RCMommy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2007
- Messages
- 785
:We have been back from our trip for nearly a week and just thought I would share a few thoughts about our experiences...
We are a family of four with twin 8 yr olds which was a first trip for them to US and IOA. We are often in Orlando but staying on Disney property.
The kids loved US. They also loved IOA - but honestly only the WWOHP part. We were at WWOHP on January 8 (Sunday) and it was busy but not too bad. After getting off the forbidden journey ride and waiting in line at the gift shop I made a joke to the cashier about the noise in such a tiny area and about how much Advil he must have to take. He told me "this is nothing, today there are 8000 people in the park, two days ago there were 48000" I was floored !!!! I cannot even begin to imagine. Getting a locker was a bit hectic but there were staff there to help and they were friendly. Just battling the crowd (and a little one at that) was the issue. We did not wait for more than 30 minutes for any ride at any park on any day - what a joy that was !! Our week was from January 6-14th.
Butterbeer was yummy and the cart always had a line but a minimal wait. We walked into Three Broomsticks for dinner at 6:30 on Friday night and was able to eat right away. The fish and chips were decent but of course it is more about the atmosphere. The line for Ollivander's was 30 minutes long but once we got inside the experience was totally worth it. Our two kids were just in awe and it made picking their wands that much more special.
We bit the bullet and spent $10 on one chocolate frog for our daughter from Honeydukes.
Our 8 yr olds also enjoyed these other rides/shows: The Simpsons, Flight of the Hippogruff(sp?), Shrek 4D, Animal Encounters show (2x), MIB, Fear Factor Live and The Mummy.
For parents, like myself who get nauseous on certain rides - take note I immediatley got off of the Forbidden Journey and asked for Drammamine at the cashier counter. Oi vey! It was worth it to experience the ride at least once however.
I am now trying to find the E.T. movie on dvd because both kids enjoyed the ride so much and have never seen the film. A stuffed ET even made the journey home with us.
The Starbucks upstairs in Citywalk always brightened my morning right before going into the parks. Gotta love caffiene!
There were a lot of tour groups visiting at the same time and we encountered a number of rude people shoving, butting in line, speaking right over us to the people behind us. Mind you, you can get this just about anywhere! Just tried to stear clear.
The photos inside the parks that are taken by staff photographers - do they really need to be that expensive? I know it is a tourist money trap, but come on - if they had made them more around $10 I would have bought a couple special ones and I think many more would buy as well, but $24.99 is ridiculous!
Okay, not such a quick trip report after all.........
We are a family of four with twin 8 yr olds which was a first trip for them to US and IOA. We are often in Orlando but staying on Disney property.
The kids loved US. They also loved IOA - but honestly only the WWOHP part. We were at WWOHP on January 8 (Sunday) and it was busy but not too bad. After getting off the forbidden journey ride and waiting in line at the gift shop I made a joke to the cashier about the noise in such a tiny area and about how much Advil he must have to take. He told me "this is nothing, today there are 8000 people in the park, two days ago there were 48000" I was floored !!!! I cannot even begin to imagine. Getting a locker was a bit hectic but there were staff there to help and they were friendly. Just battling the crowd (and a little one at that) was the issue. We did not wait for more than 30 minutes for any ride at any park on any day - what a joy that was !! Our week was from January 6-14th.
Butterbeer was yummy and the cart always had a line but a minimal wait. We walked into Three Broomsticks for dinner at 6:30 on Friday night and was able to eat right away. The fish and chips were decent but of course it is more about the atmosphere. The line for Ollivander's was 30 minutes long but once we got inside the experience was totally worth it. Our two kids were just in awe and it made picking their wands that much more special.
We bit the bullet and spent $10 on one chocolate frog for our daughter from Honeydukes.
Our 8 yr olds also enjoyed these other rides/shows: The Simpsons, Flight of the Hippogruff(sp?), Shrek 4D, Animal Encounters show (2x), MIB, Fear Factor Live and The Mummy.
For parents, like myself who get nauseous on certain rides - take note I immediatley got off of the Forbidden Journey and asked for Drammamine at the cashier counter. Oi vey! It was worth it to experience the ride at least once however.
I am now trying to find the E.T. movie on dvd because both kids enjoyed the ride so much and have never seen the film. A stuffed ET even made the journey home with us.
The Starbucks upstairs in Citywalk always brightened my morning right before going into the parks. Gotta love caffiene!
There were a lot of tour groups visiting at the same time and we encountered a number of rude people shoving, butting in line, speaking right over us to the people behind us. Mind you, you can get this just about anywhere! Just tried to stear clear.
The photos inside the parks that are taken by staff photographers - do they really need to be that expensive? I know it is a tourist money trap, but come on - if they had made them more around $10 I would have bought a couple special ones and I think many more would buy as well, but $24.99 is ridiculous!
Okay, not such a quick trip report after all.........
(last week of March!) so I appreciate your views - 
). 
