Universal/Disney

So--think back to that almost winter we had back in late Jan/early Feb.  After winter 2011, I decided that I really liked getting away to someplace warm in winter time.  Didn't know if my mom was going to go back to FL in 2012, but just in case, I started brewing the idea that we would work in a trip to see Harry Potter at Universal if we did go down that way.

Well...by the time mom decided not to go, I was enjoying the idea of harry too much and we decided to go down anyway--but only to Universal.

Well...then I looked at the calendar and realized that we were heading down to Orlando during Disney's homeschool days and that the kids could take a class while we were there!  I couldn't say no to Disney at open class enrollment but I did spare Pete the Disney experience.

Started with a stop off at mom's for a brief visit and drop off Toby.

DISNEY

Pre-visit
We had to pick up our tickets so we could do early entry the next day so I booked dinner at Wilderness Lodge.  We had a fun time at the restaurant then caught a ferry over to the Magic Kingdom to pick up our tickets.  The kids decided we'd go back to the room, rather than watch the fireworks from the gates, but instead we got a great view of the show from the ferry back to the lodge!  It was a really nice way to get into the Disney mood of the trip.

First day, Magic Kingdom! 

 I was extremely brave and rode both Splash Mountain and Space Mtn.  Would have gone on the 3rd mtn too (Thunder) but it was closed for refurb :(

A not very good shot on Splash Mtn.

Otherwise a pretty typical day at MK.  Pineapple whip, Pirates, Peter Pan and a good peek at the Fantasyland extension and top of the new Beauty and the Beast Castle.  Katie will need to go back when it's finished.

Next day was the Chemistry class at Epcot.  Got there very early and I stayed for the very beginning because of the tickets.  Once they went off with their teacher, I ran to get some fast passes and to ride all the slow old lady rides that I never get to go on.

They really enjoyed the class.  Zack has wanted to do another Kim Possible mission so we went over to World Showcase to do two of those.  Then, I think we went back to the hotel for a bit. 

Trying to figure out the next clue.

After hanging out with some friends.

Back that night for dinner with Mickey and friends.  We almost lost our ressie due to a very slow moving line at Test Track but we dashed through the park and made it.

Next day, Animal Kingdom

I was not as brave and Katie and I passed on Expedition Everest, but here's Zack "enjoying" himself!

We did  enjoy Dinosaur

Saw a rhino!

 We actually didn't go on too many rides at AK, but did catch the shows this time, which were surprisingly good.  Surprising because the shows at Hollywood Studios were so bad when we saw them.

AK closes early so we ran over to Hollywood to see if we could catch the new Star Wars ride.  We made it in time to go on and I think Zack went on the Twilight Zone ride while Katie and I went on Toy Story Mania.  Long wait but fun.

Last day at Disney but ended on a great note with Pete getting in town!

UNIVERSAL and the WWOHP

Up early and through the gates at opening.  We knew the shortest route to the Wiz World.  I had been advised that if the wait for Forbidden Journey was anything less than an hour, it was worth waiting.  We hit the jackpot day, we never waited more than 10 mins for any of the rides.

Got to the gates and it truly is magical.  The music is playing, the Hogwarts Express is there and the Castle is ahead and you do feel like you just walked into the movie.  Katie was on the moon and the rest of us were smiling too.

We headed for FJ first and since the wait was so small, did the ride line first.  It is an AMAZING ride.  I was so glad I was able to ride it. 


On to Ollivanders and our first try of butterbeer while waiting in line.  Got one frozen and one not.  I liked the plain a bit better but wasn't blown over by either.  Kids liked it though.   Against my hopes and expressed wishes, the kids bought wands right away.

Second round of butterbeer

 We also tried Pumpkin Juice which I thought was a gritty horror but everyone else liked a lot.  blech :-p

Spent the morning exploring WWOHP, then headed out before the crowds grew too unbearable.  Can't remember if we had dinner at the Three Broomsticks that night, but I think that might have been later in the trip.

The rest of the park is fine, but too many stores and no magic like in Disney or at WWOHP-which is really like a different park than the rest.

