Yes, We're Satisfied With Our Care! October 2015 TR **NEW 8/21 Final Thoughts

[afwdwfan]

One of the first things we noticed was the work being done on The Incredible Hulk Coaster. What a bummer that we were missing out on one of our favorites! And it won’t be open in February when we go again either. Hopefully it is back up by the time we go again in October this year.

I was extremely saddened by what I saw last week. I don't know what their plans are for this refurb, but there was no track at all that could be seen. There was the station and the lift hill/launch tube part, but that was it.

I last rode it back in 2012... I don't remember it being extra rough or anything. I'm kind of surprised by the extent of the work they're doing on it and I really hope they don't reconfigure it or do something crazy with it like add the patented Universal 3D experience to it somehow.

With all of the amazing changes Universal has in the works, I can only hope they find a way to revamp this useless land sometime in the near future.

It's not useless...

There's that fountain that spits water on people.

We could see progress happening on the new Skull Island expansion including the upcoming King Kong attraction. So much still happening at Universal! I can’t wait until this is done. I think it’s going to be amazing!

That does look pretty impressive.

And our next day’s plans included early entry at Universal Studios starting at 7 am, so we had the alarms set for a VERY early morning!!

Wow... yeah, that's an early morning! Especially with 2 kids!

 

[saintstickets]

I'm away from the DISboards for a little over 4 months and you have another TR going! Hopefully I will be able to get online more often. Great report so far! I can't wait to get back to Universal to see the new HP!

 

[khertz]

That had to be a rough day...

I'm in! I'm glad the flight went so well for you. You never know what you're going to get from the kids, but I'm glad she slept the whole way and made things easy for you.

Our DS is the same way about doing the potty dance at the very last moment. He'll be happily playing one minute and the next, a dead sprint to the bathroom.

Oh yeah, it can go do many ways when you're traveling with little ones! I was so relieved that she slept the whole time and didn't make a peep.

Well, I'm glad it's not just him! lol It's a battle we have been fighting for a long time now!

I was extremely saddened by what I saw last week. I don't know what their plans are for this refurb, but there was no track at all that could be seen. There was the station and the lift hill/launch tube part, but that was it.

I last rode it back in 2012... I don't remember it being extra rough or anything. I'm kind of surprised by the extent of the work they're doing on it and I really hope they don't reconfigure it or do something crazy with it like add the patented Universal 3D experience to it somehow.

Yeah, they are REALLY gutting that thing! Hopefully it will be worth it once the improvements/changes are in place, but it sucks missing out on it. Love that coaster!

It's not useless...

There's that fountain that spits water on people.

As we say in New Orleans, "Yeah, you right."

That does look pretty impressive.

It does! I can't wait to see the finished product.

Wow... yeah, that's an early morning! Especially with 2 kids!

Not gonna lie, it was a little painful waking up that early on vacation!! But totally worth it.

I'm away from the DISboards for a little over 4 months and you have another TR going! Hopefully I will be able to get online more often. Great report so far! I can't wait to get back to Universal to see the new HP!

I saw you have your TR going! I'll have to jump over there as soon as I can to get caught up. Welcome along, once again!!

 

[khertz]

Day 2: Sunday October 18th

The next morning came way too soon! One thing about this trip with an infant is that I had to get myself up SO much earlier than usual to have time to feed her and get us both ready before getting to the parks before opening. This was made even more difficult on this particular morning because Early Entry at Universal Studios was at 7 am! So my alarm was set for 5:15 am with plans to be leaving our room no later than 6:30 am. The night before at the grocery store, DH had bought some Entenmann’s donuts so that was our breakfast of champions that morning. We left on time and it was SO dark outside as we walked the path to the Universal entrance.

Oct 02-001 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

At around 6:45 while waiting in line, I decided to go change DD’s diaper before going in so we wouldn’t have to stop right away to do that. I grabbed what I needed from the bad and headed to look for a restroom. I didn’t see it right away so I asked at guest services. The lady at the counter pointed to where it would be, but warned me it might be closed. Instead of chancing that, I went back towards the line and changed her on a nearby bench. Good thing because just as I was finishing up, they started letting people in the park and it was only 6:50!

