Tomorrow Is Another Day...

Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Mischief Managed

As incredible as our time in Disney World was, the true highlight of our trip was our visit to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter on the Universal Studios property.  Our expectations for the park were so high, and there was a pretty sizeable chance of disappointment with reality.  Happily, Hogwarts and Hogsmeade were just as fantastically amazing and magical as we had hoped--and more!

There were a lot of people there, but we still found ourselves waiting in very reasonable lines.  The highlight of the Wizarding World is absolutely The Forbidden Journey in Hogwarts.  The other rides are a childrens rollercoaster, Flight of the Hippogriff, and a fantastic rollercoaster for the thrillseekers, Dueling Dragons.
 
I wish I could find the words to fully explain and do justice to The Forbidden Journey.  It is, without a doubt, the most amazing ride I have ever ridden.  You sit in a seat that is a bit similar to the people movers in the Haunted Mansion ride at Disney World--so you are fully enclosed with a bar across your lap.  You sit four across, but there are small partitions between each seat, so you can't really see the person next to you.  The idea of the ride is that you are flying around with Harry, Ron, and Hermione and you experience all of the highlights of each book along with them--basilisks, spiders, dementors, a Quidditch game, dragons and more.  There is a combination of IMAX screens and actual set pieces that you "fly" through going backwards, forwards, side-to-side, and the best explanation I can give you is to tell you that yes, you truly do feel as though you are IN the movie.  It's incredible.  And I can't believe we only rode it once.  So much dumb.

The one thing I'd like to see improved is the food options.  We ate at The Three Broomsticks, which is right next door and connected to the Hogshead, and the food was decent, but it's really your only option and the meals are certainly on the level of tv dinners.  The frozen butterbeer on the other hand was delicious!  It's a sort of butterscotch-sasparillaish flavor and I think they put condensed milk on the top to give it a sweet creaminess.  Oh, it was so good.  Pumpkin juice tasted a lot like mulled cider, so if you're into that you'd probably like it--I wasn't a big fan.

All in all, Wizarding World was everything I wanted it to be and more.  We talked to a local while we were there who said that there were plans to expand the area further, and I would love to see what else they could come up with.  We didn't get to spend much time in the shops, and the line just for Ollivanders wand shop looked to be over an hour long.  Of course, I had to buy a wand, but I got mine at the Owl Post where there were fewer crowds.  You can choose from the wands of all the major characters, and I decided on Hermione's after much deliberation between hers, Harry's and Dumbledore's (you can see it in the picture on top with the conductor).  I would love to see another restaurant added--I'm thinking a sit down restaurant themed after the Hogwarts dining hall--and we all agreed that a ride through the Gringott's bank would be a no brainer for the expansion.  

We spent time at Universal as well, but honestly, we weren't that thrilled with the offerings and wished we had just spent more time at Wizarding World.  So that's it, my long winded recap of our time at Disney has reached its end!  It was such a great trip with my family, and I'm already counting down until we make our triumphant return in 2013!

Disney: Shaken Not Stirred

Fortunately, after day one, our drama quota for the vacation was filled and everything went just swimmingly.  We were amazed at how easily we were able to ride all of the rides multiple times--the longest wait we had at the Disney parks was 45 minutes for the brand new, just opened that day Star Tours ride--everything else was 20 minutes at the longest, and usually closer to five minutes or we were able to walk directly on.
Tuesday, we made our way back to the Magic Kingdom and hit the rest of the rides--my personal and perennial favorite being Splash Mountain.  If I could change just one thing about Magic Kingdom, I would add just one or two more "thrill" rides.  I know the park is geared toward kids, and I still LOVE LOVE LOVE the magical feeling there, but it would be nice to have a couple more exciting rides to do to fill the day.  Especially when the lines are so short and with the advent of Fast Pass.  The other highlights were Pirates of the Carribbean and The Haunted Mansion, always incredibly nostalgic and nicely update over the years.  That night we enjoyed a delicious dinner at the Yacht Club to celebrate my parents' 30th Anniversary--way to go guys!  Feel free to keep celebrating and inviting us along!Wednesday we headed to Wizarding World of Harry Potter--but I'll save that for its own post because it was just too amazing to squeeze in here.  Thursday, we hit up Hollywood Studios and spent most of our time checked into the Hollywood Tower of Terror going up and down, up and down!  Favorite ride ever!

