To Hogwarts We Go!

[LuvEeyore]

Love the updates. Thanks for the pictures of the hotel. Mom has enjoyed your trip report as well. Waiting for more.

 

[samheatherwhite]

Our last day was upon us. We got an early start to take advantage of the time we had left. Today was the first day of HHN so we decided to start the day in US and get done there before it even got near time for the scary stuff to start. We wanted no part of that!
G wanted to ride the Despicable Me ride again but B did not. Gran took B shopping in the minion store and transformer store while C, G, and I rode one last time.

The details in here are so good. As we finished the ride there was a minion having a dance party. Nobody else stayed to dance so G had him all to herself for a while. I ran to the gift shop and got B so he could dance too. The kids loved this.

This guy was so tiny. G is only about 50 inches tall and he was about her size.
Both of the kids still had money left on their gift cards so I knew that we were going to have to do some serious shopping.
B had already found something in the gift shop of the minion ride. He got a ray gun that he loves that lights up and makes noise.
Next we headed to DA for one last dose of magic and a little bit of shopping.

We were super happy to see Kreacher hanging out in Grimmauld Place.
G decided that she wanted to go into the money exchange and talk to the goblin teller.

It was so realistic, this guy made eye contact as we walked in the door. There was only one set of people in there and they left as we were walking in.

G got a bit awestruck and just stood there staring at him. He worked for a minute and then looked right down at her and said, "How may I help you." She just froze, so I nudged her. She squeaked, "Can I get some Goblin money?"

This is the first and only time that I have ever seen G speechless. He told her that she should go to the cashier so she did. It was hilarious.

I had her do this all by herself and she was so proud of being a big girl.

This was really neat and I recommend trying it out if you have time. G's wizarding money proudly sits near her wand on her book shelf.

One last picture of the dragon....yeah right I took more.

I made the kids matching Gryffindor shirts before I found out that B was a Slytherin. They turned out super cute. G was Harry and B was Ron. Hers had a snitch and his had keeper hoops.

They looked like team shirts in the back. It worked out perfect that the characters actual numbers from the movies corresponded with the kids ages on our trip.

 

[HM]

love the shirts and that the age/number matched. kismet

 

[Merry0405]

I can't believe your little guy is only 2! He seems so grown up. You have such a nice family. I am enjoying your trip report. Thank you

 

[samheatherwhite]

Thank you everyone, sorry to be gone so long.

I had to try and get another picture of the dragon breathing fire.
After I took photos of the kids in their shirts we went in to shop in the Magical Menagerie. G loves stuffed animals and i knew she wanted one from HP to take home. I also always buy the kids a shirt when we vacation and she had her eye on the pink tye-dyed Pigmy Puff shirt. She wanted it in purple but they only come in pink.
After much deliberation, I mean a ton, G opted to buy Crookshanks. She also decided on the Pygmy Puff shirt. B decided that he needed a Fawks the Phoenix.
As soon as we were done shopping we decided that we needed to catch the HE one last time. We were going to have brunch in The Three Broomsticks.

On the way there was no one at the phone booth so I sent G to check it out. I really felt old when she had no idea how to use the rotary dial. She was totally confused and gave us all a good laugh.

B of course wanted in on the action so G helped him make a call.

Here is my silly boy and his Minion ray gun. He loves this thing.
We had another nice ride on the HE and soon we were in Hogsmead. It was about 10:45 and we were hungry. I chose to eat breakfast here and lunch at the LC so we could try as much HP food as possible.

The Three Broomsticks was just perfect.

Here are a few pictures of the inside.

Check out this fantastic stair case.
We got our food and were led the a wonderful table right in the corner by the fireplace. It was not crowded in here at all.

This is G's pancake breakfast. All of the food here was similar to what we had at the Character Breakfast except here it was hot and fresh so it tasted much better. G liked her food and B ate some of her pancakes.