Since I’m stopping to tell you about a diaper change, I’m going to add in here the absolute BEST tip for bringing a baby to the parks! I wish I could take credit for coming up with it myself, but I got the idea from someone on a planning group on Facebook. A small packing cube makes the PERFECT diaper bag for the parks! On our first trip with DS, I carried a huge backpack with 3 sections. As hard as I tried to keep it organized, I still had to dig through different spots to get everything I needed for a diaper change. But in the small packing cube, I could fit 5-8 diapers, a travel pack of wipes, a change of clothes for DD in a Ziploc bag, a tube of diaper cream, and a bottle of hand sanitizer. We bought the cubes for our trip to Italy in 2014 and used them again for this trip to pack. Once we had unpacked at the hotel, I repurposed the cube as my diaper changing kit. It fit easily under the stroller and the only other thing I needed for diaper changes was the changing pad. Then everything else I needed (another change of clothes for her, a change for me in case of a spit up accident, extra diapers and wipes, etc) I just threw under the stroller just in case I needed it. These are the packing cubes we have and they work great! I used the smallest sized ones for my kit.

Packing Cubes by disneymom1024, on Flickr
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Back to the park…

The gates opened at 6:50 and we were following the crowd to the back of the park towards Diagon Alley. There was a checkpoint setup with barricades where TMs were checking room keys before you could pass through and continue down the street. It seemed odd, like that would be something they checked before letting you into the park.

I can’t even tell you how excited I was to finally be getting to experience Diagon Alley! But like I said, it’s waaaay in the back of the park, so we had some ground to cover before we could get there!

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DS was super excited to see his beloved Transformers! But we had to tell him we’d be back later to do that because it wasn’t opened yet. Soon enough, we had entered London!

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Time to head through the brick wall into Diagon Alley!

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Oh. My. Gosh. I cannot even put into words the feeling of walking through there and seeing Diagon Alley laid out before me. It made this Potter-nerd SO SO HAPPY! Hormones be darned, I still had tears pricking my eyes as I looked around and took it all in. It is really incredible that they were able to recreate something so beloved by so many and in such an amazingly detailed way.

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Of course, the first thing we wanted to do was ride Escape From Gringotts! Baby swap works differently at Universal compared to Disney, where they give you the rider swap pass to use anytime later. After parking the stroller, the four of us headed in together. The TM outside told me to alert the first TM after the elevator ride that we were doing baby swap and they would direct us where to go.

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The following pictures cannot even do this queue justice. The scope of it is incredible! Especially considering it is just the start of a line and not an actual wizard bank!

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As you walk through, the goblins are all busy at work.

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Next, you go into the preshow area which makes excellent use of real props and video screens.

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Then you board an elevator that takes you deep down into the vaults of the bank.

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From here, you make your way to the loading platform. It was at this point that DH took the kids to the baby swap area. There are a few benches, and a TV showing scenes from the HP movies that have to do with Diagon Alley and Gringotts. While they waited, I got to go ride!

They pitch this as an indoor roller coaster, but it’s not nonstop roller coaster action like RnRC. If you have ever been on the Mummy, it’s more like that. Lots of fast parts interspersed with places where you stop to watch the action happening on a screen. It’s also similar to the technology in Spider-Man and Transformers that makes you feel like you are falling at certain points. There is even a part in the dark where your cart starts spinning on the track that reminded me a lot of Crush’s Coaster at Disneyland Paris. Overall, it was just plain amazing!!! However, I noticed while riding that the dragon was roaring a lot but there was no sound. At the time, I wasn’t sure if that was intentional or not, but I suspected it wasn’t. Once I got off, I went to the child swap area to trade with DH. He had gotten DD to fall asleep, and DS was content with playing on an old phone loaded with games and movies.

The best thing about baby swap at Universal is that once I was done and met DH to swap, he could go immediately to the boarding area without having to wait at all! Once he went to ride, he had to wait awhile for them to fix the issue with the dragon’s sound. So by the time he was done, DS was more than ready to go do something else. We could have taken turns riding again, but didn’t want to do that to DS. I did ask on the way out about single rider, and you CANNOT use baby swap in conjunction with single rider because the single rider line bypasses the point where you would break off to go to baby swap. Just a heads up for anyone else that might be traveling with small kids.

The dump shop is pretty incredible in its own right.

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We made our way back outside and it finally had started to look like daytime!

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After picking up the stroller from the pram parking, we were just in time to see the dragon breathe fire! DS was completely in awe.

