Zip a dee do dah - The Bagley/Mollet Family Trip - Day 12 - Islands of Adventure

[tracey1302]

Pre-Trip Report

Day 0 - POTC & OLCI

Day 1 - Travel Day

Day 2 - Magic Kingdom and Raglan Road

Day 3 - Pool Day & Bahama Breeze

Day 4 - Epcot and Tutto Italia

Day 5 - Typhoon Lagoon & Narcoossee's

Day 6 - Universal Studios & Hard Rock Cafe

Day 7 - Drinks around the world & Citricos

Day 8 - Hollywood Studios & Hollywood Brown Derby

Day 9 - Pool day & Chefs de France

Day 10 - Animal Kingdom & Mama Melrose

Day 11 - Character Day & Planet Hollywood

Day 12 - Islands of Adventure & Mama Dellas

I woke up in a bit of a frenzy this day. Martin had insisted on going for a drink at Raglan Road after Planet Hollywood, which we’d all really enjoyed but I had early plans for IOA day and if there was any day that was a gamble on our holiday, it was this one. We were visiting IOA on Memorial Day. Yes I know. I don’t think I could have taken a bigger risk. So I took precautions.

We met for breakfast at 7.15, grabbed some pastries and got a cab to Universal Orlando. We arrived at 7.45. The park didn’t open till 9am. I told you I was taking precautions.

The place was nicely deserted. We’d had a heads up from the Sumners that the resort guests at Universal were let in at 8am which unsettled me slightly.

I could see as we approached the IOA turnstiles that there were already folks queuing outside the gates, and the lucky resort guests were coming in in bigger crowds that I had anticipated. I crossed everything and we joined the queue. There was a CM (sorry, I know he’s not a CM but I don’t know what else to call him!) who was getting the crowds waiting on the regular gate all excited. He asked us what we were excited about seeing… there was a universal shout out in the direction of HP. I exchanged nervous glances with Katie, my chocolate croissant threatening to come back up. I really didn’t want it to be heaving.

After having read that we could expect to wait about 90 minutes to queue for HP and the FJ, my stomach was churning. Especially as there were so many awesome rides at IOA…

While deep in thought, Katie suddenly elbowed me in the ribs. It was 8.30 and they were opening! I nearly had a stroke right then and there. The crowds excitedly pushed through the turnstiles and ran excitedly into the park. OB hugged me tightly, as he was a massive HP fan. I knew arriving early would be a good idea but never had I anticipated that they would open early! We made it through, heard that EPIC music blasting through and legged it.

I don’t think I have ever run as fast in my life. OB was up ahead, I was hot on his heels, Trev was following, then Martin, holding hands with Mum. It was when we got to Lost Continent marketplace when I realised that the park was all but empty. It was quiet. We could only see about three groups of people up ahead of us… we were going to walk through.

Then up ahead, I saw the entrance to Hogsmeade.

We slowed down, Mum and Martin caught up with us, Katie and I held hands and we entered WWOHP. I haven’t taken any pictures at this point, there are more later, but we just wanted to take it in. My eyes filled with tears. It was perfect. Me and Katie and OB just looked at each other in awe. We’ve all read all the books, and seen all the films and it was just WOW. I was totally speechless. This section of the park is an absolute credit to Universal. They have created something here that is going to be as timeless as the books themselves. I only wish they’d done it sooner, and then had reason to expand because it totally trumps the rest of the park…

Without any further a do, we walked into Hogwarts and joined the FJ queue. Or should I say, walk. While countless other folks went to the locker rooms to deposit their things, I’d taken kind Dibbers’ advice and we’d done all that at the gate. We were ready.

I won’t say too much about the ride as I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who’s not been on it. But we were all, my Mum included, completely blown away by it. Best ride of the holiday for me. Hands down. And what was better, we didn’t even queue! We walked through onto it. So, we did what any self respecting holidaymaker would do, we seized the opportunity and went on again!
Afterwards we did a bit of browsing in Filch’s emporium.

And enjoyed the delights of the rest of Hogsmeade.

Mum continued browsing while me, Martin, Katie and OB tackled Duelling Dragons. Sorry, the Dragon Challenge. I liked the changes to the theming

And we all loved watching OB enjoy his first DC experience. He’d been too short to do the massive rollercoasters the last time we’d come but this time he was easily tall enough for all of them!
After having conquered WWOHP by a measly 10am, I was absolutely killing myself with joy. I’d played an absolute blinder that day. Even when we left FJ, the queue was only 30 minutes. Next, we crossed the bridge over into Jurassic Park.

It soon became clear that the rest of the park was absolutely deserted. It was dead quiet. We took a few posy photos with this chap.

Walked onto Jurassic Park…. OB didn’t do Jurassic Park. He doesn’t like dinosaurs. He’ll do anything, go on any water slide, any rollercoaster, but add dinosaurs to the mix and he’s out of there. We enjoyed ourselves anyway! So after walking onto Jurassic, it was time for…

Cont. below...

[tracey1302]

We walked onto Dudley Do Right’s Ripsaw Falls, even after it advertised a 30 minute wait. I guess it must take 30 minutes to walk onto it! I love this ride. I think it’s quirky, adhoc style really adds to the thrill of the log flume itself. While nothing will take away the specialness of Splash Mountain, this is certainly a better ride with all its twists and turns and with how wet you get.

