To Hogwarts we go---The Hat Returns

[samheatherwhite]

Next came EB from Hop and he was by far our worst character interaction. It was a wave a quick pic and then he was off.

Next was a member of the Pink Berets. I believe her name was Fluffy and she was fantastic. She played with the kids for a long time and she really appreciated Sam's hat.

She gave hugs.

She got down on the floor.

She "asked" if she could see Sam's hat and then had us all try it on.

She would mime laughing and that would crack B up. They were having a ball!

She came back by our table at least 3 other times. She was awesome.

Next came Gru and he was great as well. He really liked taking pictures and would suggest poses. He was a lot of fun.

The kids love the Despicable Me movies and this meet was a huge hit.

The handlers were very spot on asking if we all wanted to be in the pics. We never had to ask.

The kids loved it when Gru got Sam to stand up and do a cowboy swinging a rope dance. It was hilarious.

After dancing her shook Sam's hand like he was saying thank you for being a good sport.

He even wanted a pic with just me but thank goodness no dancing was required!
We enjoyed our time with Gru immensely.
After he left our table some music started up and we could see Gru having a wildly comical dance off with a kid a little ways a way from our seat. It was so crazy. I was stunned when the child who had been dancing like a maniac turned around and it was someones Momma! Gru brings out the funny n folks I guess. The poor kid whose Mom had been showing some epic dance moves looked like she wished the floor would open up and swallow her, lol. My kids loved watching it but G later mentioned that she was glad that I didn't crazy dance in front of everyone! (Me too, G, Me too!)

 

[schumigirl]

Lol......that's fabulous!!

Apart from the first character what an amazing experience for the kids (adults too) Gru is an absolute genius when it comes to interaction with folks........

Glad it was so much fun......for all of you.......

 

[macraven]

Wonderful you have more pics and a great write up on the breakfast

I like gru

 

[samheatherwhite]

The last character we needed to meet was the much anticipated Minion. He was a very funny one who looked a bit horrified/disgusted.

The kids cracked up when he walked up to Sam first.

He was really short.

I just realized that it looks like he is about to eat B in this picture.
We really thought that this breakfast was great. It lived up to all expectations plus some. The food was really good and drinks were never low. The characters were engaging and awesome overall and we got a ton of wonderful pics. We really liked the late seating. The restaurant was not overly full but the freshness of the buffet did not suffer. This allowed us to use the early time in the park with less crowds plus we were easily able to skip lunch.
B's favorite character was Diego. G said her fave was the Pink Beret and Sam liked the minion. I think that is how you know that a character meal is well done, more than one favorite interaction!
This meal did not take very long, I think that we were in and out in an hour which is amazing when you realize that that included breakfast and 8 meet and greet opportunities.

B especially loved the pretty fountain outside of the restaurant. The waitress even sent the kids out with a fresh to go cup of juice.
B was now obsessed with meeting Baby Jaguar during the little parade meet and greet that Diego had told him about so we spent the rest oft he day telling him what time it was so he was sure that we weren't missing it. To tell you how excited he was for Baby J, B chose not to go back to the hotel to swim!
We decided to spend some time in DA. On the way we decided to stop and ride the twirl and Hurl. I love the snark and sarcasm on this. it was super hot in the line though. The wait was only about 10 minutes and soon we were spinning over Springfield.

We wandered DA for a while and caught most of a Celestina Warbeck show. I love her and would so buy a cd of her songs if they sold one!
B had expressed interest in the Dr. Suess Show over in IOA so we decided that he and I would hop on to the HE and catch the noon show and then we would head back to meet up with Sam and G in time to go see Baby Jaguar. G and Sam would do some of the stuff like ride Transformers that B did not want to do.

The wait for the HE said 15 minutes so we hopped into the station. The line was moving steadily until we got tot he railing right before the loading area. Then the announcements started that there was a delay.

