You can take the girl out of Disney, BUT

[Caretames1]

How funny that I just watch Jurassic Park they other day, and Kadence who saw it for the first time was not impressed.

Kadence puts limits on pictures once we've been to a spot before, but I wouldn't have gotten any by the Dinosaurs!


For all my luck, I always seem to get the slow line too. Especially the grocery store. Once I had the person in front of me argue with the checker about the weight of her apples. Apparently the 20lb bag didn't weigh 20lbs and she wanted to pay less.

 

[Kathy Jetson]

I'm loving all the pictures! It just takes me right back to last summer!

The entrance was just to the right of where you watch the big drop we spent a lot of time right there talking River into going on. But they couldn't talk me into it

 

[jenseib]

How funny that I just watch Jurassic Park they other day, and Kadence who saw it for the first time was not impressed.

Kadence puts limits on pictures once we've been to a spot before, but I wouldn't have gotten any by the Dinosaurs!


For all my luck, I always seem to get the slow line too. Especially the grocery store. Once I had the person in front of me argue with the checker about the weight of her apples. Apparently the 20lb bag didn't weigh 20lbs and she wanted to pay less.

dom't they know we are the boss and what we say...goes! I guess they don't care when it comes to pictures.
I don't know if I still have them all. I used to. but some actually might've been Michaels and he would've taken then when he moved out. I'll have to look and watch them again. Numbe 3 was on TV the other night though and Claire only watched about 10 minutes and decided it was too scary.

I'm loving all the pictures! It just takes me right back to last summer!

The entrance was just to the right of where you watch the big drop we spent a lot of time right there talking River into going on. But they couldn't talk me into it

I'm sure it was right near us...I'm blind sometimes.

 

[petals]

The crowds do head stright for WWoHP. We are about to find them. LOL!

I can't wait to read about your version of the mini golf. it wil lbe neat to look back in time.

Skip is worse than Claire with pictures...he won't look at mine usually because he says he was there and doesn't need to see it again.

I got the mini golf before it was even painted!

Momma is the same with the pics and vids won't look at them because she saw it already..

 

[englishrose47]

Subbing again for Universal

 

[jenseib]

I got the mini golf before it was even painted!

Momma is the same with the pics and vids won't look at them because she saw it already..

I can't wait to see them.

Subbing again for Universal

Welcome Rosie!!!

 

[jenseib]

Back to the Wizarding World we go.

The line for Forbidden Journey was now at 90 minutes. Remember those ropes I saw on the Jurassic Park Bridge a while Back…that was a queue for the ride and it was filling up quickly. I was amazed at how insanely busy it was today. And Universal seemed to be prepared for this. They seemed to know that today was going to be much busier and had set that queue up early on. It was never up the day before while we were there.

I wanted to ride it and so did Skip, but Claire did not. So the plan was for us to take turns and do the single rider line.

It was crazy around the line area, and I’m not sure where the single rider line starts. I didn’t look, I had another plan, and it would cut out a little time for me as well.
I went in through Filch’s Emporium and to the lockers. I put my bag in the locker and then went back to the line area that way. I cut across the line to the staircase and went up. That’s where the single riders go. I didn’t have to mess with all the other people waiting. Now the locker area is insane and not big enough for so many people, but I got through fairly quickly. Once you go up the stairs you have a very short line(you also miss most of the queue, so you won’t see all the great details). I walked straight through till a TM stopped me. I had to wait a few minutes and then she let the single riders go on through to the ride area. I was put in a vehicle immediately and the guy behind me in the single rider line was also put in the same one.
The ride was great again and before I knew it, I was done. It literally took about 8 minutes for me to do all this and ride it.
Skip and Claire had gone off to the Flight of the Hippogriff. They had just gotten off when I walked out as well. The line for that ride now read 30 minutes, so they hit it at a perfect time.

It was Skip’s turn now. I took his bag so he wouldn’t have to mess with the locker. I showed him where to go and Claire and I headed off. We were going to look in the shops.

We spotted the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students out performing. It was pretty busy in the area and hard to see, but I tried to get a couple of shots.

Claire was not impressed with this at all, and even though I tried to convince her to stay a bit longer, she wanted to move…..shopping is her kind of thing…..even if you don’t like it or need it…you should always buy something…right? LOL

I took a try at a few more window shots…they just do not come out well with all the reflections.

The area is really themed well.

 

[dizneeat]

Great photos again, Jen!

I love to hear that you beat the crowd by going into the single rider line .... need to make a mental note of it.

