Trip Report Lessons in Geography

We've been back for about a month now, and I got my pictures all sorted, and I don't have daily rehearsals or performances now, so I guess this is the time to start my trip report.
I never finished the one from 2016, but I took notes this time, which should make it a bit easier, but it's still a 3 and a half week trip, so there's a LOT to cover.

The basic details:
July 20th-August 3rd at Disney with my four: Myself, my husband M, my Daughter E (13) and my son A (11)
My brother's family joined us for the first week: My brother J, his husband also J, and their daughter N (6).
My cousins met up with us the first day, and we all had dinner together....I believe there were 20 of us in total.
August 4th-6th was just whatever we wanted to do.
August 7th-11th at Universal Orlando
August 12th- Flying home

We stayed at Caribbean Beach resort for the Disney portion of the trip, and at Royal Pacific (Universal's version of the Poly) for the Universal part. In between we were at the Doubletree at Seaworld, and for the last night before we flew out, we were at Allure resort.

Here's my 4, my brother's 3, and 3 of the cousins' group.
Adults left to right:
My brother-in-law J,my brother J, me, my cousin's boyfriend K, my cousin C, my husband M.
Kids:
My niece N (6), My cousin's daughter L (8...yes, she's tiny), my son A (11) and my daughter E (13)

Got all that? Good! Let's go!

 

[Rista1313]

MMMMM I knew it before you even said it... I could see the hidden mickeys in the bread basket! I believe your dinner was Chicken Madiera... Yum... we are getting a Cheesecake factory here...it should be open any day I think!

 

[Songbird76]

The tuxedo is my absolute FAVORITE cheesecake when we eat there!!

It was soooo good. So was the Oreo. My daughter and I generally have similar taste and we usually debate about the same things, so we each order one of them and then share. I don't remember what she got that night, and I don't have a picture of it...maybe she didn't order regular food? Maybe she just shared with me? I don't know. And then we got dessert and shared that. We did that a LOT this trip.

 

[Songbird76]

MMMMM I knew it before you even said it... I could see the hidden mickeys in the bread basket! I believe your dinner was Chicken Madiera... Yum... we are getting a Cheesecake factory here...it should be open any day I think!

Chicken Madiera sounds right! That was probably it. I wish we had cheesecake factory here!! Maybe good that we don't, though. And even if we had it, they'd probably mess up the mashed potatoes. Restaurants over here tend to alter everything to appeal to Dutch consumers...Dutch people don't do mashed potatoes unless they stuff vegetables in it, like kale, or carrots and onions, or saurkraut. And a lot of them won't eat cheesecake or anything too sweet. Dessert menus here usually consist of vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce or ice cream with fruit. So maybe it's best just to keep the Cheesecake factory as a nice treat when I get "home" every few years.

 

[Rista1313]

Chicken Madiera sounds right! That was probably it. I wish we had cheesecake factory here!! Maybe good that we don't, though. And even if we had it, they'd probably mess up the mashed potatoes. Restaurants over here tend to alter everything to appeal to Dutch consumers...Dutch people don't do mashed potatoes unless they stuff vegetables in it, like kale, or carrots and onions, or saurkraut. And a lot of them won't eat cheesecake or anything too sweet. Dessert menus here usually consist of vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce or ice cream with fruit. So maybe it's best just to keep the Cheesecake factory as a nice treat when I get "home" every few years.

Yeah.... not to mention it's pretty expensive.... usually we drop $80 for just the two of us when we go there, so we are still going to have to keep it for special ocassions!

 

[Songbird76]

Yeah.... not to mention it's pretty expensive.... usually we drop $80 for just the two of us when we go there, so we are still going to have to keep it for special ocassions!

Very true. And we already have a list of restaurants over here that we go to for special occasions. No need to add to it. But it's something I definitely look forward to when we get Stateside. I looked it up long before our trip.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Monday, August 5th

We went to breakfast at Village Inn again, but Cannon wasn't there. Food was good though. Then we went to my friend's house. She and her husband live in Kissimmee. When we went to Disney in 2010, we stayed with them, and we had a great time, but her husband tends to get on people's nerves. He really wants to appear intelligent and he will insist on telling you how you should handle situations, or...for example, they haven't been to Disney in several years now, so they've never done FoP, or seen Pandora, nor Toy Story Land, but he will tell you you should do this thing or that thing that doesn't exist anymore, and he will insist you just weren't looking in the right place for it. And he IS an intelligent man, he just doesn't know when to admit he doesn't know something. So last time we came to Disney, we only stayed with them for a couple of days and it was kind of a disaster,(not because of the husband, but it's a long story, and not important) so this time we just went there for the day, and my husband just dropped us off and went to go play Ingress somewhere. So A loves chess. He belongs to a club and has lessons there every week, and he's getting pretty good. My friend's husband is a chess master. He works for an online chess website and there happened to be some sort of national or international chess tournament in Orlando that week, and he was going to be there to help out with it, but not the day we were at their house. So he played chess with A and was quite impressed with his ability level for an 11 year old and wished he could somehow give him lessons. They really enjoyed it, but this really cracked me up: So I was upstairs with my friend, just chatting away, and her husband comes upstairs and asks her where his certificate for being a chess master is. She's been going through papers and reorganizing and so he figures she knows where she put it. She asks him why he needs it. He told A he was a chess master, and A says "Fake news." So he wanted to prove that he really was a real certified chess master! They found it and A was really excited to get to play against him.

I met my friend on a Harry Potter forum and we are both huge fans...I don't know many people who are as into it as we are, and no one will play Harry Potter trivia with me because they are sure I will win. (other than my other fan friends) So we decided to play. We ate pizza while we played, and I got one last question...it was a challenge type question. Rather than just asking the question that corresponds to the category on that card, because I was about to win, they got to choose the question I had to answer. So they were trying to make it really hard. The question was in what position was Vernon Dursley's desk in relation to the window in his office at work. Now, this seemed like an incredibly easy one to me, because it tells you in the very first book that he had a very good day at work because he yelled at 5 people and because his back was to the window, he didn't notice any of the strange things going on on the streets below. But apparently my friend didn't remember that particular part of the first book because she thought it was too obscure for me to know. If you want to trip me up on HP, you have to use movie questions, not book questions. I am a book canon snob, but I have only watched each of the movies one or 2 times, except for the first two, which I can stand to watch more often because they follow the books pretty closely. But I've read the books probably 15 times, it's harder to find something I don't remember in the books.

After that, M picked us up and we went to perkins for dinner after taking A to McDonalds. Then we went back to Target and I got a Grumpy shirt that matches the pj pants I got at the character warehouse. Now I have a nice set of Grumpy pjs!! And then we went to bed.

