Garth and Louise's Graduation Celebration June 2017 - Day 1 - Islands of Adventure and Universal

[LostPrincess]

Welcome to my trip report! The index is here, and travel day is here.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has left comments on my Travel Day! I was really nervous about writing my first trip report because I love reading other people's so much and it's so nice to hear that mine is being enjoyed too! Anyway, on with our first full day

Tuesday 13th June - Day 1

Despite being absolutely cream crackered we didn’t sleep very well. I woke up almost every hour to pee, probably because of the massive drinks at Cici’s! I first woke at around 12 and thought it was so much later than it was. At 2 there was a howling storm going on outside and we both woke up. Luckily neither of us were awake long and could get back until 4.45am when we admitted defeat and turned the light on. We were heading to Islands of Adventure and Universal today and I was just too excited to stay in bed. I wrote up some notes from yesterday and then messaged my Mum and my best friend at home for a catch up. At 5am Garth started coming up with theories concerning Doctor Strange so I sent him away to have a shower. Although I was awake I was not awake enough to be waffled at about cinematic universe theories! While he was gone I got out my laptop to work on the budget putting in what we had spent from our receipts. Garth came back saying that the shower was fab so I got in myself. It was tricky to get the temp right but pressure was fine and it felt good to finally have a proper wash. When I was out I put some makeup on in attempt I cover a humungous spot that had been growing the past few days. Why when I go on holiday?! I started using the hairdryer but it was quite small and I have really thick hair so I soon gave in and left it mostly wet.

Once we were dressed we went to have a look outside at our first Florida morning. It was around 6am so it was still dark and so peaceful outside. I got a picture of Garth on the balcony and then we headed back in.

Garth made a coffee with the machine and we both had cinnamon buns. It was delicious and so soft, I’m a sucker for a cinnamon bun and the Walmart ones definitely got my approval.

Looks like they got Garth’s approval too!

We had packed the park bag last night so there wasn’t much left to do! We sat and chilled out for ages and then suncreamed up and left. It was looking like it was going to be a beautiful day.

I ordered an uber and we sat on our uber bench waiting. Carlos was with us at 6.43. He was hilarious. He had quite a strong accent so I struggled to understand him but from what I got, he was nutty. He was complimenting our accents asking if we were from Manchester (we live on the south coast) and was saying how elegant we sounded. He kept saying we sounded beautiful. Then he was talking about the London accent and he was talking at 100 miles an hour and then he said the “n” word! We were both just a bit shocked and didn’t know what to say! We had no idea what he was on about and no idea why he’d said that word. He soon started telling us about his home in Verona and his 14 year old son’s attempts at English accents. As we were driving we saw our 2014 hotel International Palms and waved. We sometimes walked from the hotel to Universal last time so it was fun to drive our route. We arrived at 7.53, costing us $6.92.

Here we are! We walked up to new security scanners which were new since last time. I personally love all this extra security, it makes me feel very safe and I’m more than happy to wait a few extra minutes to make sure all checks are thorough. Once we were through security we were buzzing and taking pictures constantly so prepare for an overload!

Someone very kindly offered to take our picture on the bridge.

Toothsome looks amazing.

When we got to Islands we had to pick up our tickets. Booking with VH meant we got a voucher we needed to swap for our real tickets and we were hoping to upgrade to the 3 park ticket. In 2014 our first day was Diagon Alley opening day which meant the booths were open really early. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case all the time so we couldn’t collect the tickets as soon as we arrived Garth asked a cleaner what time they usually open and she said it’d be half an hour at least. We were gutted! One reason not to book with VH and go to someone who will give you real tickets!

Side note- when we booked the holiday I wasn’t really into the Dibb as much and we foolishly paid over the odds for a VH package. I can only regret this and wish we’d done it DIY because we could have saved ourselves so much money but you live and learn! Although, as another side note, VH does get you 2 days of early entry, which we were happily using today, so it’s not all bad (who am I convincing we were ripped off)

Seeing as we had time a plenty we used the loos. As a Lou myself we liked how the restrooms here were called Loo’s Lodge

We went back to the ticket booths to wait and watched the queue forming at the entrance.

