“Life is Grand, it Yacht to be, we are at Disney! 1/29 New TR link, a question, and this TR is complete!

[Djjsperry]

Can’t wait to read the rest of your report. Yacht Club is my favorite resort. We are trying GF in November for the first time Yacht and BC were full do to food festival

 

[Terra Nova guy]

I did get a good rate for the one night with the EP included. This is included at the 3 deluxe resorts at Universal. It was the best rate out of the 3 for the Friday night. You get to use the EP the day you check in and the full day of check out.

The more I read about this (like on pkondz TR recently) I really think I will consider it for next trip. I would like to experience one of the Universal hotels, and having the Express pass is definitely a bonus.

It was time to walk into DA, this entrance never gets old! The details are amazing. I am a very big HP nerd. I started to read the books years ago, to see if it was suitable for Jack, and I was hooked!! I won’t bore you all with my HP accolades, just know these are some of the best books I have ever read and I read a ton!!

I read all the books too, as did my oldest. I'm not a "super fan" but certainly enjoy the Harry Potter areas. I've been tying to get my youngest to read them since she's 12 now, but she has no interest at all.

Andi was ready to ride Rip Ride Rocket, do you see a theme here, yes her mom is a chicken and her mom would not be caught dead on this ride, well maybe for 1 million dollars.

There's no chance of me doing it either. The sad part is most of the ride looks like fun (to me). It's that first huge drop that I can't deal with!

Now some of you know this ride has a similar track as the Mummy, except, it is less scary. The drop on here is not bad and you don’t zoom backwards so I will ride it!

I always get a bit sad thinking about Escape from Gringotts. My last Universal trip was a couple months after Diagon Alley opened, so the wait times were crazy. Even getting there early in the morning, it was already at 90 minutes, but we lined up anyway. About 30 minutes in, the ride broke down. We bailed on it, and we have never had the opportunity to go back since.

We really enjoyed our short and sweet stay at Universal! This is enough time for us there. We enjoy the parks and have fun but riding the rides there over and over is not for us!

It sounds like a great stay and a great idea. I really think it would fit well with my family. You hit nearly everything that we would want to do, and in the same time frame.

 

[missangelalexis]

THe rest of your day at Universal/IoA sounded very fun!

Those macaroons look delicious!

I'm glad you both enjoyed your time at the dark side!

 

[MinnieWebster]

Finally here and caught up! Sounds like a great time at UO/IoA! I went once with friends a couple years ago, really enjoyed to HP area! Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip and your GE preview!

 

[pkondz]

We must be asking the same people No one ever answers!

Unfair and unjust!

Except when I act like Nurse Ratchet

Ah yes. Except for that.

I would recommend Portofino Bay, it really was a nice place!

Maybe some day... but... I really liked where I was. So close!

The EP’s are such a nice perk, totally worth it when you price the EP’s online, it makes the hotel cost way less!

Oh my gosh, what a goof, yes I meant Gru! I love Steve Carell such a funny guy!

Yes he is. I'd never seen The Office until about 6 months ago when I binge-watched it. Great show! He was great!

Only if that motorbike would have flown

It does! I saw it in a movie once! (twice...)

Wow, everyone on here so far has voted for the frozen Butter Beer!

Because we're smart.

It was the extra hour for hotel guests so it wasn’t to crowded yet!

Ah!

I loved the interior, I didn’t think they would have done anything inside and I loved how it looked just like the one in the movie!!

I was surprised they did the interior too!

Hello my name is Caroline, I am a ride chicken, I will gladly hold your belongings so you can ride!

OMG!!!

So... Nurses are the first person you see after saying "Here, hold my beer."


But you are the one they hand the beer to!!!!!!!!!!!

That little yellow sponge gave us many laughs over the years!

 

[pkondz]

MIB is a really fun ride, it is comparable to Buzz Lightyear on steroids!!

That's a very good description!

We used our EP and virtually walked on.

Man, those EPs were worth their weight in gold, weren't they?

The first ride Andi beat me and the second time I beat her score

Oh! So that's where I went wrong. We didn't ride it twice.

The first MIB movie is one of my all time favorites!

Love that movie.

Now some of you know this ride has a similar track as the Mummy, except, it is less scary.

A family behind us started asking about the ride and became freaked out and took the chicken exit!

Too bad. They missed a great ride. But... yeah, if the kids were really little...

They had an impossible burger on the menu and Andi wanted this.

That sounds so good!

Andi got the Impossible burger with cheese fries.

yummmmm

US makes you use a locker for so many rides we decided to go without bags.

I know. It got almost comical the amount of time we spent in the locker rooms.

Nice photo!

The poor Lorax

Awwww...

The new Hagrid’s ride was down and there was so many people waiting around for it.

oooohhhh… must've been a lot of unhappy people.