I'm sorry, I took no pictures at ALL this day. I dropped the ball. And here end my notes, so everything from here on out is based on the pictures I have. At least I did have the sense to put these pictures into files by day.

Tuesday, August 6th

Today we planned to go to the other outlet. I had read that the outlet on International Drive was often less picked over because it was further from Disney. We got up and of course we went to Village Inn again...it was so convenient right there across the street, and my husband and son are huge fans of their French Silk Pie. I actually have some pictures from our breakfast! This must be E's because it has apples, and A doesn't eat fruit and I know I got eggs and bacon and biscuits with gravy. E also got a strawberry blintz.
View attachment 420590
View attachment 420591

That's it for pictures of breakfast because I figured no one cares about eggs and bacon, or the pancakes A ordered, and I don't care to lose a limb trying to get a picture of M's burrito before he starts chowing down.

Then we went to the outlets, again paying to park in premium paid parking because of a lack of parking in the regular free lots.
And here is where I should achieve Ultimate Auntie status!!
When we were in AK with my brother's family, N and E were having a blast in the Pandora store, playing with the banshees. N wanted one, soooo badly, and for that matter, so did my brother. But he thought the "discounted" price of $80 was still ridiculous. I can't disagree with him.
So we went to the character outlet just to see what they had.
We walked in, and right next to the door was a display.
View attachment 420592

I did a double take. Was that price correct? Wait...is this the real thing?? I asked...is this the banshee or is this an accessorie for them? Nope, it's the real banshee...limited colors, but the real thing....for 10 bucks. Merry Christmas, N!!! I could have it shipped directly to them for $5. So for $15, N gets a banshee for Christmas!!! I shall be Legen.....wait for it.....dary!!
When I sent my brother the message that this would be in the mail for N for Christmas, his jaw hit the floor. He showed his husband, who said "She DIDN'T!!! But it's WAY too much!" and then he showed him the price and he was shocked. My brother says "I'll try to remember it's for her."

Then we went to the Millenium Mall I think it's called? We were headed to the cheesecake factory, because I love their mashed potatoes. I order solely by what comes with the mashed potatoes. But there was a pretty long wait there, so we looked around the mall while we waited.
There was a swarovski store...I took some pictures at A's request.
View attachment 420593View attachment 420594

His two favorite animals....sheep and turtles. He doesn't really care about what kind of sheep or turtles they are...bighorn sheep, merino sheep....if it's soft and wooly, he's a happy boy, and same with turtles....doesn't matter the coloring or size...if it has a shell on its back, he loves them. But since we can't buy these because we'd never get them home in one piece and they are too expensive, he asked me to take pictures for him to remember.

They had some beautiful pieces!! My brother-in-law would have loved this:
View attachment 420595

He keeps bees, and has a thing with dragonflies. When he and my brother got married, they had a dragonfly theme....it was on their invitations, their cake, etc....and my BIL has numerous tattoos of bees, dragonflies, flies, etc. This necklace made me think of him, as well as of @bee .

Then we went to dinner.
View attachment 420596

I don't remember what I ordered, but it came with mashed potatoes, which was the important thing.

View attachment 420597

This was hubby's I think...I know it involved spicy something and cashews...he was happy.
View attachment 420598

Dessert: I believe I got the Tuxedo cheesecake, E got Oreo cheesecake, which looked a lot like this, but had an oreo on top, and A ordered that chocolate cake in the background there, but didn't like it because it was too rich, so E and I ate that, too.
View attachment 420599

We have the HP trivia game also. I always win in my family, but you would have probably have gotten me beat with the book questions. It has been awhile since I have read the books all the way through.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Monday, August 5th

We went to breakfast at Village Inn again, but Cannon wasn't there. Food was good though. Then we went to my friend's house. She and her husband live in Kissimmee. When we went to Disney in 2010, we stayed with them, and we had a great time, but her husband tends to get on people's nerves. He really wants to appear intelligent and he will insist on telling you how you should handle situations, or...for example, they haven't been to Disney in several years now, so they've never done FoP, or seen Pandora, nor Toy Story Land, but he will tell you you should do this thing or that thing that doesn't exist anymore, and he will insist you just weren't looking in the right place for it. And he IS an intelligent man, he just doesn't know when to admit he doesn't know something. So last time we came to Disney, we only stayed with them for a couple of days and it was kind of a disaster,(not because of the husband, but it's a long story, and not important) so this time we just went there for the day, and my husband just dropped us off and went to go play Ingress somewhere. So A loves chess. He belongs to a club and has lessons there every week, and he's getting pretty good. My friend's husband is a chess master. He works for an online chess website and there happened to be some sort of national or international chess tournament in Orlando that week, and he was going to be there to help out with it, but not the day we were at their house. So he played chess with A and was quite impressed with his ability level for an 11 year old and wished he could somehow give him lessons. They really enjoyed it, but this really cracked me up: So I was upstairs with my friend, just chatting away, and her husband comes upstairs and asks her where his certificate for being a chess master is. She's been going through papers and reorganizing and so he figures she knows where she put it. She asks him why he needs it. He told A he was a chess master, and A says "Fake news." So he wanted to prove that he really was a real certified chess master! They found it and A was really excited to get to play against him.

I met my friend on a Harry Potter forum and we are both huge fans...I don't know many people who are as into it as we are, and no one will play Harry Potter trivia with me because they are sure I will win. (other than my other fan friends) So we decided to play. We ate pizza while we played, and I got one last question...it was a challenge type question. Rather than just asking the question that corresponds to the category on that card, because I was about to win, they got to choose the question I had to answer. So they were trying to make it really hard. The question was in what position was Vernon Dursley's desk in relation to the window in his office at work. Now, this seemed like an incredibly easy one to me, because it tells you in the very first book that he had a very good day at work because he yelled at 5 people and because his back was to the window, he didn't notice any of the strange things going on on the streets below. But apparently my friend didn't remember that particular part of the first book because she thought it was too obscure for me to know. If you want to trip me up on HP, you have to use movie questions, not book questions. I am a book canon snob, but I have only watched each of the movies one or 2 times, except for the first two, which I can stand to watch more often because they follow the books pretty closely. But I've read the books probably 15 times, it's harder to find something I don't remember in the books.

After that, M picked us up and we went to perkins for dinner after taking A to McDonalds. Then we went back to Target and I got a Grumpy shirt that matches the pj pants I got at the character warehouse. Now I have a nice set of Grumpy pjs!! And then we went to bed.

I'm sorry, I took no pictures at ALL this day. I dropped the ball. And here end my notes, so everything from here on out is based on the pictures I have. At least I did have the sense to put these pictures into files by day.

