Pembo
OH-IO
- Joined
- Aug 19, 1999
- Messages
- 7,599
This is mostly about WWOHP. We toured all of IOA and Studios.
We were set to go to WWOHP on Thursday, Mar 31. We woke to thunderstorms and tornado warnings/watches. We left our condo near Disney and drove to the Royal Pacific. We luckily got a room right away (noon). We used self-park and had the bellman help with our luggage. It was POURING!
We spent the day in the room, resting after 5 days at Disney. We headed out for a bit to walk the resort and go to dinner at Jakes. The food was good, service was quick, albeit pricey as expected. It was still raining.
The storms were moving out and just rain was left so we donned ponchos and umbrellas and headed to the water taxi. We were amazed at how quick the ride was to the dock. We walked through the rain to IOA and found there to be next to no one around. We soon made our way back to WWOHP. It was getting dark and was still raining but the place was deserted.
The line for Forbidden Journey was 10 mins. We had to stop ourselves from not running through the queue. I love the child swap area!!! We wandered the shops and took lots of pics. DC was a walk on...a long walk but no line. FotH was another walk-on. The wizard said the ride was only open for 40 mins that day...the last 40 mins.
We rode FJ a few more times and closed down the park. Rain is VERY good for crowds.
Friday dawned with a clear sky. We were at IOA at 7:40, the turnstiles opened at 7:45. We walked with the light crowd to Hogwarts. We rode FJ 2 more times and finished up for the morning at 9 - when we headed to Seuss Landing and the rest of IOA and Studios.
We returned to WWOHP in the evening and got to see the Durmstrang show. We got pics with them and the Beaux. More rides on FJ and FotH. My kids ate dinner at 3 Broomsticks.
Saturday am, ds and I were at the turnstiles at 7:34. They again let us in at 7:45. The entire queue was open for FJ and we got to go through the greenhouse. (We alternated between the regular queue and the single rider lines depending on the waits). We rode FotH again and ds rode DC. We shopped some more and ate breakfast at 3 Broomsticks. We waited until 10 am to see the Frog Choir. They were great. We got pics when they finished. The crowds were really gaining strength and we left the park about 10:30.
All told my ds rode FJ 10 times. The rain really helped as did the early entry.
One last note - we saw Ellen DeGeneres and Portia. Ellen is taping today (Sunday). On Sat they were doing pre-prod and there she was on stage and then we saw her escorted to her Escalade that drove right over the bridge to IOA and out of sight.
Overall, we liked Universal okay but I'm not a convert.
We LOVED Wwohp and hope they expand it. I knew the shops were going to be small but they are really small! I wish there were more of them.
We tried Butterbeer and liked the frozen slightly better.
We were confused by the Lost Continent...what's up with the Posiedon thing?
The RPR is beautiful and I love the proximity to the parks. The boat is nice and the walk is quick! We enjoyed spending our last afternoon at the pool.
And lastly, a thank you to all on the Universal Disboards. You helped us alot and my family is greatful.
Oh...and I would love to order cauldron cakes everyday. They are low fat right?
We were set to go to WWOHP on Thursday, Mar 31. We woke to thunderstorms and tornado warnings/watches. We left our condo near Disney and drove to the Royal Pacific. We luckily got a room right away (noon). We used self-park and had the bellman help with our luggage. It was POURING!
We spent the day in the room, resting after 5 days at Disney. We headed out for a bit to walk the resort and go to dinner at Jakes. The food was good, service was quick, albeit pricey as expected. It was still raining.
The storms were moving out and just rain was left so we donned ponchos and umbrellas and headed to the water taxi. We were amazed at how quick the ride was to the dock. We walked through the rain to IOA and found there to be next to no one around. We soon made our way back to WWOHP. It was getting dark and was still raining but the place was deserted.
The line for Forbidden Journey was 10 mins. We had to stop ourselves from not running through the queue. I love the child swap area!!! We wandered the shops and took lots of pics. DC was a walk on...a long walk but no line. FotH was another walk-on. The wizard said the ride was only open for 40 mins that day...the last 40 mins.
We rode FJ a few more times and closed down the park. Rain is VERY good for crowds.
Friday dawned with a clear sky. We were at IOA at 7:40, the turnstiles opened at 7:45. We walked with the light crowd to Hogwarts. We rode FJ 2 more times and finished up for the morning at 9 - when we headed to Seuss Landing and the rest of IOA and Studios.
We returned to WWOHP in the evening and got to see the Durmstrang show. We got pics with them and the Beaux. More rides on FJ and FotH. My kids ate dinner at 3 Broomsticks.
Saturday am, ds and I were at the turnstiles at 7:34. They again let us in at 7:45. The entire queue was open for FJ and we got to go through the greenhouse. (We alternated between the regular queue and the single rider lines depending on the waits). We rode FotH again and ds rode DC. We shopped some more and ate breakfast at 3 Broomsticks. We waited until 10 am to see the Frog Choir. They were great. We got pics when they finished. The crowds were really gaining strength and we left the park about 10:30.
All told my ds rode FJ 10 times. The rain really helped as did the early entry.
One last note - we saw Ellen DeGeneres and Portia. Ellen is taping today (Sunday). On Sat they were doing pre-prod and there she was on stage and then we saw her escorted to her Escalade that drove right over the bridge to IOA and out of sight.
Overall, we liked Universal okay but I'm not a convert.
We LOVED Wwohp and hope they expand it. I knew the shops were going to be small but they are really small! I wish there were more of them.
We tried Butterbeer and liked the frozen slightly better.
We were confused by the Lost Continent...what's up with the Posiedon thing?
The RPR is beautiful and I love the proximity to the parks. The boat is nice and the walk is quick! We enjoyed spending our last afternoon at the pool.
And lastly, a thank you to all on the Universal Disboards. You helped us alot and my family is greatful.
Oh...and I would love to order cauldron cakes everyday. They are low fat right?