It was so annoying knowing we were here earlier than them but couldn’t get in line! A queue started to form at guest services so we decided to change plan and queue there instead. This was the view from the guest services queue

While we were in the queue a lady came up to me and said “is this where you pick up the free lanyards?” and pointed to Garth’s Gryffindor lanyard. I don’t know what planet she was on but nothing is free in a theme park I told her you had to pay for them and you could get one in the gift shop on the way in and she huffed and walked off. We waited 15 minutes and finally got to a booth woo! We upgraded to the 3 park ticket for $53.24 and collected the tickets. We joined what looked like the shortest queue at the turnstiles at 7.50.

The temperature was beautiful! Last time we came I remember sitting waiting for the shuttle bus to the parks at 8am sweating buckets in July time. This warmth now was lovely and I felt completely comfortable with my hair down which never happened last time! They started letting people in and there must have been some finger print trouble up ahead because we were moving slower than everyone else but by 8.03 we were finally through the gates! I know most people have to do Disney on their first day but for me nothing beats walking under this on my first morning in my favourite place

Seeing him this happy makes me so proud to have introduced him to this wonderful place!

We walked with the crowds towards Hogsmeade and they took our early entry ticket from us in Seuss Landing.

When we got to Forbidden Journey it was showing 25 minutes already but we didn’t mind so we skipped on in with beaming smiles on our faces! We put everything in the locker so we didn’t have any photos of the queue. We got off at 8.50 having had an amazing trip through Hogwarts on a flying bench, despite a few hiccups along the way The whomping willow part is my absolute favourite, I love being turned up on my back! Although we love this ride the locker room is always a nightmare. I got to our locker station and there was a man in front who couldn’t remember which finger he used. I was waiting patiently behind him as he kept trying various fingers (multiple times) and thought to myself what plonker doesn’t remember which finger they used?! (watch this space…). He finally gave in and called someone over so I stepped forward to use the station and a stupid Ravenclaw jumped in front of me! Typical Ravenclaw arrogance I eventually got to the station after witnessing the original man lie to the cast member (not cast member) about having ID in his locker and then admitting it as soon as he’d opened the locker for him I finally got out the locker room and we walked out into a very busy Hogsmeade. The atmosphere was amazing with it being so busy.

We went straight to Dragon Challenge and put everything in a locker again. It was showing 10 minutes but we walked through to the loading bay… it takes 10 minutes to walk through the queue! We chose the red dragon and decided to wait for the front row seeing as the wait was so short. There was a party of 2 at the front and then a party of 4 behind them so we were hoping to get called forward. There were some girls behind us who had noticed the same thing and suggested we asked to join them at the front but I felt a bit awkward asking to skip the queue, but the party of 4 sent us ahead of them anyway! The ride was sooo amazing and it felt so much more intense than last time! I don’t know if it’s because I’m a little older but I really found it made me dizzy! We were off at 9.20 so it had taken a little longer than 10 minutes but it was so worth it for the front row. We decided we’d try and wait for the front row when we did the Hungarian Horntail later on in the trip. We were hoping to hop on the Hoggie but it was shut so we revised the plan and got a butterbeer. In 2014 we were butterbeer obsessed and got one every time we were in Hogsmeade. I have it cold and Garth has it frozen and we were so excited to get one… until I saw the price! It cost $15 for our drinks! We hardly spend at all at home so when we’re on holiday I try not to think about money and enjoy what I’ve earned… but $15?! We handed the money over anyway and walked away feeling a bit ripped off but happy we finally had another butterbeer. Truth be told when I had a sip it didn’t taste as good as I remembered but it was nice to have a cold drink nonetheless.

It had been the plan to go to Universal now but with the Hoggie down we decided to do a loop of the park taking it all in. We left over the bridge to Jurassic Park taking a few pics with Hogwarts to post to Facebook.

When we got to the discovery centre I decided I wanted a snack to go with my drink so we rummaged through the bag and got some Chips Ahoy out.

