"Were all these people waiting for the Mine Train?"Adults Only WDW &US Sept '16 TR! *COMPLETE* 12/22

[smiley519]

Saturday, September 10th – Magic Kingdom

Part 21: Final Disney Night, Final MSEP, & Final Rides

We then made our way to Tomorrowland and walked onto Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. We thought it was cool that some of the characters in the show were different than the previous version we had watched and of course they switch up some of the material and jokes.

At 8 PM, we went to Cosmic Ray's Starlight Café to grab a quick dinner. A lot of other people had the same idea and the restaurant and the lines at the register were packed. I got the chicken nuggets and Josh had the Angus Bacon Cheeseburger. We were in a hurry so I didn’t remember to snap food pictures. We scarfed down our food and made our way back to Main Street to get a spot before the 8:30 PM Celebrate the Magic. Everyone started sitting down but then stood up when CTM started.

P1140954 by smiley519, on Flickr
I love the reflection on the water.


P1140953 by smiley519, on Flickr
Had to snap out this gorgeous view!


P1140955 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140961 by smiley519, on Flickr
It would be nice if Elsa’s ice castle could counteract the Florida humidity.


P1140966 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140972 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

Then at 9 PM it was time for Wishes!

P1140981 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140987 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140998 by smiley519, on Flickr
This was my favorite fireworks picture of the night! And it looked a lot like the Thomas Kinkade puzzle we had just purchased!​

We were very lucky to get some coveted seats right on Main Street near the Hub on the curb and near a trashcan so we could lean up against it. We watched Celebrate the Magic at 9:30 sitting down so this was now our 3rd viewing. And finally at 10 PM it was time for the main attraction, the Main Street Electrical Parade! It was going to be our last time seeing the MSEP. Therefore, prepare for an overload of photos!

P1150017 by smiley519, on Flickr



P1150021 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150023 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150031 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150037 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150043 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150060 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150065 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150087 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150095 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150100 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150107 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

During the parade, I got a high five from one of the dancers and another spotted Josh's birthday pin (no idea how since we were sitting in the dark) and wished him a happy birthday! And just like that, it was over. It was definitely a nostalgic moment as we both remember the parade from our childhood and are going to miss it. We both love the music and all the lights and were definitely humming the music for the next several days. Hopefully MK gets a new evening parade soon that will be equally awesome!

After the MSEP, we hightailed it over to the People Mover so we could ride it at night. These are the faces of two very happy people who were soaking in every last minute of Disney…and happy to sit down again.

P1150116 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We had checked the MDE app and got FPs for Space Mountain from 10:40-11:40 PM so we headed over. Josh made me sit in the very front row for the first time which was a little scary since all I had in front of me was pitch darkness. We both had fun. We thought that was going to be our last ride, but we were able to score FPs for Buzz Lightyear from 11 PM – 12 AM so we headed over for our last Disney ride. Josh won 146,100 to 117,900…somehow. Here’s our super-determined-to-win ride photo:

P1150118 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We had initially planned to leave MK around 11 PM, but it was closer to 11:30 PM when we started making our way out. We stopped at the Emporium Shop and found a magnet of the Fab 5 with a colorful WDW logo. Here are our 2 souvenirs from the day:

P1150131 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We made our way to the exit, and a very nice woman offered to take our photo after watching me struggle to get a selfie with the railroad station behind us.

P1150127 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We waved goodbye to MK and WDW. We don’t have a trip planned so it could be a while before we come back (but hopefully it won’t be another 8 year wait!) We got in the bus line at 11:52 PM, waited a bit for a bus, and got back to Pop Century at 12:20 AM.

P1150132 by smiley519, on Flickr
Last Disney bus ride.​

After we got back to the hotel, we found someone at the front desk to unlock the luggage storage area and grabbed our suitcases. We decided to take an Uber from Pop Century to our new hotel, the Hampton Inn Orlando-S. Of Universal Studios. Josh had never used Uber before so earlier in the day (actually while we were in the stand-by line at 7DMT), I had him download the app using my referral code. This got him 1 free ride and gave me $10 off my next ride for referring him. We got picked up at 12:30 AM and checked into the Hampton Inn at 12:50 AM. The ride was only 13 miles and it was free using Josh’s free credit.

P1150133.1 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

We checked into room 226. We had 1 queen bed, towel animals (something that was missing from our stay at Pop due to recent budget cuts), and it was a nice large room.

P1150133 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150134 by smiley519, on Flickr
Can you spot the not-so-hidden Mickey luggage tag?
The bag on top of my suitcase was a bag filled with goodies (snacks and 2 water bottles) from the hotel for being a Hilton HHonors member, which was a nice bonus.