Tuesday, August 6th

Today we planned to go to the other outlet. I had read that the outlet on International Drive was often less picked over because it was further from Disney. We got up and of course we went to Village Inn again...it was so convenient right there across the street, and my husband and son are huge fans of their French Silk Pie. I actually have some pictures from our breakfast! This must be E's because it has apples, and A doesn't eat fruit and I know I got eggs and bacon and biscuits with gravy. E also got a strawberry blintz.
View attachment 420590
View attachment 420591

That's it for pictures of breakfast because I figured no one cares about eggs and bacon, or the pancakes A ordered, and I don't care to lose a limb trying to get a picture of M's burrito before he starts chowing down.

Then we went to the outlets, again paying to park in premium paid parking because of a lack of parking in the regular free lots.
And here is where I should achieve Ultimate Auntie status!!
When we were in AK with my brother's family, N and E were having a blast in the Pandora store, playing with the banshees. N wanted one, soooo badly, and for that matter, so did my brother. But he thought the "discounted" price of $80 was still ridiculous. I can't disagree with him.
So we went to the character outlet just to see what they had.
We walked in, and right next to the door was a display.
View attachment 420592

I did a double take. Was that price correct? Wait...is this the real thing?? I asked...is this the banshee or is this an accessorie for them? Nope, it's the real banshee...limited colors, but the real thing....for 10 bucks. Merry Christmas, N!!! I could have it shipped directly to them for $5. So for $15, N gets a banshee for Christmas!!! I shall be Legen.....wait for it.....dary!!
When I sent my brother the message that this would be in the mail for N for Christmas, his jaw hit the floor. He showed his husband, who said "She DIDN'T!!! But it's WAY too much!" and then he showed him the price and he was shocked. My brother says "I'll try to remember it's for her."

Then we went to the Millenium Mall I think it's called? We were headed to the cheesecake factory, because I love their mashed potatoes. I order solely by what comes with the mashed potatoes. But there was a pretty long wait there, so we looked around the mall while we waited.
There was a swarovski store...I took some pictures at A's request.
View attachment 420593View attachment 420594

His two favorite animals....sheep and turtles. He doesn't really care about what kind of sheep or turtles they are...bighorn sheep, merino sheep....if it's soft and wooly, he's a happy boy, and same with turtles....doesn't matter the coloring or size...if it has a shell on its back, he loves them. But since we can't buy these because we'd never get them home in one piece and they are too expensive, he asked me to take pictures for him to remember.

They had some beautiful pieces!! My brother-in-law would have loved this:
View attachment 420595

He keeps bees, and has a thing with dragonflies. When he and my brother got married, they had a dragonfly theme....it was on their invitations, their cake, etc....and my BIL has numerous tattoos of bees, dragonflies, flies, etc. This necklace made me think of him, as well as of @bee .

Then we went to dinner.
View attachment 420596

I don't remember what I ordered, but it came with mashed potatoes, which was the important thing.

View attachment 420597

This was hubby's I think...I know it involved spicy something and cashews...he was happy.
View attachment 420598

Dessert: I believe I got the Tuxedo cheesecake, E got Oreo cheesecake, which looked a lot like this, but had an oreo on top, and A ordered that chocolate cake in the background there, but didn't like it because it was too rich, so E and I ate that, too.
View attachment 420599

What a deal on that Banshee! Your niece will be thrilled.
Those cheesecakes look too good. I need to eat before I read tr's.

 

[Songbird76]

We have the HP trivia game also. I always win in my family, but you would have probably have gotten me beat with the book questions. It has been awhile since I have read the books all the way through.

I want the HP trivia game, but since I have no one to play it with, I haven't caved. We're all fans, but I'm a FAN. So my family won't play with me. A played this one time only, because he wanted to see if he could beat me. I don't think he'd play with me again.

 

[Songbird76]

Wednesday, August 7th

This was our check-in day at Universal's Royal Pacific resort. I chose this resort because I have always wanted to stay at the Poly at Disney, but it's way out of our price range and Universal's version is much more affordable. It's also a much shorter duration, and I liked that this resort came with the Unlimited Express pass to let you skip lines at certain attractions.
Our package also included 5 day park to park tickets for all 3 parks. We decided to go to Volcano Bay this first day.

When we checked in, our room wasn't ready yet, so we couldn't get in to change into our suits. So we had to use the facilities at Volcano Bay, which I didn't particularly like. The lockers were way too small, too. The Tapu bands were pretty handy, though. As you can see, it's a beautiful, sunny day...perfect for a water park. Or is it?
I applied sunscreen to my children and myself before we entered the pool area. There were very few places with chairs where we could put our towels and shoes and one thing I hated was having to walk through the sand. I tossed my water shoes that hashed my feet after BB, so I had no shoes for the waterpark and the water spouts they have placed along the path are handy, but not quite sufficient.
We swam in the big wave pool for a while and then I tried to do the lazy river ride there, but I could not get into an intertube for the life of me, and I had no desire to walk through it, because that kind of defeats the purpose. A got so frustrated trying to get into a tube, he burst into tears and gave up. We had only been there for an hour or 2 when the sky got dark and I could see lightning...I knew it wouldn't be long before we were kicked out and told my husband so...right after I said it, they blew the whistle and started herding people out of the water. It started POURING. A was terrified by the lightning, even though it seemed pretty far away. They kept making announcements urging people to take cover, but it looked clear in the distance and we thought it might be short-lived. M took A to the locker rooms to calm him down and E and I stayed by the seats...we were already wet, so a little rain wasn't going to make much difference. After a half hour or so, they let people get back in...yay!! And 5 minutes later, we were kicked out again. We decided to call it a day. No one else had wanted to go on the slides with me and someone had to stay with A anyway, so we didn't do anything but the wave pool, and M and E did the lazy river while A and I waved to them from a bridge. Somewhere in there, I had reapplied sunscreen to myself...just to myself, though...and guess who ended up with the sunburn?? ME! I'm the only one who put more on after the initial coat, and somehow I still ended up with a sunburn while everyone else was fine. Oh well.

We took A to McDonalds and we went to Olive Garden.

This has to by my husband's because it has shrimp and he's the only one who will eat that. It was a suggestion from the server...I think his name was Jah. He was flamboyant and fun and we really liked him! Hubby was grateful for the suggestion because he loved this so much he wanted to go back for more the next night.

E's chicken Alfredo.

My Tour of Italy. So. Good. E also sampled from my plate.

I know this drink had blueberries in it, but I don't remember if it had alcohol or not....I think not. It was like a blueberry limeade or something? Blueberry Limonata! (Thank you, google!)