Gran went with the traditional English breakfast which she said was a little bland. Funny story, we had discussed the black pudding on the plane and G made Gran put it in a napkin so nobody had to look at it. Needless to say none of us were brave of us to try it. If the guys were there they woul have been braver. the thought is just too much for me.

B and I got this, I cannot remember what this is called. B really likes eggs and he ate quite a bit of this. The potatoes here also had a bit of an Italian seasoning taste to them.

C got the porridge and said that it was pretty good. The fruit was good except the melon was not ripe enough. She got a pear cider to drink and it was really good. we all liked that. It had ice in it which we thought was strange but it was tasty.

The kids and I got an apple juice for Mr. Picky and a pumpkin juice. Boy was I sad that I hadn't tried this before. It was soooooooo good. I love all things pumpkin but hadn't gone out of my way to get one because I found an online recipe and tried it and it was super gross. It kind of scared me away. That is such a shame, it is probably a good thing that they aren't readily available because I would drink them all the time. G and Gran liked it as well but C did not. She's wrong

Here is our cozy table. It was perfect.

Here is the fireplace that was just to our right.

As we were done we explored around little while and exited throught the Hogshead.

We loved the Three Broomsticks and would eat there again happily. It was such a nice experience.

 

[Dutchie Guy]

Love reading this report.. it's great. I love you spend so much time at the park and had a blast. You made me want to visit even more!

 

[samheatherwhite]

After a nice lunch in the cozy Three Broomsticks G informed us that she had to have another ride on the "Hogwarts Ride."

G and I hopped in line and were soon at the loading area. There was a cast member there that waved G on to the moving sidewalk and then proceeded to yell at her for coming too quickly. I saw him wave as well and thought he meant go, the same as G did. We tried to back up but the moving sidewalk made that really hard for a 7 year old. Meanwhile about 5 empty ride vehicles went past as the mean cast member griped at us for not following directions. I finally got tired of his ridiculous attitude and turned around to chew him out. You just cannot treat children that way when they make a totally innocent mistake. He was way out of line. As I told him what I thought of his behavior the people in line clapped as they apparently agreed with me. A manager type person did lead the jerk away so I hope he learned a lesson in manners. Poor G was pretty upset but I told her that we could not let one meany ruin our day so we had a nice ride and moved on. We then got back in line and rode again, drama free, because I didn't want that guy to ruin her memories of her favorite ride.

We soon met back up with the others and mailed our postcards from Hogsmead. Here is a picture of the howler.

G needed a few rides on the Hipogriff and then we exited Hogsmead.

Since B is our resident dinosaur expert and he slept through our exploration in Jurassic Park we knew we had to go back. He also ended up choosing a dinosaur t shirt for his souvenir.

They had a good time exploring the visitors center evn though a lot of the stuff went over their heads.

G stayed inside with C as she paid for some items and B and Gran and I went outside and sat by this pretty pond. While we were outside a man came by G with a baby triceratops that he let her pet. C said it was super cool. I hate that B missed it he would have been in heaven.

The kids saw a little turtle swimming and they watched him for a while.

Next we stopped at a hair wrap booth. When we went to Disney in 2012 G got one and she loved it and she knew that she had to have another one. She chose purple, red, aqua, and royal blue and it came out really cute. She wore it until just after Halloween and it still looked good. The man at Disney gave us a helpful hint that I will pass along. Since her hair is so long it is cheaper to start the wrap just behind her ear instead of her part as they charge by the inch. It also makes it easier to put it into a ponytail. If I remember correctly her hair was 13 inches long so it cost 26 dollars. The lady did a great job and was really fast.

 

[pixeegrl]

IN case you get a special craving while at home....know they offer this I've been tempted but it's sooo expensive! https://www.universalorlando.com/Merchandise/Gift/Harry_Potter/Honeydukes/Pumpkin_Juice_4_Pack.html

 

[angryduck71]

Pixeegrl, thanks! I might get my boy a case of that for Christmas if it'll come in time. He LOVES it!!!

