Now I'm sure we all know what movie this title references, but the broomstick part is referring to my FABULOUS lunch at The Three Broomsticks!
This was my plan for lunch that day ever since I knew that it existed in WWoHP. I mean, really. HOW many times have we heard about Harry, Ron and Hermione chillin' at The Three Broomsticks? I HAD to check it out.
So we walked in and got in line to order. Once we got up there, Dave decided he wanted a Diet Coke. Now, from reading Joni's trip report, I know that there
is no Diet Coke in the WWoHP. Dave, however, did not know that. So I let him go ahead and ask so I could make this shoutout to Joni (therussells08) in my TR!
He decided to just get water instead, as did Mike. I, on the other hand, knew of a different HP famous drink that I had yet to try:
IT'S PUMPKIN JUICE!
That's right. I know many of you (especially you Muggles) think that this sounds really gross. HOWEVER, it is actually delicious. Not as delicious as Butterbeer, but it was still FANTASTIC. It tastes sweet with a bit of a cinnamon-y undertone. It was very refreshing and tasty.
For my actual meal, I ordered a UK pub favorite:
Fish and chips! These weren't as good as the ones from the Yorkshire County Fish Shoppe in Epcot, which are the BEST, but they were a solid second place! VERY good.
Mike ordered the roast chicken with corn:
Some solid comfort food here. And since it felt like winter because of all the snow, it was the perfect meal!
Dave was pretty boring and ordered a chicken salad:
This was very decently sized and it "hit the spot," according to Dave.
After our lovely lunch, (and after drinking my WHOLE glass of Pumpkin Juice) we headed out of there and went in Zonko's one more time, followed by a few other stores. (Filch's, Owl Post, etc.) Then Mike and I rode in the single rider line of Forbidden Journey once more, and we headed out of WWoHP. ):
We wound up in a very different place from the rustic tones and wintry atmosphere that was Hogsmeade.
Suess Landing! That place is SO COOL. It's so bright and colorful and just ODD that it really feels like you're in Who-Ville or something! Of course we had to ride that lovely train through Suess Landing, which was a nice way to get an overview of the place.
See the tracks?
Then I decided that it was time to shop again.
We saw these in the window:
And Mike and I just knew that we HAD to buy them! He was Thing 1 because he was born first. We love the shirts and we wear them all the time, but never on the same day.
If we ever go back to IoA, we definitely will!
Dave also decided that, since he hadn't had a dessert all day, that now was the time!
WOW. This confectionary gives the Main Street one a run for its money! It was AWESOME. I loved the colors and the glass doors in there. And of course the candy!!!
Dave wound up going with the s'more with Heath bar crumbles on top:
He said this was perfect and the Heath added a nice crunch.
I could never pass up the opportunity to have dessert, so I went with a classic, but a favorite:
Chocolate-Pecan Fudge! This was amazing. It was absolutely perfect and the pecans were also salted, which just made the whole thing ten times better. I LOVE salty-sweet combinations.
We found a nice, shady spot to snack and regroup for a little while, and then we left the park and walked around CityWalk a bit.
We browsed some of the stores, like Fossil and MargaritaVille. After a while, we headed back to the Universal TTC to catch our Mears bus back to POFQ. Only two other families were on our bus. One was staying at All-Star Music and the other was at the Grand Floridian. (Talk about a stretch.) After a quick stop at Sea World, we headed back under the Gates of Heaven and were dropped off at POFQ first.
Once we got back there, I went to lay out by the pool and rest, Mike went to the REAL TTC to get Katie's necklace back, and Dave went back to the room to take a nap.
After about two hours, some sunburn and a chat with my mommy, I went back to the room and found Dave and Mike BOTH asleep, and Katie's necklace safely with the rest of our souvenirs. I very
quietly took these pics of my wand and my scarf:
\
Awesome, right!?
I also took a pic of the POFQ shower products, because they were different from the ones I had had at AKL and Yacht Club in the past year:
See? Not normal...ah well.
Then I took a shower and got ready for our fancy dinner that night. I woke Mike and Dave up and they did the same while I went down to the courtyard to talk to my mommy some more.
I missed her quite terribly.
After a while the boys came down and we headed for the bus stop, which took us to the Magic Kingdom without stopping at POR! When we got there, we were walking with purpose to the monorail station, when I suddenly hear behind me, "Let's follow these people, they seem to know what they're doing." I knew they probably weren't headed to the monorail station, but into MK. So, being the helpful DISer that I am, I turned around and told them how to get through bag check and the turnstyles. I also advised them to stake out their firework spot early, as Main Street tends to get mobbed closer to 10 p.m. They thanked me about a million times and I told them to have a magical time.
I just love helping people in Disney!
Another thing I picked up on the way to the monorail was this:
Colleg-aged kid to friend/relative while walking to bag check: "Is that the Fastpass line!?
Other college-aged kid: No. Are you kidding!? There's no Fastpass to enter the park. Not for us anyway, only for the stuck-up "resort" people!"
HAHAHAHA. I was laughing so hard that we actually had to stop so I could regain control of myself. Oh from the mouths of newbies...
After that whole excursion we found ourselves here:
We hopped on a monorail (<333333) because we are too lazy to walk and I LOVE the monorail, and got off just one stop later at the Contemporary! Can you guess where this is going?
Yep! That's right! I used my superior navigation skills (aka frumping around the resort until I found it) to locate the check in area for California Grill! From there, we were royally escorted to the top floor of the Contemporary, where we were given a buzzer and told we could wait on either of the balconies until it went off.
Now, being an extreme DIS-er, I knew where the less crowded of the two balconies was and how to get there. You walk through the restaurant and behind the little waiter-touchscreen-get-your-check podium and down a few stairs to the left. There is a door on the right. You open it, and voila! Practically empty balcony! There was a precious old couple out there, but that's it! The Electrical Water Pageant was going on while we were out there, so we watched that for a while. We also watched The Magic, the Memories, and You! from a distance. I snapped a few shots around the CR during that time:
That is the CR monorail station looking down from the balcony.
The Mickey-shaped pool:
And, of course, Bay Lake Tower!
I LOVED the view from up there! It was absolutely gorgeous! Right after MM&Y was over, our buzzer went off and we were called inside!
Will we get the coveted window table to watch Wishes from?? Stay tuned!
Continued in Next Post
I hate when that happens! I applaude you on still doing a semi update for that part of the trip though, I probably would have just ignored it and come back another day. 
) Fred and george are the best! I did end up buy those from zonkos because i just had to have u-no-poo! It was 2 awesome to pass up! I still have the jar and I use it as a pencil holder! I also loved seeing the ton-tongue toffees as well! Once again i love that part of the 4th book! I was so sad it wasn't in the movie! The fourth book was my favorite of the books so I loved seeing that alot of the stuff in the wizarding world is from that book.
That bakery case was NOT there the last time I went! I can't believe they have rock cakes and 
CAULDRON CAKES 
So darn scary!! I got attacked by a seagull on the path by Big Thunder! 
OMG I wanna try Butterbeer sooooooo bad!!! 
You should definitely eat there if you go on your solo trip!
