On the Floor and Out the Door!: a 17 day HalloChristmas, RunDisney, MNSSHP, HHN, MVMCP adventure! new 2/8!

[lvcourtneyy]

Hogwarts looks amazing!

It is!

Ooh I’m looking forward to dining at storybook after reading your thorough review.

Glad to hear! It was such a fun meal!

 

[ariane37]

I do love the tacos from the taco truck in the Simpsons' area!

I've wanted to try those! I rarely meet a taco I don't like

 

[kastoney]

(I'm not really sure what's happening in this gif but it's a little creepy and made me laugh hysterically)

Score on the creepy factor, though I'm pretty sure I've been to a concert or 2 where I look like that by the end of the night

hey were claiming to only speak Spanish and the poor TM was trying to fill orders and also find someone to come speak to them in Spanish but eventually they walked away laughing and said (in perfect English), it was worth a try.

Wow!!!! All of that for some beer??? Ridiculous

One of the lines they used was "This isn't Disney- I don't have to be nice to the kids" I was dying. If you're going to Universal, I definitely recommend seeing it!

Sounds like my kind of show! I love Disney, but the addition of some sarcasm and adult humor would be appreciated

Finally at 7:30, there was lightning in the area again and the call was made that the ride couldn't reopen again that day and we'd all get Ruby passes to come back another day. I felt terrible for the family in front of us with two young girls who waited it out until about 7:10 and decided to leave the line and ended up with nothing for all that time.

Wow! That is insane that they held out that long. Not sure I could have withstood a line like that but kudos to you all for getting passes for the next day. Can't wait to see what the ride is like

Steve actually agreed to pose for character photos with no arguments and we were shocked!

Wow and I actually see a slight smile too!

We aren't ones for character meals but if I had to make an exception I think it would be Artist Point. Its nice to see when Disney doesn't discount food quality for character meets and is willing to take some chances on the menu vs. just serving standard fare

I told everyone to do an evil stare for the second picture but it seems the memo was lost on the boys.

Evil stare. Engaging smile. Clearly easy to confuse the two

The whole experience, including the taste of the food, was much more enjoyable this time. I like that these "new" type of character meals exist now, where it's no low quality food and you're just paying for characters. It's also an excellent value for a one credit meal on the dining plan since it's $60 per adult, plus the alcoholic drink!

Wow, that was all a one credit meal plus alcohol!!!!!!!!!!! I thought for sure it was a signature. Go Disney!

 

[pkondz]

I can't wait to see Universal Hollywood! So much sounds the same but incredibly different all at the same time!

The Studio Tour was possibly the 2nd best part. (After Potterland.)

Exactly. I'm so over rude and entitled people in this world!

Far too many of those around.

Actually I do know lol. My mom had weird rules of things we weren't allowed to watch as kids and the Simpsons was one of them. Since I never watched it as a kid, I never did as an adult either I guess lol.

I wonder why? Maybe she thought you'd turn out like Bart.

Exactly! I want to stay here one day and not even go into the parks.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

That's Wakkie Nu Nu

If you're reading my PTR also, I apologize- I've used the same words in both places because I'm at a loss for more really.

How is everyone?

It is a scary time that I never thought I'd see in my lifetime. The most frightening thing to me is that the hospitals are running out of masks for us and we've taken to social media to ask for donations.

I hope you and your family are all safe and healthy and remain so!

Reliving memories of happier times helps, so let's head back to October.

---------------
You may (or may not) remember that we had gone to bed with plans to rope drop Hagrid's since we weren't able to ride it that day.

The hope was that we'd get a nice, restful night of sleep before this early morning.

Well.

We woke up bright and early as planned. However, we'd fallen asleep with the TV on (I can sleep anywhere but can't fall asleep without noise. Go figure). Whatever channel we were watching changed to infomercials at some point and it seems it was the SAME one all night long. And it was a very animated man selling appliances for Appliance Direct. We'd all waken up at various points throughout the night hearing it wondering what was happening lol.

At one point during the night, I attempted to turn it off but our remote stopped working somehow and I wasn't willing to get out of bed.

It was STILL. on when we woke up !

This isn't the version of the commercial that was on but this is the same man in another version of the commercial .

It was simultaneously annoying and hysterical and very quotable. We spent the rest of the day (and really the rest of the trip) speaking to each other in commercial quotes. Not sure if you knew this but paying full price for appliances is wakkie nu nu.

We left the hotel at 7:30 am to make the quick drive to Universal.

The Endless Summer resort was right on our corner!



It was a gorgeous, sunny Florida morning and I would do anything to be rope dropping a park again.



