Mr. and Mrs. Potts Take a Honeymoon Holiday - Finished 8/5 Final Thoughts

[Sunstar]

Welcome to my first trip report! My husband and I went on our honeymoon to Universal Studios and Disney World in August 2011 and we had a fabulous time. I will warn everyone that we were terrible at remembering to take photos of our food. We would remember for one or two courses and that was it. So our meals will be incomplete, photo-wise.

Cast of Characters:

Me: Katie, 34, a high school teacher from Upstate New York. I’m an absolute Disney freak, so going anywhere else on my honeymoon just wasn’t an option.

DH: Kellan, 26, a college student originally from Tennessee. He had almost no exposure to Disney before he met me, but I’m quickly turning him into as big a Disney freak as I am.

Kellan and I met at Dragon*Con, the second largest science fiction, horror, fantasy convention in the US. We had so much in common and it was only six months later, he was moving up to NY to be with me. He proposed on a trip to Maine and we were married on May 1, 2011.

We had an amazing science fiction influenced wedding. You can read more about it in my PTR here.

Because of my school schedule, we couldn’t take our honeymoon right after the wedding. Our travel dates were August 16 – August 28 and we would be staying at Royal Pacific at US and Coronado Springs at WDW.

Now that you know a little about us, on with the show.

Day 1, Aug 16 - Arrival at US
Day 1 - Portofino Bay and Bice
Day 2, Aug 17 - Getting Up Early for Potterland
Day 2 - Still in Potterland
Day 2 - Potterland Details
Day 2 - The Lost Continent, Suess Landing, Marvel Super Hero Island
Day 2 - Super Heroes, Lunch and Dinos!
Day 2 - Leaving IOA and Spending Time in the Big Apple
Day 2 - Wasted Away Again in Margaritaville and an Evening at IOA
Day 3, Aug 18 - More Harry Potter and Shark Fishing
Day 3 - Old Hollywood, Meeting Superheroes and Supper at the Three Broomsticks
Day 3 - Leaving Potterland, The Cat in the Hat and Losing Stuff
Day 4, Aug 19 - Off to WDW
Day 4 - Pirates and a Royal Invitation to Lunch
Day 4 - Lunch Cont. and Dinner at The Wave
Day 4 - Finishing a Bad Meal and Extra Magic Hours
Day 5, Aug 20 - Our Lone Animal Kingdom Day
Day 5 - The Best Meal of Our Trip
Day 6, Aug 21 - Breakfast with Pooh Bear and a Magic Kingdom morning
Day 6 - Dinner at 50s Prime Time
Day 6 - Dinner Cont. and a Fantasmic! Night
Day 7, Aug 22 - The Undiscovered Future World Tour, Teppan Edo and Illuminations
Day 8, Aug 23 - Le Cellier, EPCOT and California Grill
Day 9, Aug 24 - Toy Story Dash!
Day 9 - Lunch at the Drive-In and a walk round the streets of America
Day 9 - Magic shots and drinking around the World (sort of)
Day 10, Aug 25 - Around the World Showcase
Day 10 - Casitas at CSR and Hanging Out at the Magic Kingdom
Day 10 - Main Street USA and Waiting for the Boat
Day 10 - Dinner at Artist Point
Day 11, Aug 26 - Kona Breakfast and Character Hunting
Day 11 - More Characters, Back to the Hotel and Dinner at Yatchsman
Day 11 - Wishes!
Day 11 - Extra Magic Hours
Day 12, Aug 27 - Our Last Full Day :-(
Day 12 - Celebrities of the Day
Day 12 - Saying Good Bye to DHS
Day 12 - Wandering Around Epcot
Day 12 - Waiting for Dinner at Akershus and Saying Good Bye to Epcot
Day 13, Aug 28 - Last Day Going to the Magic Kingdom
Day 13 - Saying Good-bye to WDW
Final Thoughts

 

[Sunstar]

We got a great deal on a direct JetBlue flight out of Syracuse, which is about an hour and fifteen minutes from our house. My dad spent the night before with us so he could pick up our babies (the cats) and drive us to the airport. Our flight left at 6:35 am and we got up in plenty of time, but I didn’t plan for dad needing to stop and get coffee at the world’s slowest Dunkin’ Donuts. This meant that the whole way to Syracuse I was freaking out because we were going to get there with far less than the recommended two hours. By the time we got to the airport, we had 45 minutes until our flight left. Syracuse is a small airport so this shouldn’t have been a problem. (Shouldn’t being the operative word there.)

We checked in, prepared to pay the extra bag fee, when the lady at the desk asked us if we would be willing to switch to an emergency exit row. There was a family with small children trying to get on our flight and the only other seats together were ours. We were fine with an exit row and said yes. The lady was so grateful, she waved our extra bag fee. Apparently, they’d asked the last couple of people to switch seats and they had said no. Weird.

We run up the stairs to security and hit the longest line I’ve ever seen at Syracuse airport. At this point, our flight is starting to board and I am going nuts. If there is one thing I hate more than anything else, it’s being late. I actually go into mini-panic attack mode if I think I’m going to be late to something. And my husband always gets the full pat down search at airport security! I’m sure we’re going to miss our flight.

We finally get up to the scanners and go through, me first. I get through the metal detector no problem, same for DH. Then our bags go through the scanner. My bag comes through and the TSA guy indicates to someone it needs to be hand checked. Then Kellan’s bag goes through and gets the same call. I can see our gate from here and people going through it. The agent who checks our bags as we’re putting on shoes and stuff back in our pockets is super nice, commenting on our just married shirts and Kellan’s groom ears baseball cap. He finished Kellan’s bag first and told him to go run to the gate and tell them I was on my way. That was nice of him, since a lot of TSA agents would have made him wait until he finished both bags. As soon as he finished my bag, he wished me a happy honeymoon and told me to run. I grabbed it and booked to the gate. They were still in the second boarding group so we were fine. I got on the plane, handed the flight attendant the two bags of Dove chocolates we bought for them and found Kellan about halfway back. We were seated next to a guy who was already sleeping. I climbed into the middle seat, got out my headphones and a book and got settled.

