Trip Report Everything is Satisfactual - 4 Brits do Disney!

Welcome, ladies and gents, to my brand spanking new (and first ever) trip report!

I have been so excited to write this after reading some awesome ones on here

We got back from Disney World a few days ago so, even though I am still recovering from jet lag, I have a major case of the Disney Blues! I’m hoping that this report will relieve some of those.

Let’s begin:

Who: Hello, this is us. There were 4 of us on the trip - 2 couples and 2 sisters We are all in our twenties.

From left to right:

Kit, my boyfriend. He’s Canadian but has lived in the UK for most of his life.
Me, Stevie! I have lived in London my whole life, and my family are also from here.
My younger sister, Lisa. Isn’t she a beaut?
Lisa’s boyfriend, Wing. He’s Chinese but has also lived in London since forever

Lisa & I have been to the World twice - once when I was 9 and again when I was 16. Kit and Wing had never been to WDW before (this is actually a lie - Kit went when he was 3/4, but doesn’t remember a thing about it!).

This trip actually came about because my family were reminiscing about our previous trips and remembering what a great time we had. I then had a lightbulb moment - “hey, why don’t we go again?!” - and lo and behold, this trip was booked! Luckily we had some savings, because we booked it pretty last minute (booked in April and flew in July) and it took every last penny I owned (but still so worth it!).

When: We went from July 29th - August 8th. 10 nights. Unfortunately, our jobs prevented us from going at a quieter time!

Where: We stayed at All Star Movies and all shared one room. Yep - we were on a bit of a budget. Eeek! Find out how that went down a bit later

All in all, we had a brilliant trip. It wasn’t perfect by any means, and I’ll try and write as honestly as I can. This trip report will include the good, the bad and the ugly. Since we hadn’t been to WDW for 10 years, in many ways it felt like the first time, and we had so many fresh and new experiences!

I also took a million pictures, so I’ll be posting lots of them here. They will be a mixture of iPhone, DSLR and Photopass shots!

Here’s hoping you’ll join us for the ride!

 

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Wand, anyone?!

I love Quidditch!!

Neville Longbottom

Which house are you in?! I'd like to think I'm a Gryffindor but I'm most likely a Hufflepuff ...

 

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Happy happy happy happy!

The Three Broomsticks!

 

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(P.s. sorry for the huge picture overload! I was definitely camera-happy! If you are not a HP/Universal fan then please scroll right past ... I'll be back to WDW in a while! )

Of course, we had to check out Honeydukes! The best sweet shop in the world!

Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans!

Chocolate Frogs!

Sherbet Lemons .... Dumbledore's favourites!

 

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Sweets and sweets and sweets and sweets and more sweets:

No Melt Ice-Cream ... it's magic!

Pumpkin juice!

I bought a bottle ... this is the sweetest drink known to man!

After treating our eyes to all of that sugary goodness, we went on Dragon Challenge (two 'competing' rollercoasters) and there was only a 5 minute wait! What?! We chose to ride the Chinese Fireball. I think we won

Afterwards, when we were getting our things from the locker, I had the unfortunate luck of running into an extremely rude woman

I didn't realise that I was standing in front of her locker, and instead of a simple 'excuse me' she decided to screech: "ummm, maybe you could GET OUT OF MY WAY?!"

I was so surprised at her rudeness and it snapped me right out of the magical bubble that I was happily in and she made me feel really, really sad! I didn't want to be back in reality!

But then, I realised, she is the one who is in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and choosing to be grumpy and rude. I will NOT let her ruin my day. So I put her to the back of my mind and decided to buy a chocolate frog to cheer myself up!

 

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Lisa & I both bought Chocolate Frogs, and I decided to make a little collage because we just took too many photos!!

We both got Salazar Slytherin on our cards .... boo!!

We thought it would make a good photo to hold our frogs like this ... haha .. but we realised it was a bit of a mistake when they started melting in the Florida heat!!

We then attempted to eat the frogs ... lol! I couldn't believe that they weren't hollow!!! I assumed it would have been a bit like an Easter Egg, but nope! It was a huge mound of thick chocolate There was no way that I could eat all of that before it melted in the sun so, sadly, half of my little froggie ended up in the bin

We then decided to quench our thirst with some delicious Butterbeer!

