Updated TR from 2011: First trip to Universal and Seaworld

[coastgirl]

*SHREIK!* Ok, I know I'm a bit behind, but I’m skipping ahead. We had the most magical experience this evening. Ds, 10, he of the Harry Potter lookalike contest in my ticker, got picked to receive his first wand with the help of the wandkeeper at Ollivander's at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. He is *such* a big fan, and he and I have really loved sharing the books. He's kind of a geeky, awkward kid, with some special needs, but smart as a whip, and incredibly imaginative. We saw the show once on Monday evening, and I didn't even mention beforehand that someone is chosen, because I didn't want to get his hopes up. Monday we watched a boy named Hunter get his wand, and while ds thought it all very cool, he was very quiet, and dithered tremendously when it came time to go through to the shop and buy his own wand, and we decided to wait. We planned to be there for rope drop today, to beat the line at Ollivander's but by the time we got to Hogsmeade at 9:10 the line was already more than an hour long. We had a great time anyway, talked to some neat TMs. He had his Hallowe'en robes on, and many TMs mentioned them, congratulating him on being another Griffindor, etc. We saw some really cool wands at Filch's and some of the "students' there explained the Fred and George Weasley set, and the complete Tri-Wizard set.

We left after an hour or so and spend the next several hours at Aquatica. Late afternoon back at the villa, then at 5 we left to go back to IoA, knowing the park was open until 7. We came in to a much shorter line at Ollivander's so hopped into the line to see the show again. He meant to wear his robes, but forgot, but had on his new favourite tshirt, the one I made from a photo of Harry on the broomstick over Hogwart's, with "N--- family, Having a Wizard Time" on it. At 5:30 or so, the line was much shorter—maybe a two- or three-show wait. We were the last to be admitted to the 2nd show as it worked out, and I was almost reluctant to go in, because I didn’t want the kids to be crammed in at the back. (When we saw it the first time, they didn’t get to *see* much, as it turned out.) But the assistant put us off to the side, and the Wandkeeper fixed ds with his eye almost immediately. I was afraid to breath, expecting him to move on, but he didn’t.

The wandkeeper was amazing. At one point I thought he was going to push back ds’s bangs to look for the scar on his forehead. He picked a wand of “holly, with a dragon heart-string core”, and talked about ds’s “fiery disposition”. It was just perfect. Perfect. Made his day, his trip, his year I think. Dh was in charge of the videocam, and the footage is great. I didn’t even notice the background music until we looked at the video, and the lighting is also perfect. However, it is a large file! I have been uploading to my photobucket account for half an hour now and still it’s only 40% done. Will link it as soon as I can.

 

[damo]

Yay!!! That is such a great story! The Wizarding World is such an amazing place...I'm so glad your son was able to have that experience.

 

[coastgirl]

The file was too big, it kept crashing my photobucket account, but youtube took it. I'll probably take it down in a week or two...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwBNDkZYuXw

It's still giving me chills thinking about it, he went to bed last night and very carefully placed the wand on the bedtable as close as he could get it to his bed without risking rolling over on it.

 

[damo]

Lol, the video was great!

 

[coastgirl]

Let’s see if I can catch up a bit now that the excitement is over!

Ok, the character breakfast. We were, as usual, rushing and a little late, but the villa really is “15 minutes to Disney” as we found out, and we made up time. Got to the Poly and checked in for our 9:00 ressie at 9:02. What a crowd there was waiting! They were out of buzzy-flashy thingies, and we had to wait around near the desk just to get one. I was surprised that on a Tuesday in February, it was so busy at 9 am. We were seated by about 9:20, though, so not bad. After all the rushing, it was nice to sit around, drink lots of coffee and have someone bring us bacon. The Mickey waffles were particularly yummy, though they definitely need to import some NS maple syrup. We asked for extras on bacon and sausage, and got another full platter of everything—so much waste! But we really enjoyed the breakfast, as always. I think Lilo came to visit first, and she was lovely, the best Lilo we’ve had. Mickey, then Stitch, and a torturously long wait for Pluto. (There’s always one…) But the blasé 10-yo made one of those happy-sigh comments about how much he loves character meals, so it’s all worth it.

