Because it's all about that Race, 'bout that Goofy Race 2015 Updated x2 2/14 Diagon Alley!!

[Ariel484]

Woohoo!! Goofy AND a Disney Marathon PR! Can't ask for much more than that!

I am so proud of Chris for taking a goofy character picture awesome that you ran into your sis and daughters in Epcot. I bet that pretzel was amazing.

Congratulations to you both!!!!!!

 

[ZellyB]

LOVING your report so far!! I run too and I hate when people don't give themselves credit and say "only" - either way, a huge accomplishment.

Love these. The red is such a great color for them!!

I loved reading about your two races. I have started running 2:1 or 1:1 and I love it so far. Congratulations on your big finish!!

Hi! : Thanks for reading. We also really love those red shirts. They are a great color. We are huge fans of the Galloway method. Good luck on your continued running.

Woohoo!! Goofy AND a Disney Marathon PR! Can't ask for much more than that!

I am so proud of Chris for taking a goofy character picture awesome that you ran into your sis and daughters in Epcot. I bet that pretzel was amazing.

Congratulations to you both!!!!!!

Thanks, Shannon. It was a pretty great feeling and yes, Chris finally loosened up. LOL

 

[ZellyB]

We headed back out for Epcot and got there a little before 3 I think. I had a FP+ for us on Soarin and the window was just about to open, so we headed over for the ride. We were on pretty quickly and enjoyed a nice flight. My sister really loved this ride and wanted to ride again, but standby was about 45 minutes and nobody wanted to wait.

Living with the Land was basically a walk-on, so we went for a quick boat ride. I really enjoy this ride. It's slow, yes, but relaxing and interesting. My legs and feet were pretty tired and sore, so I was happy for any excuse to sit for a period of time.

After that we went over for a ride on Nemo. Again, a walk-on. I had a FP+ next for Spaceship Earth which was totally unneeded, but we used it anyway. After that ride we headed over to Club Cool and tried out some of the drinks. At some point in here we had also stopped for some group photos.







Chris and I were wearing the Goofy medals. I couldn't handle wearing all three. Too heavy and too clanky. The girls wanted to wear medals, so each of them had one on as well. Still rocking that Dooney.

Next we headed to Mission Space. Damaris and the girls had ridden this earlier in the day and they loved it. Chris decided to skip it as it has caused him some motion sickness problems in the past. After we rode it we had a little time before our dinner reservations, so the girls asked to ride again. We grownups happily sat on a bench and waited for them.

We headed over for dinner at Biergarten. I'd really been looking forward to this and I was starved. As usual, it was a mob scene in front of the restaurant. We got checked in and were given a pager. We found a spot to sit out by the fountain. We got to talking with a couple also sitting there. He had run Goofy and she had run the marathon. They told us they hadn't really trained very well and were super sore so they had rented ECVs to get around the park that night. We thought that was so strange and sort of funny. So you ran a marathon, but can't walk around Epcot? At any rate, we got called into the restaurant pretty quickly and settled in to our seats. Chris ordered up his usual huge beer.



I was starving, so we headed up to the buffet. No pics here, but I ate tons of food here. We enjoyed the German floor show as well while we ate.



In general the food was good, but I ended up a bit disappointed overall. It's a really pricey meal and for what you get I don't know that it was worth it. We've always enjoyed this restaurant, but I think this might be our last time there for awhile.

We finished up and headed out. We had thought about staying for Illuminations, but during dinner I really started to hit the wall. My legs and feet were really protesting and I was just exhausted. We headed out for the night.



By the time we got back to the house, it was all I could do to get undressed and fall into bed. We had a pretty early wake-up planned for the next day as we were going to Animal Kingdom. I was a bit worried about how well my legs would hold up, but I didn't worry long. I don't think I thought much of anything after my head hit that pillow.

Next up: Animal Kingdom and the great flood

 

[ZellyB]

Monday, January 12
Animal Kingdom
​

After a good night of rest, my alarm woke me up bright and early to get up and start getting ready for Animal Kingdom. I put my feet on the floor and stood up expecting lots of pain and stiffness, and, while I was certainly a bit stiff, overall I was surprised that my legs and feet felt pretty good. After a shower and a breakfast at the house, we all loaded up in the minivan and headed out for our park of the day.



