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]

After Mummy, we did ride Rip Ride Rockit, one of my absolute favorite rides at Universal. Val was planning on needing to ride it twice during our trip so she could listen to two different songs. I always choose the same song (Le Disko by Shiny Toy Guns).

#fallonride. Val & Jimmy are BFFs.

Val & DeLorean are BFFs.

We decided to go on Men in Black next but to get there we needed to pass through the Simpsons land. We did not go on the Simpsons ride because it's awful.

Does Abby like The Simpsons? Not even a little bit.

But eventually we made it to MIB. This team member was the most enthusiastic I've ever seen. When the opening "Universe and You" spiel was going on, he was dramatically mouthing every word of the intro, with wild hand gestures and flourishes. I blame this horrible photo on the fact that he was just moving too much. It was hilarious though.

Val was beating me during the ride but I pushed the red button first at the end and jumped ahead with my extra 100,000 points. She was a little bitter.
​

 

[abzoo]

We were getting hungry and decided to go to Leaky Cauldron for lunch. We stopped to say hello to Kreacher in the window of 12 Grimauld Place. I didn't know he was there until very recently. Hello, grumpy house elf!

Lunch time!

I got the kid's meal fish and chips since we were planning on getting some dessert soon after lunch. Val got the Guiness stew (and butterbeer!).

definitely one of my more attractive looks.

Once we finished our meal, we head more action going on by Diagon Alley's stage area. Celestina Warbeck was performing and being fierce as ever. Universal really gets great talent for this role.

 

[abzoo]

For dessert, we headed over to Florean Fortescue's for some delicious ice cream. I'd never been here before but the shop is cute and the ice cream is super tasty!

Angry photobombing grandma in background? Probably jealous of our ice cream.

I got a scoop of apple crumble and a scoop of chocolate raspberry. Definitely preferred the apple crumble-- there were chunks of pie in it so how can you go wrong with that?

We headed out of Diagon Alley with our ice cream and walked over to King's Cross to catch a train back to IoA.

We walked through Hogsmeade after getting off the train and went to go see some dinos!

Someone's excited.

Our first stop in Jurassic Park was the Discovery Center, a first for both of us. Valerie loves her dinos and she loves the JP universe (mainly Jurassic World)-- she even had a Jurassic World themed party for her 25th birthday. Of course we had to explore.

 

[abzoo]

Here's Val becoming a T-Rex...

And here's me with my all time favorite dinosaur...

We played with one of the interactive super-scientific games hosted by Mr DNA from the movies. This one took Val's photo, asked her some questions to see what dino she would be most compatible with, and then did a fake hand prick to collect her DNA. Then InGen showed us the ridiculous hybridization of Val with a dinosaur. It was terrifying and absolutely bizarre and I would definitely recommend you check it out on your next trip to Jurassic Park. So hilarious.

Unstable DNA mix?? Ya think??

Of course we also had to catch a ride on the Jurassic Park River Adventure. We were in need of a good splash.

We walked past Skull Island in the day time. Not that we were interested in a Round 2 (definitely not for a 75 minute wait)

 

[ValVal]

Our first stop in Jurassic Park was the Discovery Center, a first for both of us. Valerie loves her dinos and she loves the JP universe (mainly Jurassic World)-- she even had a Jurassic World themed party for her 25th birthday. Of course we had to explore.
​

I Love ALL JURASSIC but World is sooooo much more aesthetically pleasing to me with the blues instead of red&yellow hehe ALSO I can never get enough Chris Pratt

 

[amjt660]

My family loves Jurassic Park (the original ) and Jurassic World movies
The biggest draw is the musical score by John Williams.
We love walking through the main gate at IOA , hearing the theme music, visiting the visitor centre and feeling like you are actually in the movie.
Glad you two had a good time!!

Max

 

[abzoo]

Since we were already a little wet from our River Adventure, we went ahead and made another questionable decision.

Note the sign that says shoes and shirts must be worn. There was a man in our boat who decided to take his shirt off-- setting a great example for his sons who followed suit. Another man in our boat decided it was a good idea to take off his shoes and share his gross long toenails with his raftmates.

I first went on this ride in July and had a blast so I suggested it to Val and she was game. It's a really long raft ride and no one makes it out without getting soaked. Just when you think the ride must be ending, you turn a corner and go down a huge slope of rapids. It was October and I got SO MUCH more wet than I had in the summer. Yikes.

Soaked.

We took our wet selves over to the Hulk in hopes that a roller coaster would help us dry. When that didn't work, we took a few minutes to soak up the sun, as there were a few open benches. A Marvel superhero motorcade passed us by as we sat.

We were still a little damp but we decided we should ride Spiderman, since we hadn't done that yet. But it was SO COLD in the Spiderman queue. Waaay too much air conditioning, especially for those who have recently ridden water rides.

Brrrrrrr.
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[abzoo]

One more ride in Superhero Island before heading back to Hogsmeade-- Storm Force Accelatron. The X-Men teacups. How thrilling.

Back in the Wizarding World, we rode Dragon Challenge (twice?) since the wait was short.

Then Val wanted to get a drink in the Hog's Head. So she got a shot of Fireball... I mean fire whisky.

Val speaks for the trees.

The last thing we did before leaving IoA was ride Hulk another 2 times. Because the wait was short and Hulk is awesome, especially since it was recently refurbished.