This must be the Strawberry- Passion fruit limonata

Jah didn't hear it when we first ordered this. E and I had both ordered hot chocolate because it was FRIGID in the restaurant and we were unfortunately seated in the coldest part of the restaurant. So Jah brought us our hot chocolates and then E and I each ordered a limonata so we could taste both, but he only brought the one. So when we ordered this one, he forgot a straw I think? Anyway, I don't know how, but we ended up with a black straw, which I didn't realize is how they distinguish between non-alcoholic drinks and cocktails with booze. I think maybe I had a cocktail to start with? So I put the straw in E's drink, and she's obviously not 21. Jah did a double take and asked if he had put that straw in, then rushed to get a white one before someone thought he was serving alcohol to minors.

My mudslide. Now this one had booze in it and I liked it! Pretty much the only alcoholic drink I enjoyed on the vacation. And it brings back good memories of going out to dinner with friends of ours once, and we went to Applebees and my friend and I both got mudslides and we were both sooooo tipsy because neither of us ever drink. Our husbands practically had to roll us out of there, but it was a good time. I always have to get a mudslide when it's offered. I guess they call this one Chocolate Almond Amore, but it's basically a mudslide.

Black Tie Moussecake. I think if they had Tiramisu, my husband probably got that, as it's his favorite, but I don't have a picture, so it's possible he didn't get dessert at all.

We called it a night. The parks were already closed when we got back from dinner, so we just went to bed, because we were planning to get up for the extra hour for resort guests at the one park in the morning. I don't remember which one opens early.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Wednesday, August 7th

This was our check-in day at Universal's Royal Pacific resort. I chose this resort because I have always wanted to stay at the Poly at Disney, but it's way out of our price range and Universal's version is much more affordable. It's also a much shorter duration, and I liked that this resort came with the Unlimited Express pass to let you skip lines at certain attractions.
Our package also included 5 day park to park tickets for all 3 parks. We decided to go to Volcano Bay this first day.
View attachment 421291View attachment 421292View attachment 421293

When we checked in, our room wasn't ready yet, so we couldn't get in to change into our suits. So we had to use the facilities at Volcano Bay, which I didn't particularly like. The lockers were way too small, too. The Tapu bands were pretty handy, though. As you can see, it's a beautiful, sunny day...perfect for a water park. Or is it?
I applied sunscreen to my children and myself before we entered the pool area. There were very few places with chairs where we could put our towels and shoes and one thing I hated was having to walk through the sand. I tossed my water shoes that hashed my feet after BB, so I had no shoes for the waterpark and the water spouts they have placed along the path are handy, but not quite sufficient.
We swam in the big wave pool for a while and then I tried to do the lazy river ride there, but I could not get into an intertube for the life of me, and I had no desire to walk through it, because that kind of defeats the purpose. A got so frustrated trying to get into a tube, he burst into tears and gave up. We had only been there for an hour or 2 when the sky got dark and I could see lightning...I knew it wouldn't be long before we were kicked out and told my husband so...right after I said it, they blew the whistle and started herding people out of the water. It started POURING. A was terrified by the lightning, even though it seemed pretty far away. They kept making announcements urging people to take cover, but it looked clear in the distance and we thought it might be short-lived. M took A to the locker rooms to calm him down and E and I stayed by the seats...we were already wet, so a little rain wasn't going to make much difference. After a half hour or so, they let people get back in...yay!! And 5 minutes later, we were kicked out again. We decided to call it a day. No one else had wanted to go on the slides with me and someone had to stay with A anyway, so we didn't do anything but the wave pool, and M and E did the lazy river while A and I waved to them from a bridge. Somewhere in there, I had reapplied sunscreen to myself...just to myself, though...and guess who ended up with the sunburn?? ME! I'm the only one who put more on after the initial coat, and somehow I still ended up with a sunburn while everyone else was fine. Oh well.

We took A to McDonalds and we went to Olive Garden.

This has to by my husband's because it has shrimp and he's the only one who will eat that. It was a suggestion from the server...I think his name was Jah. He was flamboyant and fun and we really liked him! Hubby was grateful for the suggestion because he loved this so much he wanted to go back for more the next night.
View attachment 421297

E's chicken Alfredo.

View attachment 421298

My Tour of Italy. So. Good. E also sampled from my plate.

View attachment 421299

I know this drink had blueberries in it, but I don't remember if it had alcohol or not....I think not. It was like a blueberry limeade or something? Blueberry Limonata! (Thank you, google!)

View attachment 421301

This must be the Strawberry- Passion fruit limonata

View attachment 421312

Jah didn't hear it when we first ordered this. E and I had both ordered hot chocolate because it was FRIGID in the restaurant and we were unfortunately seated in the coldest part of the restaurant. So Jah brought us our hot chocolates and then E and I each ordered a limonata so we could taste both, but he only brought the one. So when we ordered this one, he forgot a straw I think? Anyway, I don't know how, but we ended up with a black straw, which I didn't realize is how they distinguish between non-alcoholic drinks and cocktails with booze. I think maybe I had a cocktail to start with? So I put the straw in E's drink, and she's obviously not 21. Jah did a double take and asked if he had put that straw in, then rushed to get a white one before someone thought he was serving alcohol to minors.

My mudslide. Now this one had booze in it and I liked it! Pretty much the only alcoholic drink I enjoyed on the vacation. And it brings back good memories of going out to dinner with friends of ours once, and we went to Applebees and my friend and I both got mudslides and we were both sooooo tipsy because neither of us ever drink. Our husbands practically had to roll us out of there, but it was a good time. I always have to get a mudslide when it's offered. I guess they call this one Chocolate Almond Amore, but it's basically a mudslide.

View attachment 421313


Black Tie Moussecake. I think if they had Tiramisu, my husband probably got that, as it's his favorite, but I don't have a picture, so it's possible he didn't get dessert at all.

View attachment 421314

We called it a night. The parks were already closed when we got back from dinner, so we just went to bed, because we were planning to get up for the extra hour for resort guests at the one park in the morning. I don't remember which one opens early.

A shame you had a rain out at Volcano Bay. My family loves that water park. Did you know you can walk through the volcano? It is really cute in there. The inner tubes would have been easier to get into if you brought them to the shallow end and laid on top of them there. Then your dh could have dragged you and ds in. Strangely enough there are areas in the lazy river that I found were easier to climb on top of the tubes, and those were in the cave areas.

Olive Garden and no Tiramisu? Isn't it always on the menu? Or did they just run out?

 

[Songbird76]

A shame you had a rain out at Volcano Bay. My family loves that water park. Did you know you can walk through the volcano? It is really cute in there. The inner tubes would have been easier to get into if you brought them to the shallow end and laid on top of them there. Then your dh could have dragged you and ds in. Strangely enough there are areas in the lazy river that I found were easier to climb on top of the tubes, and those were in the cave areas.