We were there about 15 minutes before the park opened, so I took a quick shot of the Christmas tree that was still up.



It was pretty chilly this morning, but we were expecting things to warm up shortly. Once the park opened, we headed over to ride the Safari. I was hoping for some good animal activity since it was early and the temps were cool. We got on one of the first trucks and headed out. Things were a bit backed up and we had to stop to wait on trucks ahead of us to move. We figured out why soon enough. There was a group of giraffes who were blocking the road. They did move eventually, but they were right by the road as we drove by. It was so cool to see them this close.





The rest of the animal sightings were not that great, but the giraffes made it all worthwhile. After the safari we wandered out of Africa and were headed for Expedition Everest to hopefully catch the line while it was still short. We had an FP+ for later in the morning.

Quick stop for a jam session.



And a shot of the Tree of Life



There were a lot of construction walls up in AK which made things not quite as pretty as usual, but this is one (if not my very) favorite park. I know a lot of people don't really like it that much, but I think it's beautiful and I enjoy the attractions and shows. I'll be curious to see what Avatarland will be like, but anything that would give me more reasons to spend time in this park is something I welcome.

Next up, it was Yeti time! The ride had just a 5 minute stand-by line.







I was about to lose my awesome new Goofy hat, so I had to grab onto it!

The girls wanted to ride again and since the line was still short, we rode again. Chris decided to sit this one out as he doesn't love the backward portion. Next we cruised toward Dinoland. We headed on over to ride Dinosaur!! This is another ride I enjoy. It's bumpy as all get out, but I think it's entertaining.



Both girls had their heads buried at this part. LOL

After finishing the ride, we look around the gift shop some. Hey! It's our three favorite race mascots.



The girls each bought a new phone case in here too. One Goofy and one Donald. By now we were getting hungry for lunch and popped into Restaurantosaurus. Nothing fancy, but it was pretty good and satisfying. Next up was our FP+ for Expedition Everest. So, by noon we'd already gotten in 3 rides on EE. Woohoo! The park was pretty low crowds and we were having a great day.

We decided to go catch The Festival of the Lion King. Damaris and the girls had never seen it. I didn't take any shots of this show, but it was wonderful as ever. Everyone really enjoyed it.

The girls wanted to try for another ride on EE, so we walked back over that direction, but happened by the Flights of Wonder show just as it was getting ready to start, so we ducked in. It's a corny show, but I really do love to see all the birds.




After the show, we stopped at a kiosk and picked up an EE FP for immediate availability. Again, I think standby was only about 20 minutes, but it was nice to have the FP. Chris again sat it out and the girls wanted us to be silly for the ride shot.



So, yeah four times on EE by about 1:30 or so. Even I was done by then though. We wanted to check out It's Tough to be a Bug, so headed over that way. We spotted a photopass photographer and decided to get a group shot.



We got headed down for the show and Sophie wanted a shot with this guy



The show was entertaining as always. We got done and asked the girls what they wanted to do. They wanted to go for another ride on Dinosaur, so we were planning to go that way when I noticed a short line for Dug and Russell. I got in line with the girls. This was a really fun interaction. Both Dug and Russell were so fun. Paige doesn't really like to hug much, so she does this sort of side lean thing. Well, Russell would have none of that and wrapped her up in a big bear hug. I told him, "Oh that's great, Russell. Paige LOVES big hugs". He looked over at me and tapped the side of his head like he was thinking that.









As we were leaving the girls asked Russell what his favorite badge was on his sash. Russell just blindly pointed at the sash and I looked and said, "I think that's for knitting". He looked at me and put his finger to his lips in a SHHHH sign. It cracked me up.

We cruised on back over to Dinosaur and rode again. Chris was starting to get antsy about leaving because he had looked at the radar and a big rain storm was headed our way. The girls were begging to ride again and the line was non-existent, so I told him we'd be okay and we went back around to ride again. By the time we finished it was POURING outside. Oops. Chris was not happy with me. We did have ponchos with us, so we pulled those out and put them on and started the long walk out to the car. Seriously, it was a deluge, so even with the ponchos we were all pretty soaked by the time we got to the car. It continued raining the rest of the night, so once we got home and had dinner we just watched a movie and turned in early since we had another full park day at MK ahead of us.