It didn’t take long for us to hoover them up between us and then we continued our loop of the park. We got to Skull Island Reign of Kong next. As soon as this ride opened I knew it was a no go for me because of the live actors in the queue. I’d tried to avoid reading anything about the ride because I was a bit gutted I couldn’t go on, but I’m a really nervous person and it really would have spoiled my mood completely being jump scared. It was only showing 10 minutes so I told Garth to go ahead and jump in line. He told me to stay put a second and went to chat to the cast member (not cast member) at the queue to see if there was a time of day when they didn’t have the live actors out. I took some pictures thinking he was wasting his time. It really was impressive looking.

Next thing I knew Garth was bounding towards me smiling saying we were going on the ride. I started disagreeing but Garth said we were being allowed down the express queue where there would be no live actors! I said a massive thank you to Lukas at the gate on the way in and on we walked! I was still super nervous walking through not quite trusting that I’d be safe from live actors but Garth was so patient with me and before long we were on the ride!

I was so happy and pleased, it seemed like Disney magic and we weren’t even in Disney yet. Thank you Lukas you hero! We really enjoyed the ride and it was really clever how they mix the simulator elements with the ride vehicle and the animatronic at the end. On the way out we went back to thank Lukas again and then continued our loop of the park.

We stopped at the loos in Toon Lagoon and I got Garth to take this picture to show how chuffed I was at getting to go on Kong

As we walked through I recreated the photo I took with my sister in 2011.
2011

2014

2017

I also took another one that I recreated in 2014 but it was gone this time

We carried on walking round. For some reason Garth sat in a boat.

Going into Superhero Island we stopped at the queue board and compared it with the touring plans app. They were looking pretty similar at this point. It looked like the Hoggie was running again now which would put us back on track when we got back to Hogsmeade!

It was 10am by this point so starting so the park was really filling up. On the walk we saw Po out meeting his fans!

I’ve actually never seen this film, I must get round to it. We walked straight through into Seuss Landing again. Cat in the Hat was showing 5 minutes so we walked on in, it’d be rude not to! This ride always makes me laugh. When we came in 2014 Garth had only ever been to a theme park once, and that was Chessington. He was really nervous of every ride he went on and I’ll never forget waiting for Cat in the Hat and him telling me he thought he was too scared to go on He says he still gets nervous in the queue because it reminds him of the first time! As expected the ride was not scary in any way. It seemed to be a lot better this time actually, I don’t remember smelling popcorn before! That is definitely a ploy to get you to leave and buy popcorn It also ran quite smoothly, I remember it breaking a lot last time. We love little dark rides and Garth said it made him excited for Disney. We had a look in the shop and then wandered through Seuss Landing.

The Cat in the Hat and the Lorax were out! We saw them a lot and I kind of wish we’d met them now. Sam I Am and The Grinch were also out. We continued and when we got to the Hoggie it was showing 10 minutes woo. We scanned our tickets and were walking through the queue at 10.25. The floor was super slippy and we nearly slipped a couple of times! We got to the platform and waited for our train.

The train ride is so immersive it’s amazing. Last time I hadn’t really noticed Hermione’s voice and to be honest I think it’s because I didn’t realise it was supposed to be Hermione Going in the other direction they use her name but Hogsmeade –> Kings Cross they don’t so I must have presumed it was another character! It is shockingly awful. We pulled into Kings Cross at 10.40.

Love the busker but she needs the case out for tips! Last time we were here for opening day so this part of Universal was so busy. We were really looking forward to being able to take it all in properly and hopefully more than once! It was great being in Diagon Alley.

We went straight up to Gringotts and put everything in a locker again. I made no note of the posted time but we were getting in the line at 10.50 and I presume it was showing 45 minutes. With everything in the locker we had nothing to take photos with again but we enjoyed taking in all the detail. We’d been on this ride once last time and it was Garth’s first ride of the trip. Long story short, Garth was terrified (terrified) and I basically forced him on. He actually told me he hated me as we were getting on it but I had waited 5 hours I was not letting him off when I knew he’d love it And what do you know? He loved it! But I was so worried about him while on the ride because of the noises he was making that I didn’t actually pay any attention to the ride myself! So we were both really excited to have a proper go on the ride. I like how they break the queue up into different rooms to make it go quicker. It didn’t feel like long because we were immersed in all the theming and we must have been on in around 35 minutes. We loved the ride! It was so much fun and Garth was making all those same noises again but I know it means he’s enjoying himself now! We were off 40 minutes after joining the queue.