Did someone say wine?

My sister and I were happy to discover that not only is Disney the Happiest Place on Earth, but they also can make some damn good drinks!  Pina coladas at the Polynesian, margaritas in Mexico, wine in France, and a mimosa for me daquiri for her at the Prime Time cafe, just to name a few of our indulgences.  Disney is great, but it is miles better with a slight buzz.
  Our last day in Disney, we finally made ourselves over to Epcot where we hit most of the "science" rides before heading over to my favorite part, the world showcase.  Mission to Mars was new since I had been in 2008, and was a fun spaceship simulation.  Unfortunately, the ride for Soarin' was over an hour long, and given our line expectations of maaaaaaybe having to wait 30 minutes, we just weren't convinced to wait that long.  Some day!  After Epcot, my parents went back to the hotel for happy hour while my sister and I embarked on a tour of all the parks, heading back to Animal Kingdom for 3 goes on Expedition Everest, and Hollywood Studios for just a few more moments at the Hollywood Tower!  We wrapped things up with our traditional ice cream on Main Street, overlooking Cinderella's Castle during the Electric Light Parade.

There's nothing more magical than the combination of full fat ice cream, hot fudge, and LED lights!

Disney World: Let the Memories Begin!

It's hard to believe I've already been home from Disney World for over a week--longer than we were even there!  It was such a splendiferous vacation, and I wish I could keep going back and living it all over again on a constant, exhausting loop.

My parents and I drove into Kissimmee the night before we were planning to start in the parks, and stayed off Disney property.  Between my mounting excitement and my dad's snoring, I got about 2 hours of sleep which really wasn't enough to prepare me for the emotional highs and lows of the next day. Dramatic moment #1 of the day:

Just before we walked out of our hotel on Monday, we got a hysterical call from my sister who had just woken up, 7 minutes before her flight was supposed to take off.  I managed to get her to calm down enough to just throw on some clothes, grab her bags and told her to skip the subways and take a cab to the airport and get there as soon as possible.  Between the driving efforts of a cabbie named Angel (can't make this stuff up) and the fact that flights never take off less than 2 hours later than scheduled anymore, she actually managed to make it onto her airplane with plenty of time to spare.Dramatic moment #2 of the day:

Super plug for Shades of Green, as this is the second time I've stayed there and been incrediblyimpressed with its cleanliness, ease of checking in and out, and service.  If you or someone you know and love has a military or DOD id card and is heading to Disney World, seriously consider Shades of Green as an option.  It's right across the street from the Polynesian, so you're even ten minutes away from the monorail.  It's great.  So that wasn't the drama.  The drama came from the beautiful super-swanky Beach Club Hotel that my parents had reserved months ago.

 
  
Life at Concierge Level

We headed over there to check in and then head to the parks, unfortunately we ran into a teensy hold-up of MANY HOURS because they had overbooked the hotel and were trying the shuttle people off to Saratoga Springs, a timeshare resort in Bum Fu--oh wait, family blog--B.F.E.  My dad understandably raised some concerns with the handling of this situation, I politely suggested the Polynesian as an alternative, my mom had an emotional breakdown, and we ended up checking them into the concierge level of the Polynesian later that afternoon.  It was a fantastic resort, and I'm not sure I can go back to hotels with all of the little people after my short taste of concierge level treatment.  Food.  Food and drinks at all hours of the day.  I love concierge level.
Happily, all was well by mid-afternoon, and we made our way to Animal Kingdom, bound and determined to HAVE FUN DAMMIT.  And we did have a really lovely time.  Sadly the Brittster didn't make it to Orlando in time for our first culinary outing of the trip, the delicious Yak and Yeti, where we encountered sinfully delicious pork pot stickers and no kidding, the best Kobe beef burger my mouth has ever had the pleasure of inhaling.
And with much joy and celebration, Brittany DID make it in time for the first happy hour of the trip (did I mention how much I love concierge level?), and we then made our way over to Magic Kingdom for the Electric Light Parade, and what I feel is the most important tip of any Disney adventure--riding all of the Fantasyland rides after the adorable, overwrought kiddies have gone to bed.  We blew through The Carousel of Progress and Space Mountain in Tomorrowland as well as Peter Pan and It's a Small World in the blink of an eye, and with nary a stroller to achilles collision.

All that and we were only one day into our MAAAAAAAAGICAL ADVENTURE!!