Olive Garden and no Tiramisu? Isn't it always on the menu? Or did they just run out?

I walked through the volcano....it was neat! Maybe I got in at the wrong place on the inner tube...there was no shallow section, and my husband tried to help me, but it was just too deep for me to jump high enough and I hurt my wrist holding onto the handles and pushing up. I decided to give up rather than face humiliation...it was starting to pile up. It was sooooo busy!! I didn't have enough room without people bumping into me, and the lifeguards were trying to move people along. It was just easier to give up, and with as many people as were in there, it wouldn't have been very relaxing anyway. It was so much nicer at BB because it was completely dead.

I just don't have a picture of the Tiramisu....I'm sure he got it if they had it, and it IS listed on the menu. I just didn't take a picture. I don't like Tiramisu...nothing coffee flavored for me, please! But he may have just been too full...it's possible.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

I walked through the volcano....it was neat! Maybe I got in at the wrong place on the inner tube...there was no shallow section, and my husband tried to help me, but it was just too deep for me to jump high enough and I hurt my wrist holding onto the handles and pushing up. I decided to give up rather than face humiliation...it was starting to pile up. It was sooooo busy!! I didn't have enough room without people bumping into me, and the lifeguards were trying to move people along. It was just easier to give up, and with as many people as were in there, it wouldn't have been very relaxing anyway. It was so much nicer at BB because it was completely dead.

I just don't have a picture of the Tiramisu....I'm sure he got it if they had it, and it IS listed on the menu. I just didn't take a picture. I don't like Tiramisu...nothing coffee flavored for me, please! But he may have just been too full...it's possible.

We were lucky with crowds. The last week of August was not too bad since lots of schools were already back in session.

 

[Songbird76]

Thursday, August 8th

We got up in the morning and all got dressed and ready. Universal Studios opened an hour early for resort guests and I figured this was going to be a good time to go in, find our way to Diagon Alley, and look around before it got busy. You can't use the express pass yet at that time, but I wanted to be in the park and we'd see how long the lines were.

We walked from the resort to the park...there's a boat, but it takes just as long as walking.

We were just about to the park and A was having a really hard time. The sun was in his eyes, he was tired, completely overwhelmed and about to meltdown. My husband took him back to the resort and they would join us later. E and I continued on, got in the park, and followed the mass of people, figuring they probably knew where they were going. Eventually, the crowd thinned out and I stopped and asked a TM for directions because I said it was probably not the best idea to follow random people whom we didn't know and we had no clue where they were going. The TM laughed and said that was probably a good rule to follow in general, but in this case, the people were going in the right direction, so I SHOULD follow them. So we did. Look what we found!!

We just kind of wandered through for a bit, taking it all in, rather than rushing to ride the Gringotts ride.

I believe the first thing we actually did was Olivanders wand shop, but I could be wrong. It was a cute experience. We got right in as soon as the group that was already inside was done. I wish E had been chosen to do it, but there were some younger kids and E didn't want to do it anyway. But it felt kind of weird taking pictures of someone else's kid.

I finally got the courage to do Gringotts. I was very nervous, but being a huge HP fan, I knew I'd regret not doing it. We had been to Hogsmeade when it first opened in 2010 and it was so packed that I didn't get to do anything because even the stores had queues to get in. Olivanders was a 90 minute wait then, and the Forbidden Journey was 300 minutes. We had gotten there 30 minutes after rope drop and couldn't even get in to the Wizarding World because it was at capacity. We had to go back at 3:00 and see if there was room again, but by then, the lines were way too long. So this time I was determined to really get the experience.

You aren't allowed to take belongings with you...you have to put it into a tiny little locker and the room with the lockers is small and crowded and has no flow. Not particularly well designed, I'm afraid.
The ride...I couldn't tell you most of what happened. I was too busy hanging on for dear life and getting knocked around and banged up by the ride vehicle. Man is it uncomfortable! And it is a coaster...which, I knew, but it was so much more rough than I expected. I was sitting on the end of our row and my elbow kept getting cracked by the seat, and I was slammed up against the side so many times my hip was bruised. I'm glad I did it, so I know that I never have to do it again. Now I know I will not be missing anything great by not doing this ride. I sent my friend (the one we visited) a message to say I had done it, and never again. She laughed and said she didn't like it either and avoided it unless she was with friends who really wanted to do it. But she said she really loves Forbidden Journey because it was smoother and very secure. So I was looking forward to that.
We went and got a treat.

We wanted to try both the regular and frozen butterbeer. I would have liked to try the hot version, but they don't have that until it gets cooler. So we ordered both available versions and decided to share. I can not drink the frozen butterbeer. It gave me an unbearable ice cream headache that didn't want to go away. But E preferred the frozen one, so she drank that and let me have the regular. Yummmm!
And then we decided to take the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade and get some lunch.

 

[Songbird76]

Thursday, August 8th, continued...

We arrived at the Hogsmeade station....it was so much busier already! We headed straight for The Three Broomsticks. We did not have the dining plan here, but I think we shared. There was a ribs platter that looked good, and I wanted to try the meat pasties, so I think we ordered those two things and split them.

They wouldn't let you sit down until you had food. They had TMs placed throughout the restaurant and as a party would enter the dining room with their food, they'd ask how many in your party, and they would signal to other TMs who would start looking for an appropriate table and you would be waved over to sit down when they had one for you. We were seated next to another family at a table right by the bar where you can get drinks...my chair was SO low to the ground, I felt like a little kid who couldn't quite reach the table. As I sat, or should I say "fell into my chair", I made a startled noise and the people next to us giggled. They had had the same issue. Who in the world designed those chairs?? The food was really good....the ribs were fall off the bone tender, but they could have used a bit more sauce. I found the ordering process a bit confusing. They have someone to send you to the next available register, but you are behind other parties at that register, and then you still have to wait your turn. But if there's a large party in front of you, you have to wait longer than someone who came after you...it's the luck of the draw where they send you. And then once you order, you have to go to a specific window to get your food, but not everyone seemed to go to the correct window, so you had to navigate through the people who were just standing there in the middle, trying to figure out what to do.

While we were eating, a girl came in from the bar side rather than the restaurant side and there was a party just leaving and the little girl went and sat down at the table. A TM asked her where her family was, and pretty soon grandma came and tried to sit. The TM explained that they had to have food to sit down, that it was too busy to seat people until they had food, because otherwise people with food came in and had nowhere to sit. Grandma was livid and started arguing and said how rude it was not to let people sit down when there was an open table, and how if THAT'S how they ran their business, they'd take theirs elsewhere. I can sort of understand for someone who can't stand for long periods how it would be difficult to make it through the line, but there is seating available outside where you could sit until the rest of your party had food and then you could join them once they were seated. After trying to find a seat at Casey's when rude people were taking up all the tables when they had no food, I appreciated that this wouldn't be a problem here.

