"We've gone too far"-A sister trip with surprise guest Irma! Sept 2017 - Completed 4/16

[missangelalexis]

I'm glad this dessert party worked out better for you! Love the fireworks pics, it really is a great nighttime show!

I'm sorry EMH were too crowded. At least you got to cross Astro Orbiter off the list! How funny that your sister was on screen again at Monsters Inc!

 

[Raeven]

A lot looked very similar to Hallowishes so I totally skipped the villain cupcake (chocolate cake with purple frosting). I actually saw some little kids eating one and their whole mouths were just purple-ugh!

I haven't done the Halloween dessert party since they added that cupcake, but I will say at the HEA party I actually thought that was one of the better desserts.

I think @Raeven will be very proud to see how each plate got progressively more and more cheese….

I am! That looks like a good plate

Asked if that was correct and Lauren just played along and said yes.

I got asked something like this and I said no, and Josh was like I think you were supposed to play along and say yes because it was just awkward and they moved on to someone else.

 

[disneyAndi14]

You all did a lot this day! I’m glad you enjoyed the dessert party for HEA. I really enjoy HEA but Andi is still so mad about Wishes so she refuses to like it, oh well. I am with you, I didn’t care for Astro orbiter at all. We did it during DAH last year. We really enjoyed this event so I hope this year is as fun. You should be able to ride 7DMT many times!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Omg that potion magic shot is my favorite. I luckily came upon it on my last MNSSHP of my program and it came out FIERCE. Too bad I didn't have Memory Maker so the photo I have saved has the PP watermark.

Glad to hear the dessert party worked out better! I'd totally be devouring that cheese platter too. YUM.

It's funny at DL, I saw Astro Orbitor and I was like "that's pitiful. It's on the ground, who wants to ride that?" So I skipped it. I agree though still not a huge fan of WDW's. It's exhilarating and tbh I actually enjoy that view (not as good as the PeopleMover though), but that wait is awful, loading is awful and the ride is way too short. Loved doing trash runs over there. There's such a nice breeze up there and again, I do like the view, doesn't bother me, probz because I get very focused on the monorail resorts BEYOND the rooftops.

I'm sorry EMH wasn't that great. Night EMHs are BUSY, mornings are MUCH better. Also, for the record, EMH only makes it so those who aren't staying on property can't go on attractions but they can go everywhere else. There was EMH the last night of my CP and I ended up just getting Casey's and sitting on the Hub Grass. Also some rides, people do end up able to sneak on. :/

Can't wait to read more!

 

[Lesley Wake]

How funny that your sister was on screen again at Monsters Inc!

Yeah! When she and her boyfriend visited in 2016 they went in Monsters 3-4 times in 2 days and never got on screen. Then I come along and she gets on every time! Her boyfriend was (and is) so jealous!

I haven't done the Halloween dessert party since they added that cupcake, but I will say at the HEA party I actually thought that was one of the better desserts.

Hmm, maybe then it was just weird on Halloween party night? I'll have to give it another chance in a month!

I am! That looks like a good plate

Yum! It was!

I really enjoy HEA but Andi is still so mad about Wishes so she refuses to like it, oh well.

That sounds like Lauren, well not about Wishes (she never saw it because it was 4th of July fireworks when she last visited), but she refuses to like the new Fantasmic and the new Guardians ride.

It's funny at DL, I saw Astro Orbitor and I was like "that's pitiful. It's on the ground, who wants to ride that?" So I skipped it.

It's great at night because you are on the same level as all the lights. It's even better during an evening parade-I watched Paint the Night once from above and it was sooooo cool!

I'm sorry EMH wasn't that great. Night EMHs are BUSY, mornings are MUCH better. Also, for the record, EMH only makes it so those who aren't staying on property can't go on attractions but they can go everywhere else.

Yeah, I definitely expected it to be busy, but not THAT busy! I think it was also the impact of the parties cutting off evenings at MK. I think I've heard the second hour gets better, so maybe one day I'll try that if I'm still at the parks that late!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Ok, so I'm going to just give a small TR update now. Haven't had much time, because I've been planning our family vacation... to FRANCE! So, obviously...

I'M GOING TO DISNEYLAND PARIS!