Because of all the rushing and fussing that morning, I completely forgot to take a “yay! We’re going to Disney World!” photo once we got on the plane. Instead, Kellan and I staged one on the flight home. So here is the staged photo:

I think we got the happy face down.

JetBlue has become one of my new favorite airlines. I love the DirecTV at each seat (we were spending the summer cable-free so this was a treat) and the nice snacks. They give you actual snacks like bags of chips or packages of cookies to choose from, not just little bags of pretzels, and you can ask for seconds if you want. All the flight attendants came by to say thank you for the chocolates and they told us they shared them with the cockpit crew as well.

We arrived in MCO about ten minutes earlier than our 10 am arrival time. I had hired Ed Korgan’s car service to drive us to Universal’s Royal Pacific. Ed called while we were still taxiing, wondering if we’d arrived yet, which was weird since we were early. I called him back once we were in the terminal and we met up downstairs by baggage.

The first ride of the trip! (Sorry for the blurry image)

See the dark clouds? These will be a common theme on this trip.

That’s Ed waiting for us by the pillar.

Our bag arrived quickly and we were off to Ed’s Ford Expedition. He was very nice, especially once he found out Kellan is from Tennessee and a HUGE Elvis fan. Apparently, he wrote a book about Elvis that Kellan had read, so they had lots to talk about.

On the way to the Royal Pacific, we stopped at a Publix. It was my first time in one and I was really excited. I love grocery stores and I’ve always wanted to see what Publix looked like. It was very nice and reminded me a lot of the Stop and Shop chain in the Northeast. The best part was they sold wine there! We found our favorite sparkling wine, Verdi, which is really hard to find in our part of NY. We bought a lot of it, and a ton of snacks and breakfast foods for our room. After we loaded up the SUV, it was off to Universal Studios.

My first Publix – every bit as nice as I expected.

Our first view of IOA. Funny thing, I’m pretty sure this is the backside of Royal Pacific and that our room is in this photo.

The Royal Pacific is a gorgeous hotel. The entryway is this big covered bridge over a rainforest-like stream. We left all our bags with bell services and checked in. The young man who checked us in congratulated us on our wedding (he noticed the bride/groom shirts too) and asked us to wait a few moments. He disappeared and when he came back, he said that we had been upgraded to a king suite for our honeymoon! We were so excited! Our room wasn’t ready yet, so we grabbed out pool bags and headed to the fitness center to get changed.

The plan was to spend the first day hanging out by the pool. Their pool was nice, but as we discovered, like swimming in bathwater because it was so warm. The nice thing was the little extras you got while there though. Attendants would come around with cold fruit skewers, ice pops, samples of smoothies and chilled towels. There were also containers of citrus water around the pool, which was great to keep hydrated.

Despite dark clouds when we arrived, it turned out to be a lovely day. For most of it.

These families of ducks would come waddling through the pool area and then just swim right through the pool. It didn’t really phase anyone and most of the people left the ducks alone.

We had hot dogs from the pool bar for lunch. They were good, but nothing special. I had been slowly developing a headache as the morning went on and I thought it was due to hunger, but it didn’t go away after I ate. Our Excedrin was in our luggage at bell services. Kellan offered to go get it for me. When he came back, he also had our room keys so we packed up and went to find our room. We were in tower three, room 3501. Our room was lovely!

There was good-sized entryway, where we stored our suitcases and shoes.

To the right was the sink with lots of counter space. I also loved that those lights were on a dimmer switch. The turndown service would put the lights on real low for when we returned. The bathroom was to the right of the sink area.

Straight ahead from the entryway was the living room with a big desk, a couch, chair, coffee table and entertainment center.

The bedroom was through a door on the left side of the living room. We had a huge king bed. The bedroom also had a small table and two chairs, an easy chair and a big dresser. Both rooms had flat screen LCD TVs. There was also a Keurig machine, with coffee, tea and hot cocoa. This was great in the mornings. I would get up, start a cup of tea for me, shower and then make coffee for Kellan, while he showered.

The view from our room.

Continued in next post...

 

[Sunstar]

Once we got our bags and settled in, I took some headache medicine and laid down for a nap. We had a 6:30 reservation at Bice at Portofino Bay and I wanted to enjoy our first meal on our honeymoon. I had made the ressie on Opentable.com and had found a $25 gift certificate at Restaurant.com for $2.50! We had also found coupons online for a free glass of wine with an entrée. We woke up from our naps, showered and put on our fancy clothes for our dinner. One of the things we really liked about Universal was how close by everything is.

Us on the taxi. Don’t know what’s going on with my wonky smile in this pic.

Ambiance at the water taxi dock

View of the dock from the water taxi

The volleyball beach

The foot path from Royal Pacific to CityWalk

The water taxi system was convenient and quick. We very rarely had to wait more than a few moments for a boat. This evening, as we waited, it started to sprinkle. This was a little worrying, since I was wearing a white strapless dress. Sure enough, when we got to the CityWalk stop, the captain informed us they were suspending water taxis due to thunder and lightning. There was a bus shuttle we could have taken, but there were also peddle cabs and we grabbed one of those. We’ve taken these in NYC before and they're always fun. The rain picked up as we rode along.

