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

[DDuck4Life]

Day 2 Continued: Sunday October 18th

Please forgive that my writing skills will not be on par with DW’s. There’s a reason she is in charge of the TR and I take over the photography part! This will be an overview of my night at Halloween Horror Nights. I won’t be doing an in-depth description of the houses, but if you are interested in that, the DIS Universal Podcast did several shows detailing each house and what they were about.

Free at last!!! Or more like stuck by myself unsure what to do next. For HHN I would be meeting up with my Dad, his GF, and her Son, DiL, and their 3 kids (all college aged). They didn’t have park admission so were going to be waiting until later to get into the park and they liked to wait until it was fully dark to get the full scary experience of HHN, so I had some time on my own to kill before meeting up with everyone else. First thing was going to be food. From earlier we had already discussed eating at the Leaky Cauldron and I can’t think of a better place to kill some time then walking around Diagon Alley. I knew DW would be upset about me eating at the Leaky Cauldron but I couldn’t resist.

Oct 02-227 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-228 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-229 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-230 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-231 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-232 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-233 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-234 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-235 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

After eating and walking around soaking in the ambiance, the park was closing and it was time to figure out what corral I wanted to spend my time in. Based off my must-do houses and listening to the overview the DIS Universal show did, I knew I wanted to be close to the 25th anniversary house, Freddy vs. Jason, and Werewolf in London. Finnegan’s corral is where I wanted to be and they had all the NFL games on at the bar to grab a drink and watch the games while they cleared the park and started setting up everything for the night. This really helped make the time pass by easier being by myself.

It was nice to see them start rolling everything out and getting all the props and stages set up then just see some random bloody scare actors walking around and getting into position. A little behind the scenes look but everyone was in character the whole time they were out where they could be seen.

Once it got closer to when they would be opening up our corral you saw the people start to funnel out of the bar and line up against the barricades so I made my way out and to the closest spot of the first house I was going for, Freddy vs Jason. It was a mad rush of people, some even running to make it into the house as fast as they could.

While we were let into the houses a little earlier than the general public that was waiting outside, after going through the first house most of the extra time was eaten up. So I checked my watch and only had a couple of minutes before the gates would open and a flood of people would come in. So I had a choice An American Werewolf in London or Jack Presents: 25 Years of Monsters & Mayhem.

Oct 02-236 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

A calculated call because I would only get to do one before I met up with family and while we did get the Express Pass for the night, it’s only good once per house so all the houses I did early were in the normal standby line. I made it in line just as the park gates opened and a flood of people ran into the park filling up the queue behind me. After 25 Years, the standby lines started to get longer than I thought I could wait before meeting up so now it was time to walk around and take in some of the scare zones.

Oct 02-237 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-238 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-239 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-240 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-241 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-242 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-243 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

Hmmmm a 5 minute wait. Sure I can fit in another house.

Oct 02-244 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
​

After going through Run: Blood Sweat and Fears it was apparent why it was only 5 minutes and would stay that way the rest of the night never getting over 15 minutes. This was easily my least favorite of all the houses but it was the house I did the most 3 times. I mean every time I walked past there was no wait so I couldn’t resist.

Oct 02-245 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

Once I made it through alive I found myself in London and got sucked in again.

Oct 02-247 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

It was about this point, of course when I’m all the way in the back of the park that I got the phone call that everyone was here and coming through the turnstiles. Time to hustle upfront to meet up with everyone but not before taking a few pictures along the way.

Oct 02-249 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-251 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-252 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
​

Continued in Next Post...

 

[DDuck4Life]

Day 2 Continued: Sunday October 18th

There is so much to do at HHN. One scare zone was several stages set up with previous HHN Icons.

Oct 02-250 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-253 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-254 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-255 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

Each icon had their own stage and would put on short performances throughout the night. I was only able to see bits and pieces of a couple but they were very entertaining and I wish I had more time to see them all But I wasn’t there for those, I was there for the houses!!

