Friday July 27,2018

Couldn't figure out how to get one home.

Waking early, I packed stuff to be ready for our shuttle to the airport at 10:30.  We had already decided on a breakfast buffet in the hotel for this morning, so we met at 8:30ish , enjoyed a really large breakfast and went back to get our bags together. 

Got the shuttle (it was early), got to the airport, checked in, got thru security and waited.  Flight was on time, and very uneventful. 

A calm ending to an exciting vacation.

Thursday, July 26, 2018

Remember when we registered for the hotel, we were given birthday surprises for us to celebrate L’s birthday?  Well, Thursday was the day we decided to wear the buttons announcing that we were celebrating her b’day and she received a bithrday card.  We also got a voucher for “treats” in one of the hotel’s restaurants, but never got around to using it for a couple of reasons.   I think by the end of the day Thursday, she was totally tired of hearing Universal characters and employees wish her a happy birthday.  There were lots and lots of b’day wishes from folks checking tickets as we walked in, the people in the parade, to random folks sweeping the street, or setting up for an event.  As I said LOTS AND LOTS of b’day wishes.  Kinda cool, but a little over the top, also.

Another trip to Voodoo donuts and we were ready to use our “get in early” pass to line up for the

Goblins hard at work tallying all the gold

 Escape from Gringots Ride.—which was one of the more exciting ones.  Again, 3-D, holograms, movement of cars we were on, and hot and cold sensations.  We ended up flying with the dragon as he escaped from the Goblins’ bank.  Along the way, we encountered Bill Weesley, Belatrix Lestrange, Voldemort, the Dragon and miscellaneous goblins.  Great fun!

We waited in line for the ride.

After enjoying the ride, we had breakfast at the Leaky Cauldron , and enjoyed butterbeer.  Breakfasts were similar to the 3 Broomsticks with some few exceptions.  This place offered a pumpkin flan and fruit dish which I tried and was very interesting.

Since the trip was winding down and I still had not bought my obligatory shirt, we went shopping.  I knew what I wanted, and thought I knew where to find it, but it took some walking and reconnoitering to finally find “the shirt”. 



 I also bought some chocolate frogs and  Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans.  If you’ve read the books/seen the movies, you know that these candies are very special to folks at Hogwarts.  Haven’t eaten a frog or tasted a (jelly) bean, yet, but I will.

Our Universal package included a photo shoot and we thought about skipping it.  We went and not only had fun, but got LOTS of cool pictures and a CD for free!  Well worth doing!

REALLY FUN!

I looked at adult “robes” which all the teachers at Hogwarts wear, probably because L wore hers (from Amazon) during our foray into Potter world.  Adult robes are partially lined and made of quite heavy fabric and generally cost $115 each.  I could make one for lots less, but for what occasion would I wear the robe?  I do have multiple capes and I wear them, but a robe?  Don’t think so!

There is a tall building in Potter world with a huge dragon clinging to the roof.  It belches fire and roars at times, and people stand around to get a good video of this occurrence.  

 We waited a couple of times, but never got a good action shot.   One thing we noticed about the layout of Universal studios is that there is very minimal sound bleed over.  The dragon was super loud and people reacted, but outside of Potter world, no one seemed to be able to hear him.  Many of the rides had dinosaurs making loud noises, or the Hulk, or Aliens, or really loud cars with tires screeching or whatever creatures being really loud, but outside the rides, the sound is not there.  Very ingenious planning and execution

After spending the time in Potter world, we headed to Jurassic Park
 

Guess who took this picture!

 to a “Discovery Center” with exhibits and hands on dinosaur stuff.  There were dino eggs, DNA information, large , sometimes moving, representations of dinosaurs. 

And she took this one, too!

  A good way to spend some time in air conditioned comfort and keep the kid busy.

There is a place near the Discovery Center with piles of rocks for exploring, a treehouse thing and WATER CANONS.  People standing up on top of the rocks could shoot streams of water down at folks (with their own water canon)  A water fight ensued, first with L just squirting the rocks below, then from kids below squirting L, then Lil and her dad shooting each other.  Just below this area is a “people drier”  which was a large really hot booth which didn’t really dry someone, but make them super hot.  They tried it, but gave up in awhile.  About the time we were looking for a place to eat, here came a deluge.  Even tho’ I had brought dollar store rain parkas for everyone, we didn’t stay dry.  Every place we tried to eat was either closed or packed with no place to sit.    