The path to the Hard Rock Hotel

Portofino Bay Hotel

By the time we got to Portofino Bay, it was raining pretty steadily and we dashed for the nearest door. We were earlier than we expected so we went to the restaurant to see if they had an earlier reservation for us. They weren’t open yet, but the hostess did find us an earlier time and then we went to wander around. This hotel is really pretty. I love the whole Italian motif and all the interesting little corridors and places to sit. We asked a passerby to take a photo of us on one of the little benches. We also found a store, where I bought a poncho (since I left mine in the room). While we waited for our reservation time, we relaxed in the lobby. They were offering a complementary drink that was like a fizzy, minty lemonade with basil. It was very tasty.

The hallway outside the hotel gift shop, where I purchased the most flattering blue poncho.

An interior courtyard

A kitty mosaic

An exterior courtyard

I bet an outdoor wedding would be gorgeous here.

Looking out across the lagoon

The hallways were covered with this gorgeous murals. That’s Kellan’s Italian pose.

Restaurant entryway

The main dining room.

After relaxing for a bit, we wandered back to the restaurant. We were the first ones seated. The main dining room is very spacious looking, with a high ceiling and white walls. Our waiter, Victor, took our drink orders and told us the specials. The free wine was, as expected, pretty terrible. Actually, it wasn’t bad quality; it was just really dry and I don’t care for dry wine.

How terrible was the wine Kellan?

Kellan started eating the red pepper spread before I could get a photo of it.

We were brought a basket of different types of breads and a trio of dips. The breads were chibatta, focaccia and French and the spreads were a red pepper ricotta, an olive oil with herbs and a horseradish spread.

I ordered pappardelle al telefono con pomodoro, mozzarella e basilico, which was pappardelle with mozzarella cheese, fresh basil in a tomato cream sauce. I loved it. The pasta was fresh pasta and the cream sauce was silky and delicious.

Kellan ordered spaghetti chitarra de Bolognese, which he liked a lot. It was rich and meaty, just like it should be.

All in all, dinner at Bice was very good. It was a little strange because the restaurant never really filled up, despite being there at dinnertime. We felt very much like we were alone and not in a good way.

Bice:
Server: Victor
Pappardelle Teleforno $22
Spaghetti Chitarra $25
Total $47
Minus $25 Restaurant.com certificate
New Total (with tax, tip and 18% service fee) $35

Anyway, when we left the restaurant, it was sprinkling again (no surprise there) so I donned my new poncho and we took the water taxi back to CityWalk. We wanted to wander around and see what was there, since we had no real plans for the day.

Everyone looks great in a blue poncho!

We found Katie’s Candy Shop and I took a picture with the sign (you don’t see my name that often). We also poked around in Hart and Huntington Tattoo Co., Fresh Produce (a woman’s clothing shop), The Endangered Species store (sort of like the gift shop of Rainforest Café) and The Universal Studio Store, looking for a lanyard for my husband. When the girl at the counter found out it was our honeymoon, she gave it to him for free!

We decided to walk back to our hotel and took the lovely, winding path. It was cool being that close to the road, but feeling quiet secluded. The walk was just long enough and we cut through the pool once we got to the hotel. I’m so glad we did! We got there just in time to see the torchlighting ceremony, which is very neat. They had a drummer, an amazing hula dancer and a fire twirler. The whole thing took about 15 minutes where we asked for blessings from the fire gods and watched the dancer before they lit the torches. When it was over, we went up to our room and changed into our suits for another dip, hoping the pool would feel cooler now that it was dusk. No luck. The pool was as unrefreshing as earlier. I know it was August in Florida, but I’ve been here during this time of year many times and been swimming. The pools were never this warm before. The ones at Coronado Springs were just as bad.

After about 15 minutes, we decided to call it a day and head back to the room for the night.

 

[centipede]

I'm so glad you actually got around to this. I was scared you decided not to do a TR!

First, the Han and Leia pic is probably the greatest wedding picture I have ever seen. Ever. Me and the fiance are are always giving the "I know" response, so anything with those two makes me happy/giggly.

These Universal pics are amazing and kinda making me regret that I didn't schedule a day or two there. Eh, maybe I can con him into taking me there for our first anniversary.

Love the dress you wore to dinner! The food looks amazing. I actually had to stop and make a snack, mid-read. Also, I think I make that exact face when I drink dry wine too

My only question...what is a "peddle car"? I keep imagining people truckin' around all Flintstones style.

Looking forward to more!

 

[Sunstar]

I'm so glad you actually got around to this. I was scared you decided not to do a TR!

First, the Han and Leia pic is probably the greatest wedding picture I have ever seen. Ever. Me and the fiance are are always giving the "I know" response, so anything with those two makes me happy/giggly.

These Universal pics are amazing and kinda making me regret that I didn't schedule a day or two there. Eh, maybe I can con him into taking me there for our first anniversary.

Love the dress you wore to dinner! The food looks amazing. I actually had to stop and make a snack, mid-read. Also, I think I make that exact face when I drink dry wine too

My only question...what is a "peddle car"? I keep imagining people truckin' around all Flintstones style.

Looking forward to more!

Funny story, we had our wedding bands engraved, but didn't tell the other what we put until the wedding. When we went to look at what we had engraved, we both engraved "I know" on the other's band.

Being big Harry Potter fans, there was no way we could go down there and not stop at IOA. Originally, I had planned a one day break from WDW, but when free dining came around and I had to cancel our Memorial Day mini-moon, we were able to stay at US for a few days. I so recommend it too, because of the Fast Pass system.

The food at Bice was delicious, but very expensive. If you can find a restaurant.com gift certificate, it's worth it. Though we did feel a little out of place for some reason. I can't put my finger on why though.

Peddle cabs are like rickshaws, only with a person on a bike pulling the cart instead of a person running. They can be a lot of fun, and we're always amazed at how easily the driver can pull the two of us!

