Hi it's me- you want some pretzel?- a sisters' Dec 2019 USO/WDW trip! new 1/24!

[lvcourtneyy]

The Grinch show looks pretty entertaining!

It was fun and so cute!

Yum to Voodoo Donuts

So delicious!

I didn’t realize the 3D is not part of the Minions anymore, we were there in August and it was still 3D.

I'm not sure when exactly it changed- or why!

Hello Kitty is so cute and the store is fun!

Yes she is!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

We actually managed to accidentally meet Hello Kitty in February 2019! It was a delightful meet, she is adorable.

She is so cute!

I still haven't done the minions show, despite two visits to Universal... I guess I'll get to it eventually... haha.

lol it used to always have long lines but since it's not 3d anymore, they seem shorter!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I find it funny that Beetlejuice yelled to teens that they probably don't know what a camera is! Every once in awhile when I want to take a picture I'll look for my phone but say "let me get my camera" or "where's my camera" and the kids think it's hysterical in a mom-is-embarrassing kind of way lol.

my mom does the same thing but she is also horrible at taking pictures on her phone. I don't know how she manages it but they're just always awful

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Hooray, I’m really enjoying your trip report!

Thank you and thanks for reading!

Don’t you just love an OD of Christmas trees when Spring is kicking in?!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Late to the party, but joining in!

Welcome! Thanks for reading!

I never really looked into Universal Studios, sounds like a lot of fun so far! And I love the Christmas tree hunt!

It is a lot of fun! Different than WDW but in a good way!

have to say I am jealous of the sisters only trip... that is amazing! I hope to be able to do something like that some day with one of my sisters!

I hope you do too! Sister trips are awesome.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Ok clueless non-Universal girl has gotta ask. What is the informer event

It's like the Disney after hour events but they're not put on through Universal itself, they're run by the Orlando Informer. You can go in for a few hours while the park is open for regular hours and then you have the after hours time. And the ticket price includes unlimited food!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I love all the Christmas and Grinchmas decor!

Me too! It was so cute!

The Informer event looks amazing

It was!

 

[pkondz]

My body is probably 80% diet coke, so it works out great for me.

It's a canon rebel t6. Pretty basic for those experienced I guess but for me it's perfect because I'm still learning how to use it.

Perfect.

I have a long lens, a short lens

Primes? Or zooms?

and a fish eye lens

Really? Or do you mean wide angle?
Fish eyes give you photos like this:

Yeah- I'm not 100% sure where the actual entrance is but you see it when you're on the moving walkways on Citiwalk!

Never seen those either.

It was much more intense than I was expecting!

Really! Dang, wish I could try it.

 

[amazingact21]

I had been looking at DSLR cameras for a couple months leading up to this trip but was having trouble pulling the trigger on buying one. Just before the trip, Mike surprised me with one as an early Christmas gift so I could take it on this trip.

Nice! Which one did you get?

This mini golf course looks pretty cool and I want to actually try it one day.

It does look like it'd be fun.

He was very amused by my "real" camera and was yelling at teenagers walking by that they probably don't even know that it's a camera.

Haha! That Beetlejuice probably wasn't wrong...I told Landon I didn't have a cell phone when I was in high school and I'm pretty sure I blew his mind.



I love seeing all the different trees on the Christmas hunt.
Glad you were able to snag the virtual passes for the Flyers. Still surprises me that you have to have a kid with you to ride. One of the few times it pays to lug my kiddos around. (I kid, I kid....)

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Hi Courntey!! I'm so happy I've found your trip report for some reason during lockdown daydreaming I've developed a huge impulse to go to Disney at Christmas time to see all of the decorations, I've never been at that time of year before! I really loved your photos of the Christmas store at Universal and all the Christmas trees. Can't wait to see how Disney looked too!

Normally we stick to September / January / February in an attempt to avoid the crowds, although my last two trips in Feb have been quite busy... how busy did you find it while you were there in mid-December?

Looking forward to hearing more!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Primes? Or zooms?

I'm not sure

Fish eyes give you photos like this:

Yup that's the one! I haven't done much with it because I got it right before the world closed

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Nice! Which one did you get?

The canon rebel t6! Pretty basic but I love it!

Haha! That Beetlejuice probably wasn't wrong...I told Landon I didn't have a cell phone when I was in high school and I'm pretty sure I blew his mind.

We were trying to explain dial up internet to my friend's kids the other day and they looked at us like we were crazy.

