Florida Trip: Day 3 - Islands of Adventure and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Tuesday, November 22
Day 3
Crammed taxi rides! Meeting up with Christine! Harry Potter! Butterbeer! Shopping!

 This was kind of an early morning for us as the taxi picked us up at the main lobby (10 min walk from our room) at 7:30 am. Much to my chagrin, they only sent a regular taxi cab for 5 people. Guess who was the last one in the backseat? Wedged in the back seat sitting on your hip leaning against the shut door for 20 minutes is not so special.

When we arrived at Universal there was a big white Phillips bus pulling in ahead of us. Caroline pointed out that this was the bus company the band took. All of us doubted her since they weren't supposed to get in until after 9 and it wasn't even 8 yet. So I called Christine and asked where she was. She said they were just pulling in so I told her to look behind her for a yellow taxi cab. What are the chances?! It was crazy.

Their bus and our taxi!

 We then went and waited at the front of the line for the park to open at 9 am so we wouldn't have to wait in line for the Harry Potter ride for hours. All the Universal hotel guests had early entry though. It was hard to watch them all going through while we waited.

Waiting to get in. I was on the phone with Adam.

 When the gates opened, Christine, Kelly and I practically ran to the opposite side of the park to get in line for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. It was only a half hour wait, which was awesome. It gave us time to see most of the cool displays they have in line.

I'm a big Harry Potter fan, so this was what I was looking forward to most on our trip. Be prepared for lots of pictures...

Hogwarts!!!

Moving through the line in the greenhouse

About to enter Hogwarts!

All the people in portraits moved and talked. It was so neat.

The ride was really well done even if the giant spiders REALLY freaked me out. It was a little jerky and I felt slightly nauseous after it. But it was sooo worth it.

After the ride

Next, Christine, Kelly and I went on the Dragon Challenge roller coaster. I LOVED it. The Harry Potter theming as you walked through the line was really cool, and the coaster itself was so smooth. When you were upside down, it was like cool, the sky is the ground. You didn't even feel like you were upside down. In hindsight, we should have done the Flight of the Hippogriff ride first, because it was only a 20 minute wait when we got off Harry Potter, but over an hour when we got off the Dragon Challenge (which was only a 5 min wait).

Then we waited in line for butterbeers. This was probably the highlight of my day. I got a regular butterbeer (you could also get frozen) and it was so unbelievably good. It was really sugary and I felt a little sick after drinking it all. But again, completely worth it. It tasted like a mix of butterscotch and cream soda but it was really smooth. It had this really good creamy foam they added to the top. Yum.

Stine while we waited in line for butterbeers

Butterbeer in Hogsmeade!

The Three Broomsticks - you can eat here but we didn't :(

You mean there's more to Universal's Islands of Adventure than just the Wizarding World of Harry Potter? Oh....

Once we were done with Harry Potter (until later at least), we headed back through Seuss Landing.

Seuss Landing was really cute

 And then over to Marvel Super Hero Island to go on SpiderMan. It was a long wait, but we went in the single riders line and each got right on. I love when rides have those!

Then we went over to Toon Lagoon and onto Popeye & Bluto's Bilgo-Rat Barges. We went on in shifts because we didn't have enough rain ponchos with for everyone to go at once. I still got really wet on my leg and seat of my pants though.

It was getting to be lunch time, so we had a quick meal at the Comic Strip Cafe. Unfortunately, my pizza was mediocre at best.

Before Christine left, we went back to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and got ANOTHER butterbeer. This time I tried the frozen variety. While good, I think I prefer the smoothness of the regular butterbeer. We also looked in at Honeydukes candy shop and Zonko's toy store.

Inside HoneyDukes

Inside Zonko's

The window displays in Hogsmeade were really neat - this was one of Gilderoy Lockhart's books

Other rides we went on at Islands of Adventure included:

• Jurassic Park River Adventure - Pretty fun. It was definitely worth it to go in the single riders line! Luckily I didn't get very wet even though I was on the far right in the second row.
• The Cat in the Hat - Good for kids maybe. I wasn't a fan of all the spinning. It wasn't worth waiting a half hour for, but we had time to kill and everything else was a really long line.
• Caro-Seuss-el - Cute carousel with Dr. Seuss characters. I enjoyed it but wouldn't wait in line for it.