Next up: Magic Kingdom

 

[ZellyB]

Tuesday, January 13
Magic Kingdom
​

We had another busy day planned at Magic Kingdom. This time though, we had an early breakfast reservation at Crystal Palace. Hey, Goofy!


It was a pretty foggy and cool morning. We got to the park about 10-15 minutes before they started letting those of us with reservations in.





I was excited to get some great castle pictures on an empty Main Street. But, with the fog this was the best shot we could get.






Fog and a crane.



Oh well, what can you do. We headed over for our breakfast and were seated pretty quickly. This is a pretty good buffet and my appetite was definitely still going strong post races. We had some great interaction with Pooh and friends as well.









Love these topiary things in the lobby.



We got out just shortly after the park opened and headed over to Fantasyland. First up was a ride on Peter Pan. Next up came Pooh.





Love this little ride.

Now was time for our FP for Seven Dwarves. This was our first time riding it and it's a fun little kid's coaster. Wish it was a bit longer, but other than that, we enjoyed it. I wouldn't want to wait a long time for it, but with FP it was fine.



Next we headed over for The Little Mermaid.



When Magic Shots go wrong.



Ha!



We needed to hit the restrooms by Gaston's and watched Gaston out doing a meet and greet. The line was really long, but we took some time to watch him. He was really funny and spent a lot of time talking to the guests.

Next up was It's a Small World. I still like this ride just because it's a classic.



Chris calls this ride, "It's a Small Nap After All"



Next we headed over for Chris's favorite ride in MK. Haunted Mansion.



We did standby here and the posted wait time was 20 minutes. It ended up being a bit closer to 30, but still worth the wait. After finishing up here, we headed for our next FP, BTMRR!

Ready to go...



Always a fun ride!! We went over and took a quick ride on Pirates. It was a walk-on at this point. As they were loading us, we realized we had the first and second rows. I'd read on here about people getting soaked in the front row, so I did what any mother would do. I made the girls sit up front while the grownups sat in the second row. Hey, I figured that they weighed the least and thus would likely not get wet. And, I was right!

We were all wanting a bit of a snack at this point, so we stopped for a tasty Dole Whip before heading back over to tomorrow land for our next FP.

Continued in next post

 

[ZellyB]

Once we crossed over into Tomorrowland we headed straight for Space Mountain. I almost skipped this ride since when I rode it last year it jerked me around so bad I had a headache for hours after. But the girls were excited, so we went ahead and got in line. We were in our cars in a few minutes.



I never remember where the camera is for this ride and I end up looking totally bored everytime. Paige cracks me up in this shot.



The ride actually didn't seem quite as rough this time, so I wasn't too worse for wear after. We were starting to get hungry again, but I didn't want to eat a big lunch because we had dinner reservations at Be Our Guest. The girls didn't know about this. They had asked about the restaurant, but not until after we were past the 180 day mark, so no reservations were available. I told them we couldn't go. Then about 2 or 3 weeks before we left, someone on the Dis posted about openings and I was able to snag one! Woohoo. I didn't tell the girls so we could surprise them. We grabbed some quick hot dogs at The Lunching Pad and then took a nice post lunch ride on the People Mover. The line for Buzz was a bit long, so we checked out the FP kiosks for another one. Oddly enough, they had FP available for Buzz right then, so we grabbed them and walked over.



Cracks me up how serious they look.

Clowning around with Zurg



The girls really wanted to do Tomorrowland Speedway, so we got in a pretty short line for this. Sophie was my driver.



We were all ready for a little relaxation, so we stopped in for Philharmagic. I think this is a really nice show and it felt good to sit in a darkened theatre and just chill for a bit. We were flying through the park and having a great time.

Once we finished up with Philharmagic I asked the girls what they wanted to do next and they both wanted to ride POTC again, so we walked over. There was a pretty long stand-by line, but knowing how fast the line typically moves, we got in. Chillin in line.