Oct 02-256 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-257 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-258 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-259 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-260 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-261 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

There was one thing that wasn’t a house that I wanted to make a point to see and that was Jack’s show, The Carnage Returns. The first HHN I ever went to was the first year Jack appeared so I’m a big fan of his. And love his show. Basically it’s him with scantily clad helpers killing people in crazy different ways. Lots of blood and gore, always entertaining. Every show of the night was packed. We were at the last show and crowds were packed in past Mel’s.

Oct 02-262 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-263 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-264 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-265 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-266 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-267 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

One thing that I though was awesome was all the scare actors in the scare zones. They were phenomenal. Going with a larger group like I was with and with the majority drinking in between each house since you couldn’t bring drinks inside the houses, I had some time sitting around waiting. Either waiting for them to buy more drinks or go to the bathroom but I was able to sit back and just watch the crowds and the scare actors work their magic weaving in and out of people.

Oct 02-268 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

If you look at almost all my photos with people in it they are looking right at me and the camera. Whenever they saw me or anyone with a camera they would pose for you to get your shot and once you acknowledged that you had it they moved on for someone else. Super nice. Several points during the night I noticed several of the more popular characters actually had a queue for them to take pictures with the guests. The picture with Chucky above was basically a meet and greet spot where they stood there and waited for the guest to come and pose for pictures. Not what I remember from reading about previous HHN’s but a nice change. Now whenever there was a break in people wanting pictures they would go back to walking around scaring people.

Now that we had done all the houses and watched Jack’s show, our group was breaking up for the night. Part was ready to call it a night, it was around 12:30 at this point, part wanted to ride Rip Ride Rockit, and me well you should be able to guess where I was drawn to.

Oct 02-269 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

Back to Diagon Alley to walk around with almost no one there on the street and able to move freely, to just stop and look. Not worrying about running into someone because you’re not looking where you’re going or having someone run into you because you stopped to check out a detail you hadn’t noticed before was nice.

Oct 02-270 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 02-272 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

It was getting late and we still had another full day to come I knew I better get back to the room and get some sleep. Although I did check the wait times on the houses I passed on the way out of the park but only Run: Blood, Sweat, and Fears had no wait to be able to do one more time before leaving. Lol

Oct 02-274 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
​

At the end of the night after having the opportunity to experience every house at least once, my top 3 would have to be 25 Years of Monsters & Mayhem, American Werewolf in London, and Freddy vs. Jason. Of those 3, Jack's room in the 25 Years house was my favorite scene of all of the houses.

All in all it was an amazing time with way more than you could ever do in 1 night. HHN is one of my favorite Halloween activities if not my favorite and I’m glad it worked out that I was able to make it work this trip and DW was awesome enough to wrangle the 2 kiddos for the night letting me stay out and have my fun. Now I just need to find someone to meet up with for HHN this October while we are there!

Oct 02-275 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
​

UP NEXT: One More Universal Day

 

[Dugette]

Thanks for sharing your night at HHN. I knew absolutely nothing about it, so very interesting to hear what it's like. Glad you had a great time. And thanks for all your pictures!

 

[missangelalexis]

It's really cool to hear that the actors would stop for photos and make sure you got the shot.

You got some great shots of Diagon Alley!

Sounds like a great night, I'm glad you were able to experience it!

 

[Imagineer5]

Very cool description of the HHN (I know I never want to go to it, MNSSHP is scary enough for me ) but still very neat to see.

 

[afwdwfan]

Nice job on the write up about HHN. Don't be so hard on yourself.

From earlier we had already discussed eating at the Leaky Cauldron and I can’t think of a better place to kill some time then walking around Diagon Alley. I knew DW would be upset about me eating at the Leaky Cauldron but I couldn’t resist.

Uh oh... you went there and you're admitting it? I'm surprised you didn't end up worse off than some of the HHN victims.

