Welcome, Foolish Muggles! IoA/US/MK/SW *July 2013 Trip Report Link*

[natebenma]

That's all it took!

On the next day of our never ending trip report I woke up at some ungodly hour in the early morning with a terrible case of bed head. Unfortunately I turned on the lamp and the guys got a peep of my Paris Hilton hair extensions 3 sheets to the wind. All that screaming was awkward to say the least and after hotel security got a gander at my disaster doo they ran screaming down the hallway and jumped in the 'vators. I surreptitiously applied liberal amounts of pilfered BC hair products in a vain attempt to tame my tigress locks and headed off to nibble a muffin from the Club level offerings. (15 pictures of that single muffin to follow)

The boys, having recovered from TMI bed head, were their usual surly selves as we made our way to the park. I knew I needed to lob Coffee at Mark like a hand grenade in order to wake him up. It was either that or go on that Spiderman thingy. The kids were busy playing Goldilocks with their breakfast offerings, complaining about how breakfast was either too this or not enough of that. I gave them my patented "Mama ain't PLAYIN with you!!!" look and the whimpering suddenly ceased.

We were the first ones awake in Orlando that morning having arrived 4 hours before what ever they call rope drop at the NON DISNEY park we were at that day. Within seconds the thundering herds were behind us, pushing and shoving to get to Toy Story Mania. Imagine their shock and surprise when I had to explain to them that they were at the wrong park entirely, and imagine my surprise when they told me the line had reached back that far.

Suddenly it was full steam ahead as we were let into the park. I was easily distracted by food carts and snack shops that didn't open for another hour or 5 as we attempted to make our way yet again to ride that Seuss thing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~MM

I realize I never did fully reply (or post a rebuttal) to this semi-ficticious report:

OK, the part about waking up at an ungodly hour and storming the theme park: True!

I have to dispute the whole bed-head thing, though. My hair is more Lady GaGa in the morning than Paris Hilton, but I'm not sure that is better.

The accusation about the pilfered Beach Club beauty supplies- Totally True, however I had an accomplice in this acquistion. You know who you are!

I proudly admit to the 15 pictures of the Club Level muffin. It was white chocolate Macadamia with a coconut creme filling. Truly a thing of beauty. And almost half of the photos were artsy shots of just the white choc chips or the nuts.

There was some lobbing of coffee between Mark and me, but you need to understand that it is far more important to keep ME caffeinated.

Off to Seussland, I went with a plea
But the boys again would not ride it with me
They claim "It's for babies" as they pooh-pooh it
I don't know what it will take to get them to do it!

.

 

[Marlton Mom]

By the way- anyone want to buy a wreath???

Tis the season!

I realize I never did fully reply (or post a rebuttal) to this semi-ficticious report:

OK, the part about waking up at an ungodly hour and storming the theme park: True!

I have to dispute the whole bed-head thing, though. My hair is more Lady GaGa in the morning than Paris Hilton, but I'm not sure that is better.

The accusation about the pilfered Beach Club beauty supplies- Totally True, however I had an accomplice in this acquistion. You know who you are!

I proudly admit to the 15 pictures of the Club Level muffin. It was white chocolate Macadamia with a coconut creme filling. Truly a thing of beauty. And almost half of the photos were artsy shots of just the white choc chips or the nuts.

There was some lobbing of coffee between Mark and me, but you need to understand that it is far more important to keep ME caffeinated.

Off to Seussland, I went with a plea
But the boys again would not ride it with me
They claim "It's for babies" as they pooh-pooh it
I don't know what it will take to get them to do it!

.

So you are saying I was spot on. OK then >>> <<<

~MM

 

[natebenma]

It was dark as Nate and I left US to go to IoA. We were really booking it since the park would only be open for one more hour and WW is way at the back of the park! My commando wingman was doing an awesome job keeping up with me. I was ahead, moving at a pretty fast pace, scoping out openings ahead in the crowd. I was making hand-signals so Nate would know which way I was going next. My hands were touching like I was praying and I would point them to the left or right of my body to indicate my direction.