M and A had made it to the park and asked where we were. We decided to do Forbidden Journey. Again, tiny little lockers and so packed that most of the lockers were already full and you had to wait several minutes for a new wave of people to come off the ride and collect their stuff and hover over them to get their locker.
They had a warning playing about how you couldn't have personal items on the ride and saying glasses needed to be removed and placed in the pocket of the ride vehicle in front of you,...only you got into the ride vehicle and it was all one row...there was no vehicle in front of you. I asked the TM about my glasses and he told me I would just have to hold them in place. That's reassuring, thanks!
I HATED this ride. I wish I had not gone on it. I don't know WHAT my friend was talking about when she said it was much smoother and secure. I was sure the restraints would break and I would plummet to my death, though I was glad that the restraints would even close because I had been worried about that. And I felt SO bad for A. We had told him we didn't really know what to expect, having never been on it, but he needs to know what's coming. My husband told him it was probably like star tours. He said they couldn't possibly have seats that really moved and spun and such, that it was probably just a screen that simulated and made it seem like you moved, but you were stationary yourself. He was wrong. And my son, who hates all things creepy crawly, like flies, ladybugs, beetles, and is TERRIFIED of spiders, was on this ride that encounters a giant spider. And there's one point you are almost upsidedown. And the way the ride vehicle is made, it's a singular seat...you can't reach over to the person next to you...you can't even see the person next to you because of the restraints. So there's my son, screaming in terror, and I can not comfort him in any way. Had I known what that ride was like, we would have sent my husband and E on it, and we would have stayed behind, but I had been so reassured by my friend that this was a great, gentle ride. I was expecting it to be like soarin', flying over the castle grounds and such, but it is nothing like that. It was terrifying. Why can't Universal make a Harry Potter themed ride that is NOT a thrill ride? What's wrong with a nice "tour the castle" ride, or a dark ride like the Haunted Mansion or Carrots that takes you through the story?

We took the Hogwart's express back to the other park and watched the performance of the Three Brothers, and then I think we called it a day. M and A hadn't found anything to eat because A wouldn't eat anything at the Three Broomsticks and I don't think we ventured out of the Wizarding World. It's possible I took A and let M go his own merry way, but I don't remember.

When we got back to the resort, this is what we found.

All the stuffed animals were having a chat. Lady is E's, all the sheep are A's. It's a little blurry and hard to see, but the one against the pillow is a minecraft sheep that A named Notch. (maybe that's his official name) The one across from Lady is Mike. We only allowed him to bring the 2, and then he bought the Toy Story sheep as his souvenier. He named them, but I don't remember what their names were. We took A to McDonalds, I'm sure, and then dropped him off in the room and we went to Olive Garden.

Mushroom ravioli, for something different. And my husband got the same thing as the night before, I think. I don't know what E got.

Oh....Now I remember this night...we came back and I think I did some laundry while M took A to McDonald's. The problem was that M wanted to go back to Olive Garden, which I think closed at 10? Anyway, A didn't want to go to Olive Garden with us. He wanted to stay at the resort. But that meant M had to take him to McDonalds and then come back to drop him off and pick us up. But when he dropped A off, he didn't park and come in to pick us up. He sent A to the room and A was supposed to tell us M was waiting in the parking lot. Only, A didn't remember. We were running out of time, and A hadn't remembered whether M was waiting in the lobby, or at the valet entrance, or in the parking lot...and the parking lot is huge...WHERE in the parking lot? And since M had never gotten the SIM cards to work, we only had contact with each other when we had Wifi and could use facebook messenger. And once we got to the lobby, there was no wifi anymore, so I couldn't send him a message to ask where he was, or ask him to pull up to the valet/bell services drive.
So E and I go out and try to find him....it's dark, so we can't see much, and it's a rental car we've had for just a few days...we don't know it well. To recognize it in the dark in an unfamiliar place? And my husband knows I have ZERO sense of direction...it seemed a huge oversight on his part to expect us to find him in the dark. We walked back and forth, tried to find the entrance to the parking lot we had taken the last 2 nights, but couldn't find the path in the dark. We went back up and asked how to get to the parking lot. They pointed us in the opposite direction of where we had been walking. So we walk that direction and find the parking lot, but not the entrance we'd been taking....and we don't know which way to walk to find him, IF he's in the parking lot. We walk, aimlessly, trying to find him. Finally we do, and he's FURIOUS at us for taking so long and not instinctively knowing where he was. I told him that A had not remembered where he was supposed to send us, reminded him that I had no access to internet to send a message, and no way to call him to ask him where he was. He insisted that I should have known he'd be where we parked the night before....how was I supposed to know whether there was even a spot there if I could have found it in the dark in the first place? He argued and scolded and berated me until E finally started crying and begged for us to please stop arguing, and then he gave us the silent treatment the whole way there, drove aggressively, and just would not admit that he had any part whatsoever in us not being able to find him. It was entirely my fault that I didn't know exactly where he was. And the stupid thing is he said he watched us walking back and forth up by the valet thing, but he didn't flash his lights at us, or bother to move the car where we were walking back and forth. But it was entirely our fault for taking so long to find him. So we got to Olive Garden, he was still ignoring our existence, and there was a long wait for a table, during which he opted to sit at the opposite end of the waiting area from E and I. I still don't understand why he was so furious. Yes, it was late, but we made it before the restaurant closed, no harm done, and it really wasn't our fault that he hadn't given a clear message to A. I knew this was not going to be the nice relaxed meal we had the night before. He was in a hurry and impatient and just not good company. I think we ordered appetizers the night before, which I forgot to take pictures of, and this night, I decided I'd better not because I didn't want to take any longer than we had to. I just wanted to get back to the resort to sleep and hope he'd be in a better mood in the morning. He did order tiramisu this night, OR I put the picture in the wrong day's folder.

 

[Shouldigo12]

Notch is actually the name of the guy who made Minecraft, although I don't think he owns it anymore. It was cute of the housekeeping to arrange the stuffed animals like that!

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Thursday, August 8th, continued...