 

[VroomVroomLightning]

I am loving your Trip Report so far! I read your PTR as a lurker but decided I would pipe in here! My family is an all out Disney family but this September we plan on going to Universal too! I can't wait to read more!

 

[Sunstar]

Day 2: 8/17

The bed in our room was comfortable, but strange. It was almost like there was a mattress topper that was too small for the bed and we kept moving it around. It was comfy though. The pillows, however, were not comfortable.

We were up early because, as on-site hotel guests, we could get into WWoHP an hour early and we wanted to take advantage of it. We grabbed breakfast in our room and were off, taking the walking path.


The IOA Lighthouse at 6:45 am.




Empty CityWalk is almost as good as empty Magic Kingdom.



Based on advice from the DIS, we planned to be in line an hour before we could get in. When we got there, we were the first ones in line! Both of us were psyched.






The moon was still up when we got to IOA.

Lines slowly formed behind us and we were let in at 8 am exactly (IOA opened at 9am). There were several kids who started running, only to be yelled at by IOA staff to walk. They would walk quickly until they were out of sight of a team member, then start running again. We kept up a quick pace, taking the shortcut next to Green Eggs and Ham.


As you can see, we were at the head of the pack. That girl up front was power walking like no one’s business!


There it is!

Both of us stopped dead when we stepped inside. It was amazing! Neither of us could get over how much it looked like the movie! Very cool.




The snow of the rooftops didn’t make us feel any cooler, unfortunately.


Who’s in Potterland? We are!

We quickly gathered ourselves and kept going to Ollivander’s. We were the second family in line. The show was cute. The wizard picked the first little girl in line.



Afterwards, we did browse through the wand shop and Dervish and Banges.


The Monster Book of Monsters (sorry about the fuzziness)


The Quaffle Control Master Cup


The Triwizard Tournament Cup


Different makes of flying brooms


Leaving through the Owlery


Various performances by Hogwarts, Beaubatons and Durmstrang students happen here


Hogwarts Castle

We bought some post cards to send to some of our Harry Potter fan friends too. As soon as we were done, we headed to Hogwarts. We caught up with the line in the greenhouse. This is one of the most interesting queues I’ve ever seen in a theme park ride. There is so much to look at and it’s all so wonderfully made.


The Mirror of Eirsed


The outside of the greenhouse (ignore the lady putting her hair up)


Inside the greenhouse




Mandrake roots

Continued in next post...

 

[Sunstar]

Doors to the castle


Statue of the architect of Hogwarts


Statue of the first headmaster of Hogwarts


The house points hourglasses

I took a ton of pics with the low light setting on my camera and some of the props (like the house points hourglasses) look better in the pics because it is dark in the castle.


The griffon leading to Dumbledore’s office


Map of Hogwarts tapestry


Portrait Gallery


Dumbledore’s Pensive


Dumbledore’s Office


Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom


Dragon skeleton in DADA classroom


DADA Classroom


The Sorting Hat

There was no one manning the test chair in the queue at that hour of the morning so Kellan, who is a big guy (very tall and broad shouldered), just came with me. We didn’t know if he was going to be able to ride, even with the modified seats. We had talked about it, though, and he had said he wanted me to ride it, even if he couldn’t. We hopped on and I got buckled in. Kellan, unfortunately, wasn’t able to ride, even with the team member pushing on his restraint. He went out to the gift shop to wait for me and I rode.

This ride is so cool. It’s innovative and surprising. The movement from filmed scenes to actual sets is flawless and the effects were well done. I felt a tiny bit nauseous when I got off, but it quickly passed. I would definitely not be able to ride more than once though without getting sick. I found Kellan in the gift shop, taking pictures of everything. He wanted to know all about it and we talked about coming back after he lost some weight so he could try again. Good incentive as far as I’m concerned. Lol.


You exit the ride through Filch’s Emporium of Confistcated Goods

After FJ, we got in line for Flight of the Hippogriff. I’d ridden this years ago when it was Flight of the Unicorn and I remember liking it. It’s now rethemed around Hagrid’s Hut. I knew to ask for separate cars for the two of us and the team member put me with a little girl. Kellan sat behind us. This was the first roller coster Kellan has been on since the Ninja was the new ride at Six Flags over Georgia (a very long time ago). He enjoyed it immensely and I liked it more than I remembered. It was also a little more intense that I remembered it being.


Flight of the Hippogriff


View of the backside of the castle


Hippogriff queue


Hagrid’s hut


Buckbeak

We decided to get a Butterbeer ($3.99, without the souvenir cup) after riding the Hippogriff. Dragon Challenge was closed this morning. We got a frozen one and it was so good! Kellan didn’t like the topping, but I did. As we stood next to the snowman drinking our treat, we watching the line for FJ grow. Team members shouted to people getting in line, telling them which line to get in (bags or no bags) and then laughing as people ignored them and got in the wrong line. We saw the same thing when we had ridden that morning. The team member near the door kept having to chase down women, especially, who kept going past the locker area with purses and backpacks.


The butterbeer cart near FJ. This cart’s line was often much shorter than the one when you first enter Hogsmead.


Pumpkin juice (We didn’t try any, because I don’t care for pumpkin)


Roofline of the buildings




Butterbeer!


Enjoying our frosty treat

 

[Sunstar]

I am loving your Trip Report so far! I read your PTR as a lurker but decided I would pipe in here! My family is an all out Disney family but this September we plan on going to Universal too! I can't wait to read more!

Are you staying on property at US? If so, take advantage of the early entry and the Fast Pass system. Both are fantastic. If you're any kind of HP fan, you'll love WWoHP. It's absolutely like stepping into the books and movies. Really fantastic.

 

[Sunstar]

The Gryffindor snowman


Hogsmead

After our butterbeer, we poked our heads into The Hog’s Head and wandered through Honeyduke’s and Zonko’s. We stopped to get our pics with the train conductor and the Hogwart’s Express before heading out of Hogsmeade.