We were peckish now so we decided to head over to Springfield. Garth had read about the chicken waffle sandwich and was committed to trying it and I wasn’t going to disagree with that!

We spotted this little group of ducks, cute!

On the way over we saw Krusty and Sideshow Bob out. There seemed to be characters everywhere! I didn’t remember seeing many characters at all last time, is it just me or have Universal upped their character game?

We got to Cletus' Chicken Shack at around 11.40 and being early it was nice and quiet. We decided we’d just share the chicken waffle sandwich and a chocolate milkshake to save room for the Olive Garden dinner we had planned for this evening. There were plenty of other choices though and I’d like to try some of the other stations on another trip.

We paid $15.97 and we popped it on the FairFX card. There were tons of tables free so we sat down by the sauces and tucked in.

The sandwich was served with tator tots and it was all really yummy. I’m glad we shared because the sauce on the sandwich was rather sweet but it was good. The milkshake was really thick and creamy too. As we were eating we could see the lunchtime rush starting so we were glad to finish up and get out of there before it got too busy! We didn’t really have a plan so we carried on walking round towards ET and then saw there was an Animal Actors on Location show starting in 15 minutes! We enjoyed this show last time so decided we’d wait for our dinner to go down while we watched the show. Garth went to the loo quickly while I sat by the show theatre and the sun started to come out for the first time today! I was expecting June to be uncomfortably hot all the time but so far we’d had perfect temperatures and even sat in the sun I was comfortable and loving it.

Garth didn’t take long and we went and sat in the theatre. The show was cute, as expected. I wont bore you with all the photos but there was a little white dog who reminded Garth of his grandparents’ little westie at home.

He’s called Charlie and he’s a grumpy old man but he’s so endearing! They had Frank the pug from Men in Black in the show and I said to Garth that I’m surprised he’s still going as he must be getting on a bit now.

A quick google later and Garth informed me it’s not the same dog and he’s been replaced! Poor Frank! We came out the show and suncreamed up. The banana boat was really easy to use and by this point we declared it a sound investment. I think this was when we saw the first lizard of the holiday!

It was 12.50 now and ET was showing 20 minutes so we jumped in the queue. In all my visits I’ve never been assigned an ID card so we were excited to see this time that they were open and handing the cards out! We gave them our names and went through.

There was a girl behind me who was worried and asking her family if it was scary. She thought it was a coaster but they were all ignoring her so I reassured her that it wasn’t a rollercoaster and it wasn’t scary. I have no idea why they were completely blanking her! We were on in 10 minutes. I love the story of this ride and I was so excited to hear ET say my name at the end but I couldn’t hear him! I heard him kind of say Gaaaarrrrr. That’ll do We got off the ride and Garth wanted to book a return time for Jimmy Fallon so we headed in that direction.

When we got there we saw we could do it on the app so Garth set it up and booked a time of 2.10. Marilyn Monroe and her crew were out dancing so we watched for a bit. The Mummy was showing 35 minutes and Touring Plans said 28. We had ages until Fallon so we got a locker and stowed our stuff. We both love this ride and it seemed a bit crazier this time but I think it’s just me being a bit more sensitive! We were off in 17 minutes and went to the locker. Now remember that plonker man earlier at Forbidden Journey who had forgotten which finger he used? As we approached the lockers we realised we had no clue what our number was! It took a few minutes of thinking until it came to one of us Who’s the plonker now!