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But it was too quick for DH to get a pic of both DS and the fire, so we knew we’d have to catch photos of that later. Our touring idea going in had been to finish up Gringotts and take the train once they would let us over to Hogsmeade. However, we were just too busy soaking up the details to be worried about changing parks just yet so we decided to stay and walk around. And take a lot more dragon photos.

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Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

Day 2 Continued: Sunday October 18th

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The day before, we had really wanted some frozen Butterbeer but the lines at the carts were just too long. This early in the morning, the Fountain of Fair Fortune didn’t have a line to speak of, so while I took DS for a restroom break across the courtyard, DH went inside to get us our first of the trip!

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A young wizard using his interactive wand


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Reunited and it feels SO GOOD!


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We were ready to head to other parts of the park, mostly because DS was getting restless. We had been in the park nearly an hour and he hadn’t really done anything. And he couldn’t be convinced to try any of the Butterbeer. Oh well, more for us! So frozen heaven in hand, we started making our way out of Diagon Alley.

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Now that it was light out, we could see the Knight Bus a little better so we paused a moment to appreciate that. I know a lot of people don’t like the Prisoner of Azkaban movie, but it’s always been my favorite of the series of movies for some reason. I think because when I got hooked, it was the most recent movie out and it was darker than the first two so it sucked me in the most of the three.

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“Yeah! Take it away, Ernie!”


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By the time we made it over to our next destination of Transformers, that Butterbeer was very near gone.

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We decided that I would ride with DS first while DH and DD stayed behind. This was DS’s first time riding, and he is obsessed with Transformers, so I was excited to get to see his reaction first!

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Crappy iPhone pic, but he was so excited!!​

As I had expected, he was a little nervous at first, but as the ride went on he was squealing with excitement! When we came off of the ride, he proclaimed it the most awesome ride ever! So I was happy I got to do that with him since DH had gotten to try out Spider-Man for the first time with him the day before. I think comparing the movement to Spider-Man made this one a little less scary for him as he already sort of knew what to expect as far as how the ride would feel.

When we came out, Optimus Prime was greeting and we hopped in a very short line to meet him!

Oct 02-057 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
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I think his size intimidated DS a little, so it took a little bit of convincing to get him on the mat and he wouldn’t go alone. He has a death grip on my hand in this photo!

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Then DH joined us for a photo.

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Optimus even posed again for DH on his own as we walked away.

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This is honestly one of the coolest meet & greet opportunities in all of Universal! While we were getting everyone settled back in the stroller to continue on, Optimus went in and out came my favorite, Bumblebee! We got to see him dance for a minute, but decided not to wait in line to meet him yet again. Hopefully in February I can finally get a picture with him!

DH and DS went to take a turn on Transformers, but it was time for DD to eat so I made my way to the front of the park for first aid, where they had a nursing station. There was no one in there when I arrived, and it was a perfect little space. It was two rooms connected to each other with a door to the outside that locked. The first room you enter had a small couch, TV, and changing table so if you had older kids or toddlers with you they would have something to do. Then the attached room had a rocking chair, and a microwave. I was able to bring the stroller in with me so that I could have all my stuff with me too. It had a dimmer on the lights so I could darken it to however I wanted to keep DD settled, and it was well air conditioned. And just another tip for anyone going with a nursing infant, there are actually 2 First Aid/Nursing centers in each park; one is in the front of the park and one is somewhere further back, so they were never really far away, no matter where in the park we were. The same can’t be said for Disney parks, which only have 1 each and can be a hike to get to when you’re across the park.

Anyway, DH and DS were having a much more interesting time on Transformers.

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After Transformers, they made their way over to Springfield and went on Kang & Kodos’ Twirl ‘n Hurl. Needless to say, I wasn’t terribly upset to miss out on this one!

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Maybe Christmas week, but this luckily did not hold true for them today!


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I got a text with this picture while feeding DD:

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Soon enough, DD and I were finishing up and I was calling DH to see what they were up to so we could meet up.

UP NEXT: Guard Against Extra-Terrestrial Violence

 

[amazingact21]

Whew, you weren't kidding about an early morning, but babies really do add extra time to the morning routine.


I loved all the shots of Diagon Alley in the early morning. A different take on what I usually see in photos.


Good to know that the Baby Swap is different than Disney's version. I kind of like that the kids get to walk through the queue at Universal. It allows them to see more and not feel as excluded.