I was hoping we would find low crowds in the Wizarding World. Everything I had read indicated that the last hour before IoA closed tended to be the least crowded time there. However, this was Thursday, July 14, a few hours before Deathly Hallows, Part 2 was premiering. LeakyCon, the Harry Potter fan convention was also taking place.

We saw lots of costumed guests in the parks this week. I really have to give credit to the dedication of the fans who were wearing full black robes, ties and scarves in the July heat! Mark says he saw someone dressed spot-on as Moaning Myrtle, with white makeup and everything. I was impressed that someone would emulate Moaning Myrtle and even more impressed that my husband knew who that was!

At some point in City Walk, I spotted him! Harry Potter himself! This guy was dressed perfectly in his robe, looked to be about the right age and height (Harry, year 6 probably). He was booking it to the Wizarding World at about the same pace as we were. I tried so hard to get ahead of him to take a picture, without appearing like a stalker. Took a couple of photos, but since he was moving, I was moving and it was dark, they all came out blurry.
Here’s the best one I have, you are going to have to trust me on how much this guy looked like Harry!

We followed him all the way to Hogsmeade, where he ducked into Honeydukes.

We continued on to the castle to ride Forbidden Journey. Imagine my delight when Nate said “Wait time is 15 minutes!!!” Awesome! Just enough time to enjoy the queue through the castle before the ride.

Then he distracted me by pointing out the magical sign for the attraction which lit up a letter at a time:

Very cool!

So we were in the castle, moving right along, until… we reached the dreaded greenhouse. The line formed on the very bottom of the greenhouse ramp. No way was the wait going to be 15 minutes! I still don’t know what happened- if the posting was wrong, or if "someone" made a mistake when he read it, but this was the most miserable wait we had on the trip. It is really really hot in the greenhouse and except for a small display case along the wall at the end of the queue, there is not a lot to see. I’ve said it before (earlier in this report, in fact) and I’ll say it again

The greenhouse could use a little less heat and a little more magic!

At this point Nate and I were pretty hot and pretty tired after our long day. Nate did not have his phone with him. I had mine. I pulled it out and looked at it. There were a couple of voice mail messages, so I listened to them.

“Hi, this is Ann (my neighbor who is watching the house and feeding our gerbils). Is there another carbon monoxide detector in your house? The one in the dining room has been going off for a couple of days, so I unplugged it”



Fortunately, since I was still in the greenhouse waiting area, I had plenty of time to text her

“Yes, there is one upstairs and one in the basement”

Neither one of them was going off, and the gerbils were still alive, so we figured it was just the battery that had died.

I think I sent another text or two to other friends, although I had to explain to one of them when we got back what a pocketful of FPs meant.

There is a view up at the castle turrets from one vantage point in the greenhouse:

Finally, we were out of the greenhouse and in the castle checking out Dumbledore’s office, some classrooms and the Griffindor Common Room:

So, riding Forbidden Journey ended up taking a lot more time than we thought it would! And when we were done, it dawned on me that we had made a Major Muggle Mistake! This would have been the perfect opportunity to use the Single Rider Line. This was a lesson I would not soon forget.

I took a few pictures of Hogsmeade when we were finished, but not many.

The park was closing in about 15 minutes. I had not been on one of Nate’s favorites, so we quickly made our way to Marvel Superhero Island.

The Incredible Hulk Coaster-Feel the rage on a high-speed roller coaster rampage.

We showed our room keys and made our way to the loading area. While we were there, we saw a family carrying a couple of backpacks. As they were about to board the ride, they were told they couldn’t bring on the backpacks and they couldn’t leave them there. I think one member of their party took the bags and left. She wouldn’t be riding that night. We heard announcements that Islands of Adventure was closed and there would only be a couple more takeoffs.

We were on one of the last rides.

The Hulk was fun- another very smooth coaster. Fast takeoff like RockNRollercoaster. Lots of loops/inversions.

The line for the boat to the Portofino was pretty crowded. I think one boat just left when we arrived, and we were not able to get onto the next boat that arrived. It was probably pretty close to 11 when we got back to our room. The next day was going to be another early morning. It was the last day of our trip, and we were going to arrive for the 7 am opening of Harry Potter.

