And When Did You Last See Your Father? - Universal Part 4 (Christmas Grinches & The Return of Wandy)

[Guest]

We are a family of three - me (April), DH (R.C.) and DS (Poot - who turned 10 on this holiday!). We visited Orlando and Sanibel Island, travelling from Gatwick on BA.

DH has his own business and could only join us for part of the holiday (hence the title of this trippie!). He’s not really a theme park sort of chap, but he enjoys it down on the Gulf Coast.

For our week on Sanibel we were joined by my DM (Judybat) and her husband (Hans).

Trippie Index Here


Universal Part 3 (Blondes With Wands and Dinner at Toothsome) HERE



This is a massively long post - but I will try and get it all up tonight. Fingers crossed.



And Heaven help the poor souls who click on this thread looking for lots of useful information on FOLPs...



Update:

TF’s mother has reached out to R.C. - and she (after pushing for “just another fortnight” when she had R.C. “alone” on the telephone) is willing to go along with my two-week plan.


But Poot and I will be abroad for the two weeks before TF starts boarding school (I still can’t believe they’re going to accept him with so little English, but - as Goldia pointed out - money speaks louder than children do).


SO...he will have to come to us at some other point in the summer. Any suggestions for what (in the Southeast) you think he might like to see or do would be MOST welcome. duchy has suggested the London Ducks, which I think is a great idea...

...but I need some cheapies, too - especially as the visit will have to take place during the summer holidays!


He’s nine, French - and likes Harry Potter and fencing. Please help.



Now...a big “I’m sorry” for those of you who (already) read the following at the end of the comments from the previous post…



The (hugely amusing) Helen encouraged me to administer the Patronus Quiz to all members of the Gopher household. Which I have dutifully done. And the results are in (sorry for the images, I don’t know how to post screenshots)...


R.C.’s patronus:

Poot’s patronus:

And my patronus:

This rather made me sad - as yes, indeed - I have witnessed death.



And this is supposed to be me:


Those with the Thestral patronus are gentle at heart and kind to those around them.


Those with this patronus have an understanding nature and will often make others feel like they are on the same wavelength.


If this is your patronus you may find people around you open up to you with things they have told nobody else.


Having such a gentle nature does make people with the Thestral sometimes at risk of being pushed about, however it is uncommon for someone to feel negatively towards those who cast this patronus.


It is important to say that those with this patronus often have the most gentle souls of all.


This patronus is extremely rare and can be found in all houses but most common is Hufflepuff.



Well, if I’m not those things I’d like to be - it’s good to still have something to aspire to at this point in my life.


Poot, unsurprisingly, was fair delighted with his patronus - and I don’t blame him. It doesn’t get much cooler than a dragon. R.C., per usual, didn’t really get what we were doing - but tried his best to act interested - at least once he understood that we weren’t trying to talk him into GETTING a Rottweiler.



Several good-hearted Dibbers then took the Patronus quiz and posted their (and their families’) results.


Among us Dibbers - so far I think PumpkinKitty and Zomax25 win the bada$$ prizes with WOLF and OSPREY respectively.

If I were a dementor, I’d flee!



But I think my favourite might be Mel49’s Bison -

-as it’s meant to symbolise “abundance and feminine courage”.



“Cutest patronus” awards go to princess allie, with her Manx cat:

And Sparksy72 with her Westie:

EXPECTO ADORABLE!




Other Dibbers’ awesome patroni:



collybird: St. Bernard

Disney Bear - Bay stallion

Goldia - Tonkinese cat

PJB71 - Badger

unixgirl - Sphynx cat (which I have been told only looks *aloof* and not AT ALL evil )

And the one who started it all: HelenJNT - Rat

Um...shall we go to Florida now?



Poot’s going to lead off today, and tell about the day after his fake birthday.


Our breakfast in the Club Lounge was normal. The fruit and toast and things were good - but I wish that we could have had different HOT food - I don’t want Tater Tots for breakfast - especially when they’re misspelled “TATOR Tots”.

