That Really Big Graduation Trip: May 2011

[momeja]

Awesome report so far momeja! I love reading about different places even if they aren't Disney. Please keep it coming!

NaCler! I was wondering what had happened to you! (and you were probably wondering what had happened to me )

There's one more day of non-Disney, then it's Disney all the way. Here's goes...

5/17 – It’s a Wizarding World

You have to get up early for the Wizarding World – one hour before park opening if you have FOTL. BUT IT’S SO WORTH IT! I tell you, if I wasn’t such a major Star Wars fan, I would be a complete Potter nerd after our visit to the Wizarding World.

Emilie is a bit of a Potter nerd. She’s read all the books a few times through and loved the movies. She was definitely leading the charge this morning. On the way over, this was the conversation.

“Mom, I think we should go to Forbidden Journey first. I can’t wait to go on Forbidden Journey. It’s supposed to be amazing, and the line really builds.”
“Em, I don’t think so. Olivander’s Wand Shop is a show. That means stop and start. That means that if you aren’t in the first show, you’ll be waiting while the other lines are building up.”

I won, but I was questioning my logic when we weren't let in immediately, or even 5 mins. later. Or even a few minutes after that. Here we were on a line, while more and more people were heading to Forbidden Journey. Finally, they let us in. We were one of the last families admitted (they only admit about 25 per show), and there were many families behind us. I was feeling better about the decision.

Once we were all inside, Mr. Olivander came down the stairs and went up to a little boy (maybe 7 years old?) in front.
“Are you here for a wand today?”
“No!” the boy replied. His mother looked horrified at his answer and pulled him aside, but it was too late. Mr. Olivander had moved on to another child. It was my son!
“Are you here for a wand today?” he asked Judah.
“Yes,” my son of few words replied.

Wow. What an experience. I have 3 pictures of it in total and no video because I was completely caught off guard. As one of the last families to be admitted, I didn’t think any of my children would be selected, so I wasn’t ready at all. Emilie says I spent most of the show gasping, but I think she’s teasing me. Okay, maybe I gasped once or twice, but only because IT WAS SO COOL!


First wand. Judah said accio ladder and the drawers popped open and closed. Not the right wand

Second wand. Judah said lumos and lightning flashed. Not the right wand


The third wand lit up the room. That was the one. An elder wand with a dragon heart string - loyal and brave.

Of course, we had to buy the wand afterward. It had chosen Judah after all. Then we went to Forbidden Journey.

FJ is a great ride and lives up to all its hype. The swinging car design is fun and they do a great job combining real sets and simulator. I won’t say more because I don’t want to give the ride away.

Universal also has a great child swap system, which we used because we thought the ride would be too scary for Adi (yes, it is scary at times). The room is right beside where you get on and off the ride. You get off, go into the room, switch with your partner and your partner gets immediately on the ride. The kids were able to ride 3 times in a row that way, so we definitely weren’t hurt by our stop at Mr. Olivander's.

At the end of our third time on FJ, we saw that they’d admitted everyone else because the ride suddenly was busy. Time to leave. After the Forbidden Journey, Adi, Aba and I went to Flight of the Hippogriff, while Emilie and Judah rode Dragon Challenge. I loved Dragon Challenge (then called Dueling Dragons) last trip, but since I’d ridden it before, I was looking forward to a new ride. Flight of the Hippogriff is a fun kids’ coaster, about the same as Goofy’s.

Time for a quick Butterbeer break. We paid extra for the souvenir mugs because we plan to try to make Butterbeer at home. They’re cool mugs, too.



We decided to save shopping at Diagon Alley for the end of the day because I’d read that the crowds start dying down then. Instead, it was time for all the other big rides in this park. We dropped off Adi and Aba at Pteronadon Flyers and went for the Hulk with plans to meet up afterward.


Adi loved Pteronadon Flyers. This was good because you can only ride it if you're under 56" tall or with someone under 56" tall. After Adi had ridden it once with Judah, it looked like so much fun that the rest of the family wanted to ride it with her, too.

