We Don't Play Nice With Others. (Complete!)

[eandesmom]

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

You are in DIAGON Alley!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am dying to go there

But oh oh oh, I can SO feel your pain (and well, as you know had some similar pain on our family trip).

can you say...

HP do over????????????

 

[teekathepony]

We were at Universal a couple weeks ago and couldn't find the entrance to Diagon Alley either... But once we did, boy did we feel stupid!!!
Haha I felt pretty dumb. I kept wondering what I expected, a flashing sign?

We stayed at a Universal resort so we were able to enter the park at 7am... And by the time we walked back to Diagon Alley there was already a 30 minute wait...
Oh wow, a 7am park entry would be awesome but really? 30 minutes that early? Wow!!

I can't wait to hear what you think of the Diagon Alley ride and the ride in Harry's castle at Islands of Adventure (if you rode that one too)...

We loved one and not so much love for the other...
I'm going to update on that soon (yes we rode both) and now I'm very curious as to which is your preference!

And did you ride the train from Universal to Islands of Adventure??? That was way cool too!!!
Oh yes, oh yes we did and it was sssoooooo awesome!

I'm not a Harry Potter fan so I don't remember the names of everything, but I still enjoyed his areas in both parks...
I'm a huge fan, and I love how they stayed so true to the movies!

I'm following along & looking forward to your review of Diagon Alley & the Gringott's Ride. We'll be visiting next summer for my birthday, and your review is helping me control my impulses to invite family & friends to join us!

aboard to my crazy story!! I had a really good chuckle about my stories helping you control your impulse to invite the family. I'm sure there are families who do it better than me, but then maybe they play nice with others.

Your family needs to all get a free 10 day vacation somewhere after all these travel woes these last couple months. I am glad your parents are now enjoying themselves.
Hahaha not a bad idea. Like a universal (as in galactic, not the park) comp for everything gone wrong.

I also think you and Johnny need a redo ALL by yourselves. It just seems the family wasn't keeping up with the "pre-arranged" plans. And it is a shame that you had a longer wait because you didn't get there when you wanted to.
Yes we do Kathy. It was so frustrating! You know, I don't mind that not everyone wants to plan things like me or ride the same things or do things the same way -- we're all different and I respect that! But let's be upfront about everything and do what we say at the very least!

I know nothing about Harry Potter (started to watch it once and didn't care for it and never read a book), but you seem to be quite in awe of how you got in and how much fun you were going to have.
LOL you and I are always on opposite ends of things! It really was amazing, my favourite books come to life and it gave me chills.

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

You are in DIAGON Alley!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am dying to go there
Oh it's amazing. I mean so very amazing. I had chills! When I finally found the entrance and figured out what they'd done there, I had goosebumps walking in.

But oh oh oh, I can SO feel your pain (and well, as you know had some similar pain on our family trip).
Yep, I do know, I can't think of anything more frustrating on vacation.

can you say...

HP do over????????????

Already in the works!!

 

[teekathepony]

Hello again! Happy Friday everyone!

I had time for a quick breakfast date with Johnny this morning before work, had a great sleep last night and my hair looks great. Don't you just love when things start out like that, all before 7am?? On a Friday, no less!

I want to do an update but first I want to talk about the new Frozen Holiday Wish castle lighting stage show. Have you seen it? If not, here's a link:

Frozen Holiday Wish

I'm wondering what everyone thinks about it. Also I feel like I need to put into words what I thought of it. Sometimes when I'm feeling conflicted about something, writing it out helps. (SUCH a dork! )

Oh, and also if you haven't seen it and don't want to -- spoiler alert!

The photos are of course, not mine. Most came from Inside the Magic and some from WDW Magic.

I really loved Frozen when it first came out, but like a favourite song that gets overplayed on the radio, I did get a little sick of it in a sad way after the saturation of Disney in all things Frozen.

Also I'm a control freak who doesn't adapt well to change.

I therefore admit to being a little against this change before I even watched the video.

However!

I also do admit that change is necessary and good and Walt Disney himself wanted to "Keep Moving Forward" and that wish must be honoured.

Conclusion: The fact that they changed the castle light up show = good idea.

Changed it to Frozen?

Of course, millions of little girls around the world are very happy with that so they have to keep those fans happy. Frozen is about a girl with snow powers. Snow happens in winter, and so does the holiday season. Ok I can see that. But you know Frozen was actually set in the summer, right? Anyway. We can overlook that. Having Elsa be a part of the new show = very good idea.

So I watched the video. Here are some of my thoughts:

I'm not a fan of Elsa's outfit. It looks pretty and glittery at first, but seriously, I have yet to see an Elsa dress that doesn't look dollar store cheap and this may be the worst. I also really don't like the wig. Also she swings her arms so much I feel like playing helicoptor with her.