Mum sat this one out. Even though we told her the drop on Jurassic is much bigger, she wouldn’t have it! Next up was Popeye and Bluto’s Bilgerat Barges, completing the soak fest that is Toon Lagoon.

I think Martin was pointing to the Superdry with a bit of a :thumbsup2

At this point, it was 12pm. Over half the park done, HP and the FJ done twice and we hadn’t even eaten. If I’m honest, I was expecting to still be in WWOHP at this point! We then approached Marvel Super Hero Island. I was a bit of a loser in this land and looking for Copyright of Disney somewhere but I didn’t find anything. Tee hee.
Mum sought out somewhere for us to eat lunch while me, Martin, Katie and OB tackled the Hulk. Twice. Epic.

Ob had never been on the Hulk. As I say, he’d been too small the last time we came. It was every bit as awesome as I remembered. Made more awesome by the fact that we walked onto it. We also managed to score the back row. Brilliant.

After now only having Spiderman left to do, which was showing a 30 minute wait time, we sat down and had some lunch at the little bakery at the Port of Entry. It was beautiful! This is Katie chilling out.

Then we decided to do a bit of shopping.

bn'.

I contemplated buying Harry’s wand, but then wondered what I would do with it when I got home.

But Mum bought me an ‘Expecto Patronum’ T-shirt which I loved! I later wore it when we went to see the final HP film on night of release.

We did Spiderman. Epic. I forgot how amazing Spiderman was. Mum also thinks herself amazing for going on this ride. It is a 3D ‘rollercoaster’ apparently. Haha.

At this point, it was only 2pm, so I pinched myself leading the family back round to WWOHP for the second time that day! We treated ourselves to another go on FJ, as the queue was only 20 minutes! Again, we basically walked on!

Then it was time for some refreshments and there was only one place for the job!

We managed to land a table on the terrace overlooking the castle.

I was thrilled to be able to have my first taste of Butterbeer.

Everything had gone amazing that day. I couldn’t have predicted that it would be that quiet, although I had secretly hoped that it would be having heard a rumour that Americans flee to water parks on bank holidays. Either that or everyone thought it would be so bad that they stayed clear. Either way, it worked to our advantage. 3 goes on Forbidden Journey, a fair amount of time to explore Hogsmeade.

We didn’t bother with Ollivanders. The queue did look big and I wasn’t overly fussed about it. The whole ambience of Hogsmeade had bowled me over, and I didn’t really think anything could add to that. It was simply epic.

After a truly magical day at IOA, we did a bit more shopping and then caught the boat over to Portofino Bay as we had made a reservation at Mama Dellas at 7.30. We arrived at 6.30 having had a very lucky day with timings.

When we were on the boat, I couldn’t help but consider one simple fact. We only had two more days left in Orlando. The very thought sent a lump to my throat. I’d been looking forward to seeing WWOHP all holiday, but I secretly hoped the day would never arrive! And it had, and now it was almost over.

I didn’t take many pictures at Portofino. These are the few I have:

Truthfully we were really disappointed. 1) The hotel was absolutely dead. It seemed like there were absolutely no guests. I thought to myself of the crowded but bubbling pool area at CBR and the general buzz about the resort. This place looked like it had been evacuated for a fire drill. We had a quick walk around, found Mama Dellas really quickly and checked in but said we wanted to have a look around the resort first. Didn’t matter to them, there only looked to be two other parties eating in there!

The resort is styled very well, you do feel like you’re in Italy. I’ll give them that. Even inside the hotel, you feel like you’re outside, walking down a little street. The corridors for the rooms are themed too. The shops are like little quaint boutiques. But there was no life. We made our way to the reception and again, there was no noise. I don’t know whether that’s just a five star thing but surely it can’t be… GF has the most beautiful warming atmosphere, this place just seemed cold. I knew I wasn’t in Disney.

2) The meal wasn’t great. It was all right. I enjoyed the food, but again, there was no atmosphere. There were only like four other parties eating in the restaurant, and it was a big restaurant. After all we’d been used to in Disney, this just seemed a cut below. I don’t think we’ll be going back.

Days 13 & 14 are here

[disney owl]

a good I of A day

[Sara & Jas]

Absolutely loved your family's holiday report! Like others before me I've just read it from start to finish

It was obvious that all of you had an amazing trip of a lifetime and it struck me as a wonderful thing that there wasn't a cross word between any of you!

Hope you can all return soon and make some new memories together. Well done on such a fantastic read - its made me all the more excited for my family's disney adventure in October (if that's possible).

[Helen0705]

Wow - what a day !
You certainly packed the rides in.
FJ is totally amazing .

[Col&Ali]

I think I will be like your Mum and sit Ripsaw Falls out Looks like she went on Popeye & Bluto's Bilgerat Barges though ... is it more like the Cali Rapids? I can cope with that

What did Mum think of FJ? I'm deffo gonna give that one a go!

Hope you don't mind me using Mum as a theme park ride guage lol

[Redrach1903]

Aww what a fab day at IoA. WWoHP just looks fab, i can't wait to finally experience it this year, was just being built last time we were there You did so well to get on FB 3 times!

Oh i hate that feeling when you know its nearly all over Boooooooo!

xx

[mumof2]

That 'nearly the end of my holiday feeling is not good, not good at all'!

[Guest]

Hi there,

Sounds like you had a brilliant day! How busy were the shops in WWoHP? And also did you bother with flight of hippogriff?

[lauz]

Great day! B