We hung around in one playground or another (yep, sometimes a chain was crossed) til the rain stopped. 

Not being able to find a place to eat, we walked (no boats available) back to the hotel to dry off and  find lunch.   Everywhere we tried to eat at the hotel had an hour or more wait  We finally walked back to Universal (5-7 min walk) and ate at an Italian place- we were too early for supper, but we’d missed lunch and were hungry, so we had “lupper- lunch and supper”

At the hotel, the guys decided a nap was in order, but the girls thought going back to see the parade at 7 might be a good way to end our Universal visit.

In Universal, N and L decided to do the Fast and Furious  ride again, and I waited and checked out the area.

Having seen a Disney parade years ago, this one was rather lame.  Short, not much music, but lots of dancing girls, and cartoon characters, 

  We watched the parade and then shopped a little more.  Fawkes the phoenix was for sale at the Magical creatures store and L fell in love with him.  We bought some souvenirs for friends and took the boat back to the hotel.  

She was tall enough for all the rides.

 Everyone was still asleep in my room when I returned.  Got ready for bed in the dark and went to sleep. 

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

If you’re keeping count- on Wed we did 7 rides. 

Again, coffee and tea at the hotel and a boat ride to the park.  We noticed that tucked into a corner of City walk was a Voodoo donuts shop.  Never having heard of this particular “brand” we ventured in.  Every type and decoration of donut was available-  N’s choice was the apple fritter which was larger than his face—we shared.

Fueled with sugar, we entered Production Central.  Our first ride of the day was “Shrek 4-D --a totally in your fact fairy tale adventure”  Their words, but really accurate.

  After Shrek we enjoyed the Minion Mayhem again, a 3D ride with shaking seats and other sensory excitement..  

A little more realistic (but still 3-D and fast) was “Race through New York, starring Jimmy Fallon”  .  The premise of the ride was that he was trying to get thru NYC in his car before “we” did.  And having been to NYC this year, this isn’t accurate at all cuz of all the traffic.  Hard to race without wiping out, but it was just a ride and a fast and exciting one at that.

We stopped  early for lunch at a Mom and Pop type of pizzeria since all we had for breakfast was donuts and the pizza was pretty good. 

Triple decker Night bus

Remember Grimald place where house elf Creature lived- the Black household?  We saw it, knocked on the door, and Creature looked at us thru the upper window.

Look closely in the upper window, it's Creature.

The red phone booth was in the vicinity of Grimald Place

Even tho’ I don’t watch or even know much about the Simpsons t.v. show, we went on the Simpson ride, which was, again, a 3D extravaganza.

 Followed by the E.T adventure.  N and B spent some time here in Orlando 20 years ago on their honeymoon and they saw the ET adventure then.  After experiencing this ride N told us that it was not much changed from their seeing it the first time.  I’m a little surprised that it hasn’t been “beefed up” with newer special effects.   

We got a really good picture of Lil riding the bicycle with ET in the basket.

This is Florida, and every time there is a hint of rain, or lightening, all the playgrounds and some outside activities close up.  This happens at the hotel also with the swimming pool and the boats.  So there were times when our plans were stalled a bit.

Earlier, N bought 2 “all you can drink” cups which can be filled most places with whatever the holder wants for free.  Keep the cup from one day to another and the “all you can drink” feature continues for half the original price.  There’s no need to ever be thirsty if you have one of these cups.

B and L, wanted to do the Fast and Furious ride, so some of us opted out.  While they waited in line for the ride, N, N and I walked around Hollywood, got some ice cream at Schwabs pharmacy.   

We met and talked with Doc from Back to the Future.  We saw and talked to various cartoon characters as well as the

Penguins from Madagascar.   

 

Lil had NO CLUE who these folks were

Marilyn was flirting with all the men.

All photo opportunities and clever additions to the street activities.