By now it was getting to be around 5 o'clock and everyone was getting hungry. I had to stall until 5:30 for our ADR though, so we did a little shopping on Main Street and got some castle shots without the fog.





We started walking back toward Fantasy Land. Love these topiaries.



The girls were getting really cranky and wanting to eat and I had told them that I just wasn't sure where we could eat. I told them we needed to check our schedule and see if it had anything on it about dinner. I handed them this...



They saw Be Our Guest listed at the bottom and were a little confused and then excited to know we actually WERE going to feed them. LOL And, yes, that is what my park schedules look like. I have a problem obviously. I will say this, I may map everything out to the minute, but I'm pretty good at rolling with it and making changes depending on how the day goes.

We headed over to BOG and got checked in. We were handed a pager and told to wait on the bridge. I was hoping it wouldn't take too long. When Chris and I ate here the year before we waited a long time before we got seated even with a reservation. A few shots as we waited.







Thankfully, we only waited about 5 minutes before our pager went off. YAY!! We walked through the gates and were escorted into the castle. They told us about how these guys hold up the entire castle.



We were told we'd be dining in the Rose Room. I was happy to hear that as we had previously eaten in the West Wing and I knew the main dining room (though beautiful) was crowded and noisy. We were led to a table in the Rose Room right by the dancing statues of Belle and the Beast.



Damaris and I ordered a nice glass of wine while we waited for dinner. We also appreciated the design in the room and all the roses throughout.







The food was delivered pretty quickly. I had the steak.



Very tasty steak and the fries were especially good. Damaris had the chicken which she also said was delicious.



After we finished the entrees, we opted to share a dessert. It was some kind of chocolate scone thing I think. I don't remember.



This was just okay. Nothing to get excited about.

After we finished up, we headed out and walked through the other rooms so Damaris and the girls could see them and then stopped in to say goodnight to our host.



On the way, we got a shot of the lions at the entrance. Spooky Sophie...



We had planned to stay for Wishes, but we were all pretty wiped out and we had a VERY early start to the day tomorrow, so we opted to leave. The parade was going on, so it took us awhile to work our way out, but we managed to get back to the car and home in pretty short order. I was sad to leave Disney behind, but also excited to spend our next couple of days at Universal Studios exploring Harry Potter and more.

Next up: The Dark Side

 

[rteetz]

I didn't get to ride Soarin' this trip unfortunately. I don't like when you "waste" a FP on a ride you could've walked on but whatever I guess. We ate at Biergarten during our trip as well. Our first time there it was good.

I would say AK is my favorite park but its hard to choose between that and MK. Everest 4 times that sounds like a blast!

MK with a crane and fog. Well Any day in Disney is better than most days not in Disney I guess. I create a schedule for our trips as well!

 

[jlovesee]

First off, congrats on completing Goofy! I wanted to reply first since I really enjoyed your trip report, second because we were Dopey and in K corral too! We actually ran the marathon at 2:1 (2 miles run, 1 mile walk), and from your photos looks like we were pretty close to each other, as I remember the chimney sweeps around Mile 8, and your photos of the weather conditions seems about right for what we experienced. I looked at the finish line clock and I believe we were 10-15 mins ahead at the end, but that's because we only stopped for a few characters, I keep saying we will stop for more but I can never get myself to do it, I am always worried about times. We are planning on coming back for Dopey again next year as we did it last year too, its addicting.



Jennifer

 

[emilyindisney]

Congrats on a great marathon/Goofy finish! We saw the chimney sweeps too! They were behind us in line for Ralph so we asked if we could take a picture with them, haha! I'll bet Mary, Bert and the Penguins loved them!

Glad you got a little blue sky later on in your day at MK!

 

[Ariel484]

Hooray for not being too sore the next day!!

I will not make fun of your to-the-minute planning at all - you guys got a TON done!! That is awesome!

I need to try dinner at Be Our Guest...I've only been for lunch. Some day...

 

[disneyhorselover]

Marathonfoto got some great shots of you guys running through the parks!

