Trip Report Turning 30 - A two week birthday celebration!

Hi, everybody! Well, here we are. Two weeks after returning from the World and I’ve had a serious case of the Disney blues. Probably more so than after any other Disney trip we've been on. So, it took me a bit to gather the strength to start a trip report. But, I'm ready to tell you all about our amazing two week trip!

If you didn't read my pre-trip report, let me introduce you to the cast:
From left to right: My mom, My sister Katie, and myself (Crystal)

When: January 10-24
Where: 2 nights at DoubleTree Hilton by Universal; 12 nights at Disney's Boardwalk Villas
Celebrating: My 30th birthday!

So, here we go; let’s just dive right in! (This is my first trip report by the way. Hope you enjoy it )


Day One - Saturday, Jan. 10 - Arrival Day and Universal Studios!

Saturday morning started off pretty smoothly for Katie and me, considering we only got about two hours of sleep. We were packed. Luggage was by the door. We woke up on time and were ready to go by 4:30 am, which was ahead of schedule! Go us! My dad would be so proud.....

And then, I decided I wanted to double check the weight of my bag. I had been very proud of myself for fitting two weeks worth of clothing and necessities in my suitcase. With room to spare. The mistake I made, however, was thinking the required weight was 50 lbs. But that's for international flights, not domestic. and I remembered that little tidbit at the last minute. I weighed my bag and it was 55 lbs! So, I scrambled upstairs for another suitcase and threw half of my previously, neatly packed stuff into the 2nd suitcase. And at this point, it was closer to 5am, which was still on schedule, but I was now a little frazzled and frustrated that I would have to pay for another bag. But, on the plus side, I'd have room to bring souvenirs back and not have to ship them!

So, we said bye to our fur babies (my dad and uncle would be taking turns taking care of them while we were gone),headed to my parents' house to meet my mom, transferred our luggage to my dad's truck, and were on our way! I made sure to add my extra checked bag online on the way to the airport, and listened to my dad make fun of me for being such a girl with so much stuff

I don't really have any airport pics. Things went very smoothly. We got through security check, had some breakfast, and then next thing we knew, we were boarding our flight!

Bye Houston!

 

[Disneygrl]

Day Two Continued..

Making our way to Gringotts' Bank. Snapping pictures along the way. Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes!

This guy was adorable. He was writing in his notepad, and posed when I went to take a picture.

I spy the Daily Prophet!

I also spy a dragon who doesn't look very happy.

*I'm truly sorry for those of you who are not Harry Potter fans. Most of the pics from the first 2 days of our trip are from this area. I definitely recommend reading the books and watching the movies! The Disney portion of the trip is coming soon, so hang in there!

Ollivanders!

I think I may have been a tad obsessed with this dragon.

Just look at the detail. So impressed with the attention to detail overall.

 

[Disneygrl]

Finally made it to Escape From Gringotts! And the wait was posted at 20 minutes! Compared to the 2+ hour waits the day before, it was like we had died and gone to Heaven!

We had to put our stuff in a locker, so the pictures from inside are from Katie's phone.

 

[Disneygrl]

The details of Gringotts Bank... amazing. Everything looked so real and true to the movie.

I loved everything about the line queue. The ride was just ok, in my opinion. I think I still prefer the Forbidden Journey over at Islands of Adventure. But it was worth it just to walk through Gringotts Bank!

Ok, that's it for now. I'm headed to a late meeting. Depending on when I get out, I might post some more tonight.

 

[Disneygrl]

Ohw you can't imagine how we are looking forward and there is such a long time to go But prefeelings are great! Thanks for the Universal pics! Love the black and whitye dragon! It's like art!

Thanks!

 

[FlaggNL]

Thanks!

You are more than welcome! Great to see so many pictures from Universal. Brink back the October 2014 memories. And it is funny to see that a lot of your pictures are familiar with ours..... when you find time, check out the TR from October 2014 and you will see Off course still Folowing along!

 

[SeaweedCupcake]

Just caught up on your report! Love all the Harry Potter stuff. When we went in November the lines were insane for everything. Following along!

 

[Disneygrl]

Just caught up on your report! Love all the Harry Potter stuff. When we went in November the lines were insane for everything. Following along!

We were fortunate to have some slow times this trip. Not always. Some days were insane. But this day was great. Thanks for following!

 

[Disneygrl]

Day 2 continued...

When we got off the ride, it was about 10am.

This guy is pretty handsome.