Our final ride of the day was Men in Black, Alien Attack.  This ride had all the bells and whistles of the others including 3D, holographs moving cars, etc, with one addition.  Each rider had a laser gun to kill aliens we encountered.  Each rider’s score was calculated as the game progressed and the high score in each car was figured.  I’m pretty sure my score was the car’s lowest and I know for a fact that Lil’s was the highest.  Hers was more than 10 times my score. 

Leaving the park, we stopped at the Chocolate Emporium to shop a bit.  The place smelled heavenly, but we didn’t buy much.

We went next door to Margaritaville for supper.  The individuals of our group ate Quesadillas, shrimp, Fish and Chips and Mac n Cheese..  and we were home by 6 pm.

After getting back to the hotel, the Thompsons discovered that the pool was open again and spent some time there.

Tuesday, July 24, 2018

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We are up early even if last night’s sleep began late.  The hotel has a “breakfast area” with mostly serve yourself food—pastries, fruit, boiled eggs, and of course juices, tea and coffee.  

 Nick had some coffee and we waited for the rest of the group to join us—after everyone had eaten/drunk something (we didn’t eat a full breakfast because a complementary breakfast at the 3 Broomsticks was a part of our “package”)

Water taxi took us to the City Walk, where the main restaurants and some shops reside.  From there, we entered Universal’s main street

 and made our way by New York, through San Francisco 

to  The Wizarding World of Harry Potter/ Diagon Alley.   It was like walking into a book in another time.  Everything looked much as I had imagined it as I read the books.  

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 There were wizards and witches dressed in black to answer questions, take pictures and generally assist the visitors. 

We went to Olivanders to get Lil her wand.  Here a wand is not just a pretend stick to wave around-- it is interactive.  There are places all over Diagon Alley to make the wand“work”.  There are metal circles in the cobblestone street, to stand and wave your “official” wand and various things happen, such as water falling from a bucket, lights turning on, strange critters in shop windows moving or speaking.  The Harry Potter Wizarding World experience is not complete without a wand.  The wand shop (there are more than one) has them listed by the original owner.  A customer can buy a Bellatrix wand, a Ron wand, a Luna wand, Narcissa Malfoy, or most anyone in the stories.  Official wands are not cheap.

Our first ride of the day was from Diagon Alley/London to Hogwarts/ Hogsmede on the Hogwarts Express at Kings Cross Station.  And YES, we walked through the brick wall to get to 9 3/4 with the magic of Universal Studios.  The ride from London to Hogwarts is a “ride” in itself.  Seeing characters from the books out the window, seeing Harry and Ron in his dad’s flying car and of course having the dementors enter the train looking for escaped convicts .  It’s a short ride, but entertaining.

After getting to Islands of Adventure ( the name of this area of the park with Hogwarts), we rode the first of the many 3D rides this one named Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey, an extravaganza in which we chased hologram Harry thru his adventures from the books.  There was danger, there was speed, the cars we were riding in never left the ground, but it felt like they did.  

 I’m certain this ride was too intense for some people- as there were warnings at the beginning of each ride about cautions for people with heart problems, pregnant women, etc.  Of course all a rider would have to do is close his eyes to block out the intensity- the carts did swing around fast causing one of our party to suffer from car sickness.

As I said this was one of many rides we enjoyed on Tuesday—some rides are very popular and have long lines.  Another perk of our “package” was a “fast pass”  where we were led to a separate line which moved faster than the others.  This helped greatly, but this was an expensive part of our package—well worth it—if you are limited in time take advantage of whatever you can to speed things up..

After the Hogwarts ride , we found the 3 Broomsticks for breakfast.  We had options for ordering :  Traditional English breakfast, American breakfast, Pancakes, Continental breakfast, and Porridge.   We were offered orange juice, coffee, tea, and pumpkin juice.

Butterbeer stands are available all over this part of the park and we tried regular and “frozen”.  We all decided that the frozen type brought about the fastest “brain freeze” we’d ever had.  Butterbeer is a butterscotch drink that is VERY sweet and is mentioned frequently in the books.

There are entertainments in this area at certain times, we heard some singers and we also heard the frog choir.  Interesting!

