Turkey and treacles, we went back! TR started! Park Day 3 added

Hi! Thanks for joining me. I just realized that my son's foot made a guest appearance in that pina colada shot! :lmao:

Hahahaha
I had to go back and look at that picture

I would not have known that unless you mentioned it !
 
Pictures from my camera AND phone all loaded into SmugMug, I'm finally ready to roll!

Park Day 1 (Sunday, 11/19)
After a fantastic nights sleep in those wonderful HRH beds, we were up bright and early for EE into IoA! Showered and ready we set off on the short walk to the security checkpoint at the edge of CW. During our stay we never encountered any TM who was nothing short of exemplary. I love that having multiple checkpoints for hotel guests keeps any given line short and efficient. We easily made our way through security and onward to IoA we went!

Why does everyone think it's necessary to instantly go the middle turnstiles? We went to the far left and found a line with only one other family in line.....and where was this family from but VA. It really is a small world. In short order EE was on and the day had started. Those 8 1/2x11 paper tickets....no words. The TM who scanned Corey's ticket had a bit of fun with him, after she scanned his ticket she enthusiastically wished him a good day.....and with an exaggerated eye roll commented, "even if you are a Ravenclaw." It was funny and made us search out her line when we went back!

Let the adventure begin!

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When you've planned and waited months and months, is there anything better than turning that last corner and seeing this sight? Corey and I might've been a little giddy. Tony was smiling and happy.

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We'd let Corey pick what we'd do first, so Olivander's it was. I'd be back in the castle in short order.

I wish I'd gone back into Olivander's for the show again with my camera. The pictures I have are from my phone. Oh well, another trip!

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Corey and I had already picked out what our new wands would be so new purchases taken care of and sent back to HRH, it was off to the castle!

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I absolutely love Forbidden Journey!!! I can't pick at favorite between this and Escape from Gringotts, I love them both because they represent such different points in the storyline. One ride down, it was back through single rider for another go!

One attraction and two rides and it was time to journey on Hogwarts Express to Kings Cross Station then venture to Diagon Alley.

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I love taking the train between the parks! Sitting there and remembering reading that first book to Corey when he was only 8 months old...it was a wow moment for me.

Like Tony says, it doesn't matter if you're a casual Harry Potter fan, it doesn't matter if you've never read any of the books or seen the first movie....you can't help but be overwhelmed and impressed when you enter through those magical bricks and see this for the first time. (This picture isn't from our 1st park day, it's just my favorite one from the trip of the dragon.....and let's face it, the dragon is the most impressive photo op from Diagon Alley.)

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We made a beeline for Gringotts Bank....we had a horcrux to find! Through the express line we went and in no time we were deep into the heart of the bank and warding off Death Eaters and joining forces with Harry, Ron and Hermione! Horcrux safely in Harry's possession, we back for another go through single rider. Absolutely love this ride...so well done!

With the whole week stretched out in front of us, we had a quick look around Diagon Alley....we had an early lunch at The Cowfish on our minds!

What's that I see? The Tale of The Three Brothers.....perfect! We watched my favorite tale from The Tales of Beedle The Bard and I was a happy camper!

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After over 20 years together and many many theme park days over those years, I've learned that the way to keep DH happy is to keep him fed and rested. We'd had a great morning and now it was time for lunch! We made our way out of Studios to CW and Helllooooo The Cowfish!

Tony had the Rise and Swine burger, Corey went with your basic bacon cheeseburger (his staple....it's a food group for him) and I had the Shroomin Swiss Burger. We all thoroughly enjoyed our meals! I wasn't able to grab pics of the two neanderthals meals before they dove in.....you'll have to pardon them, they aren't yet trained in the ways of the DIS.


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Fed and happy on a gorgeous day, it was time for one of Tony's favorite things at Universal.....time by the HRH pool.

Cocktails in hand and a teenage boy doing one of the things they do best....(napping!!)....we were in full vacation mode! At that minute, my heart was full and life just felt good.

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Park Day 1, Part 2 (Sunday, 11/19)

After some great chill out time by the HRH pool we headed back up to the room to get freshened up to head back out to the parks. It was time to get our thrill ride on!

Okay, confession time. I've never been a coaster rider. I'd always been the Mom at the exit holding hats, phones and other assorted deathly projectiles while the rest of the family thrill seekers were having the fun. Thing is, I didn't want to be the type that was sitting it out.....I just could never make myself do it. I'd look at those heights and those loops and nope, no way....not happening.