Yes! Prisoner of Azkaban was great! I don't get why people didn't like it. It was the one I re-watched the most once it hit DVD.


Frozen Butterbeer...I love that ya'll got some regardless of the time. Butterbeer is good 24/7.



Great tip on the multiple first aid stations in the parks. Why Disney can't do that is beyond me. It's just plain silly to not have more than one in places like Epcot, where it's so big. Not to mention, the last few times I went to one, the nursing rooms were packed! Rocking chairs were a hot commodity. Kudos to Universal for making things a little more convenient for moms.


Paxton seemed to be pretty patient with you guys while in Diagon Alley. Glad he got to ride Transformers. Before I read your description of his interaction with Optimus, I saw your photo and thought to myself, "He looks so excited...but also REALLY unsure." Glad to see he overcame his uneasiness and got in the picture!

 

[adudeinblue]

I'm glad your title caught my attention! Love the pictures your DH is sharing. Can't wait to see more.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Sounds like a fun morning. Brutal wake up time though!

 

[disneybarbie]

All caught up! Hadn't realised you'd started a TR for this trip.. Sounds so good so far! I haven't been to USO since 2012 when the second part of the Wizarding World was being built, so it's great to see all your photos.
I stayed at HRH back in 2002 with my family and loved it!

I will have to go back and read your TRs when DS was a toddler, 'research' for when we take our DD (hopefully next year, I can't have too long between trips to WDW ) and we're also going to Spain this summer on a plane when she'll be about 6 months. Really interesting to read how you were able to take DD at such a young age, I'm nursing too and hadn't even thought about how you'd need to fit that into a day in the park!

Looking forward to more xx

 

[afwdwfan]

I grabbed what I needed from the bad and headed to look for a restroom. I didn’t see it right away so I asked at guest services. The lady at the counter pointed to where it would be, but warned me it might be closed.

Because why would the restroom near the gate be opened 15 minutes before the park opens???

It seemed odd, like that would be something they checked before letting you into the park.

Yeah, no kidding.

Time to head through the brick wall into Diagon Alley!

That's really cool. It is well hidden. I actually walked past it at first. Well, I came from the train and I walked past to go to the restroom, but then when I came back looking for Diagon Alley, I thought that was the exit from the train station at first. Then I saw someone walk in and I followed them.

Of course, the first thing we wanted to do was ride Escape From Gringotts! Baby swap works differently at Universal compared to Disney, where they give you the rider swap pass to use anytime later. After parking the stroller, the four of us headed in together. The TM outside told me to alert the first TM after the elevator ride that we were doing baby swap and they would direct us where to go.

I know they both have their advantages and disadvantages, but I like not having to drag the kids through the line at Disney...

Next, you go into the preshow area which makes excellent use of real props and video screens.

Yep... missed this part. It was a 40 minute wait by the time I got there so I just did Single Rider.

They pitch this as an indoor roller coaster, but it’s not nonstop roller coaster action like RnRC. If you have ever been on the Mummy, it’s more like that. Lots of fast parts interspersed with places where you stop to watch the action happening on a screen. It’s also similar to the technology in Spider-Man and Transformers that makes you feel like you are falling at certain points.

I liked it. But they rely far too heavily on the screens. I kind of had a little "I don't like Universal as much anymore" moment during my day there for that reason alone.

Crappy iPhone pic, but he was so excited!!​

It is pretty clear that he's excited about it!

When we came out, Optimus Prime was greeting and we hopped in a very short line to meet him!

That is awesome!!

This is honestly one of the coolest meet & greet opportunities in all of Universal!

I really liked that. I just stood and watched Megatron for a while.

 

[hokieinpa]

Wow - really early morning! Crazy to see the park when it's still so dark outside.

I love, love, love all of the Harry Potter details! And it's really interesting that the rider swap system is so different!

It seems like DS had a blast on Transformers! I can't wait to take the boys in a year or two when everyone is tall enough to ride all of the fun stuff!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Glad that Diagon Alley met/exceeded your expectations - they really built up expectations with that and they seem to have really delivered.

Bummer about the Dragon voice not working while on Gringotts though

That is nice they have 2 baby areas at the Universal Parks. For the most part the babe areas at Disney are nice, but it can be frustrating if you are on the opposite side of the park - especially when it is hot out!

Glad DS enjoyed Transformers so much!