I grabbed a cup and headed over to chat to the Hogwarts Express Conductor from Hogsmeade (aka Buckinghamshire, UK). He was really lovely, and when some people attempted to push in front of me (what was it with rude people that day? ) he told them to wait their turn!

 

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We finished our Butterbeers before getting onto the Hogwarts Express ... we were headed to Kings Cross!

 

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We had already been on the Hogwarts Express once (on day 2 of our trip) but going the opposite way was just as exciting! This is definitely one of the best things about the Wizarding World!

I think the pace of our holiday might have been catching up with them?

Still smiling! I will not allow tiredness to creep in!!

We had made it to London!! I'm homeeeeee! The Knight Bus is amazing!

Cool story - when Kit and I went on our first official date (5 years ago) we met at this statue in Leicester Square in London! It's so cool that they have recreated it here in Florida!

 

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I couldn't resist having a little chat with the Knight Bus conductor. He was too good looking to be Stan Shunpike

He was lovely, and the 'head' was hysterical!

That tiny bit of hair on my forehead was driving me crazy! HAIR CLIPS ARE A MUST.

After the Knight Bus, we went to the 'Escape from Gringotts' ride. I really liked this ride, but not as much as the Forbidden Journey.

We decided to go in the single rider line to get on a bit faster, which was good, but I was a bit bummed that we didn't get to experience the ride queue properly because it looked pretty great! Also, the ride broke down whilst we were in the queue, but fortunately we were waiting on the steps at that point, so we took the opportunity to sit down and rest a bit in the air-con. I think we waited about 20 minutes before the ride started moving again.

Even though we did single rider, I managed to get in the same car at Lisa! She was sitting in front of me. It was fun!

Now that we had done the two main rides, it was time to explore Diagon Alley!

 

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Just cannot get over the attention to detail:

 

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Shenanigans for all!

Whilst I was busy taking pictures, I managed to lose the other three! I finally found them in Ollivanders, looking at wands!

The pre-show was awesome and I was tempted to buy one ... but really, what would you do with it when you got home?

 

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By this point, it was way past lunch time and we were all STARVED, so we went to get lunch in the Leaky Cauldron. The theming of this pub was amazing and I'm not sure why I didn't take pictures! I was probably too keen to eat!

I chose the mini cottage and fish pies. The cottage pie was lovely but the fish pie was as dry as a bone! I washed it all down with another Butterbeer.

After lunch, we decided it was probably time to leave we could have stayed there all day, but we had AK and Epcot to get to!

As we were leaving Universal, we walked past the ride Disaster! We didn't get to do it the first time round, and we weren't sure whether to quickly catch the next show or to leave the park. In the end, we decided to stay and I'm so glad we did, because it was fabulous! Our host, Lanie, was hilarious and we all loved this ride.

But then, it really was time to leave! It was about 3pm at this point.

We took a couple of last minute Universal selfies! Bye for now, Universal!

(and I found a hair clip! So happy hahaha)

Thank you so much for having us!!!

Up next: Animal Kingdom!

 

[MinnieM123]

You got some great photos, and thanks for sharing! Looking forward to your AK pictures.

Regarding the rude woman at the locker area, that was indeed unfortunate. At least most guests are pleasant in all of the Florida theme parks, and just want to have fun. But as the expression goes, "There's always one in every crowd!"

 

[Figgy1]

Thank you so much for the Potter pics! I think we're going to break down and get a wand because my boys have one day planned to go around and try them out. If we do get one it's getting it's own corner shelf.

 

[fractal]

Thanks for the update! Rude people suck.

Love the photos!

 

[WDW_Emily]

I just spent my snow day Monday reading this entire TR so far and I'm loving every minute of it! The mummy is my favorite ride at universal! I lived in Florida last year and on my first trip to universal ever, I was wicked excited for forbidden journey and this rude woman behind me in line snapped at me because my laughing and geeking out was disturbing her line experience

Cannot wait to read more! 3 parks in one day? You are a brave soul

 

[pirategal]

Thanks for continuing your report! Love seeing the Harry Potter goodness too!

 

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You got some great photos, and thanks for sharing! Looking forward to your AK pictures.

Regarding the rude woman at the locker area, that was indeed unfortunate. At least most guests are pleasant in all of the Florida theme parks, and just want to have fun. But as the expression goes, "There's always one in every crowd!"

