You can take the Girl out of Disney, BUT.........

[jenseib]

It was near impossible to get a picture of the Hogwarts Express with all the people there…plus walking fast didn’t help.

I just kept shooting as I walked.

And then I spotted Ollivanders! The tip I had been given is if the line didn’t stretch past 2 buildings, it was a less than ½ hour. There was hardly even anyone there….WRONG!
I am guessing this is newer, but there is now a queue stretching back in between the shops near the Dueling Dragons exit. We got in the line and at first it didn’t seem too bad…but it was!
Skip wanted to know what ride this was. I told him it was just a little show I wanted to see (and hoped Claire would be picked for) and the lines were long for it all day, so this was the best time to see it. He wasn’t necessarily happy, but he went along with it.

While waiting, I took pictures of everything I could see in line.

I have a thing for castles (who doesn’t right?), so I kept taking pictures of it over and over.

 

[jenseib]

And Perry has to get in on the action.

Doesn’t Skip look so excited to be waiting in line?

Claire had to play with Perry a little bit more.

 

[jenseib]

The Chimneys were all crooked on the top of the buildings. Skip just didn’t get why they would do such a thing.

While waiting, I got the feeling that they hadn’t even opened the doors yet. I knew they could only hold a small amount of people for each show, but we literally never moved a step for at least 20 minutes. Eventually we started moving though.

 

[jenseib]

As we got to the door they asked us how many and I said 3 and they let us in and we were the last for that group. Darn it, I figured we would be in the back and not able to see well, but actually we walked in and just stood there ……front and center. (We had waited about 40 minutes for the show)

We saw Ollivander look around for kids and I hoped…but it wasn’t meant to be. (Actually there were more adults than kids in there too.) He looked at 2 kids who looked to be about 10-12 years old. He asked if they got along well as they had a great chemistry. The Mom totally misunderstood and it was kind of funny. She pointed to her DH and said us? And he said no, those two, and then she pointed to herself and one child, and said me and him? LOL! Ollivander was patient and finally she figured out that it was the kids she was talking about. And some of us laughed and said No they don’t get along, they are brother and sister.

They went up and he selected wands for them. As they waved the wands, boxes would move and lights would flash. Claire loved this.

It was very dark in there and you had to use a flash if you had any hopes of getting any pictures….and you were allowed to as long as it wasn’t a LED flash, which we were told were what iPhones had.

The show is very short and cute, but this is not something we’ll have to do again. Skip’s thoughts…what a big rip off…all they want to do is sell you a wand. LOL

As we walked out, Ollivander talked to Claire and asked her age, and I replied 8…wait no 7. Why did I say 8? LOL Anyways he talked to her for a minute and suggested a few different types of wands for her when she was old enough to go to Hogwarts. I think he suggested Birch or Elder, which I was surprised, because I thought people didn’t want Elder….if you have read the stories, you know why.

They had us split in 2 directions to leave the shop and we emerged out to where they sold wands. Again, Skip was disgusted that they were pushing wands so hard. Luckily, Claire didn’t fall for it and insist on buying a wand. I wasn’t opposed to her getting one, but they are pricey and I knew it would be a novelty that would wear off in 45 minutes.

We next made our way over to the bathrooms.

Moaning Myrtle is in both bathrooms….moaning of course. Claire was amazed by this as well. She wanted to know why a ghost would live in the bathroom and asked a lot of questions about her over the course of the next few days.

 

[jenseib]

Next on our agenda was Forbidden Journey, so we worked our way over there.

The line was only listed to be about 20 minutes for Forbidden Journey. That wasn’t bad at all. I think it was about 8:50 when we got in line and it truly was close to 20 minutes when we rode.

We put the bags in a locker. This was my first locker experience at Universal and it was pretty easy and harmless. I did keep put my point and shoot camera so I could take some pictures of the queue area. They aren’t the best pictures, but better than nothing.
We had no line what so ever till we came into the Greenhouse area.

It is VERY dark in the halls. You have to use a flash for any hope of a halfway decent picture.

Oh, there’s the line….

 

[jenseib]

Even though there is a line, you pretty much keep moving the whole time. The ride is continuously loading, like Haunted Mansion, so the wait isn’t so bad when you are constantly moving.