From there we headed over to Universal Studios. First time there too. It’s interesting, you can see the crowds are always skewed to IoA, US is much lighter. I think the first thing we saw was the Animal Actors show, which was really fun and amazing. Two of the three volunteers were Canadian, so we hooted for them. (I keep thinking of Brad, and wanting to go up to someone and say, “so what part of Halifax are you from?” ) The ET ride was fun and sweet, but feels a little threadbare compared to, say, Forbidden Journey. After that we did the Simpsons ride, which I think was my favourite. I loved plummeting down a huge drop, knowing I was still just a few feet from where I started! I want to do it again, just to catch more of the jokes. It was so funny! Then MiB, also fun, but, well, you know, not as good as Toy Story Mania. The Simpsons did my dh in (he’s discovering he’s not a simulator guy), so we left shortly after that. We want to go back for a couple of the character things there—saw Donkey, Shrek and Fiona meeting, but they were closing it down as we got there, and saw the Madagascar gang driving away. And I’d like to do the Simpsons again, and maybe go on Spiderman with ds. (Dh was going to do it until this simulator thing came up.) Our big breakfast kept us going til then, but we popped into Five Guys on S Kirkman, and had some amazing fries before heading home.

Oh, almost forgot, as we were leaving through Citywalk, I heard someone yell "JoAnne! JoAnne!" It was a woman from our neighbourhood with her kids! Couldn't believe it! Yes, all of Halifax is here this week...

The next morning we planned to go to IoA early, to try to get into the Ollivander show without a line, and that part didn’t work out, but we had a lovely hour or so there before heading out to Aquatica, our first-ever water park. It was sunny and about 23C, but the place was so empty! Lots of Brits, and some Canadians, and that was about it. Easy to get in, nobody else circling the parking lot…nice. Had a quick visit with the darling little dolphins by the front gate. Found it easy to get a good spot on the beach by the wave pool. The air was still a bit cool, and while the water was warmer than the air, it was still below body temp, so it gets cold after a while. But we loved playing in the wave pool. Moved on from there to Roa’s Rapids, which is like a not-so-lazy river. It was neat, but we were worried about the kids, so didn’t fully relax. It’s also hard to fight your way OUT of the current, and we missed our planned exit a couple of times before we could get ourselves and our kids out of the current. It’d be a lot more fun if you were just supervising yourself!

Then we moved on to the “real” lazy river, which was calmer but still more work than I expected…I cannot master the plop-over-the-inner-tube thing! We then gave “Tassie’s Twisters” a try, and that was a blast! I thought it’d be way scary for me, or dd (with whom I was paired), but it wasn’t scary at all. It was only a couple of hours, but we were beat, and when we headed for the car to get our picnic, we decided we were done. We enjoyed talking to a couple of staff members at Conservation stations on the way out, saw a bearded dragon, a chameleon, and a big gorgeous bird of prey. We had packed a picnic, thinking we’d stay out all day, so we stopped at the picnic tables and ate our sandwiches. We went back to the villa, and even after that, the kids jumped into the pool and stayed there for at least an hour and a half, until I made them get out. Then we had a quick bite and headed out to IoA around 5—and you’ve already heard the end of that tale!

Today was dd’s 8th birthday, and I had booked Bibbity Bobbity Boutique for her. It’s her 4th trip to BBB, and I think she’s probably at the “old” end of it now. She had a great time still, and especially enjoyed all the attention afterwards, but Mom has to admit the dress up days are ending, and before I know it the make up and nail polish will be for real. We had a really great Fairy Godmother in Training, she clearly enjoyed her job and wanted dd to have fun. I was prepared iwht a cash tip this time, as last time I wasn’t allowed to tip on my credit card. But when I slipped the FGIT the bill, she gave it back to dd and brought her over to “the wishing well” and had her put it in there. I guess they split tips? Or donate maybe? Anyway, I was disconcerted, b/c I wanted our FGIT to get it, for a job well done. So, there you go: don’t tip expecting the person who did it to get it. After that we walked around DTD for a while. Ds made a beeline for the Lego store, which is in a temporary location. If you can believe it, the temp location is even more noisy and over-stimulating, but he could stand it long enough to spend the last of his vacation money! (Dd, by contrast, has most of hers left, and she’s starting to needle her brother about it!)