 

[samheatherwhite]

This next part of our trip does not have very many pictures because G was ready for the water rides. They are some of her favorites.
I am going to share a funny G story about these. G has always been very tall and she developed a love of thrill rides young. Her first big girl theme park experience she was 3 and we went to Silver Dollar City with my sister and her husband. She rode her first kiddie coaster with Uncle J and loved it. (I was pregnant.)
It was as hot as could be and G saw the river rapids ride. I told her she could ride it if she was tall enough thinking that she wouldn't be. Well she was! C and J took her on it and I watched. I happened to look down and see them come around the bend. The raft dipped and an absolute wall of water crashed right over the top of G. I was afraid that we had ruined her for life.
They told me the story of what happened at the end of the ride. C said that she just knew that G would be crying after getting so soaked. She said that G looked up at her, spit out a huge mouthful of water, grinned and yelled, "let's do it again." From that day on she has loved this type of ride.
I hate them. I do not like being soaked and walking around in wet clothes. Well, to make G happy I agreed to a good soaking.

First we rode Jurassic Park while the others played in the dinosaur playground. Then we went to Ripsaw Falls which we hadn't ridden yet. The others got an icee and waited for us to come off. This is where we got my favorite picture of the trip. This is the ride photo from Ripsaw Falls and it shows you what complete joy looks like in the face of a 7 year old thrill junkie.

There was no line so we weren't gone long. The people in front of us actually stopped us as we got off and thanked us for sharing our fun with them. G was hilariously thrilled with her ride. (She does have teeth, you just cannot tell in the picture because she'd lost her two front ones! )
After we were thoroughly drenched we met back up with Gran, B, and C.
B decided that it was his turn to get wet so we headed around to explore the Dr. Suess kids play area which I knew had a water feature.

On the way we met Woody Woodpecker. G recognized him from the kiddie coaster but B had no idea. They did nicely take a picture with him to humor their Momma.

He leaned down close to see B and as we left B said, "Oh that was a close one. I thought he was gonna poke me with the beak."

The playground was super cute but the kids only cared about the water.

It was almost empty and soon we had the area all to ourselves. The kids loved this area.

B loved playing frog and jumping on the lily pads.

There were a lot of handles that you could pull and make water rain down in different areas.

Needless to say they were soaked when we left there after a good long splash.

 

[LuvEeyore]

The water play area looks so cute. Don't think I'll try it in January

 

[samheatherwhite]

After a long time splashing around we took the kids to a bathroom to change out of their soaking wet clothes. Dry and ready for more fun, B needed another ride on his favorite, the carousel.

He loves any kind of merry go round and this didn't disappoint.

From the ride the kids could see some Dr. Suess characters come out so as soon as we had stopped we hustled over to have some more character fun.

They wanted to see the Grinch first. When G was little someone bought her a Grinch stuffed doll and she loved it. She was so surprised when a little closer to Christmas we watched the movie and he was the bad guy. We just thought she knew. It was hilarious! She was very conflicted about whether or not to continue snuggling with a Christmas stealer!

Next we saw Thing 1 and Thing 2. They were really cute. There was a pretty teenage girl in front of us and Thing 2 kept blowing her kisses as she was walking away. The kids thought that this was awesome.

It was fun having a chance to see two characters at once. The kids both loved the one they saw first. It was a really nice interaction.

Next we went to see Sam I AM from Green Eggs and Ham. People seemed confused on who he was so there was no line for him. The lines for the others was only 1 or 2 people.
When we walked up he was messing around with his handler. They were play wrestling and B still talks about it.

G wasn't as sure what to do with the wild guy.

For pictures Sam put his hands on the kids head. His fingers were so long that they covered B's face which caused more giggles. He was really funny.

After our character visit we rode The Cat in the Hat ride and One fish Two Fish. I was surprised at how wet I got on the fish ride. You have to listen and follow directions to not get squirted and the 2 year old was in charge. Needless to say I got pretty damp.
We shopped around the Sues stores and got the kids more pressed pennies. Up next we break for some food.