The food for breakfast was quite adequate and we finished up to go find another ride- this time in Jurassic Park, next door.

The Skull Island ride is very popular and for good reason- it seemed more intense, louder,  and generally more exciting.  The wait, even with our fast pass was long, probably 30-40 min, but we waited in air conditioned comfort and in a darkened area- getting us ready for the experience.   

The story of the ride is King Kong versus a T- Rex.  This ride not only was 3-D,  holographic, and had fast moving cars, but other senses were involved as well.  It was LOUD and when the large critters fought each other and snarled at the folks in the cars, we felt the “spit” from the critters. 

We wandered around Toon Lagoon and played on equipment          

Our next ride was Spiderman- which included sights, and sounds, but also temperature changes.  We were confronted by “ice creatures” which made the room cold, then by “fire creatures” which we could also feel.

We entered Seuss Landing and before we stopped for lunch, we tried the Cat in the Hat ride.  Not really threatening, and dangerous like the others,  the Cat in the Hat story was told with lots of  fast twirling around in the cars.  Obviously a kids’ ride.

How much do you know about Dr Seuss stories?  We ate at Circus McGurkus.  It is a HUGE circus tent shaped building with a REALLY, REALLY long line for ordering.  Not many options, but hamburgers, fried chicken, pizza and Caesar salad, which I watched them make.   It was okay and it fell into our meal plan which was bought and paid for when we booked the trip.  This meal plan includes one lunch (fast food type) one snack, one drink and one dinner per day.  Just show the card.  It was okay, filling, and got us ready for the afternoon.

Since we were in Dr Seuss area we went on the Sneeches ride—another kids’ ride- interesting, but not very intense.  After which we watched the Lorax show. 

 A woman recited the story to the audience while Thing One, Thing Two and the Lorax  and others capered around her acting things out.    It was fun and Lil and her mom enjoyed it most, I think. 

 Lil wanted to ride the One Fish, Two Fish ride, so I joined her.  Think amusement park, two person cars that go up and down while moving in a circle. 

 Lil took control of the up and down button and we stayed up most of the ride.  Nothing scarey, nothing to worry about, just a kids’ ride.  Then we rode the High in the Sky Trolly which went thru the Circus McGurkus.

Having had enough of the Seuss area, we rode the Hogwarts Express back the way we came-- to London back to Diagon Alley 

and shopped a bit before deciding to go back.

We got the water taxi to back to the hotel to rest up for the evening.  B and L planned to get in the hotel pool, but it was closed because of rain/lightening.

We headed to “Cowfish” for supper.  I’d never heard of it, before, but it featured all different kinds of sushi rolls.  I had a bacon cheeseburger and it was good.

Not counting boat rides, We enjoyed 8 rides- not a bad day.

Florida-July 23, 2018

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We’re leaving for Orlando, Florida this afternoon to go to Universal Studios for 3 days returning on Friday , July 27.  Should be a good family trip with BLT, NPT, LET, MNP and me, EAP.

“Wait an hour”

Got to the airport, got thru security with no major problems and sat down to wait and wait and wait.  Our flight was delayed for an hour, so instead of leaving at 12:55, we left around 2.  Flight uneventful and we arrived  in Florida, yep an hour later than planned.  We found the Universal Studios  booth and told them we were ready for the shuttle we scheduled with our “Package”.  We went outside to wait and wait and wait.  A universal van pulled in, but it had only 2 seats available, so we waited and waited some more.  Finally, you guessed it OVER AN HOUR later a shuttle came to get us. 

We got to the hotel and NPT and I checked us in, while the other folks waited.  It took an hour to check in—and verify all our “package” options.  Fast pass, meal plan, etc.  We mentioned that L’s birthday was on Sat and the check in lady spent another 10 minutes or so fixing us up with special birthday buttons, card and voucher.  All in all it took about an hour to check in.   Time was getting away from us and we still had not eaten supper. 

 We dumped our luggage, found the water taxi, rode to the main street of Universal and chose the Hard Rock Café for supper.  They were busy, but we got an immediate table, ordered, and yep the meal took at least an hour to come.

We finally got back to our room about 11:30.  A very late evening for me.