Anna's dress? ADORABLE. Her crazy jumping around? A little much. Kristoff's outfit looks great, and his acting was great too.

The little moment between Anna and Kristoff? PRECIOUS. Loved it.

Olaf... well, he's cute. He's fun. He looks a little awkward because his mouth is permanently stuck way open though. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect every character to get a moving mouth like Mickey, but this just looks glaringly odd.

The banter between them was cute but a little bit lacking. I don't know how, it just didn't wow me and as I try to recall it now I am realizing that it was apparently very forgettable!

I did not like that there were no other characters. No Cinderella? Wth?? It's her castle! No Mickey? But it all started with a mouse! In the old show, even Mickey stepped aside so Cinderella could decide on how to decorate her own home. Elsa and Anna admit several times that they're just visitors, but they go ahead and ice the castle anyway. I don't like this storyline at all and I was pretty disappointed in how few characters there are in the show.

The lights, however, were amazing. Using the projectors from Celebrate the Magic was awesome and so very well done. It was gorgeous and beautiful and tear jerking. I loved it. They used a little of the music from Let it Go which was cute, and I did like that, but I would have liked a little more holiday in there too. Some Winter Wonderland perhaps? Some Sleigh Ride? Really, the whole show looks like it could happen any time of the year. It's just Frozen, not much holiday. A little of both couldn't hurt!

Conclusion: Whew am I glad I got all that off my chest. Thanks for listening (or scrolling by, that's ok too.) I loved a lot of it, I really did. And I thought that for the most part, it was a good idea. Change is good and Frozen is hot right now so you definitely need to showcase what's popular. I get that! I'm not happy about the lack of characters or the lack of real holiday content. The show part really sucks, IMO. I loved the new projection/lights though, really awesome.

So I guess it could be good if we add some characters and change the story a little. Perhaps Elsa instead of the Fairy Godmother chats with Cinderella about how she might want her castle decorated? I don't know, I'm no Imagineer. All I know is that I don't love it and that disappoints me.

So after all that ranting, I'd love to know what your thoughts are!

And on to a short update!


***************************************

Chapter 6: "Gone stealing Galleons. BRB."

We last left off just about to ride something new! Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts!

In the book as well as the movie, this was probably the best scene of the whole Harry Potter series. I was therefore SO excited to hear it would be made into a ride! We entered Gringotts bank and took in all the incredible detail.

IMG_3698 by teekathepony, on Flickr

IMG_3703 by teekathepony, on Flickr

IMG_3705 by teekathepony, on Flickr

The line was long and moving slowly, but that just meant I had time to look at every amazing detail.

IMG_3706 by teekathepony, on Flickr

IMG_3707 by teekathepony, on Flickr

IMG_3708 by teekathepony, on Flickr

The goblin bank tellers were animatronic... I think. I'm still not 100% convinced that they weren't people in costume because the animatronics were incredible.

IMG_3709 by teekathepony, on Flickr

IMG_3711 by teekathepony, on Flickr

The queue winds through the main part of the bank and then into a back part with mostly wooden doors with made up names (and some familiar ones too.) Comparing this queue to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey (the similar big ticket ride in the Islands of Adventure side -- ) I'd have to give the edge to Forbidden Journey. Walking through Hogwarts castle wins every time, but the main part of Gringotts was pretty awesome.

I didn't take any more pictures because soon we were on the ride. We did get our picture taken, but we didn't know what that was all about so we didn't smile and we just looked really confused. Turns out that was your "on ride" photo. Kind of a fail.

The ride itself was incredible. It starts out with a rollercoaster style drop which was awesome. The story is of course that you're escaping from the bank in a mining type cart. The ride went back and forth between motion simulation and real motion -- similar again to Forbidden Journey. One thing I didn't like about this one though, was that there was always a pause between scenes where the cart would get ready for it. It made for a less smooth ride. Other than that it was really awesome, but again if I'm comparing, I'd give the edge to Forbidden Journey for it's fluidity.

I'm going to end it there, the next update will be longer and continue through Diagon Alley!

 

[Tracy161]

Oh my gosh! I have a tendency towards anxiety in general and little patience for these types of things and reading your account about how slooooow your morning got started would have given me fits! I was getting antsy just living through it vicariously! Hope you were able to pack in lots!!!

 

[LuvEeyore]

I am sorry to hear Gringotts isn't as fluid of a ride. The starting and stopping is what gets me every time. I am looking forward to seeing Hogsmeade, and Diagon Alley. I know that we are going to be there 2 very busy days so my sights are set rather low about how much we will be able to see. I would like HP, mom says we cant go unless she gets to see I Love Lucy Exhibit and Seussville. We want to see the Macy's parade and Grinchmas. Morgan and I want to ride a couple of rollercoasters. Guess we will see what happens here.

