holographic images of Harry, Hermione, and Ron talk to the crowd shuffling through. Super-cool. We make our way through the greenhouse, where mandrake is being grown. Another room filled with portraits of Hogwarts’ elders take turn commenting on everything HP, as in the movie. To my surprise, DGD decided to bail out of line with me when it came time(more on this later), so DD and DN went on. Afterwards, we re-united in the gift shop, and both were blown away. I asked them to describe the ride and they couldn’t – only to say “it’s like nothing ever experienced before”. As with every other major attraction at US/IOA, the FJ exits straight into a gift shop, but this was unbarably packed. We quickly "squeezed" out of there and continued on. We moved on to the Hippogriff ride – decent, but the line was neat. You get to pass through a pumpkin patch and by Hagrit’s home, replicated to PERFECTION. Great photo ops everywhere. Next, its Dueling Dragons and again I’m hit with the seat restriction, CRAP! So the others go, but DGD, decided to bail right at boarding time. With the crowds increasing by the minute, we decided to start checking out the store fronts, try out the butterbeer and getting ready for the shows. The older two get their first butterbeers(frozen) in the collectable HP mugs. Let’s just say, the butterbeer didn’t have a chance! Next, it was onto the small, designated area where two shows take place – Hogwarts choir w/ frogs and a display from the rival schools of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang during the 'The Triwizard Tournament'. The latter was first and was SUPER cool, with photo ops given afterwards with the rival students. About an hour later, enters the choir with frogs in tow, however 10 minutes into the show, a brief, and I do mean BRIEF, rain shower started. The choir quickly shuffled away, apologizing for the stoppage. I wasn’t clear on this, since they were frogs?? Oh well, by now the older two had already gotten FJ in a couple of more times, using the single rider option to breeze through the wait. BTW – it’s very nice option, if you don’t mind riding separated. So, with that, we decided to leave Hogsmeade for the time being. Mid-afternoon by now.

We cruise through Jurassic Park again and the River adventure. DGD is a “no-go” for this, so she entertains herself at Camp Jurassic. Afterwards, we make our way to MARVEL again and we’re getting ready to hit the rides there when all of a sudden, alarms go off signaling the arrival of superheroes!! SWEET! We see Spider-man, Capt. America, Wolverine, Rogue, and Storm pull up on ATVs and scatter to opposite sides of the street. We follow for great photo ops with each. This was PRICELESS! I guess I showed a little over-enthusiasm when meeting Capt. America(a personal favorite of mine growing up), b/c after getting my pic with him, he told my DN to take good care of me. HUH? I guess he thought I’d been drinking?? We laughed. So, after getting pics with all the heroes, we hit the Spidey ride again, Dr. Doom and the Hulk coaster. This is when I was hit with an epiphany. UNIVERSAL has what they refer to as “modified” seating for those of us unable to comfortably sit in the normal seats. We hadn’t noticed it before, but in front of the HULK, were two(2) seats – one standard, one modified. To my DD and DN content, I was a shoe-in for the modified seats, so off I go to FINALLY experience HULK. All I can say is this was the BEST coaster I’ve ever been on! What a design! You’re literally shot out of a cannon, 45 mph in 2 secs!! You're hit with twists, turns, loops, inverts at a monsterous rate. The ride even has a way of "roaring" at you, just the the HULK would.

Dinner time arrives and its back to the CityWalk food court, this time its Panda Express – another excellent choice and well within the food budget. With batteries re-charged, its back to IOA, hitting the Cat-in-the-Hat again, Sinbad’s adventure and returning back to Hogsmeade for the evening. We end the day as we have the others, grabbing the hotel shuttle back to the hotel. However, unbeknownst to us at the time, a situation was about to rear its ugly head on Day 4. Hmmm.

 

[nmartin]

Great trip report!

Was there a huge line to meet and greet the superheroes? And I would like to know what type of food Panda Express serves?

 

[Bastilleman21]

When the super heroes showed up we were already in the middle of MarvelLand. They parktheir ATVs in front o fthe merchandise shop and then scatter in five(5) directions - Spidey goes into the shop, Capt A accross the street, Rogue/Storm outside in front of store and Logan about 10 yards from them. Lines only formed when they showed up, its a total surprise. As for Panda, all the normal menu items we were accustomed to were there - orange chicken, Kung Pao, beef broccoli, etc. and of course their chow mein(YUM).