Trip Report Oops I forgot to trip report!! (October 2016)

Hey everyone! It’s been a couple months since @ValVal and I got back from our Disney trip and I have yet to post anything about it. I was very excited to write a TR but things got a little crazy at the end of the year and I live for procrastination. Val keeps reminding me so finally I’m here… better late than never.

Two years ago, Val and I had gathered up three of our other best friends from college for an awesome reunion trip (See that trip report here). Getting all 5 of us together again wasn't really an option but I’ve been bugging Val to come back to WDW ever since (and visiting her in California for trips to Disneyland in between). We're a couple of former college roommates who fuel each other’s Disney obsession. Here we are in DCA in June (a hint to our MNSSHP costumes):

And here’s an overview of the fun times we had-- Our trip covered October 18-26 (part of the weekend we spent away from Orlando). Part 1 was at All-Star Sports and we stayed at Art of Animation for Part 2. We drank around the world, cast spells at Universal, trick-or-treated at MNSSHP, experienced strange bug attacks, and had a great little reunion. Hope you’ll join me on this adventure of writing a belated trip report! Enjoy!

Day 1 (Oct 18) started off with me not leaving work early enough and trying to race to Orlando to pick up Val, who had just flown across the country.

It took a while for her baggage to come out so that bought me some time. Soon enough we were reunited and heading to Universal. Val had gotten a ticket that gave her a free extra day and I have an annual pass, so we planned on visiting for just a couple of hours before the parks closed. Here we go!

We went straight to Islands of Adventure, which was the park that stayed open later (although it was only open until 7 so we had just 1.5 hours of park time). Our first stop was Suess-land. We barely spent any time there during our Universal day 2 years ago and Val was really excited to check it out more.

Our first ride was the super-creepy Cat in the Hat dark ride.

Like really-- look how creepy the "Things" are. Strange.

Next we went to the Peoplemover-esque high in the sky trolley train. There were nice sunset views to be had.

 

[abzoo]

Pretty sunset ride pics:

We explored a little more and then moved on through the Lost Continent. Val tripped while I was taking this picture and I'm choosing to include this one instead of normal-looking Val because it adds a little something extra to the trip report (right, @ValVal??).

and finally we went back to witches and wizards and magical beasts...

We each had our interactive wands at the ready-- Val's from the West Coast Wizarding World and mine from Florida (they work at either park-- I've tested mine out in California). We spent just a short amount of time in Hogsmeade, as we were running out of time until park close, so the only thing we really did here was cast a few spells.

Aaaaand on we went towards Jurassic Park. There had been some major recent landscaping changes over by the castle that really change the view. They're so close together that Jurassic Park is essentially the Forbidden Forest on the grounds of Hogwarts. Perhaps the centaurs, unicorns, and dinos are friends.

 

[ValVal]

i do prefer the tripping photo haha it adds to the realness of my inability to balance myself up on two feet haha & yes the unicorns and dinos would def get along...but not the centaurs (they never trusted those dinos)

 

[ValVal]

sneetches

 

[blreinsel]

Excited that you started another TR! Following along.

 

[amjt660]

I too am following along.
I remember reading your 5 girls trip report - hope this trip was as fun as that one was!

 

[Princess Leia]

I'm finally going to the Universal Parks this fall, and I really had no idea that the islands were all so close to each other!

 

[abzoo]

IoA was nearing its close so we made our way through Jurassic Park. As we passed Kong, the wait time said it was 40 minutes and we figured we should get the ride out of the way now while the wait times weren't crazy. We waited less than 20 minutes though and were some of the last few guests in before the line was closed. The queue for this ride is loud and kinda scary... I mean look at this creepy witch.

There's chanting that gradually gets louder and the lights flicker. Woah scary.

Then it was time to ride. I think this entranceway is one of the coolest parts of the ride (although this picture is not so great), other than the gigantic King Kong head. Other than that, I was not very impressed. Before the ride opened I predicted that they would use part of the 3D movie that they use for the King Kong segment of the backlot tour in Universal Hollywood... and that's what this is. Of course there's also the addition of a couple more scenes and the massive Kong AA. It's a decent ride but I really didn't feel any need to ride it a second time.

IoA was officially closed by the time we were done with Skull Island. We walked through Toon Lagoon and took some pictures before leaving.

Are we having fun yet??? YES. See?

We decided to check out the new Toothsome Chocolate Factory before heading to the car. It's pretty neat and they seem to have lots of tasty (pricy) things in there.

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[abzoo]

sneetches

How could I forget about sneetches!!?

Excited that you started another TR! Following along.

Yay thanks for following!!

I too am following along.
I remember reading your 5 girls trip report - hope this trip was as fun as that one was!

Welcome back to abzoo trip reporting! Val and I definitely had lots of fun!

I'm finally going to the Universal Parks this fall, and I really had no idea that the islands were all so close to each other!

Some of the islands have bridges that go from one to the other and some just transition without a bridge (like the Lost Continent to Wizarding World). Even though we're standing on a bridge in this picture the perspective is a little strange since they seem to have cut down a bunch of trees that used to be in front of Hogwarts. Oh well.

 

[blreinsel]

I totally agree with your review of Kong. The queue is phenomenal, but terrifying lol. Love the entrance and the Kong at the end, but the rest was just meh. Especially being one of the last rides that we did, we were kind of 3D-showed out. Maybe it would have been more impressive if we had ridden it first thing in the morning but I definitely didn't feel the need to ride it again, nor will I if we return in the future.

