Hogwarts & HalloWishes - An October Birthday Surprise (Extra Day in the MK)

[AJRitz]

Less than a week from today, our trip will already be underway. The secret is still intact. Neither Squeaker nor the Bug have any idea. There have, of course, been just a few more minor tweaks to the plans (I guess I can't help tweaking). I swapped Tuesday at Hollywood Studios with Wednesday at Epcot. Now, we'll do Epcot and Boma on Tuesday and Hollywood Studios and Kona Cafe on Wednesday. I'm not happy with the time of the Kona ADR, so that one may still change.

This next week is going to be insane. It turns out I'll be out of town for work on Tuesday and Wednesday, which will cut into the time I'll have to help DW surreptitiously get us packed for the early Friday morning flight. I've been up late a couple of nights this week, getting autograph book pages and Epcot passports printed. I even got some T-shirts made for the kids.

Both DW and I have had fun this evening teasing the kids and dropping hints. At dinner, DW asked, "if you could have dinner with just one movie character, who would you want to have dinner with." Squeaker initially chose Stitch , but then decided he makes too big of a mess. DW suggested Sully , and then Squeaker settled on Mike instead. The Bug skipped characters and chose Daniel Radcliffe. [sigh] She's 7 going on 15 instead of 8. I said I thought I'd like to have dinner some time with Belle - and maybe Jasmine and Cinderella too

Right now, The Bug and I are watching Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. We were watching a scene where Harry, Hermione, and Ron were drinking butterbeer. I said, "I wonder what butterbeer really tastes like." The Bug answered, "They have it at the amusement park you know." I said, "Hmmmmm. Really? I didn't remember that."

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Ohhh, you're cruel with the hints. And I mean that in a good way. I hope you're able to enjoy the trip in the midst of all the chaos!

 

[Tabatha]

Your vacation is going to be so fun - I'm so excited for you! Almost as excited as I am about the chiefs great start this year!! From one Kansan (Emporia) to another the drive is not so bad - I've done it 4 times now, but flying us much faster.

 

[AJRitz]

Crazy last-minute work stuff taken care of? Check.
Two extra loads of laundry necessary to finish packing? Check.
Packing done? Check.
Car loaded? Check.
All reservations, tickets, itineraries printed and in the appropriate place? Check.
Kids still totally unaware of what awaits them in just over four hours? Check.

I'm off to take a little nap. Our flight will be taking off just 6 hours and 45 minutes from now.

 

[jenny105]

Have a great trip!

 

[AJRitz]

We're back. Time to start working on the "real" trip report. As a reminder, this trip was planned as a birthday surprise for The Bug's 8th birthday. We had just about everything in place, but still needed to get packed and it was the day before we were scheduled to leave. So we called in our ace in the hole, and my Mom took the kids for an evening for a "playdate", so that DW and I would have the house to ourselves to get everything packed up and loaded into her car so that we'd be ready to go early in the morning on October 1. Somehow, we got all four of us completely packed for a week in about five hours.

And then, at 4:00 a.m. on October 1, came the surprise reveal. Sorry, the sound level is a bit low. But The Bug's reaction was everything we could have hoped for:

 

[GoHerd1028]

...love the video reveal!! Anxious to read more!!!

 

[AJRitz]

So, once we got the kids awake and dressed, we gave them Pop-Tarts for breakfast (a highly unusual treat in our house) and got them loaded into the car for the trip to the airport. We made a quick stop to gas up the car and pick up coffee (and, conveniently, cash from our bank's ATM at the gas station). It's amazing how little traffic there is on the way to the airport at 4:30 a.m

We managed to get a full row, plus the aisle seat across from that row, so all of us got to sit together (gotta love boarding card A30 on Southwest). The flight was pretty uneventful. We had a brief stopover in St. Louis, during which The Bug got to go up front and visit the cockpit - a rare treat these days that appears to only be available during those times when the plane is on the ground, passengers are not in the process of boarding, and passengers currently on the plane are not in the process of deplaning. We even landed in Orlando a bit early.