We walked back towards Fallon but we still had ages left. Garth said he wanted photos with the minion board so we headed over. He told me to pull a minion face and I had no idea what to do so this was the result

And I have no idea what Garth’s was about

Shrek said 30 minutes and as we were still waiting on Fallon we jumped in the queue to fill the gap. I love the films but I’m not a big fan of this attraction, I find it slightly boring if I’m honest! It made sense to fill the time though. On the way into the queue the cast member (not cast member) told us that it wouldn’t really be 30 minutes, they just bumped it up high because a tour group had just gone in. In actual fact the queue and attraction took us a total of one hour We enjoyed the funny bits of satire in the queue but one hour for Shrek was not the best use of our time

We were well into our Fallon time so went straight there. I knew nothing about Jimmy Fallon but I have learned since that there is a panda named Hashtag, and here he his waving out a window!

I thought it was Po at first. I was just happy to see a panda so I waved anyway. We went into the museum type thing and read about the show but I found it a bit dull. It all looked impressive though! It felt super American.

We got called in at 3.08. The simulator room was flipping freezing! Whenever I think of this ride now I just remember how bloomin cold it was. There was some sort of hold up in the second row, I think someone was having seatbelt issues. It took ages to get sorted while I was shivering. The ride got going eventually and I felt it was really random. It seemed like it’d work really well as a Mario Kart ride but I didn’t really understand what we were doing or where we were going. I wasn’t a fan but Garth really enjoyed it so I suppose it’s all personal preference! I didn’t make a note of what time we got out but according to the photos we were looking in a shop at 3.35.

When writing this up I just asked Garth why on earth we have a photo of this:

And he says “it’s really cool, at work we only have a stupid sign!”. Glad we cleared that up! I loved this sweatshirt.

As we left the shop it had begun raining so we put on our bargain poundshop ponchos. You feel like you’re really in Orlando when it rains

We decided to queue for Transformers at 3.50 with it showing 40 minutes. Touring Plans was showing 30 minutes but we were in no rush. In the queue I looked over my uber history and realised I’d never added my new credit card! This meant the first few rides were paid for on my normal card so I paid a few pounds in charges. I added my Halifax clarity card feeling glad I’d remembered to do it now rather than halfway through the holiday! I love all the buttons and things in the queue and I must have pressed everything we walked past before considering how dirty they probably all were! Luckily we had hand sanitiser I’ve never seen the Transformers film but we both love the ride. By this point in the day though I was getting fed up of being sprayed with water. I swear Universal do it to you on every single ride! I am on the Spiderman team when it comes to these type of rides but Transformers is cool, I love Bumblebee. We were off the ride in 40 minutes exactly. It was quite wet now and we were tired so we decided to head out the park. On the way out we went into the big store to pick up a lanyard for my ticket. It was $11.70 inc tax and I didn’t take a picture but it was a Hufflepuff one and I’m sure it’ll be in photos later on in the trip!

I got a message from my Dad at some point saying my car had failed his MOT Luckily my Dad is amazing and can fix basically anything. He had some welding to do and some work to do on the brakes. It was nothing to worry about anyway, I’m very lucky my Dad was sorting it all for me at home.

I had heard that the wifi at the taxi area was slightly dodgy so I ordered the uber on the walkway and took a screenshot. We decided to get the uber to Olive Garden to book a table for later and then go back home to get ready.

We were with Nehemias at 4.57. He was quite quiet but we chatted about England and the rain, a lot of uber drivers tended to ask about the weather in England We drove past Wet’n’wild and it was really sad seeing it mostly destroyed, it was like a waterpark burial ground! We never got to go which was a shame but we were looking forward to trying out Volcano Bay later on in the holiday. We got to the Olive Garden at 5.20. We went in and asked to book a table for 7.30pm but they said they didn’t take bookings. She put us down as a “call ahead” and it meant we should get seated quicker than usual but it wasn’t technically a booking. We decided to nip into Walgreens on the way back for a little look for some of the things we had forgotten yesterday. We had a giggle at some of the things that just seemed entirely unnecessary

Curl-a-dog anyone?!

We thought this was really cute, Figaro is so underrated!

We spent $21.98 in total on ponchos, Snapple, pretzel M&Ms and Reese’s.