 

[abzoo]

Okay-- now to finish our first part of a day. We continued through City Walk and ordered a pizza that we could pick up on our way to the hotel. I have no pictures but we got a much-too-large deep dish pizza from Giordano's so we could relive our Chicago glory days. It was goooood but way too much food. But whenever we needed those hunks of cheese for a snack (or as a nutritious breakfast) we had that in the fridge!

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When we got to All Star Sports, the lines for check in were pretty long. We were just holding our pizza basically drooling out of hunger but everyone in front of us was taking such a long time. But finally we made it to our room, which was in the Homerun Hotel Section. We finished our food and did a little unpacking. Val gave me this awesome shirt!! Surprise present that would be perfect for the next day. This is also pretty much the only picture we have of our room. Excuse the fact that we made an absolute mess while unpacking our stuff. Oops. Oh well. (Also we were watching Stacy because that's just what you do.)

Photos from our resort wanderings...

This pool was getting refurbished during our stay. The next day, all the water had been drained.

Look how sporty we are. All Star Sporty.​

 

[blreinsel]

Dying at the picture of @ValVal shooting the Snapchat basketball. I stayed at All Star Sports on my last trip, also in the Homerun Hotel section. Your pictures bring back such fond memories!

 

[LisaBelle]

Laughed out loud at your title! Looks like you gals had a great time at IOA. I love the WWoHP! The theming is fabulous and I feel like I'm walking right into the book! Looking forward to reading the rest of your report!

 

[abzoo]

Dying at the picture of @ValVal shooting the Snapchat basketball. I stayed at All Star Sports on my last trip, also in the Homerun Hotel section. Your pictures bring back such fond memories!

Yes! I'm glad you appreciate the snap! I was cracking myself up!

Laughed out loud at your title! Looks like you gals had a great time at IOA. I love the WWoHP! The theming is fabulous and I feel like I'm walking right into the book! Looking forward to reading the rest of your report!

Wizarding World is obviously amazing. The theming is so great that it can be appreciated by book lovers (like me), movie lovers (like Val), or even people who aren't Harry Potter fans at all (people with whom I just cannot relate). I have another day of Universal to post before we get to the Disney parks but we'll get there soon. Thanks for following.

As for my title... one of the reasons I didn't start the TR right away was that I couldn't settle on a title. So I kept procrastinating and forgetting and ended up with this. I like it. Glad it made you laugh!!

 

[Jess G]

following along! looks like fun!!

 

[abzoo]

Actual Day 1 (October 19)

On our first full day, Val and I went back to Universal. Here's a "before" picture. Ha.

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It was a pleasant morning and I drove us to Universal. We made good time. I got free parking with my pass. All was well.

Yes, we are ready to experience the magic.
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We headed to the other side this time since USF opened earlier and closed earlier that day due to Halloween Horror Nights.

Apparently I decided that a grumpy face was appropriate.

And here's a crew working on the Jimmy Fallon ride. They did a lot with the facade that week so we were able to watch the progress.

Aaaaand here's the progress we saw for the Fast and the Furious ride they're building. Not even a little bit excited for this. Just like Skull Island uses premade 3D animation from the Studio Tour at Univesal Studios Hollywood, I'd bet they're using the animation from the Fast/Furious portion too for this ride. It's so lazy and seems like such a waste of space.

Here's some HHN decor...

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[abzoo]

Obviously our first destination was Diagon Alley. When Val came to visit 2 years ago, the dragon refused to do his fire-breathing thang the entire day. Would Val finally be able to see some flames? Well, we'd have to wait since it was necessary to get a Gringotts ride in!

We stored our bags and then got ready for some banking transactions.

Val selfies!

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Down we spiraled into the cavernous bowels of the bank. We did, in fact, escape Gringotts and have fun while doing so. I was compelled to discuss Cursed Child spoilers with Val (even though she hasn't read the play) after we got off the ride due to characters that show up in the ride's story line.

When we were back out in Diagon Alley, we started walking around looking at the shops. We kept missing the dragon breathing fire and Val's face accurately portrays how she felt about that.

 

[abzoo]

We heard something going on in the stage area and the performers were starting a Beetle the Bard tale, The Fountain of Fair Fortune. It was only 9AM and I was surprised that they started shows that early but good job, Universal. I'd seen this one before but it was a first for Val.

View attachment 185286

And we continued to walk around and admire the awesome details of Diagon Alley.

We still hadn't seen any dragon fire.

Also, I speak parseltongue.

 

[amjt660]

Aaaaand on we went towards Jurassic Park. There had been some major recent landscaping changes over by the castle that really change the view. They're so close together that Jurassic Park is essentially the Forbidden Forest on the grounds of Hogwarts. Perhaps the centaurs, unicorns, and dinos are friends.

Personally not a fan of this approach. Uni should have better transitions from one themed land to another.
Great trip report so far - really enjoying the read

 

[abzoo]

It was then time to practice more spells, which led us to Knockturn Alley.

Val's a ghost.

Fancy a visit to the room of requirement?

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We then wanted to move on to other parts of the park but saw that the wait for Gringotts was still pretty low so figured we might as well get in a round 2 for the morning. Back to the goblins we went!

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As luck would have it, we did in fact escape Gringotts again! Huzzah! So then it was time to head to the non-Wizarding World. We headed towards Rock It but ended up sidetracked by the Mummy.

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