As I mentioned earlier, tonight was the night Deathly Hallows Part 2 was opening. Did you hear that the audience at the City Walk movie premiere was surprised with a complimentary visit to WWoHP after the movie from 3 am to 5am! Cool!

Although we were in Orlando, we didn’t have tickets to the movie. But we would be in the Wizarding World just 2 hours after the lucky guests had cleared out.

Next up: Last Day

 

[Marlton Mom]

AWESOME Report!!

It's hard to think of the simplest things after a long and exhausting day at the parks so don't beat yourself up.

I can't wait to hear how crabby everybody is and what time you got up on the last day... As they say, you can sleep when you are dead!

~Joanie

 

[bubba's mom]

That was a great day! So, guess you waited for the boat instead of walked back?

Don't feel bad about not using single rider for FJ at the end of the day. Sometimes the posted wait times ARE off and sometimes you just don't know...kinda sux you didn't know till standing in the middle of the queue tho

But...don't beat yourself up about it....you couldn't have known. Anyone of us coulda done it the way you did.

Our last nite there, Bubba was going to ride single rider. Till he saw the line at the bottom of the single rider steps. Forget it he said!

 

[DrMomof3]

How do you have enough energy to keep going after that much time? I think I would have collapsed at this point!!!
I have to remember Single Rider Line. Must etch that into the brain before my trip.
An incredible day but I doubt I could have kept up!

Amanda

 

[natebenma]

AWESOME Report!!

It's hard to think of the simplest things after a long and exhausting day at the parks so don't beat yourself up.

I can't wait to hear how crabby everybody is and what time you got up on the last day... As they say, you can sleep when you are dead!

~Joanie

Thank you!

We learned that it was really important to to make sure everyone has their own tickets and room keys when splitting up. Or didn't learn. You'll see...

There is some definite crabbiness coming up, but it is not at the beginning of the day.

That was a great day! So, guess you waited for the boat instead of walked back?

Don't feel bad about not using single rider for FJ at the end of the day. Sometimes the posted wait times ARE off and sometimes you just don't know...kinda sux you didn't know till standing in the middle of the queue tho

But...don't beat yourself up about it....you couldn't have known. Anyone of us coulda done it the way you did.

Our last nite there, Bubba was going to ride single rider. Till he saw the line at the bottom of the single rider steps. Forget it he said!

We had an amazing day!

Yes, we took the boat back. We took your path to the parks a few times, but we never did the reverse trek.

Thanks for the pep talk about missing the SRL. The thing that really bummed me out was that we spent so much time in the greenhouse part of the queue we didn't have time to enjoy other parts of the Wizarding World at night. I wouldn't have minded getting another ride on Hulk, either. That was my first, and only ride.

How do you have enough energy to keep going after that much time? I think I would have collapsed at this point!!!
I have to remember Single Rider Line. Must etch that into the brain before my trip.
An incredible day but I doubt I could have kept up!

Amanda

You should go through the regular queue at least once or twice, because even if you go in the castle tour line, you miss a few things. But SRL for Forbidden Journey is the way to go! Especially since you will be solo.

As long as I am moving, I am ok. What shocked me was how well Nate did. This was the second long day in a row for him- the 12.5 hour marathon at the MK, followed by a 4 park (SW, IoA, US, IoA) day. He did get in a short mid-day nap while the rest of us were at the pool, though.

 

[ddluvsdisney]

Sounded like another great day! The greenhouse area is really kinda boring looking. You'd think they would do something better with this space. And the heat in there!!!
The Hulk had too many inversions for me I think- I felt so old after getting off that ride lol.
Deb

 

[Marlton Mom]

Thank you!
There is some definite crabbiness coming up, but it is not at the beginning of the day.

Darn! I hate that you can't post a poll inside a thread....

I'll play "Joanie the Greek" and discuss the odds of who is going to have a melt down. Let's look at the cast and their attributes shall we?