I am so impressed that those chimney sweeps ran a marathon in those costumes-that's dedication. Like Emily mentioned, we saw them too! I wonder how many pictures they posed for throughout the race, haha.

I can't believe the line for the golfers...I'm glad your picture came out so good after waiting that long!

We missed Baloo-I wonder if he was switching off with the bunny we saw between Africa and Asia (Thumper maybe?)

Surprisingly, it was easier than I thought to get off the ground after the gravedigger picture...blame it on the adrenaline, haha.

How great to have your family there so close to the end!!

Looks like a nice relaxing day at Epcot. Sort of funny and sort of strange about the people that rented and ECV. We went to MK that night and saw a girl who had run being pushed in a wheelchair. I think she may have had ice on her foot or ankle that made me think she got injured, but I don't really remember. I was definitely tempted to rent a wheelchair/ECV, but nope, I hobbled around that night with pride!

OMG the giraffe pics are amazing!! Giraffes are one of my favorite animals on the safari and that's such a cool experience with them!

I've always wanted to meet Russel and Dug-they are too cute. The Crystal Palace pics are adorable as well...love those Pooh characters.

 

[ZellyB]

I didn't get to ride Soarin' this trip unfortunately. I don't like when you "waste" a FP on a ride you could've walked on but whatever I guess. We ate at Biergarten during our trip as well. Our first time there it was good.

I would say AK is my favorite park but its hard to choose between that and MK. Everest 4 times that sounds like a blast!

MK with a crane and fog. Well Any day in Disney is better than most days not in Disney I guess. I create a schedule for our trips as well!

I completely agree that I'll still take a day at Disney even with fog over a day at home! Glad to know I'm not the only one who creates schedules. Actually, I know on this board I'm always going to be in good company on that.

First off, congrats on completing Goofy! I wanted to reply first since I really enjoyed your trip report, second because we were Dopey and in K corral too! We actually ran the marathon at 2:1 (2 miles run, 1 mile walk), and from your photos looks like we were pretty close to each other, as I remember the chimney sweeps around Mile 8, and your photos of the weather conditions seems about right for what we experienced. I looked at the finish line clock and I believe we were 10-15 mins ahead at the end, but that's because we only stopped for a few characters, I keep saying we will stop for more but I can never get myself to do it, I am always worried about times. We are planning on coming back for Dopey again next year as we did it last year too, its addicting.



Jennifer

Thanks for reading and congrats on your Dopey finish! It does sound like we were really close together. The chimney sweeps were fun!

Congrats on a great marathon/Goofy finish! We saw the chimney sweeps too! They were behind us in line for Ralph so we asked if we could take a picture with them, haha! I'll bet Mary, Bert and the Penguins loved them!

Glad you got a little blue sky later on in your day at MK!

Thank you! HA on the picture with the chimney sweeps. I suspect a lot of people took their picture. They should have just set up shop somewhere like they were a character stop.

Hooray for not being too sore the next day!!

I will not make fun of your to-the-minute planning at all - you guys got a TON done!! That is awesome!

I need to try dinner at Be Our Guest...I've only been for lunch. Some day...

We really did manage to get a lot done! So, thanks for not making fun of me. :

I haven't done lunch at BOG, but we've really enjoyed our two dinners there. I think the meal I got this time was better than the first time we went.

Marathonfoto got some great shots of you guys running through the parks!

I am so impressed that those chimney sweeps ran a marathon in those costumes-that's dedication. Like Emily mentioned, we saw them too! I wonder how many pictures they posed for throughout the race, haha.

I can't believe the line for the golfers...I'm glad your picture came out so good after waiting that long!

We missed Baloo-I wonder if he was switching off with the bunny we saw between Africa and Asia (Thumper maybe?)

Surprisingly, it was easier than I thought to get off the ground after the gravedigger picture...blame it on the adrenaline, haha.

How great to have your family there so close to the end!!

Looks like a nice relaxing day at Epcot. Sort of funny and sort of strange about the people that rented and ECV. We went to MK that night and saw a girl who had run being pushed in a wheelchair. I think she may have had ice on her foot or ankle that made me think she got injured, but I don't really remember. I was definitely tempted to rent a wheelchair/ECV, but nope, I hobbled around that night with pride!