We arrived at the Hogsmeade station....it was so much busier already! We headed straight for The Three Broomsticks. We did not have the dining plan here, but I think we shared. There was a ribs platter that looked good, and I wanted to try the meat pasties, so I think we ordered those two things and split them.
View attachment 421651

They wouldn't let you sit down until you had food. They had TMs placed throughout the restaurant and as a party would enter the dining room with their food, they'd ask how many in your party, and they would signal to other TMs who would start looking for an appropriate table and you would be waved over to sit down when they had one for you. We were seated next to another family at a table right by the bar where you can get drinks...my chair was SO low to the ground, I felt like a little kid who couldn't quite reach the table. As I sat, or should I say "fell into my chair", I made a startled noise and the people next to us giggled. They had had the same issue. Who in the world designed those chairs?? The food was really good....the ribs were fall off the bone tender, but they could have used a bit more sauce. I found the ordering process a bit confusing. They have someone to send you to the next available register, but you are behind other parties at that register, and then you still have to wait your turn. But if there's a large party in front of you, you have to wait longer than someone who came after you...it's the luck of the draw where they send you. And then once you order, you have to go to a specific window to get your food, but not everyone seemed to go to the correct window, so you had to navigate through the people who were just standing there in the middle, trying to figure out what to do.

While we were eating, a girl came in from the bar side rather than the restaurant side and there was a party just leaving and the little girl went and sat down at the table. A TM asked her where her family was, and pretty soon grandma came and tried to sit. The TM explained that they had to have food to sit down, that it was too busy to seat people until they had food, because otherwise people with food came in and had nowhere to sit. Grandma was livid and started arguing and said how rude it was not to let people sit down when there was an open table, and how if THAT'S how they ran their business, they'd take theirs elsewhere. I can sort of understand for someone who can't stand for long periods how it would be difficult to make it through the line, but there is seating available outside where you could sit until the rest of your party had food and then you could join them once they were seated. After trying to find a seat at Casey's when rude people were taking up all the tables when they had no food, I appreciated that this wouldn't be a problem here.

M and A had made it to the park and asked where we were. We decided to do Forbidden Journey. Again, tiny little lockers and so packed that most of the lockers were already full and you had to wait several minutes for a new wave of people to come off the ride and collect their stuff and hover over them to get their locker.
They had a warning playing about how you couldn't have personal items on the ride and saying glasses needed to be removed and placed in the pocket of the ride vehicle in front of you,...only you got into the ride vehicle and it was all one row...there was no vehicle in front of you. I asked the TM about my glasses and he told me I would just have to hold them in place. That's reassuring, thanks!
I HATED this ride. I wish I had not gone on it. I don't know WHAT my friend was talking about when she said it was much smoother and secure. I was sure the restraints would break and I would plummet to my death, though I was glad that the restraints would even close because I had been worried about that. And I felt SO bad for A. We had told him we didn't really know what to expect, having never been on it, but he needs to know what's coming. My husband told him it was probably like star tours. He said they couldn't possibly have seats that really moved and spun and such, that it was probably just a screen that simulated and made it seem like you moved, but you were stationary yourself. He was wrong. And my son, who hates all things creepy crawly, like flies, ladybugs, beetles, and is TERRIFIED of spiders, was on this ride that encounters a giant spider. And there's one point you are almost upsidedown. And the way the ride vehicle is made, it's a singular seat...you can't reach over to the person next to you...you can't even see the person next to you because of the restraints. So there's my son, screaming in terror, and I can not comfort him in any way. Had I known what that ride was like, we would have sent my husband and E on it, and we would have stayed behind, but I had been so reassured by my friend that this was a great, gentle ride. I was expecting it to be like soarin', flying over the castle grounds and such, but it is nothing like that. It was terrifying. Why can't Universal make a Harry Potter themed ride that is NOT a thrill ride? What's wrong with a nice "tour the castle" ride, or a dark ride like the Haunted Mansion or Carrots that takes you through the story?

View attachment 421660View attachment 421662View attachment 421663

We took the Hogwart's express back to the other park and watched the performance of the Three Brothers, and then I think we called it a day. M and A hadn't found anything to eat because A wouldn't eat anything at the Three Broomsticks and I don't think we ventured out of the Wizarding World. It's possible I took A and let M go his own merry way, but I don't remember.
View attachment 421664

When we got back to the resort, this is what we found.
View attachment 421665

All the stuffed animals were having a chat. Lady is E's, all the sheep are A's. It's a little blurry and hard to see, but the one against the pillow is a minecraft sheep that A named Notch. (maybe that's his official name) The one across from Lady is Mike. We only allowed him to bring the 2, and then he bought the Toy Story sheep as his souvenier. He named them, but I don't remember what their names were. We took A to McDonalds, I'm sure, and then dropped him off in the room and we went to Olive Garden.

Mushroom ravioli, for something different. And my husband got the same thing as the night before, I think. I don't know what E got.
View attachment 421667

Oh....Now I remember this night...we came back and I think I did some laundry while M took A to McDonald's. The problem was that M wanted to go back to Olive Garden, which I think closed at 10? Anyway, A didn't want to go to Olive Garden with us. He wanted to stay at the resort. But that meant M had to take him to McDonalds and then come back to drop him off and pick us up. But when he dropped A off, he didn't park and come in to pick us up. He sent A to the room and A was supposed to tell us M was waiting in the parking lot. Only, A didn't remember. We were running out of time, and A hadn't remembered whether M was waiting in the lobby, or at the valet entrance, or in the parking lot...and the parking lot is huge...WHERE in the parking lot? And since M had never gotten the SIM cards to work, we only had contact with each other when we had Wifi and could use facebook messenger. And once we got to the lobby, there was no wifi anymore, so I couldn't send him a message to ask where he was, or ask him to pull up to the valet/bell services drive.
So E and I go out and try to find him....it's dark, so we can't see much, and it's a rental car we've had for just a few days...we don't know it well. To recognize it in the dark in an unfamiliar place? And my husband knows I have ZERO sense of direction...it seemed a huge oversight on his part to expect us to find him in the dark. We walked back and forth, tried to find the entrance to the parking lot we had taken the last 2 nights, but couldn't find the path in the dark. We went back up and asked how to get to the parking lot. They pointed us in the opposite direction of where we had been walking. So we walk that direction and find the parking lot, but not the entrance we'd been taking....and we don't know which way to walk to find him, IF he's in the parking lot. We walk, aimlessly, trying to find him. Finally we do, and he's FURIOUS at us for taking so long and not instinctively knowing where he was. I told him that A had not remembered where he was supposed to send us, reminded him that I had no access to internet to send a message, and no way to call him to ask him where he was. He insisted that I should have known he'd be where we parked the night before....how was I supposed to know whether there was even a spot there if I could have found it in the dark in the first place? He argued and scolded and berated me until E finally started crying and begged for us to please stop arguing, and then he gave us the silent treatment the whole way there, drove aggressively, and just would not admit that he had any part whatsoever in us not being able to find him. It was entirely my fault that I didn't know exactly where he was. And the stupid thing is he said he watched us walking back and forth up by the valet thing, but he didn't flash his lights at us, or bother to move the car where we were walking back and forth. But it was entirely our fault for taking so long to find him. So we got to Olive Garden, he was still ignoring our existence, and there was a long wait for a table, during which he opted to sit at the opposite end of the waiting area from E and I. I still don't understand why he was so furious. Yes, it was late, but we made it before the restaurant closed, no harm done, and it really wasn't our fault that he hadn't given a clear message to A. I knew this was not going to be the nice relaxed meal we had the night before. He was in a hurry and impatient and just not good company. I think we ordered appetizers the night before, which I forgot to take pictures of, and this night, I decided I'd better not because I didn't want to take any longer than we had to. I just wanted to get back to the resort to sleep and hope he'd be in a better mood in the morning. He did order tiramisu this night, OR I put the picture in the wrong day's folder.
View attachment 421670

