We Don't Play Nice With Others. (Complete!)

[teekathepony]

And yet we get along!!! I wish the rest of the world would figure that out.

Too true, Kathy! The world would be a happier place!

First, on the castle lighting. I totally agree with you that change is good (in small doses) and we must move forward. And I loved the lighting, etc. But I agree with you that it needs some more "winter/Christmas" flair and more characters.
I'd like to see them develop this show more... it could be good.

Loved your detailed photos in your update...awesome for just a cell phone.
Cell phones amaze me. All day every day I'm surrounded by cameras and yet when I need a picture, I reach for my phone! Tells you something.

Holy cow did I get behind. I would be as frustrated as you were about the not leaving on time thing. That drives me nuts! Get up earlier if you can't be ready at the agreed upon time.
I know, it was frustrating. So much just sitting around doing nothing!

I'm so jealous you got to meet Kathy and Mark! Great pic and I love Johnny's shirt.
We were very lucky to have some awesome Dismeets!

The first time I went on the backlot tour in 2001 I remember being super excited to see the Golden Girls house. It's still one of my favorite shows.
I have some old pictures of it from 1990!

Love hearing about all the HP stuff. We'll make it there one day. My girls aren't old enough to appreciate it yet. They're 8 and 5 and the 8 year old is just getting into the books. Maybe a few more years. Everything there looks and sounds so authentic, though!
Ahh I hope your girls do get into it, it's really incredible, definitely authentic!

I read your rant on the Castle Lighting Show- very nice analysis of the positives and negatives of the show.
I really wanted to get my thoughts all organized about it. I didn't want to immediately hate it just because I'm sick of frozen!

UGH on the late start and all the stops from your traveling party!
Right??

I'm having flashbacks to the first time we took the boys to Disney. We went with friends (who provided us with a free condo for our stay, and a great deal on tickets to Disney and SeaWorld), BUT they visit Disney all the time and did not feel the urgency to get to the parks at a reasonable time. They preferred a morning swim.

Drove us bonkers, so on our third and final day of our short trip, we hit the parks early and told them we would meet them for lunch.
Sounds about right, that's what we wanted to do... and did do eventually, but not without consequences!


I was totally remembering Cynthia's last visit to US/IoA as I was reading your update.

Glad you finally found your way into Diagon Alley. It looks amazing! We are huge HP nerds (Griffyndorks) as well. Universal really hit this one out of the park (or should I say pitch)

Can't wait to experience Diagon Alley, the Gringotts ride (which we totally dreamed up before it was even announced by US) and the train ride in February!


I was really impressed, I absolutely loved the whole new area!!

 

[teekathepony]

On the castle show, I don't really like it at all. Elsa's arm movements are WAY too much!! I will miss the old castle show (and the bunting across Main Street by the way) but I know that we must change. I'll watch the show in a little over a week and decide for myself if I rather it in person but for now, I'm NOT impressed.
No, me neither. I'm sad about that fact too. I wish they would do a little more with it!

Ooh I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to visit Universal one day and see all the Harry Potter stuff. Your photos are amazing!
I would recommend it to anyone who is a Harry Potter fan. And anyone who isn't for that matter! It's amazing!

I'll admit I teared up watching the video. I liked it but then again I'm a HUGE Frozen fan! I do agree with u that it was lacking a bit and I was hoping to see another character. I thought it was pretty good overall. I CANNIT wait to go to HP World and am so jealous! Gringo tats seemed awesome!

I think that was my biggest problem with it -- lack of story or characters.
HP was awesome! Really really awesome.

Haha I can vouch and say my daughters Elsa dress was the ONLY one I saw that didn't look like someone threw it together with leftover crap lol Thank god for a costume designer SIL

I am afraid to show my oldest one your Harry Potter pics lol

Ok so your SIL needs to work for Disney!!! Hahaha

 

[teekathepony]

Great summary of the new wishes show -- I agree with you on so many things. And, the way Anne kept pooping her leg out with a flexed foot drove me nuts when I watched the video the other night!!

I noticed it the first time and was mildly annoyed, but the second time I watched the video I just about went through the screen! What the heck was the leg thing all about!??

I truly cannot wait to experience the HP rides, atmosphere, and of course, Butterbeer!! Sadly, I don't have it included in my April or October trips. I just cannot take the time away from Disney, apparently!

Omg Butterbeer is AMAZING! I find it really hard to take time away from Disney, I really do, but I'm just such a huge Harry Potter fan that I do it for that.

We LOVED the ride in the castle!!! But it's a 2 pill motion sickness ride for me... I rode it the first time with just taking 1 pill and almost didn't make it thru... But I was smart the next day and two 2 pills and loved it!!!
My parents didn't do so well on it for motion sickness, they almost didn't make it either! I usually get a little motion sick but not on that, thankfully!