Then we went back to our room and brushed our teeth and we were ready to go.


We walked ALL the way to Universal Studios (15 minutes).


After we rode Despicable Me (simulator)...

...we met a Minion - and he refused to stand still and kept trying to run away from me.

Eventually his keeper made him behave so Mother could take a picture.

Then we watched Shrek. It was a good movie, and I really like the bit before the ride with the animatronics being “tortured”, haha.

April, here - I’m going to go right now and make sure that in our house we all understand that torture is BAD.



After the movie, we went over to meet Shrek, Princess Fiona and Donkey. Donkey did almost all the talking. He was very funny - we were talking about Harry Potter and he said that Shrek was a Hufflepuff. Shrek nodded!

Princess Fiona said that she was a Slytherin - well, she was wearing a green dress.

This was a long meeting and it was a very interesting conversation. Everyone at Universal really liked to talk about Harry Potter. I showed them my wand, too. Donkey asked if I had a spell to make waffles - I said no but that he should be able to summon any nearby by saying, “Accio Waffles!”



No waffles, sadly - but did you know for a while you could buy Harry Potter PANCAKE MIX?

This is what I miss now that I have almost all our groceries delivered (HOW MUCH do I love Amazon Prime Now for groceries?).

Sorry - back to Poot:


Then we moved on to ride Transformers - it shakes you up so much that it makes you have to pee. Then we saw Megatron -

- and met Optimus Prime. Because I was wearing my Transformers t-shirt, he said “You are a true friend” to me.

I’ve never watched the Transformers movies, but I’ve seen the old cartoon and it is pretty good. The man in charge of the Optimus Prime queue said he liked my shirt and that it was retro. I also had an old E.T. badge on my lanyard, and he said I should try to sell that on ebay. But I’m not selling my E.T. badge - even though we bought it at the charity shop for 50p.

Man in charge:

Next we went to Men in Black - this ride is really fun, but because there were only two of us we had to ride with a strange man.

He was OK, but when Dad’s not with us I don’t like rides that are three seats across - I feel like I have to be quiet and that makes the ride less fun.



Then we went to Simpsons Land - I’ve never seen the Simpsons, either - so I thought the simulator was not very good.

But here is a picture of us on Kang and Kodos’ Twirl ‘n’ Hurl.

The signs in the queue for this ride are very funny - I liked this one best:

After this a man tried to get us to come and meet the Simpsons but I said no thank you, because I didn’t know which one was which. He looked confused, so I thanked him again and we quickly walked away. Sorry!

Next we went to Animal Actors on Location.

My favourite part was when the bird took a $1 bill from a person in the audience and then returned it.

I think that Opening Night Critters at Busch Gardens is a better show, though - it is longer and has many more species of animals.




April, here: I’m glad there are still a couple of shows at Universal - but I think this one could use a “refresh”.


We met Woody Woodpecker…

...on the way to ride E.T.

We both really enjoy this ride - it’s lovely to have a more “traditional” animatronic experience (no screens!) and for the first time ever - E.T. said our names! Yay!


Then we had a quick duck into the E.T. shop so I could scope out the one thing I knew I wanted to buy at Universal:

I had seen this on a (YouTube) Florida haul video ( ) - and I knew I had to have it. Why? I’ve no earthly (sorry, make that UNearthly) idea. But I even wrote it down in my little Florida notebook - so it was clearly important to me.


So yes, my “for best” beach towels are Star Trek and E.T.-themed. Nerd cred established, I think.


Because we had a Photo Connect card (which I have since LOST ) - the photographer let us take some photos in the E.T. photo op with my phone.

Nobody was waiting to meet Spongebob so we ducked in to say Hello. The Universal photographer took this AWESOME snap with my phone:

And I took this one of Poot:

Next comes a cautionary tale, fellow Dibbers!