OMG the giraffe pics are amazing!! Giraffes are one of my favorite animals on the safari and that's such a cool experience with them!

I've always wanted to meet Russel and Dug-they are too cute. The Crystal Palace pics are adorable as well...love those Pooh characters.

Thank you! I'm so impressed you guys laid down for the gravediggers. Adrenaline is useful in many ways.

I thought the giraffe pictures were great too. I really thought that one of them was going to stick his head inside the truck! I love them too. They are just so graceful to watch. I was so happy that were so close.

And, I highly recommend meeting up with Russel and Dug. They were a lot of fun.

 

[ZellyB]

Wednesday January 14
Universal Studios and a Happy Anniversary
​

Well, after bidding our last day at Disney good-bye, we were ready to tackle Universal Studios. We were all really excited to see the new Diagon Alley section of Universal Studios and to ride the Gringott's Bank ride and the Hogwart's Express between the parks. I had splurged and booked a hotel room at one of the on-site hotels so that we could take advantage of the unlimited Express Pass and also the early entry. The park was scheduled to open at 9 which meant early entry started at 8. We needed to get to the hotel and checked in early enough to get our Express Pass and be at the park by 8. So, another bright and early morning for us. We left the house a little after 6:30 and drove to the hotel. We got there a little before 7. I was too distracted with our plans to take any pictures of the hotel. DUH! But, it was very pretty. We had chosen the Royal Pacific Resort. When we walked in, there was no one waiting at the front desk, so we got checked in within 5 minutes. We were directed over to some computer stations where we got our Express Pass tickets. We ran up to the room to check it out since we had time. It was a very nice room. Good size with a nice size bathroom.

We all took a quick bathroom break and then headed back down to go to Universal Studios. It was maybe a 10 minute walk along a nice walkway to the City Walk area. This area has a lot of restaurants and shopping. Again, I didn't think to take any pictures. Another few minutes and we were approaching the entrance to the park.



We got into the park pretty quickly and then showed our passes to get in for early entry. It was right at 8 AM by this time. We followed the other people headed for Diagon Alley. Despicable Me is the other attraction that is open for early entry, but we passed it by. Very soon we were headed past the brick wall opening and into Diagon Alley.

They've really done a great job of making you feel like you are crossing over into a new world.



The girls were very excited to be here. For Christmas, my mom had made the girls Hogwarts robes to wear to the parks. The girls had also joined the Pottermore site and got sorted into their respective houses. Sophie ended up a Ravenclaw and Paige was a Slytherin. I thought Paige might be upset by that, but she seemed to embrace it. LOL



It was really fun to have them dressed that way as the various TMs in the areas interacted with them like they were Hogwart's students. Better yet, since they are 11, it coincided with them being first years at Hogwarts.

There was so much to see, but we were totally focused on our first objective which was Gringott's Bank! We walked on down the road and up to the entrance to the bank.



Seriously. This place is so cool looking and the dragon is amazing!



Off to the right of the entrance is the entrance into the locker rooms. We walked in and got a locker and put our belongings inside and then headed into the bank.

All I can say is WOW! There was basically no line since we were so early, so we walked straight into the bank lobby. There are these massive chandeliers hanging in the lobby.



We were all so excited!



The animatronic goblins in here are beyond amazing.









After passing through the lobby, we moved down a corridor that had some vaults set up.



After a short line up we went into a room for a little holographic pre-show to set up the ride.



After the pre-show, we just walked straight through to the area where you get on the elevators to go down to the vaults. The elevator "ride" is pretty cool. Some shaking of the elevator car and motion simulation make you feel like you are going far down into the vaults. We got off the elevator and moved toward the loading platform. The ride broke down at this point though. Boo! But it was only about 10 minutes and we were moving again. We picked up our 3D glasses and headed up the stairs to the loading area.

The ride is really fantastic. Fun and exciting with great special effects. We loved it!!! We loved it so much we went right back on it again. We probably only waited about 10 minutes and were back on the ride again. It was awesome. Have to love that early entry. Was off for the second time, we got our stuff out of the locker and headed out to explore more of Diagon Alley.