P1150135 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We quickly unpacked, got our stuff ready for the next day, and crashed into bed at 2 AM. Our steps tally was 32,948 steps, or 16.96 miles.

Next Up: Early morning wake up for rope drop and our first day at Universal Studios!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

It's so sad when leaving Disney but yea that your vacation isn't over. I'm looking forward to hearing all about the next part.

 

[ariane37]

What a great last day at Disney Definitely makes it better that you were going to Universal rather than home. Also glad you finally got on the PeopleMover! While not the most thrilling ride it's very interesting; I love riding it at night
Very jealous you got to see MSEP one final time before it left. That's my favorite parade outside of Boo To You and when they announced it was leaving shortly before our Aug. trip I was SO happy I'd have a chance to see it again-and then we forgot to watch it . When I went to bed the night before we left and I realized we'd neglected to see it I cried. And told my DH we need to go to Disneyland now

 

[mlegerto]

Great update! So lucky that you were able to grab one last FP for 7DMT.....very rare!

 

[smiley519]

It's so sad when leaving Disney but yea that your vacation isn't over. I'm looking forward to hearing all about the next part.

It definitely was sad to be leaving Disney, especially since we didn't know when we'd be back again. I can't wait to tell you all about the Universal portion of our trip!

What a great last day at Disney Definitely makes it better that you were going to Universal rather than home. Also glad you finally got on the PeopleMover! While not the most thrilling ride it's very interesting; I love riding it at night
Very jealous you got to see MSEP one final time before it left. That's my favorite parade outside of Boo To You and when they announced it was leaving shortly before our Aug. trip I was SO happy I'd have a chance to see it again-and then we forgot to watch it . When I went to bed the night before we left and I realized we'd neglected to see it I cried. And told my DH we need to go to Disneyland now

I couldn't believe that I had never been on the People Mover before and loved going on it both during the day and at night! Oh no, I'm so sorry that you didn't get to see MSEP on your last trip. I think your plan sounds great and you'll just have to convince your DH that you need to start planning that trip to DL!

Great update! So lucky that you were able to grab one last FP for 7DMT.....very rare!

Yes we were very fortunate to get a same-day FP for 7DMT!

 

[smiley519]

Sunday, September 11th – Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure

Part 22: Minions, Ogres, & Robots

When we checked in at the Hampton Inn the night before, we learned that we would need to go downstairs first thing in the morning to reserve our bus tickets for the hotel shuttle to Universal Studios. My very sweet husband woke up at 7 AM, let me continue sleeping, and went downstairs to get us two tickets for the 8:25 AM shuttle. I woke up at 7:45 AM and quickly got dressed and ready. We headed downstairs at 8:15 AM to enjoy the hotel’s complimentary continental breakfast. I made my own waffle and had scrambled eggs while Josh had some toast and cereal. After eating pop tarts in our room at Pop Century, we were excited for the free breakfast and it was pretty yummy.

P1150136 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

We didn’t allow a ton of time for a leisure breakfast (which would become a theme) so we ate quickly and headed outside right before 8:25 AM to wait for the bus. No sooner had we got on the bus, it pulled away and left. We figured there would be some sort of announcement for when the bus was going to leave since there were a ton of people in the breakfast area and hotel lobby but we guess there wasn’t since the shuttle was run by a third party company and not affiliated with the hotel. Our shuttle made one other stop at another hotel.

P1150137 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

Before we knew it, we were being dropped off at the bus unloading area at Universal Studios! We had to take a quick picture while riding the escalator:

P1150138 by smiley519, on Flickr
We forgot to take our daily self-timer outfit of the day picture in the room and found out that we had inadvertently matched each other.


P1150140 by smiley519, on Flickr
A grand welcome!


P1150143 by smiley519, on Flickr
I of course had to take a carefully timed photo of the globe.


P1150144 by smiley519, on Flickr
This well-timed globe selfie was a happy coincidence!


P1150145 by smiley519, on Flickr
My postcard shot


P1150147 by smiley519, on Flickr
We made it!
​

We arrived at the front gate right at 9 AM for rope drop. It was strange having to dig out our paper tickets to have scanned instead of using our Magic Bands, which were definitely convenient at Disney. We decided our first ride would be Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem because we knew that the wait could get longer in the day. This ride was new to us and we both remembered its predecessors, Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast and before that, The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera. The wait was about 20 minutes. We’re big fans of the Despicable Me movies and really enjoyed the ride.​

P1150149 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150151 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150152 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We next walked across to the other side and rode Shrek 4-D, which was a walk-on and is always a fun ride.