Yonks ago, I stumbled on a Dibb thread in which people (Don’t worry, I won’t out you ) talked about the simulated earthquakes and “gorgeous burgers” at Richter’s Burger Co.

So I was super excited to take Poot there - as he wants to be a volcanologist, but also loves studying earthquakes. That’s right - it’s all about disaster at our house...


Now, did I ASK if the restaurant was still “shaking” before we ordered our food?


Nope.


And is it?


Nope.



But at least we got to enjoy a “gorgeous burger”, right?

Nope. This was the worst meal we had in Florida, bar none. A dry burger on a drier bun. Greasy fries. The chocolate milkshake (Poot’s first EVER milkshake) was good, though.


So bad food and no no earthquake. Disappointing, to say the least. At least we’d only ordered one meal - but it was still $14 or so down the drain. I wish we’d waited a few more minutes and had lunch in Citywalk.


Ah, well - we know for next time.


On to The Mummy - we used the free lockers for my phone, so I don’t have ANY photos of this ride.

But we both absolutely LOVE this one - it’s so atmospheric and fun - without being over the top (scary OR pukey). I like the fire bit best, I think.

After making a new...enemy?

...Poot wanted to go back to the room and collect his robe and wand.


On the way back to Portofino, I saw something black on the path, and before I could finish saying, "Don't touch that!" Poot had it in his hands.

Yep. A snake. Poot examined it eagerly - before it bit him.

"I hope it's not venomous, Mother."


Mothers of boys, I know you feel my pain. But it was a very SMALL snake - so I decided that I would Google it back in the room before I panicked.



We put the snake under a bush (after naming him “Bitey”) and walked - quickly - back to the hotel.


Little Bitey turned out to be a Florida Ringneck Snake. Now ringnecks are not classified as venomous but it has (according to Mr. Google) “recently been observed that their saliva does contain a mild toxin”.


Hmm...I had Poot wash the bite site thoroughly - but if the bite had broken the skin, I couldn’t tell. So I determined to just keep an eye on Poot’s hand and get on with things.



We grabbed my Spectrespecs and Poot’s robe and wand (the robe - despite being only £12 - had a handy “wand pocket”) and headed back to the parks - I think this was the ONLY time we took the boat, but it was a pleasant ride down the little canal.

I also appreciated (enormously) that - unlike at Disney - there was no “elf and safety” nagging.


“Please remain seated until I finish counting down from fifty, first in Urdu - and then in Esperanto”.


We rode all the Suess Landing rides (WOW! did I get wet on the fish ride) - and then went back to Hogsmeade so that Poot could try the spells here.

There was a different conductor to meet!

This one was less jolly than yesterday’s conductor.



Mad-Eye Poot with Mad-Eye Moody’s wand:

And the normal photo I insisted on afterward:

Casting a spell:

I know you are tired of hearing how quiet it was this week - but it was so quiet in Hogsmeade that the queue monitor at Ollivander’s was actively trying to drum up business for the wand experience.


And Poot asked if we could go in and watch - he said that he had really enjoyed seeing the (failed) spells yesterday and wanted to know if they were the same every time.


Sure!


Well, I’m certain that I don’t have to tell you - but since we had given up yesterday and just BOUGHT a wand off the shop floor - OF COURSE this happened:

Wandy: Young man, what’s your name?


Poot: (Poot)


Wandy: And you’ve come in today to get your first wand, I suppose.


Poot (PULLING HIS WAND FROM ITS POCKET): No, here’s my wand. My mother bought it for me last night.


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!


Now, Poot’s an honest lad - and I am grateful for that, usually. Oh, I just couldn’t BELIEVE that he’d been chosen - and then he told Wandy he already had a wand - my heart broke a little for him right then.



But Wandy saved the day - he looked at me, and I knew JUST what to say!


Me: Oh, um - no - that’s MY wand, I was just loaning it to him until he could get one of his own.