We loved the train ride from Universal to Islands of Adventure and heard the ride is different from Islands of Adventure to Universal but never rode it in that direction so I don't know if that's a true fact or not...
It's true! I did it!

Now for the ride in the bank/vault... The theming is AMAZING!!! If I didn't know better, I'd say Disney Imagineers designed it... But the ride was just ok... It was neat and everything, but it was way to short for how long of a wait that ride has... And once was enough for us...
Yep, I totally agree.

When I heard about the Frozen holiday show coming to MK, I'll admit, I rolled my eyes and went "Of course..." I'm over everything Frozen, but I know there's tons of kids still in love with the film. And the castle gets decorated, so I get that it made sense to make it relate to Frozen. I see the easy correlation, but I wasn't over the moon ecstatic about the whole thing.
In my opinion, the show dragged a little. I might have just been impatient when I watched it, but near the end I kept saying, "all right, ice the castle already,Elsa". But that's just my two cents...
I was the same way Alicia, like, 'enough waving your arms already and get to it!'


Ahhh, Gringotts sounds amazing!!! Wayyyy back in the day when I read the escape scene, I remember thinking that would make an awesome roller coaster. So now I'm dying to try it for myself.
You should, it's really quite awesome!

I watched the castle show and read your comments and now I am all confused about what I was going to say.

Oh Yeah - UGGGGGGHHHHHHHH! I feel your pain in having to wait around for la familia. GRRRRRRR! How terrible annoying. Especially when you only have one day to visit. I don't think I would have held up as well as you.
That was what really bothered me. We didn't have another day to make up for what we missed and no one had any consideration for that.

Daigon Alley looks amazing. I can't wait to hear your thoughts on the ride in its entirety.
It was really excellent, I'll do a wrap up of it when we are all finished too!

You know - I make coffee in the morning and the only way to make it quiet is to get it ready the night before!
Yeah... apparently that's a difficult concept for some.

 

[teekathepony]

Hi folks! Sorry it's been a while again. I've been painting in my free time instead of Dising.

Want to see some?







Can you see a trend there? You could say I'm gearing up for Christmas. We put our outside lights on the house on Remembrance Day. We don't turn them on yet, but it's fun to know they're there. We haven't had any snow yet, but seeing what's going on in Buffalo I don't think I'll complain. (Looking at you, Sue! Stay safe!)

I have most of my Christmas shopping done and I *had* some of my baking done... until people started asking for cookies and I just love to share Christmas cookies. But that's ok because butter, icing sugar and corn starch were all really cheap at Costco last weekend and I am ready to make more! Maybe today.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
One quick note about next year's trip:
If you remember, we were going to try to use my parents' time-share vacation package thing to stay at the BCV next year. We had been having problems with them and they told us to call back ONE YEAR in advance. November 15th was that date so we called them. Their response? "Oh no, Disney doesn't release those dates to us until 10 MONTHS before. You'll have to call back in two months."

Womp womp. I'm not the least surprised, and we are not relying on this for our trip so it's ok if it doesn't work out. We are just giving them the opportunity to do right by my parents, and if after we've done everything right and they still can't make good on what they said, my parents will go after them for their money back. Fun fun fun. Moral of the story? Timeshare creeps are SCUM.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anyway.

On to the report!

"Chapter 7: All Aboard!"

After riding Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts, I had to see absolutely everything. We just wandered around looking at every detail.

IMG_3743 by teekathepony, on Flickr

IMG_3744 by teekathepony, on Flickr

IMG_3745 by teekathepony, on Flickr

IMG_3747 by teekathepony, on Flickr

Every little detail, every square inch was carefully thought out, including owl poop.

IMG_3748 by teekathepony, on Flickr

IMG_3749 by teekathepony, on Flickr

I was impressed to the max with absolutely everything I saw. Very authentic, I felt like I was stepping straight into the movies. I had been so impressed with Hogsmeade village (the first Harry Potter section) and I was equally impressed with Diagon Alley.

We went into all of the shops (though we didn't buy anything just then.)

IMG_3751 by teekathepony, on Flickr

IMG_3752 by teekathepony, on Flickr

IMG_3753 by teekathepony, on Flickr

The insides of the shops were just as amazing as the outsides.

Next we stopped for my favourite --

IMG_3755 by teekathepony, on Flickr

A Butterbeer! Yummo! And to add to the deliciousness of my Butterbeer, it was pretty cool to be able to say I had it in the Leaky Cauldron.