 

[MonsterWDWmom]

I saw the video yesterday and I was disappointed. Even Becky after watching it asked me why Elsa was decorating Cinderella's castle She told me Elsa should not be doing it as it is not her castle. I also miss having Mickey up there, I mean he is the Boss and the reason why Disney exists it feel wrong to exclude him

I also think it is weird that Cinderella is gone, like you said it is her castle. In the old show they wouldn't even let Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy decide how to decorate (obviously the story line) so they called out Cinderella and she choose. But now Anna and Elsa just take it on their own, don't like this story line.

I felt the same way about the arm movements!!! There is WAY to much emphasis on them

Now with all of that I know my kids will love this, I just hope it is not around next year.

Sorry for the rant I guess I have been keeping this in

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

"Oh man, I definitely have stories to tell. Some day over a coffee perhaps you'll get more than the internet will see. (Speaking of which, tentatively heading to Halifax in about two weeks. Just sayin!)" I'll be here!!!!

GRINGOTT'S!! Yup, this is one line you don't mind waiting in for a bit since the queue is ridiculously good. And yup, animatronic goblins. Absolutely fantastic!!

HAHAHA, yeah, the "ride photo" is really weird. Like, why am posing here?

It is a wicked awesome ride. It's definitely a similar style to FJ, but I do agree that the transitions were less fluid. Still, pretty impressive and fun.

 

[Clarf]

Holy cow did I get behind. I would be as frustrated as you were about the not leaving on time thing. That drives me nuts! Get up earlier if you can't be ready at the agreed upon time.

I'm so jealous you got to meet Kathy and Mark! Great pic and I love Johnny's shirt.

The first time I went on the backlot tour in 2001 I remember being super excited to see the Golden Girls house. It's still one of my favorite shows.

Love hearing about all the HP stuff. We'll make it there one day. My girls aren't old enough to appreciate it yet. They're 8 and 5 and the 8 year old is just getting into the books. Maybe a few more years. Everything there looks and sounds so authentic, though!

 

[KatMark]

[/QUOTE]LOL you and I are always on opposite ends of things! It really was amazing, my favourite books come to life and it gave me chills.[/QUOTE]

And yet we get along!!! I wish the rest of the world would figure that out.

 

[KatMark]

First, on the castle lighting. I totally agree with you that change is good (in small doses) and we must move forward. And I loved the lighting, etc. But I agree with you that it needs some more "winter/Christmas" flair and more characters.

Loved your detailed photos in your update...awesome for just a cell phone.

 

[natebenma]

I read your rant on the Castle Lighting Show- very nice analysis of the positives and negatives of the show.

UGH on the late start and all the stops from your traveling party!

I'm having flashbacks to the first time we took the boys to Disney. We went with friends (who provided us with a free condo for our stay, and a great deal on tickets to Disney and SeaWorld), BUT they visit Disney all the time and did not feel the urgency to get to the parks at a reasonable time. They preferred a morning swim.

Drove us bonkers, so on our third and final day of our short trip, we hit the parks early and told them we would meet them for lunch.

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

You are in DIAGON Alley!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am dying to go there

But oh oh oh, I can SO feel your pain (and well, as you know had some similar pain on our family trip).

can you say...

HP do over????????????

I was totally remembering Cynthia's last visit to US/IoA as I was reading your update.

Glad you finally found your way into Diagon Alley. It looks amazing! We are huge HP nerds (Griffyndorks) as well. Universal really hit this one out of the park (or should I say pitch)

Can't wait to experience Diagon Alley, the Gringotts ride (which we totally dreamed up before it was even announced by US) and the train ride in February!

 

[BridgetR3]

On the castle show, I don't really like it at all. Elsa's arm movements are WAY too much!! I will miss the old castle show (and the bunting across Main Street by the way) but I know that we must change. I'll watch the show in a little over a week and decide for myself if I rather it in person but for now, I'm NOT impressed.

Ooh I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to visit Universal one day and see all the Harry Potter stuff. Your photos are amazing!

 

[obxlvr13]

I'll admit I teared up watching the video. I liked it but then again I'm a HUGE Frozen fan! I do agree with u that it was lacking a bit and I was hoping to see another character. I thought it was pretty good overall. I CANNIT wait to go to HP World and am so jealous! Gringo tats seemed awesome!

 

[clambert1273]

Haha I can vouch and say my daughters Elsa dress was the ONLY one I saw that didn't look like someone threw it together with leftover crap lol Thank god for a costume designer SIL

I am afraid to show my oldest one your Harry Potter pics lol

 

[teekathepony]

Oh my gosh! I have a tendency towards anxiety in general and little patience for these types of things and reading your account about how slooooow your morning got started would have given me fits! I was getting antsy just living through it vicariously! Hope you were able to pack in lots!!!

Haha I'm the same way and it was making me crazy! We definitely lost a lot of time because of it, and I'll admit that we got everything done that we wanted... but no extras!