The details in the shop windows puts even Disney theming to shame.











Inside Schrivenshaft’s Quill Shop


Hermione’s dress in the window of Gladrag’s




The entrance to the restrooms. When you went into the ladies room, Moaning Myrtle talked to you.

The castle from the balcony at the Hog’s Head

The Hog’s Head at the Hog’s Head pub

Three Broomsticks

Inside Honeyduke’s Sweets

Zonko’s Joke Shop

Extendable Ears – Watch what you say in this corridor!

Wizard’s Chess

Pigmy Puffs

Continued in next post...

 

[Sunstar]

The outside of the Owlery

Dragon’s Challenge wasn’t open when we were there, but I was able to ride it later

On our way out, I had my photo taken with the train conductor

Kellan and the Hogwarts’ Express

We decided to wander through The Lost Continent and see what time the Poseidon show was.

We were early and went back to a mister fan they had set up near the Mystic Fountain. This section was still fairly empty. There was a teenage girl sitting on the edge of the fountain, playing with her cell phone. After a few minutes, the fountain came to life and started spraying water from everywhere, drenching the girl. She yelled and jumped to her feet, darting away from the water. As quickly as it happened, the water disappeared. The girl’s parents turned up another minute later and it was obvious she was having a hard time explaining what happened, since the fountain was pretty much dry already. Kellan and I couldn’t stop laughing and we had to walk away.

Watch where you sit in the Lost Continent!

There was going to be a show at 9:15 and it was close to that time so we decided to go in, but not before stopping for some cool pics of the outside area.

It’s like being on the Island from Lost!

Kellan, does this foot only have four toes?

A gift shop of some sort

More giant feet! They’re everywhere!

Entrance for the ride/show. It wasn’t exactly packed.

Poseidon’s Fury is an interesting show. It’s a walk through experience with some cool special effects. I had tried to go on it on two previous trips but the effects always broke down halfway through. This was the first time I’d seen it all the way through.

I will say that The Lost Continent really needs a new ride or something. It’s a cool looking section of the park, but it was seriously neutered by Potterland taking the dragon coasters. There needs to be something added to make this land more than just a quick walk through or some place to eat.

Next was Suess Landing. Kellan didn’t grow up reading Dr. Suess stories so the whole land was new to him and it was fun to explain things like the Street of the Lifted Lorax and watch his reaction to different stories.

Dr. Suess has a special place in my heart because I attended college in Springfield, MA, which is where Dr. Suess lived. I’ve been on the actual Mulberry Street from To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street.

]

We rode the High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride. I got some nice pics from the Trolley Train.

Jurassic Park and Hogwarts

Lost Continent and Hogwarts

The Cat in the Hat was out when we got off the Trolley. We hopped on his ride, which Kellan loved and then crossed over to Marvel Super Hero Island.

We saw these guys on our way to Marvel Island. Universal loves their stilt performers.

Once we entered Marvel Island, we walked onto Spider-Man. Now, when I say walk on, there was a 60 minute wait, but because we stayed on-site, we had Front of the Line pass. For anyone not familiar with US’s Express Pass, it’s not like Fast Pass. You show your room key to the team member at the start of the queue and you go up a special line to literally the front of the line. We almost never waited for a ride at US, except for the rides that didn’t take Express Pass, like Forbidden Journey and the Pteradon Flyers at IOA, and Rip, Ride, Rockit at US.

I couldn’t wait for Kellan to experience the Super Hero Island, because we’re such comic book fans. He especially loves Spider-Man. I know the themeing isn’t the greatest. (Huge 1990s era Marvel characters? Not the most creative.) But we sat down to have a snack and the more we looked around, the more little, hidden nods to things in comics did we notice. The average, non-comic geek person wouldn’t pick up on a lot of them, which makes the décor seem cheap.

He really liked Spider-Man and we ran around to ride it a second time. When we came out the second time, we saw Dr. Doom and the Green Goblin, just hanging out on the street. We went over and I took pictures with them, since Kellan still hadn’t really met any characters yet and was kind of leery of them.

Continued in next post...

 

[Sunstar]

The Green Goblin was particularly taken with my hair, since it matched the purple in his costume.

We also had our photo taken with Spider-Man. It was a special green screen that looked like we were high over New York City when it was printed, but our copy just has the green screen.

Kellan wanted to try and ride Dr. Doom’s Fear Fall, but he was too tall to get under the restrain system on the test seat. I don’t know if this was the same on the ride, but he didn’t want to take the chance.

I did finally get him to take a photo in the Fantastic 4’s flying car, the Fantasticar (I kid you not, this is the name of the thing).

By now, we had killed enough time to head back to Mythos. So back across Port of Entry and into Suess Landing once more.

Once we got there, we checked in and were able to wait in the lobby until they called us, about five minutes.

We were seated in a small room near the patio.

The light fixtures in the ladies’ room. I think I need these in my bathroom.

This restaurant has great atmosphere. I love the rock sculptures and the stream that winds through the main room. It’s always dark and cool in there too. I ordered an iced tea and Kellan ordered a Coke. To eat, Kellan had the Mythos Burger, without cheese. He said it was very good. I had the risotto of the day, which was tomato, asperagus and spinach with red wine braised beef tips. It was very good, exactly how I like risotto. I couldn’t find the receipt for this meal.

After we ate we went out the back way and I took this photo of the outside of the stream that runs through the restaurant.

I also got this one of the Hulk Coaster.

We decided to go to Jurassic Park next.

Insert John Williams’ music here.

Go away dinosaur! You don’t bother me!

Until WWoHP came along, I thought Jurassic Park was the best themed area of IOA. The visitor’s center is exactly like the movie and the River Adventure is really fun.

