'Pin Queen's' 80th Birthday! Combined TR/DR (lots of pics)(Update: 12/22)

[sjs314]

Ok....I give up....what WAS wrong with that pic?!! (I'm terrible at guessing)

I was wondering too

 

[nocomment711]

You can never have too many pictures, post away!!

I guess I thought the WWoHP would look different...hmmm. Too bad the rides were breaking down. How many rides do they have part of WWoHP?

They have three of them. Forbidden Journey, the Dragon Challenge, and the Hippogryff ride.

Great start to your trip report! Keep the pictures coming!

Will do!

I'm joining in! Thanks for linking it to your food report...I normally only stick to the food porn but...you suckered me in with WWoHP! Great review so far. Sorry the rides were breaking down

Thanks!

Ok....I give up....what WAS wrong with that pic?!! (I'm terrible at guessing)

I was wondering too

There's no electricity at Hogwarts. =P


Anyways, sorry for the delay, I'm currently in Vegas for my /real/ 21st birthday, but I promise a bunch of pictures and a continuation of the review as soon as I get home. <3

 

[nocomment711]

You asked, and I delivered (be it a while later)... here are more WWoHP pictures:

In line for FJ:

Hogsmeade. <3

The line for the Dragon rollercoaster

(Can someone explain to me the duck on a bike thing. I feel like I'm missing something)

Three Broomsticks:

I really wish it wasn't so crowded...

I <3 Neville Longbottom.

HUFFLEPUFF!

Just to reiterate, I loved the WWoHP so much. It was one of the highlights of my trip and I would love to go back. The attention to detail was nothing short of amazing. It was better when it wasn't quite as crowded, but that's what you get when you go a few days after opening.

Coming up next: The rest of Universal Studios

 

[heaven2dc]

I loved the pic of "Hufflepuff" - Grandma really looks great! I love that she is having a great time. I plan to visit WDW and Universal until I'm locked away in a retirement home (and even then, I may sneak out for a visit )

 

[jelloarms]

Just letting you know I'm here! That is so awesome that your grandma wanted to go to Disney.

 

[Lady Lallie]

Great pictures! I really can't wait to get there someday!

 

[pigletforever]

can't wait to see more. We are going to WDW in Jan and taking a day for WWoHP. I can't wait to try butter beer.

 

[shewill]

Great report. I am following closely the food and trip report as I am too a picky eater. I won't eat mayo, cheese salad dressing or any thing with cheese or mayo in it.
It limits my meals quite a bit.
Keep posting pictures . You are a very good photographer and no report can have too many pictures.
I also like the Universal details.
How does one subscribe to a report. I want to make sure I don't miss yours. Sherry in GA

 

[creativeamanda]

Joining in and coming over from the dining board! I love your report of WWOHP. I really would like to go--maybe when my daughter and I go in December we'll go there midweek.

 

[GusT]

Subscribing!!! Loving the dining and trip reports! Great pictures!!

Erica

 

[nocomment711]

I loved the pic of "Hufflepuff" - Grandma really looks great! I love that she is having a great time. I plan to visit WDW and Universal until I'm locked away in a retirement home (and even then, I may sneak out for a visit )

She had a great time. Right now we're scrapbooking the trip, and she's just as excited about it.

Just letting you know I'm here! That is so awesome that your grandma wanted to go to Disney.

Woo! She's a Disney kid. The key story is coming up soon, but she's been going since... the 1980s? Well, since it was just the Magic Kingdom, Contemporary and Polynesian. XD

Great pictures! I really can't wait to get there someday!

Thanks!

can't wait to see more. We are going to WDW in Jan and taking a day for WWoHP. I can't wait to try butter beer.

Oh my goodness, butterbeer is the best! I keep trying to recreate it... and failing miserably.

Great report. I am following closely the food and trip report as I am too a picky eater. I won't eat mayo, cheese salad dressing or any thing with cheese or mayo in it.
It limits my meals quite a bit.
Keep posting pictures . You are a very good photographer and no report can have too many pictures.
I also like the Universal details.
How does one subscribe to a report. I want to make sure I don't miss yours. Sherry in GA

Haha, I won't go near salads, mayo, most condiments (except ketchup and teriyaki sauce), not to mention red meat... yeah I'm bad with my picky eating. Thank you though, I'm still not 100% sure how you subscribe to reports, but as soon as I figure it out, I'll let you know. (= I actually think that just by replying you automatically subscribe, but I'm not 100% sure.

Joining in and coming over from the dining board! I love your report of WWOHP. I really would like to go--maybe when my daughter and I go in December we'll go there midweek.

I just recommend going early in the morning before the crowds get bad. By 1 it was a mess and we had to get out of there.

Subscribing!!! Loving the dining and trip reports! Great pictures!!

Erica

Thanks! (=


More coming up as soon as I get home from work.

 

[VegasVick]

All caught up and joining in! Thanks so much for sharing...

 

[nocomment711]

So one last shot from WWoHP, I somehow managed to forget my favorite picture from WWoHP:

Eventually I'm going to figure out how to photoshop the people out, but I am far too lazy to figure that out now.

Anyways, on to the rest of Universal:

I was not the biggest fan of Universal. It was too hot, too crowded, the people were rude and there were no shady areas for my grandma. We were all tired and stressed (not a good way to start the vacation, let me tell you).

We were out of Islands of Adventure by 1400 hr, and were on our way over to Universal Studios. By this point I spent all my money on stuff at Harry Potter World (It didn't seem like I bought much, but I got home and realized exactly how much junk I got).