Citiwalk was delightfully empty as we made our way to Islands of Adventure.





Pictures with sunny skies and park icons really make my heart long to be back.



Hi semi-inappropriately shaped Islands of Adventure entrance.



At 7:56, we were lined up at the gates to wait for park opening at 9 am.



The TMs were making frequent announcements that IOA opened at 9 and early entry was at Universal Studios only at 8 am and every so often people would leave the line lol.

We passed the time with our go-to methods: playing Heads Up, eating snacks and taking Snapchat selfies lol.



Around 8:40 AM, they began scanning tickets and letting us into the park and we power walked to Hagrid's. There were a few people flat out running but overall, it wasn't a bad rope drop experience.

It helped that once you got to the Lost Continent, they had a formal line setup so once you made it that far, it wasn't a free-for-all anymore.





The winding line took us past the train station.



And in just a couple minutes, we made it into Hogsmeade.

https://imgur.com/VHcpXiT

Since the line was not full of people yet, we were walking quickly through it but I can't imagine waiting from that far back if it was full! Insane!

It was cool to see the rest of Hogsmeade empty.



Prior to our trip, I specifically bought the fanny pack you'll see in today's (and yesterday's photos) for rope dropping Hagrid's lol. At this point, if you had any bags, you'd have to stop and store them in a locker prior to riding but if you have a 3 pronged fanny pack (and yes- they stopped me to check the prongs!), you can wear it on the ride. I wanted nothing to delay us from getting on the ride ASAP so I ordered the fanny pack on Amazon and told Mike and Steve not to bring bags into the park.

Mike made fun of my fanny pack before the trip but it ended up being so convenient and I enjoyed not having a heavy backpack weighing me down so I win.

YAY we can see the track!



This Hagrid's filter is adorable.



At exactly 9 am, we were at the loading platform!



I was nice and let Mike have the motorbike for our first ride since I'd heard it was the more thrilling option.





We were so excited to actually make it on the ride and it was SO MUCH fun! It's way different than any other ride at Universal. I've seen lots of people say it's worth the crazy long wait times and if you haven't ridden it before, I agree. Now that I've ridden it multiple times, I wouldn't wait that long again lol. I would rope drop it or wait 30-45 minutes but that's the max.

We were off the ride at 9:07!



The park had only been open for 7 minutes so it was still blissfully empty so we walked over to the castle to ride Forbidden Journey.



The queue of this ride is amazing because it's detailed to the inside of Hogwarts castle but the ride was a walk-on this morning so I had to soak in the details as quickly as possible while walking.

https://imgur.com/wo6jAuQ

https://imgur.com/LrNCtzY

As we boarded the ride, Steve told me something I never knew- there's a compartment built into the ride seat where you can put loose things that might fall out of your pockets during the ride. Genius!

Apparently the early morning caught up to me because I'm in mid yawn for the ride photo.



All was going well and then right near the end of the ride, it came to a full stop. We ended up stuck there for a good 10 minutes, just hanging out in the air. There were tons of announcements telling us not to get up but we were all strapped in and dangling in midair so I'm not sure how we could've if we wanted to lol.

Finally they got us moving again and when we got off, they gave us the option to walk back around for a re-ride so we happily took them up on the offer!

One thing I liked about this ride photo is the TM asked if we knew everyone in the picture and was able to take out the person we didn't know before loading it to our card! Although when the TM asked, Mike said yes that we knew everyone at first. Weirdo.



It was 9:40 by the time we made it our second round on Forbidden Journey. As we walked past Flight of the Hippogriff, we saw it was still posted at a 5 minute wait so we decided to stop.

We only had to wait for one train when we got to the platform and then it was our turn.

Another gorgeous view of Hogwarts from the ride.



Hi Buckbeak!



Flight of the Hippogriff is a cute, very short, tame roller coaster. I compare it to Barnstormer.

We got off the ride at 9:47 and Hogsmeade looked busier.



I decided it'd been far too long in the Universal parks with no butterbeer and led us to the cart.

​

 

[lvcourtneyy]

That's Wakkie Nu Nu part 2

And when you have butterbeer and a castle, the only natural thing to do is have a photo shoot.







I told Mike and Steve I wanted a picture of the two of them and you would've thought I said I was gonna fling them over the railing lol. But look- they even broke out some smiles!





Photo shoot completed, we made our way into Jurassic Park.



I wanted to do the Raptor Encounter but the wait time was already listed as 45 minutes and no one wanted to wait that long.

I did, however, convince them to stop to use the automated photo machine to take some pictures with the Jeep.