P1150156 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150157 by smiley519, on Flickr
Gotta love our Ogre Vision glasses​

Josh, the roller coaster aficionado, decided to brave Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, which was a walk-on. Just looking up at the coaster terrified me so I wished him well and waited for him back on solid ground.

P1150158 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150159 by smiley519, on Flickr
Yup, no thanks. ​

We walked by the construction for the new ride, Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon, which is supposed to open in Spring 2017.

P1150160 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We next rode Transformers: The Ride-3D which was a walk-on so we decided to ride it twice! The 3-D scenarios are really well done in this ride and we really liked it.

P1150161 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We continued on our way, said hi to our old friend Jaws, and saw some of the decorations for Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights.

P1150163 by smiley519, on Flickr
Another postcard scene


P1150164 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150165 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

Continued in Next Post

 

[smiley519]

Sunday, September 11th – Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure

Part 23: Gringotts Adventures and Leaky Cauldron Lunch

We then found ourselves in London at King’s Cross Station! Back in August 2012, I had been to Hogsmeade in Islands of Adventure for 1 day with my friends, but I hadn’t been to Diagon Alley at Universal since it hadn’t been built yet. Josh hadn’t been to either of the Harry Potter lands so we were both excited to explore!

P1150166 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150167 by smiley519, on Flickr
We had read about some of the Easter Eggs online so we knew to dial M-A-G-I-C or 62442 inside the phone booth to hear the special message from the Ministry of Magic.


P1150168 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150170 by smiley519, on Flickr​

I went over to meet the conductor and the Shrunken Head of the Knight Bus. I then proceeded to have a full conversation with the Shrunken Head where he said my name and made tons of head jokes. My favorite joke was that he wanted me to put his head on top of an ice cream cone and we would walk around the frighten all the muggles! I was very impressed with the magic at play here!

P1150171 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We visited 12 Grimmauld Place and even found Kreacher peeking out behind the window curtains.

P1150172 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150173 by smiley519, on Flickr​

It was then time to step foot into Diagon Alley and start exploring!

P1150176 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150177 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150182 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150184 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150189 by smiley519, on Flickr
Even the bathrooms keep with the theme!​

So we knew that the dragon breathed fire every few minutes and luckily the first time we saw him do it, we were able to capture it in a picture and video! This turned out to be very lucky because during the rest of our visit, the Universal TMs told us that the dragon was having some breathing problems and wasn’t able to produce the fire bolts. I think we only saw the dragon do it once more during our 3 day visit.

P1150191 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

After exploring, we put our stuff in a locker and got in line for Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts. It was posted as a 20 minute wait. The inside of Gringotts was really spectacular and we loved the animatronic goblins too. I purposefully hadn’t watched any ride videos or read anything so we didn’t know what to expect. We were directed to the last row of the ride vehicle and got strapped in. Well we certainly weren’t expecting that big drop at the very beginning!! The drop was even more intensified by being in the last row with the most height! The ride was so awesome that we had to ride it a second time! We waited about 20 minutes and rode it again and got the first row this time. We checked how much time was left on our locker rental and decided to ride a third time via the single rider line and ended up in the front row again.

After our 3x on Gringotts, we explored some more of the Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley shops.

P1150193 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150194 by smiley519, on Flickr
The Vanishing Cabinet. If you listened closely, you could hear a bird chirping!


P1150199 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150202 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150203 by smiley519, on Flickr
Josh perfecting his swish and flick motion.


P1150204 by smiley519, on Flickr
We both became big fans of butter beer later on.
​

We took some pictures with our respective house’s sweaters:

P1150210 by smiley519, on Flickr
“Hufflepuffs are particularly good finders!” (10 points to you if you can guess the reference)


P1150211 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150215 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150216 by smiley519, on Flickr
So many wands!


P1150218 by smiley519, on Flickr
The lighting was bright but I was trying to point to myself and the Shutterbutton sign since I’m the TR’s shutterbug ​

At this point it was around 12:40 PM so we decided to grab some lunch. We wanted to eat at the Leaky Cauldron so we headed over and checked out the menu. I liked that they had some of the entrée choices on display.

P1150223 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150225 by smiley519, on Flickr
Cheers to amazingly detailed theming!


P1150231 by smiley519, on Flickr​

I ordered the Specialty Chicken Sandwich with French Fries and Josh had the Beef, Lamb, and Guinness Stew served in a bread bowl. We both enjoyed our meals.

P1150228 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150229 by smiley519, on Flickr​

Continued in Next Post

 

[smiley519]

Sunday, September 11th –Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios

Part 24: Wet Bilge Rats, Seuss People Mover, & Funny Mystic Fountain

After we finished up our lunch, we caught the 1:15 PM Hogwarts Express from Diagon Alley to Hogsmeade (a.k.a Islands of Adventure).