Wandy: Well, young man - to get the best results, there must be the strongest of affinities between wizard and wand. And these connections simply cannot be made with another wizard’s wand.


Oh, Wandy - I could have kissed him - he was totally forgiven for drooling over Tiffany Tiny-Top yesterday.


I didn’t get any good snaps of the failed spells - I only had my phone with me and it was VERY dark in Ollivander’s.

But eventually, it was a wand of vine with a dragon (!) heartstring core that “chose” Poot.


Wandy: A wand of vine will always choose a wizard who seeks a greater purpose and who has a vision beyond the ordinary.


Aww…


After Poot’s wand chose him - we were taken through to look at the wand more closely. The Ollivander’s staff could not have been more helpful. Poot explained that we had just bought his Mad-Eye wand - and the TM said that we could swap it no problem.


But Poot wasn’t sure - he was keen on the idea of a wand that chose him, but he REALLY liked the wand he already had.


What do you think? The Wand of Vine…

...or the Mad-Eye Moody Special?

¿QUIÉN ES MÁS MACHO?



Eventually (!), Poot decided to keep the MEMS. But he has mentioned like FIFTY times since we came back that he wishes he had “his” wand instead.


Why did it not occur to me to just get him that one, too? We had plenty of spending money left - it just NEVER crossed my mind that he “could” have two wands. Thriftiness is a hard habit to break...


If he’s still keen when we go back, I’ll see if he wants it then - and we can put aside the MEMS for one of my brother’s kids.


I’ve no idea what this snap was about:

Before we headed out for the night, we decided to have another go on the Hero Island (is that right?) rides.


Here we are in the Stormforce Accelatron (not sure if that’s right either - I just call it “The Marvel Teacups”).

We both ADORE this ride - you can get the cups to spin SO FAST that you are literally pinned to the wall of your cup. We just laugh and laugh every time we ride it.


On the way to Spiderman, we saw that the web-slinger himself was just standing around waiting to chat with guests - so we decided to pop into the shop/photo op and say hi.

This M&G was a SCREAM. Poot asked Spiderman if he’d seen anything interesting on the streets of New York recently, and Spidey replied:

Well, I went and saw “Cats” last week. Have you ever seen “Cats”?


Poot: No, what’s “Cats”?


Spidey: Oh, it’s this REALLY WEIRD play where people pretend to be cats and they like crawl around on the stage but then they sing. Which, obviously, cats can’t do.


Poot: What do they sing?


Spidey (singing - and I mean BELTING it out): “Midnight - Not a sound from the pavement - Has the moon lost her memory - She is smiling alone”


I howled with laughter, but Poot was rather nonplussed. The whole time we were the only people in the shop - Poot and Spiderman chatted (and sang) for A LONG TIME.

We went on our new pal’s ride - and then the park was closing!


No snakes on the path tonight - but we had to repeat last night’s spell…

LUMOS!



I did a good job (well…) remembering to take some photos in the Lounge tonight.


Dinner was fajitas (yum!) and desserts were (the ubiquitous) chocolate chip cookies, lemon ricotta cheescake bites and chocolate tarts. Pretty good!

We stayed in the Lounge for a while to watch “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” - Poot hadn’t yet seen this one all the way through - and he didn’t like it as much as the previous three. Since we got back, though - we’ve had it as an audiobook (CD) from the library and he’s listened to it several times. I won’t lie, I find the disembodied voice of Stephen Fry to be more than a little bit creepy.


I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the Lounge staff - Heaven only knows how many times they’ve had to watch/listen to the HP films...


And so to bed.


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[Guest]

continued from previous post



Good Morning, Portofino!


It was another Lounge breakfast of bagels and fruit this morning. Every morning so far I had wondered if the hot choices would be different, but by now I had twigged that oatmeal, scrambled eggs and tater tots (sorry, TATOR tots) would be the only things in the chafing dishes. That was a bit disappointing.


