A Magical New Year: Day 7 - Harry Potter and the Disney Springs Christmas Tree Trail

[Stewboy]

Index

Friday 4th January

Jo and I were up at 6am this morning having our usual morning coffee; today was another early start as it was to be our last full day at Universal.

Once Isabella was awake, we all had some granola and yoghurt for breakfast then got ourselves ready for a morning at Islands of Adventure, left the room at 7:45am, and joined the long queue for the buses.

Fortunately not one but three buses arrived, so despite the long line we had less than a 10 minute wait until we were on a bus and heading to the parks. I’ve said it many time, but the buses from the resort and to the parks - and vice-versa - have been fantastic.






Bus queue

By 8:15am we were off the bus and heading to Islands of Adventure. Judging by the crowd heading to the entrance it was going to be a busy morning. Early entry to the main areas of the parks for resort guests was till 9am, so as we reached Seuss Landing we had to show our room key. We witnessed a couple of Spanish-speaking ladies trying to feign ignorance and get through without a room key - they knew exactly what they were doing, but the Universal staff were having none of it!


The women in the white were the ones who tried their luck!


Leaving the queue behind


First time all trip that there weren't people getting photos in front of this

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was busy, as was to be expected, and we had to give Forbidden Journey a miss as the queue was so long. I wasn’t too fussed, but it would’ve been nice for Isabella to ride it again.

We decided instead to let Isabella do some more spells around Hogsmeade, enjoy the atmosphere of the area, and have a little look around the shops. In Honeydukes we bought ourselves a Cauldron Cake (and some fudge) to share, then went to find somewhere to sit and eat it! Unfortunately I wasn’t a fan and let Isabella and Jo finish it off - it was very, very sweet - and Isabella just informed me she didn't enjoy it that much either.


Magic at Work


Timetable & Fares




Honeydukes




Cauldron Cake

After this brief snack break Isabella did a few more spells around Hogsmeade then we decided it was time to leave the Wizarding World - it had gotten too busy to be enjoyable.


Owls in the rafters - complete with poo!


Hogsmeade spell map


Diagon Alley spell map

Leaving Hogsmeade, we made our way over to Jurassic Park - we wanted to see whether Isabella and I could get on the Pteranodon Flyers without too much of a wait. We were in luck as there was only a short queue. Last time we’d visited Universal, Jo had ridden with Isabella so this time it was my turn - it’s quite a fun ride and there are some decent views of the park to enjoy.


Are you sure you're only 7?!


Warning!




Flyin'

Now it was time for Jo to take Isabella on a ride - the Storm Force Accelatron at Marvel Super Hero Island. Whereas with the Pteranodon Flyers only one adult is allowed - which is why Jo sat it out - with this ride I was sitting out by choice as I can’t stand rides that spin round like this, they make me sick; this ride and the Mad Hatter tea cups at Magic Kingdom are two rides I will never do!






Jo and Isabella on the Storm Force Accelatron

Jo and Isabella had a lot of ‘fun’ spinning round quickly, I think even Jo was feeling a bit queasy when she came off! Time for more gentle fun on the Caro-Seuss-el at Seuss Landing. Isabella knew exactly which character she wanted to ride - it was from one of the Dr. Seuss books she’d read recently. Jo and I were less fussy, and just got on the ones next to hers.


Seuss Landing

After the carousel, we had a browse in some of the shops, looked at some of the Dr. Seuss books and merchandise, and Isabella got another pressed penny. Then it was time to leave Dr. Seuss and back over to Jurassic Park to visit the Discovery Centre.




All the books you can read


He's a mean one!


Me!




Pressed penny




Even I had to duck!

Once we arrived at the Discovery Centre, we decided to head upstairs and have a snack first - we’d brought our own: popcorn and pea snacks. Feeling sated for now, we went downstairs and Isabella spent about 20 minutes playing with the various interactive exhibits. To be honest, I felt like this exhibits need a bit of modernising, but Isabella seemed to enjoy herself.


Discovery Centre/Center


"Oh hi there"


Isabellasaurus!


Discovering dinosaurs







IOA Selfie

[Stewboy]

It was getting on for 11am now, and we decided to call it a day at Islands of Adventure and headed to the exit. Once outside the park we thought we’d take a walk along the river back to Cabana Bay, as this was something we always used to do when we stayed at Royal Pacific in 2015. The walk to Cabana Bay took about 20 minutes - twice as long as it was to Royal Pacific. The bus is definitely the better option I think!


Start of the walk


















On the walk


We made it

Back at the resort, I popped up to the room to grab the cups, we got a drink, and then headed to the car. Lunch today was going to be at Disney Springs, the drive took about 20 minutes, and we actually managed to find a space in the Lime Garage for a change. After parking up, we headed to Blaze Fast-Fire'd Pizza for lunch - unbelievably this would be our first time eating there.


Disney World!

We got a couple of pizzas to share; an Art Lover (artichokes, mozzarella, ricotta, garlic, and red sauce) and a ‘Build Your Own’ with toppings chosen by Isabella: mozzarella, basil, black olives, and red sauce.They were were nice enough - it’s a good place for a cheap, quick lunch.