P1150233 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150236 by smiley519, on Flickr​

It wasn’t until later in our trip that we discovered the trick of watching people cross over onto platform 9 ¾, which was really cool!

P1150236 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150238 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150248 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

This was our first time riding the Hogwarts Express and again we were very impressed with the attention to detail and the theming. The train cars look exactly as they do in the movies. I especially liked that not only was there action happening on the screen, but also being able to see the character’s silhouettes and other magical items on the opposite side of the doors. It was also ingenious of Universal to design a ride that required park hopper tickets in order to ride it.

P1150249 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150252 by smiley519, on Flickr
I was excited to introduce Josh to Hogsmeade!


P1150254 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150255 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150259 by smiley519, on Flickr​

It was pretty ironic seeing the snow covered building and a snowman in the scorching 90+ degree weather. It was a little hard to suspend all beliefs weather-wise.

P1150257 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150261 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

We then made our way over to Hogwarts to ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey! We stored our stuff in the lockers and waited 15 minutes in the standby line. I was really excited to see Josh’s reaction of both the queue and the ride and he loved them both! I didn’t remember the photo spot and seeing our faces in the mist so that was a fun surprise for me. After we discovered where the photo spot was, we enjoyed making silly faces on subsequent rides. We loved the ride so much that we decided to ride is two more times via the single rider line. Even when the standby line was pretty short, we enjoyed using the single rider line because it significantly cut down the walking time through the empty queue.

P1150263 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150266 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

We then caught the ending of the Triwizard Tournament show that features the wizards from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. All of the wizards were very talented!

P1150267 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150270 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We decided to leave Hogsmeade and planned to spend more time there the following day. Josh then went to ride Jurassic Park River Adventure while I hung out in the dump shop waiting for him. He returned just a tad bit wetter:

P1150275 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We made our way over to Toon Lagoon and stopped for some pictures with the thought bubbles.

P1150280 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150281 by smiley519, on Flickr
We really enjoyed The Secret Life of Pets.​

Since Josh was already wet and it was about 97 degrees outside, we decided to ride Popeye & Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges together. It was a walk-on but had a very, very long queue that took some time to walk through (hence the 10 minute wait time).

P1150283 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

When we boarded our raft, we noticed that there was a storage area in the center with a plastic cover. The cover didn’t close all the way on all sides which made me a little nervous leaving my purse, camera, and our cell phones under it. I’d have to give the advantage to Kali River Rapids on that because they have a separate free locker area that you can store your stuff so you’ll know it’ll stay dry. But as far as theming, getting wet, and the length of the ride, we’d have to give the edge to Bilge Rat Barges. Within the first 30 seconds, we were soaked from our head to our feet. We tried to put our feet up to avoid getting our socks wet but were mostly unsuccessful.

It was a fun ride but we both wished we had brought a change of clothes (at least another pair of shorts) and flip flops just for this ride or had copied other people’s idea and put on our ponchos. This was our attempt at a self-timer after shot to show how soaked we were so you’ll just have to take my word for it that our clothes were soaked through.

P1150284 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

IoA is cute in that they sell towels right next to the exit of the ride and charge to use a giant people dryer. We decided to head to the bathroom and used the bathroom hand dryer to dry off. Unfortunately, my shorts and the bottom of my shirt were soaked for the rest of the day so, lesson learned.

Then we headed off to Marvel Super Hero Island. Josh rode the Hulk single rider and said he enjoyed the new improvements.

P1150285 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

We then both rode Storm Force Accelatron which was a walk-on and similar to Disney’s teacups ride.

P1150286 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

We next rode The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man twice in a row because there was no wait. However we were freeeeezing in the air conditioned line since our clothes were still wet. We both love the Spider-Man ride so it was worth it!

Josh had never been to Seuss Landing so I took him there next. We got in line for The Cat in the Hat, which didn’t have a line, and I told him that the previous 2 times I had been on the ride, it had broken down. Luckily everything was functioning properly and we had no issues.

P1150289 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

We then rode a ride that was new to both of us – The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride. We likened it to a faster pace People Mover ride. It was a fun, quick ride and I enjoyed seeing the Sneetches popping up in the water.

P1150293 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

So one attraction that I was really looking forward to because I had read a lot about it and watched some YouTube videos was The Mystic Fountain! I know that this is probably not a highlight for most people, but it did not disappoint! There were a few Spanish-speaking kids hanging out with the fountain when we were there and the fountain started speaking in Spanish and said “If you want water just say ‘Agua.’ Agua? Por favor Agua? Ok, AGUA!” It was soo funny to watch the fountain rain down on the unsuspecting kids and keep chanting “Agua!”