Right before leaving Carey, mom and I decided to give it one more try to get on Flight of the Hippogriff. We waited for about half an hour, but it was worth going on. It was a really short ride though.

Hagrid's Hut as viewed from the Flight of the Hippogriff line

I enjoyed Islands of Adventure and would definitely go back. Next time, I would stay on Universal grounds because for guests, their room key is an automatic fast pass for every ride except Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. We could have gone on more rides and not waited in line at all. It got kind of annoying for us as non-guests though because, for example, in the Flight of the Hippogriff over half of the ride seats were being filled by Universal hotel guests so the regular line was hardly moving at all.

This time we took the taxi to Downtown Disney. Once again, I was the last one in the backseat. Somehow, I was even more cramped in this time. It was rush hour, so it took forever to get to our destination. My leg was asleep by the time we arrived and it hurt to walk around all night.

At Downtown Disney we mainly shopped at the World of Disney store. There we met up with Christine and Kelly. I spent a lot of time waiting outside for everyone.

 For dinner, we went to Planet Hollywood before heading back to the hotel.

There, Mom and I went down to the pool and spent some time in the hot tub. It felt wonderful on my aching legs!

Florida Trip: Day 2 - Epcot & Hollywood Studios

Monday, November 21
Day 2
Sleeping in! Hibachi grill! Rain! Holiday light show! Mary arrives!

We were so exhausted from our early flight and staying at the Magic Kingdom late that we decided to sleep in until 10 am (9 am Central which is what we were used to). We needed to catch up on sleep so we weren't run down for the whole trip. It was glorious.

Monorail going through Epcot

We arrived at Epcot around noon. We went on a few rides before heading over to the World Showcase for a few more rides and our 2:30 lunch at Teppan Edo at Japan. We waited for a while before we were finally seated at 3 (they seemed to have forgotten about us). The experience was a lot of fun and my swordfish was really good. Our chef wasn't the best though, we think she was new. I was completely done eating by the time Caroline got her steak and my mom got her chicken. Then, her chicken wasn't even completely done; there was some red in the middle. I think hibachi grills around here are just as good if not better.

Hibachi grill at Teppan Edo

We did luck out because it rained almost the entire time we were at lunch, but was clear when we left.

Epcot Rides/Shows:

• Captain EO - 3D movie with Michael Jackson. I was NOT a fan. My mom liked it though.
• Journey into Imagination with Figment - They seemed to have redone it and now it's kind of cheesy.
• Grand Fiesta Tour at Mexico - They also redid this and made it cartoonish. I was not so much a fan of the new additions.

Mexico Pavilion

• Maelstrom at Norway- It was a 25 minute wait which was borderline worth it. We skipped the movie at the end because of our lunch reservation.

Next, we walked around the rest of the pavilions on the way over to the boat launch.

 We took the boat shuttle over to Hollywood Studios (with lots of hotel stops on the way...). When we arrived, all the Fast Passes were gone for the day. Bummer.

Christmas tree outside of Hollywood Studios

 We then headed over to the Streets of America to wait for the Osborne Lights to go on at dusk (around 6 pm). It was really neat to see them all go on at once. There we also met up with Mary who had just arrived.

There was even fake snow (the little white dots in the photo)

 The park was extra crowded because of the Magic Hours (9pm - 12:30 am), so we didn't really get on any extra rides or notice any short lines because of it. Oh well. Mom and I did get on Tower of Terror. So worth the wait!

Hollywood Studios Rides/Shows:

• Osborne Lights - Totally worth it to get there before the lights all went on. I loved it.

• Great Movie Ride - Silly but fun. Did smell a little musty though. Could definitely use some updates.
• Star Tours - Redone but still really jerky. I felt slightly nauseous after.
• Muppet Vision 3D - I actually liked it better than I remembered. The 2 old men are pretty amusing.
• Voyage of the Little Mermaid - Show with singing. I could have skipped it...
• Tower of Terror - One of my favorites! It scares me and I like it.