The boys also vetoed my suggestion to go on the river adventure because they didn't want to get wet before our brunch reservation.

So we continued on.

Kong had a 10 minute wait posted so we stopped.



I was looking forward to the scareactor in the queue hopefully scaring one of us (preferably the boys) but if one was there, we missed it.

After our ride, we continued making our way into Toon Lagoon.



One of the water rides was down for refurb and suggesting we ride the other elicited the same response from the boys as the river adventure did.

I wanted to take this photo cause I think it's hysterical but I think it needed to be taken from further away for the full effect.



As we entered the Marvel area, Captain America was out with no line!

He complimented my fanny pack.







We still had a little time before our brunch reservation so we decided to see how many rides we could get in!​

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I've wanted to try those! I rarely meet a taco I don't like

Same and I really like the Korean Beef tacos they have!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Score on the creepy factor, though I'm pretty sure I've been to a concert or 2 where I look like that by the end of the night

you and me both!

Sounds like my kind of show! I love Disney, but the addition of some sarcasm and adult humor would be appreciated

100% agreed!

Wow! That is insane that they held out that long. Not sure I could have withstood a line like that but kudos to you all for getting passes for the next day. Can't wait to see what the ride is like

Ugh it was SO long. It was rough for us without kids and these kids were really well behaved. I felt so bad when they gave up.

Wow and I actually see a slight smile too!

It's a small miracle!!

We aren't ones for character meals but if I had to make an exception I think it would be Artist Point. Its nice to see when Disney doesn't discount food quality for character meets and is willing to take some chances on the menu vs. just serving standard fare

Agreed. That's how we felt about Topolino's Terrace too so I hope this is the direction they're going with character meals now!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

The Studio Tour was possibly the 2nd best part. (After Potterland.)

That's what I'm most looking forward to!

Far too many of those around.

100%.

 

[pkondz]

How is everyone?

Not quite dead yet.

It is a scary time that I never thought I'd see in my lifetime.

I suppose we kinda already have. H1N1... SARS...
I hate to think that there's worse out there.

(I can sleep anywhere but can't fall asleep without noise. Go figure).

Weirdo!

DW falls asleep with the TV on almost every night.

it was a very animated man selling appliances for Appliance Direct. We'd all waken up at various points throughout the night hearing it wondering what was happening lol.

Surprised you didn't have dreams with him in them.

Not sure if you knew this but paying full price for appliances is wakkie nu nu.

Good to know!

I would do anything to be rope dropping a park again.

<sigh> yeah...

Hi semi-inappropriately shaped Islands of Adventure entrance.

I don't understand what you mean by that. Can you explain?

we power walked to Hagrid's.

Ya gotta.

At this point, if you had any bags, you'd have to stop and store them in a locker prior to riding but if you have a 3 pronged fanny pack (and yes- they stopped me to check the prongs!), you can wear it on the ride.

Really! I didn't know that! Huh!

I was nice and let Mike have the motorbike for our first ride since I'd heard it was the more thrilling option.

Very nice of you.

It's way different than any other ride at Universal. I've seen lots of people say it's worth the crazy long wait times and if you haven't ridden it before, I agree.

As we boarded the ride, Steve told me something I never knew- there's a compartment built into the ride seat where you can put loose things that might fall out of your pockets during the ride. Genius!

Huh! Had no idea.

Apparently the early morning caught up to me because I'm in mid yawn for the ride photo.

There were tons of announcements telling us not to get up but we were all strapped in and dangling in midair so I'm not sure how we could've if we wanted to lol.

Well, you could've taken your brooms and left, you know.

Finally they got us moving again and when we got off, they gave us the option to walk back around for a re-ride so we happily took them up on the offer!

That's good!

One thing I liked about this ride photo is the TM asked if we knew everyone in the picture and was able to take out the person we didn't know before loading it to our card!

Annnnnd…. another thing I didn't know. Then again, I didn't do the photos, while there.

Flight of the Hippogriff is a cute, very short, tame roller coaster. I compare it to Barnstormer.

Pretty accurate.

And when you have butterbeer and a castle, the only natural thing to do is have a photo shoot.

Of course!

I wanted to do the Raptor Encounter but the wait time was already listed as 45 minutes and no one wanted to wait that long.

Nope! It's not even a ride. Pass.

The boys also vetoed my suggestion to go on the river adventure because they didn't want to get wet before our brunch reservation.

Yeah... I've been on it a few times and only gotten a few drops....
But this one time...

Kong had a 10 minute wait posted so we stopped.

Really!

I was looking forward to the scareactor in the queue hopefully scaring one of us (preferably the boys) but if one was there, we missed it.

