We're going back after 7 years!!! PTR - updated 12-26

[xlsm]

or maybe the Gruffalo wants to be a unicorn

My kids loved that book, I'll have to show them the Uni-Gruffalo, LOL!

Ooh, that's fun!!

Today was basically our whole reason for going to London, or well mine at least, because we were heading to the Warner Brothers Studios to see all the Harry Potter sets and props. If you ever plan on going to it and don’t want any spoilers look away now!

Ahh!! Definitely one of our must dos when we finally get to London. Anything Harry Potter related is right up our alley!

I’m looking forward to seeing the Diagon Alley in Universal Studios now, that’s new since we were there last:

We went three years ago, and I cried when I saw Diagon Alley for the first time. It is spectacular!!

but this one made cute noises so I needed it.

Haha, that's the reasoning I'd have used too!!

Really enjoyed seeing your London photos and the HP stuff!! We are huge fans (books more than movies, but the movies are important too!!).

Looking forward to seeing how the rest of your plans come together!!

 

[petals]

My kids loved that book, I'll have to show them the Uni-Gruffalo, LOL!

It was kind of sad to see him with only one horn but then I thought the Uni-Gruffalo was cuter

Ooh, that's fun!!

Yeah it was cool and loads of cheaper Harry Potter clothes and stuff than parks or the Studios would have.

Ahh!! Definitely one of our must dos when we finally get to London. Anything Harry Potter related is right up our alley!

It was awesome. Would totally recommend it. They do different themes during the year as well so if we can go another time of the year I'd totally go back!

We went three years ago, and I cried when I saw Diagon Alley for the first time. It is spectacular!!

I can't wait to see it. Just can't decide whether we need two or one days in Universal/IOA. I asked on a Universal facebook page and everyone there said two definately but then we don't do most of the rides in Universal we tend to only do gentle rides and the shows/parades, character meets and take a million pictures of Harry Potter areas

Haha, that's the reasoning I'd have used too!!

I thought it was good reasoning as well plus the pink one which I'd called Harry needed a friend!

Really enjoyed seeing your London photos and the HP stuff!! We are huge fans (books more than movies, but the movies are important too!!).

Looking forward to seeing how the rest of your plans come together!!

Thanks. Spoiler alert we did another Harry Potter tour on our last day but I'll get to it soon.

 

[petals]

Day 3 in London, part 2:

So we were on our tour bus at Trafalgar square from there we got off near Covent Garden area we were headed to a show on the West End. People on Dis said that Covent Garden was the nearest tube station to our next destination but Momma wasn’t convinced so asked the bus driver where we were to go and he sent us wrong. He told us Covent Garden wasn’t anywhere near it and sent us about 6 streets wrong. Eventually with the help of some maps on street poles I found the theatre we were going to and along the way I also found a Disney pop up display:

Of course we had to go check it out. They had displays of costumes from the Lion King and Aladdin:



You could also get your picture taken with the Genie’s lamp. They gave you four small pictures and while they weren’t the greatest pictures in the world they were free so can’t really complain plus you got to hold the lamp:

They were starting a make-up tutorial while we were there as well but we didn't stay to watch as we were getting hungry so we headed to Five Guys for cheese burger and chips instead. The burgers here were super yum:

Then we headed back to the theatre for the show, we were going to see Matilda and it was awesome. We lucked out on the seats and got the second row and then some lady came in and asked us if we would move to the end two seats in the row as they had split her family up and they wanted to sit together we didn’t mind moving because sitting on the edge put us more in line with the centre of the stage so this was our view:

The show was awesome and after we met the little girl playing Matilda as well. We headed back to the tube station then and funny enough Covent Garden station was only maybe a street and a half away from the theatre. It was a little crowded as shows had finished nearby and Momma didn’t fancy waiting for the lift so we walked down the stairs to the platform…. Down 193 steps, there was signs on the wall saying that it was 15 stories underground. We got back to our hotel eventually and packed up to head home the next day but we had one more tour before heading for home.