Finnegan’s corral is where I wanted to be and they had all the NFL games on at the bar to grab a drink and watch the games while they cleared the park and started setting up everything for the night. This really helped make the time pass by easier being by myself.

Ok... I know nothing about how HHN works. So they set up areas inside the park where you can wait while the park closes and re-opens? Is it basically something where they'll check your HHN ticket and let you into a restaurant to kill time until they open the park back up?

Either way, Finnegan's isn't a bad place to kill some time.

After going through Run: Blood Sweat and Fears it was apparent why it was only 5 minutes and would stay that way the rest of the night never getting over 15 minutes. This was easily my least favorite of all the houses but it was the house I did the most 3 times. I mean every time I walked past there was no wait so I couldn’t resist.

So bad it's scary!

Ok, that was awful.

Each icon had their own stage and would put on short performances throughout the night. I was only able to see bits and pieces of a couple but they were very entertaining and I wish I had more time to see them all But I wasn’t there for those, I was there for the houses!!

This actually looks really cool. I'd like to check that out.

If you look at almost all my photos with people in it they are looking right at me and the camera. Whenever they saw me or anyone with a camera they would pose for you to get your shot and once you acknowledged that you had it they moved on for someone else. Super nice.

Definitely nice that they do that. It really seems like they're all very into it. And I guess it wouldn't be nearly as impressive if they weren't.

Back to Diagon Alley to walk around with almost no one there on the street and able to move freely, to just stop and look. Not worrying about running into someone because you’re not looking where you’re going or having someone run into you because you stopped to check out a detail you hadn’t noticed before was nice.

Wow... I'm glad you had the chance to check it out while you were there. A rare opportunity to see it so empty!

All in all it was an amazing time with way more than you could ever do in 1 night. HHN is one of my favorite Halloween activities if not my favorite and I’m glad it worked out that I was able to make it work this trip and DW was awesome enough to wrangle the 2 kiddos for the night letting me stay out and have my fun. Now I just need to find someone to meet up with for HHN this October while we are there!

Cool! I'm glad you had a chance to do it. I've heard about HHN, but I honestly know very little about it. I knew that it was something more intense and definitely not for kids, but I didn't realize it was quite to the extent that it is. Looks like a fun evening!

 

[khertz]

Very cool description of the HHN (I know I never want to go to it, MNSSHP is scary enough for me ) but still very neat to see.

I'm with you! Did it once, but MNSSHP is definitely more my speed when it comes to Halloween!

 

[DDuck4Life]

Thanks for sharing your night at HHN. I knew absolutely nothing about it, so very interesting to hear what it's like. Glad you had a great time. And thanks for all your pictures!

Thanks! hope I did a good job introducing you to HHN.

It's really cool to hear that the actors would stop for photos and make sure you got the shot.

You got some great shots of Diagon Alley!

Sounds like a great night, I'm glad you were able to experience it!

Me too, I'm really glad it was able to work out for everyone in our group to be able to make it while we were there on vacation. Only had that one weekend we were at Universal and it was able to work out well for everyone.

Very cool description of the HHN (I know I never want to go to it, MNSSHP is scary enough for me ) but still very neat to see.

It's not nearly as scary just looking at the pictures but certainly not for the faint of heart to experience it in person.

Nice job on the write up about HHN. Don't be so hard on yourself.

Uh oh... you went there and you're admitting it? I'm surprised you didn't end up worse off than some of the HHN victims.

Thanks, I just fully understand my limitations. She knew I would just have to take her back there.

Ok... I know nothing about how HHN works. So they set up areas inside the park where you can wait while the park closes and re-opens? Is it basically something where they'll check your HHN ticket and let you into a restaurant to kill time until they open the park back up?

Either way, Finnegan's isn't a bad place to kill some time.

I don't believe all of them are areas in or around a restaurant, I believe some are just more like corrals for a waiting area. Which could get boring waiting by yourself.

This actually looks really cool. I'd like to check that out.

It was one of the things I wish I had more time to do. but only so many hours to fit everything in, these drew the short straw.