Blaze

After lunch it was time to hit the shops. After a a browse in Ever After Jewelry, we had a look in the newly refurbished World of Disney - it’s much better than it used to be - before finally making a brief visit to the Lego Shop. Empty handed, we then made our way to Ghirardelli’s for a vanilla and cookie dough ice cream to share.


Tree selfie




Photographer at work







Sitting down to enjoy our ice cream, we all agreed it was nice to be spending some time at Disney Springs - the lovely weather was certainly helping.

Ice cream finished, we popped into the Marketplace Co-op - probably our favourite Disney Springs shop. After a good look round we ended up buying a tiki themed postcard, then headed over to Once Upon A Toy. Despite having money, Isabella didn’t want to spend it and ended up with a pressed penny instead.


Ice cream!




Another penny

[Stewboy]

One of the things we really wanted to do on this trip was visit the Disney Springs Christmas Tree Trail. Fortunately, despite it being January 4th, it was still open so we headed there.

The theming of the trees was really well done, although I do think if we’d been able to do it before or closer to Christmas it would’ve felt a little more ‘magical’!






































Disney Springs Christmas Tree Trail

Coming out of the trail, we popped into the Days of Christmas shop and ended up buying some Christmas coasters that we’d seen in the Co-op. I really liked the Christmas/Holiday theming of this year’s merchandise and promotional material.




















Christmas/Holiday theming at Disney Springs

We were getting tired now, and there was only one thing left to do before heading back - stop at Ghirardelli’s and buy chocolate! We spent $20 filling a plastic container with a selection of Ghirardelli squares - one of the ladies that worked there gave us a tip on maximising the space. Having spent $20 we were then able to spend another $5 filling a small bag with two flavours of Christmas chocolate: peppermint bark and milk chocolate caramel (my favourite) - this was to be a gift for our Dibb friends Pumba75 and family.




Chocolate purchased, it was time to leave. We stopped for a Starbucks on the way back to the car - an Iced Caramel Macchiato to share - then drove back to the resort, where we were in need of some relaxing time. A quick visit to the Bayliner Diner for a drink in our refillable mugs and then we sat outside to enjoy the weather and the surroundings of our lovely resort.


Starbucks






Chilling out at the resort

As we were all so tired from our action packed day, we decided we couldn’t be bothered to go back to Islands of Adventure to eat at Mythos as originally planned - it was supposed to rain tonight anyway. Instead we decided we’d rather have a few drinks in the Swizzle Lounge followed by dinner from the Bayliner Dinner. With that agreed, Jo managed to change the Mythos dinner reservation to lunch tomorrow.

The wind was beginning to pick up, and the weather was definitely turning, so we decided to head indoors and back to our room. Jo and I had a beer and caught up on my notes, while Isabella did some reading. From the comfort of our room we watched the sky blacken and the rain begin.


Dark skies!

Glad that we’d decided to not be venturing out, we eventually got ourselves ready and headed down to the Swizzle Lounge. I must just say, that we really loved the Swizzle Lounge. In fact in all the hotels we’ve ever stayed at, it’s probably the one hotel bar that we’ve actually enjoyed visiting.




Swizzle Lounge

It was about 5:45pm when we got down there, and Happy Hour was still on so we got a glass of wine and a Yuengling beer from that menu.

Isabella had bought her Dara Ó Briain book with her to keep her occupied. As well as drinks we ordered some mozzarella sticks to keep us going. We were having a nice evening chatting about forthcoming holidays and somehow got on to what house we’d be in if we went to Hogwarts. Jo and I had both signed up to Pottermore ages ago - Jo had been in Slytherin and I’d been in Gryffindor - but it’s been recently relaunched, so we decided to do it again and sign Isabella up too. This time Jo and Isabella ended up in Ravenclaw, and I ended up in Gryffindor again.

It got to about 7:30pm and we decided it was time to get some dinner from the Bayliner Diner. We decided to try something different today, and ordered a Cuban sandwich, a chicken brisket sandwich and mac ‘n cheese.

Isabella found the mac ‘n cheese too cheesy and Jo didn’t like the chicken brisket sandwich, so we all ended up sharing - Jo and I shared the chicken brisket sandwich, Jo and Isabella shared the mac ‘n cheese, and we all had a bit of the Cuban.






Dinner

Once we’d finished our dinner, we headed back upstairs and Isabella went straight to bed. Jo and I watched the iPad for a bit and then we went to sleep at about 10pm.

A thoroughly exhausting day done. Tomorrow is our final day at Universal, and of the holiday.

TFR

[summersun]

fab day x

[mick]

A busy but great day we enjoyed looking at the Christmas tree tail when we were there in November

Joan

[i love jack]

Another lovely day

[SuziQz]

Another lovely fun packed day. Glad you finally got on the pteranodon flyer

[Zomax25]

Another great day! I so want to go back to universal after a lovely sunny day here. I must make a plan.

[Floridafour]

Great day, Cabana Bay is great 🙂

[Cinderella]

Great report