I wish you would have asked me about Forbidden Journey. I would have told you not to take A on it. My ds says the ride cars are attached to a robot (like the ones used in car factories) and it rotates the "vehicles" in different directions as the whole thing moves. My ds and dh do not like it. It gives dh motion sickness. I prefer Gringott's to that one, although that would have been scary for A as well potentially.

If M saw you from the car, he should have honked the horn or gotten out of the car to yell for you. He was wrong.

 

[Songbird76]

I wish you would have asked me about Forbidden Journey. I would have told you not to take A on it. My ds says the ride cars are attached to a robot (like the ones used in car factories) and it rotates the "vehicles" in different directions as the whole thing moves. My ds and dh do not like it. It gives dh motion sickness. I prefer Gringott's to that one, although that would have been scary for A as well potentially.

If M saw you from the car, he should have honked the horn or gotten out of the car to yell for you. He was wrong.

I sent M a message after Gringotts telling him A was NOT to go on it. He is terrified of open staircases and of elevators. He wouldn't have made it through the queue, let alone the ride.
After doing forbidden journey, though, I would take Gringotts any day. I wish I would have asked you, too!!!

I agree about M being in the wrong, and I don't even understand why he was so angry about it! It's not like we did it on purpose and he didn't miss anything because of it. Why was it such a huge deal?? It just put him into one of his moods, and I have never figured out what triggers them. Just suddenly he'll be a jerk for a few hours and then it goes away like nothing ever happened. I don't understand it. And like I said, it doesn't happen often, though it seems to happen more often when he is off of work, like a weekend or a vacation. It rarely happens when he's got his routine, so maybe that's it...a break in his routine makes him cranky because he can't predict what's going to happen? That's what causes A's meltdowns....when something happens that he wasn't expecting. He needs predictability, and maybe hubby does, too.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

I sent M a message after Gringotts telling him A was NOT to go on it. He is terrified of open staircases and of elevators. He wouldn't have made it through the queue, let alone the ride.
After doing forbidden journey, though, I would take Gringotts any day. I wish I would have asked you, too!!!

I agree about M being in the wrong, and I don't even understand why he was so angry about it! It's not like we did it on purpose and he didn't miss anything because of it. Why was it such a huge deal?? It just put him into one of his moods, and I have never figured out what triggers them. Just suddenly he'll be a jerk for a few hours and then it goes away like nothing ever happened. I don't understand it. And like I said, it doesn't happen often, though it seems to happen more often when he is off of work, like a weekend or a vacation. It rarely happens when he's got his routine, so maybe that's it...a break in his routine makes him cranky because he can't predict what's going to happen? That's what causes A's meltdowns....when something happens that he wasn't expecting. He needs predictability, and maybe hubby does, too.

It stinks that moods like that happen on a vacation.

 

[Songbird76]

It stinks that moods like that happen on a vacation.

It really does! You want to just have a good time, and spend time as a family, but then you end up just not wanting to be around him until he's in a better mood. If I could pinpoint a trigger, I could talk to him about it and just be like "You're doing it again." Oh well...most of our vacation was a lot of fun, we created some great memories...so you take the good with the bad. Maybe someday I'll figure it out.

 

[Songbird76]

Friday, August 9th

After doing the extra hour thing the first morning, we decided it wasn't worth it. We had the unlimited express pass, so even if the lines were long, we didn't have to wait in most of them anyway. I think this morning M went to play Ingress while we slept in. And I know A stayed at the resort at least one day, and it looks like this one may be one of them. He's not into roller coaster or thrill rides, and after the experience of the Forbidden Journey, I think he was not anxious to relive that. So I believe E and I took off on our own again. At least, all my pictures seem to be just the two of us.

First thing was that I wanted to get pictures of the resort.

It's a beautiful resort. The bridge in the third picture is the entryway from the valet/bell services to the lobby. The top 2 pictures are taken from that bridge on either side. The last picture is the walking path that runs parallel to the stream where the boats run from the parks to the resorts. The one downside was there was quite a hill to climb coming back, though we did find a way around that later. You could just keep walking and it would take you to the pool, and if you went past the pool, you could go around it and in at the ground floor and take the elevator up to the towers. A hates elevators, but he did eventually concede to using them rather than climb 5 flights of stairs every time. He was scared, but if someone was with him, and you talked him through it, he did it.

I'm going to be honest...I have no idea in which order we did things this day. M loves thrill rides and hadn't gotten to anything the first day really, and I am pretty sure that he went out by himself this day because I have a picture of E in bed that I sent to him with the text "It's coronation day!" because she looked so much like Anna. I won't post the picture, because she would kill me, but I know M wasn't there because I took the picture to send to him. And I know that he did practically every ride there one day and told me which ones he thought I could handle.

At some point, we did the Minion ride.

I loved the preshow and it was all very well done, but I had to keep my eyes closed through most of it so I didn't get motion sickness. The simulation was just too much and I was nauseated within seconds.
We went to Kings Cross station and took the Hogwarts Express again, just for fun. And something that was really cool and I tried and failed to get it on video, is that they have a special effect in the line. For those not familiar with the HP series, the platform 9 3/4 is between platforms 9 and 10 at Kings Cross station. To get onto the platform, you must walk straight at the barrier between the two platforms and you will kind of be absorbed into the wall and come out the other side onto an invisible-to-non-magical-folk platform. At the Wizarding World, they have recreated this effect, so as you are walking toward the platform, it appears as though the people ahead of you are just disappearing. It's really neat, and I tried to take a picture, but they were trying to keep the line moving and I wanted to get E walking through, but I didn't want to hold the line up and E didn't know what I was doing and didn't know why I wasn't with her anymore. So I had to give up. There may be videos on youtube for the curious, I don't know. But it was very cool to a nerd like me.