With FOTL, Emilie, Judah and I were able to get right onto the Hulk. I love the Hulk, but I can only ride it once or twice in a row. With a magnetic start (like RNRC) and 7 inversions, it is one serious coaster. I told the kids they could ride it again and went to gather Aba and Adi. Emilie and Judah did ride the Hulk again, but they still had time afterwards, so they went on Dr Dooms Fear Fall. Not the best ride, but it has a good view. Once we were together again, the kids and I rode Spiderman while H. waited on the side. He’d decided that he wanted to ride FJ again in the afternoon and didn’t want to spoil it with Spiderman. It was a good decision, since Spiderman shares some of MIB’s spinniness. We rode it twice, then went to find him talking on the phone, trying to fix the rental car key problem.


Calling all superheroes.

Now we return to the rental car key saga: while we were in Spiderman, H. first called US and was told that they hadn’t found his bag. Then he started trying to get another set of keys for the car. Guess what? Dollar didn’t have another set of keys, which meant that we’d have to call a locksmith to come and make a set for us – including a new key fob… $300 was the initial quote. H. called AAA, who would pay $50 towards it plus give a better price. Our fee was down to $210. Ouch! He said he had to go talk to the hotel but would meet us for lunch. Then he left.

It was just the kids and me. Emilie and Judah wanted to ride the Hulk again, so I took Adi to Pteronadon Flyers while they rode again. Then we went to Seussland.


Wandering in the forest of the Truffula Trees.

We rode the Train and the Cat in the Hat dark ride and the carouseussal and “One Fish, Two Fish,” which is a ride that looks like those cheesy kid airplane rides at low rent amusement parks, except the fish randomly spit a lot of water at you and it’s really fun. Then we went to meet H. at Mythos.

Mythos: I’d heard a lot about Mythos but didn’t make it there last trip. It won best amusement park restaurant 3 years in a row. It did have great atmosphere, and the food was very good. But was it Hollywood Brown Derby good? (Hollywood Brown Derby is my favourite restaurant at WDW)

To be continued...

[NaCler]

...still awesome... I can't believe they make you buy the wand at Olivanders. If you are chosen, then they should get it for free since you are a part of the show. Kind of tacky but it was cool that he was chosen... Even if it was second!

Which is better, MIB or Spiderman?

On a side note, it was sad to hear that Dueling Dragons won't be dueling anymore!

[Amy]

Yay for more trip report! Even if it is from Universal
That is so neat that Judah was chosen for the wand show. I agree with NaCler. They should give the wand away to the person chosen to participate. It wouldn't cost them much...and people are going to buy those wands anyhow.
What exactly does butterbeer taste like?
Your kids are so cute in the pictures!
Waiting for the next installment.

[mindflipper]

...still awesome... I can't believe they make you buy the wand at Olivanders. If you are chosen, then they should get it for free since you are a part of the show.

Why should you get the wand for free? Olivander charged for the wands in the books.

[momeja]

...still awesome... I can't believe they make you buy the wand at Olivanders. If you are chosen, then they should get it for free since you are a part of the show. Kind of tacky but it was cool that he was chosen... Even if it was second!

I hear ya. On the other hand, Universal needs all the money it can get (in the words of the Simpsons Ride "Send Universal Money!"), and this is as close as they can come to a guaranteed sale.

Which is better, MIB or Spiderman?

Tough question. Spiderman is amazing (and it's the reason I don't like Toy Story Mania at all. There's just so much Disney could have done with combining ride technology and 3D but didn't), but I love the old-fashioned silliness of MIB. I could ride that ride all morning (especially if I'm beating Judah! )

My favourite Universal ride is the Simpsons, though. Love that ride.

On a side note, it was sad to hear that Dueling Dragons won't be dueling anymore!

They're still dueling, only they officially now just "challenge."

[momeja]

What exactly does butterbeer taste like?

Totally yummy. Kind of like a cross between root beer and butterscotch. And we've learned how to make a fair copy at home, too. There's a site that has a recipe that's pretty easy to follow. It's not exact but it's not bad. I'll try to find it later (i.e. not at work ) and post the link.

[Amy]

My favourite Universal ride is the Simpsons, though. Love that ride.

Is this Simpsons ride the one that replaced Back to the Future? I'm not a Simpsons fan at all, do you still think I would like the ride?

What exactly does butterbeer taste like?

Totally yummy. Kind of like a cross between root beer and butterscotch. And we've learned how to make a fair copy at home, too. There's a site that has a recipe that's pretty easy to follow. It's not exact but it's not bad. I'll try to find it later (i.e. not at work ) and post the link.

That would be interesting. Maybe something I could try at the holidays where there are lots of people to drink the batch in case I don't particularly like it I've heard everything from "It's delicious" to "It's disgusting" from various people and reports...