We didn't get one either.

As we entered the Marvel area, Captain America was out with no line!

He complimented my fanny pack.

 

[buzzrelly]

Things were going well until about 5:20 which Steve said we had one more hallway and one more room before the loading area. And we stopped moving. We were indoors and had no way of seeing what was happening outside but eventually an announcement came that the ride was delayed for weather.

Oh, no!

So we sat. And waited. We played endless games of heads up.

That's our go-to line waiting game too

Finally at 7:30, there was lightning in the area again and the call was made that the ride couldn't reopen again that day and we'd all get Ruby passes to come back another day.

Bummer, but nice that they gave you passes to go back.

However, the group that had been in front of them was 5 DCP girls who had rode already and said they wouldn't make it back to Universal before the end of their program and they gave us their passes also! It was so sweet!

Wow!

we did the dining plan for the first 2 nights of our trip once we decided on a split stay.

I love doing that with a split stay because you can really make it work to your benefit.

This appetizer was also different from my previous dinner. This was described as Hunter's Terrine
(Chicken, Black Truffle, Stone Fruit Preserve, House-made Pickles). It was good but not my favorite but Steve really liked it.

Oh yuck…that kind of looks like head cheese I might eat those pickles and that's about it.

I told everyone to do an evil stare for the second picture but it seems the memo was lost on the boys.

So cute!

I really would love to bring my mom here because she loves Snow White, but none of us would enjoy anything on that menu so it's a no-go for us.

I hope you and your family are all safe and healthy and remain so!

You too!

It was simultaneously annoying and hysterical and very quotable. We spent the rest of the day (and really the rest of the trip) speaking to each other in commercial quotes. Not sure if you knew this but paying full price for appliances is wakkie nu nu.

You were literally brainwashed while you slept

It was cool to see the rest of Hogsmeade empty.

So cool to see to see it that way. When we went in 2015, we did the early morning openings and I loved getting into the Harry Potter areas before everyone else.

Mike made fun of my fanny pack before the trip but it ended up being so convenient and I enjoyed not having a heavy backpack weighing me down so I win.

I've always loved a fanny pack…not for the way it looks, but they're so convenient.

We were so excited to actually make it on the ride and it was SO MUCH fun!

I went on in December and loved it too! I kind of want to bring the kids back to UO just to go on that.

As we boarded the ride, Steve told me something I never knew- there's a compartment built into the ride seat where you can put loose things that might fall out of your pockets during the ride. Genius!

Many rides on FJ and I never knew that either.

Apparently the early morning caught up to me because I'm in mid yawn for the ride photo.

I told Mike and Steve I wanted a picture of the two of them and you would've thought I said I was gonna fling them over the railing lol. But look- they even broke out some smiles!

really nice, and they'll thank you someday.

I wanted to take this photo cause I think it's hysterical but I think it needed to be taken from further away for the full effect.

 

[missangelalexis]

Omg I need to see this informercial haha

You were super prepared for rope dropping Hagrid's by bringing a fanny pack!!

I'm glad you got on it so quickly!

Sounds like a super successful morning so far!!

 

[disneyAndi14]

We loved the Horror make up show very funny!

We didn’t even attempt to ride Hagrid’s last August. I’m sorry you waited so long and no ride, however yay to the Ruby pass!

Andi and I were going to do Storybook Dining this coming Saturday I also thought it was a great use of a dining credit. We had planned on the DDP for our 2 nights at ASMovies. Oh well maybe another time. I’m glad you enjoyed the dining experience this time. We have been once and really liked it!
Andi and I always fall asleep with the TV on at Disney. We are usually watching King of Queens, haha!
Great Rope drop for Hagrid’s and also getting to ride FJ x 2 and Hagrid’s coaster. I love FJ, however I can usually only go 1x before I feel queasy!

 

[dwonderz]

This isn't the version of the commercial that was on but this is the same man in another version of the commercial .

I had to go google him - and came across a YouTube video of one of his ads - too funny

if you have a 3 pronged fanny pack (and yes- they stopped me to check the prongs!)

That's crazy! I guess 3 prongs are more secure than 2?

Love the update - a definite bright spot in the day!

 

[Raeven]

It was simultaneously annoying and hysterical and very quotable. We spent the rest of the day (and really the rest of the trip) speaking to each other in commercial quotes. Not sure if you knew this but paying full price for appliances is wakkie nu nu.

So when we were at the hotel in September, Samantha and I were getting ready and we accidentally turned it onto the Universal channel which had trailers for movies and shows playing in a 5 min loop. But we were both doing our hair/makeup so we didn't change it for like a half hour and by then we had heard all the commercials a million times and kept quoting them throughout the day

I wanted to take this photo cause I think it's hysterical but I think it needed to be taken from further away for the full effect.