P1150297 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150299 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150302 by smiley519, on Flickr
The Fountain squirted this girl for wearing a Stitch shirt at Islands of Adventure! ​

Continued in Next Post

 

[smiley519]

Sunday, September 11th – Universal Studios

Part 25: First Butterbeer and the Park’s Gonna Close so Run to Moe’s!

Since IoA was closing at 7 PM that night, we took the Hogwarts Express from Hogsmeade back over to London. We also think it’s cool that the ride experience is different for the reverse trip.

Once we got back to Diagon Alley, we stopped by Sugarplum's Sweet Shop and got a piece of cookies & cream fudge to share as a snack. Josh also really wanted to try a butterbeer so he got a 16 oz. frozen butterbeer from The Hopping Pot for us to share.

P1150303 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150307 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

We grabbed a table in the shade and sat down to watch Celestina Warbeck and the Banshees perform.

P1150304 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150306 by smiley519, on Flickr​

The performance was great and we both really enjoyed our treats! Josh really loved the frozen butterbeer and would’ve had a ton more, if it wasn’t for the $7.45 price tag. :

After our snack break, we got in line to ride Escape from Gringotts. The ride broke down while we were in the lobby area of the queue so a 10 minute wait turned into a 20 minute wait. We both decided that the 2nd car is better than the 1st car for the big drop in the beginning and think that the 4th row is the optimal row because you’re in the first row of the second car, but still high enough up to feel the drop. Josh decided to leave his phone in his pocket so we got some pictures of the queue this time.

P1150308 by smiley519, on Flickr
We were wondering how difficult it’d be to transport this gorgeous chandelier back home with us to put in our dining room.


P1150309 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150310 by smiley519, on Flickr​

A couple of pictures of the dragon before we return back to the Muggle world:

P1150311 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150313 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We then headed off to compete on Men in Black. I won 138,000 to 88,000 after hitting the red button at the end.

P1150314 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We next headed to Krustyland to ride The Simpsons Ride. When we rode it at Universal Studios Hollywood 8 years ago, Josh felt really sick afterwards and said he doesn’t do well with motion simulators. He was very hesitant to ride it with me and I was going to ride solo but he decided to give it a go. Luckily he didn’t feel sick at all afterwards!

P1150315 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We found a table with chairs to sit down at to watch the 8:30 PM Universal's Cinematic Spectacular – 100 Years of Movie Memories which is the nighttime lagoon show. Our first night was the only night that it was showing so we wanted to experience it. We thought it was a nice show, but not spectacular à la Disney’s standards.

P1150318 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150327 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150346 by smiley519, on Flickr​

Since we were busy riding rides and Universal Studios closed at 8:30 PM which was the same time as their nighttime show, we decided to not eat dinner inside the park and get something to go from City Walk.

P1150354 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150355 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We left the park at 9 PM and ran over to Moe’s to get some Mexican food. The line was pretty long and there was only 1 guy behind the counter making food so service was pretty slow. We finally got our food, paid, and ran at full-speed to catch the shuttle. We made it there at 9:26 PM and the bus left at 9:30 PM. Phew, that was close.

We got back to our hotel at 9:55 PM. We rearranged some furniture to have a little picnic in our room and watched the Miss America competition on TV. Josh order the Earmuffs Bowl and I had the 3 Overachiever Chicken Tacos and we shared a side of chips.

P1150357 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

We were pretty impressed with how much we got accomplished in our first day and how low the crowds were. Our daily step tally was 22,541 steps, or 10.21 miles.

Next Up: We sleep in a bit and start our day in Islands of Adventure!

 

[ariane37]

You really did get a lot done! We went the very end of Aug. last year and had no crowds some were able to do a lot also. As for Riptide Rocket, when Imfirstbsaw it Imtjought NO WAY am Imgetting on that! But over our 3 days the DS14 kept looking at it longingly, so I finally gave in and went on and LOVED it!!!! Best ride in the 2 parks!!! Although we all totally fell in love with Escape From Gringotts and we're not even big HP fans.

Bilge Rat Barges? It was so fun but we too were absolutely drenched. I'd brought flip flops and slides for myself and younger DS but DH and older DS didn't want me to. Boy, were they sorry lol!

 

[smiley519]

You really did get a lot done! We went the very end of Aug. last year and had no crowds some were able to do a lot also. As for Riptide Rocket, when Imfirstbsaw it Imtjought NO WAY am Imgetting on that! But over our 3 days the DS14 kept looking at it longingly, so I finally gave in and went on and LOVED it!!!! Best ride in the 2 parks!!! Although we all totally fell in love with Escape From Gringotts and we're not even big HP fans.