Picking up the rental car at the Thrifty counter was enough to convince me that I'll avoid renting from them in the future. First, with a line backing up of people with existing reservations trying to pick up their cars, the manager was giving the insurance hard sell to a young couple. Not only did the manager waste time by approximately tripling the amount of time it took that couple to complete their rental, but the manager was working them over while a different desk agent was actually handling their rental paperwork. So rather than helping to process more renters, the manager was tying up both himself and a desk agent with this one couple. When it was finally my turn at the counter, the desk agent tried hard to upsell me from the Wild Car (whatever is next available, from mid-size up) to a full-size car. He used all the classic sleazy sales tactics. He tried to focus my attention on the absolute smallest, least feature-laden, car I could possibly get stuck with. He talked about the increase costing me, "just $10" (of course, that would have been $10 per day for eight days). I stuck to my guns, pre-emptively refused all insurance, and when I went to pick up my Wild Car, I ended up with a Mercury Grand Marquis - considered by Thrifty to be a "Specialty" car, an upgrade from the full-size car the desk agent tried to sell me, for the price of a discounted mid-size. Good thing too, because I don't think all of our luggage plus the rental stroller would have fit in anything smaller.

We got to the Hard Rock Hotel and checked-in at about 12:30 p.m. Our room wasn't ready yet, but we needed to get the kids something to eat anyway - it'd been nine hours since their Pop-Tart breakfast. We headed down to The Kitchen for lunch. The decor was fun, and our waitress was friendly and attentive. The kids got a kick out of ordering from the kids' menu printed on a kid-sized oven mitt.

- they both chose the Mac & Cheese. Unfortunately, the kitchen at The Kitchen was one of the slowest I've ever encountered. In the time it took to get my two starving kids their lunches, they could've made both the macaroni and the cheese from the raw ingredients. I had a crab cake sandwich and DW had a turkey sandwich. My sandwich showed up without the remoulade the was supposed to accompany it, and I was in no mood to wait for it. All of our meals were OK, but hardly worth the wait.

We had hoped that our room would be ready after our overly-long lunch, but no such luck. We went to the concierge desk and retrieved a few things from our luggage so that we could go ahead and spend the afternoon at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. They were also able to quickly locate the stroller that Orlando Stroller Rental had left for Squeaker. Things were looking up as we headed down the path from the Hard Rock Hotel to Universal's Islands of Adventure.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Love the video! I'm glad it went without a hitch. And I'm looking forward to seeing Harry Potter!

Sleazy sales tactics at a rental car counter...say it ain't so!

 

[AJRitz]

We headed straight for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (as soon as we figured out that the entrance to Islands of Adventure was a bit past the entrance to Universal Studios). We got there at about 2:30 p.m., and it was HOT. I was nervous about what the crowd would look like on a Friday afternoon, but it really wasn't too bad. On the way in, we stopped for a picture with the Hogwart's Express and its conductor:

You can see from the picture just how intense the sun was - it was so bright that photographer me didn't even notice that I was cropping the shot tighter than I should have, and leaving out distinguishing marks of the train. Squeaker refused to get out of his stroller to have his picture taken with the conductor. It quickly became apparent that, for this day at least, it was all sensory overload for him. He was just going to sit back, observe, and absorb it all.

Introductory picture out of the way, we headed for the thing that The Bug had been most looking forward to - Ollivander's Wand Shop. For the uninitiated, Ollivander's is actually a small, brief, show. About 20 guests at a time are allowed to enter the "shop". Once the group is in the shop, Ollivander invites one guest to come forward and find out which wand will choose them - just like when Harry Potter went to Ollivander's with Hagrid in the first Harry Potter book. The guest is offered one possibility, tries the wand, and a special effect is triggered that indicates that wand isn't the right one. Then, the guest is offered a second wand, that also indicates it's not quite right. Finally, the third wand the guest is offered is the "right" wand for them - music swells, lights react - a magical moment.

