I'm finally back with an update! Since it's been almost 3 months, here's a recap of cast members:
Me & Lumar
My sister Steph and her BF Rob
My brother Mike
My cousin Toni and her fiance Josh
My cousin Tom
Saturday morning, Steph and Rob woke up early and headed out to Universal Studios. Since they have half a million dollars in school debt, they knew that this would be there one and only real vacation for a long while, so they opted to do as much as they could. I warned them that on a Saturday, Universal was going to packed, but it was really the only day we could fit it in.
So while they were there, Lumar, Toni, Josh, and I headed over to DTD. Toni and Josh mostly just wanted to browse around but I was on a mission!
Mike and Tom stayed at OKW and slept for most of the morning.
(Toni & Josh)
We split up for a while and Lumar and I headed over to, what is currently, Tren-D. I don't think it was called this when we were there in July but I can't really remember because at the time, I couldn't care less what the name of the store was. I just wanted....
My first ever Disney Dooney. Specifically, The Retro.
Lumar helped pick it out. He gets an A+ for placement picking!
Here's the front:
Here's the back:
And here's the free credit card holder I got for buying it:
Let me just say that I am totally in love with this bag and I have carried it every day since we got home from this trip. I get so many compliments on it!
And here's the best part. $235 bag - $200 in Disney Visa Rewards Dollars - 10% Disney Visa Discount = I only paid about $30 for this bag. WIN.
So after that, we met up at the Disney Days of Christmas store. I picked up a Cheshire Cat ornament for myself and a Mickey Haunted Mansion ornament for Lumar. I wanted to keep browsing but the store was starting to get crowded so we headed out.
We headed back to OKW to drop off our purchases and get Mike and Tom, then we headed over to Epcot! Lumar and I split off from the group for a while and took in our favorite park at our own pace.
I think these were jalapeno cheese poppers but I could be making that up. I remember they were delicious:
One of only a few pics Lumar and I took of just the two of us on this trip
(Josh, Toni, and Tom)
We had dinner reservations at San Angel Inn for 7pm. Steph and Rob texted us around 4 to say they were on their way back to OKW to shower and change, and they would meet us at San Angel Inn around 6.
As soon as they arrived, Lumar and I bombarded them with questions about WWoHP.
Their response (simultaneously, I might add) was "it was alright."
Can't say it wasn't expected. They had the same complaints that everyone else has had since the place opened: "It's way too small."
And they didn't mean the WWoHP section of the park. The shops and restaurants have almost ZERO walking space.
Steph said they went into Honeydukes and there is no room to stop and "look around." You walk in and you're in the line. You move when the line moves and eventually you're back outside.
Here's the one picture they took while inside Honeydukes:
Maybe it's just me, but they ain't got nothing on Disney Cupcakes...
She said it was basically the same thing with Ollivander's Wand Shop. A giant crowd forms in front of the building, they do a little presentation
where ONE person (a kid) is picked to get a special wand and then everyone else just basically pours into the store where it's, yet again, exceptionally tiny:
They stopped in at The Hog's Head and Three Broomsticks, where they had to try some Butterbeer:
They did say that it was good, but the clear winner was Pumpkin Juice. They brought some back for me and Lumar. I wouldn't say I LOVED it, but it was pretty tasty. I bought some for Rob for Christmas!
They decided to do The Forbidden Journey, then head over to the Marvel section before heading back to OKW.
Keep in mind that Rob suffers from motion sickness....
Some pics from the queue:
According to both of them, the wait and the motion sickness were both totally worth it. They said the queue is amazing and the ride is unlike anything else they've done.
That being said, Steph said overall they were glad they went but it wasn't really all that great. The shops just aren't big enough to accommodate more than a handful of people at a time, and there are only two places to eat, which serve basically the same things.
And this picture really bothers me:
This would never happen in WDW.
I also noticed that they put a lot stuff that's meant to be "detail" behind bars. Like the Monster Book of Monsters. It's sitting on a table but there are bars around it so you can't touch it. Same thing when you're in the greenhouse in the Herbology wing of the castle. The Mandrake "plants" are behind bars. Disney never does that! Everything is just out there for people to interact with! It just seems cheap to me.
So now that we were all back at Epcot, we checked in for our dinner reservation and browsed around the marketplace for a few minutes.
Toni, Steph, and Me
Josh
Lumar & Mike
We had all just gotten to the bar at La Cava, when our buzzer went off. So we headed back over to the podium and were seated for dinner!
We all ordered drinks...most of got margaritas which are to die for! What I would do for one (or three) right now!
My sister is not a huge fan of Mexican food but even she still talks about this meal to this day. I think it turned out to be the overall favorite meal for everyone!
I can't remember if we caught Illuminations after dinner or not (and I stopped taking legitimate notes halfway through the week), but I know we all basically passed out the second we got back to OKW!
Up next: California Grill!
But that stinks about the photo. 
So glad everyone was finally feeling the magic after Fantasmic! 
Merry Christmas!! Thanks for popping in!