 

[saintstickets]

Wow!! That is a great update about Diagon Alley. And as usual, fantastic pics from DH! We aren't going to Universal until May, 2017 so I'm living vicariously through you for now (just like I've done on many of your TRs!)

 

[missangelalexis]

The early morning shots of Universal and Diagon Alley are so nice!

I'm so glad you enjoyed Gringotts! I can't wait to ride them myself some day.

Love the pic of you two with Optimus, especially DS' death grip!

What a nice morning so far!

 

[khertz]

Whew, you weren't kidding about an early morning, but babies really do add extra time to the morning routine.

It really does! Especially the timing of this trip because she would take a lot longer to eat so I had to allow plenty of time for that. Now she is a little more efficient so I'm hoping our upcoming trip will be a little better. 7 am is early enough without a baby!!

I loved all the shots of Diagon Alley in the early morning. A different take on what I usually see in photos.

It was absolutely beautiful in the early morning!

Good to know that the Baby Swap is different than Disney's version. I kind of like that the kids get to walk through the queue at Universal. It allows them to see more and not feel as excluded.

I liked that there was an area to wait and that the second parent was able to board immediately. And on rides where the queue is themed so well, it wasn't bad walking through with DS in tow. He enjoyed the HP queues.

Yes! Prisoner of Azkaban was great! I don't get why people didn't like it. It was the one I re-watched the most once it hit DVD.

I was surprised to learn people hate it so much! It's the one I can watch over and over.

Frozen Butterbeer...I love that ya'll got some regardless of the time. Butterbeer is good 24/7.

Oh man is it ever! I wish you could get a refillable Butterbeer mug. lol

Great tip on the multiple first aid stations in the parks. Why Disney can't do that is beyond me. It's just plain silly to not have more than one in places like Epcot, where it's so big. Not to mention, the last few times I went to one, the nursing rooms were packed! Rocking chairs were a hot commodity. Kudos to Universal for making things a little more convenient for moms.

Supposedly, according to the CM in one of the baby care centers I visited in October, they only have one in each park because they are situated in an area where emergency vehicles can access the park easily if needed. Sounds like a load of bs to me, but what do I know? In parks as large as theirs, they definitely should have more than one!

Paxton seemed to be pretty patient with you guys while in Diagon Alley. Glad he got to ride Transformers. Before I read your description of his interaction with Optimus, I saw your photo and thought to myself, "He looks so excited...but also REALLY unsure." Glad to see he overcame his uneasiness and got in the picture!

He did very well, which surprised me! He can get impatient very easily. But he likes HP so I don't think he really minded checking it all out even though he wasn't riding.

lol He was definitely nervous, but I'm so glad he got in the picture. I have been so excited for that photo op since he began loving Transformers.

I'm glad your title caught my attention! Love the pictures your DH is sharing. Can't wait to see more.

Thanks for joining in!!

Sounds like a fun morning. Brutal wake up time though!

It was a great morning, but yes, 7 am opening was PAINFUL to get up for. It was totally worth it, of course, but oh man I did not wanna get out of bed!!

 

[khertz]

All caught up! Hadn't realised you'd started a TR for this trip.. Sounds so good so far! I haven't been to USO since 2012 when the second part of the Wizarding World was being built, so it's great to see all your photos.
I stayed at HRH back in 2002 with my family and loved it!

I'm glad you found me!! The WWoHP expansions in both parks are SO incredible for any HP fan! I was so excited to finally get to see Diagon Alley this time. We LOVED Hard Rock! We ended up booking Royal Pacific for our upcoming trip because the prices were higher across the board compared to October. I enjoy RPH also, but really fell in love with HRH this past trip.

I will have to go back and read your TRs when DS was a toddler, 'research' for when we take our DD (hopefully next year, I can't have too long between trips to WDW ) and we're also going to Spain this summer on a plane when she'll be about 6 months. Really interesting to read how you were able to take DD at such a young age, I'm nursing too and hadn't even thought about how you'd need to fit that into a day in the park!

Oh yes, I hope you can find some info to help you plan your first trip!! If you have any questions you think of, let me know!! Hopefully she travels well for you on your Spain trip. I was more nervous about that than anything else, and was so relieved when it ended up going so well.

I don't think I was fully prepared for how much of my day would be spent around nursing, but I think I managed my expectations well enough that I didn't feel like I missed out on too much. Now that she's a bit older and can go longer between feedings (and doesn't take as long with each one) I think February will go a little better. At least that's what I'm hoping for!!