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[petals]

I do believe I have developed an addiction for buying Mouse ears These are the latest ones I got and I've one more pair ordered:

Trip wise I booked two tours in Seaworld as a Christmas pressie for Momma. We still haven't decided on the one/two days in Universal yet.

I'm wondering also about this whole fast pass thing. I know you've to book 3 a day in advance and can start book from 60 or 30 days out. We're staying at a Disney hotel for the second half of our holiday, problem is as we didn't book through Disney the reservation number from our TA won't register on the app so will this mean we can only do fast passes 30 days in advance or is there some way that Disney will give us a registration number that will work for the app for us? ​

 

[petals]

Day 4 in London:

It was our last day in London but we weren’t finished touring yet. We dropped our luggage off in the luggage room at the hotel and checked out then we headed towards London Bridge on the underground. When we got there we were 45 minutes early for our tour and it was raining so we popped in to a nearby Pret a Manger for some breakfast. I got a chocolate croissant:

After that we headed off to join our tour, we were doing a Harry Potter walking tour so of course the first thing the guide asked was if everyone had read the books and watched the movies to which Momma responded no and said they were to far-fetched for her kind of a mistake to admit that one on this tour for her because the guide then picked on her in a funny way for the rest of the tour! First he brought us through the Borough Market and showed us where the Knight bus stopped when it dropped Harry at the Leaky Cauldron:

Next we headed to the London clink where he explained the Harry Potter reference and explained how they made the hand of glory in the old days! Apparently they used to chop off the hand of the dead, dip it in pigs fat and stick a candle on it, gross much!

There was some fairly fancy street art around this area as well which I thought was cool enough for a photo or two:


Next we headed to the wobbly bridge that the Death Eaters destroyed and he also showed us a ship nearby that inspired the Durmstrang and Pirates of the Caribbean ships:

Next we got the underground to Westminster where we headed through Scotland Yard and he showed us where there used to be a phone box that was where the entered the Ministry of Magic, he had photos of the characters in the spot so we could compare the area as well:

After that we headed towards Trafalgar Square and towards the alley that was originally supposed to be used as Knockturn alley until they discovered they couldn’t get their cameras down there so they built their own Knockturn alley. He said that this alley was used in the new Mary Poppins movie as well though:

We then went across the road to another side street that was apparently the street that inspired Diagon Alley. There was a few different book shops with books on witchcraft and apparently it was where old magic societies hung out. One of the book shops had old Alice in Wonderland books and Winnie the Pooh figures in the window as well:

The guide also pointed out where Mozart lived while touring in London:

The tour ended here as well. It might not sound like it from my explaining but it was a great tour. We had found it online and it wasn’t overly expensive but the guide was full of information about what we were seeing, he also explained other non Harry Potter sights as we went along. He knew oodles of stuff about the books and magic and alchemy references in the books that I never knew about. He was also super patient because there was one know it all kid on the tour that literally interrupted him every 2 minutes. It was a great way to pass some time before our evening flight though. Once we left the tour we headed back to a nearby book store I’d spotted where I found a Niffler for £22.99 instead of the £35 it was at the Platform 9 ¾ shop the day before:

We then headed towards the underground again to head back to Kings Cross, taking pictures along the way:

Back near the hotel we headed to Pizza Express for some lunch. I had a pepperoni pizza:

Momma had a cheese pizza:

Then we shared a cheesecake for dessert and nearly forgot to take the food picture it was so yummy:

After that we picked up our luggage from the hotel and headed for the train to the airport. The train was super busy but we got to the airport fairly quick. We wandered the shops to pass the time and I found a cute Winnie the Pooh colouring book with London pictures in it:

Popped in to Nandos for a kids meal before we headed to the boarding gates:

At the boarding gates they checked everyone in to a holding area that you couldn’t come back out of before telling everyone the flight was going to be delayed as someone had taken ill on the flight on the way over. Eventually they let us on the plane and one of the stewards was trying to make jokes about things like he said you needed to turn your phone to flight mode for take off and if your phone didn’t have flight mode you needed a new phone. Soon enough we were landing back in Dublin:

We headed for home all pottered out after a fun few days in London
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[petals]

I got my first dollars for the trip today

I also booked the new character meal at artist point it’s super expensive with no dining plan but Momma’s favourite character is Dopey and it said him and Grumpy would be there so we’ll see if we keep that one.