Katie getting her Greek on at Sinbad

Boris and Natasha have a secret meaning for us ;)

Ripsaw Falls-just K&Z

 Just did Islands of Adventure that first day.  Enjoyed the Bilge Rat Barges and the Spiderman ride and Pete and Zack went on the Hulk and liked it but that was about it.  Went back to Harry to shop a bit more before leaving for the night.

That night, Zack's first swish and flick of his wand, snapped it in two and Katie decided she wanted a different wand (hmm, if only they had waited a bit longer before making their purchases....).

Next day we went to Universal Studios and Pete and I both enjoyed the theming better.  The streets were wider and we both enjoyed the movie themes, a lot of which we knew.

I went directly to the gift shop to return the broken and unwanted wands and they were terrific about it and gave me no trouble with the returns.

A highlight was when Pete got picked to play a role in the Disaster show!  Sadly, they don't let you take video, but we have the one shot of him above.

In keeping with my bravery theme of the trip, I actually rode the Mummy roller coaster ride.  It goes backwards very fast so Katie and I were unsure of it, but Pete and Zack tested it out for us and we had a blast!

Pete and Zack did Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket, and we all rode the Simpsons Ride and ET (yawn).  Pete decided to skip Men in Black, which was a very dizzy ride.

The Terminator show was terrible--as we found with ALL of the shows at Universal.  I can't imagine why people talk about the shows there when they were beyond corny.  They were dated, dusty, hokey and cheap looking.  Waste of time.  

The food was overall unremarkable.

A tired crew at the end of the day.

The next day we hung around the hotel and then let Pete rest while Katie and I went shopping and Zack went to Disney Quest.

Next morning Pete flew off for his west coast tour with The Jet Age.

We went back to the parks and to do the Jurassic Park section of IOA.  I wasn't feeling so great (bad reaction to the anti vertigo patch I'd used the previous two days) so I didn't do rides and took it easy.  Katie and Zack did go on the Jurassic Park ride and loved that.  We all enjoyed the discovery center they have there too.  I also took a nice slow walk through the tour-only line of FJ while the kids rode the ride again.

I know we ate at the three broomsticks on this day and I tried pear cider, which was wonderful.  We saw the Sinbad show, which was atrocious.

We crossed over to the Studios to see the cute, but still not as good as the Disney bird show, animal show and to do the Simpsons ride again and even I rode the Mummy a second time.

That evening, back over to WWOHP for new wands, pumpkin juices, chocolate frogs and cauldron cakes for ourselves and friends back home.

It was a nice note to end the Universal section of the trip on.

Back to NC and grandma's house.  Good to see Toby, who was happy to be spoiled while we were away.  Since Pete was going to be away all week, we took the opportunity to have a nice visit with grandma.

Even during the mild winter, it was nice to get away to shorts weather and I am hooked on warm weather trips in winter now.

Next, I'll do a brief recap of the first half of the year and show some photos of our more recent NC and NYC trips.

Dis pt 9 & Pictures

The Photopass disc finally came! I took advantage of pre-ordering the disc and then split it with a friend (Disney releases the rights to you so no problem making copies) which brought the price down to a reasonable sum. The photographers are a mixed lot, but I think we got some nice shots:
















9/11 Pete heads home and check out day at the beach club.

No park today. We had to pack up the room and store our stuff with the hotel. Originally, the kids and I were going to start back to NC this day, but then I heard all sort of horror stories about AirTran cancelling evening flights. I figured, if Pete was stranded in Orlando for the night, I wouldn't want to be in Jacksonville. So, I booked the kids and me in a value resort, a level we'd never stayed in before.

After checking out, I wanted to hit some shops and possibly use our waterpark or DisneyQuest tickets before Pete took off. I added the option on at the last minute because the homeschool price made it affordable and I was willing to skip it if it was just too much.

We headed over to Downtown Disney around lunch time. The Lego store was on our list and we spent a good amount of time there. Katie and I also wanted to hit World of Disney to buy some souvenirs. We also got pixie dusted! Had no idea that it would last for days despite showers!


World of Disney


Giant Lego dragon

Pete, again, was very patient with us.