Because why would the restroom near the gate be opened 15 minutes before the park opens???

Right?! I'm glad she warned me at least. I would have been totally annoyed to go all the way there and find it locked!

That's really cool. It is well hidden. I actually walked past it at first. Well, I came from the train and I walked past to go to the restroom, but then when I came back looking for Diagon Alley, I thought that was the exit from the train station at first. Then I saw someone walk in and I followed them.

If I wouldn't have been following the big crowd of people all heading to the same place, I might have missed it too!!

I know they both have their advantages and disadvantages, but I like not having to drag the kids through the line at Disney...

That's a fair point. I think I liked it so much because we really only used it first thing in the morning when there was not really a line. If it was a longer wait and the kids had to go through it, I can see where that would not be as good.

Yep... missed this part. It was a 40 minute wait by the time I got there so I just did Single Rider.

While I like that they offer single rider, it is a bummer to miss out on the fantastic queues!

I really liked that. I just stood and watched Megatron for a while.

It's really cool to watch how they move and interact! And they talk!! I don't know if I'll convince DS to meet Megatron this time around, but I'm at least hoping to get Bumblebee.

Wow - really early morning! Crazy to see the park when it's still so dark outside.

I love, love, love all of the Harry Potter details! And it's really interesting that the rider swap system is so different!

It seems like DS had a blast on Transformers! I can't wait to take the boys in a year or two when everyone is tall enough to ride all of the fun stuff!

It was like nighttime dark!! We have done early mornings in the parks, but never 7 am opening time! It was great in the end to get to experience Diagon Alley with less crowds but man was I dragging myself out of the bed when that alarm went off!! lol

It's so incredible for any HP fan to walk around and take in all of the details. They did a really phenomenal job with it!

He definitely loved it, and I was excited for him to ride.

 

[khertz]

Glad that Diagon Alley met/exceeded your expectations - they really built up expectations with that and they seem to have really delivered.

Bummer about the Dragon voice not working while on Gringotts though

That is nice they have 2 baby areas at the Universal Parks. For the most part the babe areas at Disney are nice, but it can be frustrating if you are on the opposite side of the park - especially when it is hot out!

Glad DS enjoyed Transformers so much!

Oh absolutely! I think it is even better than Hogsmeade! They really went all out on the details in Diagon Alley.

It was kind of a let down not to get the full experience my first time on the ride.

I had this problem more than once during the Disney part of our trip, and it was really frustrating! Especially when I'm looking at the map and thinking, "Oh it's not that far away" until I start hiking there in the heat. Not fun!! It was nice in the Universal parks that you were always fairly close to one of them, and they were really nice.

Wow!! That is a great update about Diagon Alley. And as usual, fantastic pics from DH! We aren't going to Universal until May, 2017 so I'm living vicariously through you for now (just like I've done on many of your TRs!)

Thanks so much!

I know what you mean. This visit had been a LONG time coming, and I had been waiting with anticipation to finally get back there! Hence why we ended up doing 2.5 days. I can't wait to get back there next month!!

The early morning shots of Universal and Diagon Alley are so nice!

I'm so glad you enjoyed Gringotts! I can't wait to ride them myself some day.

Love the pic of you two with Optimus, especially DS' death grip!

What a nice morning so far!

Thanks! It was weird being there SO early, but really nice at the same time.

It was really awesome! As much as I love Forbidden Journey, it does kind of mess with my motion sickness whereas Gringotts didn't. So I liked being able to enjoy it without feeling sick too.

lol Thanks! He was so nervous but I was proud of him for overcoming and taking the pic!

 

[Dugette]

DD was crying because she was hungry and I was crying because she was crying and it was just a mess until we finally got to my grandma’s!

Ugh, that's a tough car ride. Glad things went better once everyone ate.

At 4 am, she woke up to eat, and that woke up DS. I had to fuss him to go back to sleep because it was most definitely NOT time for him to get up yet! It was tough sharing such a tiny room, that’s for sure. It made me a little worried that we were spending the next two nights at Hard Rock Hotel before moving to Bonnet Creek where we would have separate sleeping spaces, but there was nothing we could do about it now!

Hmmm, yeah, I guess that would be tough to have your baby waking up your other kid. With only one kid, I hadn't thought about that challenge of travel. Hope it worked out okay for you!

