Trip Report The "My iCloud Takes Me Back to 2016" TR's

Hello All!!

So, here I am again with another TR. This is going to be a bit different from my past ones. Let me briefly explain:

As most of you probably know E, J, & I were supposed to be in Disney in March/April. Our mom had been battling cancer for the last 3 years & was not doing well when we were to be in Disney so we cancelled our trip. I was looking back in my iCloud and was surprised at how much I remembered from past trips so I've decided to do some mini TR's as far back as my iClould takes me. I also have quite a few PP pictures from the trips(back when they actually showed up in my account-I'm sure you remember me complaining about them not showing up recently). These will not be as detailed as my recent ones since no notes were taken. There are 8 trips over a span of 2 years. I'm looking forward to doing these as a distraction from the recent sad times in my life plus my mom was on a few of these trips so it will be nice remembering happy times with her. It's also neat looking back on things that aren't in the world anymore.

Primarily based on my pictures I was able to go back & piece together the who, what, when & where's for the most part. Lot's of different things happened during these trips:1st trips for some of my family, a runDisney race, room debacles, a 1st haircut, & leaving propertyo_O for the first time just to name a few. I hope everyone enjoys & welcome aboard!!


Side note: Not sure if you remember(or care for that matter:hilarious:) but I had mentioned in my last TR that there was a specific purpose for the March/April trip. Even though we didn't go I figured I would share it with you. We were planning on a spring trip but we picked our dates based on who was performing at the Epcot Flower & Garden Concert. We were to going to see none other than Rick Springfield!! Now, I am an 80's child but was never a fan of his music. I did kind of like him on General Hospital though. Anyhow, believe it or not R & one of my BIL's really like his music😲 I know, it's not too often you hear of many guys who know the words to "Jessie's Girl". Over the years I have been forced to attend a few of his shows & I must say I developed a liking for his music. Basically, the purpose of scheduling the trip when we did was to rub it in R & my BIL's face!! So there you have it!!
 

riverside

Premium Member
Original Poster
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21ST 2017

We stopped for a few PP pictures on our way back to WS.
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I remember it was around noon when we headed back to WS. The heat was really getting to us. We were deciding where to eat lunch & R said that he had to eat in air conditioning. We came to Mexico first & he asked about San Angel Inn. I told him that you need a reservation & it was prime time lunch hour & there's no way we would get one. He approached the hostess stand & asked. We were seated about 2 minutes later!!

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I can't remember what we had but we all enjoyed our meals & it was great to get out of the heat for awhile.
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While we were eating I was looking on the app & found FP's for FEA that would start in 1/2 hour. Perfect!! We had a FP for it later in the week but this was definitely a bonus!! Plus, it's cool in there....
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For the first time we watched the Reflections of China show. Anything to stay out of the heat!! Actually, I enjoyed the show.
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Then I saw that Belle was meeting soon. My niece M's birthday was in a few days & Belle was her favorite. Her birthday party was the day we would be coming home. I got the bright idea to have her write her a birthday message & get a video of her wishing her a "happy birthday". I stood in line--for 40 minutes with no shade--to see her. I sent H into the shops to purchase a pen & something that Belle could write on for M. I'm not quite sure where R went during all this but I know for a fact he didn't stand in that line. I'm sure he went somewhere that had AC. In the end I was so happy that I did it. My niece was absolutely thrilled & the video was amazing!! She couldn't believe that Belle knew it was her birthday!!
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H & I even got our picture taken with her.
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riverside

Premium Member
Original Poster
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21ST 2017

We had an early dinner reservation at Teppan Edo which was good b/c we were all running out of steam from the heat.
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H is actually pretty good with chopsticks. Me, I'm lucky I can eat with a fork.
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We started making our way out after dinner. We all wanted to head back to take a break in the AC.
R was disappointed that the British Revolution wasn't playing that day. He remembered how much he enjoyed them 20 years earlier & couldn't wait to see them again. He was pretty bummed & told me I had planned the perfect trip up until that point.:rolleyes: I told him they would be there when we came back later in the week.

We made sure we stopped to take the traditional picture to send to my BIL.
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After watching bits & pieces of Pandora we headed down to The River Roost.
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To see Bob of course!!
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Swissmiss

Premium Member
What a difference a year makes - isn’t H the niece you took last year? Because I recall her looking so « grown up » in last year’s TR and in these pictures there is still a small hint of not yet being an adult.
 