Hulk SMASH!

Third time's a charm. Bye for now, Universal.​

 

[abzoo]

Finally to finish our day, we stopped at Disney Springs to wander around.

Val was in need of a cupcake so we headed to Sprinkles.

And we picked up a limited edition Rapunzel pin for a friend back in California. A cast member took our photo by the green-clad Minnie and Mickey.

And we stumbled across a Photopass setup for our first Photopass pics of the trip. Val had to dig out her Magic Band at the end of our photo shoot.

It's Halloween so we need pictures of us looking scared. Obviously.

To end the night, Val picked up some dinner from Bongos Cafe and I ate some of our leftover pizza.

Up next is the Disney Parks portion of our trip. Huzzah!​

 

[abzoo]

• October 20 • 2nd full day • EPCOT •

We were pretty efficient about getting ready for our first Disney day. Got to the park around 8:30 in the middle of extra magic hours and decided to get some pictures of us/ take some of our own.
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It was a beautiful morning. We headed to the Land.

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Val had ridden the new Soarin' at California Adventure but this was my first time riding Soarin' Around the World. I hardly ever rode the old version but I liked this one. Although some of the more architectural landmarks get distorted as you fly close to them, I still enjoyed the more global feel. Soarin' over California made perfect sense for DCA but not so much for Epcot. Riding this gives me major travel bug. I've been to 2 of the locations in the ride (3 if we're counting Epcot) but need to see mooooore.

I asked Val about the finale for DCA's Soarin' and she said it's still a shot of Disneyland, although it's a non Christmastime version. I think they should show both Epcot and Disneyland in each version.​

 

[abzoo]

We signed up and paid for Behind the Seeds and then left the Land and went to the Seas. We rode Nemo before visiting our fishy friends.

In the biiiiig blue world...

I saved @ValVal from being eaten by Bruce.

And we observed all the fish and eels in these little tanks.

Unfortunately the manatees weren't out since this guy was cleaning their tank. I was bummed since they're my favorite.

 

[abzoo]

More fishy pictures...

We still had time to kill so we walked over to the Imagination Pavilion.

Nope, we did not ride Journey into Imagination.​

Instead, this was where we ended up. DIsney & Pixar shorts in the Magic Eye Theater. It had been a long time since I'd seen anything in this theater but I think it's a pretty good idea that they're playing the shorts in there with some special effects. The three we saw were Get a Horse, For the Birds, and La Luna.

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Once that was over, we had to rush back over to the Land for our Behind the Seeds tour! We were super excited!

We got our name tags at the desk over by Soarin' and waited a few minutes for our whole tour group to gather. Then it was time to start our walking tour. The first room you're taken to has some plants and tiny little bugs.

Our guide, Kelli, explained their process of breeding parasitic wasps that are beneficial to the plants they have in the Land. The tiny wasps lay eggs in the leaf miner bugs that destroy the leaves of produce and then the eggs drop out and are collected by the cast members so they can hatch and go after more leaf miners.

Yay parasites! Yay Behind the Seeds!​

 

[abzoo]

Next we were taken to look at the station where plants are cut and cultured (available for purchase at a gift shop near you!)

Then we were taken "On Stage" into the greenhouses.

It's really nice to be able to walk around and look at everything that you usually only see very briefly when you ride Living with the Land.

​

 

[Doc Disney]

Oooh! Behind the Seeds looks nice. I am doing it in March for the first time

 

[abzoo]

Oooh! Behind the Seeds looks nice. I am doing it in March for the first time

You'll love it! The greenhouses will be even more colorful in the springtime, as they cram more in there during Flower and Garden. I went in May last year and everything was so beautiful!

 

[abzoo]

Next, we were taken over to this station where Kelli showed us how we can utilize these unique and efficient growing techniques in our own home gardens.

And we had also reached the point in the tour where we were fed! Delicious cucumber samples. There were extras too so I got a second handful! Also shown in this photo is Stanley (the plant with the pink flowers). I couldn't remember what the name of the plant was so I looked online and the common names for Stanley are sensitive plant and shameplant, which I think is hilarious. Shame on you, Stanley! SHAME. Anyway... we got to touch the shameplant's leaves and watch as they closed up, a convenient defense mechanism to protect the plant from animals who may want to eat him or from rainstorms or other bad weather. Kelli ended up shaking the plant after we all had a chance to touch it and all Stanley's leaves closed up at the same time, leaving a pretty wilty looking plant. Val and I were very amused.

Stanley!

And here are the cucumbers growing.

Lean and grow tomatoes

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And here's us with our baby Winter Melon. huge. Apparently these usually get fed to the animals at Animal Kingdom or the Lodge since winter melons don't have too much flavor.

 

[sheriffwoody]

following along! Behind the Seeds looks fun. And not to sound gross, but...those melons are huge!

 

[abzoo]

following along! Behind the Seeds looks fun. And not to sound gross, but...those melons are huge!

Hahahah perfect comment!!

 

[amjt660]

Hi
Maybe it is just my laptop but your "fish are friends not food"picture had lighting that makes you look like a ginger

Max

 

[abzoo]

Hi
Maybe it is just my laptop but your "fish are friends not food"picture had lighting that makes you look like a ginger

Max

You're right! Val's phone camera gave me ginger hair!