Definitely nice that they do that. It really seems like they're all very into it. And I guess it wouldn't be nearly as impressive if they weren't.

I thought it was very nice that they did that and didn't just worry about trying to scare everyone they could. While there was plenty of people getting scared by them they made sure to give everyone some face time, whether it was stopping for a photo or popping up right next to you out of nowhere.

Wow... I'm glad you had the chance to check it out while you were there. A rare opportunity to see it so empty!

It was actually another Disney Photographer Mark Willard that had posted about it on his twitter account about how most people don't go back there since there are no houses or scare zones in the area. It was something I certainly wanted to try and experience.

Cool! I'm glad you had a chance to do it. I've heard about HHN, but I honestly know very little about it. I knew that it was something more intense and definitely not for kids, but I didn't realize it was quite to the extent that it is. Looks like a fun evening!

I had a great time at HHN

 

[khertz]

Day 3: Monday October 19th

Suddenly, it was our last day at Universal, and I have to say, I was pretty sad about it! We were up at 6:15 to finish up our packing so that we could have bell services come get our bags and check out before heading to the park. I had found something online that said early entry rotated at the parks and we thought we should head to Islands of Adventure for early entry at 8 am.

However, we walked all the way from the hotel and across City Walk to the IoA gates only to find out there was no early entry there, only at Universal. And it had been since 7 am like the day before. So that was kind of frustrating. But lesson learned, check with the hotel about early entry instead of the internet! We made a quick turn around and headed there, thinking we would probably be shut out of Gringotts since it had been open to resort guests for at least 30 minutes or so.

Oct 03-001 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-002 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-003 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

We made it to Diagon Alley, and it was already bustling with people.

Oct 03-004 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-005 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-006 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-007 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
​

Miraculously, the wait for Gringotts was only 10 minutes! So we parked the stroller and went inside to ride with child swap again.

Oct 03-008 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-009 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-010 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-011 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-012 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-013 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-014 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-015 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-016 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

Fun fact: A lady in the elevator asked if I was bringing DD on the ride. I took the opportunity to give her a quick rundown on baby swap. Lol

DH let me ride first again, and this time the sound for the dragon was working, so yay! An even better ride than the first now that it was fully operational. Once DH took his turn, we headed back out to the Alley to do some exploring. The day before, we had wanted to try some ice cream at Florean Fortescue’s, but the line was pretty long. It was really short right now because it wasn’t even quite 9 am. But it was vacation, so we totally got some ice cream! We got 2 small cups to share, one of Butterbeer and one of salted caramel blondie. They were both oh so delicious!!

Oct 03-025 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-026 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-018 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-019 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
​

Also, unlike yesterday, Hagrid’s motorbike was not swarmed with other guests, so DS wanted to check it out.

Oct 03-020 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-021 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-024 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-027 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

Never ever got tired of seeing the dragon spit fire!

Oct 03-029 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-031 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

We wanted to take the Hogwarts Express over to Hogsmeade before the line got too bad, so we made our way back out to London. DS stopped to try and gain access to the Ministry of Magic. I totally forgot to try this then, but I think something happens if you dial MAGIC.

Oct 03-033 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

Day 3 Continued: Sunday October 19th

I think Hogwarts Express was up to like 20 minutes, but that was a lower wait time than we had seen the day before, so we went with it. I didn’t think we’d see it much lower than that.

Oct 03-034 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-035 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-037 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-038 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
​

Although you do not get to see yourselves entering Platform 9 ¾, it is pretty cool to watch those ahead of you make the passage through the brick wall between Platforms 9 & 10!

Oct 03-039 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-040 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-042 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-045 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-046 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-047 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
​

The wait time was pretty accurate, but we felt like we were moving pretty continuously so it felt like it went fairly quickly. Also, we were able to take the stroller on board with us. Actually, we took the kids out and the TM loaded it for us onto the train and told us it would be waiting for us when we got to the Hogsmeade station.