Bilge Rat Barges? It was so fun but we too were absolutely drenched. I'd brought flip flops and slides for myself and younger DS but DH and older DS didn't want me to. Boy, were they sorry lol!

That's awesome that you also had low crowds when you went last August! Haha you are very brave for trying Rip Ride Rockit and I'm glad you enjoyed it! I'll just take pictures safely from the ground. Escape from Gringotts quickly became one of our favorite rides and we would go on to ride it several more times during the next few days. We were fortunate to have such low crowds that we were able to ride it multiple times in a row!

Haha maybe it's called Bilge Rat Barges because you look like a drenched rat after you ride it? You were very smart for bringing flip flops. We almost brought flip flops and an extra pair of shorts but we didn't want to bring in a drawstring bag and have to deal with storing it in the lockers for the no bags allowed rides all day. We dried off...eventually.

 

[maxmouse]

Really enjoys reading your TR.

 

[smiley519]

Really enjoys reading your TR.

Thank you so much! I'm so glad you're enjoying it! Stay tuned for the next update being posted right now!

 

[smiley519]

Monday, September 12th – Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios

Part 26: Multiple Forbidden Journeys & Lunch at Mythos

Since we got way more accomplished than we thought we would on our first Universal day, we decided to sleep in a bit and not do rope drop. We woke up at 8:20 AM, showered, and ran downstairs for a quick breakfast at the hotel. We had reserved tickets for the 9:30 AM shuttle. Before we booked the Hampton Inn, I actually called around to different hotels off-site near Universal because I had read online reviews that said that some hotels have buses that come more and less frequently. A couple of hotels I called only had buses that would pick you up at 9 AM or 10 AM so you wouldn’t even be able to make rope drop at 8 or 9 AM. The hotel we chose had buses that came once an hour during the morning rush and every half hour near closing time.

One major difference between the methods of transportation at Pop Century at Disney and the Hampton Inn was that since the Hampton Inn had set bus times, you had to promptly be waiting outside at the scheduled time. At Disney, we had the luxury of knowing that if we were running a little behind or had seen a bus drive away as we were walking up, there’d be another bus coming within 5-15 minutes. It was a more difficult mindset to adjust to than we were expecting so unfortunately most days we were rushing to get downstairs, scarf down the complimentary hotel breakfast, and run out to make the bus. This will be some foreshadowing for the following day…

Anyway, we got on the bus at 9:30 AM and arrived at Islands of Adventure right before 10 AM (the park opened at 9 AM that day). On our walk to IoA we passed by this wave photo spot, where I had previously taken a picture with friends when I was last at City Walk in 2011. A very kind woman offered to take our photo for us. Surfs up, dude!

P1150358 by smiley519, on Flickr​

The sky behind the IoA Tower looked a bit overcast but the rest of the area had blue skies. We also saw the new Toothsome Chocolate Emporium from a distance.

P1150360 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150363 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150364 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

A nice photographer took our picture with “The Adventure Begins” sign:

P1150366 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

We walked by Spider-Man which had a 30 minute wait. We checked the single rider line but the TM said that it wouldn’t open until 10:30 AM so we decided to skip it for now. We also passed by Skull Island: Reign of Kong which we missed riding the day before, but it had a 75 minute wait so no thanks!

We passed by some of the thoughts bubbles in Toon Lagoon:

P1150371 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150372 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We continued on the Harry Potter World in Hogsmeade. Snow covered buildings = shivering Josh, even if it is 90+ degrees outside.

P1150373 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150376 by smiley519, on Flickr
Love this castle​

We decided to make Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey our first ride of the day. The wait time said it was 15 minutes but it ended up being a walk-on! Therefore we decided to ride it 3 times in a row again. Since the queue takes a while to walk through and we took our time to enjoy it the day before, we went via the single rider line the 2nd and 3rd time. However, since there was barely anyone in the standby line, they let us ride together which was awesome. We got to experience the ride from all 4 of the seats throughout our IoA vist which was pretty cool. Josh took his phone through the queue to take some pictures and video.

P1150379 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150380 by smiley519, on Flickr​

After flying with Harry and surviving the Whomping Willow, we decided to visit our good friends Hagrid and Buckbeak on Flight of the Hippogriff. It’s a quick ride and a bit jerky, but we both enjoyed it.

P1150381 by smiley519, on Flickr​

I remember when the ride was the Flying Unicorn from a previous trip in April 2008. Here’s a before and after of the coaster when it was themed as the Flying Unicorn vs. the Flight of the Hippogriff:

P1150383 Flying Unicorn 2008 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150382 by smiley519, on Flickr
(It wasn’t until after I got home and hunted down the above picture from 2008 that I realized I had snapped the picture in the same exact location! Pretty cool!)
​

Josh then rode Dragon Challenge, which had a 5 minute wait. I went to the nearby bathroom and was very surprised when I started to hear Moaning Myrtle talking to me! I love that the theming in the Harry Potter areas is so comprehensive and they incorporated all of these little details.