And I am interested in what you bought .. I am sure Claire did a good job, picking a few things for you.

We really need to schedule some time to go over to UO again, but at the moment I am trying to figure out where to stay and how to spend my DVC points next summer.

 

[Beth D]

Love the wait time for the single rider line! If i ever make it back there...

Pteradon flyers is one adult and one child per flyer. I rode it once with DS. It's nice but kind of weird. Its basically a sky ride without the cabin all around you. No more than two would fit on the swings.

 

[petals]

Love the Potter pics

For all my luck, I always seem to get the slow line too. Especially the grocery store. Once I had the person in front of me argue with the checker about the weight of her apples. Apparently the 20lb bag didn't weigh 20lbs and she wanted to pay less.

OMG customers in a Grocery store are the worst kind of people ever! I work in one and I wear we get asked the most stupidest questions ever and then if they don't like the answer I give they continue to walk around the floor asking every other staff member the same question and getting the same answer

 

[Kathy Jetson]

That's great you got on the ride 8 minutes!

 

[jenseib]

Great photos again, Jen!

I love to hear that you beat the crowd by going into the single rider line .... need to make a mental note of it.

And I am interested in what you bought .. I am sure Claire did a good job, picking a few things for you.

We really need to schedule some time to go over to UO again, but at the moment I am trying to figure out where to stay and how to spend my DVC points next summer.

Thanks
Yes, if you can, do the single rider lines...they do go pretty fast.


We didn't buy much, but we had a happy girl.

Love the wait time for the single rider line! If i ever make it back there...

Pteradon flyers is one adult and one child per flyer. I rode it once with DS. It's nice but kind of weird. Its basically a sky ride without the cabin all around you. No more than two would fit on the swings.

Thats what i thought, but I wasn't positive.

Love the Potter pics



OMG customers in a Grocery store are the worst kind of people ever! I work in one and I wear we get asked the most stupidest questions ever and then if they don't like the answer I give they continue to walk around the floor asking every other staff member the same question and getting the same answer

That's great you got on the ride 8 minutes!

it was awesome.

 

[tripplanner2]

Okay...so I was hooked by the title of the thread. My girls 13 and 11 really want to go see Harry Potter but we are Disney nuts. Plus my youngest daughter will have just turned 8 when we go and I am afraid that the rides will be too much for her there. We always go in August, stay 2 weeks during free dining, and always stay onsite. So now we are thinking of staying at Bonnet Creek and hitting Universal for the day (because I really don't even want to go) and then doing Disney for 4 days. We only have about 7 days this year and have to go in July. We will also be driving which is something new for us too. I have been pricing out different scenarios and DH says that he wants to be onsite. If we stay 7 nights at Royal Pacific and get the 3 park unlimited pass we are at the exact price as if we stay at Bonnet Creek for 7 nights and 1 night at RP and get 4 day YES tickets to Disney and 1 day pass to Universal. I don't know what to do. Part of me says just do Universal but I am having a hard time letting go of Disney. Was it enough just to visit Disney venues without actually hitting the parks? Your pictures and trip report make me think that Universal will not be as bad as I thought but I am having a hard time committing. I would love your input, especially since you share the same love for Disney that my family does.

 

[jenseib]

Okay...so I was hooked by the title of the thread. My girls 13 and 11 really want to go see Harry Potter but we are Disney nuts. Plus my youngest daughter will have just turned 8 when we go and I am afraid that the rides will be too much for her there. We always go in August, stay 2 weeks during free dining, and always stay onsite. So now we are thinking of staying at Bonnet Creek and hitting Universal for the day (because I really don't even want to go) and then doing Disney for 4 days. We only have about 7 days this year and have to go in July. We will also be driving which is something new for us too. I have been pricing out different scenarios and DH says that he wants to be onsite. If we stay 7 nights at Royal Pacific and get the 3 park unlimited pass we are at the exact price as if we stay at Bonnet Creek for 7 nights and 1 night at RP and get 4 day YES tickets to Disney and 1 day pass to Universal. I don't know what to do. Part of me says just do Universal but I am having a hard time letting go of Disney. Was it enough just to visit Disney venues without actually hitting the parks? Your pictures and trip report make me think that Universal will not be as bad as I thought but I am having a hard time committing. I would love your input, especially since you share the same love for Disney that my family does.