After about 20 minutes stuck in a nonmoving line with no way to leave it they started letting everyone leave the station. B and I had missed the Suess show so we decided that we would just meet back with Sam and g. The conductors did hand out express passes good for any ride, even HP which was a nice thing to do.

I was finally able to get a good pic of hedwig while we waited!
I called Sam and they were over by the animal actors stage. B wanted to play in the water and G had been dying to get Sam to go on EFG with her but he wouldn't wait in line. So B and I gave them our express tickets and he and I headed to curious George's play area. We stopped and got an Icee and some popcorn to snack on. I was a bit jealous that G and Sam had found the Minion freeze Ray smoothy hut and had one without me! She said it had a nice banana flavor.

b loves a cherry icee!

 

[macraven]

Always fun to read
Hope we get more

 

[samheatherwhite]

G said that the Freeze Ray Smoothy was good but a little sweet.
B had a blast playing in the Curious George area. He could have splashed around all day, perfectly content.

While B played I had a nice conversation with one of the team members. She noticed how tall B was and I told her that G was too. Her 6th grade son was over 6 feet! We had a lot in common, she was a sweet lady.

G and Sam met us after their ride. I was a little worried about how often that we would need to split up due to age and interest differences. It actually worked out really well. Both kids liked having a parent all to themselves to play exactly how they wanted to play. It worked out fine.

G got Sam to buy her a drink from Eternelle's Elixars. I think that it was fire protection. It was red and she and B both liked the flavor but lets face it. That is just really expensive kool-aid which I guess is a treat when your Mom won't buy you any at home.

After playing together for a while the kids decided to move over to play at Fieval's playground. They loved it there even though they had no idea who the character was. We all rode the Woody Woodpecker coaster.
Then we all went on the little water slide. I was a little sad to get my booty so wet but the kids thought having parents with damp pants was super funny.

B only asked about seeing Baby Jaguar about 3000 times that day so I was a bit relieved when it was time to head over there.
We set ourselves up to be right where the line for Baby Jaguar would be and it worked out perfectly.

B was in heaven. He wanted G to go with him and she did. SHe is a great sport sometimes.

These little meet and Greets are perfect for the smaller folks!

G loved the stilt walkers and talked to one of them for a bit.

The meet was still going strong. I asked B if he wanted to go see Dora and Boots or Diego. I thought he might want to meet Boots since he wasn't at breakfast but B opted for some more Diego time.

He was totally fine doing this by himself much to G's relief.

This was so much fun. Afterwards we decided to do some shopping and the kids wanted to change out of their wet clothes. We decided to pick up some of the kid's purchase choices and then run back to the room for a rest. Sam wanted to run to Walgreens so when we got to the bus area he jumped in a cab. We just hit the bus back to CBBR. Sam was not far behind us. If u need a pharmacy it cost less than 10$ for a cab and he was back in a flash so it had to be super close.

 

[macraven]

Yes Walgreens is very close to the park

 

[schumigirl]

Lovely pictures again....

I want one of those freeze ray smoothies!!! Looks so nice......

Enjoying the updates......

 

[smiley519]

Great pictures! So glad B was able to meet Baby Jaguar!

 

[samheatherwhite]

After a quick clothes change we headed back to the park for some dinner. We decided to eat at the Leaky Cauldron.

The setup in there is very efficient plus the ambience is perfect. G and I love it in there.

B ate a side salad for supper. It had tomatoes and some beet salad with it. (He did not eat the beets. lol) Sam and I tried them. They were not for me but Sam happily finished them off.
Sorry I have a pic but it is so blurry it just looks green!

G and I had to split a frozen Butterbeer.

Sam got the Stew in a bread bowl. He liked this a lot and was totally full after this meal.

G and I shared the adult portion of the fish and chips. We really like the fish here. I have had it several times and it always tasted fresh and not greasy at all. We decided to share to make sure that we had room for dessert.
The Butterbeer Potted Cream was on our must try list.