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Cruz Ramirez (from Cars 3)
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In your prior TR with H, I had this sense that she reminded me of someone. That feeling returned when I began reading this section of your retro trips.

I finally figured out that H.....
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.....resembles another H
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Hayley Orrantia (Erica from The Goldbergs)
 

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Pandora is a pretty cool land but man it was very confusing to me. To this day I still get lost making my way to FOP.
So do I!!! I always have to ask Em to lead the way. :hilarious:

R was not very thrilled with it. He said he liked it until it went backwards. He said it felt like it was going upside down & he doesn't like that
R sums up my feelings about Expedition Everest exactly! Only I had to ride it 3 different times to confirm if I really hate it. (Slow learner or optimist, you be the judge! :joyfull: )
 

riverside

Premium Member
Original Poster
THURSDAY, JUNE 22ND 2017

The day was here. The day I was least looking forward to. We were leaving Disney property & heading to the dark side. It felt so weird leaving. It felt weird taking something other than Disney transportation. It felt weird being on unfamiliar roads. Can you tell I wasn't happy about this??

I knew H really wanted to go to Universal/IOA to see the Harry Potter stuff. I said I would sacrifice only 1 Disney day to go there. The price of the tickets were astronomical. One day park to park(need that to ride Hogwart's Express) tickets during peak season along with the unlimited express pass(figured it was necessary since we would only be there one day) came to some serious dough--it was almost $900.00!! R & I really don't like scary thrill rides so I wasn't sure how much we would be riding. As you'll come to see the express pass was a total waste of money for him. I utilized mine a bit more but not much.

Since I had spent a small fortune on these tickets I figured I should read a few of the HP books & watch a few of the movies so I could somewhat appreciate what I was spending my hard earned money on. I was glad I did but I didn't continue with them when I got back. I'm not really a HP fan I guess.

It felt so strange to not be in a Disney park & to not know where I was going. I did do research ahead of time so I somewhat knew what I was doing. I will say going through their security was pretty efficient & impressive.
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We went to Islands of Adventure first.
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The guide book that I had read said to keep right & go through Seuss Landing to get to Hogsmeade the quickest. Even though we had the express pass if I remember correctly the HP rides were not included so we wanted to go to them first before the lines got crazy.
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I must say I was pretty impressed with the area!!
 

riverside

Premium Member
Original Poster
So do I!!! I always have to ask Em to lead the way. :hilarious:
Glad to hear I'm not the only one! I just don't understand what makes it so confusing but it really is!!
R sums up my feelings about Expedition Everest exactly! Only I had to ride it 3 different times to confirm if I really hate it. (Slow learner or optimist, you be the judge! :joyfull: )
At least you gave it a fair chance!! My vote is for optimist!!
Never seen the Tarzan face character before. Never want to again. Dang he looks sketch!
I hope I never do again either. Based on the fact that no one was in line to meet him tells me I'm not the only one who was a little weirded out by him.
 

riverside

Premium Member
Original Poster
THURSDAY, JUNE 22ND 2017

We headed straight to Forbidden Journey. R decided he would not be able to handle this ride so he waited on a bench near the exit. He said he was really glad he didn't go on after seeing this one family come off the ride. The dad kept saying he was going to be sick & he never should have went on it. R was quite happy with his decision at that point.

Here's when we made our first rookie Universal/IOA mistake. We utilized the lockers. Why, oh why?? Why didn't we just think to give R our things?? The locker area is a complete hot mess. People tripping all over each other. It was unbelievable. It is enough to give someone some serious anxiety let me tell you.
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The queue was super impressive.
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These pictures were my favorite part of it.
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A pretty lousy picture of Dumbledore.
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The ride was nothing short of amazing!! It definitely rivals FOP for pretty much the best ride EVER!!

We would come back to Hogsmeade later but we wanted to go to Diagon Alley to ride Escape From Gringott's before that line got too long. We didn't have to wait at all for the train. It pulled in right away.
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The other nice thing was that it was so empty that we had a car to ourselves. The Hogwart's Express was nothing short of amazing. The amount of detail had me totally blown away. H really enjoyed it.
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BTW--notice H is wearing her magic band. I was too b/c it would be needed to get back in the room. I kind of felt funny though wearing it in Disney's main competitor's park. Does anyone see where I'm coming from? It's like when I buy something in the Universal store at the airport. I never hand them my Disney Visa--I always use my Southwest Visa.

