March '19 Mother Daughter Mini Break - Cabana Bay, Harry Potter Here We Come!

This was the day we were supposed to wear our Ravenclaw students outfits. We each had shirts with a Ravenclaw patch, ties, and other Harry Potter accoutrements. It was raining pretty steadily so I brought a jacket with ponchos on the pockets, and we ended up covered up most of the day. Sob!

Here's my daughter by one of Cabana Bay's classic cars, parked on the way to the bus stop. A rare moment that it wasn't raining. You can kind of see her outfit.

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We went to IOA and rode Spiderman, which we both loved in 2009, and Kong, which was not what I expected but fun too. By now it was pouring!

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I found a slushy Coke beverage which was lovely, and then we made our way to Hogsmeade! We saw the Beaubatons and Durmstrang students!

We had a drink in the Hogs Head, and true to form, there was a hag in the corner:

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My daughter ordered a "Deathly Hallows" which the barkeep said they're not allowed to sell by name, but it was basically layered Guinness, a red cider, and a light lager. I think we skipped over to Jurassic Park with its tucked away smoking spot (No Spike! I kept looking for him!) and then had a snack of churros and a hot pretzel. We had such a late and large breakfast that we skipped lunch.

Next up: Honeydukes, "No Melt Ice Cream", and the joys of the single rider line!
 
My older son and I are Ravenclaw too! Looks like fun despite the rain!

I have to say that, since we had Express Pass, our biggest issues for waiting involved paying for things when the technology didn't work correctly. (Guest services at the park had trouble with a room charge and the hotel had trouble with redeeming gift cards! Of course, blamed on technology)
 
Because it was chilly and I as wearing a jacket, I brought the interactive wand my sister and I went halfsies on in 2017, as it fit in an inner pocket. There were plenty of kids doing the spells, and my daughter wasn't keen, at 28, to shove small tots aside to try herself. So we never used it, but watched kids perform (or mostly NOT perform - keep those arm movements small, folks!) the spells.

We wandered around Hogsmeade, paying particular attention to Honeydukes. This shop is really done up JUST as the movie depicts, rather like Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.

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A treat for the eye as well as a treat for the palate!

My daughter bought a sugar quill for her beau. She had started to amass a sizable number of Harry Potter items from her daily gift bags, so she had plenty to make him up a little gift satchel.

I noticed these pretty desserts, called "No Melt Ice Cream"!

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I ordered one and it was so cute we posed with it outside.

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I was intrigued: What could it be? Ice cream that didn't melt? (Well, it was damp and cool that day so most ice cream would have been Jim Dandy...) Some new scientific process?

Then I tasted it. And it was... frosting? A fancy acrylic martini glass full of frosting, with a wee gold sugar heart on top, and a couple of sugar pearls. For $4.95.

No melt ice cream, my bum.
 


We went on Forbidden Journey, trying the single rider line now that we'd experienced the queue. We walked in, took a left, went up some stairs (no one behind or above us) and were right there! About one minute from entrance to ride vehicle. And then we ended up seated together!

Hands down, my favorite ride ever. I love how it ends with a cool bit, and not just wanly limping into the debarkation site.

I had never been on Flight of the Hippogriff, so we did that. I probably liked the queue as much as the ride, since the views of Hagrid's hut and Buckbeak are so cool, and even more evocative on this rather dark and dull day.

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Lastly, we took the Hogwarts Express to Diagon Alley. This was my daughter's first trip on the train, and it did not disappoint!

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We noodled around Diagon Alley some more, and I suggested trying Gringotts in the single rider line, but the time posted for that was too long for my daughter, so we made our way back to our hotel. The bus was waiting for us, and we stopped at the food court to get some cheese and grapes and crackers to have a little snack.

No pool today, as we had planned. It was still cold, rainy and windy, and in fact the pools had signs posted that they were closed from about 4:00 on due to the weather.
 
It has been a long, cold and wet day. We decided to take it easy on ourselves and just have a nice dinner at Citiwalk, as planned, but skip going into either park. We got gussied up a bit, and made our way to the bus stop. This time, I posed by the cars:

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Is that a Gryffindor sword pendant I see, along with my Luna Lovegood inspired outfit? I even had the eccentric shoes to match:

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The sun was just setting when we got to Citiwalk, and so I got my daughter to pose a little by the waterfront. (She did the surfboard too, which looks a bit dumb IRL but actually makes a pretty adorable photo, but she'd kill me if I posted anything that goofy.) So here she is all grown up:

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Note the Ravenclaw infinity scarf I got from my sister for Christmas. We were accessorized as all get out.

Next up: Cowfish!
 
When we came in to Cowfish, the host asked if, perhaps, we wanted to be seated on a patio with warming braziers. Sure! He kind of looked us up and down, noted we were dressed a bit nicely, then led us to the Greatest Table Ever. It was right in the corner of the patio (which had some wind screens, and was warm enough) where we had a wonderful view of two perspectives of the plaza below. We sat next to each other, rather than across, so we each had the view - and from there we really couldn't see anyone else on the patio. It was almost like a private table! The patio was fairly empty at that point but was pretty full by the time we left.

Rocking my Spectrespecs at the table:

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Yes, I am 57, why do you ask?

We had some calamari as an appetizer, which was yum.

I ordered the Bento Box with the Boss Roll, and the poor waiter tried to break it down for me that the burger was teensy and that you could have EITHER the Boss Roll OR another kind of sushi roll, but not both, and was I OK with that? I felt so bad for him. Obviously legions of people order this, then complain mightily that the burger is too small, and that they expected two gigantic sushi rolls and not the one that the menu clearly explained.