G loved this and I thought that it was good but not something that I'd ever crave later. I'm glad we tried it but to me it was pretty bland. The texture was smooth and creamy but there was no real flavor to it. It was a nice lighter dessert. G thought it was perfect and ate most of it. Sam did not like it at all and B would not taste it so I guess it is one of those foods that will vary wildly between people.

We decided to hang around DA for a while. We picked up some more fudge to take home and we also got some to take home to my Dad.

We helped the kids finish some more shopping. One of the things that we enjoyed shopping for was treats for my 3 nieces. B decided that the 1 year old had to have a pygmy puff. He got her a pink one and she named it Apple Ball! G chose a chocolate frog stuffed animal for her 4 month old sister mainly because her Mom is a huge HP fan and loved the one B bought on our previous trip. B nearly always takes Cocoa with him when we visit them and now they play with the new frog that they named Honey after Honeydukes Candy shop. The third gift was for their new cousin that will be born in September. Her Mom doesn't appreciate HP as much as the rest of us do so it was a hard decision. The kids finally settled on a pretty plush owl.

Sam decided to get some ice cream from Florean's while we shopped. The boring man got plain vanilla!

B decided that he wanted to try it which was crazy since he has never liked ice cream. He said it was fine but he only ate about 2 more bites. Sam said it was some of the best vanilla he had tasted and he should know since that is pretty much the only kind he ever orders anywhere.

G and I shopped some more while the boys snacked. She just had to try on a robe. She has one (from amazon) at home that she wears all the time so we didn't buy the expensive one though it was tempting. They seem to be really well made.

Since we were close G decided that she wanted some ice cream on the way out of DA. She went with Butterbeer on a waffle cone. It was delish as always.

G wanted to ride the Simpson's ride with Sam. (She and I had ridden it earlier on the trip but for the life of me I cannot remember when.) We hung around London letting B explore a little while G finished her cone.

B was not appreciating my attempted photo shoot.

While the others rode, B wanted to play a carnival game. In this one you catch a fish of your choice in your net and they "weigh" it and that determines the level of prize you get.

He loved this. He caught the smallest size fish and it took him a minute to get the red one he wanted lol.
There were 2 choices of prizes. A little stuffed pizza slice or a cupcake. I laughed when he chose the cupcake and he said, "what...I hate pizza to eat why would I want a toy one. Cupcakes are delicious."

He was very proud of his winnings and eager to show G. It worked out well that he got the small prize since the others were Simpson's themed and he would have had no idea who it was.
Since we were in the area, he also wanted to giant donut. So we got another one of those.

We headed back to the room soon after. I will include a few pics of some of the stuff we bought for anyone who is interested.

We needed postcards to mail and could not find any individual ones that we liked so we bought the two HP packages. I think that there were 10 cards in each. We still have the candy bar. One day we will try it.

G has always had a soft spot for critters that come in a purse so when she saw this one with the mIB pup I knew she was sold.

B wanted this super cool (and hard to pack) Spiderman ball and this little bunny from the Secret Life of Pets movie that wasn't out in theaters yet. He sleeps with that rabbit every night.

B was hungry so he ate a piece of Donut while G took a shower. He very sweetly shared it with his stuffed animals.

We noticed that you could see the giant Orlando Eye Ferris Wheel from the hotel. It was lit up and changed colors frequently. Really cool!
Up next our last day in the park!

 

[schumigirl]

Good update!

You got some lovely gifts and souvenirs there.......the robes are fabulous.......we bought a couple a few years ago for friends kids, they're still like brand new and outgrowing them now, but still wear them!

B is so cute sharing.......lol......and their ice cream is so good!

 

[beebeeryan]

Enjoying the TR, getting caught up.

Giant donut is on my list now, my oldest is a donut freak!

 

[macraven]

The pink donut is one of my favorite snacks

Well I do buy two of them during my stay...........

And don't share it with anyone

 

[samheatherwhite]

This was Friday, the last full day of our trip. We were up and ready to go to EE, trying to get the most of our last day.
We snacked on granola bars and headed to IOA.