[momeja]

My favourite Universal ride is the Simpsons, though. Love that ride.

Is this Simpsons ride the one that replaced Back to the Future? I'm not a Simpsons fan at all, do you still think I would like the ride?

The first time Emile rode it, she hadn't seen the Simpsons, and she howled with laughter. It's so funny and clever.

What exactly does butterbeer taste like?

Totally yummy. Kind of like a cross between root beer and butterscotch. And we've learned how to make a fair copy at home, too. There's a site that has a recipe that's pretty easy to follow. It's not exact but it's not bad. I'll try to find it later (i.e. not at work ) and post the link.

That would be interesting. Maybe something I could try at the holidays where there are lots of people to drink the batch in case I don't particularly like it I've heard everything from "It's delicious" to "It's disgusting" from various people and reports...

My kids can't get enough of it. In fact, we almost had to add a Butterbeer line item in our monthly budget. If you like rootbeer and whipped cream, you might like it. If not, well, it might be a once only.

Btw, we didn't try the pumpkin juice. I heard that was disgusting so we stuck with butterbeer.

[NaCler]

...still awesome... I can't believe they make you buy the wand at Olivanders. If you are chosen, then they should get it for free since you are a part of the show.

Why should you get the wand for free? Olivander charged for the wands in the books.

But that was because the kids needed a wand to become a witch/wizard, kind of like the books they had to buy for their classes. This is a show that Universal puts on for entertainment purposes. I doubt they made him pay for the wand in front of everyone. Why wouldn't they give it to the kid since he was the chosen one? They only choose 1 kid out of the whole store, I just think it's kind of tacky that they make you buy it after the show.

[momeja]

Continued: Part 2 – Mythos and on into the afternoon

No. It’s not as good as Hollywood Brown Derby. It’s very good, but it’s not HBD good. H. had the blackened fish tacos, Emilie had the crab cake sliders, Judah had sushi, I had the fish of the day - trout, and Adi had the one fish, two fish cheese ravioli. For dessert, we had the Rice Krispy Sushi Treats. Everything was well prepared, but nothing matched the Duck 3 Ways (or the Lobster Bisque, the Blackened Grouper, or the Cobb Salad) at Brown Derby. Given that it beat out HBD for best park restaurant in 2008-2010, I expected better. On the other hand, it’s in a great and very central location, and it made a nice break from the heat of touring. Also, given that Jurassic Park was closed – removing the major fun of eating at Thunder Falls Terrace – it was a fine place to eat. I’d go back (and I will go back), but if I don’t get in, I won’t be sad.



H. spent a lot of the meal on the phone trying to direct the AAA guy to our car. He finished by the time the meal was over. Or, I should say, he did until our phone finally gave out and after that he hoped that the AAA guy had made it to our car. After lunch, we decided to watch the Sinbad show, which Emilie and I hadn’t seen last trip. Not bad and much better than the Poseidon show we’d seen instead.

On our way into the show, we stopped at the crazy talking fountain for several minutes. The kids talked to him, and the fountain squirted back water at them. At one point, he began singing, “O Canada” while spraying water in all directions.



After Sinbad, the sun was reliably out enough to try the water rides. Emilie and I loved the water rides, but we wanted it to be sunny because THEY ARE WET, WET, WET! (and did I mention they are wet?). In fact, I’d bought a quick-dry dress just to wear at IOA that day.

Unfortunately, Jurassic Park was being refurbished, but Dudley Do-Right and Bluto’s Barges were both up and running. We had tremendous trouble with the lockers before we started. How the Universal can manage to have such good lockers for the rides at US and such horrible ones for the water rides at IOA is beyond me, but they do. Finally, we got it straightened out and stuff in lockers, and we were ready for the rides.

A few things to know about the IOA water rides:
1. They are wet.
2. They are really wet.
3. Ponchos won’t save you.
4. Come prepared.
5. Wearing a swimsuit helps (or, a quick-dry outfit )
6. So does bringing a change of clothes.
7. The full body dryers they have are just silly and cost a lot of money.

Dudley is fun, but Bluto’s is a whole ‘nother level of water rides. If you think Kali is wet, you really have to experience Bluto. Then again, I love getting wet, so my quick-dry dress and I had a lot of fun.