I love this train ride, make sure to do it both ways, it is different each way.

I needed to pick up the best, thanks Ariane, macaroons I have ever tasted!

Yuck! pkondz does not do coconut.

We checked out the delicious goodies in the display case and I found the variety of macaroons. I went with six different ones. A red velvet, Birthday cake, chocolate, vanilla, raspberry, and mango.

Wait... are you talking macaroons... or macarons?

We picked out 4 different donoughts. The Captain Crunch, the Vodoo doll, the little pink, and the pride one. Pictures in the next post. Ahh these were also amazing and delicious!!

Yum. Want... again.

 

[pkondz]

This is enough time for us there. We enjoy the parks and have fun but riding the rides there over and over is not for us!

Yeah, that's a pretty accurate comment for me too I think.

We were able to do Spider-Man x2, King Kong x1, Cat in the Hat x2, Carousel in Seuss Landing x1, Trolley x1, HPFJ x2, Hogwarts Express x1 to DA, Andi also did the Hulk x1. We missed JP ride and Raptor experience in IOA. We also did not get on Hagrid’s new ride in Islands. Overall we felt like we did the attractions we wanted to do there.

Got lots done.

We skipped Fast&Furious, a real dud ride,

I will skip it in the future too. I was a bit more charitable to it on my TR, but... yeah...

Andi also did Rip Ride Rocket coaster x2.

Two times! She's a thrill seeker I see.

We enjoyed our hotel stay at Portofino Bay, used the boat transportation several times and the walking path once.

Just out of curiosity. How long a walk is it?

Delicious macaroons deserve 3 pictures, I ate one before the pics, oops

Ah! Those are macarons.
These are macaroons:

​

Great. Now I have to wipe the drool off the keyboard.
If it shorts out, you owe me a new one.

The EP is the way to go here

I will now start the portion of the TR most of you are waiting for!!

SeaWorld?

Love the costume!

 

[xlsm]

We didn’t have to get up at the god forsaken 3am for this trip, yay!

I will be doing the 3am wake up for my flight on Friday It seemed like a good idea to take the 6am flight at the time I booked though, lol

Loved reading about your Universal experience...it's getting me excited for my own visit there in two days!! (but I really can't wait to get to the Disney portion next Monday. I can handle Mondays when Disney is involved!)

 

[buzzrelly]

You got a ton done in UO in just a couple days. A friend of mine is going soon for the first time and she's planning on 4 days there and I'm trying to tell her that's too much. I'm trying to convince her to just stay onsite and get the EP instead.

Your macaroons and doughnuts look yummy!

 

[Tracy161]

Ahh Thank you! She is a Spanish Education major with Latin America studies minor. Her goal to work in some Latin America countries then at WDW!

I love this!

It really is done so well, have you watched the Mummy with Brandon Fraser, it is based on the first movie. The best one!

I haven't seen it, but I'll be sure to see it before I head to Universal

I agree! RIP Great Movie Ride

I have been to Kings in London and this is spot on

Yes! I've been there too and I was blown away by how exact it seems to be from all the pictures of Universal I've seen.

Oooh, so excited to hear about the room!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Can’t wait to read the rest of your report. Yacht Club is my favorite resort. We are trying GF in November for the first time Yacht and BC were full do to food festival

We loved YC, I actually think I liked it better than GF this time, shhh don’t tell anyone lol! I do love GF and our stay was awesome. I just think the newly refurbished rooms at YC are so nice. It seemed bigger at YC because of this and we had a corner room!

 

[disneyAndi14]

The more I read about this (like on pkondz TR recently) I really think I will consider it for next trip. I would like to experience one of the Universal hotels, and having the Express pass is definitely a bonus.

It really makes sense and so convenient to walk or boat over to the parks. I forgot to add the EP for 2 days even though we didn’t have a full first day, it would have cost us over $300.00 for 2 EP’s for 2 days if we didn’t stay onsite. This is literally the cost of the room!

read all the books too, as did my oldest. I'm not a "super fan" but certainly enjoy the Harry Potter areas. I've been tying to get my youngest to read them since she's 12 now, but she has no interest at all.

My son loved the movies, however, he never really had time for the books. He did read the last one all the way through! Now he reads all the time!

There's no chance of me doing it either. The sad part is most of the ride looks like fun (to me). It's that first huge drop that I can't deal with!

The climb and the drop are way to intense for me!!

always get a bit sad thinking about Escape from Gringotts. My last Universal trip was a couple months after Diagon Alley opened, so the wait times were crazy. Even getting there early in the morning, it was already at 90 minutes, but we lined up anyway. About 30 minutes in, the ride broke down. We bailed on it, and we have never had the opportunity to go back since.

What a bummer for you, this is how we felt about Hagrid’s this trip, oh well we will do it some day!