B was pretty over Hogsmead at this point. Poor guy wanted to do more things in Suess Landing and was very annoyed that it wasn't open yet. I promised to take him first thing when the rest of the park opened.
He was ag ood sport hanging with SAm while G and i rode FJ.

It was a beautiful morning G and I enjoyed chatting with a lady and her son who had never been on the ride before and the Mom was a bit nervous but really wanted to ride. I hope we helped her know what to expect and that she enjoyed it.

I am pretty sure that while we rode Sam and B went to Filch's and bought B a Bckbeak plush. We had held out on that purchase because i kept figuring that he would change his mind. B still had a good bit of money left on his gift cards the last day so he had some shopping to do. G had no problem spending hers, LOL. She even picked out a few items she really wanted and i bought them and brought them home to give to her for her birthday, September 1st.

We met up at the snowman. G wanted to ride Dragon Challenge so she and I rode that and then it was time to split up.

B loves the train so he wanted a pic before we left the area.
G and Sam went to ride Jurassic Park again. I believe that during this time they also rode Spiderman at least once and then did the Poseidon's thing. G loved it and Sam enjoyed it too. I still have never done it but now am curious since G liked it so much. She did say that B would have hated it though.
B and I arrived in Suess Land right as it was about to open.

He wanted to ride The Cat in the Hat first. As we approached the entrance a tm approached and asked B if he would like to open the ride. He was the first rider of the day! The tm gave him a pen that said 1st rider, Cat in the Hat, and led us around through a different entrance to open the ride. They announced his name and made a big deal about him being the first rider and everyone cheered as we rode away on our sofa. He was so thrilled and it made our day!

Here is B and his new button that he could not wait to show G.
After we got off of the ride the same sweet tm met us at the exit and asked B what he wanted to ride next. B said the High in the Sky Suess Trolley. He then led us over there and in through the exit. He asked the tms there to let us go next and we had our own train! B felt so special. it was wonderful. AS we walked he chatted with us about the different areas. He named all the characters on the carousel which was fun. He did an awesome and I was pleased to get a chance to see him again later in the day and thank him again.

The Suess area was still pretty empty at this point so we rode One Fish, Two fish twice and then the carousel 3 times. B was having a ball!
One of the last things that was on B's must do list was a meet and greet with Spiderman. He had packed this shirt specifically to wear to meet Spidey.

There was nobody else in line to meet him so B got to spend a good amount of time there.

Spiderman was very good with B and totally made his day when he mentioned his shirt.

I know people don't mention the characters from Universal much but they were great. We met a ton and had some really special meet and greets!

 

[macraven]

The character meets are the best

And it looks like your kids loved them !

 

[schumigirl]

Yep, we find the characters at Universal to be second to none. All of them. We've had people turn their nose up at the fact we love character meets and have done them all........but they're fabulous!

Spiderman is one of the best.........glad it was so quiet, he is good making you feel special.

How lovely they made a fuss of your boy being first rider of the day........that's so cute!

 

[Dinohood]

i hope the photo with spiderman was better it looks like a green screen behind them but at lest he got to open the ride that would be a high light for anyone no matter the age.

 

[samheatherwhite]

Thanks for the nice comments everyone. We really like characters. Dinohood, it was a green screen and you can buy the cooler enhance pic. but B wasn't interested in that at all. He just wanted to talk to him and show him his shirt, lol. The pics were for me!

 

[NCBadger]

Just enjoyed reading about your trip, love Universal - can't wait to return in October.

On our last trip we visited Sugarplum's sweet shop and our oldest purchased a Chocolate Frog for a snack. He started tearing into the box just after I paid and was disappointed with his card (can't remember who he got) but upon hearing this the cast member pulled out a stash of cards and let him pick another. He was thrilled, not sure if they always have extra cards but worth asking next time if you are searching for someone.

 

[macraven]

Op you should put some of your park pics on the picture sticky



So many of yours are so excellent !