H. got drenched enough after 2 rides on Bluto’s, so he sat out our third ride and just directed the kids playing on The Ship Me Olive (which is beside Bluto’s) to spray water at us the third time. Thoroughly soaking, we sat out in the sun to dry off, then took pictures in Cartoon Lagoon.

At Cartoon Lagoon, we took the picture that most perfectly summed up this day of the trip:


After Cartoon Lagoon, the plan was to ride Spiderman and the Hulk each one more time, then go back to the Wizarding World to end the day because I’d heard that the crowds die down there at day’s end.

So that’s what we did. Emilie, Judah, and I went on the Hulk again, then all of us, except H. went on Spiderman again. H. was still saving himself for a second ride on FJ. Then we returned to Potter to shop and ride again.

Shopping was crowded at day’s end, but FJ had a very light line. We each rode it once (except for Adi), then shopped at Zonkos, Honeydukes and Olivander’s. We only bought items at Honeydukes, but they were very expensive. Be warned! HP is not a cheap date! We each bought one item at Honeydukes, and it was almost $50. Add to that the souvenir mugs ($10 each x 5 = $50) and you’re already at $100. Wands are $30. Magnets are $10. Universal knows who’s keeping their engine running these days. On the other hand, the sweets from Honeydukes are good quality. I got Dark Chocolate Peppermint Toads (really good), Adi got a blue candy quill pen, Judah got Bott’s Every Flavour Beans, Emilie got Fizzing Whizbees, and H. got a Chocolate Frog with Wizard trading card. Our day wasn’t cheap, but it was memorable and good.



We finished our day at WWHP with refills of butterbeer at $3/each inside Three Broomsticks:




We returned to the Portofino Bay to find that AAA had successfully rekeyed and refobbed our car. We were tired from such a long day (11 hours! 8 am to 7 pm), so we stopped in at the Club Lounge, where they were still serving wine. H. and I, tuckered out (especially H., after a long day of car negotiations), decided to have a glass of wine and skip Ohana, where we'd had our dinner reservation and just order room service when we got to Animal Kingdom Villas instead. I was sad about not getting back to Ohana's, but sometimes, you've got to know when to say "next trip."

We got to AKV around 8:30 pm, ordered room service from Sanaa, which we ate while watching the animals (love, love, love room service from Sanaa!), and settled in for the night.

Tomorrow: settling in and Hoop dee Doo!

[momeja]

Btw, NaCler, I just noticed that your location says 160 miles from the MOUSE. (lucky man!) Where is that? Atlanta?

[mindflipper]

Btw, NaCler, I just noticed that your location says 160 miles from the MOUSE. (lucky man!) Where is that? Atlanta?

Nope. He's a Jax ressie like someone else here on the boards (who will remain nameless...)

A few things to know about the IOA water rides:
1. They are wet.
2. They are really wet.
3. Ponchos won’t save you.
4. Come prepared.
5. Wearing a swimsuit helps (or, a quick-dry outfit )
6. So does bringing a change of clothes.
7. The full body dryers they have are just silly and cost a lot of money.

Should add "Bring large plastic bag to store your shoes and socks in order to keep them dry". But you're right - Bluto is a super drencher of a water ride. I took quick dry shirt and shorts when I went because I was there in the middle of summer, but it turned out be to better because of the soaking water rides.

Wow! Those souvenirs from HP can wrack up a really large bill!

[Amy]

Sounds like a fun end to the day. It's good that you had a sense of humor about the car keys ~ love the picture in Cartoon World The talking fountain sounds like fun too ~ smart too since it knew you were from Canada
Yup, souvenirs sound expensive at US, but at least they are tasty as you mentioned. Plus you got a relatively cheap refill on your butterbeer so that makes those a bit less pricey per serving
I've enjoyed the little taste of US since we don't go there, but I'm certainly ready for WDW!!
I must have dozed off somewhere, I didn't notice if the water rides get you very wet there...do they?!

[MadEye]

We decided to save shopping at Diagon Alley...

Although it does have some shops from Diagon Alley, that isn't Diagon Alley. It's Hogsmead. But there are rumors floating around about expansion (goodbye Lost Continent if that happens ) with Diagon Alley being the main focus of it, from what I've heard.

[mindflipper]

You sure that's not meant to be Diagon Alley? Olivander's Wand Shop is on Diagon Alley (in the books and films), not in Hogsmead. I think HP world mixes it all together...