We were placed into a train car with another family. It was a little tight, but I liked that it seems true to size of the compartments you would expect from seeing the movies. It would have taken you out of the element a bit to have really big compartments for the sake of moving more people back and forth.

Oct 03-048 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-049 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-050 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-051 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-052 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-053 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-054 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 03-055 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
​

When we got off of the train, it was about time for DD to eat, so we discussed our plan quickly. We decided I would go to the first aid in the back of the park (in Lost Continent) while they would go check out the play area in Jurassic Park. So for the moment, we parted ways.

UP NEXT: Prehistoric Fun

 

[missangelalexis]

Even with the early entry mixup, it sounds like you got lucky with getting to do things with low waits/crowds!

Ice Cream for breakfast, I approve! Glad to hear both flavors were delicious.

What a fun, Harry Potter filled morning!

 

[Imagineer5]

Nice to do some things that were too busy previously! 9AM ice cream sounds great to me! I've never done the MAGIC phone - will have to remember that for next time!!

 

[khertz]

Even with the early entry mixup, it sounds like you got lucky with getting to do things with low waits/crowds!

Ice Cream for breakfast, I approve! Glad to hear both flavors were delicious.

What a fun, Harry Potter filled morning!

It was definitely a nice surprise to not run into huge waits in Diagon Alley since we messed up the early entry parks!

If you can't have ice cream on vacation, when can you, right?! It was so hard to choose flavors because there were so many I wanted to try!

Nice to do some things that were too busy previously! 9AM ice cream sounds great to me! I've never done the MAGIC phone - will have to remember that for next time!!

Yeah, it was great to get to slow down a bit and enjoy the rest of Diagon Alley for a big! The ice cream was such a good call because not only was it delicious, but the lines started building throughout the day after that.

We remembered to do it in February and it was cute!!

 

[hokieinpa]

Ok so I'm pretty sure I'm going to breakdown and add a day at Universal during my October trip. Now just trying to decide if I'm going to spend a night at Cabana Bay or just go over for the day.

That's great that you got to explore more this morning with less crowds around. And ice cream at 9am is totally acceptable on vacation!

The Hogwart's Express looks amazing! Is there a movie playing through the window during the ride?

 

[afwdwfan]

The day before, we had wanted to try some ice cream at Florean Fortescue’s, but the line was pretty long. It was really short right now because it wasn’t even quite 9 am. But it was vacation, so we totally got some ice cream!

Breakfast ice cream is always acceptable on vacation.

Also, unlike yesterday, Hagrid’s motorbike was not swarmed with other guests, so DS wanted to check it out.

Cool! I'm glad that even with the confusion it worked out so that you could do some things and beat the crowds.

Never ever got tired of seeing the dragon spit fire!

That is really awesome.

I think Hogwarts Express was up to like 20 minutes, but that was a lower wait time than we had seen the day before, so we went with it. I didn’t think we’d see it much lower than that.

Wow... I'm glad I rode it early in the day then. I wasn't sure how long the line would get for it, but based on how long the queues were I imagined it could get pretty crazy.

Although you do not get to see yourselves entering Platform 9 ¾, it is pretty cool to watch those ahead of you make the passage through the brick wall between Platforms 9 & 10!

I loved that element. It was really a nice touch.

We were placed into a train car with another family. It was a little tight, but I liked that it seems true to size of the compartments you would expect from seeing the movies.

I agree, but they really do put more people in them than they really have room for. At least it isn't a very long ride.

What??? You have pictures inside the train car! There was a TM standing outside in the hallway area of our car on my first ride scolding people if they so much as took a phone out of their pocket.

 

[khertz]

Ok so I'm pretty sure I'm going to breakdown and add a day at Universal during my October trip. Now just trying to decide if I'm going to spend a night at Cabana Bay or just go over for the day.

That's great that you got to explore more this morning with less crowds around. And ice cream at 9am is totally acceptable on vacation!

