Trip Report Couldn't stay away: A Two-Part May TR

abzoo · Jun 30, 2015

Thursday, May 21

So Part Two of the TR brings with it a change of cast, change of hotel, etc. My sister flew in to FL the night before and I had to finish up some work in the morning before we left to do some shopping for snacks and begin our 2 hour drive to Orlando.

Since we wouldn't have a full first day, we decided to make this a Universal day. I have a Power Pass for the park but we bought a 2-day/2-park (+ 1 free extra day) ticket from Undercover Tourist. We didn't order soon enough so we had to make a stop to pick up the ticket in person at a UPS store close to the park. Simple enough! Soon, we parked and made our way through City Walk as it started to rain (I had conveniently left my umbrella in the car).

As soon as we entered USF, it started absolutely pouring. We ducked into a gift shop for a few minutes before we decided to brave the rain. We went over to Mummy for our first ride. The wait was pretty short. After that, it was time for Diagon Alley! KT had not seen it yet and we're huge Harry Potter fans. We wandered around and took a bunch of photos.

My sister wasn't willing to test out Escape from Gringotts yet, as she has basically zero tolerance for simulated rides. So we got let in for the bank "tour" and took some photos in the lobby there/ said hello to our goblin friends.

abzoo · Jul 8, 2015

Oops. Haven't updated in a while. Here's some more pics of our wanderings around Diagon Alley. We stopped into the Ollivanders show and then spent a lot of time perusing the wands. My sister would not stop talking about wanting an interactive one the entire trip but ultimately talked herself out of it.

I was definitely obsessed with taking pictures of the Gringotts dragon breathing fire since that feature was not working when I was at Universal in October. I kept popping out of whatever shop we were in to take photos when it was fire time. Katie and I also got a pic on Hagrid's motorbike/ sidecar.

sheriffwoody · Jul 8, 2015

I think the dragon must have been out of commission when I was there too because I never saw it breathe fire. It looks so cool!

abzoo · Jul 8, 2015

kristiwoody said:
I think the dragon must have been out of commission when I was there too because I never saw it breathe fire. It looks so cool!

Very cool! It was such a bummer that the dragon wasn't doing his thing when my friends visited in October. It makes Diagon Alley even more exciting.

abzoo · Jul 9, 2015

Next we went to Knockturn Alley and looked around.

We were getting hungry so it was time for a super late lunch at Leaky Cauldron. I got the toad in the hole and Katie got the chicken sandwich, which she loved.

We headed out of the Wizarding World for a quick spin on Men in Black, my sister's favorite.

Then were ready to go to Islands of Adventure so we went to King's Cross to catch a train!

abzoo · Jul 10, 2015

We got out at Hogsmeade Station and I noticed something I had just walked by in October. Thestral!! Look-- there it is (or isn't). Mainly exciting because I share a special bond with the creatures. My college Quidditch team was the Thrashing Thestrals.

We explored Hogsmeade a little and had our first experience with the new metal detectors for the roller coasters. We got a locker in the crazy busy locker area next to the ride and then got in line for Dragon Challenge. We hit a long queue of people early in the line and saw that they were waiting for the metal detector. It's a really inefficient process. The couple of times we went through, the machine beeped at me for no reason. Annoying.

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We left Hogsmeade and via Jurassic Park and rode the River Adventure.

Very splashy. Much dinosaurs.

FlaggNL · Jul 13, 2015

Thanks for the Univ updates! Great pictures!!

abzoo · Jul 13, 2015

We ventured elsewhere through Islands of Adventure and took a ride on the Hulk (another ride with annoying metal detectors).

Then I wanted to ride the Ripsaw Falls water ride since we'd never done it before and the wait was really short. Walking through the queue took forever though. When we were seated, I started having some regrets. I was in the very front of the boat and it's all single file. We were about to get soaked... and we did. That ride is long and we had no idea what to expect. There's a lot of areas you go through that are just dark and there's not much to look at.

So wet.