I am sorry to hear Gringotts isn't as fluid of a ride. The starting and stopping is what gets me every time. I am looking forward to seeing Hogsmeade, and Diagon Alley. I know that we are going to be there 2 very busy days so my sights are set rather low about how much we will be able to see. I would like HP, mom says we cant go unless she gets to see I Love Lucy Exhibit and Seussville. We want to see the Macy's parade and Grinchmas. Morgan and I want to ride a couple of rollercoasters. Guess we will see what happens here.

It's not a jerky start and stop at all, which was good, but there just seemed to be periods of a few seconds where you were waiting and doing nothing. Not bad though.
I hope you get to see everything on everyone's lists despite being there on busy days!

I saw the video yesterday and I was disappointed. Even Becky after watching it asked me why Elsa was decorating Cinderella's castle She told me Elsa should not be doing it as it is not her castle. I also miss having Mickey up there, I mean he is the Boss and the reason why Disney exists it feel wrong to exclude him
Ok seriously, if Becky was wondering the same thing then I don't feel so critical! I agree, definitely feels wrong to exclude Mickey.

I also think it is weird that Cinderella is gone, like you said it is her castle. In the old show they wouldn't even let Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy decide how to decorate (obviously the story line) so they called out Cinderella and she choose. But now Anna and Elsa just take it on their own, don't like this story line.
Right? Mickey and the gang have more consideration for poor neglected Cinderella.

I felt the same way about the arm movements!!! There is WAY to much emphasis on them

Now with all of that I know my kids will love this, I just hope it is not around next year.
Me too! I hope Frozen fizzles out by next year (though my hopes aren't high.)

Sorry for the rant I guess I have been keeping this in
No need, I felt the same way which was why I had to do my "review" (fancy word for rant...)

"Oh man, I definitely have stories to tell. Some day over a coffee perhaps you'll get more than the internet will see. (Speaking of which, tentatively heading to Halifax in about two weeks. Just sayin!)" I'll be here!!!!
When we firm up some details I'll shoot you a message!

GRINGOTT'S!! Yup, this is one line you don't mind waiting in for a bit since the queue is ridiculously good. And yup, animatronic goblins. Absolutely fantastic!!
They were so awesome, very fluid animatronics.

HAHAHA, yeah, the "ride photo" is really weird. Like, why am posing here?
I didn't realize that was the ride photo! We should have bought the photo anyway because we both look like this:

It was hilarious.


It is a wicked awesome ride. It's definitely a similar style to FJ, but I do agree that the transitions were less fluid. Still, pretty impressive and fun.
Very, we loved it!

 

[JulieODC]

Great summary of the new wishes show -- I agree with you on so many things. And, the way Anne kept pooping her leg out with a flexed foot drove me nuts when I watched the video the other night!!

 

[dekkerdisneydreamer]

I truly cannot wait to experience the HP rides, atmosphere, and of course, Butterbeer!! Sadly, I don't have it included in my April or October trips. I just cannot take the time away from Disney, apparently!

 

[NancyLuvsMickey]

We LOVED the ride in the castle!!! But it's a 2 pill motion sickness ride for me... I rode it the first time with just taking 1 pill and almost didn't make it thru... But I was smart the next day and two 2 pills and loved it!!!

We loved the train ride from Universal to Islands of Adventure and heard the ride is different from Islands of Adventure to Universal but never rode it in that direction so I don't know if that's a true fact or not...

Now for the ride in the bank/vault... The theming is AMAZING!!! If I didn't know better, I'd say Disney Imagineers designed it... But the ride was just ok... It was neat and everything, but it was way to short for how long of a wait that ride has... And once was enough for us...

 

[amazingact21]

When I heard about the Frozen holiday show coming to MK, I'll admit, I rolled my eyes and went "Of course..." I'm over everything Frozen, but I know there's tons of kids still in love with the film. And the castle gets decorated, so I get that it made sense to make it relate to Frozen. I see the easy correlation, but I wasn't over the moon ecstatic about the whole thing.
In my opinion, the show dragged a little. I might have just been impatient when I watched it, but near the end I kept saying, "all right, ice the castle already,Elsa". But that's just my two cents...


Ahhh, Gringotts sounds amazing!!! Wayyyy back in the day when I read the escape scene, I remember thinking that would make an awesome roller coaster. So now I'm dying to try it for myself.

 

[MEK]

I watched the castle show and read your comments and now I am all confused about what I was going to say.

Oh Yeah - UGGGGGGHHHHHHHH! I feel your pain in having to wait around for la familia. GRRRRRRR! How terrible annoying. Especially when you only have one day to visit. I don't think I would have held up as well as you.

Daigon Alley looks amazing. I can't wait to hear your thoughts on the ride in its entirety.

You know - I make coffee in the morning and the only way to make it quiet is to get it ready the night before!