Ollivander's presents several touring challenges. First, only 20 guests get in at a time, so the line is ALWAYS long. Second, even after you get into the shop, only ONE guest gets to have a wand choose them. Third, there is very little shade along the line, and as I mentioned, it was HOT. Our strategy was to get into that line immediately. If The Bug didn't get chosen the first time through, we figured we could just keep going through the line until she got her chance. Of course, we also did our best to improve her chances of being chosen, but more on that in a moment.

DW, The Bug, and Squeaker got into the Ollivander's line and I dashed off to get some butterbeer to keep them cool. Following advice I'd picked up from the boards here, I skipped the long queue at the open-air butterbeer stand and went to the Hog's Head pub to get my butterbeer instead. I went with the frozen version to help combat the heat (and because the non-frozen butterbeer - according to the bartender - can't be drunk with a straw, it keeps fizzing out of the straw once you draw it through).

Squeaker in what he dubbed his "rollercoaster" drinking butterbeer:

The Bug enjoying butterbeer in the Ollivander's line:

To my relief, no one objected to me rejoining the family in the line when I came back with the butterbeers (I made a point of asking those around us). The last portion of the line before entering the shop runs along the side of the shop, and in late afternoon actually offered a bit of shade. We took advantage of this and pulled The Bug's Hogwart's robes (complete with tie) out of our park bag. She put them on, and when we entered the shop she really did look the part of a new Hogwart's student. Further following advice I'd gleaned from the boards, I located Mr. Ollivander in the shop, and quickly maneuvered The Bug so that she would be in his line of sight. Sure enough, when the door closed and Mr. Ollivander asked for a volunteer, he invited the Bug to the front as soon as her hand went up.

The shop was crowded, so pictures were difficult to take. This is the best that DW could get:

Of course, once a wand had chosen The Bug, there was no way I was going to be able to exit the Owl Post next door without purchasing the wand that chose her. (The AAA discount at Universal parks did soften the blow a bit - I got 10% off on just about everything I bought there, just by showing my AAA card).

After Ollivander's, Squeaker and DW decided to do some walking around and shopping while The Bug and I tried to get in a couple of rides. The Bug wasn't quite ready to try Dragon Challenge, so we went first to Flight of the Hippogriff. This was also our first experience with Express Pass. Express Pass ROCKS. We walked straight past a 30-45 minute queue and almost directly onto the ride. It's a pretty basic rollercoaster, but was a good introduction to amusement park rides for The Bug, who hadn't been on anything bigger than what's at Nick Universe inside Mall of America before. After Flight of the Hippogriff came the big question - we were all pretty tired and it had been a long day. We were planning on coming back the next day anyway. Did The Bug want to go on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey now, or wait for tomorrow morning? After a couple of minutes of consternation about the posted 60 minute wait time, we decided to go for it.

The queue is beautifully themed, and made the wait go quickly. It was fun identifying the various things we saw - from talking paintings of headmasters, arguing amongst themselves, to the Sorting Hat to plants in Professor Sprout's greenhouse. The ride itself was fabulous, and I actually bought the on-ride photo, because the look on The Bug's face is priceless

She was very quiet as we got off the ride, and didn't even say much as we went through Filch's Emporium, through which you exit. But as soon as we were outside again, she exclaimed (completely unbidden), "That. Was. AWESOME!!!!!"

After the ride, we were all fading pretty hard from the heat and the long travel day. So we headed to the Three Broomsticks for dinner by 5 p.m. The theming in the restaurant is cool - if you watch carefully, you can catch house elf shadows darting around here and there. The food was good, but we really weren't up for eating all that much at that point. We had planned on getting the Feast and sharing, but we weren't hungry enough to make that worthwhile. Instead, the kids got chicken legs, DW got a salad, and I had the Cornish pasties. One bit of advice - skip the Pumpkin Fizz. Butterbeer was wonderful, but pumpkin fizz was downright vile.