A quick one with Mommy and Claire….looked how thrilled she is about it.

I have to add……what a dumb idea to make the line go through a greenhouse. Greenhouses are HOT! And even though they had fans blowing in there, it was already warm at 9 AM. I can’t imagine what it’s like in Aug with 105 degree weather.

Skip noticed the guy in front of us was taking pictures of everything and wanted to know why I wasn’t getting as many. LOL! Well my point and shoot takes a few seconds to regenerate after each flash picture…..I would’ve taken more if I could.

 

[jenseib]

This queue is really cool and if you get a chance do go through it, even if you don’t want to ride the ride.
There is a separate queue that they will allow you to go through if you ask (and it’s not too busy) that is just a walk through queue. I had thought about going back through there and taking more pictures, but I never did. It also does not go through every room.

This balcony has the “Fab 3” come out and say something, but they were just leaving as we walked in the room and never came back out before we left it.

 

[joanna71985]

Nice pictures!

 

[jenseib]

Nice pictures!

thanks!

 

[jenseib]

We kept moving and I kept snapping as much as I could.

You can’t see this well, but this is the portrait of the Fat Lady.

At one point in the line you are stopped and they wait a few minutes then let you through. They switch you over to a different queue, which I thought was weird. And the single rider line switches too and a 3rd queue is there for child swap people.



Soon enough we were boarding our vehicle and taking off immediately.



I have heard all sorts of things about this ride, but the number one thing was it’s a must do…and it is. It is super cool. I had heard it was a bit scary and intense, so we had Claire watch youtube videos of it so she knew what it would be like…and she almost backed out that day, but we wouldn’t let her.

There is a part where the dragon blows smoke right in your face, and it was directly into Claire’s face…and I thought …..”Oh Lord, don’t make her scared”. But Skip reached his hand out and said “hey dude” to the Dragon and she thought that was really funny.



The vehicle is designed so that you really can’t see much of the person next to you, but you can reach over and hold hands….which is what I did for Claire…and she held a firm grip the whole time, but I could hear her laughing as well.

You do go up and down and tilt back pretty far, but never upside down. It’s really hard to explain, but it was really cool. It goes from prop type scenes to movie screens as well. I heard many people are afraid of the Spiders area, and that was nothing to be fearful of. The spiders look extremely fake, even Claire said that. The scariest part is when the Dementors keep popping up at you. Claire said afterwards that she didn’t like that part and closed her eyes through it.



All in all we really liked the ride, but I would not wait over an hour for it. But my limit is usually 50 minutes tops anyways. I do wish/hope Disney gets some sort of ride like this in the future.



We exited and made our way to the lockers, which is a total madhouse of a project. And to get your stuff out of the locker you have to go the computer kiosk again and scan your finger. You are dumped into Filches and that place is just too small for the amount of people coming through.



We hopped over to the line for Flight of the Hippogriff. This line was about 10- 20 minutes or so as well.

You can see a peak of Buckbeak through the trees.

That was another fun little ride. Similar to Barnstormer, but has more kick to it. Actually it was pretty darn fast.

 

[jenseib]

We made our way back to Hogsmeade and used the bathrooms once again. Again, Claire was just curious about Myrtle and why she kept talking the whole time we were in there.

We decided it was time to try some butterbeer. I was told to go into the HogsHead to get it. The lines are shorter and you can use your AAA card and get 10% off. We went in via the Three Broomsticks and asked a TM where it was exactly and she directed us to our right.

I asked Claire if she wanted to share and she said no way. I asked again…in case she didn’t like it, but she was convinced she wanted her own. Looking back, I should’ve just went with my gut and got 1 to share, we could always come back for more. Skip decided he wanted one too, even though he had no clue what we were ordering. We ordered 3 frozen

The verdict………not so great. Skip immediately said yuck. I don’t think it was yuck, but it wasn’t fantastic. Claire said it was the best thing ever….then about 5 minutes later she said she really didn’t like it anymore and didn’t want it. It was just ok to me. Having one was good enough for me and nothing I would rush back to get again.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Awesome pics of Hogsmeade! I have never read any of the Harry Potter books and only seen bits of a couple movies but even I appreciated the area. It was very detailed and very well done. The first time we went was during Thanksgiving week and we actually did Universal first and then hit up IOA and go to that part of the park around 5pm. We waited about 50 minutes for FJ. Earlier in the day the wait was well over an hour and a half. I think if you have people in the group who want to go to Ollivander's, go early in the day, otherwise ride it out and hit it up as late as possible.