The straighteners seemed quite expensive so I decided to hold out for Walmart. We finished shopping at 5.37 and we were back in the room by 5.45. We snacked on some cookies and we both had baths. We were a little soggy from walking in the rain so it was nice so freshen up. Garth ironed his shirt and we were ready to go by 7.

We left the room at 7.10, we were at Olive Garden at 7.15 and we were seated by 7.19! We really loved the location of the Rosen Inn at Pointe, it was nice to have so many nice places on the doorstep.

Our server Jimmy took our drink order first. Garth got a corona and I got a strawberry passionfruit limonata. It was so hard deciding what to eat, the menu is massive and it all looked amazing. In the end Garth decided on the Tour of Italy and I went for the chicken scampi. Garth had the Tour of Italy last time so he was excited to try it again.

We also ordered a marinara sauce to go with our breadsticks for $3.49. Before long our drinks came followed by the salad and the breadsticks. I’d been waiting for this for 3 years

Our meals came just before 8. I was slightly worried about how huge the portions were!

Mine was so delicious. It was like chicken fajitas in pasta! The vegetables in it tasted so fresh and I wish I could have eaten more but I barely made a dent in it

Garth’s was amazing too. He said his favourite part was the Chicken Parmigiana but I tasted all 3 bits and they were all so good. He pretty much ate everything apart from a little bit of lasagne. We had no room left for desert so Jimmy bought a box over for my pasta and offered us some breadsticks to take with us. We weren’t going to say no to that! The meal came to $53.95 all together, well worth it! We left a $10 tip for Jimmy and were leaving at around 8.35pm. There was a beautiful sunset going on but it didn’t capture so well on camera, I love Florida sunsets!

Within 5 minutes we were walking into the lobby and decided to go have a look in the gift shop. They had loads of cool Disney stuff. Garth loved a lot of the tshirts but we forgot to go back to get some! It’s so hard getting male Disney clothes at home so we really wanted to make the most of it.

We were really tired by this point and we were feeling the effects of such a long day yesterday. My notes end after the shop so you can tell we went straight to bed! We got back to the room at 8.50 and managed to just about sort the park bag before crashing.

We’d had an amazing first full day and we’d really enjoyed taking it all in. It was weird for us leaving the park so early. Last time we were confined to the hotel shuttle times and didn’t leave until well into the evening. Uber was working so well for us and it was great to have a bit more freedom. Eating at the Olive Garden was the best way to end a perfect day

Tomorrow we visit iHop for the first time and spend another day at Islands and Universal!

Steps today: 16168

[EJSakaAnna]

Sounds like a great day with lots of rides, how fab that you got some universal magic and managed to ride King Kong! Dinner looks yummy x

[Floridaagogo]

Oh I love that feeling on the 1st day of your holiday when it's all still in front of you.lovely day and fab photos x

[Cazzius]

Ooooh, Olive Garden looks so good.

We have booked with Virgin Holidays too. Don't feel bad that you may have overpaid. I did as I also discovered The Dibb after booking, and I remind myself that we've got early entry into Harry Potter, our resort fees for one of our hotels are waived, I got 7% off for being a Virgin Member, we get to use the lounge at Gatwick, we could pay the balance off in chunks - including our park tickets, if anything goes wrong we have 'one throat to choke' and if we are delayed or there are flight problems we are their responsibility as it's a package - see, i'm feeling better about my choice already!

Looking forward to reading the rest of your report! Did you write notes as you went along, or at the end of the day? I'm thinking of doing a trippie myself but my memory is terrible!

[christybell]

What a fab day So pleased you didnt have to wait too long to collect your tickets. And dont beat yourself up over what you paid... just think how smug you will feel next time booking DIY and saving some cash!

Looking forward to reading more

[collybird]

I love that Hufflepuff sweatshirt, the colours go so nicely together.

Great choices of dish at Olive Garden, I've tried both. All of the portions are insane. It's crazy sitting eating in a restaurant you've been dreaming about for months isn't it!? You feel like you're dreaming.

I know what you mean about being alarmed with the prices of drinks etc in the parks. That's why I love the DDP.