We headed back to the Hard Rock after dinner. There's a bit of a story there too, but I'll save that for the next post.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

The ride itself was fabulous, and I actually bought the on-ride photo, because the look on The Bug's face is priceless

I agree! Great expression on her face.

What's up with the guy and his iPhone? Is he trying to take a picture of himself? Send a text? Play Bejeweled Blitz?

One bit of advice - skip the Pumpkin Fizz. Butterbeer was wonderful, but pumpkin fizz was downright vile.

No pumpkin fizz. Check. Still love it when you have an excuse to use that smiley.

 

[mermaid764]

I'm joining in too

WWOHP sounds awesome and I can't wait to hear more

 

[AJRitz]

Before I move on to Day 2 of our vacation, which will include checking out of the Hard Rock Hotel, I need to deal with the one issue I had with the hotel. Just before we left, as we were packing, I realized that I was a couple of t-shirts short. Serendipitously, a friend's Facebook status tipped me off to a 1/2 price Groupon for Zazzle.com. So I hopped online, designed a couple of custom T-shirts for myself, went ahead and paid for overnight shipping, and arranged for the package to be sent to me at the Hard Rock Hotel. I even called ahead to the Hard Rock to let them know that the package was coming, would probably arrive before I did, and to please watch for it.

You'll recall that when we arrived, our room wasn't ready. We didn't end up getting back to it until after dinner, though we did get a text telling us that the room was ready right about the time we got to the Wizarding World. When we got back to the hotel, I asked the desk about my package, and was told that the package had been left in the room. But when we got up to the room, there was no package anywhere to be found. While DW got the kids ready for bed, I called down to the desk. I suggested three possibilities. One, they had a thief on staff (and I let them know that I did not believe that to be the case). Two, the package had been delivered to the wrong room. Or three, the package was left in the room before housekeeping was done with it, and housekeeping picked up the package. I was assured that they would "research the issue."

Soon, there was a knock on the door from a hotel staffer who told me that he had been the one who delivered the package to the room. I told him that was interesting, because there was no package there when we first came into the room. Again, I suggested that either it was left in the wrong room or it had been picked up by housekeeping. And again, I was told that the issue would be "researched."

I'm getting ahead of myself slightly here, but I want to dispose of this issue. The next morning, as we were checking out early in the morning, I asked again about my package. I was told that it had not been located and that they were still working on it. I left them my cell phone number and they assured me that they would call as soon as they found the package. Of course, the shirt with the Hogwart's crest on it was already wasted, but at least they were working on it. For at least the third time, I suggested that housekeeping might have re-entered the room after the package had been dropped off.

I finally got a call from the hotel manager as we were getting ready to leave the Universal theme park that afternoon. He informed me (surprise, surprise) that housekeeping had returned to the room after the package had been delivered, and thought it had been left behind by the previous guests. The housekeeping supervisor placed the package in her cart, and went home for the day. When she returned to work in the morning and didn't know that anyone was looking for the package, she threw it away.

The manager has offered to pay for the loss of the package, plus a few dollars extra for the inconvenience. But the whole episode left a very bad taste in my mouth about the Hard Rock Hotel.

 

[Rental01]

I think that guy is filming the ride with his iphone. At least that's what it looks like to me. Just what youtube needs - more shaky subpar videos of rides at amusement parks.

As this is our first year with AAA at Disney, does the discount work at Disney as well? Or is it just with Universal?

It has been probably 10 years since I've been at Universal. Maybe next year we'll make a stop there before we take our cruise. Uh... I mean, our secret family vacation... Yeah, that's it.

It looks like you had a great time! I'm really looking forward to this TR.

 

[disneysis2]

love all the information on wwohp. we will be there in december and can not wait. love the tips too, all the kids on our trip think that they will be picked for a wand. we have the cape, but now i think i will run out and get the tie before we go.