Thank you! There definitely is always one in every crowd!! Luckily, she was the only rude person I really experienced in our whole trip, so it's not too bad! Almost everyone else was lovely!

Thank you so much for the Potter pics! I think we're going to break down and get a wand because my boys have one day planned to go around and try them out. If we do get one it's getting it's own corner shelf.

Hahaha, you should definitely build a shelf for it! I did actually see people trying out their wands in the Wizarding World and it did look pretty amazing! Your boys will love it!

Thanks for the update! Rude people suck.

Love the photos!

Thank you!! They really do! Luckily we don't run into them TOO often!!

I just spent my snow day Monday reading this entire TR so far and I'm loving every minute of it! The mummy is my favorite ride at universal! I lived in Florida last year and on my first trip to universal ever, I was wicked excited for forbidden journey and this rude woman behind me in line snapped at me because my laughing and geeking out was disturbing her line experience

Cannot wait to read more! 3 parks in one day? You are a brave soul

Oh I'm so glad you're enjoying it The Mummy is AMAZING! I never expected to like it so much but it's just brill. Sorry that you also experienced some rudeness in HP World! People need to lighten up a little bit!!

3 parks in one day was one of our crazier ideas .. but I am glad we did it! I definitely think our next trip will be a bit slower paced though!

Thanks for continuing your report! Love seeing the Harry Potter goodness too!

Thank you! I'm glad you are enjoying it The Wizarding World is SO photogenic ... I couldn't resist!

 

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So, back to WDW we went!

We got in another Uber, and our driver got lost ... again! It was pretty funny actually, and before too long we were pulling up outside the Animal Kingdom!

AK turned out to be one of my favourite parks, even though I was probably expecting the least from it. I just fell in love the second I walked through the gates! The theming blew me away, and I have travelled to Africa quite a few times since I started travelling on my own in my early 20s (South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia & Morocco) so it really made me feel like I was back in my second home

As I mentioned before, we originally only planned one day in AK, but this definitely wasn't enough for us! Our first day was cut short because of horrendous rain showers, so I definitely needed a couple of more hours to see what else was there! I also needed another go on Expedition Everest ... that ride is GENIUS!

We needn't have worried about the weather today ... it was HOT! The sun was pounding down on us, and my phone informed me that it was 32 degrees celsius! The first thing I did was change out of my Harry Potter t-shirt and into a thin white shirt that I carried with me in my bag. Not only was the shirt no longer appropriate in WDW, haha, but it was really thick and I was boiling! I felt much cooler in the other one!

We then found a Photopass photographer ... just because!

Aren't we beautiful?

The frames are a great idea!

The Tree of Life is just breath-taking! I may even prefer it a little over the castle (Shhh .. did I just say that?!)

That Stitch is so naughty!

We then headed to Dinosaur, which we didn't get a chance to do the last time we were there. I had definitely been on Dinosaur before (10 years ago!) but my memory of it was very vague, so I actually had very little idea about what to expect!

We had a FP for this ride, which we'd made a couple of days earlier when we realised that we would be heading back to AK. Weirdly, however, I later received an email saying that this FP would have to be cancelled (I can't remember the reason now) and that we could choose another one. I was disappointed, but when I checked the My Disney app on my phone, the FP was still there! I was totally confused, but we decided we might as well try and use it anyway, and it let us straight through!

ANYWAYS. We loved the ride.

And the look of genuine terror on mine and Lisa's faces will never fail to amuse me!

 

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Of course, we had to get THIS classic photo before running over to EE for our next FP!

I LOVE THIS RIDE!! So glad I got to ride it another time. Kit is keeping it zen ...

We then decided we were hungry! We got Mickey Bars and this AMAZING beef jerky/biltong with pineapple in one of the stores in Africa. It was SO yummy and demolished in seconds. Beef jerky and ice-cream is a bit of a weird combination to eat together, but anything goes in Disney!

As we ate our snacks we decided to explore the Pangani Trail! I wrote a list of some of the things we saw on my phone: monkeys, a duiker, an African bullfrog, mole rats, tortoises, a grass mouse, lizards and cockroaches!

 

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We also took some silly, blurry photos!

This hippo treated us to a lovely big poop ... and then the fish ate it!

We had another FP for Kali River rapids but we decided not to use it, because we were conscious of time and wanted to do something that we hadn't done yet on this trip. So, we went to see It's Tough to be a Bug!