With everything that had happened in previous years to prevent us from going back, I made the decision that if the guys were going to have memories of going on all those great rides.....I was going to be a part of those memories. Big girl panties on and Scopolamine patch firmly on the back of my ear.....here we go.

Robes, wands and other assorted deathly projectiles stowed away, it was time to face The Hulk. Maybe because I'd made the decision so long ago that it was something I was just going to do, I had absolutely zero reluctance. Let me just say, Express Pass is worth its weight in galleons. Long story short, I absolutely LOVED it!! When we got off Tony said that I was laughing the whole time. With that patch, I had no issues at all! I was hooked!

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We ventured on and rode Doctor Dooms Fearfall, Spider-Man and Reign of Kong. By this time I was bouncing like an 8yr old. It was a time to make our way to Hogsmeade for the the castle projection show. This is what I'd been waiting for since it'd been announced. I'd done my best to avoid preview videos and now I was ready.

Hogsmeade was absolutely sparkling with Christmas cheer!

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The light projection show is just beyond description. It's everything you've read about and see in preview videos and so much more.

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Now for the downside.....this was night 2 of the light show and Universal hadn't yet worked out the kinks of how to move people in and out of the area. Leaving the area while yet more people were trying to enter left a lot to be desired....and that's being generous. Far far too many people don't understand that you can't just stop moving and change direction or stop suddenly to take a picture in that type of crowd. If you need to change direction, or if you need to stop for any reason, for the love of all things.....move to the side of traffic flow!! Nothing was going to ruin my vacation happy.

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We made our way out to CW and took a pedicab back to Hard Rock.....for some reason DS loves those things. I'd much rather walk or take the water taxi, but pedicab it was. We'd had a wonderful first day in the parks and were in glorious moods.

The plan for Monday morning was that DH was going to get up and go for a run while Corey and I were going to hit EE together.
 


Park Day 2 (Monday, 11/20)

Is there anything better than waking up on vacation after a great nights sleep? Tony was up and ready to head out for a run while Corey and I were still getting ready to head out for Early Entry to Islands of Adventure. I wasn't jazzed about him running in an unfamiliar area, but with the app we use...I could track his progress and know when he'd made it back to the HRH. Coffee and Munk Pack protein cookie in hand, Corey and I were on our way. It was another great morning.

Robes on and wands in hand, we were ready for whatever the morning would bring. This is the picture I posted to FB for family.

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Through the turnstiles and we were on our way to Hogsmeade! We went straight to Forbidden Journey and funneled through the lines to the left of the entry to make our way to the lockers. While in line we talked with the family behind us...it was their first time at Universal. The Dad said, "when in doubt always ask the Mom wearing a Hogwarts robe!" LOL! They were so happy to find out that both FJ and EFG were EP rides after having been told at RPR that they weren't. Wands and my small bag stowed in the locker, we were off to soar through the Forbidden Forest and high above Hogwarts as single riders.

One of our favorite rides done for the morning, we queued up to be on the first run of the morning for Hogwarts Express. And here comes the part where I just don't understand humans.......if you are one of about 12 people waiting, chances are pretty darn good that you're going to make it onto that first run. Don't be a jerk, don't be an idiot and don't be ugly. Rant over, happy pants back on. :-)

Just love seeing that scarlet engine pull into the station.

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We loaded into our compartment and made the journey to Kings Cross Station. I'll probably say this every time, but I just love love love riding the train....the detail that went into it just wows me every time.

By this time it was just after 9am and Tony had showered and was ready to meet up with us....and we were ready to have him with us. Corey and I took our time walking through US to meet up with Tony at the front of IoA. Right now, for the life of me I can't figure out why we did it this way....but at the time it made complete and total sense...maybe it'll come back to me as I keep going. With my new found thrill ride fearlessness, we had but one destination on our minds.......it was back to Hulk for us! The guys had me started on thrill rides....they'd created a monster! They were having a laugh....apparently I'd get on and just laugh hysterically the entire time Hulk was hurtling me through all those curves and loopity loops!

From there we had to check in with a Doctor of Doom about his Deathly Fall. Why oh why have I sat on the thrill ride sidelines for all these years??? A whole new world has opened up!

We had lunch plans at The Kitchen at 12:30 and knew we want to have time to freshen up before going to lunch so we walked over to US where I had one ride on my mind. Two previous trips and all I'd done was sit and watch, but not this time. RRR, I've got your number this time.

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I loved it!! It was definitely a rougher ride than Hulk, but I loved it all the same!