We ate at Wolfgang Puck Express, which we remembered from our last trip and still liked very much.

Then we hit DisneyQuest. Not really Katie's thing but we did enjoy the pirates game. Zack was in his element and disappeared off to the arcade games. I thought Pete would also get into it, but he was way too tired to really enjoy it.

The morning went too fast. Even though Pete's flight wasn't until almost 7pm, Magical Express wanted him at the bus stop by 3:30pm. So we trekked back to the car (next time I would definitely move the car from one end of DTD to the other, the walk was long and HOT).

We hugged Pete and said goodbye :-( and off he went on the bus. We headed over to Pop Century to claim our luggage and find our room.

Really Pop was fine, but after the Beach Club, a total let down. In future, I'd probably vote for off-site than stay in a Disney Value again. The room was tiny, the distance to the pool and lobby was huge and it was mobbed and the food court was really awful. I found our stay at Country Inn and Suites a lot more relaxing on our first Disney trip than I found Pop.


These were pretty fun though...



Zack was eager to go back to DisneyQuest, so I agreed to head back in the evening. It was nice to see DTD all lit up too. I was starting to feel a bit of the cold Zack and Katie had cycled through, so we made it a fairly early evening while still feeling like we had seen everything at DQ.

Pete's flight took off fine and we settled in for our last sleep in Orlando.

9/12 The End

We got up pretty early so we could hit the Magic Kingdom before heading back to my mom's in NC. A long day, but I wanted just a bit more Disney Magic before we left.

I decided the best way to park would be to go to the Contemporary and then walk to monorail over to the park. It worked out great. We stopped in to the hotel to grab some breakfast, and then jumped on the monorail to the park entrance.

The park was basically empty when we got there and we were able to hit our favorites very quickly. Pirates first, Big Thunder Mtn twice!, Haunted Mansion, Laugh Floor, Space Mtn, not sure if we hit buzz again...


Can you see the hidden Tinkerbell?

Then we did a bit of shopping, heading back to Adventureland to get Zack a sword and, natch, MORE DOLE WHIP!!! This time we tried floats--DELISH!



Then on to Main Street and then it was time to say goodbye. We walked back to the car and off we went. Until next time ;-)



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Dis pt 8

9/8

This was supposed to be a Beach Club day, but the kids really didn't take to the pool like I thought they would and preferred to have an easy morning, but then head to Epcot. Katie wanted to see the tea shop in England and Zack wanted to do another Kim Possible mission.

Pete took a little time in the morning again while the kids and I rode Ellen's Energy Adventure, a strange ride, and the kids rode Mission Space again. Katie voted for the milder version this time and was underwhelmed. I think we rode Test track again too.

We all went over and it turned out that the mission was in England anyway, so we traveled around the shops there. Zack even got a tea sample as part of his clues.

Here's where I made my big mistake. We didn't know what to have for lunch. Generally, I made sit-down reservations for lunch, but because this was going to be a hang around day, I had made a character dinner res instead. I completely forgot that I had also made reservations at via Napoli in Italy for lunch. Bummer! Pete went back to Morocco to pick up food and the kids and I split some fish and chips. The pizza would have been better :(

Not sure if we went back to the room or not. We may have just continued around the World Showcase. We did go to Italy, France again, where we met up with Sleeping Beauty (still waiting for our photopass CD with those picts though), Mexico to ride the boat and shop, and I think that about covered it.


Very difficult not to buy this mask in Italy, but the price was unreal.


Hola Zack!

Pete was way over Disney by this day and the character dinner didn't really help this. I wanted to skip it, but Katie was looking forward to it. Pete was a real trouper though and put on a pretty good face for the meal. I didn't like the restaurant at all. The food was ok, but the place itself could use an update and I thought it was unacceptable that there was no photopass photographer at the meal. Katie and Zack had a good time, so that was good.

Characters!




Pete giving it a good effort!


Good Dessert

We picked a nice spot near Japan to watch the fireworks at the end of the night. It was nice to avoid the crowd which tend to gather more toward the front of the park for a quick exit at the end. The show was great, but the wind shifted and blew ashes right at us after the finale. Not as fun but a good day all in all.