(I already announced it on my PTR, but thought I'd let you know here too!) It will be pretty cool-4 nights at the Sequoia Lodge in mid-June. It's also going to be solo, BUT my dates just happen to overlap with @amazingact21, so hopefully we'll be able to have a European Dismeet and I can meet the adorable Landon and Evie! Anyways... I have a PTR started: "Remy, Marie, and Me", which you are welcome to check out too!

I'm also looking forward to this weekend when I'm doing a day at Disneyland, with hopefully another dismeet with @ashw100 and her family. (Not only do I want more Disney time, but it also gets me out of a dinner with my uncle...)

Ok, back to September.


Day 7, Part 1 Crossing over to the Darkside!

If it wasn't obvious from my family's Harry Potter decorations (see here), not only do we love Disney, but also Harry Potter. Lauren is actually much more intense about it, as she and Dad used to read the books together at night as she was growing up. I am ashamed to admit, I actually used to tease them about it-no real reason, just to bug her! Well, one boring summer day (soon after Goblet of Fire came out), I decided to pick up The Sorcerer's Stone and see what all the fuss was about. Within a week I had read all 4 books; the last 3 I would end up getting at midnight, and I also saw several of the movies at midnight!

So, of course, I could not visit Orlando without checking out Universal and Harry Potter. I have had a chance to visit the USH version twice before seeing USO, so I was most excited to visit Diagon Alley.

When I was doing my planning I forgot to account for Halloween Horror Nights, so had to switch around the dates, to one which Universal actually mis-published the hours, so we would end up visiting on a day with very minimal hours: 9am-7pm; by the time we realized the mistake, it was too late to switch everything around for Disney.

I actually emailed Universal to express my displeasure and they gave each of us unlimited express passes for free! ​

​

That morning, we started out early as we knew we’d need to account for travel time (though there was such little traffic, I think it probably took just as much time Disney transport to the parks). Breakfast was the usual POFQ food court. I got a Kid’s Breakfast Platter [Scrambled Eggs, Bacon, Sausage and Potatoes], but skipped the sausage for extra bacon. Basic breakfast, but filled me up!

​

Lauren got a breakfast sandwich. She said it was like a McMuffin, but slightly elevated. ​

We called an uber and got to Universal very quickly. I can tell you that my photo time stamp from getting breakfast to walking along Citywalk was 30 minutes, so I’m guessing a 15 minute drive? The uber cost $15 plus my sister gave a $4 tip, but for some reason Uber then refunded her $15 (but not her tip), but she never figured out why. ​

We were going to start the day at Diagon Alley, but first needed to stop at Guest Services to pick up the express passes. It went relatively painless and we were finished about 8:45am. We expected to have to wait until 9am, but the team members just waved everyone in even though the early hour was supposed to be limited to hotel guests. Throughout the day it would make more sense…

The next night was the first Halloween Horror Night (and I think the media preview was the night before?), so we got to see some things set up for that. ​

​

Stopped outside King’s Cross and paid our respects to Grimmauld Place. My sister didn’t know about Kreacher, but we were able to get a photo (didn’t have time to zoom in though)! ​

Then the Knight Bus driver was alone, so I went and had a little chat. I was wearing my crest-crossed "Griffinclaw" shirt. ​

​

See, I always just assumed I was a Ravenclaw, being the academic and rational type. But then Pottermore sorted me into Griffindor. Eventually I decided I was a mix between the two so was very excited when I found that etsy store!

The driver liked the shirt and thought that it would give me more chances to win the house cup, but would also cause conflict during Quidditch. ​

Cont - Into Diagon Alley!
​

 

[thumper*]

They said ok… and went to another person (which is why I started to turn off the video), but then said “that’s a perfect example of the California education system”! Hilarious and she was so mad I stopped filming!

Oops

I'M GOING TO DISNEYLAND PARIS!

Yay

 

[missjackiemcg]

I used to make fun of my friends in high school who were going to see the first Harry Potter movie when it came out!! I refused for the longest time to even read the books....you see, my maiden name is McGonagle, which NO ONE could say properly until after HP came around. From then on, everyone would say, "Ooooooh, McGonagle?! Like in Harry Potter!?" It made me so crazy mad!!!