Dd and I have a tradition of going for sushi on her birthday, a mom and girl thing, so we got dh to drop us off at Take Japanese restaurant, which is just around the corner from the villa. We had a very nice lunch. Spent the day chilling, doing a little shopping, and then Friendly’s for supper. The kids love Friendly’s, and the staff was so nice.

Tomorrow is supposed to break 80 for the first time, so we’re checking out Wet N Wild, with Aquatica as a backup. The busy-ness is starting to wane, and we are ready to slow down and spend a few hours here and there, and more hours lazing around the villa. We’re half way through our trip, and I feel like it’s *years* since I’ve been in the office. Really enjoying the warm weather and time with the family.

 

[coastgirl]

Lol, the video was great!

Thanks Damo. I think he's just as thrilled that I've put it on youtube... "I'm viral!" he said!

 

[pooksma]

Just shared the video with my 9 yr old DS and he loved it! He said to tell your son he is a very lucky guy.

 

[ariel68]

....batteries for the remote...sigh
Remember when we only had 3 TV channels?
And it was TORTURE to have to get up, walk over to the TV, and turn the dial...then adjust the rabbit ears because CTV didn't come in as good as CBC?

...back from Memory Lane...!! LOL

 

[ariel68]

Let’s see if I can catch up a bit now that the excitement is over!

Ok, the character breakfast. We were, as usual, rushing and a little late, but the villa really is “15 minutes to Disney” as we found out, and we made up time. Got to the Poly and checked in for our 9:00 ressie at 9:02. What a crowd there was waiting! They were out of buzzy-flashy thingies, and we had to wait around near the desk just to get one. I was surprised that on a Tuesday in February, it was so busy at 9 am. We were seated by about 9:20, though, so not bad. After all the rushing, it was nice to sit around, drink lots of coffee and have someone bring us bacon. The Mickey waffles were particularly yummy, though they definitely need to import some NS maple syrup. We asked for extras on bacon and sausage, and got another full platter of everything—so much waste! But we really enjoyed the breakfast, as always. I think Lilo came to visit first, and she was lovely, the best Lilo we’ve had. Mickey, then Stitch, and a torturously long wait for Pluto. (There’s always one…) But the blasé 10-yo made one of those happy-sigh comments about how much he loves character meals, so it’s all worth it.

From there we headed over to Universal Studios. First time there too. It’s interesting, you can see the crowds are always skewed to IoA, US is much lighter. I think the first thing we saw was the Animal Actors show, which was really fun and amazing. Two of the three volunteers were Canadian, so we hooted for them. (I keep thinking of Brad, and wanting to go up to someone and say, “so what part of Halifax are you from?” ) The ET ride was fun and sweet, but feels a little threadbare compared to, say, Forbidden Journey. After that we did the Simpsons ride, which I think was my favourite. I loved plummeting down a huge drop, knowing I was still just a few feet from where I started! I want to do it again, just to catch more of the jokes. It was so funny! Then MiB, also fun, but, well, you know, not as good as Toy Story Mania. The Simpsons did my dh in (he’s discovering he’s not a simulator guy), so we left shortly after that. We want to go back for a couple of the character things there—saw Donkey, Shrek and Fiona meeting, but they were closing it down as we got there, and saw the Madagascar gang driving away. And I’d like to do the Simpsons again, and maybe go on Spiderman with ds. (Dh was going to do it until this simulator thing came up.) Our big breakfast kept us going til then, but we popped into Five Guys on S Kirkman, and had some amazing fries before heading home.

Oh, almost forgot, as we were leaving through Citywalk, I heard someone yell "JoAnne! JoAnne!" It was a woman from our neighbourhood with her kids! Couldn't believe it! Yes, all of Halifax is here this week...