We went to the visitor’s center first.

We tried to make it a thing to try on all the silly hats we could find on the trip. This was the first one.

What I would look like as a truly terrifying dinosaur

O hai thar!

Then it was on to the River Adventure! We zipped through the express pass line and hopped in a boat after making sure all our valuables were in ziplock bags.

The only problem with this ride is how warm the first part is. There needs to be more misters or squirt you with water more often. By the time we got into the building, we were really uncomfortable. The plunge after the T-Rex felt fantastic, although we didn’t get as wet as I remember. Once off the River Adventure, we decided, since we were already wet, we’d go try out some of the Toon Lagoon rides.

First up was Popeye and Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges. This is a fun river raft ride. It’s nice and long and you get soaked.

Popeye’s is a great ride on a hot day. You get soaked!

We felt much better and decided to try out Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls. This was probably the longest express pass line we waited in. We were at the door right before the loading area when the line stopped. We waited and waited and finally someone came over the intercom and said that the ride had been shut down due to a storm in the area. Most people left, but we thought we’d hang out and see if it passed quickly as they sometimes do. The team member at the door was really nice, chatting about the ride and the park and stuff. He told us that they are required to shut down any outdoor or water ride whenever a storm is located within 30 miles of the parks. Finally, after about fifteen minutes, someone dug out their smart phone and checked the weather. The storm was still heading toward us. It hadn’t even gotten here yet.

This is a big problem with Universal, especially Islands of Adventure. So many of the rides are outside that even a day with a chance of rain is dicey there. My dad and I used to take a day from our Disney trips and go over to US (mom doesn’t like thrill rides, so she hangs at WDW), but the last two trips we took there were spoiled by rain. Nearly everything would close and there would be nothing for us to do. If you have a couple days and/or a two park pass, it’s less of an issue, but for one day visitors, IOA can be quite a challenge in the rainy season.

Continued in next post...

 

[Sunstar]

We left Dudley and walked back through Jurassic Park. We wanted to see the back entrance of Hogsmead.

Ah! Dinosaur!

Once we got through the opposite side of Potterland, I stopped and took a photo of the sign.

And a better shot of Hogsmead than the one I had taken that morning.

Kellan and I decided to go back to the hotel and have a rest until our dinner at Margaritaville. We were going to be going back to IOA that evening to see what WWoHP looked like at dusk, which I’ve heard is the best time for it.

Well, we got back to the room, showered and changed clothes and actually felt like going back out. So we decided to head to US and just explore a little.

The Hard Rock side of the CityWalk

Everyone who comes here has to have one of these, right?

The last time I’d been here was in 1994, before IOA was open and it was so weird to see that almost none of the rides I remember were still here. Disaster! was just the subway part and was called Earthquake : The Big One. E.T., was there and Jaws was there, although the entrance to Jaws was different. The only show that was there was the horror makeup show and the Betelgeuse Review. Hitchcock, the Nickelodeon Studios, Ghostbusters, Kongfrontation and Back to the Future are all gone or something else now.

This looks familiar though.

Outside where the Nick Studios and Jimmy Nuetron ride used to be.

It’s alive! It’s ali-wait, wrong movie.

We headed into the New York City area, which is surreal since I’ve been to the real New York City lots of times. It’s like the city, but not. Very surreal.

The illusion is somewhat ruined now by the Rip, Ride, Rockit swooping down in front of the public library.

We rode Twister (or stood through Twister), which was fun, but not as intense as they make it seem in the loading area. Seriously, they made it sound like we were going to get as wet as we did on Popeye’s and possibly be blown away by the strength of the winds.

Taxi!

The Museum of Antiquities, aka The Revenge of the Mummy.

We decided to try The Revenge of the Mummy. Kellan was worried, because he hadn’t been able to fit onto Dragon Challenge, Dr. Doom’s Fear Fall or The Hulk Coaster and he was feeling quite down about himself. We tried the test seats outside the ride and he fit fine so in we went. We rode it and he loved it. I did too. It was such a good ride. It reminds me a lot of the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland.

Not quite a silly hat, but I found it in the gift shop of The Mummy.

Kellan found one too!

We looked up and down all the little side streets, finding Adrienne’s Pet Shop (weird since Rocky was set in Philladelphia), Genco’s Imports and The Hudson Street Home for Girls. Bonus points if you know which two movies those last two came from!

The Blues Brothers were just finishing up their set as we came along.

They had little fake kitties in the window and everything.

Where we’re going, we don’t need roads!

Look at the time! Oh, wait…

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[Sunstar]

I’m gonna make ‘im an offer he can’t refuse.

Kellan just though this was a good place to be creepy.

It’s a hard knock life, for us…

We walked through San Francisco, but didn’t really take as many photos. I guess because I don’t have a frame of reference for the landmarks, it wasn’t quite as interesting for me. Lol. After SF, we ended up in Amity.

Amity, where every day is Fourth of July.

The Hemisphere Dancer, Jimmy Buffet’s own seaplane

Kellan is a big Jimmy Buffet fan so I knew we would want to eat at Margaritaville. The atmosphere is cool and very what you would think of when you think of Jimmy Buffet. There were people on stilts walking around making balloon animals for kids, which was fun to watch. I ordered a margarita, in honor of the location and Kellan had a Dr. Pepper.

My margarita and my husband

For food, Kellan ordered the buffalo chicken sandwich, which is a “chicken breast breaded and fried, tossed with our buffalo wing sauce and topped with lettuce and bleu cheese dressing on a toasted bun” (from the Margaritaville menu) without the dressing. He says it was good, but very large and pleasantly spicy. I had the shrimp scampi over pasta, which I can’t find on their menu anymore. It was good, not great, kind of like something you’d get at any other chain restaurant.