Universal was even worse than Islands of Adventure. I got in line for the Rip-Rocket whatever it's called and was in the Single Rider line for nearly an hour (of not moving at all) when my patience ran out and I got out of line. My dad and Nana had enough as well.

So by 3:00 we called it a day at Universal (we would have been extremely angry had we actually paid for the tickets*) and went back to the hotel to rest. After that, we decided to head down to Disney World to go through Downtown Disney a bit.

* We had Universal tickets from the last time we went down (six years ago) and thankfully they were still good.

Overall, I found Wizarding World of Harry Potter to exceed my expectations. I still talk about how much I loved it. The rest of Universal... well my neighbors are going down next week and I told them not to waste the money for tickets as well as the day at Disney.

All caught up and joining in! Thanks so much for sharing...

Woo! Thanks for joining. Stupid question, but I'm guessing that you like Vegas?

COMING UP: Dinner Downtown.

 

[VegasVick]

Woo! Thanks for joining. Stupid question, but I'm guessing that you like Vegas?

LOL! Lived there for about a decade...my friend James started calling me Vegas Vick because of the alliteration and the nickname just stuck I do miss it since we still have several good friends there.

 

[LuvsTigger80]

.
Haha, I won't go near salads, mayo, most condiments (except ketchup and teriyaki sauce), not to mention red meat... yeah I'm bad with my picky eating. Thank you though, I'm still not 100% sure how you subscribe to reports, but as soon as I figure it out, I'll let you know. (= I actually think that just by replying you automatically subscribe, but I'm not 100% sure.

To subscribe to threads you click on Thread tools and click on subscribe to threads...and then it'll ask you if you want notification.

Sounds like you had a great trip!! And it looks like your grandma did too!! Can't wait to hear about the rest of your vacation....

 

[nocomment711]

LOL! Lived there for about a decade...my friend James started calling me Vegas Vick because of the alliteration and the nickname just stuck I do miss it since we still have several good friends there.

I actually just got back from Vegas. I have family in Henderson. I love it there, almost as much as I love it in Disney. XD

 

[creativeamanda]

Thank you so much for talking about the rest of Unversal. We talked about 2 Universal days, but apparently, we really just need one day fo do WWOHP until lunch before we go to Disney. That really helps a lot.

 

[nocomment711]

Thank you so much for talking about the rest of Unversal. We talked about 2 Universal days, but apparently, we really just need one day fo do WWOHP until lunch before we go to Disney. That really helps a lot.

It all depends on when you go though. When I went... six years ago we did both parks in one day (hence the extra day) and it wasn't nearly as bad. Of course, it was during a slow period. I'm just not a fan of universal to begin with. The only reason I actually went was to go to WWoHP, therefore my report is pretty biased. I don't have much to report on in Universal because well... we didn't stay there very long and we weren't very happy. Other than FJ, the only ride I got on was MIB. We left because we didn't want to start out our trip tiring ourselves out.

I just didn't see a point in my neighbors spending a large amount of money to go into Universal when they were going to lose a day in Disney, she doesn't do rides, and you can only get on a couple of rides because you need to pay an extra $30 for fastpasses.

 

[creativeamanda]

It all depends on when you go though. When I went... six years ago we did both parks in one day (hence the extra day) and it wasn't nearly as bad. Of course, it was during a slow period. I'm just not a fan of universal to begin with. The only reason I actually went was to go to WWoHP, therefore my report is pretty biased. I don't have much to report on in Universal because well... we didn't stay there very long and we weren't very happy. Other than FJ, the only ride I got on was MIB. We left because we didn't want to start out our trip tiring ourselves out.

I just didn't see a point in my neighbors spending a large amount of money to go into Universal when they were going to lose a day in Disney, she doesn't do rides, and you can only get on a couple of rides because you need to pay an extra $30 for fastpasses.

We're planning on staying on Universal property for two nights. The question has been whether we get one day and get up the 2nd morning and go straight to Disney or go to Universal the second day and then later go to Disney. Maybe we should do both days just to try it.

We're spending 8 nights at the Grand Floridian and 2 at Universal (hopefully)

 

[nocomment711]

After resting in the hotel room for about two hours, we got in the car and went to Downtown Disney. We walked around for a bit and decided to settle on Raglan Road for dinner (click to see the review).

then we decided to walk around for a bit. For some reason I don't remember pin trading from the last time we were in Disney, but Nana loves pins. She's been collecting them since the first time she went down in 1980. Unfortunately, I didn't know much about pin trading, so we didn't think to go into the gigantic pin trading store in DTD.

This shirt at Raglan Road made me think of Penn State, because that's how most of my friends seem to think...

The sun was setting and the lighting was beautiful...

Of course, had to get a picture with my Toy Story buddies:

After dinner and a bit of shopping, we went back to La Quinta and packed our bags before calling it a night.

COMING UP: Checking in at the GF and Magic Kingdom mornings!

We're planning on staying on Universal property for two nights. The question has been whether we get one day and get up the 2nd morning and go straight to Disney or go to Universal the second day and then later go to Disney. Maybe we should do both days just to try it.

We're spending 8 nights at the Grand Floridian and 2 at Universal (hopefully)

Ah. I see. Well I don't know how staying on property at universal works with the fast passes. I think you can get them because you're on property, or something like that. I wouldn't take my word on Universal, I've never been a fan.