First we have Dee, the driven trip organizer. Strengths: Been there done that, bought the T-shirt AND a set of pins. Weakness: Is a planner and planners tend to get cranky when the members of the traveling party abandon a carefully (Oh so carefully) crafted plan and start trying to survive the trip any way they can.

Next we have Mark the stoic husband. Strengths: He's been married long enough to this woman to know that she's right and the best thing to do is to listen to her. Weakness: He's a guy and guys just really want to do their own thing, especially after 4 + days of following the wife.

And then there is Nate. Strengths: He is a junior park commando in training who loves running away from the pack and towards his own path. Weakness: He is a Teenager, with hormones and attitude that fluctuate between I am part of the pack or I am the "Lone Wolf".

Finally we have Ben. His strengths are that he is still young and malleable and still appreciates the benefit of working with the family. Weakness: He is the youngest of the group and thinks he is the least heard. His teenage hormones are also rearing their gnarly heads, although not with the turn on a dime variability of his older brother.

So ladies and gentleman WHO SHALL IT BE???

Which one of our 4 intrepid characters is going to lose it and blow a gasket.

Will it be Dee?
or Mark??
or Nate???
or Ben????

Tune in to the next post for my prediction!

 

[Marlton Mom]

Ok so I couldn't wait long enough to really torture you.

Here are the odds:

Dee: 2 to 4 odds that she blows it because she has two children on this trip and we all know that children cause a parent to lose it on a regular basis.

Mark: 1 in 4 odds only because he knows Dee will blow first before the aggravation exceeds his levels.

Ben: 3 in 4 odds but not the winner here......

Nate: I'm picking Nate as the winner here. All that running around plus the picky eating and the hormones are bound to take their toll.

So how'd I do???

~MM

 

[mickeystoontown]

I am loving that you've raised Nate to be a go-go-go park tourer (is that a word? ) Hunter is just like that and could keep going until they made us leave. Too bad you got stuck in a long line and in the sweltering greenhouse. Your description of other guests being dressed in HP themed costumes reminds me of the guests who dress up for Star Wars Weekends.

 

[natebenma]

Darn! I hate that you can't post a poll inside a thread....

I'll play "Joanie the Greek" and discuss the odds of who is going to have a melt down. Let's look at the cast and their attributes shall we?

First we have Dee, the driven trip organizer. Strengths: Been there done that, bought the T-shirt AND a set of pins. Weakness: Is a planner and planners tend to get cranky when the members of the traveling party abandon a carefully (Oh so carefully) crafted plan and start trying to survive the trip any way they can.

Next we have Mark the stoic husband. Strengths: He's been married long enough to this woman to know that she's right and the best thing to do is to listen to her. Weakness: He's a guy and guys just really want to do their own thing, especially after 4 + days of following the wife.

And then there is Nate. Strengths: He is a junior park commando in training who loves running away from the pack and towards his own path. Weakness: He is a Teenager, with hormones and attitude that fluctuate between I am part of the pack or I am the "Lone Wolf".

Finally we have Ben. His strengths are that he is still young and malleable and still appreciates the benefit of working with the family. Weakness: He is the youngest of the group and thinks he is the least heard. His teenage hormones are also rearing their gnarly heads, although not with the turn on a dime variability of his older brother.

So ladies and gentleman WHO SHALL IT BE???

Which one of our 4 intrepid characters is going to lose it and blow a gasket.

Will it be Dee?
or Mark??
or Nate???
or Ben????

Tune in to the next post for my prediction!

Ok so I couldn't wait long enough to really torture you.

Here are the odds:

Dee: 2 to 4 odds that she blows it because she has two children on this trip and we all know that children cause a parent to lose it on a regular basis.

Mark: 1 in 4 odds only because he knows Dee will blow first before the aggravation exceeds his levels.

Ben: 3 in 4 odds but not the winner here......

Nate: I'm picking Nate as the winner here. All that running around plus the picky eating and the hormones are bound to take their toll.

So how'd I do???

~MM

Ooh, I love this! I hope others play along.

Your analysis of the personalities involved is perfect, but you did not take into account that the answer could be more than 1 person or all of the above! But there is a clear crabby winner!