We settled in for departure and I made sure to take a photo of our smoothie for the purposes of a thorough TR!

Haha, I do a lot of that too!

The pilot came on to make his announcements and said, “This flight should take 1 hour and 28 minutes, but we’re going to fly this plane like we stole it and be there in 1 hour 18.”

Love it! (And also jealous of such a short flight!)

We had a small near-accident when DS started doing the potty dance while I’m in the middle of nursing DD and I didn’t know what the heck to do! I couldn’t leave all the luggage there, nor could I drag it all with me along with the baby.

I hate those moments - feeling helpless like that. Glad it worked out okay.

One thing about this trip with an infant is that I had to get myself up SO much earlier than usual to have time to feed her and get us both ready before getting to the parks before opening.

You are giving me flashbacks to the days I had to get up at 4:30am so that I could nurse before work, then get ready and go in early (so I'd be done in time to pick her up before daycare closed). That is definitely an early morning for vacation!

 

[khertz]

Ugh, that's a tough car ride. Glad things went better once everyone ate.

Not one of our finer moments, that's for sure!

Hmmm, yeah, I guess that would be tough to have your baby waking up your other kid. With only one kid, I hadn't thought about that challenge of travel. Hope it worked out okay for you!

This was really only an issue that very first night. Subsequent nights, DS was so worn out he could have slept through almost anything!!! But it was nice to have our separate space again once we made the move to Bonnet Creek.

Love it! (And also jealous of such a short flight!)

It was very unexpected so it got a good laugh out of pretty much everyone on board! We love those quick flights from New Orleans. It's so perfect! And nice not to have to change planes.

I hate those moments - feeling helpless like that. Glad it worked out okay.

I was literally PRAYING he wouldn't have an accident all over himself! And it was impossible to get DH's attention from where I was. Thankfully everyone's timing worked out well and no accidents!

You are giving me flashbacks to the days I had to get up at 4:30am so that I could nurse before work, then get ready and go in early (so I'd be done in time to pick her up before daycare closed). That is definitely an early morning for vacation!

SO SO EARLY! Worth it for Harry Potter, though, I must say. I used to get up that early to feed Paxton before work when I had to be there at 6:45. Now I'm lucky, I don't have to be to work until 8 or 8:30, so I get to "sleep in" until 6 am. Ha!

 

[khertz]

Day 2 Continued: Sunday October 18th

When I had finished up with DD and was on my way to meet up with them, DH was taking DS on his first ride on Men In Black Alien Attack.

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The shooting style games at WDW just have nothing on Men In Black. It’s so fun! And I can actually tell what I’m shooting at! So luckily DS enjoyed it and didn’t hesitate to want to ride again with me right after they came off. Although they have the baby swap areas inside of the queues, it was so nice to have the unlimited Express Pass to get us on and off each ride so quickly. It made swapping nice and easy since DD could not go on most of the attractions.

DH took some pictures while he waited for us.

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We walked through London and took some photos on the way to our next destination.

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12 Grimmauld Place
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Kreacher was lurking around and we spotted him in the window.

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This was pretty much how DD looked for most of our Universal days.

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We had wanted to go to E.T. next, but it was down for the moment. The Woody Woodpecker Nuthouse Coaster was nearby and we were trying to convince DS to try it, but he was so nervous. He watched it go around the track once and agreed to give it a try. He went on with DH and loved it so much that we ended up going on it 3 more times in a row with DH and I rotating turns. The TM out front was loving watching DS run around and around to get back on!

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First time with DH


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Second time with mom


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Again with DH


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One more time with mom


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He would have gone on it 10 more times if I had let him. Had to get a pic of him with the sign for being so brave!

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He asked for one more showing us how he had ridden with his hands up.

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I posted on Facebook, “It’s the little things, like DS overcoming his fear of roller coasters and riding the Woody Woodpecker one over and over again. Sure we could be doing headliners, but the smile on his face is contagious!”

Of course in all this, he had said he wouldn’t be scared of riding Pirates of the Caribbean once we got to Disney World. (There is a reason my Disneyland TR is titled “Does this ride have drops?” and PotC would be it). Yeah, we would see about that in a few days…

We went over to the nearby Fievel’s Playland for a bit and let him run through the jungle gym a few times.

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I have no idea why he took his shoes off, but he was made to put them back on as soon as he came down!


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Continued in next post...