A shot looking down to the left of Gringott's.



We were heading up to check out some more of the shops when we noticed the entrance to Olivander's wand shop. There was again no line, so we hopped in. The TMs working the show were talking to the girls about going to Hogwarts and one of them gave Paige some fellow Slytherin props. It was cute. Pretty soon we were ushered into the small wand room. There were maybe 15-20 of us in the room. Shortly after, the wand master entered. He didn't call himself Olivander, but I don't remember what he said his name was.



He gave a little talk about wands and then walked up to the group gathered to choose a student. When he got to Paige and Sophie he asked them if they were sisters. They said yes and he make a comment about how interesting it was to have a Ravenclaw and a Slytherin in the same family. Then he asked their ages and when both answered 11, he said, "Twins? Stranger still." So, he motioned both girls up to the desk. We were so happy the girls BOTH got picked. He went through the acts of having the girls try different wands and various spells went wrong. Cue the lightening...



He then looked at the two wands and both girls and mused about how the wands both had dragon heartstring cores from the same dragon...he switched the two wands and then the lights glowed and wind blew their hair and we knew the wands had chosen the wizards. It was ridiculously fun and the girls loved it. Of course, being the sucker parents we are, we had to buy both girls the wands that had chosen them. $90 later, the girls left ready to try out spells throughout Diagon Alley.

Continued in next post

 

[ZellyB]

With the new wands in hand, we headed out to explore more of Diagon Alley.



Hagrid's motorcycle



Chocolate frogs and Every flavour beans





The shops are very small and tight inside which is great in terms of lending to the authenticity, but not so great for browsing around.



There is so much detail in this area that there is more to look at than you really have time to take in.

Owl post



We were starting to work up a thirst and in Harry Potter's world that can only mean one thing...



We got the frozen variety even though it was pretty chilly outside.



We took some time to try out the various spells in the area.



Some of them were actually kind of hard to get to work. But often there was a TM nearby to help out.

We stopped and watched the puppet show about the tail of the Deathly Hallows. This shot is terrible. But, the show itself was really good. The puppets were so cool!



We circled back around by Gringott's and heard the dragon start roaring. We watched for a couple of moments and then FIRE!!!!



Seriously, so awesome!!! Loved it!!!!

We wandered on for a bit and found our way into Knockturn Alley. This is a neat little area. Very dark and sinister with again lots of neat things to look at.



And around another corner was Borgin and Burke's



This shop was crazy tight in there. Dark and narrow. Another fun shop though.



We decided it was probably time to head out and explore some more of Universal Studio, so we headed out. I didn't take a lot of pictures as we worked our way through some other rides and areas. The Express Pass here was so great. Pretty much everything we rode was a walk-on. We rode Men In Black, The Simpson's Ride, ET Adventure. We had a quick lunch and then headed for Rip Ride Rockit. The girls were super excited about this ride.



They really loved it. I thought it was fun too, although a little bit rough. I think after that we headed over to ride Despicable Me. Again, that Express Pass was awesome for this. I'm sure I'm getting the rides mixed up a bit, but we were riding and experiences tons of rides. It was chilly and not very crowded and with the Express Pass we were able to move through things quickly. I know we watched Terminator and eventually rode Transformers.



We headed over for what ended up being one of the rides we all enjoyed the most, The Mummy. This is a very fun and exciting ride. The girls especially loved one of the TMs working the Express line. He acted really creepy and wouldn't talk at all, only stare at you. They were determined to try and make him talk. They never succeeded. I think we rode this 2 or 3 times in a row.

By now, it was around 4 o'clock or so, and we had circled back around to London where we headed into Kings Cross Station. The girls were still wearing their robes and one of the TMs asked them why they were wearing bathrobes.



We walked on through the line. We cruised on through with almost no people in line with us.



Eventually we came upon the entrance to Platform 9 3/4. The way they've done this is so cool!!!! I hung back to take pictures of everyone passing through. I think these shots were from the second day there since the girls aren't in their robes.







And then we found ourselves on the train platform



Harry's trunk and Hedwig were there to greet us



The train pulled into the station a few minutes later. The train looks exactly like it did in the movies. One Ravenclaw and one Slytherin ready to head for Hogwarts.