Then, like you, I one day picked up Sorceror's Stone and started reading, just to see what it was about. I flew through the first 5 books and anxiously awaited the release of Book 6 at that point.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I got my 8 year old son to sit and watch the first movie. We are now four movies in and reading the first book together, too. It is really exciting to rediscover the magic with him. And though I have NEVER taken away a day at Disney to make time for Universal....I can see a trip there in our future!

 

[missangelalexis]

Nice of Universal to give you unlimited express passes for the hours mixup! Sounds like a good start to the day so far!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Day 7, Part 2 Diagon Alley!

*Ok, also, I wanted to apologize as this whole day will have limited photos, especially of us! I totally got spoiled with all the photopass people at Disney, so we never even took a photo of both of us together! And that previous one with me and the bus driver-that's my only photo of myself!

Also, Lauren took a video of the Knight Bus interaction, and I forgot to add it to the previous post:

Now it was time to enter Diagon Alley! I love the entrance and how it is a great reveal!

I LOVED Diagon Alley! So much to explore and see! All the little details, like the sound of the trains running overhead, and magic spells. I like it even more than Hogsmeade! I could easily spend all day just taking it all in!

My sister calls this photo-the making of an Instagram classic…

Our first stop was Escape from Gringotts. They had only recently added all the HP rides to the Express Pass, andwe didn’t know if any part of the queue was skipped with it, so we decided to just go regular for the first time. Future note-the EP line goes right next to the regular line, so you don’t miss anything!

I couldn’t get the best photos in the queue because there was no line so we never stopped walking! Like, there were literally 15 people in the pre-show room with us! I loved all the details though in that queue! It really is part of the attraction! I didn’t know about the elevator too, which was a super cool surprise! I liked the ride too, and didn’t get nauseous like I was worried. I do appreciate the mix of screens and physical set pieces.

Back out to Diagon Alley where we caught the dragon breathing fire! You can tell it’s coming because the music changes, then pauses then the roar comes!

We headed out of Diagon Alley (we would be back), and took the Hogwarts Express over to Hogsmeade.

You can see how much of a line there was for the train-ie, none at all! We also skipped the EP line because you miss the walking thru wall portion!

We just missed the previous train, but then at least we got to see the train depart and come back. I do wish though they had made it a full circle train track, that way you wouldn't have it back into Kings Cross. But I guess the engineers just didn't have room - darn engineers!

We ended up in a compartment with one other couple, so at least we had room to spread out. I loved the show between stations. I knew there were things on the window screen but didn’t realize there would be hallway action too! Very impressed by the detail shown! My photos were pretty bad because of the glare/blurriness, so feel free to skip!

Cont... Islands of Adventure​

 

[Lesley Wake]

Day 7, Part 3 Hogsmeade

We arrived in Hogsmeade without incident-no dementors on this train! Though I would have been ok with the chocolate remedy!

First, Lauren needed to pull out her wand for some spellwork!

…and take another Instagram photo!

Up into the castle for Forbidden Journey. We again decided to skip the EP again to experience the full queue (I know they have part of it in the EP line, but there wasn’t a long wait posted).​

I didn’t take photos because this is the same ride as the version we have at Universal Studios Hollywood, which I’ve ridden a bunch before. We actually got to visit on a preview night when my dad’s work rented out the park (they do that every year, and employees can buy discounted tickets); at that point the films were in 3D, which made me very nauseous. We went again this past February for my mom’s birthday, and discovered they removed the 3D element, so I was all good!

All in all, again, like the ride and I think it was very innovative to have the mix of screens and sets.

Afterwards we decided to go on Flight of the Hippogriff. Originally I knew this would be a very short coaster, like the one we have at USH, but there was no wait posted, so we went ahead and did it. We also didn’t need the Eps, as it was a walk-on! Half the coaster was empty so we really should have just ridden in different rows, as we were pretty crammed into the seats!

I think this one must have been longer than the one at USH, so I liked it a bit better, but would never wait in a line for it!