We explored some more of the shops and popped up in to see the Hog’s Head Pub and the Three Broomsticks. Both looked really authentic inside and I like that there is literally a hog’s head and 3 broomsticks.

P1150385 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150387 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We also walked into Honeydukes and marveled at all of the candy.

P1150389 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150390 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150391 by smiley519, on Flickr​

It was about 11:30 AM and we were getting hungry for lunch. We did some browsing online and had read good reviews of Mythos and saw that it had a large sign proclaiming it was rated as the Best Theme Park Restaurant. Since it was still on the earlier side, the restaurant wasn’t too busy and we got seated right away.

P1150393 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150395 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We placed our order and were presented with a basket of bread and butter. I was kind of obsessed with the fact that the butter had Universal’s logo imprinted on it!

P1150397 by smiley519, on Flickr​

I ordered the Gnocchi Bolognese and it was actually my first time trying Gnocchi! It was plated beautifully and was absolutely delicious and very filling! Josh ordered the Blackened Fish Tacos which he also enjoyed!

P1150398 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150399 by smiley519, on Flickr​

I don’t know if Mythos is the very best theme park restaurant (and if you read the fine print or go on its website, it hasn’t placed since 2010), but we both definitely enjoyed the tableside meal.

After lunch, we caught the Hogwarts Express from Hogsmeade to Diagon Alley. I snapped a picture of the empty train car compartment before everyone made their way inside.

P1150401 by smiley519, on Flickr​

If only it were that easy to jump on a train and be in London in under 10 minutes…

P1150402 by smiley519, on Flickr​

Continued in Next Post

 

[smiley519]

Monday, September 12th – Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure,

Part 27: Meeting the Shrunken Head Video, Locked Lockers, “Super” Terminator, & Dinner at Vivo Italian Kitchen

After exiting King’s Cross station, we decided to visit the conductor and Shrunken Head at the Knight Bus again. Also although I snapped this picture, it wasn’t until after we came home and I was looking at random pictures online that I realized that you can walk along that pathway to the back of the Knight Bus and peek inside.

P1150403 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We waited to say hello to the Shrunken Head and Josh took video of our interaction. I don’t know if the Shrunken Head has a really good memory or he took a shot in the dark at popular conversation topics, but he actually made reference to our conversation the day before saying “Weren’t we supposed to go for ice cream and you were going to put me on top of a cone and walk around London and freak out the Muggles?” He literally blew my mind and I was so excited. I also thought quick on my feet and offered my own head pun to him which resulted in the conductor saying “I like her!” and the Shrunken Head giving me some corny pun groans but saying “Oh she understands me!” Day made.

Here is the video of our interaction for your viewing pleasure (click the screenshot to be taken to the video):

IMG_4144 by smiley519, on Flickr​

And here’s the picture we took together afterward:

P1150403.1 by smiley519, on Flickr​

After walking away with a big grin on my face and exclaiming to Josh how cool that was, we headed inside Diagon Alley.

P1150404 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We headed over to Escape from Gringotts and rode it twice via the single rider line. I’m actually watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 as I type this and it’s so amazing to watch the Gringotts scene after riding the ride. Everything from the lobby of the bank, to the goblins, the carts, and the dragon on top look like they’re taken directly from the film, which is obviously the idea.

After Gringotts, we headed to Men in Black. I believe the wait time was 30-40 minutes so we decided to ride twice via the single rider line. We ended up in the same vehicle, which was nice. I beat Josh the first time with a score of 235,000 to 86,000 after I got the 100,000 red button bonus (and would have won even without the bonus!). Josh then went to beat me 163,000 to 116,000 because he got the 100,000 bonus (lucky duck).

After defeating the aliens, we rode The Simpsons Ride via the single rider line. The standby wait was about 60 minutes and the single rider line took 25-30 minutes. We ended up in the same vehicle and Josh got to sit behind me.

We stopped for a quick photo with the DeLorean and the Back to the Future train.

P1150413 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

We then headed to ET which had a posted wait time of 15 minutes but was actually a walk-on. I remembered being a bit scared of this ride as a kid and some parts of it are rather dark/creepy. The ride attendant asked for both of our names, but I believe we only heard ET say Josh’s name.

P1150417 by smiley519, on Flickr​

After a bit of confusion, we realized that the Terminator ride is actually a show and is only shown at certain times during the day rather than continuously. We made a run for it to make it for the 3:30 PM showing but got there a minute late and were turned away at the door. So we decided to go on the Despicable Me ride instead.