We wandered a little more back through Jurassic and past the construction for the new Kong area.

IoA was about to close so we ended up back in Hogsmeade, ready to take the Hogwarts Express yet again.

abzoo · Jul 13, 2015

And here's a bunch of Diagon Alley at dusk. I had only ever seen it in the daytime before but it's so different (better) when it gets dark.

Of course, we have appearances by my good friend, the dragon!

abzoo · Jul 13, 2015

I think we went on Men In Black once more before leaving the park at close. Walked back to the car and even though we had yet to check into the hotel, we wanted to get some food first. We started off the Katie-can-legally-drink-now thing by going to the Chevy's outside Downtown Disney and getting margaritas along with some tasty Mexican food.

Then we drove on over to Pop Century and checked in. We only ever stay at the All Stars when we go together so it was great to try out Pop for the first time!

So that was it for the night. Basically we stayed up later than we should have considering we were waking up soo early the next morning for the 24 hour event. Oh well!

abzoo · Jul 14, 2015

Friday, May 22
24 HOUR DAY

My sister and I had plans of park hopping during the 24 hour day but ended up having to change our plans. Why? I won the Disney Parks Blog-hosted Breakfast, ‘Tomorrowland’ & 24-Hours at Walt Disney World Resort Event. The prize came with 2 free park tickets for the 22nd (I already have my pass but it meant that my sister didn't have to use one of her park days). Also, there was a breakfast in Cosmic Ray's, buses over to DtD to see Tomorrowland, and a few other goodies. Hooray for free things!

Of course, we didn't leave the hotel room quite as early as we had hoped but made it to the TTC by 5:30. We needed to drive instead of taking the bus since we had tickets and wristbands to pick up before we got on the monorail to MK. We made it into the entry just as the Welcome Show was beginning.

Even though we had a breakfast to get to, there was no way we were passing up an early ride on Space Mountain. Onward through Tomorrowland!

It was at this point that we discovered the different Snapchat geofilters that show up depending on where you are in the park. So you'll see a bunch of those throughout the TR. Woo Space Mountain.

Making weird faces in the blue tunnel of SM is one of my favorite activities...

ValVal · Jul 15, 2015

yessssss the filters WE DIDN'T haveeeeee- WDW was late to the snapgame

abzoo · Jul 15, 2015

We went in for the super exclusive breakfast party in Cosmic Ray's, where they had some fruits, yogurt, bagels, juice, coffee, cinnamon rolls with the Tomorrowland logo...

We listened to Sonny Eclipse and the announcements from the Parks Blog team and then decided to take another spin on Space Mountain. After that, we came back to take advantage of the photo opportunity they had set up, complete with free picture downloads. This guy was modeling a costume and jetpack from the movie.

Orange bird!

abzoo · Jul 15, 2015

At 7:15, we made our way over to Frontierland, following this CM...

Super relevant Snapchat Frontierland filter.

We got to go out the fancy backstage exit, which was very cool. The buses were waiting for us out there to take us to Downtown Disney.

So then the 400ish of us were escorted into the theater to see the movie, which we enjoyed. Absolutely loved that "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" had a place in the film! Seeing a movie at 8AM is definitely bizarre.

abzoo · Aug 3, 2015

Update: Sorry I've been neglecting this TR. Since I can never finish one of these without taking a trip to Disney beforehand, I bring you updates from DISNEYLAND. I've been out in California and had to make a trip down to see @ValVal and all the 60th anniversary festivities. We had a busy day yesterday and are heading back today!

The castle is looking absolutely beautiful!

Paint the Night parade!

abzoo · Aug 10, 2015

Okay, one more Disneyland post before I go back to the actual trip report. @ValVal and I had a great two days. As I mentioned before, the tiny Sleeping Beauty castle is looking so sparkly and beautiful...

We had some bad luck with a couple of rides and shows closing when we were in line but then there are also great benefits like waiting only 20 minutes for Toy Story Mania (even though the wait time was posted at 45 minutes).

