Trip Report Revisiting 2016's War and peace I took one for the team

Hello it's me again and if you want to know what the title means you'll have to stick around for a while. Sorry but no spoiler This trip was 3 years in the making and the official countdown started at 439 days. Surprisingly the time seemed to fly by. Our little adventure was taken by me (for those who don't know I'm Figmentfan423 Figgy to my friends here), my dh and our 2 boys James 14 and fellow Disney planner and M who's a bit older autistic and doesn't like getting his picture taken or me talking about him. Our trip began at

am on July 30th. We sang happy birthday to my little guy while driving down the street on our way to Disney. I'm a very mean mommy who made my baby spend his birthday in the car. Any way it was smooth sailing until half way through Virginia where we hit rain and traffic all the way to the North Carolina border. It was bad enough we worried a bit about making it to our hotel for the first night but once we hit NC the skies cleared and so did the traffic and we made it to Florida

to take the obligitory first Florida picture of the boys. With a bit of luck and excitement we made it to Ormond Beach to get a good night's sleep.

 

[DimpledDevil18]

You really do get WAAYY more soaked on Popeye and Bluto than you do on Kali. Every time I've rode that ride I think absolutely everyone of us has come off drenched!

Jurassic Park River Adventure is pretty much a hybrid of Dinosaur and Splash Mountain. Good comparison.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

For @donaldtoo View attachment 162224 View attachment 162225 View attachment 162226
For @betty rose I found benches all over at UNI here's just oneView attachment 162227
For @MinnieM123 , @ajrwdwgirl and @MOXOMUMD View attachment 162228 View attachment 162229 View attachment 162230

Yahoo for treats!!!!

 

[Cesar R M]

It was Sirius' before it was Hagrid's. But yes it is.

pff details details.. that was in the past.. and sirius supposed to be death by the timeline of Diagon Alley (Gringott's adventure)

 

[Cesar R M]

I'm not going to give any spoilers about Hogwart's express but ride it each way twice and watch the window each way and the door each way. We got off in Hogsmeade and it was a bit of a let down compared to Diagon Alley. let me put that statement in perspective. Let's say you won the lottery for a million dollars in the morning and only won for 8 hundred thousand in the afternoon. In some ways it may have been better to start there but we wanted to follow the story line if that makes any sense. That's why we hadn't hit Gringott's yet. We spent the rest of the afternoon mostly just looking around but we did get on Forbidden Journey and Dragon challenge and of course the boys had to go on each coaster. They did say there was a bit of a difference one faster feeling and one felt more intense

I agree with you, infact I think you need to ride first from hogsmeade to Diagon alley to "follow" the story.

so its Diagon Alley -> Forbidden Journey -. Hogwarts Express to Diagon Alley -> Gringotts -> Hogwarts Express to Hogwarts to get the time line similar to the books.

If you come from Diagon alley, the story line kinda breaks.

regarding dragons, isnt the red one supposed to be faster?
I remember they were supposed to sync (and "duel") but scratched that for security purposes.
Plus the Red one seems to throw more people per hour than the blue when I went (aka more continuous drops)

The boys wanted to ride the train again so off we went back to Diagon Alley. The boys were now wanting now wanting to ride coasters so we hit Rip rocket and the Mummy before returning to Diagon Alley. We went through Olivander's again and this time my dh was chosen. He went around doing some magic while the boys and I went on Gringott's

I wonder, did he bought a wand as well?

 

[Cesar R M]

Wednesday August 17th we started in Hogsmeade first thing we did was Forbidden Journey. I made sure to have the camera with me this timeView attachment 162123 View attachment 162124 View attachment 162125 View attachment 162129 View attachment 162132 View attachment 162135 View attachment 162136

The details on that queue are amazing! even more improved in the GRingott's queue.

Did you use the restrooms in hogsmeade ??

Spoiler

Mrs Ferret told me Moaning Myrtle can be heard in the ladies

It can be heard in Male's too.
very loud! (both times I was there)

 

[Cesar R M]

We had dinner at the island Kitchen and it was great. Our server made some wonderful suggestions after finding out we're all gf. I started with a Golden Monkey and Jim got a crispin cider(how boring)View attachment 162236 View attachment 162237
At least I took notes LOL
Jim and my older ds got the Kung Pow Chicken, I got the stir fry veggie, rice noodle and tofu and James got the same except he got chicken. We also had an unexpected dinner guestView attachment 162238 View attachment 162239 View attachment 162239View attachment 162240 View attachment 162241 View attachment 162242

wait a second.. scooby doo visits your table?
I wonder what characters do appear in these restaurants lol.

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

Welcome to the dark side I thought you would enjoy the other castle

 

[Figgy1]

You really do get WAAYY more soaked on Popeye and Bluto than you do on Kali. Every time I've rode that ride I think absolutely everyone of us has come off drenched!

Jurassic Park River Adventure is pretty much a hybrid of Dinosaur and Splash Mountain. Good comparison.

Thank you

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

Spoiler

I think Dudley Do-rights is better than splash

 

[Figgy1]

Spoiler

I think Dudley Do-rights is better than splash

Seriously?

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

Seriously?

Yup way more fun and the cheesy one liners in the queue are

 

[Figgy1]

I know these are out of order but we saw Celestina Warbeck and The Tales of Beedle the Bard our first day in Diagon Alley. Make sure to try and see all 3 of the BTB shows

 

[Figgy1]

A few more pics of Diagon Alley

 

[Figgy1]

Dinner at Antijtitos was great, relaxing and sans children. I got an Antorita Margarita and Jim got a glass of sangria and he said it was the best one on this trip

Next up guacamole made table side and chips

I got a veggie fajita and Jim got the beef fajita. We were thinking about a goody afterwards but we were too stuffed

The talented fellows were playing outside after we finished dinner

 

[Figgy1]

After that we met up with the boys and rode a few thing and finally got done in time to watch the Cinematic Spectacular. It was ok but not even close to any of Disney's night time shows.

 

[Figgy1]

Saturday August 20th I let the boys sleep in because we didn't have to be anyplace early. I got the laundry done, did a workout, went for a swim all before the sleepy heads got up. Once everybody was moving we headed off to DTD. I had a 10% off coupon for World of Disney and a 15%off coupon for Basin burning a hole in my pocket

Always a happy sight

 

[Figgy1]

We spent some time just walking around

 

[Figgy1]

Before shopping we had something to do suggested by @MouseDreaming. So we hopped a boat and went to Port Orleans. Seeing we were in no rush we got off at Riverside and walked to the French Quater

On a mission to find top 8 allergen free beignets

 

[Figgy1]

Sunday August 21st we got up and out the door to head into Celebration to check out the farm market. Thanks to @epcotisbest. It's a nice little town with many nice shops to check out.

 

[epcotisbest]

We went there last Sunday. Glad you liked it. It is a regular stop for us. Lots of good veggies and we got a seedless watermelon that was incredibly flavorful and sweet.