The next morning we planned to go to IoA early, to try to get into the Ollivander show without a line, and that part didn’t work out, but we had a lovely hour or so there before heading out to Aquatica, our first-ever water park. It was sunny and about 23C, but the place was so empty! Lots of Brits, and some Canadians, and that was about it. Easy to get in, nobody else circling the parking lot…nice. Had a quick visit with the darling little dolphins by the front gate. Found it easy to get a good spot on the beach by the wave pool. The air was still a bit cool, and while the water was warmer than the air, it was still below body temp, so it gets cold after a while. But we loved playing in the wave pool. Moved on from there to Roa’s Rapids, which is like a not-so-lazy river. It was neat, but we were worried about the kids, so didn’t fully relax. It’s also hard to fight your way OUT of the current, and we missed our planned exit a couple of times before we could get ourselves and our kids out of the current. It’d be a lot more fun if you were just supervising yourself!

Then we moved on to the “real” lazy river, which was calmer but still more work than I expected…I cannot master the plop-over-the-inner-tube thing! We then gave “Tassie’s Twisters” a try, and that was a blast! I thought it’d be way scary for me, or dd (with whom I was paired), but it wasn’t scary at all. It was only a couple of hours, but we were beat, and when we headed for the car to get our picnic, we decided we were done. We enjoyed talking to a couple of staff members at Conservation stations on the way out, saw a bearded dragon, a chameleon, and a big gorgeous bird of prey. We had packed a picnic, thinking we’d stay out all day, so we stopped at the picnic tables and ate our sandwiches. We went back to the villa, and even after that, the kids jumped into the pool and stayed there for at least an hour and a half, until I made them get out. Then we had a quick bite and headed out to IoA around 5—and you’ve already heard the end of that tale!

Today was dd’s 8th birthday, and I had booked Bibbity Bobbity Boutique for her. It’s her 4th trip to BBB, and I think she’s probably at the “old” end of it now. She had a great time still, and especially enjoyed all the attention afterwards, but Mom has to admit the dress up days are ending, and before I know it the make up and nail polish will be for real. We had a really great Fairy Godmother in Training, she clearly enjoyed her job and wanted dd to have fun. I was prepared iwht a cash tip this time, as last time I wasn’t allowed to tip on my credit card. But when I slipped the FGIT the bill, she gave it back to dd and brought her over to “the wishing well” and had her put it in there. I guess they split tips? Or donate maybe? Anyway, I was disconcerted, b/c I wanted our FGIT to get it, for a job well done. So, there you go: don’t tip expecting the person who did it to get it. After that we walked around DTD for a while. Ds made a beeline for the Lego store, which is in a temporary location. If you can believe it, the temp location is even more noisy and over-stimulating, but he could stand it long enough to spend the last of his vacation money! (Dd, by contrast, has most of hers left, and she’s starting to needle her brother about it!)

Dd and I have a tradition of going for sushi on her birthday, a mom and girl thing, so we got dh to drop us off at Take Japanese restaurant, which is just around the corner from the villa. We had a very nice lunch. Spent the day chilling, doing a little shopping, and then Friendly’s for supper. The kids love Friendly’s, and the staff was so nice.

Tomorrow is supposed to break 80 for the first time, so we’re checking out Wet N Wild, with Aquatica as a backup. The busy-ness is starting to wane, and we are ready to slow down and spend a few hours here and there, and more hours lazing around the villa. We’re half way through our trip, and I feel like it’s *years* since I’ve been in the office. Really enjoying the warm weather and time with the family.

Thanks for sharing with us Only 30 days until we head out on our road trip to Florida...So excited

 

[mbb]

The file was too big, it kept crashing my photobucket account, but youtube took it. I'll probably take it down in a week or two...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwBNDkZYuXw

It's still giving me chills thinking about it, he went to bed last night and very carefully placed the wand on the bedtable as close as he could get it to his bed without risking rolling over on it.

Aww.....that was wonderful!!!!
Really wonderful!!
Great work Liam!!!

 

[coastgirl]

Ok, I have to tell this story...did I already tell the story about being flagged down by another mom from my kids' school at Universal last week? And when we watched the Pets show at Universal, one of the kid volunteers was from Dartmouth (ok, could've been Dartmouth UK or MA, but, you know...) Walking into Wet and Wild, saw a car with NS plates and the family picnicking there...from Fall River NS (just up the road from us, really). Today at a show at Sea World, another volunteer was Raymond from NS. A lot of subsequent jokes about NS. (And we were at Sea World today to meet up with our neighbours from Hfx.) Truly, half of Halifax is here. Too funny.