I've said it before and I'll say it again....Express Pass is worth its weight in galleons!! We made our way to Minion Mayhem, Transformers and Revenge of the Mummy.

We'd had an awesome morning with more fun to come later on in the afternoon and in the evening! We walked back to the HRH to freshen up before lunch with Tony's boss and his wife. Tony had just been with him the previous week, but it had been at least three years since I'd seen them so I was looking forward to being able to catch up. We thoroughly enjoyed being able to spend time with them. All too quickly our lunch was over and they were on their way. We went back up to 6015 to change....it was chill out by the pool time for us.

DH was happy as a clam with a glass of wine, I had a pina colada......and Corey had a nap. Get this kid comfortable and he can be out cold in no time flat....it's a skill. And now comes one of those things that makes a Universal vacation truly a vacation....relaxing and nothing stressful about it.....as we're kicked back without a care in the world DH mentions that The Palm sounds nice while we're here. I pull up Open Table and ask him if 6:30 on Tuesday sounds good to him....done. Whew, that was stressful. :-) We were having such a good time.....this vacation was turning into everything we'd hoped it would be.

We were showered, dressed and ready to head back into the parks by 3:00. We headed into US so that we'd be there for the parade at 5:30. I've read that a lot of people don't care for it, but with open minds we headed for Race Through New York. Maybe it's because we were in such great moods and had been since we left the house on Friday, but we enjoyed this much more than we'd expected to. We really enjoyed looking through all of the Tonight Show history and we even enjoyed the ride....maybe it has to do with being Fallon fans.

We were just plain having fun.

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That shark hat....Corey had us in stitches. He took on this outrageous voice and it was hilarious. We had no choice but to bring this character home with us. It's now hanging from a corner of his bookshelf and makes me laugh every time I walk in his room. Vacation memories....is there anything better?

We made our back around and settled in across from Fallon to watch the Macy's parade. We were still in fits of giggles from the shark escapades....I'm sure anyone around us was either irritated or maybe we helped improve their mood. Believe me, there were plenty of people around who would've benefited from having their moods uplifted.

I've seen it criticized far too much. We enjoyed the parade.

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After the parade we made our way to Diagon Alley. We had ice cream on the brain....ahead to Florean Fortescue's!

Corey had the funniest and most unexpected TM interaction at Fortescue's! Corey and I both still had our robes on so the set up for it was perfect! We were just inside the door when a young TM behind the counter looked up and caught Corey's eye. He left his post and came out from behind the counter and out to Corey. Without missing a beat.......

TM: Young wizard, what is your name?
DS: Corey.
TM: Am I correct that you conjured a patronus charm at Kings Cross Station approximately 10 minutes ago?
DS: If you'd smelled that guys body odor, you'd have done the same thing.
TM: (Massively struggling to keep a straight face) Nonetheless, you've broken wizarding law and must pay.

He'd taken Corey's wand out of his wand and now turned and walked back behind the counter and waited on the next customer. He then came back and gave Corey back his wand and had some fun with him. It was definitely a trip highlight for Corey. Tony had the clotted cream ice-cream, Corey had butter beer and I had the salted caramel blondie and chocolate. I tried the butter beer and loved it!! Diagon Alley was massively crowded tonight, but we still managed some mischief.

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It was also a beautiful night in Diagon Alley!!

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Oh, poor little Ravenclaw. LOL! This was one of the onesies we brought back for the baby!

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Hearts full and happy, we started making our way out to HRH. What a wonderful day we'd had.

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Good night, Hard Rock Hotel!
 


Park Day 3 and an Offsite Excursion (Tuesday, 11/21)

We settled in Monday night with plans on using our gifted breakfast buffet voucher on Tuesday morning. We had plans of sleeping in but well.....the best of plans and all. We were up, showered, caffeinated and ready to hit the day by 8. Let me take a minute to say that one of the smartest things I did was to pack some of our creature comforts from home. Knowing the room had a Keuring, I'd packed our favorite coffees and my Sugar in the Raw. When we'd left home on Friday one of the very last things I did was pack a very small cooler with ice bags holding the creamer that both Corey and I use (settling on one would've just made too much sense). We're happy people in general, but our morning cheer does have a short shelf life and it's caffeine dependent. :crazy:

We left the room and made our way down to The Kitchen. When we arrived at the hostess stand there were a couple of the hostess' laughing and picking at each other. Tony couldn't resist and starting poking at both of them. Really, we can't take him anywhere. :-)

We had a wonderful breakfast and I'm fairly certain Corey ate his weight in pancakes and waffles.....I think he frightened one of the chefs. With his last plate of food in hand, Corey came back to the table not realizing the chef was right behind him. Once Corey was seated and looked up the chef laughed and asked if he'd enjoyed himself. Corey responded, "yes, very much!" The chef laughed and asked if he was done yet, when Corey said that was his last plate the chef threw up his hands and cheered. He started to walk off then turned back around and came back to the table to seriously ask if we'd enjoyed everything. It was just a good thing there weren't any bananas hanging around.....