Hehehe

We were looking for some more information or a map, so we got our phones out. Somehow the Universal app was suggested so we both got it. When I turned it on, it said this:

IMG_3756 by teekathepony, on Flickr

Which I just got a kick out of. Somehow I could feel surprise from this app.

We sat and enjoyed our butterbeer and we planned out our next move. I took some pictures of the incredible restaurant.

IMG_3757 by teekathepony, on Flickr

IMG_3758 by teekathepony, on Flickr

IMG_3759 by teekathepony, on Flickr

(Continued Next)

 

[teekathepony]

When we were finished we had one more spot in the new section to check out.

IMG_3760 by teekathepony, on Flickr

For those of you who aren't fans, Knockturn Alley is the dark magic section of town.

Very very dark back there, which was an amazing effect. They had a canopy over the whole thing so it looked like a stormy night. With only my phone I couldn't get many pictures back there.

Mermaid skeleton:
IMG_3761 by teekathepony, on Flickr

IMG_3763 by teekathepony, on Flickr

In here I got my co-worker in trouble. His wife is Harry Potter obsessed. I texted him and asked if she wanted anything from this trip (previously I've brought her back a wand and a scarf.) He said no. She later told me the answer to the question, "Does Lorraine want something from Harry Potter" Should always be a resounding "YES!"

After having a good look around we decided we were ready to ride the train. I was SO EXCITED for this! The Hogwarts Express, people!


IMG_3765 by teekathepony, on Flickr

^^ Cute!


IMG_3766 by teekathepony, on Flickr

Not much of a line, thankfully.

IMG_3767 by teekathepony, on Flickr

I didn't get a picture of the walking through the wall effect.

Non-fans: In the books, to get to the train to take them to their magic school, the have to walk through a brick wall.

I won't ruin it for anyone who wants to see it for themselves, but I will say it was really adorable. You don't see it as you're doing it, but you can see people ahead of you in line walking "through" the wall.

IMG_3768 by teekathepony, on Flickr

OMG there it is!!

IMG_3769 by teekathepony, on Flickr

IMG_3770 by teekathepony, on Flickr

IMG_3771 by teekathepony, on Flickr

The train had just pulled in and was unloading.

IMG_3773 by teekathepony, on Flickr

My turn!

IMG_3774 by teekathepony, on Flickr

We shared a cabin with four other people and I didn't want to take too many pictures in there so I have none. I will just say that it's a really, really, really cool ride and an awesome way to get to the other park! A real train!

IMG_3777 by teekathepony, on Flickr

IMG_3775 by teekathepony, on Flickr

IMG_3782 by teekathepony, on Flickr

Dragon challenge going in the back.

We headed straight for our favourite, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

IMG_3787 by teekathepony, on Flickr

IMG_3788 by teekathepony, on Flickr

IMG_3790 by teekathepony, on Flickr

I took no pictures inside. Sorry!

Up until that point I wasn't sure about the new ride (HP&EFG) being better or worse than FJ. After riding FJ again, I definitely say it's better than the new EFG. Smoother and with less stops. We loved it, as always! I think it's my favourite ride ever.

After that we decided it was time to eat. We called the family to see if they wanted to meet up again for some lunch, but they ate without us. We got our phones out and checked out the new app to find some food. We wandered out to follow our noses.

That's next!

 

[JulieODC]

Enjoying your HP updates -- can't wait to see it in person someday!!

And, your artwork is really beautiful!!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I love your artwork! You are definitely talented ... the ones with the snowman are very cute.

Very impressed you have your Christmas shopping done! We haven't really even started thinking about it (I have trouble thinking about Christmas until after Thanksgiving) but am impressed by the people that are organized enough to be done already. Maybe that is why my wife suggested we get a professional organizer in as our Christmas present to each other

Nice HP pictures - love all the detail, even the Owl Poop

That seems to be a fairly consistent opinion I have seen - EFG is very good but not as good, nor the "game changer" Forbidden Journey was.

 

[KatMark]

As I've told you on FB Wendy, I LOVE your paintings. You are very talented. Thank you for sharing them again.

I love all the detailed pictures (and the explanations for us non-fans).

I have a feeling that Mark would love a Butterbeer, but I'm not sure it's worth the price of admission.

I can't wait to hear where your nose leads you for lunch.

 

[MonsterWDWmom]

Your paintings are beautiful!

Wow Universal looks awesome!

Being a Harry Potter nerd I really hope to visit there some day.

Love hearing about what you thought!

Hope meeting up with the rest of the family works out smoothly

 

[khaleesi]

We haven't had any snow yet, but seeing what's going on in Buffalo I don't think I'll complain. (Looking at you, Sue! Stay safe!)

Thanks!!!!