I also got another set of ears this week... these are the last ones... maybe... but look they're so shiny

 

[petals]

We finally booked our Universal Tickets. Went with two days. Not sure we'll spend two full days in the parks but sure we'll see how it goes. Now all that's left is fast passes and estas. Despite having a Disney hotel booked we can only do our fast passes 30 days out because the reservation number our TA has for the hotel doesn't work on their app but we won't really be looking for the big coasters anyway so we'll probably be booking the stuff everyone else thinks is a waste of fast pass ​

 

[mdsouth]

We finally booked our Universal Tickets. Went with two days. Not sure we'll spend two full days in the parks but sure we'll see how it goes. Now all that's left is fast passes and estas. Despite having a Disney hotel booked we can only do our fast passes 30 days out because the reservation number our TA has for the hotel doesn't work on their app but we won't really be looking for the big coasters anyway so we'll probably be booking the stuff everyone else thinks is a waste of fast pass ​

I have never been to Universal but from what I read two days should give you time to see all the Harry Potter stuff. It is too bad you can't make the FP for 60 days out but it sounds like it should not be a problem for you. I know the last time I was there, I used one of my Fast Passes for Peter Pan and we were happy we did! So, I get that there are other people like us who are not the big Thrill riders.

 

[mdsouth]

Your trip to London looks like it was an amazing time! I loved looking through all the photos you shared! Would love to see it all for myself someday, but since it is hard for me to even visit WDW in my own home country, I have a feeling that a trip to London is a bigger long shot for me.

 

[petals]

Your trip to London looks like it was an amazing time! I loved looking through all the photos you shared! Would love to see it all for myself someday, but since it is hard for me to even visit WDW in my own home country, I have a feeling that a trip to London is a bigger long shot for me.

It was good for a few days away. I had wanted to see the Harry Potter Studios for a few years now and was sooooooooooooo happy I finally got there. There was tonnes more that we could have done though if we had more time there.

I have never been to Universal but from what I read two days should give you time to see all the Harry Potter stuff. It is too bad you can't make the FP for 60 days out but it sounds like it should not be a problem for you. I know the last time I was there, I used one of my Fast Passes for Peter Pan and we were happy we did! So, I get that there are other people like us who are not the big Thrill riders.

We fly from Ireland so it's a long way away and we know we probably won't get back for a few years so we like to do all the parks while we're there We saw the Hogsmeade side in IOA before but the Diagon Alley side is all completely new and there's new rides and stuff in the parks since we were there. It is super frustrating that we have a Disney hotel but can't get the fastpasses until 30 days out but sure we'll just roll with what we get I guess. At least we have loads of character meals booked already and dinner with my Beast

 

[petals]

This week we sorted our estas. I’m trying to decide now what fastpasses to book. Do people book fastpasses for shows like fantasmic or leave them until you’re there?

Also trying to decide whether to book photo packages for seaworld and universal. Seaworld I’ve two tours booked so thought maybe for that would be good not sure about universal! ​

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I don't book fastpasses for shows like that as i find them a waste. They are such high capacity. Better to use them on rides that could potentially have long lines.

 

[petals]

Next Month

I don't book fastpasses for shows like that as i find them a waste. They are such high capacity. Better to use them on rides that could potentially have long lines.

I was doing dummy bookings for a months time to see how it works because we still don't have a code to connect our stay in the Disney hotel to the app and by the looks of things the only thing that'll be left if we have to do it 30 days out will be the evening shows I did say it to my TA because I spoke to a Disney TA and he said the code for room only should have 8 digits and ours only has 7 so my own TA is going to look into it on Monday

 

[xlsm]

Loved seeing the rest of your London pictures!