I once saw a kid try to climb up the rope to Marmaduke

 

[suse66]

At the time we didn't know it but we quickly learned that the Universal photgraphers have 4 standard poses they run you through: normal, peace sign, thumbs up and a hug. The novelty wore off quickly.

Great pictures!

Soon enough we were entering Hogsmeade.

I can't wait to go there one day!

The line had some gorgeous views of Hogwarts castle.

Beautiful!

Of course, I took the opportunity to pose for a picture which apparently irritated the people behind us. Everyone else was doing it and it's a 90 minute line, I don't think waiting an extra 30 seconds to walk is going to make a difference. #justsaying

Cute pic.

However, the group that had been in front of them was 5 DCP girls who had rode already and said they wouldn't make it back to Universal before the end of their program and they gave us their passes also! It was so sweet! ​

That was really nice of them.

I checked in for our reservation and as it would turn out, we shouldn't have rushed because they were running behind so we took some time to show Steve around the Wilderness Lodge.

Love WL!

Even though we waited so long past our reservation time, the experience was better as soon as we sat down. Our waiter was wonderful and attentive from the minute we got there.

I am glad you had great service.

The characters all came around right at the beginning of the meal, I'm assuming because it was so late already but I actually prefer when they all come right at the beginning or end so it worked out well for us.

I prefer that too so it doesn't interrupt when you're eating.

The Evil Queen was perfectly intimidating and I really wasn't sure what to say to her. I chose the quiet and polite approach lol.

Love her!

Everyone was very happy with their meal choices and very stuffed before dessert came.

The food looks awesome!

It is a scary time that I never thought I'd see in my lifetime. The most frightening thing to me is that the hospitals are running out of masks for us and we've taken to social media to ask for donations.

I am keeping you all in my thoughts and prayers. Thank you for all you do Courtney and please take good care of yourself. My sister is an ER doc so I understand some of the challenges you are facing.

It was a gorgeous, sunny Florida morning and I would do anything to be rope dropping a park again.

I feel exactly the same way!

We were so excited to actually make it on the ride and it was SO MUCH fun! It's way different than any other ride at Universal. I've seen lots of people say it's worth the crazy long wait times and if you haven't ridden it before, I agree. Now that I've ridden it multiple times, I wouldn't wait that long again lol. I would rope drop it or wait 30-45 minutes but that's the max.

It looks amazing!

We only had to wait for one train when we got to the platform and then it was our turn.

Another gorgeous view of Hogwarts from the ride.

I really want to go there one day. One of my boys and I decided to do a Harry Potter marathon this week to pass some time. Those movies are the best!

And when you have butterbeer and a castle, the only natural thing to do is have a photo shoot.

Perfection!

 

[kastoney]

Sincerely hope you are holding up ok. I cannot fathom what you are dealing with every day, especially in New York. And Mike too. You're both on the front lines so take good care of yourselves and each other ♥ ♥ ♥

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Not quite dead yet.

Glad to hear it!

suppose we kinda already have. H1N1... SARS...
I hate to think that there's worse out there.

True. I was younger during those (obviously) and not working in healthcare yet but I just don't remember them being this bad.

Weirdo!

DW falls asleep with the TV on almost every night.

Same! I don't know why but I just need the noise. I blame it on growing up with 3 siblings lol

Surprised you didn't have dreams with him in them.

I don't understand what you mean by that. Can you explain?

Really! I didn't know that! Huh!

I studied

Well, you could've taken your brooms and left, you know.

True. Seemed rude to do in a castle though.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

That's our go-to line waiting game too

It's so perfect for passing the time!

I love doing that with a split stay because you can really make it work to your benefit.

Exactly!

Oh yuck…that kind of looks like head cheese I might eat those pickles and that's about it.

Yeah it looked super strange. It tasted good but it was hard to get past the weird appearance lol

You too!

You were literally brainwashed while you slept

Yes! We were like hm I feel like we need to go see what this store looks like

I've always loved a fanny pack…not for the way it looks, but they're so convenient.

It really was so convenient and I saw tons of people wearing them!

I went on in December and loved it too! I kind of want to bring the kids back to UO just to go on that.

It's worth it in my opinion! Such a fun ride.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Omg I need to see this informercial haha

Oo don't worry- it's coming up again lol

ou were super prepared for rope dropping Hagrid's by bringing a fanny pack!!

I was lol- i made it clear we were making no stops before getting on the ride lol