[LostPrincess]

Originally Posted by EJSakaAnna

Sounds like a great day with lots of rides, how fab that you got some universal magic and managed to ride King Kong! Dinner looks yummy x

See more...

It was such a great day! Riding Kong felt like such a treat thanks for reading!

Originally Posted by Floridaagogo

Oh I love that feeling on the 1st day of your holiday when it's all still in front of you.lovely day and fab photos x

See more...

It's a lovely feeling isn't it? Feels like a distant memory now though thank you for reading

Originally Posted by Cazzius

Ooooh, Olive Garden looks so good.

We have booked with Virgin Holidays too. Don't feel bad that you may have overpaid. I did as I also discovered The Dibb after booking, and I remind myself that we've got early entry into Harry Potter, our resort fees for one of our hotels are waived, I got 7% off for being a Virgin Member, we get to use the lounge at Gatwick, we could pay the balance off in chunks - including our park tickets, if anything goes wrong we have 'one throat to choke' and if we are delayed or there are flight problems we are their responsibility as it's a package - see, i'm feeling better about my choice already!

Looking forward to reading the rest of your report! Did you write notes as you went along, or at the end of the day? I'm thinking of doing a trippie myself but my memory is terrible!

See more...

Yeah, there are tons of perks, I'm just so annoyed I never even thought to price it up DIY!

I started handwriting them as I went along in a trippie pad but after the first day I started saving memos on my phone and just adding notes throughout the day. At the end of the day I was normally too knackered to write notes so I couldn't have left it all until then! Also photos and receipts really help trigger the memory. You should definitely do a trippie, I'm loving reliving all the memories writing these up! Thank you for reading

Originally Posted by christybell

What a fab day So pleased you didnt have to wait too long to collect your tickets. And dont beat yourself up over what you paid... just think how smug you will feel next time booking DIY and saving some cash!

Looking forward to reading more

See more...

Yes that is true! So grateful for all the stuff I've learned from the dibb thanks for reading

Originally Posted by collybird

I love that Hufflepuff sweatshirt, the colours go so nicely together.

Great choices of dish at Olive Garden, I've tried both. All of the portions are insane. It's crazy sitting eating in a restaurant you've been dreaming about for months isn't it!? You feel like you're dreaming.

I know what you mean about being alarmed with the prices of drinks etc in the parks. That's why I love the DDP.

See more...

It's such a nice sweatshirt, I wish I'd got it! I got a tshirt from Primark that's quite similar but it's not the same

Yep at this point in the holiday none of it felt real, like it was all a dream! Apart from the tummy ache after eating too much Olive Garden is a favourite and I think I'll find it hard to pick anything other than the chicken scampi from now on

We had the QSDP when we got to Disney and it did feel great to not have to worry about the cost of anything. But even if I was a millionaire I still don't think I'd happily pay $15 for a couple of butterbeers! Unfortunately they saw us HP fans coming and know we'll hand over the money even if we grumble about it afterwards First world problems eh?! Thank you for reading

[loopylaura]

It's such a nice sweatshirt, I wish I'd got it! I got a tshirt from Primark that's quite similar but it's not the same :nooo

If it helps...lol...you can buy it from the online wbstudiotour shop! I bought myself one whilst doing the tour but mine is a Slytherin one


shop.wbstudiotour/prod...t/1290396.html

[dixonsontour]

Lovely first day and your meal at olive garden looks delicious

[LostPrincess]

Originally Posted by loopylaura

It's such a nice sweatshirt, I wish I'd got it! I got a tshirt from Primark that's quite similar but it's not the same :nooo

If it helps...lol...you can buy it from the online wbstudiotour shop! I bought myself one whilst doing the tour but mine is a Slytherin one


shop.wbstudiotour/prod...t/1290396.html

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Ooh thank you! It's so nice. I never feel like I can spend money like that on myself unless I'm on holiday though. Maybe I'll ask for it for Christmas!

Originally Posted by dixonsontour

Lovely first day and your meal at olive garden looks delicious

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Thank you! Delicious it was. Thanks for reading