Your TA should be able to find the correct booking number - you should definitely be able to put the number in and link it to your My Disney Experience account for fast passes at 60 days. Hopefully they'll figure everything out for you on Monday!!

I have changed fast passes much closer than 30 days (even for last year's NYE trip) and could still find things, even as close as a week out, so don't give up hope for anything! People change their plans pretty frequently, so different rides become available. I've even been in the park and just refreshed the page over and over and over and different times pop up with each refresh. Most of the time if I do it enough I can find the time I'm looking for.

I hope you and your mom are able to keep the Artist Point meal since she's a Dopey fan! I'm so excited to have a couple of dwarfs at the meal. I met them all at MNSSHP last year and they were all so cute. Snow White is my favorite princess, so I jump at the chance to see her whenever I can, but mostly I'm excited for the evil queen - I've never been lucky enough to see her before, so I can't wait.

 

[mdsouth]

If you have your luggage tags, you might look for the code on them. I remember the last time I went, I found the code on the luggage tag thanks to some other DISers and used it when I needed it to book a lunch reservation at the Beast's castle. This was not long after they first opened the restaurant and you could only book an ADR there if you were sent a special email by Disney and had your code number.

 

[petals]

Loved seeing the rest of your London pictures!

Thanks. It was a fun trip

Your TA should be able to find the correct booking number - you should definitely be able to put the number in and link it to your My Disney Experience account for fast passes at 60 days. Hopefully they'll figure everything out for you on Monday!!

Fingers crossed she figures it out on Monday. I know it wasn't booked through Disney because it was more expensive to book through Disney so she booked it through a third party or something. I don't really understand it

I have changed fast passes much closer than 30 days (even for last year's NYE trip) and could still find things, even as close as a week out, so don't give up hope for anything! People change their plans pretty frequently, so different rides become available. I've even been in the park and just refreshed the page over and over and over and different times pop up with each refresh. Most of the time if I do it enough I can find the time I'm looking for.

I'm just hoping for the likes of Slinky dog and The Pandora River Journey thing for the days we want them for. Both those parks we only really have one day to do.

I hope you and your mom are able to keep the Artist Point meal since she's a Dopey fan! I'm so excited to have a couple of dwarfs at the meal. I met them all at MNSSHP last year and they were all so cute. Snow White is my favorite princess, so I jump at the chance to see her whenever I can, but mostly I'm excited for the evil queen - I've never been lucky enough to see her before, so I can't wait.

We've seen the Dwarves at MNSSHP and MVMCP so we'll see what happens. She doesn't like the price and I want to keep the Beast dinner so we'll see closer to the day I guess

If you have your luggage tags, you might look for the code on them. I remember the last time I went, I found the code on the luggage tag thanks to some other DISers and used it when I needed it to book a lunch reservation at the Beast's castle. This was not long after they first opened the restaurant and you could only book an ADR there if you were sent a special email by Disney and had your code number.

We don't get luggage tags from our TA. She booked through a third party or something. I got several ADRs so it's just for earlier fastpass bookings really

 

[petals]

My TA Found the right reservation number and we got fastpasses... I don't know if we got fastpasses that we want or we'll actually get to but I figure it's a start and I'll change it as best I can each day as we go:

So for Disney days I got
Day 1: I got Haunted Mansion, Pirates and Meet Mickey
Day 2: I only booked Spaceship Earth and Meet Disney Pals. We plan to spend the morning in Epcot and then go to the shopping centre around lunch time for the rest of the day
Day 3: I booked Peter Pan, Voyage Under the sea and Meet Ariel
Day 4: Living with the land and Frozen
Day 5: Toy Story Midway Mania (I'm presuming this is kind of like Buzz Lightyear in Magic Kingdom, we've never done it before?) also got the Frozen show and Little Mermaid
Day 6: Safari, Navi River and Disney Pals meet
Day 7: This was the only day Slinky showed up and it's an evening one so couldn't book fastpasses for other parks. I don't plan on spending this day in Hollywood studios so we'll see what happens
Day 8: Small World and Princess meets in Fantasyland.