We took our time walking around and really taking it all in. We did make sure to try the Butterbeer ice cream. We considered it our late breakfast. Ice cream counts for breakfast when you're on vacation, right? I don't have a picture of it. It was pretty good. I think I prefer the frozen butterbeer drink in Hogsmeade though.

Just some pics from around Diagon Alley.

As you can see from the pics below, I obsessed more over certain things than others. We're big fans of books

Look! It's Gilderoy Lockhart!

If Katie and I were citizens of the wizarding world, I'm fairly certain that she would work at Flourish & Blotts book store, and I would work at the Daily Prophet.

Ok, moving on... Jellied Eel, anyone?

We took a stroll through Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. It was kind of crowded inside, so I didn't get any pictures. (I don't do well in small, crowded spaces). Very cool store though. We wanted one of everything and couldn't decide what to get, so we ended up with nothing haha.

Backside of the store.

Loving the low crowds this day. It gave us time to point out details about the buildings and signs.

 

[Disneygrl]

Not sure if you can tell by the pictures, but the sky was turning pretty grey, and we were feeling sprinkles here and there.

I was in LOVE with this area. The design was magnificent.

The stage for the Tales of Beedle the Bard was in this area, and we were able to catch part of the show. It was pretty awesome. We really enjoyed it.

More of this greatness:

I mean... Seriously could not get enough.

Same pic, just edited differently

Wizard dollars, anyone? Also... that guy may or may not be picking his nose.

Just around this time, I started to hear something. I turned around and noticed that everyone had their cameras out, and then I realized what I was hearing was the dragon preparing to do his fire breathing thing. I literally got my picture just in time.

Not the best angle, but I wasn't even planning to get a fire picture, so I was happy with it.

 

[Disneygrl]

We made our way out into the London area.

The shrunken head on the Knight Bus actually talks and interacts with you. How cool is that!

At this point, the rain had still held off, and we decided it was time to explore other parts of the park.

First stop, Men In Black. Surprisingly, this was the first time we had every gone on this ride. I think I'm one of the only people on the planet who is not a fan of the movies. But, with a standby of 10 min, how can you resist?

We LOVED it! I don't think we scored many points, but we had so much fun trying. As soon as we retrieved our bags from the lockers, it started to rain.

We took shelter for a quick minute while we got things situated. I love this view "across the pond".

The rain settled down pretty quickly, so we opted not to use our ponchos and we moved on. Of course, we didn't get far before it started up again. So, we took the time to check out all things Lucy.

 

[LilWalt]

Don't apologize for the Harry Potter pictures, it's your trip report. The attention to detail is amazing.

 

[Disneygrl]

We took our time checking out all of the Lucille Ball stuff. I love me some "I Love Lucy".

After awhile, I stepped outside to see if the rain had let up any.

We weren't the only ones taking shelter.

It really wasn't that bad, so at this point, I put the camera up so that it wouldn't get wet, and we headed to Shrek 4-D. Not gonna lie. I fell asleep. Not that it's boring or anything; I just think I've seen the show too many times. From there, we headed to Despicable Me which was cute.

The rain was definitely letting up, and the skies were beginning to clear. It was right around this time that I noticed the wait time for Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit was only 15 minutes! Now, as I've already told you, Katie really dislikes roller coasters, so I had conceded,for the most part, and agreed not to ride them. But, this is my favorite ride at Universal. I LOVE thrill rides. To my surprise, Katie told me she would ride with me as long as it was before we had lunch. So I jumped at the chance!

Look! The sun!

It actually started to rain a little while we were in line, and they made an announcement that the ride might shut down. That made Katie excited, until they decided not to shut it down and we rode in the rain! Then, she was very nervous! It was SOOOOO fun. And we had a good laugh watching the video of our ride. I was all smiles and she was all

We had lunch at the Monsters Cafe again, more out of convenience of location than anything. We were pretty hungry and it was right there. I think we split the chicken. I got a side of mac n' cheese, and let me tell you... gross. The rest was good though.

Since the sun wasout, we decided it would be a good time to hop on the Hogwarts Express and head to Islands of Adventure. On the way, since there was basically no wait, we went back to MIB and attacked some aliens. Twice! By that second time, we had really gotten then hang of it. We thought about going again, but by the time we made it back to the line, the wait was up to 45 min! No thank you! Moving on.

I think that this was the time everyone at Islands of Adventure decided to come to Universal Studios. So, we definitely made the right decision starting out at USO.

Where did all these people come from?

Only a 10 minute standby for the Hogwarts Express! Score!