 

[afwdwfan]

Sorry about the shirt issue at Hard Rock. That's one of those things that would really tick me off.... . There are worse things that could happen, so in the scheme of things a couple of shirts aren't that big of a deal, and it looks like they made ammends in the end. The whole process of inadequate answers and then finding out they just threw them away would just about set me off (ever heard of a "Lost and Found")

 

[AJRitz]

Day 2 meant a return to Islands of Adventure. The original plan had us enjoying most of the Wizarding World attractions on this day - but with Ollivander's, Forbidden Journey, and Flight of the Hippogriff already taken care of, we really only had two things left to take care of in Potterland: Dueling Dragons, and some shopping.

We woke up early and ate a light breakfast from Emack & Bolio's Marketplace at the Hard Rock Hotel. We went ahead and checked out of our room, and checked our bags at the concierge desk. We took a boat from the hotel to the theme park, the kids dressed in custom shirts (courtesy of Amy over on the DISigns board)

DW and I agreed that the Wizarding World - at least the attractions - actually seemed more crowded during Early Entry than they did the afternoon before. The stores, however, were almost empty. The Bug hadn't quite worked up the courage for Dueling Dragons yet, so we decided to take care of some shopping for family members. We picked up some candy at Honeyduke's, and then told the kids that they could each pick out one thing from Zonko's. Surprisingly, they each picked a pink pygmy puff. Squeaker instantly became incredibly attached to his. It seems he decided that the pygmy puff reminded him of one of his favorite Jimmy Neutron episodes - he immediately decided that his pygmy puff was actually a twonky (you'll have to take my word for it that the pygmy puff really does look a lot like a twonky in its "cute" stage. The only pictures I could find were of twonkies in attack mode). You'll see pictures of Squeaker and his twonky (that he calls "Libersnaps" - just like Sheen did on Jimmy Neutron) in future installments.

After shopping, and sharing a chocolate wand, The Bug was ready to take on the Dragon Challenge. We had been relieved when, at a doctor's appointment just a couple of weeks before, The Bug had been measured at 54" tall - just tall enough for all of the rides in all of the theme parks we'd be visiting. Unfortunately, as we approached the Dragon Challenge line, the team member at the front of the line measured the Bug -- and she measured about 1/2" too short for the ride. The Bug was devastated. After building up the courage to go on the ride, she was inconsolable. We decided that was the sign that we'd had enough Wizarding World, and it was time to check out the Marvel Super Hero Island.

I thought an exciting ride on The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman would bring The Bug out of her "too short" funk. She was all gung ho for it. Our timing was impeccable - we entered Marvel Island just as it was opening. We walked up to Spiderman and our Express Pass was completely unnecessary. We were poised to be among the first riders of the day. But about 50 feet into the queue, she heard Green Goblin's mad laugh echoing through the ride, and she decided she didn't want to ride after all. Instead, she wanted to ride Hulk (upside down was cool with her, as long as there were fewer than 10 loops. According to the Bug, 10 loops would be too many). Unfortunately, as we approached Hulk, we discovered that it has the same 54" height requirement as Dragon Challenge - and The Bug measured the same 1/2 inch too short. Once again, she missed it by THAT much. The last thing we wanted to try and do at Marvel Island was to get Squeaker a chance to meet his favorite superhero - Spiderman. We found a shady spot near the superhero meet and greet area, and confirmed at the Spiderman shop that Spidey should come running by in about 15 minutes, then set up in the back of the shop for a meet and greet. Unfortunately, after Spidey ran by and Squeaker got a look at him from the meet and greet line, he didn't want to get any closer.

At this point, we decided that we'd had enough of the Islands, and decided to move on to the Studios. At the Studios, it was Squeaker's (and DW's) turn to get to choose what to do. They'd both been excited to ride E.T. Adventure, ever since we spent a family movie night watching the movie about a month ago. The Bug was less excited about E.T. - she didn't really like the movie. The crowd was light - we used the ExpressPass line, but we really didn't need it. I thought the ride itself was fun, sort of a Forbidden Journey light. DW loved it. Here's the picture we took in the shop right after the ride - you can decide for yourself what the kids thought of the ride.

Next, Squeaker and I spent some time playing on Fievel's Playground, while DW and The Bug headed to Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster.