There are a bunch of cute PhotoPass setups around both the parks. Very cool:

Also, World of Color-- Celebrate! is great because Neil Patrick Harris sings the "Celebrate the Magic" song. I was definitely surprised to hear that song outside the Magic Kingdom.

Finally, Mad Tea Party is beautiful at night but even more beautiful and more fun when you ride it when the new parade is passing!!

abzoo · Aug 10, 2015

And moving right along, let's go back to May and the 24 Hour day.

As we were leaving the theater at Downtown Disney to get back on the buses, we were each given 5 Tomorrowland pins so we could be "recruiters" like in the movie-- we were told to give our extra pins away back at the park.

By the time we got back to MK, it was getting really crowded. And hot. We trudged back up Main Street and went to Tomorrowland, where the wait times were getting high... so we stopped in to see Carousel of Progress-- very fitting after the movie we had just seen.

But then it wasn't really worth it to stick around. I had a reservation to cancel at Epcot since we wouldn't be park hopping anymore (and I didn't want to get charged). So we got back to the car at TTC and drove to Yacht Club so I could run in to World Showcase and cancel it. That was a questionable decision since it was getting so hot.

Soon enough it was time for a rest back at Pop! I headed right to the pool before napping but my sister just wanted to sleep. The pool felt sooo good!

Then I went back to the room to nap and surprisingly, KT was the one who made me get up, instead of the other way around. We went to the food court to grab some dinner. Everything Pop was much better than the food court at All-Star Movies. Katie got a chicken sandwich and I think I got a kids meal. Had an issue getting my Tables in Wonderland card to scan. After that, we left the car at the resort and hopped a bus back to MK.

We had FP+ for Space Mountain and then we got on the Peoplemover.

ValVal · Aug 11, 2015

abzoo said:
Okay, one more Disneyland post before I go back to the actual trip report. @ValVal and I had a great two days. As I mentioned before, the tiny Sleeping Beauty castle is looking so sparkly and beautiful...
There are a bunch of cute PhotoPass setups around both the parks. Very Cool
Finally, Mad Tea Party is beautiful at night but even more beautiful and more fun when you ride it when the new parade is passing!!

1- our tiny castle is beautiful
2-the amount of satisfaction you must have right now for correctly adjusting those PhotoPass setups haha
3-B-E-A-U-tiful, if only my camera hadn't run out of memory we would have had an amazing vid hehe

abzoo · Aug 14, 2015

We went on Buzz Lightyear and then finally ventured out of Tomorrowland.

It was absolutely necessary for Katie to experience my new fave, Country Bear Jamboree, so we headed in that direction. She can't remember ever seeing the show in the Disney trips of our childhood and was a little shocked at the innuendos... but it was a great time.

I took some pictures with KT's camera once we got out. A storm was coming in and we weren't quite sure that it would hold off until Wishes. There was lightning. It was getting rather ominous.

abzoo · Aug 20, 2015

Here's the lightning situation that was happening shortly before Wishes-- no rain yet...

We headed to the Hub to see the beautiful view of the partners statue all boxed off. What a lovely sight it is with a big old cube in front of the castle!

The lightning stopped in time for Wishes to start. Here are some obligatory fireworks photos.

After that, we headed to see Mickey's Philharmagic and then to Hall of Presidents. It had been a very very long time since we had been to this attraction, surely not since Obama had been added.

Just as we were finishing a couple of indoor attractions, it started to pour... so we rushed over to Tomorrowland and got into a long-ish line for Laugh Floor, which we definitely enjoyed.

It's possible that we went to see Carousel of Progress yet again. I love doing this attraction during the 24 hour events because you end up with an interesting mix of people who are really into CoP, singing along and whatnot, along with people who are strictly looking for an opportunity to nap. I was definitely somewhere in limbo between these two ends of the spectrum... my eyes would start to droop then I would jolt awake and start singing "Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow." Despite napping earlier, it was getting difficult to ward off the sleepiness.

Soon after that, we ended up on the other carrousel.