Afterwards my feet were just screaming so I stopped to switch up my shoes (remember, I would try to bring a second pair of shoes and switch halfway in the day). I discovered that the ones I wore in the morning, while they were fine when I initially tried them on, wearing them and actually walking in them, would just kill my feet! Even when I switched, my feet were just dead the rest of the day, so I had to make many stops just to rest!

Lauren did more spells while I watched (I suck at them-guess I’m just a muggle)!

Unfortunately the Dragon Challenge coaster closed a couple days before our trip I was actually really looking forward to trying it!

We headed out of HP world and into the rest of the park.

Cont.. Green Eggs and Ham, Sam I Am...
​

 

[disneyAndi14]

I love Diagon Alley so much, nice it wasn’t to crowded so you could check out the queue at least once.

How nice to get the EP bonus, we are going for one day in February and I am worried about the crowds but man it is like another 180.00 to get EP for Andi and I.

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like a fun, Harry Potter filled morning!!

 

[missjackiemcg]

I started following your sister on Instagram--she does beautiful work!! I absolutely love these pictures.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I'm also an early 30's year old female engineer. We're rarities. The explanation of your vacation time probably explains why my employer does vacation by hour allocation and it keeps building whether you use it or not (up to like 2.5x your yearly allocation) since they are based out of California.

Smart move getting here a little earlier if you were willing to ride out the storm!

When I work remotely, I have the same annoyance. There are only a handful things I"m willing to work on remotely due to the fact that I have only 1 small screen rather than multiple large ones.

Sorry you were disappointed in your Le Cellier Meal! Their food can sometimes be salty and you pick up on salt easily - it could be too much. We've been going there post races so at that point - we want all the salt and protein we can get!

Its always interesting how people determine their favorite parks. EPCOT is my favorite and I could spend every day of the trip in there and we've skipped Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom on multiple trips.

Funny enough - I was actually at Disneyland the night that Star Tours visit happened (I went on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday). I was in Irvine, CA for work and had bought myself 3 day tickets to go to Disneyland at night after the day was over. I kicked myself after realizing I missed that!

I hate the DLR version of Buzz but love the WDW version! The WDW version you can just keep the button down and it constantly shoots so you can focus on aim. I hate that DLR makes you continously have to shoot while aiming! I can max out at WDW but DLR - I can't break 100K. Guess it depends on what you are more used to.

It is normal to not be able to enjoy the flags or the balcony photos in American Adventure. It is a good nap location! I have some photos of a Drink Around the World with my husband, my best friend and her ex-fiance passed out at the American Adventure as we waited for a show!

 

[amazingact21]

I'm all caught up!

Thanks for sharing your experience with the Happily Ever After dessert party. I've been thinking about doing it when I'm there in April and seeing that fun kid station with the Mickey straws has me really wanting to book it! Plus, I love your tip of standing at the back railing and having empty space in front of you. That's not something you typically get during MK fireworks!

Glad the crowds were so low for Universal that morning. Gave you guys a chance to explore Diagon Alley without trying to look around throngs of people.
I really hope you tried the Butterbeer while there!

And whoo-hoo! Can't wait to have a DISmeet in DLP.

 

[Lesley Wake]

I love Diagon Alley so much, nice it wasn’t to crowded so you could check out the queue at least once.

How nice to get the EP bonus, we are going for one day in February and I am worried about the crowds but man it is like another 180.00 to get EP for Andi and I.

Yeah, I wouldn't pay that sort of money! I hope the crowds are ok, I don't know if they are experiencing the same unpredictability as Disney is currently!

Sounds like a fun, Harry Potter filled morning!!

Yeah, definitely fun! I remember first hearing about the Wizarding World and thinking-how on earth would they accomplish that and make it good, not just cartoony. Well, obviously they did a great job!

I started following your sister on Instagram--she does beautiful work!! I absolutely love these pictures.

I let her know and she appreciates it! Most days I always see her at the dining room table after dinner lettering some quote or something!

I'm all caught up!

Thanks for sharing your experience with the Happily Ever After dessert party. I've been thinking about doing it when I'm there in April and seeing that fun kid station with the Mickey straws has me really wanting to book it! Plus, I love your tip of standing at the back railing and having empty space in front of you. That's not something you typically get during MK fireworks!