We finished up our morning at Universal in Production Central. Both kids were excited for Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoons Blast. Squeaker complained that he didn't like that the seats moved, but the rest of us enjoyed the ride. Then The Bug had fun meeting (and goofing with) Shrek and Donkey.

Our Universal attraction for the road was Shrek 4-D. Squeaker refused to go - he was suspicious of shows after the Jimmy Neutron moving seats incident. So he and I walked around while DW and The Bug went into the show. That's probably the one attraction that I didn't get to ride and that I was disappointed I missed, because both DW and The Bug thought it was really good. Finally, we grabbed some lunch at the Beverly Hills Boulangerie.

Everyone was ready for a rest as we headed back to the Hard Rock Hotel to pick up our bags and our car to move on to the Disney World portion of our vacation.

 

[FreezinRafiki]

Day 2 meant a return to Islands of Adventure. The original plan had us enjoying most of the Wizarding World attractions on this day - but with Ollivander's, Forbidden Journey, and Flight of the Hippogriff already taken care of, we really only had two things left to take care of in Potterland: Dueling Dragons, and some shopping.

Somehow I missed your first few updates. Too much to go back and quote, but I loved the surprise video!

We woke up early and ate a light breakfast from Emack & Bolio's Marketplace at the Hard Rock Hotel.

What did you think of the hotel? We've only been to Universal once, and I refused to pay $29 for the Express pass. As much as it would kill me, I'm thinking of staying one night over there just to get the Express Pass privilges that come with the room.

We had been relieved when, at a doctor's appointment just a couple of weeks before, The Bug had been measured at 54" tall - just tall enough for all of the rides in all of the theme parks we'd be visiting. Unfortunately, as we approached the Dragon Challenge line, the team member at the front of the line measured the Bug -- and she measured about 1/2" too short for the ride. The Bug was devastated.

What an absolute bummer! The scale/ruler thing at my kids' pediatrician office isn't accurate either. I only trust the measurements I can take myself.

Instead, she wanted to ride Hulk (upside down was cool with her, as long as there were fewer than 10 loops. According to the Bug, 10 loops would be too many).

What about one loop, but it lasts the entire ride? How would that work for her?

We finished up our morning at Universal in Production Central. Both kids were excited for Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoons Blast. Squeaker complained that he didn't like that the seats moved, but the rest of us enjoyed the ride.

My DS was too short to sit in the moving seats, so I sat with him in the stationary ones. From there, the attraction is just nausea inducing. It's like watching the Blair Witch Project on amphetamines. (The movie is on them, no you. But it might have the same effect.)

Then The Bug had fun meeting (and goofing with) Shrek and Donkey.

Best thing about Universal. The voice synthesizer they use for Donkey is spot on. But it was odd interacting with Donkey while Shrek didn't talk at all.

 

[AJRitz]

As this is our first year with AAA at Disney, does the discount work at Disney as well? Or is it just with Universal?

As far as I know, the only AAA discounts at Disney have to do with tickets purchased through AAA when purchasing your Disney package through them. The AAA stores and dining discounts were only at Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure. Even they didn't really "advertise" the discount, but all of the CSRs seemed to know exactly what to do when I requested the AAA discount from them (usually, it involved entering the member number into their terminal, which automatically produced the discount).

 

[afwdwfan]

As far as I know, the only AAA discounts at Disney have to do with tickets purchased through AAA when purchasing your Disney package through them. The AAA stores and dining discounts were only at Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure. Even they didn't really "advertise" the discount, but all of the CSRs seemed to know exactly what to do when I requested the AAA discount from them (usually, it involved entering the member number into their terminal, which automatically produced the discount).

Yeah, I've noticed how places that offer discounts for AAA or other organizations tend to put their association with that organization in the written member material and hope that by the time you get there, you've forgotten about it.

I've had this with my Farm Bureau membership. They used to have a deal with Verizon to get a % off of your wireless bill. I have Verizon and only found out about it when they dropped Verizon and switched to T-Mobile.