A pleasant walk to Universal Studios Park - Poot must have had the phone as we have THIS photo (another cormorant?) -

-and we were soon strolling through a (yes, you guessed it) quiet park.


This morning (2 December) the Macy’s Parade balloons were up at Universal Studios - I speculated that these, since they were lashed down - wouldn’t be “flying” in the parade. But there were some of our favourite characters:

Horton!

I can still recite every word of that book… “a person’s a person no matter how small”.


Spongebob!

I, personally, am not sorry Poot’s love of Spongebob has waned - but I will miss the annual Bikini Bottom Christmas special...

And my most favouritest ever - Snoopy!

Next it was back to Diagon Alley just to make sure we’d done ALL the spells (I think we had, but it’s never a bad idea to make certain ). We took some snaps…

...and then rode Gringotts (it was a walk-on).

Here we are on the “test seats” (Yay! Poot fit! ):

And here is Poot on Hagrid’s bike:

We watched one of the “Tales of Beedle the Bard” performed:

I found this a little bit affected, but it was lovely to look at.


Hogwarts Express next - I completely forgot to film the “pass”, but you can *kind of* see Poot disappearing in these stills:

Poot was proudly wearing his S.P.E.W. badge today -

- he had a lot of compliments on it, which pleased him greatly.


Poot’s favourite S.P.E.W. art:

We had a carriage to ourselves on the way to Islands of Adventure. Amazing.

In what must have been a premonition, I stopped to take this snap of one of the Thestral carriages (and my finger!).

We had come over to IOA specifically to do Poseidon’s Fury.

And Poot was picked to be the patsy! The “tour guide” asked him his name and where we were from as we waited for more people to come in - and then later, when the bad guy boomed out “Who disturbs my chamber?” - the guide pointed at us and shouted, “(Poot) from England!”


Outstanding!


We had a great guide today - and I LOVE the effects.

I do rather wish the story could be updated, though - maybe axe Sinbad (worst show in Florida) and re-theme this whole area to...something else. But I do hope they keep the rockwork at PF, it’s gorgeous.

On the way out of the park, we met some of the Dr. Suess characters -

- the Cat (in the Hat) pointed to Poot’s (Prince) t-shirt and played some air guitar as we walked away.


I had learned my lesson yesterday - and today’s lunch was in Citywalk, at Bread Box.

There was a Patty Melt ($11, served with fries) on the menu, so OBVIOUSLY we split that. Patty Melts…

This was SO GOOD. And not bad value for money. By contrast, the PM at Beaches and Cream is $16 - and you have to tip there, too.


We also ordered one of the Nutella milkshakes ($6).


The Patty Melt (and our tap waters) came out right away - but we sat and sat and sat - and still no milkshake. Other people were also waiting, so I’m not sure if it was a staffing issue - or something with the machine - but we finally walked up to the counter (after having been done with our meal for ten minutes) to ask for the shake money back. Just as the waitress presented me with the shake. Um…


The manager was standing nearby - and she signalled to the cashier to give us our money back. We got to keep the shake - the manager put a little hat on it for us and we took it away.

It was an OK milkshake - but I wouldn’t pay six bucks for one. It wasn’t thick enough. Now it wasn’t thin and disgusting like an ENGLISH milkshake (BLEURGH!) - but it wasn’t a proper American milkshake either. The chocolate shake at Richter’s yesterday had a nicer consistency (and was half the price).


We walked back to Portofino - and not far from the spot where Poot had picked up the snake yesterday… “Ow!”


He had stepped on a MASSIVE thorn, which had gone right through his Croc and up into the bottom of his foot. I pulled the thorn out, and while there wasn’t much blood, the puncture wound was deep.


So we stopped in the Lounge to see if the ladies there had an alcohol prep - but discovered that to get one, you have to let them call security.

But the puncture in Poot’s foot was really rather deep - I did think it probably needed some antiseptic. This was the first time on our holiday that I missed my (left behind in England) first-aid kit!