Glad the crowds were so low for Universal that morning. Gave you guys a chance to explore Diagon Alley without trying to look around throngs of people.
I really hope you tried the Butterbeer while there!

And whoo-hoo! Can't wait to have a DISmeet in DLP.

Yeah, I think they will like the party! And there is plenty of room in the little garden area for them to get their jitters out! The little kabob station was really cool and they had plenty of icing colors so you could do the cupcakes and cookies and everything, so I'd highly recommend it!

I definitely got some Butterbeer! When we visited London, the kids all ended up going out to the Harry Potter Studio Experience and we all got a glass of their butterbeer. Took a big "cheers" and a drink and we all hated it! I was so disappointed! So when we went to USH for Harry Potter I was really wary, but the Universal one is so much better!

And I can't believe that of all the weeks we will happen to overlap! I also contacted Dugette, so we'll see if they get to the parks before I leave on the 14th!

I'm also an early 30's year old female engineer. We're rarities. The explanation of your vacation time probably explains why my employer does vacation by hour allocation and it keeps building whether you use it or not (up to like 2.5x your yearly allocation) since they are based out of California.

Welcome! We are definitely rare, but I never feel weird about it. My employer actually switched things up this year and gave us "unlimited" vacation time; basically we don't accrue anything but can take as much as we want (as long as its approved). They try to spin it as a great benefit, but we all know it is to prevent having to continue paying out California people! But, hey, it's allowing me to take 5 weeks of vacation this year, so it should be ok!

When I work remotely, I have the same annoyance. There are only a handful things I"m willing to work on remotely due to the fact that I have only 1 small screen rather than multiple large ones.

Absolutely! It is way too hard for me to do work on a single screen anymore.

Sorry you were disappointed in your Le Cellier Meal! Their food can sometimes be salty and you pick up on salt easily - it could be too much. We've been going there post races so at that point - we want all the salt and protein we can get!

Yeah, I think I just have really weird tastebuds, so the salt was too much. I'd give it another try, but there are also so many other places I want to eat at, that may have to wait for a while.

Funny enough - I was actually at Disneyland the night that Star Tours visit happened (I went on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday). I was in Irvine, CA for work and had bought myself 3 day tickets to go to Disneyland at night after the day was over. I kicked myself after realizing I missed that!

It was so crazy and amazing! I think some people did see Mark out in the Tomorrowland area (he filmed a little clip to promote The Last Jedi near that rotating water ball), but most people had no idea!

I hate the DLR version of Buzz but love the WDW version! The WDW version you can just keep the button down and it constantly shoots so you can focus on aim. I hate that DLR makes you continously have to shoot while aiming! I can max out at WDW but DLR - I can't break 100K. Guess it depends on what you are more used to.

Maybe I'll have to give it another try. I didn't realize you can just hold the button down; I was trying to do it the same as DL, point and shoot!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Day 7, Part 4 "I thought I liked roller coasters!"

We were done with Hogsmeade for the time being, so headed out via the Lost Continent. I thought the theming was very cool and definitely transported you to a different place. We didn’t actually stop in any of the shows though (we decided with the limited time we didn’t really care about seeing them)

Next Suess Landing. I also really liked the theming here. Very cute and whimsical.

Since we were there we decided to go ahead and ride The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride. Another thing that was walk-on with 75% of the train empty.

It was cute and I enjoyed the different perspective of the land and appreciated the details included even on the rooftops! If I had kids I would have definitely spent more time in that area, as they had lots of things to explore.

We also came across a Cat in the Hat storytime, with a half-dozen characters, but only 2 kids! So Thing 1 and Thing 2 decided to sit on the ground with the kids and watch the story! They then skipped through the land together! Very adorable!

Onto Superhero Island. I think either The Hulk Coaster was under refurb or not open yet when my sister last visited because she and her boyfriend didn’t go on it. We stowed our belongings-I missed the note that you were supposed to put phones away too, so had to go back. We did end up using EP on this, but didn’t need it as standby was a walk-on.

That coaster was intense! It was also a tight squeeze for me (remember, I’m Pooh-sized), so not the most comfortable. And my head rattled around a lot!

It was at that moment I realized-I always tell people I love roller coasters, but what I should say is: I like Disney roller coasters!