At the end of our meal, our waiter brought out a sundae with a candle in it to celebrate our honeymoon! Our first free dessert and we weren’t even wearing the dessert magnets yet. Lol. No receipt for this meal either.

After dinner, we decided to go back to IOA to check out WWoHP at night. Lots of people said it looks better at night and there are fewer crowds.

Well, they’re right, it looks awesome at night, but we didn’t find fewer crowds. If anything, it was just as crowded as it was during the day. I got to ride the Dragon Challenge and I did both sides. It was way rougher than I remember (from when it was Dueling Dragons) and I hate that they don’t launch you at the same time anymore. Sorry my queue photos are a little fuzzy. I was walking and shooting at the same time.

The castle at night is so pretty!

Kellan watched the Frog Chorus and the Beauxbatton and Durmstrang students’ demonstrations while I rode.

Then we went over to the Hulk Coaster so I could ride that and Kellan rode Strom Force (that ride is guaranteed to make me sick.) After that, we decided to check out the shops on the way out and call it a night. I bought a Rememberall, a glass jar of sweets from Honeyduke’s and a Time-Turner keychain. Kellan got Dumbledore’s wand.

I wore my pedometer every day we were here and got a total of steps each day. Steps taken: 30,263

 

[centipede]

Yay! I finally got to read more of your report. I've been trying to read it at work. I work way out in the boonies and the only thing I have access to is dial-up . I could read, but only half of the pictures would load.

Seeing all of the Potter pictures is killing me. I talked to my tall person and he said that he is totally up for going, but he wants to at least watch the movies first. He has only seen half of the first movie, so he would be completely lost. To top that off, my soon to be mother in-law and sister in-laws are going two days before the wedding and I have to work. One day...

I have always wanted to try Margaritaville. Unfortunately every time we are at City Walk we're there for something like Halloween Horror Nights and nobody wants to stop. I'm lucky if I'm allowed bathroom breaks

Can't wait for the next update. Now I have to pry myself away from theDis and go work on wedding crafts. I only have two weeks and I am drowning in paper flowers and mason jars!

 

[Sunstar]

I have always wanted to try Margaritaville. Unfortunately every time we are at City Walk we're there for something like Halloween Horror Nights and nobody wants to stop. I'm lucky if I'm allowed bathroom breaks

Can't wait for the next update. Now I have to pry myself away from theDis and go work on wedding crafts. I only have two weeks and I am drowning in paper flowers and mason jars!

I have to say I was kind of disappointed with Margaritaville. Maybe I just didn't have the right thing, but my food wasn't as good as my local Olive Garden. The margarita was good, but I don't know if I would care to go there again.

You posted this a while ago so I imagine you are even closer to your big day, if not there already. Congrats! Enjoy it, don't let anyone or anything bother you, because no one will notice that the lanterns are red and not purple (long story). Have a wonderful day!

 

[Sunstar]

I haven't forgotten this TR. I promise! My husband went to visit his family in Tennessee and took the laptop, which had the trip report on it. But I've got it back now and I'll be posting more soon.

 

[Armando625]

Hey Sunstar when I've started to this thread I just thought that you must enjoyed with your husband in that trip thereafter I realize that you guys got a lot of fun a one more interesting thing there was that so many useful things there are for those couple whose about to make this kinda trips.

 

[Sunstar]

Day 3 8/18

We decided we were going to do early entry to WWoHP again and then head over to US. We were first at the turnstiles again. This time I knew to walk as fast as possible straight to Ollivander’s and Kellan walked at a more sedate pace, catching up with me there.

We were second in line (not sure how, since I was literally the second person in this section of the park and the boy in front of me went to FJ) behind a small family. When they let us in, the first person in line was again chosen for the show. I would say, based on this, that at least for that first show, the person chosen is simply the first one in line. At least, for those two days it was.

I love the Ollivander’s sign.

Some of the wands on display in the shop.

I believe this wand chose the little girl.

Wands are literally everywhere!

The wandmaster

Kellan decided to try the test seat for FJ. The girl working the start of the line came over and gave him the thumbs up. She said he’d be able to ride the modified seat without trouble, so in we went. I know Kellan was excited, but also worried that she might be wrong. When we got to the second test seat, Kellan was pulled out and asked to try the second test seat. This time, he couldn’t get the yellow at all. We told the guy that he’d gotten the yellow easily outside and he said that seat is configured wrong and you don’t get a correct reading. This ticked Kellan off a bit (and me too), but he insisted I ride again. During this ride, the ride stopped just before we reentered Hogwarts with us in a slightly reclined position. We were stuck that way for about five minutes. I felt bad for the people in the car to the left of us, because they were stuck flat on their backs.

Kellan took some more photos of cool stuff in the gift shop while I rode.

Once the ride restarted, I joined Kellan in the gift shop and we decided we were ready to go over to US. We grabbed another butterbeer for the walk and headed out. It was crazy to be walking out while everyone else was coming in. Lol.

US had been open for about 15 minutes. I knew I wanted to ride Rip, Ride, Rockit, but we didn’t know if Kellan would be able to. He tried the test seat and the team member said he wouldn’t fit. I was halfway up the stairs to the loading area when the ride broke down. Apparently, this is a very common thing with RRR. After about five minutes, people started to leave. It was another ten minutes and the ride started running again. There was a specific train they had to take off the tracks and that’s why the ride stopped. Before I knew it, I was strapped in and choosing my music. One of the cool things about this ride is you can choose your own soundtrack from a ton of different selections. I picked Paralyzer by Finger Eleven. The ride itself was good, but I don’t think I would ride again. There was something about it that made me feel a little sick when I was done. By the time I found him, Kellan was annoyed that he hadn’t been able to ride anything yet that morning and had basically spent the morning sitting around waiting for me. We decided to go to the Amity section of US to ride Jaws.