Unfortunately, the winner will not be revealed until the "Not a Magical Express to the airport" chapter, which is at least 6 updates away! I know you got all excited when you saw Last Day, but there's still a lot more to come, and yes, more food porn!

 

[natebenma]

I am loving that you've raised Nate to be a go-go-go park tourer (is that a word? ) Hunter is just like that and could keep going until they made us leave. Too bad you got stuck in a long line and in the sweltering greenhouse. Your description of other guests being dressed in HP themed costumes reminds me of the guests who dress up for Star Wars Weekends.

Now we just need to get Ben with the program!

He did well on our MK day, though, so there is definitely hope.

Yes, good analogy to Star Wars Weekends. You have to admire the commitment of those willing to go to such lengths to show their devotion, but a t-shirt works just fine for me, thank you!!!

 

[Marlton Mom]

Ooh, I love this! I hope others play along.

Your analysis of the personalities involved is perfect, but you did not take into account that the answer could be more than 1 person or all of the above! But there is a clear crabby winner!

Unfortunately, the winner will not be revealed until the "Not a Magical Express to the airport" chapter, which is at least 6 updates away! I know you got all excited when you saw Last Day, but there's still a lot more to come, and yes, more food porn!

So this trip report is basically turning into a Season of that TV show "Lost".
Are we going to be chased by Dinosaurs as we try to read it?

~ MM

 

[natebenma]

So this trip report is basically turning into a Season of that TV show "Lost".
Are we going to be chased by Dinosaurs as we try to read it?

~ MM

YES!!! There are dinosaurs!!! Two updates away.

 

[eandesmom]

The greenhouse could use a little less heat and a little more magic!

At this point Nate and I were pretty hot and pretty tired after our long day. Nate did not have his phone with him. I had mine. I pulled it out and looked at it. There were a couple of voice mail messages, so I listened to them.

“Hi, this is Ann (my neighbor who is watching the house and feeding our gerbils). Is there another carbon monoxide detector in your house? The one in the dining room has been going off for a couple of days, so I unplugged it”



Fortunately, since I was still in the greenhouse waiting area, I had plenty of time to text her

“Yes, there is one upstairs and one in the basement”

Neither one of them was going off, and the gerbils were still alive, so we figured it was just the battery that had died.

I could not agree more about the greenhouse. When we were there they actually were handing out water to people, it could verge on horrific! Fortunately we were never really stuck there but UGH. I have to admit, it wouldn't have occurred to me to use the single rider line, I didn't even notice if there was one!

Thank goodness you had more than one CM detector.

As I mentioned earlier, tonight was the night Deathly Hallows Part 2 was opening. Did you hear that the audience at the City Walk movie premiere was surprised with a complimentary visit to WWoHP after the movie from 3 am to 5am! Cool!

Although we were in Orlando, we didn’t have tickets to the movie. But we would be in the Wizarding World just 2 hours after the lucky guests had cleared out.

I did not hear that, how cool!!!

 

[natebenma]

On the morning of our last day, we were all up early, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed , so we could visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter during the early opening hour (7 am).

Our plan for the day was to go the Islands of Adventure for a few hours, then return to the Portofino for breakfast in the club lounge. Checkout at the resort is 11 am so we planned to check our bags with bell services and return to Universal to hit some favorite attractions, then come back to the Portofino for lunch. Our flight was at 6 PM, so we had a 3:15 pickup scheduled for the return to the airport.

Once again, we followed Bubbamom’s shortcut through the Hard Rock Parking lot to get to City Walk. I’m not sure if I have described the bag check procedure- when you arrive at City Walk from the resort path, there is one guy who quickly checks the bags you are bringing in. No lines. I’m not sure there is even a table. Very easy.

At 7:05, we were walking through this gate:

I had a lot of problems with glare from this poster:

A little better

On our first early opening visit to WWoHP, we skipped the Olivander’s show and went directly to the castle and Forbidden Journey. This time, I wanted to catch the show, so we got in line as soon as we arrived. I think there were about 40-50 people in line ahead of us. The wand shop is really small, only 20-25 people are let in at a time and the show is about 5 minutes long. I believe it took close to 30 minutes to get in (we were the 4th group). I don’t know that I would wait more than 30 minutes for the show, so if there are more than 50 or so people ahead of you, I recommend skipping this. Do it early if it is important to you- the lines will only get much longer during the day!