It was adorable and delicious!

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Those were the absolute best sweet potato fries I'd ever had. Perfectly crispy on the outside, almost liquid inside. Mmmmmm!

My daughter had something with edamame on the side, and a glass or two of Malbec.

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It was a lovely, relaxing meal and the perfect night for us. We left early enough that the bus situation was much better than the night before. At Cabana Bay, we grabbed a piece of cheesecake at the food court to split in our room while watching "The Bachelor: The Women Tell All" which was a scream. I had no idea who any of these people were, but my daughter had fun explaining who was terrible and who was worse.

Next up: Our final day, and baby, it was COLD outside!
 


I was intrigued: What could it be? Ice cream that didn't melt? (Well, it was damp and cool that day so most ice cream would have been Jim Dandy...) Some new scientific process?

Then I tasted it. And it was... frosting? A fancy acrylic martini glass full of frosting, with a wee gold sugar heart on top, and a couple of sugar pearls. For $4.95.

Yikes! Thanks for the warning - I'll be skipping that one!!!
 
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What a great outfit! Shame on the rain for making you hide it all.
 
Yikes! Thanks for the warning - I'll be skipping that one!!!

I think most of Universal's food offerings are really good, and the prices less than Disney. The candy shops are the exception, IMHO. I do wish they sold a smaller version of the Chocolate Frog (Just a huge one for something like $12) and the only value I saw this time was a big box of salt water taffy that would have been great for my children's librarian co-workers, but it was the first day and I was rocking only a fanny pack, and didn't want to haul it. Of course, I forgot to get it the last day.

But a $5 cup of frosting - that was the exception in value and expectation vs what you really got!
 
Also I can attest that the food choice, quality and value at the Cabana Bay food court was really top notch. Several times we got sushi, good cheese, bread and fruit and had a picnic in our room, after having a large meal at the parks earlier. And there were wonderful pastries for breakfast, including my favorite pain au chocolat. Also less crowded and easier to check out than comparable Disney resorts.
 
So! Our last day. We had planned (again) to do Early Admission, but when my alarm went off I checked the weather and it was cold. Really cold. There was even a wind chill advisory for Orlando! 43 degrees out (I swear it was like 45 back in Illinois) and very windy. I wish I would have screenshot it, because my phone showed a weather map of the US and the Polar Vortex showed as a gigantic blue spot over most of the country, extending as far south as mid Florida!

I couldn't see waking my daughter up for that, so I did my usual outside with a book and coffee run. There were braziers burning in the center of tables outside the food court! How nice!!! Also, everywhere you look at Cabana Bay there are beautiful mid century modern touches. The tile, the carpet, the tabletops, the lights. Just fabulous.

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A rare bit of sun peeking through the bitter winds.

Woke my daughter up later with pastry and coffee, and then we fought over who got to wear the warm Ravenclaw scarf I had given her earlier in the week! Oh how we laughed at the outlandishness of giving a knit scarf in Florida! I'm bigger and stronger than she is, so I was the victor, and she settled for the lighter Ravenclaw scarf.

Seriously though, it was cold. Maybe 50 degrees by then, but the sun was out and we had sweaters and jackets so we were ready for a long, last day in the parks!

But first at Citiwalk, you have to pose like an idjet:

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But just look at me in that warm scarf! (Or at least as much as you can, what with the blurriness from resizing the photos...!)

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We went to Universal and there wasn't much of a wait for Shrek so we saw that. Hilarious! While we were in the anteroom, the Emcee asked if anyone knew what "Flogging" meant (which would happen to us if we didn't move down the seats, etc), so I piped up "Spanking!" and the guy proceeded to mock me as a degenerate that knew what flogging was. Even more funny!

We took a turn through Central Park, and I had a cigarette while keeping a gimlet eye out for Spike, who was at Universal from the UK. I never did spy him, and we were there just a fraction of his long stay.

We watched Marilyn Monroe do her thing:

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At some point, she takes off her wrap and the girls whip off their uniforms to show red and white 40's tops with those navy side button high waisted shorts. I had brought a pair of the same shorts with me, but wore them only the first day as it was too cold the other days.

My daughter had psyched herself up to go on the Mummy, so we did and she liked it. We celebrated with the obligatory shot in the shop:

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Next up: A sit down lunch and a street full of movie locations!
 
I found a slushy Coke beverage which was lovely, and then we made our way to Hogsmeade! We saw the Beaubatons and Durmstrang students!

We had a drink in the Hogs Head, and true to form, there was a hag in the corner:

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My daughter ordered a "Deathly Hallows" which the barkeep said they're not allowed to sell by name, but it was basically layered Guinness, a red cider, and a light lager. I think we skipped over to Jurassic Park with its tucked away smoking spot (No Spike! I kept looking for him!) and then had a snack of churros and a hot pretzel. We had such a late and large breakfast that we skipped lunch.

Next up: Honeydukes, "No Melt Ice Cream", and the joys of the single rider line!


Awww that was one of my favourite spots and I remember being there on Tuesday as well, we were obviously ships that passed in the night!
 
and I had a cigarette while keeping a gimlet eye out for Spike, who was at Universal from the UK

Aaaah yes, Wednesday was bitterly cold, and with that and me feeling pretty pooped I had a day off from the parks, I'm such a wimp!
 
That Cow Fish food looks good. Now only if I could get my daughter to go there. Great report, and enjoying seeing your pictures. too.

And a haha, eating all icing. Well, at least it did not melt. LOL
 

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