Within a few minutes we were directed onto the train and settled into a compartment. The compartments again are just like what you see in the movies. Ready to leave.



The ride is very short, but the show out the "window" and from the hallway outside the compartment are very well done. In no time at all we were arriving at Hogsmeade station.



Since it was late, we were not planning on doing a lot of exploring here but rather saving that for tomorrow. But, we did want to ride Dragon Challenge.



Damaris got a little shook up on this ride, but we all wanted to go give Forbidden Journey a quick ride, so we headed over there. Again, this area of the park is just amazing.


We were on the ride pretty quickly and I enjoyed it just like I had when I rode it previously. Unfortunately, it was one ride too many for Damaris and she ended up feeling really sick afterward. By this time it was around 5 or 5:30 and we were all pretty tired from a long day, so we decided to call it a day. Especially since we knew we had one last day to enjoy the parks tomorrow.

 

[Disneymoon09]

Love the HP updates! My BFF is going in April and invited me along. Darn family responsibilities are keeping me home!

 

[rteetz]

Great HP updates. I have never been to universal and am not a huge Harry Potter fan but looking at all of these HP experience I'm intrigued and definitely at least want to go once. My family is mainly Disney people and wants really only go to Disney so it will probably be a few years before I try out universal.

 

[disneyhorselover]

Diagon Alley looks breathtaking, even in pictures! I am a huuuuuge HP fan and was wowed by Hogsmeade so I can't wait to go back and see the expansion. How awesome that both the girls got chosen at Ollivanders!! ...They probably knew you guys were good for 2 wand sales as soon as they heard twins, haha! Those robes are lovely-they look like they stepped off the movie set.
I cannot get over how realistic how everything on platform 9 3/4 and the Hogwarts Express looks...almost like Harry and Ron should be next to you!

As for butterbeer, why can't they sell that in grocery stores?! Oh wait, because then I'd have no money to go to Disney because it would all be spent on that. So delicious...

 

[ZellyB]

Love the HP updates! My BFF is going in April and invited me along. Darn family responsibilities are keeping me home!

That's too bad you can't go along. I hate it when my real life interferes with my vacations!

Great HP updates. I have never been to universal and am not a huge Harry Potter fan but looking at all of these HP experience I'm intrigued and definitely at least want to go once. My family is mainly Disney people and wants really only go to Disney so it will probably be a few years before I try out universal.

Universal is a very different experience than Disney, but we really do enjoy both experiences for what they are. I think even if you aren't a huge HP fan you can still enjoy those parts of the park. They are so well done and the rides are quite good.

Diagon Alley looks breathtaking, even in pictures! I am a huuuuuge HP fan and was wowed by Hogsmeade so I can't wait to go back and see the expansion. How awesome that both the girls got chosen at Ollivanders!! ...They probably knew you guys were good for 2 wand sales as soon as they heard twins, haha! Those robes are lovely-they look like they stepped off the movie set.
I cannot get over how realistic how everything on platform 9 3/4 and the Hogwarts Express looks...almost like Harry and Ron should be next to you!

As for butterbeer, why can't they sell that in grocery stores?! Oh wait, because then I'd have no money to go to Disney because it would all be spent on that. So delicious...

If you were wowed by Hogsmeade, you'll be blown away by DA. It is much bigger than Hogsmeade and the attention to detail is great. It really feels like you are on the movie set. Gringotts and that dragon really set the tone too. And King's Cross and the train are so cool. I loved that they made the train with compartments just like you see in the film. It's a very unique ride/experience.

And, yeah, butterbeer. YUMMY! I don't even want to know how many calories are in one cup of that stuff. EEK!

 

[Ariel484]

I took a quick glance at your report and saw you went to Diagon Alley...please forgive me but I need to skip this portion since we'll be going there in July and I'm trying not to look at too many pics!!!

 

[Disneymoon09]

That's too bad you can't go along. I hate it when my real life interferes with my vacations!

I told my husband he was lucky I didn't buy my plane ticket the second she asked me lol. This frigid OH weather has me going crazy