Dwarves never showed up and we don't do the coasters cos we don't like thrill rides so for now this will do although I'm not sure I'm 100% happy with it

I also managed to pick our magic band colours for the hotel as well yay!!!

​

 

[petals]

So now that ADR'S and Fastpasses are all kind of booked I thought I'd write a bit more on the day to day plans:

Day 1 is obviously travel day. We're staying at a hotel near the airport because the night before we're going to a show so it's handier than going home again. We've a split flight so have to fly to Amsterdam first and then on to Orlando. I've read reports as well that we're due to get our first white Christmas in 8 years here. Now I love snow and it's kind of a rare sight for us but it snowed like crazy earlier in the year and all the flights got cancelled from the airport so this time my thoughts would be the snow can just bugger off somewhere else! If it cancels this trip there will be tears shed

Day 2: We're staying on International Drive this half of the trip but our tickets for Disney have to be activated by a certain date so we're going to Magic Kingdom first. The Christmas stuff will still be on and I've breakfast at Crystal Palace booked and a lunch booked there as well. I plan to cancel whichever we think we won't get to closer to the date.
I plan to head to the left side of the park this day and I've got fastpasses for Haunted Mansion and Pirates for around lunch time so will get as much of that side of the park done as we can.
We will also want to see shows and parades so will be doing rides and character meets around these. I have an afternoon meet with Mickey Mouse Fastpass but not sure I'll keep it. As it's our first day with a big time difference the general plan for this day will be hang out in Magic Kingdom for as long as we're not to tired so we'll see how that goes.

Day 3: I have a 9.55 Spaceship earth fastpass for this morning and 11.40 meet Disney pals fastpass. The plan is to spend the morning around the front end of Epcot and do as much as we can fit in. Then at lunch time to head to the Vineland outlets. ​

 

[petals]

Day 4: Seaworld til we drop. This is going to be a looooooooooong day. I booked two tours one being at 10.30 and the park will be open until midnight!

Day 5: Because Day 4 will be super long the plan for day 5 is to lie in (it'll never happen) then hit the second outlets for a while and in the evening go to Disney Springs to see the Christmas tree trail. I have dinner booked in Raglan Road because I kind of want to see the Irish Dancers. I did Irish dancing when I was younger, I may have mentioned it once or twice in trip reports but we actually danced in Magic Kingdom, twice! But I don't really think we'll keep this reservation because it's probably to late for us to eat, and there's nothing really on the menu that jumps out at me that i'd like to eat!


Day 6: Universal Studios day.

Day 7: Islands of Adventure ​

 

[petals]

Day 8: We move to Disney Plan is to drop the cases off at the hotel early and then head to the Magical Kingdom again. I have a lunch ADR for Be our Guest and Fastpasses to meet Ariel, Peter Pan's flight and Under the Sea journey so we'll probably do as much of Fantasyland as we can this day and whatever else is a bonus. The app has something weird with my fastpasses for this day though as well because it's booked 4 somehow but two are for to meet Ariel I don't really know how that happened

Day 9: I've breakfast booked at Garden Grill and fastpasses booked for Living with the land and Frozen so we'll hang out at Epcot this day and do as much as we can.

Day 10: Bon Voyage Breakfast booked for this morning and then we'll get a boat over to Hollywood Studios. I have fastpasses for Toy Story Mania, we've never done this but I'm presuming it's kind of like Buzz Lightyear's ride in Magic Kingdom? I also have fastpasses for Frozen and Little Mermaid. There will still be Christmas stuff on so I'm guessing we're not going to get to Fantasmic this day because of whatever Christmas evening show they have or does anyone know if the Christmas show is at a different time to Fastasmic? ​