It sounds like a great stay and a great idea. I really think it would fit well with my family. You hit nearly everything that we would want to do, and in the same time frame

Yes! I think you should consider staying 1 night if you are going to Universal. The hotels are really nice there! Once HP world rides were added to EP it was a done deal for us!

 

[disneyAndi14]

THe rest of your day at Universal/IoA sounded very fun!

Those macaroons look delicious!

I'm glad you both enjoyed your time at the dark side!

It really was and we did everything we wanted except for Hagrid’s! We are not much for the water rides there and really didn’t want to get soaking wet!
The macarons were so delicious!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Finally here and caught up! Sounds like a great time at UO/IoA! I went once with friends a couple years ago, really enjoyed to HP area! Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip and your GE preview!

It was a fun time! We try to do US/IOA at least 1x every other year. Staying on site for the EP is worth it!
GE was awesome!

 

[disneyAndi14]

That's a very good description!

I like that you can actually hold the ray gun on MIB, makes it more fun!

Man, those EPs were worth their weight in gold, weren't they?

They sure are!!

Oh! So that's where I went wrong. We didn't ride it twice.

Yes and you probably didn't press the red button! I never beat Andi on any scoring ride so it was awesome to at least once beat her score on MIB!

Love that movie.

My son Jack and I love this one!!

Too bad. They missed a great ride. But... yeah, if the kids were really little...

I couldn’t believe how little the girl was, she looked like 3 to me but must have been older?? She freaked in the elevator so the ride would have been to intense.

That sounds so good!

I’m surprised how good the impossible burger tasted, it is hard to tell the difference!

know. It got almost comical the amount of time we spent in the locker rooms.

That is a drag at US, Andi had to give me her phone for Hulk and Rip Ride and her lanyard, so you can’t have anything on those 2.

oooohhhh… must've been a lot of unhappy people.

There was a mob scene just hanging in front of it. Hogsmeade is a small area so it was way to crowded for our liking!

Wait... are you talking macaroons... or macarons?

Stupid autocorrect won’t let me write macarons, it just keeps correcting so I gave up, These are way better then macaroons!!

Yum. Want... again.

Yes, me too!! Those donuts are so good!!

Yeah, that's a pretty accurate comment for me too I think.

I think 2 days at US is enough time for us! It is very fun with great rides, however not a place we need to do things over and over!

will skip it in the future too. I was a bit more charitable to it on my TR, but... yeah...

I wasn’t a fan but glad we checked F&F out at least once

Two times! She's a thrill seeker I see.

She loves that ride!

Just out of curiosity. How long a walk is it?

Our walk was about 15 minutes so a little longer than yours!

Great. Now I have to wipe the drool off the keyboard.
If it shorts out, you owe me a new one.

I wish I had the Vodoo doll donut right now with my coffee!

Love the costume!

You can’t see her socks in this one but they are knee high Slytherin socks. One of the TM’s gave us a little “glitter”, not sure what to call pixie dust at US, he loved Andi’s outfit and gave us a car to ourselves on the Hogwarts Express! He said she needed to get back to school

 

[Jenny Sanders]

What a great stay at Portofino!!!! You and Andi got a lot done at US and those macaroons look divine!

 

[disneyAndi14]

I will be doing the 3am wake up for my flight on Friday It seemed like a good idea to take the 6am flight at the time I booked though, lol

Loved reading about your Universal experience...it's getting me excited for my own visit there in two days!! (but I really can't wait to get to the Disney portion next Monday. I can handle Mondays when Disney is involved!)

I really hope you have a wonderful trip!! We did HHN in 2016 and I really enjoyed it and I am a scaredy-cat!
Universal is so fun except the special feelings and memories are all Disney for us!!

 

[disneyAndi14]

You got a ton done in UO in just a couple days. A friend of mine is going soon for the first time and she's planning on 4 days there and I'm trying to tell her that's too much. I'm trying to convince her to just stay onsite and get the EP instead.

Your macaroons and doughnuts look yummy!

For us, 4 days would be to much. We don’t do the water park so the 2 parks, in my opinion, can be done easily in 1-2 days. The EP makes this so nice!
I want those macarons and donuts right now with morning coffee!!

 

[disneyAndi14]

haven't seen it, but I'll be sure to see it before I head to Universal

This movie is so good!! Make sure it is the original first one!

Yes! I've been there too and I was blown away by how exact it seems to be from all the pictures of Universal I've seen.

Oooh, so excited to hear about the room!

It is so true to Kings Cross plus the extra fun of passing through platform 9&3/4!

love this!

She is so good at languages, Andi found her thing for sure

 

[DLo]

Voodoo donuts are delicious ! I can't wait to go back in Nov. I think I shared the oreo, mini m&m, cinnamon sugar, coconut, boston creme and grape ones. of course, those are my descriptions not their official names ( i am too lazy to go to the website to find the names)