 

[coastgirl]

Thanks, he knows how special it was! We had a friend visiting yesterday, and he was reverent when he brought out the wand to show her!

 

[mbb]

Ok, I have to tell this story...did I already tell the story about being flagged down by another mom from my kids' school at Universal last week? And when we watched the Pets show at Universal, one of the kid volunteers was from Dartmouth (ok, could've been Dartmouth UK or MA, but, you know...) Walking into Wet and Wild, saw a car with NS plates and the family picnicking there...from Fall River NS (just up the road from us, really). Today at a show at Sea World, another volunteer was Raymond from NS. A lot of subsequent jokes about NS. (And we were at Sea World today to meet up with our neighbours from Hfx.) Truly, half of Halifax is here. Too funny.

Cue the music....
It's a small world after all,
It's a small, small world...when the Canada Games are in town, and school's out!! LOL

Someone had to sing it

Little OT stroll...but I think I've told it before..

Waiting on the packed trams at DHS after Fantasmic!, tons of people waiting their turn.
We're just ready to pull away, and I hear some lady, SCREAMING my name.

I think, sheesh, that's cool, someone has the same name as I do, here at Disney!!
(I'm a little tired. Long day )

Oh! Wait!! That's my COUSIN!!
From the West Coast!!

We had no idea they were going to be there.
Small World

All Fun!!
Have a great day tomorrow!!

 

[coastgirl]

Well, let’s see. Wet and Wild was fun enough, but with all our other options I won’t be going back. The wave pool was deliciously warm, and we enjoyed two different water slides (“The Flyer”, which you ride toboggan-style with up to 3 other people—but dh at the back was unnerved seeing how close we were coming to the edge on the turns), and “Bubba Tub”, which is like a kid’s “wavy” slide only much bigger, and a four-person tube. A couple of things were closed. But it felt really…um…down market. Not as clean, a lot more worn, staff less polished and friendly. And within the first 5 minutes I saw two couples in embraces that demanded privacy. Let’s face it, when you’re wearing a couple of scraps of swimsuit fabric, it’s hard to have any kind of publickly-acceptable embrace, but these couples weren’t worried about propriety. Ick.

Saturday we really took it easy. A friend from high school moved here 20 years ago; she came over with her two kids, close in age to ours, and we gossiped and caught up while the kids played foosball and used the pool. It was so relaxing, and quite fun.

Today we met a friend from home at SeaWorld. This is the President’s Day weekend, and it was CRAZY at SeaWorld. The worst crowds we’ve seen this trip, outside of WWoHP. I’m glad I wasn’t at IoA today! (Actually, I read that Friday and/or Saturday they were giving out return times for WWoHP, so I’m really, REALLY glad we weren’t there.) The weather was perfect though, high 70’s, maybe 80, but with some breeze and cloud cover, so it didn’t get too hot.

It was our first trip to SeaWorld, and the crowds were off-putting, but SeaWorld I’d say handles crowds really well. The big shows can take a TON of people, and while we decided to skip the hour-long line up at Journey to Atlantis, it was always easy to duck into some animal viewing area. The landscaping is lovely, and the theming is also very nice. Definitely as classy as Disney, but with a shorter walk to your car!

Finally had to break down and buy a theme park meal, for only the second time this trip (the first being the Three Broomsticks), and $32 didn’t seem like too much I guess. We ate at the Spice Mill; I had a grilled chicken sandwich and dh had grilled chicken Caesar, and both were tasty. Fries/accompanying bun and veggies for my burger were lackluster, but, meh, it was ok. Kids had kids’ meals for a reasonable price.