Glad you were able to snag the virtual passes for the Flyers. Still surprises me that you have to have a kid with you to ride. One of the few times it pays to lug my kiddos around. (I kid, I kid....)

I see posts on Universal FB groups often of people asking to borrow other's kids to ride lol! I think it's because of a weight/capacity issue because when we went on during the event, they could only put one adult in each ride vehicle and had to leave the second seat empty.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Hi Courntey!! I'm so happy I've found your trip report

Hi Katie! Welcome thanks for reading!

I've developed a huge impulse to go to Disney at Christmas time to see all of the decorations, I've never been at that time of year before! I really loved your photos of the Christmas store at Universal and all the Christmas trees. Can't wait to see how Disney looked too!

Oo you definitely should. i didn't know it was possible, but Disney is even more magical decorated for Christmas! Snow on Main Street makes my heart so happy!

Normally we stick to September / January / February in an attempt to avoid the crowds, although my last two trips in Feb have been quite busy... how busy did you find it while you were there in mid-December?

I didn't think the crowds were bad at all! I think the earlier you can go in December, the better because you can enjoy all the Christmas stuff before the crowds really roll in!

 

[pkondz]

Yup that's the one! I haven't done much with it because I got it right before the world closed

Cool! I don't know anyone (other than you) who owns one. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it!

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

I'm a few updates behind, but looks like I didn't quite miss the informer event

You seem to have had a fun, albeit damp, day at Universal. What good luck with the short Grinch line, too!

I'm intrigued about this ride that's generally only for folks with a small kid. I mean, it's got to be pretty tame, no? I'm glad my girls are getting tall enough that I generally don't have to ride those little things anymore.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Cool! I don't know anyone (other than you) who owns one. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it!

I had a friend in high school (a zillion years ago lol) who had a fish eye lens camera and I thought it was so cool and my parents wouldn't buy me one so it was a must for me.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I'm a few updates behind, but looks like I didn't quite miss the informer event

I'm very slow moving here lol

You seem to have had a fun, albeit damp, day at Universal. What good luck with the short Grinch line, too!

It was great even though we were soaked.

I'm intrigued about this ride that's generally only for folks with a small kid. I mean, it's got to be pretty tame, no? I'm glad my girls are getting tall enough that I generally don't have to ride those little things anymore.

It was more intense than I expected lol! I had ridden it before because Mike's niece was with us in October and is just about at the height limit so I went on with her but it's actually pretty cool. It flies above the park and the ride car sways a lot! The kid restriction is a weight thing I think because there's two seats in each ride car and at the event they only sent one adult in each car and left the other seat empty so the ride capacity would be severely limited if they let adults ride all the time.

 

[pkondz]

I had a friend in high school (a zillion years ago lol) who had a fish eye lens camera and I thought it was so cool and my parents wouldn't buy me one so it was a must for me.

well, that explains it.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Macy's Christmas Parade

When I left off (about a month ago - life has gotten in my way recently!), we had just snagged spots for the Christmas parade!

I had read online to get a spot near the Mummy, across from the Christmas tree because during the parade, Santa does a tree lighting there so that's where we were!

Buckle up for a bunch of parade pictures- I was enjoying playing around with my new camera lol.



Untitled by Courtney Holder, on Flickr





















At this point in the parade, a group of women- probably in their 40s, ran up behind us and one of them just started screaming about how much she loved Shrek and pushing into us with her phone to take pictures. I'm all about liking characters but I'm 100% not about being pushed and may have pushed back.













I loved these part of the parade!











Is there anyone out there who isn't instantly excited for fake theme park snow? Because it wins me over every time!





​

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Macy's Christmas Parade part 2

SANTA- I know him!







Here's a video of Santa doing the tree lighting ceremony.

https://imgur.com/38scypL

It was short but very cute and I'm glad we stood in the right area to see it because it added a little extra magic to the parade.

The parade was really adorable and reminded me of watching the Macy's parade on tv as a kid.

It was still snoaping after the parade and we were enjoying the atmosphere and Christmas spirit.

https://imgur.com/SU298Dh

The area was pretty crowded with people still watching the parade and trying to get places so we popped into the Mummy gift shop to get our stamp on the tree hunt map.





We came back out and it was still pretty crowded.





We ducked down the little side street leading to Transformers and were happy to find it mostly empty so we stopped for some pictures.















Then we decided to take a minute to come up with a game plan for the rest of the night as it was 6:10 and the event would officially start at 7!​