 

[mrdrift]

I love the first two days with all the Harry Potter pictures. I have not seen the new sections and you took some great detailed pictures that makes me want to go real bad, need to plan for it. Never apologize for sharing Universal or Harry Potter pictures, this is your report so do what you want and most people don't mind seeing the other side of the force. Following along this fun adventure.

 

[FlaggNL]

The HP pictures are still great! Take your time to update the TR And don't appologize for the Universal pics, it's great to see them and guess there are a lot of WDW pictures to come Still following!

 

[LisaBelle]

Finally managed to find some time to get caught up on trip reports! Your report is fabulous! I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan so I am definitely appreciating all the pictures from Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. If Universal had not added the Harry Potter areas we would never leave Disney property. Looking at your pictures I am kind of regretting our decision to avoid Diagon Alley when we were there last summer. But we were afraid it would be so packed that we wouldn't be able to enjoy it. Definitely can't wait to take it all in on our next trip! I am following along and can't wait to read more.

 

[disneyfirstLJ]

Loving your report! My daughter and I are huge Harry Potter fans but there is so much to see at Disney that we have not planned Universal into a trip yet. I am thinking about planning a short surprise trip for maybe next year just to go to Universal to see the Harry Potter stuff. Following along...
Happy Birthday!

 

[Doc Disney]

Love your report so far! Can't wait to read more

 

[Disneygrl]

The HP pictures are still great! Take your time to update the TR And don't appologize for the Universal pics, it's great to see them and guess there are a lot of WDW pictures to come Still following!

Oh yes. Lots of Disney pictures!

Finally managed to find some time to get caught up on trip reports! Your report is fabulous! I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan so I am definitely appreciating all the pictures from Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. If Universal had not added the Harry Potter areas we would never leave Disney property. Looking at your pictures I am kind of regretting our decision to avoid Diagon Alley when we were there last summer. But we were afraid it would be so packed that we wouldn't be able to enjoy it. Definitely can't wait to take it all in on our next trip! I am following along and can't wait to read more.

I had a friend who visited Diagon Alley shortly after it opened, and she said it was extremely hard to navigate through the crowds. I'm glad we got to enjoy it at one of the slower times. You will love it! Thanks for following!

Loving your report! My daughter and I are huge Harry Potter fans but there is so much to see at Disney that we have not planned Universal into a trip yet. I am thinking about planning a short surprise trip for maybe next year just to go to Universal to see the Harry Potter stuff. Following along...
Happy Birthday!

I definitely recommend it! Especially if you're a HP fan and thank you for the birthday wishes!

Love your report so far! Can't wait to read more

Thanks for following!

 

[Disneygrl]

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend and a lovely Valentines Day!

Wrapping up Day 2...

My last post ended with us getting ready to take the Hogwarts Express over to Islands of Adventure.

This guy was extremely patient with a family who did not have a park to park ticket and did not not understand why they couldn't ride the train. He also looks just like a friend of mine. I had to snap a picture to show him that he had a doppelganger

As you can see, the line was basically non-existent. Much different from previous day!

I could have photographed this all day. Love it.

The line moved so quickly. It was basically a walk on. And then just a short train ride later, we made it to our destination!

 

[Disneygrl]

They really did a great job distressing these ceilings to make them look old and worn.

Notice in the picture above how everyone is looking down at something? I didn't realize why until after I took the picture. We made our way out of the train station, and as we were walking down the stairs we noticed that a lady had fallen and was laying on the stairs. I couldn't tell if she had passed out or just slipped, but her husband looked kind of panicked and was trying to tend to her. Literally every person walking down the stairs just stepped over her or walked right by. I couldn't believe it. When I got closer, I asked the man if he'd like me to go get someone, and he said "Yes, please!"

So, remember when I said we only had one bad experience with a Universal park employee? Well, we quickly went to find someone who could help us, and we stopped to speak with the first employee we saw. It happened to be at a stroller rental booth right outside of the train station. I went up to the lady and told her the situation and asked if she could possibly call someone who might be able to help. And she just looked at me....Then, she noticed a family behind me who had just walked up to rent a stroller. She told me "Hold on a sec", and then asked the family if she could help them! I just stood there kind of shocked. She noticed that I was agitated, so she told the family she would be right with them and she told an employee who was walking up about injured guest and he hopped right into action. By that time, another couple who came looking for help was able to point him in the right direction. I was seriously not impressed with the stoller rental lady. I think she had a case of "that's not in my job description" or something. But in the end, it all worked out, and they were able to help the injured park guest.

Still a little crowded, but not too bad.

The singing Frog Choir!

It was really turning out to be a beautiful day!