We then stumbled upon the Universal's Superstar Parade. Since it was blocking our intended path, we decided to watch it. The floats were cute, but it seems like a very short parade.

P1150420 by smiley519, on Flickr
Big air bonus!


P1150422 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150423 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150430 by smiley519, on Flickr
“Is this the Krusty Krab? No, this is Patrick!”


P1150428 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150429 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150436 by smiley519, on Flickr
Selfies with Dora!
​

After the parade, we made our way back to Diagon Alley for the 4 PM The Tales of Beedle the Bard. The show was really good and the puppets looked really cool. The wizards and witches who told the story were very talented.

P1150442 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150444 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150446 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150448 by smiley519, on Flickr​

After the show, we went to ride Gringotts in the standby line and the ride broke down…again. After the ride when we went to get our stuff out of the locker, it told us it expired and we owed $3. Just one problem, our wallets and money were locked inside the locker. We got an attendant and explained that the ride broke down and that’s why we exceeded the 45 minutes time limit. He didn’t believe us at first that the ride had broken down because no other TMs had told him and he started interrogating us and asking if we had left our stuff in the locker for 3 hours and just now returned. Um no?? Finally, he manually increased the time limit and we were able to open up the locker and retrieve our items. He then was asked by several other people to do the same. This was the only experience we had with a rude CM or TM, thankfully.

After that kerfuffle, we started making our way to the 5:30 PM Terminator T2 3-D: Battle Across Time show. On the way, we stopped by to say hi to Optimus Prime!

P1150453 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

We were excited when the host of the show used the catchphrase “Super!” which has been an inside joke of ours from our last Universal Studios California trip in 2008.

P1150456 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We came out of the show and it was sprinkling a bit. Universal Studios was closing at 6 PM for Halloween Horror Nights. We tried to get in line for Transformers at 5:59 PM, but the TMs told us the line had already been closed off. Ah well. We didn’t know if the Hogwarts Express would still be running after the park closed and we were closer to the front entry, so we traveled to IoA the old fashioned way by walking.

We got to IoA and rode Spider-Man which was a walk-on. We always enjoy that ride. Then it started really raining (we finally got to see an infamous Florida shower), so we decided to leave IoA at 6:30 PM (it was closing at 7 PM) and head to City Walk for dinner. We chose Vivo Italian Kitchen for dinner.

P1150458 by smiley519, on Flickr​

I had the Chicken Parmigiano and Josh had the Bucatini Pasta with Meatballs. We both love Italian food (as evidenced by me ordering it for both lunch and dinner in the same day) and this dinner was delicious!

P1150461 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1150462 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We had some time before our shuttle and a gift card, so we stopped by Cold Stone Creamery. We ordered a “Mint Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip” Signature Creation in a Like It size for the two of us to share. When we went to pay with my gift card, the cashier told me that they can’t accept gift cards because they’re a Universal affiliate and “not a real Cold Stone, like Pinocchio.” We laughed, were a little bummed we couldn’t use the gift card, but proceeded to enjoy our delicious ice cream.

P1150463 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We caught the 7:30 PM shuttle back to our hotel. Since it was so early, we decided to go swimming in the hotel pool for about an hour. The pool was pretty nice. Here’s a picture I snapped the next morning:

P1150467 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We headed back upstairs, showered, packed, and went to sleep around 1 AM. Our step tally was 21,309 steps, or 9.2 miles. We were sad to go to bed knowing that the next day would be last day in Orlando, but we had had a pretty amazing vacation so far.

Next Up: Our final park day at Universal and our trip back home.

 

[mlegerto]

Great update. So many miles covered on your trip

 

[cinderaimee]

Late to the party, but just caught up and I'm loving your report! You guys were able to get so much done! It really sounds like a fun trip

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Great updates! It seems like you are lucking out with the wait times on most of the rides. You are definitely getting a lot done.

 

[smiley519]

Great update. So many miles covered on your trip

Thank you! There was seriously so many miles but all of the walking was definitely well worth it!

Late to the party, but just caught up and I'm loving your report! You guys were able to get so much done! It really sounds like a fun trip

to the party! I'm happy to have you here and thanks for reading the entire report! We definitely were able to get a lot accomplished and had an amazing vacation!

Great updates! It seems like you are lucking out with the wait times on most of the rides. You are definitely getting a lot done.

Thank you! Yes, we were very lucky that we got to experience low crowds and were able to ride a lot of rides back-to-back. I hope you have the same luck for your upcoming trip!

 

[smiley519]

Sorry for the delay between updates! I'll be posting about our final day and wrapping up the report soon! Thanks for sticking with me!