 

[coastgirl]

Loved all the photos of the kids--they looked like they were having a blast! I must say, I never thought of UO as being so kid-friendly--I think of it as being more for teens and adults. But, NEAT!

 

[samheatherwhite]

Sorry it has been so long. Christmas was super busy. Lets finish this up.
After exploring Suess land everyone got hungry so we ended up at Confisco Grill. It said that it was closed but they seated us and were still taking people as we were leaving.

It was a really cool restaurant and we were hungry. I was also still damp and nearly froze to death in the air conditioning which felt great to the dry members of the party.
The food here was good but it did take a really long time to get it and the restaurant was probably less than half full.

I got the club sandwich which was served on a croissant and with fruit and potato salad. The sandwich was good and the fruit was as well. The potato salad was okay but I am not a huge fan anyways. It was super mayo-ish.

B of course got the grilled cheese which he loved and ate most of. I think G got pasta and she must have been starving because she ate it so fast that I didn't get a picture. She was still hungry since it was a small serving and wanted to try a milkshake so we ordered her one while we finished.

Excuse the weird picture but she had shoved the cherry into her mouth right when I snapped the picture. She chose a banana shake which was weird to me since she hates bananas but she loved it and drank most of it with a little help from her Momma.
I think that Gran got fajitas and C got a different sandwich. Everyone liked their meal but this will not go down in history as anyone's favorite.
After our super late lunch or really early dinner it started to rain pretty heavily. (This was the first night of HHN and I read later that it rained the whole time.) We had done everything that we wanted to so we decided to shop our way out f the park.
I ran to the photo connect thing to finish our package and waited another ten years. There has to be a better way for this. I am glad that I did it though. The sweet girl that helped me this day fixed all the mistakes that my jerky male connect guy had made. They turned out really cute. I will add these at the end of my posts.
The stores in the port of entry were super cool and we spent a lot of time in them. G still had a little money on her gift card and I grew huge amounts of grey hair waiting for her to finally decide. (A Gryffindor Beanie Hat)

There were all kinds of cool HP props in there. Above is Wizarding Chess.

Here are some pictures from back at the hotel.

G in her new hat that she wears all of the time.

I am a little ashamed to admit that I bought the kids and Sam a Minion Fart Gun to play with. They love it! You can also see Crookshanks and G's feather quill and paper in this pic.

Here is the dino shirt that B chose.

Here is the Pygmy Puff shirt that G chose.
After shopping for a really long time and playing in the room and packing the kids were getting hungry again. It was raining and I could tell that C was tired so I went down to the pool bar to see about easy food. It was pretty deserted out there and the bar tender was super helpful. I ordered myself a quesadilla and got the kids a hot dog and a grilled cheese. For the kid's sides I got a side salad with ranch and an order of fresh fruit. It was ready pretty quickly and I carried t up.
Let e tell you, this food was fantastic. It was such a shame that we only tried this place our last night. the quesadilla was so good and the kids food was to die for.
G ate the GC this time and the fruit which was an overflowing hamburger container with the best fruit we had the whole trip. There was a ton there. The side salad was equally huge and perfectly fresh. B loved it.
Gran and C were not hungry when I went but after seeing how good the kids food was I ran and got them both a GC and fruit. Hidden Gem right there.