Definitely going to need a bigger boat.

We're just some fisherman off on a pleasure cruise through shark-infested waters...

Is that the shark? Nope.

Oh, maybe that's it over there! No luck again.

This ride was here in 1994, but it was so glitchy, it was rarely open and we didn’t get the chance to ride it. This time we walked right on, thanks to express pass and before we knew it, we were battling the giant shark, which comes and goes so quickly you barely get to see it. This ride was, as DH said, kind of lame, but it was cool to be able to ride it before it closed.

We kept wandering around the lagoon and headed to Men In Black, which is a lot like Buzz Lightyear’s Space Rangers. We both had trouble with the targeting system and neither of us scored well. The ride was nicely themed though and you felt like you were wandering through the MIB headquarters in the queue.

After MIB, it was off to The Simpsons. Now, this ride used to be Back to the Future and it’s a motion simulator similar to Star Tours, but rough like Body Wars used to be. Well, that part hasn’t changed. The Simpsons ride, while cute, made both of us feel sick to our stomachs.

We got a Coke from the Kwik-E-Mart and ambled over to E.T., which I remember loving. We got in the queue and gave the team member our names. Kellan had a lot of trouble and even after he spelled for the woman, his name still wasn’t right at the end.

One of the cool things I remember from my first visit to US was seeing the Bates Motel and House from Psycho. They had built it for Psycho IV, which was filmed in Orlando. Being big horror movie fans, I knew it was something Kellan would like to see. Well, to my surprise, in the area I remember the house being was a giant kids playground. I asked the woman at the entrance of the playground about the house and she looked at me like I had two heads. I told her about coming in 1994 and how the house was right on the other side of where the playground was. She claimed to have worked there since the park opened and that there was never a Bates House or Motel at the park and was I sure it was the California park. I assured her that it was the Orlando one, since I’d never been to the California one. I thanked her and went back to my husband, wondering if I’d imagined it. I even called my dad and he also remembered it and found pictures we’d taken of it. Strange.

Continued in next post...

 

[Sunstar]

One of the cars from Fast and Furious. There were several there, but this was the only cool one.

Lucy and Desi greeting people in old Hollywood

The next stop for us was going to be the Terminator 2: 3-D show. This opened just a couple years after our first trip to US and I’d been wanting to see it ever since. It was good, really seamless how the actors in the theatre and the actors on screen transitioned with one another.

That was the last thing we wanted to do in US so we decided to head back to the hotel. I know we had lunch in there somewhere, but neither of us can remember where.

Back at the hotel, we had a nap and some snacks before showering and heading back to IOA. I really wanted to meet the Marvel Super Heroes. We got there with about twenty minutes to spare, got a fruit cup from the snack counter across from the giant Magneto cutout and sat on the curb to wait. It took only a few bites to realize that the fruit had gone bad. It had a nasty sour taste. I took it back to the counter and the girl called her manager on the phone so I could get a refund. It took way too long, but I did get the refund and I went back to the curb where Kellan was sitting.

The Spider-Man ride

Something about this lady with her little baby sitting at the base of the Doc Octopus cutout really made us giggle.

Before long, the superheroes came riding out on their new trikes. Very cool.

They spread out and we got in line for Storm and Rogue. They chatted with me about where we were from and what did I do. They told me I was a real superhero because I was a teacher, which is always nice to hear.

I had my picture taken with them and we moved on to Cyclops.

Kellan had his picture with him and we moved to Wolverine’s line.

He had the least personality of all the characters out that day.

Finally, we got to Captain America. His line was quite long and the team member with him kept yelling that they were leaving in five minutes. We were next and the family in front of us was a mom and a baby in a stroller. They get to Cap, and suddenly, a whole bunch of people get up from the tables nearby. Apparently, the mom was just the placeholder for a family of like fifteen. And they all wanted individual picture and then pictures with each family group and then one with these people, and another with this group of people. After about a dozen pictures, the team member told them they would have to get to the back of the line if they wanted anymore pictures because there were lots of other people waiting. They pretended they didn’t speak English, even though the mom was yelling in English at her other kids just two seconds earlier, and kept taking photos. Finally, Cap just said thanks and turned away from them to us. The woman tried to hand him her baby and he shook his head and shook my husband’s hand and started talking to us. The family finally got the hint and wandered away. I felt bad because only a couple more families got through after us before he had to leave and if it hadn’t been for that giant family being so rude, probably more people would have gotten through. Of course, if they’d all been in line, those people probably wouldn’t have gotten through anyway.

I had no idea we were all going to salute or I wouldn’t have used the wrong hand. Lol.

We were trying to take it easy this day, so we decided to meander slowly over to WWoHP through Jurassic Park and see what the crowds at The Three Broomsticks looked like.

The Hog’s Head

We were hungry and ready for dinner. There was no line at all when we got there. I ordered the rotisserie smoked chicken dinner, which came with roast potatoes and roast corn on the cob. The chicken was delicious and the corn was as well. I found the potatoes to be tasty, but undercooked. Kellan ordered the chicken and ribs platter, which also came with potatoes and corn. He also liked the chicken, but can’t remember if he liked the ribs. He’s very picky about barbeque (since he comes from Tennessee), so my guess is he did not like them or only found them to be ok. We also ordered a butterbeer to share, a water and a chocolate berry trifle. I loved the trifle! It tasted just like our wedding cake! So yummy.

Kellan’s meal is in the foreground and mine is in the back.

The inside of Three Broomsticks

Three Broomsticks:
Frozen Butterbeer $3.99
Bottled Water $2.75
½ Chicken Plate $9.99
Chicken/Ribs Combo $13.49
Chocolate Berry Trifle $3.49
Total (with tax, no tip because it’s CS) $35.73

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