Welcome! I like your husbands idea. I think if you go in with the right mind set, knowing it's not Disney, but another fun place, and still getting to do some Disney on the trip, you will have a good time. I am very happy we did this trip. Just get into full planning mode and you will see it will be fun. I only had about 2 weeks to plan, and I was trying to read up on things quickly and find out all I could. I had Claire watch Youtube videos, which really helped her see which rides she would like and which she wouldn't. Of course being there and doing it is different, but at least it gives you a bit of an idea. We did 1 day at disney too, plus a few trips over for other things and I was good with that.
I do wish we would've stayed onsite there though. But we were trying to keep the costs down. But being onsite and being able to use the express line is really the way to go. You can do quite a bit more in less time.
And the resorts there look beautiful too.

 

[natebenma]

Once again, beautiful pictures in the WWoHP!

I missed the cauldrons! Where were they displayed?

We discovered the beauty of the Single Rider Line for Forbidden Journey at the end of our trip! There were a couple of times it really would have come in handy for us to use it. Although I do love the castle line!

 

[francis6306]

Well, I'm caught up again. I don't know if I should be on the Dis, since I'm in mourning you know, but I just can't stay away!!!!

Corey and I always try to do different things so we can share with each other and enjoy more things. Whenever we order the same thing, we always have the "I should have ordered xyz" conversation as well!

And Claire would be a great shopping buddy I'm sure!

 

[jenseib]

Once again, beautiful pictures in the WWoHP!

I missed the cauldrons! Where were they displayed?

We discovered the beauty of the Single Rider Line for Forbidden Journey at the end of our trip! There were a couple of times it really would have come in handy for us to use it. Although I do love the castle line!

I can't remember where they were...somewhere in hogsmead. There are so many details it's hard to take it all in...and remember too.
Single rider line is awesome. It will be nice when Claire gets older and we can all use it and not worry about her being by herself.

Well, I'm caught up again. I don't know if I should be on the Dis, since I'm in mourning you know, but I just can't stay away!!!!

Corey and I always try to do different things so we can share with each other and enjoy more things. Whenever we order the same thing, we always have the "I should have ordered xyz" conversation as well!

And Claire would be a great shopping buddy I'm sure!

I totally understand. Hopefully things pick up right away for you...

I was surprised wht al lthe choices that Skip picked the same thing. It was almost like he didn't look too hard and just went with what we got and then realized...oh yeah, I like that too.

 

[jenseib]

Into the shops we went…WOW! These places are so small! Really, incredibly small!!!! It’s really hard to move around with all the shelves and people in there. Universal did not think this out very well.
We entered Zonkos and took a quick look around and Claire spotted her love immediately!

She chose a pink Pigmy Puff and we worked our way to the register. It’s not far, but you have to do a little zig-zagging around people. I did manage a few shots in there.

Honeydukes connects to this store, so I got some shots if it as well.

We made it to the register and the girl asked Claire if she wanted to name her Pigmy Puff. She said they would announce it to the store. Claire got real shy and said no, she would name it later…and I forget what she ended up naming it…but it was something really stupid. LOL!....Oh wait… I think it’s “Snuggles”. Very original.

I was told later that they ring this bell when they do the naming ceremony. I wish I would’ve pushed Claire to do it.

Skip called and told us he was off and we told him where we were. I told him to work his way over and we would find him outside. We took a look around the store a bit, but again, it’s hard to enjoy it with it being so small and crowded.

I would’ve loved to buy one of these, or a chocolate frog…but the price tag was awful…something like $15.

The door to leave is just a regular single sized person door…And it was really hard to get out. People were pouring in and I just stood there waiting. Finally we kind of pushed our way out. You would think others would be happy to let someone leave and make a little more room in there.

We found Skip near the Three Broomsticks.

I think we might’ve made another visit to the Moaning Myrtle bathroom too.

A few more pictures and we said good bye to WWoHP.

Claire was ready for Seuss Landing again. I took a few shots on the way. I must admit, I didn’t do a good job with pictures here for a little while. I barely took any at all once we hit Seuss Landing.

I think we stopped and watched the fountain for a few minutes here.

I love this ATM!

 

[Kathy Jetson]

That store was really small. What were they thinking when they made them? We didn't spend to much time in there because we just couldn't move. We didn't buy anything either it was just to expensive for what it was. It did look really cool in there though.

 

[jenseib]

That store was really small. What were they thinking when they made them? We didn't spend to much time in there because we just couldn't move. We didn't buy anything either it was just to expensive for what it was. It did look really cool in there though.

I bet if they had more room to move, some people would buy more. The prices were high too, but I didn't even spend too much time looking. I might've been convinced to buy something if i could breath!!