Tony Bush
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2001
- Messages
- 677
Early start this morning after a lovely nights sleep in Hard Rocks' wonderfully comfortable beds
Early entry to Diagon Alley starts at 7am !!!!! We skip any semblance of breakfast and walk along the river to the Studios. The queues by the ticket gates are huge already for people without the early entry perk.
We skip past and enter about 7.05. As we show our room cards / express passes we are told that the Gringots Ride is down!!!! We take a slow stroll up to wards Diagon Alley grabbing a couple of pics as we pass Transformers (which the staff say they are trying to get up and running early to appease some of the disgruntled early visitors.)
Its that early the moon is still visible behind the Transformer!
Diagon Alley is not too busy, Gringots being down has kept a few away. We ask the staff outside if there is any update and they say it could be two hours or so before its running. We stroll around looking in shops and grabbing some more pics. We missed the hidden gem of Nocturn Alley yesterday. Its delightfully dark and eerie.
It's still fairly quiet so we decide to grab some food and head over to Starbucks by Richters for a tea and hot bagels.
The park is opening up to the general public now so Gringots is about to be swamped. We people watch for a bit until the Hogwarts Express opens.
Once again the attention to detail is amazing and after a short queue we are ushered to our compartment for the quick 400 mile journey from London Kings Cross to Hogsmeade. We chat to an American family who seem impressed when we tell them how accurate the detail is in the train carriage. They really are just like the ones we used to travel in 25 or so years ago!! Busmans holiday for me being a train driver!! Haha!
One of the station staff at Hogsmeade takes a nice piccy for us by the Hogwarts Express
Off into Hogsmeade. The idea of snow topped roofs in hot sunny Florida is great and it looks perfect.
The Hogwarts School building is just stunning especially against the deep blue sky. Again we can't help thinking what a coup Universal have managed especially after JK Rowling went to Disney first !!
Me and 'the boy' in one of our usual poses LOL
Jack and Paulet want to ride the Forbidden Journey, I chicken out due to my dislike of simulators but I queue up with them and then wait at the exit. They both absolutley love it.
In need of some refreshment we stop off in the Hogs Inn for a swift pint and a catch up on trippie notes
Refreshed and wanting to be out of the crowds a little we head off into Islands.
Posiedon's Adventure beckons and we use the express lane (no need to really as there's no queue) There's a wait of about 15 mins for the next show. It always strikes me that the outside is such a huge and impressive feature its a kinda disappointing show! It's Ok but i wouldn't be too upset if we missed it out.
The temperature has climbed to the high 80's so it must be time to get wet !
Express Pass means we walk on to Dudley-do-Rights. Wet ? you bet ! -
We are soaked and so, in for a penny etc, we go straight over to Popeye's Barges. Another complete soaking!!
I don't think even the Florida sun will dry us out ! We stop for a Dippin' Dots Ice Cream and then head out of the park, stopping for Paulet to grab a picture
A short squelchy walk back to HRH to change and then its time for a couple of hours in the fab pool. Plus a couple of pints from the bar!
After a change we pose for a few pics in Hard Rock before heading out to City Walk for dinner
Dinner was going to be Bubba Gumps tonight but when we checked earlier they were not taking bookings tonight as it's a Halloween Horror night and thus very busy. We plump for Nascar Cafe. I'm sure we have eaten here before but none of us are overly impressed with the seating and atmosphere. Food is OK but the server was kinda offish and slow and we had an American family in the booth next to us and why the daughter and mom (!) had to speak at 300db is beyond me - it was sooooo annoying.
I've lost the receipt so I can't remember how much the meal was. On our walk back we pass the crowds heading in to the Horror Nights. One year we will eventually persuade chicken Paulet to go!! We've done Mickeys not so Scary but she point blank refuses to do the Horror Night. Jack and i would love it!
Early entry to Diagon Alley starts at 7am !!!!! We skip any semblance of breakfast and walk along the river to the Studios. The queues by the ticket gates are huge already for people without the early entry perk.
We skip past and enter about 7.05. As we show our room cards / express passes we are told that the Gringots Ride is down!!!! We take a slow stroll up to wards Diagon Alley grabbing a couple of pics as we pass Transformers (which the staff say they are trying to get up and running early to appease some of the disgruntled early visitors.)
Its that early the moon is still visible behind the Transformer!
Diagon Alley is not too busy, Gringots being down has kept a few away. We ask the staff outside if there is any update and they say it could be two hours or so before its running. We stroll around looking in shops and grabbing some more pics. We missed the hidden gem of Nocturn Alley yesterday. Its delightfully dark and eerie.
It's still fairly quiet so we decide to grab some food and head over to Starbucks by Richters for a tea and hot bagels.
The park is opening up to the general public now so Gringots is about to be swamped. We people watch for a bit until the Hogwarts Express opens.
Once again the attention to detail is amazing and after a short queue we are ushered to our compartment for the quick 400 mile journey from London Kings Cross to Hogsmeade. We chat to an American family who seem impressed when we tell them how accurate the detail is in the train carriage. They really are just like the ones we used to travel in 25 or so years ago!! Busmans holiday for me being a train driver!! Haha!
One of the station staff at Hogsmeade takes a nice piccy for us by the Hogwarts Express
Off into Hogsmeade. The idea of snow topped roofs in hot sunny Florida is great and it looks perfect.
The Hogwarts School building is just stunning especially against the deep blue sky. Again we can't help thinking what a coup Universal have managed especially after JK Rowling went to Disney first !!
Me and 'the boy' in one of our usual poses LOL
Jack and Paulet want to ride the Forbidden Journey, I chicken out due to my dislike of simulators but I queue up with them and then wait at the exit. They both absolutley love it.
In need of some refreshment we stop off in the Hogs Inn for a swift pint and a catch up on trippie notes
Refreshed and wanting to be out of the crowds a little we head off into Islands.
Posiedon's Adventure beckons and we use the express lane (no need to really as there's no queue) There's a wait of about 15 mins for the next show. It always strikes me that the outside is such a huge and impressive feature its a kinda disappointing show! It's Ok but i wouldn't be too upset if we missed it out.
The temperature has climbed to the high 80's so it must be time to get wet !
Express Pass means we walk on to Dudley-do-Rights. Wet ? you bet ! -
We are soaked and so, in for a penny etc, we go straight over to Popeye's Barges. Another complete soaking!!
I don't think even the Florida sun will dry us out ! We stop for a Dippin' Dots Ice Cream and then head out of the park, stopping for Paulet to grab a picture
A short squelchy walk back to HRH to change and then its time for a couple of hours in the fab pool. Plus a couple of pints from the bar!
After a change we pose for a few pics in Hard Rock before heading out to City Walk for dinner
Dinner was going to be Bubba Gumps tonight but when we checked earlier they were not taking bookings tonight as it's a Halloween Horror night and thus very busy. We plump for Nascar Cafe. I'm sure we have eaten here before but none of us are overly impressed with the seating and atmosphere. Food is OK but the server was kinda offish and slow and we had an American family in the booth next to us and why the daughter and mom (!) had to speak at 300db is beyond me - it was sooooo annoying.
I've lost the receipt so I can't remember how much the meal was. On our walk back we pass the crowds heading in to the Horror Nights. One year we will eventually persuade chicken Paulet to go!! We've done Mickeys not so Scary but she point blank refuses to do the Horror Night. Jack and i would love it!