Why does this sign make me think the shop is for men only?

A girl who looked to be about 12 named Paige was picked to be chosen by a wand. The guy playing Olivander was really good. Here are a few pictures from the shop/show.

When we had finished, it was time to go onto Forbidden Journey again. Having learned from our mistake last night, Nate and I suggested using the Single Rider Line. Ben wanted to go in the regular line. So we split up with plans to meet at 8 am.

Nate and I were alone in the SRL. It was not a walk-on, it was a run-on! As we got to the loading area, the TM’s told us to “Hurry” and we were put on seats side by side. Wow, that was fast!

We were able to get on the ride so quickly that we decided to do it again. Until I realized that I had everyone’s room keys. So Mark and Ben would not have them to show for the Front of the Line Access if they wanted to do anything.

I panicked! I decided that instead of a second ride on FJ, we would try to find Mark and Ben in line. So we got into the Castle Tour line, and looked for them in the regular line. We didn’t see them! We ended up seeing them exiting Filch’s Emporium. They had finished their ride.

Of course, it didn’t occur to me that since we were meeting up with them again before the park was open to all guests, that it was probably not necessary to show the room keys anywhere. DOH!!!

Continued in Next Post

 

[natebenma]

Continued from previous post


Together again, we all went through the castle for the last time, for a final ride on Forbidden Journey.

Dang! The greenhouse again. At least the line is moving this time.

When we had finished with FJ, Mark and Ben took one more ride on Flight of the Hippogriff, while Nate and I tackled Dragon Challenge- red this time.

A parting shot of Hogwarts:

Next up: A few last things at Islands of Adventure

 

[bubba's mom]

I'm guessing each person in your family doesn't retain possession of their room key?

re: bag checks. When you enter the parks' property, you are subject to quick search. Whether it's arriving by foot at CW or if you opt for the boat from your resort. If by boat, they check your bag BEFORE you board the boat. If you arrive as day guest (parking garage), they will check your bag as you are exiting the parking garage. It's not thorough and it IS quick.

I love WWoHP during early entry. SO empty and relaxing (& I'm not a HP fan)

and, so your readers know, DD...Dragon Challenge. Red is Chinese Fireball and Blue is Hungarian Horntail.

but for some of us, it'll always be "Fire" and "Ice"

Sad this is coming to an end...especially since we didn't go this year...and the next 2 aren't looking promising either.

 

[natebenma]

I'm guessing each person in your family doesn't retain possession of their room key?

re: bag checks. When you enter the parks' property, you are subject to quick search. Whether it's arriving by foot at CW or if you opt for the boat from your resort. If by boat, they check your bag BEFORE you board the boat. If you arrive as day guest (parking garage), they will check your bag as you are exiting the parking garage. It's not thorough and it IS quick.

I love WWoHP during early entry. SO empty and relaxing (& I'm not a HP fan)

and, so your readers know, DD...Dragon Challenge. Red is Chinese Fireball and Blue is Hungarian Horntail.

but for some of us, it'll always be "Fire" and "Ice"

Sad this is coming to an end...especially since we didn't go this year...and the next 2 aren't looking promising either.

I love having you here!!! I really like my details to be thorough and informative (that's why we have a 40 plus page TR for a 5 day trip), so I appreciate you filling in the descriptions and details.

Don't worry, we still have a couple more park updates to go!

Dueling Dragons/Dragon Challenge: Do you have a preference between Fire and Ice, or are they both about the same to you? I haven't been on the Uni forums much lately- last I knew they were running the coasters seperately due to a couple of recent issues. Don't think they have them dueling again yet.

Too bad you don't have plans to get back to IoA/US soon, but I will try not to feel too sorry for you. Sailing around the BVI and a trip to Grand Cayman don't sound so bad!