We got butterbeer as well but I got the regular one rather than the frozen and I really loved it. I'm not much of a frozen drink person (not a fan of slushies, frozen margaritas, etc) so I knew to just stick with the regular one!

Super glad Claire liked FJ

 

[jenseib]

Awesome pics of Hogsmeade! I have never read any of the Harry Potter books and only seen bits of a couple movies but even I appreciated the area. It was very detailed and very well done. The first time we went was during Thanksgiving week and we actually did Universal first and then hit up IOA and go to that part of the park around 5pm. We waited about 50 minutes for FJ. Earlier in the day the wait was well over an hour and a half. I think if you have people in the group who want to go to Ollivander's, go early in the day, otherwise ride it out and hit it up as late as possible.

We got butterbeer as well but I got the regular one rather than the frozen and I really loved it. I'm not much of a frozen drink person (not a fan of slushies, frozen margaritas, etc) so I knew to just stick with the regular one!

Super glad Claire liked FJ

I have heard that later in the day is a good time to go too. We never made it back in the afternoons, so I never got to see if there was a difference or not.

 

[jenseib]

We headed out in search of a smoking area. Just a heads up for those who do smoke, there is not any smoking areas in WWoHP. There is one right outside the gates in the Lost Continent though.
I tried to take a few more pictures as we headed that way, which was tricky to do with a cup of butterbeer in my hand.

Into the Lost Continent and directly to your right is a little cove for the smokers.

Claire sat and drank her Butterbeer, this is when she told us she didn’t care for it anymore.

We found out then that Skip has spilled the foam from his butterbeer all over the backsack. How he did this, I have no clue, but it was really foamy and gross. I had a few napkins and tried to clean it up the best I could and it appeared it hadn’t gotten on anything IN the backsack.

We just sat and relaxed a bit…well they sat, I kept taking pictures and sipping on my butterbeer.

 

[jenseib]

Skip and I split Claire’s butterbeer into our glasses and went off towards Seuss Landing before Claire exploded. This was all she could talk about.

As you can see, I still kept taking pictures in route to Seussland.

 

[jenseib]

This area is really neat looking.

You can see Claire off to the side of the picture. Yep, she was on a mission and wasn’t going to wait around for my picture taking.

A look across the lake.

 

[jenseib]

And now we enter the world of Dr. Seuss.

This place is so colorful! I loved looking everywhere here.

We stopped for a ride on the The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride! This has 2 tracks, and one of the tips I had been given was to ride both tracks because each were a little different. Only one track was running at this time, so we got in line. I took a picture of the wait time, but it didn’t come out. Perhaps they were changing the time when I did it. I think the wait was about 10 minutes. This area was much calmer and quieter than the WWoHP was.

This ride featured the Sneetches.

 

[jenseib]

Almost there!

 

[jenseib]

Time to board the Trolley Train. Skip and Claire rode together.

I thought I would be riding by myself, but I had a guy jump in behind me. I’m not sure why, as the line wasn’t long and his family didn’t appear to be in any cars near us. It was fine, but I thought it just seemed weird. And then I had trouble getting shots while we rode because he was in my way for some of the better things…..plus moving and not having the correct settings on the camera didn’t help as well.
If it was a family member with my, I would’ve elbowed them out of the way, but I couldn’t do that with a stranger. Darn!

The trolley goes through the Circus McGrukus Café and I took a REALLY bad picture as we went through.

I guess for some reason I felt the need to take a picture of this cactus.

I really liked this view.

 

[jenseib]

Another great view.

The ride is very basic; not thrills, but Claire loved it. You can see some really cute things too, but, like I said, I didn’t get pictures of most of it.

Onward we went.

And we came across the Lorax themed area…which of course is a big hit right now with the movie just being out.

I’m not sure exactly what this area was about. We didn’t walk through it, but I did see it had a path and at one time I saw a TM standing outside the door of the Once-ler’s house and it looked like she was going to go inside. I don’t know if us regular folks can do that or not.