I'm doing fine!! This is completely surreal, though. It's actually snowing again right now!!


I love love love your artwork!!!

I know next to nothing about Harry Potter, but I'm so glad you enjoyed that part of your trip!! I've heard that it's just absolutely perfect for people who are fans, which is awesome!

That train looks really cool!!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Geez Wendy, you're painting is just getting better and better . WOW!!! Beautiful!!! Absolutely beautiful!!

AHHH seeing your Potter Pictures, it feels like I was just there. I mean I kinda was, but it feels even nearer for some reason. They really did equal, and in some ways surpass, HP part one!

I am upset with myself in that apparently Universal added Wi-Fi which I wasn't aware of, so I had left my phone behind. WHOMP WHOMP

I thought the wall effect was pretty neat. I couldn't get a picture, but I did see how it looked. Very cool addition.

I too liked the train, especially since it eliminated having to go all the way around to the other park.

I was in the same boat regarding Escape vs FJ. But I did the exact same order this trip and upon leaving FJ, yeah, it definitely is the better of the 2.

 

[amazingact21]

Love your snowman artwork! Makes me get into the holiday spirit.

A butter beer from the Leaky Cauldron? That sounds AWESOME!


Good to know that Forbidden Journey is still a better ride than Gringotts, overall. I haven't ridden either but I like having that kind of info in mind for when I do get to go.

 

[MEK]

Bummer on the timeshare fiasco. Denny and I did a TS tour in Williamsburg and this salesperson was emphatic that we could trade our points anytime we wanted for DVC. I don't know WHY they push that so hard when its simply not that easy.

Anyway - I am sure you will get something, just might not be an Epcot resort.

Love your paintings and you totally are the Christmas queen. You can come decorate my house anytime!

I have heard so many great things about Daigon Alley (did I spell that right? - obviously not a HP groupie) and the train. So glad you found all the details so amazing. And yay for the shout out to FJ.

 

[Tracy161]

Amazing update! Your HP photos are incredible, they really got it spot on, huh?! My youngest sister lives in England (and is also Harry Potter obsessed) and I've had quite a number of Harry Potter "tours". Forgive me as I've only read the first book and watched the movies so my "descriptions" will be lacking, haha. She's actually working on her PhD at the university which is home to the formal dining hall - she eats there for "formal" dinner regularly and I got a chance to go back in April! I had to wear a robe and everything! It was so cool. She can actually study in a spot that overlooks that hall as it's connected to their library. We also went to the spot (I believe it's in York) where they based Diagon Alley on. Also her old school (when she was studying abroad at Worcester College) had steps that were also a big deal in the movies. Again, forgive my amateurish descriptions but I thought you'd be happy to hear about these things. Last spring when I was visiting her, we made a quick jaunt up to Scotland and went to the Elephant Café (I think that's what it's called) where J. K. Rowling wrote a lot. It was so cool!!!

Also, your paintings are AMAZING - absolutely incredible, really Wendy.

 

[PopArtGal]

I'm finally here

 

[PopArtGal]

I would have had a meltdown if this all happened to me.

 

[PopArtGal]

I had to ask to get the cowboy scene hehe

I still prefer the gangster though hehe

 

[Disney9.9.10]

All caught up! How lucky that you got to meet Kathy and Mark! What a great meet

I would have been so frustrated with a morning like you had before universal! I've never had a desire to go there until they built the HP stuff. Your photos are awesome, I can only imagine how great it must be in person.

Great job on your paintings, too. They are so pretty! Do you guys have snow yet? We sure do here!

 

[jedijill]

Deleted...wrong thread

 

[natebenma]

Hi folks! Sorry it's been a while again. I've been painting in my free time instead of Dising.

Want to see some?

I love these, Wendy!!!

I need to spend some time on your FB page and figure out what to get.

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One quick note about next year's trip:
If you remember, we were going to try to use my parents' time-share vacation package thing to stay at the BCV next year. We had been having problems with them and they told us to call back ONE YEAR in advance. November 15th was that date so we called them. Their response? "Oh no, Disney doesn't release those dates to us until 10 MONTHS before. You'll have to call back in two months."

Womp womp. I'm not the least surprised, and we are not relying on this for our trip so it's ok if it doesn't work out. We are just giving them the opportunity to do right by my parents, and if after we've done everything right and they still can't make good on what they said, my parents will go after them for their money back. Fun fun fun. Moral of the story? Timeshare creeps are SCUM.

GRRR!!!

I'm no DVC/timeshare expert, but I'm pretty sure even DVC members with BCV as their home resort can't book until 11 months out, 7 months for non-DVC members. So the year thing was never going to happen!

Hope you get an acceptable answer in 2 months.