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I wish I hadn't put my phone down.....right after I snapped this one the Minion bearhugged Corey.

After a great breakfast we went back up to the room to change shoes and grab the small umbrella as there was a pretty good chance of drizzle in the forecast this morning. For very specific reasons, we were headed to Disney Springs this morning.

In short order we were on our way back down to the lobby. On the way down Tony made the comment that he really did want to hit Fit2Run but that he really rather not have to drive anywhere. When I told him I could take care of that for him, he was one happy camper. A quick chat with the valet and we were in one of the ODC cars with Ahmed and on our way to DS.

Wow....had this place changed a lot since we were there in '10. I went to Basin and knocked out a lot of Christmas shopping while the guys wandered around. I'd bought so much and it was early enough in the day...they were kind enough to let me leave the purchases there until we came back. We went to the couple of other places that we'd come for....Erin McKenna's bakery, the Lego store and the Star Wars Outpost.

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We clowned around and just enjoyed being together. I don't understand families that are so digitally consumed that they don't take time to connect. The amount of people we saw with their faces buried in devices....entire families just looking down at a screen....it truly made me sad.

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This is one sequence I do wish I'd videoed. In the battle of father vs son, father won.

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This was funny....we laughed and laughed and laughed.....over something as silly as a tray of sodas. It started to drizzle as we passed the Coke building....and visions of Beverly danced in my head. It was hilarious!!!

Obviously this isn't just after he'd sampled Beverly, but this guy....yeah, he makes my heart flutter. He works so incredibly hard so that I don't have to and so that we have a comfortable life. So many times I'd look over at him while Corey and I were waving our wands and he'd have the biggest smile....just watching us. But yeah, I'd also trick him into Beverly again in a heartbeat.....I'm not a complete sap.

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What a laugh we'd had over something so simple! We went back to Basin and got my things and ended at Fit2Run. I was happy that we were able to find Corey a couple new pairs of running shoes. We live in a very small area so our choices here are limited. We do have a Dick's nearby and a Fleet Feet, but their stock doesn't rotate nearly often enough. With what that ankle of his now requires, I don't like ordering online for him....so the trip to DS would've been worth it for this alone. We were also able to find Tony several new pairs of running shorts.....he's so picky about his running shorts.....winner again. I was even able to find a new pair of Mizunos. Winner all the way around. We did go into one Disney store and this is what we came out with.....no, just the picture...not the sweatshirt. LOL!


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We called Ahmed from ODC and he was back exactly when he said he would be. Should you ever want to take one of the ODC cars from one of the Universal hotels to DS, the drop off and pick up point is right by the Cirque du Soleil theater. Ahmed was lovely and we enjoyed talking with him during both trips. The best I can remember it was $40 both ways and I'm sure Tony gave him a generous tip....he was just happy he didn't have to drive on vacation.

We went to the room and got everything situated there. So far we'd been able to keep the room really organized and tidy.....clutter is my pet peeve and I'm just able to relax so much more if I can keep everything organized....I know, weirdo. The area under the TV worked great for storing shoes. We were still doing okay on space....uh oh....remember that shopping bonanza in Basin? Hahaha, the floor of the closet was now covered in Basin!

The weather had cleared up so after chilling out for just a bit, it was back out to the parks! I'm fuzzy on what we did between going back in and going back for dinner at The Palm. So....for your viewing pleasure here are some of my favorites from Diagon Alley.

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We had reservations at The Palm at 6:30 and we were so looking forward to it. We'd talked about trying to go to Ocean Prime, but that's where Tony and Jimmy (his boss) usually go when Tony has to go to Orlando for work.....so he's actually kinda tired of it. Having been there quite a bit he was also pretty sure that Corey would enjoy The Palm more. So back on that day at the pool, The Palm was an easy choice.