We also ate the cupcakes that I had bought at the bakery the day before. They were pretty good. The vanilla had a unique flavor but we liked it.
We snacked and packed then went to bed. The bad news was that we were leaving in the morning.
Tony Hinds was picking us up at 11 so C and I went down stairs to get breakfast from the lobby area. Sorry No pictures.
I got more fruit, some juice, a donut, and a big delicious looking cinnamon roll for the kids and I to share. The fruit was nowhere near as good as the night before some of it was hard as a brick, not ripe at all. B who loves donuts more than anything in the world didn't like this one. I tried it and it was stal eas could be. Super gross. The cinnamon roll looked and smelled delicious but we were so disappointed when we tasted it. The icing was that gross cream cheese from a can type icing. I love cream cheese but only the real stuff the flavor was overpowering. You couldn't even taste the cinnamon. To the trash it went. C had gotten one of those too and she hated it as well. This breakfast was easy but not any good at all. As good as everything else was at RPH I would give them the benefit of the doubt and hope it was just an off day.
I cannot recommend Mr. Hinds car service enough. He was a perfect choice.
He came to get us and take us to the airport right on time.

 

[samheatherwhite]

I wanted to include some of our Photo Connect pictures for anyone interested.
I liked this service. I know that we didn't use it to its full potential since we had a little guy and a pregnant lady and didn't do coasters. I will definitely be doing some next time, with G if she keeps growing so fast. (I have a 53 inch tall 7 year old.)
The lines to check out the pictures were a turn off. I kept thinking that if these were the lines in the off season I couldn't imagine the busy times. The team members there were either some of the best or the worst. Very hit or miss on service.
There is my 2 cents, on to the pics.

Without these I would have been in maybe 5 pics so I like stuff like this speaking as the family photographer. It's nice to be in a few.

Here is our badge from EFG. C and B stayed with us until just after the elevator (B thinks that he got to go on the ride) and then they went to the wait area.

The photog. from the HP areas was the best. He made sure and got us several really good pics.

I love the pics with all of us at Hogsmead.

Sorry I cannot get it to rotate. Some of the pic people did great jobs and some were just okay. For example the color is super weird in our transformer pic.

G's favorite ride. I love how tiny she looks. I just wish it had caught her excitement.

G loved the magic shots

We are not Simpson's fans but we had so much fun with the couch pics. They were hilarious

This is what a grumpy toddler who wants a hot dog looks like when his Mom makes him take pics that he doesn't want too

MIB

Some pics you have to like because they are sooooo bad
I saved my very favorite for last. Here is a picture of what pure joy looks like on the face of a 7 year old. I don't even regret riding the wet rides after I saw this. I don't even mind being slightly damp for the rest of the day. Here is G's bliss captured on film.

The couple that rode with ]us stopped her when it was over and thanked her for being such a fun ride partner. We were all laughing hysterically at her enthusiasm to be drenched.

 

[samheatherwhite]

I think that about wraps it up. If anyone has any questions I'd be happy to try and answer them. Thanks for reading along. We all had a wonderful time and cannot wait to go again.

 

[macraven]

i agree with you!

i have used Tony Hinds for years for car service and always recommend him to others.

 

[schumigirl]

I enjoyed your report.....looks like you had a fantastic trip.........thanks for taking the time to do it

 

[Dutchie Guy]

thanks for writing and glad you all had a great time

 

[Ohio louie]

From what I can tell the slower times are very similar to Disney's. Any time school is in is a slower time and the big Holidays, especially Christmas, fall under the way too busy to be enjoyable category. If you are HP fans you must try The Leaky Cauldron and The Three Broomsticks. We ate breakfast at the broomsticks and I will review it later on. The atmosphere in there is so cool. We also really liked Mythos and Finnegans was wonderful as well.
G is a daredevil and at 7 she is also very tall at about 50 inches. She loved despicable me, flight of the hippogriff, and the 3 water rides the best. Her favorite ride in the whole world she says is the Forbidden Journey with Gringotts a close second. She was disappointed that she couldn't ride Dueling Dragons and the Hulk and Rip Ride Rocket. She also really enjoyed the animal actors show.

wow...thank you so much for posting! we are going in may and we know how to do disney, but universal will be our first time. i also have a adventurous 7 yr old who is 49 inches. i am a bit concerned about our 4 yr old who is 43inches but more timid. i'll have to read on to see how the rest of the park worked for you guys. thanks so much!!!