We ended up skipping the Storm Force Acceletron; it looked like a hyped up version of teacups.

Dr. Doom Freefall was unfortunately closed; I know it was open earlier that morning, but never paid attention to if it reopened later that afternoon.

So, we moved to The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman. It had a 5 minute wait standby and I had heard the queue is cool so we went ahead and did that rather than EP. It was cool, but ended up being a 10 minute wait (I think because lots of people went there when Dr Doom broke down); if it had been too much longer I probably would have regretted not using the EP! (Note-that tells you how our day went regarding lines, when a 10 minute wait seems long; literally I think this was the only time when we actually had to stand still for a moment during a queue!)

I liked the ride, similar to HP in using screens and projections and physical set pieces, just with Spiderman as the star! When we got out the wait was up to 25 minutes! Honestly, that was the longest posted wait time I would see all day!

We kept going and walked through Cartoon Lagoon. We didn’t stop for any rides as they all appeared to get you wet and we didn’t really want to stay wet all day! My sister actually has a thing about wet rides-when she was a kid she fell in many many many fountains (totally her fault, I swear I never pushed her). So she wasn’t all that broken up when Splash was down for refurb during out trip!

Anyways, I did appreciate the Popeye statue, as my grandpa and I would always watch Popeye cartoons together!

We kept going and noticed the Pterdon Flyers, which looked cool so we hoped to check those out… experienced Universal people will know what happens when we try that ​

 

[Lesley Wake]

Day 7, Part 5 "Is there a small child we can borrow?"

As we continued around the Islands, we stopped at Kong Skull Island. We used our EP, but it was again unnecessary.

The ride was basically a longer version of the Kong portion of the USH studio tour. I can tell it was a well-done ride, but it’s not my favorite! We were also in the very back row so I felt like we missed any sort of “reveal” experiences.

We walked through the Jurassic Park area and were already planning on skipping the JP ride, but it was down (maybe hurricane damage?) anyways!

Then we decided to head up to the Pterdon flyers where we saw a large group of people around the woman with the sign. Well, turns out that ride is for children only! I guess any adults we saw riding were just their parents. I guess that sort of bugged me. I get that there are so many rides with height limits so kids can’t ride, but that is because of a safety issue. It seems if the ride can accommodate adults, maybe allow them to ride? You could have one line for children+adult and another for just adults? The signage was also not very clear until you walked right up to the line entrance! I guess it was there, but not obvious! As we walked out we jokingly asked ourselves-“Does any parent not want to ride who will let us borrow their children?” We also debated what would happen if a little person wanted to ride-if they were under the height would they be allowed to go on even if they were an adult?

I mean, look-this ride looks so cool! (not my photo)

Anyways, we walked through the rest of Jurassic Park area and avoided the Raptor encounter. I think I have nightmares just from hearing the noises and happened the glance back just as one jumped out at a couple taking a photo! Ugh-those raptors! Still freak me out!

Back into Hogsmeade and we were getting rather hungry.

We went to the Three Broomsticks were we both got the Fish and Chips, though I got roasted potatoes and my sister stuck with fries. I actually realized when I saw someone else walking by I had originally wanted Cornish pasties, but forgot! Oh well!

Ok, so this restaurant! No line to get up to cashier at all. But it ended up being a 20 minute wait at the counter to get our food! And the counter right next to us didn’t have anyone taking people’s receipts so they had an even longer line! An expediter finally came out and tried to get things moving, but it really just seemed they were very unorganized and taking far too long.

Food itself was good. Same as Three Broomsticks at USH, except Hollywood has the Sunday Roast Dinner, which is very yummy!

After we left, we wandered the stores a bit and Lauren completed the rest of the spells.

I was tempted to get a dessert from Honeydukes, but decided to pass for now.

I also picked up some stamps from the stationary store, but didn’t realize how expensive they were until the girl was ringing me up, and by then I was too embarrassed! So, I am now the owner of a $15 sheet of 10 stamps, which I don’t feel like I should use as that would be a waste!

Cont... Back to the studios​

 

[missangelalexis]

Seuss Landing is so cute and I love the train ride there!

I had no idea the pteranodon flyers was for kids (and their parents) only! That's silly!