Florida Trip: Day 1 - Arrival & Magic Kingdom

I have an abundance of wonderful photos and insight to share about my trip to Florida with my mom, Aunt Carey, Mary and Caroline to see Christine and Kelly march for band in the parade at Magic Kingdom. I dragged the Cannon around Sunday through Wednesday, so there's quite a few photos. I should have taken more than I did though considering how heavy that thing was when you're walking around all day (and your hubby isn't with to help carry it)...  Accordingly, my trip will be recounted in many different posts this week.

Florida Trip: Day 1
Freakishly early f light! Sun! Palm trees! Exhaustion! Rides! The castle all lit up for Christmas!

Today, I begin with Sunday, November 20 which was our first day in Florida. Our 5:45 am flight was not so special. My mom, Carey and Caroline came up the night before (in the snowstorm) and stayed over so we could make this freakishly early flight. My wonderful (and unfortunate) husband got the pleasure of driving us to the airport at 4:15 am. Thank goodness for him. I was barely functional.

5 am and we're already through security

 After a short layover in Milwaukee, we arrived in Orlando around 11:30 am.  The sun, green plants, and palm trees were a welcome sight after the snow and cold of Minneapolis/St. Paul. When we left our house, it was 18° and when we arrived in Orlando it was near 80°. I can't believe people actually live like this... I'm so jealous.

Train to the main terminal

We took the Disney Express bus to our hotel, Coronado Springs Resort. 

Disney Express to our hotel

 We had lunch at the food court there before taking our bags to our room. Mom and I took a short nap while Carey and Caroline watched the second half of the Packers game. It was a close one, so it was kind of hard to sleep...

Our room

Waiting for the bus to Magic Kingdom

 Then, we hit the ground running at the Magic Kingdom that evening. We arrived around 4:45 pm. 

Excited!

Inside the park with Caroline and Carey

 We actually got a ton of things done that night.

•  Pirates of the Caribbean - Fun to finally see the Jack Sparrow additions
  

• The Enchanted Tiki Room - ridiculous but fun. They changed it back to the original (instead of with Iago) which is much more retro and nostalgic.

• Hall of Presidents - Okay. I was a little bored by it, but everyone else liked it.
• Carousel of Progress - Not as good as I remembered it being. It smelled musty and needed updates. The modern part looked like it was out of the 80's - 80's style ski boots and leg warmers? Really?
• Transit Authority People Mover - Fun way to see Tomorrowland
• Quick dinner - a really good Greek Salad for me
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (used Fast Passes) - Fun as always
• Splash Mountain - Love it!
• Haunted Mansion - One of my favorites from childhood. They've done a few updates like making your face into a ghost.
• It's A Small World - Annoying, but a must do once per visit.
• Wishes Fireworks show by the castle - Great fireworks show but super crowded with lots of people with their hands up blocking taking photos

• Main Street Electrical Parade - We went to the later parade and it was much less crowded. I like that it's back to the original floats from my childhood.
  

• Dumbo - Must do for nostalgic purposes
• Peter Pan's Flight - I'm not a fan, but everyone else loved it. I'm just not into Peter Pan and it's always a really long wait. I did like the night scene of London though.
• Attempted to go on Space Mountain with Caroline, but the ride was down forever so we just left

 Probably the highlight of my night was seeing the castle all lit up and decorated for Christmas. I had never seen it before, and it was gorgeous. It changed colors too - blue, aqua and purple.

So pretty

My travel companions with the castle

Loved the castle lights!

 Magic Kingdom is normally open until midnight (seriously?), but Extra Magic Hours for Disney Resort Guests meant it was open until 3 am (awesome!). Unfortunately, we only made it until about 1:30 am. I was about to pass out from being up since 3 am that morning and traveling. We were back to our hotel and in bed around 2 am. We were exhausted and still had the whole week ahead of us.

Disney Hiatus

My blog is on a temporary hiatus while I'm at Disney. The weather is beautiful and we're having a great time.

Today we saw Christine and Kelly march with their high school band in a parade at Magic Kingdom.

Yesterday, we went to Universal Islands of Adventure which was great. I loved the Wizarding World of Harry Potter section.

We've been here since Sunday and leave on Saturday. I'm dreading the return to cold weather.

In the meantime, here are some terrible photos I took with my phone.

Castle all lit up at the Magic Kingdom

Hogsmeade at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Universal)

Osborne Family Lights at Hollywood Studios