He's a pretty special kid. Tony and I were told that we'd never have children so to be able to watch him experience everything life has to offer him is a joy.....that's not to say I don't want to strangle him every now and then. :-)

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We were a few minutes early but still had no problem being seated as soon as we arrived. Without it feeling rushed we were served water and greeted by our waitress. I do all of our wine supply ordering so Tony just handed me the wine list and said to take my pick. I went to the cabernets and although I disappointed to not find Opus One, overall I was pleased with their choices. Weighing the choices with what he had at home....I wanted to choose something that we didn't have at home, I went with PlumpJack. I chose well, it was excellent.

For starters Tony chose the Italian wedding soup (more on that in a minute) and I had the lobster bisque.

The lobster bisque was outstanding. It had a wonderful depth of flavor and the texture was spot on. If they aren't done properly, bisques are easily either too thin or just have the wrong mouth feel. This was just completely spot on.

The Italian wedding soup.....I didn't say anything but I inwardly cringed when Tony ordered this. Thing is, this is his favorite soup....but he's used to the way I make it for him and every time he orders it somewhere he says the same thing.....it doesn't taste right. He enjoyed it but wasn't crazy about it. I tried it and instantly knew what he didn't like about it. It's not that it was bad, it was just different from what he knows and loves.

Tony debated between lamb and the filet and in the end...the filet won. He and I both had 9oz filets and as sides we had the Three Cheese Potatoes Au Gratin and the creamed spinach. We knew there was no way we'd finish the sides, but we couldn't choose between the two. They were both excellent! Corey had the 9oz filet and fries. We all thoroughly enjoyed our meals...the steaks were all cooked to perfection.

Tony and I couldn't pass up the Creme Brulee and I had a decaf coffee to round it all out. We'd had an excellent dinner and just enjoyed being together and talking about the trip, how things were going for Corey at school, how things were going for us in general since Tony's job had recently changed. It was just a very pleasant evening. We paid the check and thanked our waitress for taking such good care of us.....a great meal is one thing, but when the service is great....it just makes it that much better.

We were surprised to realize we'd been at dinner for two hours...it went by so quickly. We took our time strolling through the lobby, walking down the stairs and out by the pool. We ended up on the walkway that leads to the parks. We stopped at the little bridge and then just casually made our way back to our room. If anyone saw me....I was so happy that night, I had to have been floating a few inches off the ground.

Coming up on Wednesday morning.....Tony goes for a run and Corey and I hit EE.
 
I'm going to! I've had such fun going through them!
that picture of the water taxi with city walk view is absolutely stunning !!

i would have said that on the picture sticky but comments aren't allowed on it, so gave you likes for all of them.
 
Car service at the hotels
Know they are available at rpr, hrh and pbh

Costs vary based on your destination

Tips are besides the carfare

I had valet set up my car service in October when I needed to go offsite
 
Awesome pictures. Had to give a squeal on the night time dragon and potter castle. Yeah, I think the new Disney Springs looks like our outlets. But not have outlet prices. We will definitely go there one time before we leave Disney. We tend to only venture offsite for food while at the Dark Side.

Yes, some great pictures to put in that thread. Loving seeing them.
 
Park Day 3 and an Offsite Excursion (Tuesday, 11/21)


We called Ahmed from ODC and he was back exactly when he said he would be. Should you ever want to take one of the ODC cars from one of the Universal hotels to DS, the drop off and pick up point is right by the Cirque du Soleil theater. Ahmed was lovely and we enjoyed talking with him during both trips. The best I can remember it was $40 both ways and I'm sure Tony gave him a generous tip....he was just happy he didn't have to drive on vacation.

Hi! I am very much enjoying your trip report and pictures. Thank you so much for writing it!

I do have a couple of questions from what I have read so far:

First, in one of your earlier posts, you referred to the paper tickets (the paper sized ones)- I'm guessing like the kind printed from Undercover Tourist. We are first timers to Universal and we will have those. Is there something I should know about those, to do or not do, so we are not a problem when we go with them? I feel like I am missing something here!

Secondly, referring to the ODC and going to DS, was it 40 dollars round trip or 40 dollars each way?

Thank you! I know I will likely have more questions as I keep reading but I didn't want to forget these. I booked the Palm for our 25th Anniversary dinner- it sounds so lovely and yummy too!
 
Both ways would have me think $40 each trip

Sounds correct as I paid them $25 rt for Walgreens which was a 4 minute ride in October this year
 
Wow! I don't usually use cabs/uber etc so I don't know if that is a lot or not, Macraven, but it sounds like a lot to me (the Walgreens trip 25$)
 

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