Please forgive the delay, but here is my Trip Report from our overnight stay at Loews Pacific Royal Resort:
We arrived at about 11pm on 12/12/12, and were delighted to hear from the front desk that we had been upgraded from a standard room to a Kids Suite! The room was fantastic – spacious in the main area, with a separate room having two single beds for the kids. It was a nice way to start our vacation. We took photos for our Express Passes and headed straight to bed for an early start the next day.
After a quick breakfast from the café in the lobby (very convenient), we took a water taxi over to City Walk and headed to IoA for the early 8am opening for on site guests. At 8am we ran straight to the Wizarding World Of Harry Potter, stopping for nothing. We were the first people on line at Ollivanders Wand Shop, and to our delight, our 11 year old daughter was chosen to be part of the first show of the day! That made it even more special, although of course, we had to buy her the wand that chose her afterwards!
From there we headed straight to Forbidden Journey which was a walk-on. I did wind up getting a locker, but the lack of crowds made it easy. DD and I delighted in everything about the queue since we are the two Potter fans in the family. My hubby and 13 year old DS thought the moving paintings were cool. As for the ride itself, it was incredible. I was rather nervous since I don’t do well with thrill rides, but I simply couldn’t miss this one. I can’t add any more to the description of the ride than others have already posted, but suffice it to say, DD and I were amazed by it and loved it (although I was just a tad queasy by the end). My hubby – who likes coasters – didn’t love it, but he couldn’t appreciate all the details of the story.
From there we rode Flight of the Hippogryph and then enjoyed all the details of Hogsmeade. I felt like I was inside Rowling’s world, seeing it come to life. The kids and I shared a frozen butterbeer which I was surprised to find I really liked. Of course we made some purchases at Honeydukes Candy Shoppe. My hubby and DS left the WWOHP to go on some thrill rides without us (they loved Dr. Dooms Fear Fall) while DD and I stayed to check out every detail. When the Dragon Challenge finally opened at 11am, the men returned to ride it (without us chickens).
After that we squeezed in many attractions – Trolley in the Sky, Cat in the Hat, Spiderman (twice), Jurassic Park (only the men – the weather had been predicted to be 70 but only turned out to be about 50 so we were all freezing in shorts and t-shirts, and the girls didn’t want to get soaking wet). DD got her photo taken with the Grinch as well as the Whos.
We arrived at about 11pm on 12/12/12, and were delighted to hear from the front desk that we had been upgraded from a standard room to a Kids Suite! The room was fantastic – spacious in the main area, with a separate room having two single beds for the kids. It was a nice way to start our vacation. We took photos for our Express Passes and headed straight to bed for an early start the next day.
After a quick breakfast from the café in the lobby (very convenient), we took a water taxi over to City Walk and headed to IoA for the early 8am opening for on site guests. At 8am we ran straight to the Wizarding World Of Harry Potter, stopping for nothing. We were the first people on line at Ollivanders Wand Shop, and to our delight, our 11 year old daughter was chosen to be part of the first show of the day! That made it even more special, although of course, we had to buy her the wand that chose her afterwards!
From there we headed straight to Forbidden Journey which was a walk-on. I did wind up getting a locker, but the lack of crowds made it easy. DD and I delighted in everything about the queue since we are the two Potter fans in the family. My hubby and 13 year old DS thought the moving paintings were cool. As for the ride itself, it was incredible. I was rather nervous since I don’t do well with thrill rides, but I simply couldn’t miss this one. I can’t add any more to the description of the ride than others have already posted, but suffice it to say, DD and I were amazed by it and loved it (although I was just a tad queasy by the end). My hubby – who likes coasters – didn’t love it, but he couldn’t appreciate all the details of the story.
From there we rode Flight of the Hippogryph and then enjoyed all the details of Hogsmeade. I felt like I was inside Rowling’s world, seeing it come to life. The kids and I shared a frozen butterbeer which I was surprised to find I really liked. Of course we made some purchases at Honeydukes Candy Shoppe. My hubby and DS left the WWOHP to go on some thrill rides without us (they loved Dr. Dooms Fear Fall) while DD and I stayed to check out every detail. When the Dragon Challenge finally opened at 11am, the men returned to ride it (without us chickens).
After that we squeezed in many attractions – Trolley in the Sky, Cat in the Hat, Spiderman (twice), Jurassic Park (only the men – the weather had been predicted to be 70 but only turned out to be about 50 so we were all freezing in shorts and t-shirts, and the girls didn’t want to get soaking wet). DD got her photo taken with the Grinch as well as the Whos.