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In no time at all we were in Diagon Alley. It was a little tricky getting in there at first!!
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riverside

Premium Member
Original Poster
THURSDAY, JUNE 22ND 2017

We headed straight for Escape From Gringott's. Guess who sat this one out??
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These papers were so neat!!
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We really enjoyed this ride also!!

It was a little early but we hadn't had breakfast & we wanted to eat before the lunch rush. We ate at Leaky Cauldron & we all had the Fish & Chips. It was very good.
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But here's the star of the show!! I can't tell you how many of these I had that day. 4 I think!! I enjoyed the frozen more than the liquid.
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After our early lunch we headed out to explore the other areas in the parks.
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riverside

Premium Member
Original Poster
THURSDAY, JUNE 22ND 2017

We raced through New York next--well, at least 2 of us did.....
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H rode Rip Ride Rock It next.
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All three of us went on Minion Mayhem but R asked to sit in the stationary seats up front that don't move.

I was excited to see this. Scooby Doo was a great cartoon!!
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Then we ran into these guys!! When my dad was looking at my pictures he asked me who the guy on the end is. He thought that he was someone who came on the trip with us. I guess he didn't notice the dog in the center of the picture......
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R & H rode this. I believe it was a Woody Woodpecker coaster that was way too high for me!!
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These guys were out but we didn't have any interest in meeting them.
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Now R was excited to see this!! He purposely wore that Back to the Future shirt so he could get his picture taken with the DeLorean.
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All 3 of us rode Men In Black which meant we had to use the lockers :arghh: It was just as bad as the ones at Forbidden Journey.
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We also rode E.T. but I don't have any pictures.
 

riverside

Premium Member
Original Poster
THURSDAY, JUNE 22ND 2017

It was early afternoon at this point & there was a bit of a line for the Hogwart's Express.
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I was so glad I was aware of this ahead of time. I purposely stayed back so I could get their pictures.
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It was an enjoyable ride back to Hogsmeade but this time there were other people in our compartment.

All 3 of us rode Flight of the Hippogriff. H went on Dragon Challenge(at least I think that's what it was called--it's gone now)while R & I literally sat there and baked. It was so hot so it was time for another Butterbeer!!
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There were some treats H wanted to buy but we didn't want them to melt since it was so warm. I told her we would come back to Hogsmeade before we left.
 

riverside

Premium Member
Original Poster
THURSDAY, JUNE 22ND 2017

H really wanted to ride the Hulk. R & I sat on a bench watching this ride. I took a video of it & sent it to my sister(H's mom)& said, "Look what your daughter is on."
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That must not have been enough of an adrenaline rush for her b/c she went on Doctor Doom's Fearfall next.
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After that H & I went on Spiderman. We headed back to Hogsmeade so H could get the treats that she wanted. She also got a pumpkin juice. I may have had another Butterbeer.....

We contemplated going on a water ride but we didn't want to have wet clothes on when we got in the Uber.
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We arrived back home. It felt so good to be back!!
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We had a late dinner reservation at Rainforest Cafe in DS. We got cleaned up & took the boat down.
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I have zero pictures from this evening. I do remember us having very lousy service at dinner. The food wasn't bad though. I was looking forward to the next day--finally we would be going to MK!!
 

riverside

Premium Member
Original Poster
FRIDAY, JUNE 23RD 2017

This was the day that R was least looking forward to. He only wanted to go to MK one day b/c he called it a "kiddie park". This, coming from the guy who would barely ride anything at Universal b/c it was too much for him. To me the "kiddie park" is more his speed. Prior to the trip he kept talking about how much he would like to golf while we were in Disney. He had planned to golf that morning. I had booked him a tee time but I can't remember now at which course. At some point during the trip he decided that he didn't want to golf. I think he just didn't want to go by himself b/c he loves golf. So, I cancelled the tee time. He also decided he wanted to sleep in & not go to MK early. Ok--see ya, bye!!

H & I still went early & took advantage of the low crowds.
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We headed to Space Mountain first.
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Then the wildest ride in the wilderness!!
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I remember we also went on Haunted Mansion.

By then R showed up. We went on Pirates & at that point the wait was 45 minutes.
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Funny how all three of us are looking to the right.
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Next up was the Jungle Cruise & the wait was an hour. And we waited that full hour. It was ridiculously crowded!!
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