The Hogwart's Express looks amazing! Is there a movie playing through the window during the ride?

I don't know if you listen to the DIS Universal show, but they rave about Cabana Bay! Plus, you would at least get early entry. I don't think you can go wrong either way, but we definitely love staying onsite!

It was a nice surprise to not find ourselves totally shut out of riding Gringotts despite botching the whole early entry thing. Lesson learned! In February we made sure to ask at the hotel when we checked in so we wouldn't make that mistake again!

The windows are like video screens that show you leaving London and traveling through the countryside before arriving in Hogsmeade, and features some appearances from Harry Potter characters. It's different on the trip from Hogsmeade to London! It's very cool, and there are some other elements happening that aren't really conducive to photography. It's a really awesome ride!

Breakfast ice cream is always acceptable on vacation.

If there was ever a vacation rule book, I feel like this would be #1.

Cool! I'm glad that even with the confusion it worked out so that you could do some things and beat the crowds.

It was a pleasant surprise for sure, because we were totally cursing ourselves as we walked across City Walk and realized we had messed up big time!

Wow... I'm glad I rode it early in the day then. I wasn't sure how long the line would get for it, but based on how long the queues were I imagined it could get pretty crazy.

It was really hit or miss for us in October, but we got lucky enough to ride each way without a long line. February was a different story though!

I loved that element. It was really a nice touch.

It's so perfect. I feel like they really went all out on the details, especially when it comes to Hogwarts Express. They seemed like they went to great lengths to make it feel authentic!

I agree, but they really do put more people in them than they really have room for. At least it isn't a very long ride.

I wrote this part up before our February trip, and before then, I would have disagreed. But they definitely crammed us in there in February when the parks were busier! I can't even imagine what that must be like (and smell like) in the middle of summer.

What??? You have pictures inside the train car! There was a TM standing outside in the hallway area of our car on my first ride scolding people if they so much as took a phone out of their pocket.

That's nuts! DH was wearing his camera around his neck and no one said a word to him about it. He took pictures every single time we rode this over 2 separate trips!

 

[Dugette]

It was really short right now because it wasn’t even quite 9 am. But it was vacation, so we totally got some ice cream! We got 2 small cups to share, one of Butterbeer and one of salted caramel blondie. They were both oh so delicious!!

Good call. 9am ice cream sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

I love this photo - he looks so grown up!

 

[khertz]

Good call. 9am ice cream sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

I totally agree! Just wish it was acceptable every day... lol It might be if I had access to Butterbeer flavored ice cream all of the time!

I love this photo - he looks so grown up!

Thank you! I see pics even from last year and can't believe how much he has grown.

 

[skier_pete]

Finally catching up after our trip. You certainly get around the park a lot. I doubt we will ever do HHN, as it is not really our "thing". DW wouldn't like it, and I am not one much for scares/gore as I find it all a bit dull - maybe at some point DD will get into it, but she doesn't seem like the type.

Starting to look less like we will be taking DD in the fall, her grades have taken a drastic turn for the worst - We said we would only take her out of school if she keeps her grades up - and now she's saying she doesn't want to go to Universal because "it's all roller coasters". Eventually we'll get there.

 

[khertz]

Finally catching up after our trip. You certainly get around the park a lot. I doubt we will ever do HHN, as it is not really our "thing". DW wouldn't like it, and I am not one much for scares/gore as I find it all a bit dull - maybe at some point DD will get into it, but she doesn't seem like the type.

Starting to look less like we will be taking DD in the fall, her grades have taken a drastic turn for the worst - We said we would only take her out of school if she keeps her grades up - and now she's saying she doesn't want to go to Universal because "it's all roller coasters". Eventually we'll get there.

HHN is definitely not my thing either. I barely survived the first time I did it with DH when we got free tickets on our honeymoon! I was not too disappointed in the least to have to stay behind with the kids that night,

Oh that would really be a bummer! But totally understandable. Unfortunately, some things really are just more important than Disney, much as I wish that were not true!