We started at the Dolphin Nursery, which was irresistible. From there we fed the rays. A few bucks for a half-dozen or so shrimp. The rays were really cool—a big accessible touch tank, and they were whizzing around in there. Dd wasn’t quite big enough to reach over, and a little nervous, but we were all surprised when a big ray “broke ranks” and zoomed across the tank and practically leapt out of the pool to take the food from her hand. It made a big splash, got all 4 of us, it was so surprising and funny. Walked over to Journey to Atlantis and declined to line up, but enjoyed “The Jewels of the Sea Aquarium”…just a few tanks, really, but one tank is under your feet, another over your head—it’s very cool. We saw the penguins--and their cousins the murres and puffins, nice to see our own native birds up close like that. Puffins swimming are every bit as cute and goofy as penguins I think. We also went to “Wild Arctic”, which starts out with a “Star Tours” style “tank” simulator. Kids loved it; dh and I were just happy to get out at the “research station” to see the arctic mammals. The polar bear was asleep, but the belugas were neat. The walrus was HUGE and it snuggled up against the viewing window and gave us a really good look. We also went through the Shark Encounter, which was good, but very similar to the Ripley’s Aquarium in Tennessee…this one is bigger overall I think, but I remember being more impressed by the species in Tennessee. The Shark Encounter building has lots of other neat species to see; we especially enjoyed the little tropical frogs. Don’t know why, we’ve seen similar displays other places and enjoyed them just as much. They are just—really cool little creatures.

We also saw the orca show, “Believe”. The best part is just to be near those wonderful creatures; the show itself wasn’t that engaging. The Clyde and Seamore show was great fun, and the mime who did the “pre show” by making fun of people as they came in was at least as good as the show itself.

On the way out we stopped at the Dolphin pool again, and chatted with one of the trainers. DH asked her how she knew she wanted that job, and she said she'd always known. She has loved dolphins since she was a kid, and by the time she was 7, she knew she was going to work with them. She was so enthusiastic about her work, and so clearly smitten by the animals, even though she's been doing it for years now. We said SHE should be the one who the show "Believe" is about. It was really inspiring to talk to her, she was so committed to her dream and she made it happen--I hope the kids were really listening!!

We definitely have more to see at SeaWorld, and we’ll go back. The next few days are about that—revisiting SeaWorld and Aquatica, and the two Universal parks for the things we missed and the things that bear repeating. One more full day in our lovely villa; it’ll be hard to leave, and hard work to pack up. Then we’re moving to Floridays for our last few days, and hoping to have a reason to go to Cape Canavarel on Thursday.

 

[coastgirl]

Cue the music....
It's a small world after all,
It's a small, small world...when the Canada Games are in town, and school's out!! LOL

Someone had to sing it

 

[sympatico]

Sounds like you've had a fully packed vacation so far with more to come. Hope you like Floridays also. Are you planning to go to Cape Canaveral on Thurs to watch the shuttle, if it goes ? If you don't you can see it from Orlando if you look to the northeast shortly after the launch.
Thanks for breaking the villa in for us. Looks like great weather for us also.

 

[mtmbyck]

We had a magical moment at Sea World last year. DD was picked to be the volunteer for the believe show! They grabbed us as we were entering the theatre but DD had a Minnie mouse shirt on so they asked if she had a sweatshirt to put over it. We gladly did!

I had tears in my eyes watching her up there on the jumbo screen with the trainer and the whales. She got to keep the whale tail necklace. Those moments really make your trip special.

Enjoy your family time in the heat. It's still grosse and cold here.

 

[coastgirl]

We had a magical moment at Sea World last year. DD was picked to be the volunteer for the believe show! They grabbed us as we were entering the theatre but DD had a Minnie mouse shirt on so they asked if she had a sweatshirt to put over it. We gladly did!

Oh, that's sweet and funny at the same time! How cool for her.

Wanda, have considered trying to bribe you to take our Floridays res instead. It'll be hard to leave. I just had to reset the net connection again, if you power it off and wait to reset, then it takes way longer than you think it should for the modem to come back on fully. Safe travels!

 

[Zife]

Sound like an awesome trip so far. Reading your report of SeaWrold makes me realize how much we missed (we spent several hours at the dolphin touch tank). Good thing we're finally going back!

I really hope the lines at WWoHP have died down by Oct. I don't expect they will that much, but I'm hopeful. Awesome that your son got to be in the Wand Ceremony. Alas, I fear I'm too old for them to pick me

 

[mom4463]

Great trip report! We stayed at The Fountains next door Feb 14-21. How was your stay at the Floridays?

We also ran into people we knew at Seaworld, Universal and shopping at the Outlets. There was also a family from my daughters school on our flight from Portland to Orlando.