Security was duly called and two lovely black ladies came hot-footing it into the Lounge to deal with the “emergency”.


The elder was called Emmanuela - and you know how I love names and what they mean - so as we shook hands I said, “Emmanuella - God is with us.”


Her: That is RIGHT! You don’t meet a lotta white ladies who KNOW that!


Now the Lounge was EMPTY - and the staffer on duty at that time was an Englishwoman - and while the security ladies were cleaning Poot’s foot and packing the puncture with antiseptic cream - we all got talking about the meanings of our names. And then we got talking about STUPID names. And the lovely Englishwoman (who had worked at a nursery here in Blighty) won the prize. She had a little one in her nursery called (wait for it…) Lanesra.


Now this may be an old story to you soccer-types, but it was a first for me. “Lanesra” is “Arsenal”, spelled backwards. This poor wee lass’ father was a devoted supporter.


Sign that child up for intensive therapy NOW.


So then Poot made me tell MY best name story.


Sixteen or seventeen years ago my best girlfriend and I went into the ladies’ room at Target. And there was a woman in there struggling with a tiny baby and a toddler. So I asked if I could help - and hold the baby for her while she managed the toddler’s needs.


And she passed me the (very cute) baby. Of course I asked his name. Her reply:


SMAHJAY


Me: I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.


Her: SMAHJAY


Me: Gosh, I feel like a real dummy - that must be a new name to me.


Her: S-E-M-A-J. SMAHJAY.


Me: Oh, I see. I’ve not heard that one before - is it a family name?


Her: No - but my baby’s daddy’s OTHER baby’s mama already done named her baby James. So I gotta call mine SMAHJAY.


Me (obviously looking blank): Ah.


Her: It’s James - backwards.



True Story. One for those of you who mentioned Jeremy Kyle after last week’s post.



I have NEVER forgotten that conversation. And whenever I am introduced to somebody who has a stupid name (like mine) - I think of poor little Semaj. He’s almost a man grown now. I hope he’s getting ready for University, but my cynical side says “hmm”.


I asked Emmanuella if she thought Poot could use the pool this afternoon, and she gave him the OK. Goodbye, security ladies!


We got changed, grabbed the Classy Kellogg’s Beach Towels, and made our way to the “Beach Pool”. This was our first ever visit to any of the pools at Portofino - and I’m glad we took the time to go. What a fab spot!

I hope you can see the slide in the photos - just like the water taxis, the slides at the Universal hotels are a bit more laissez faire than those at Disney. No little green button, just common sense. I like you more and more, Loews.


I didn’t bring the water camera down with us - but if you’ve forgotten what we look like poolside here you go:

Poot quickly made some friends, and I was then superfluous to requirements. Woo-hoo!


The new friends were siblings (a brother and sister), and their mother and I relaxed in a sunny spot from where we could keep an eye on the kids. They were a lovely family - and we decided to all meet up at the Mannheim Steamroller concert the following night. We stayed in the water until it was nearly dark, and as Poot and I walked back to our room he said, “I think I should tell you that I like (the girl) better than (the boy). All he wanted to talk about was LEGOs!”



Dinner in the Lounge tonight was Sweet and Sour Chicken - I didn’t take a photo, but it looked something like this:

This was Poot’s side plate - he had some kind of Lentil Salad and a green salad with ranch (?) dressing.

We shared a plate of cheese and crackers for afters.

Tonight was one of the nights that the Lounge staff opened up the doors to let in the “Musica della Notte”.

One of the downsides in staying at PB after Thanksgiving? The beautiful Italian music of MdN is sometimes replaced with Christmas songs.

Now if they’d been singing “O, Holy Night” - or something else SUITED to operatic performance, I’d have been happy. But “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”? No, grazie.


Tonight’s film:

Oh, my - this is a BAD, BAD film. We lasted about twenty minutes before giving up and going upstairs to play Scrabble. Such a shame, because I think:

...is possibly the best family Christmas special of all time.



If you’re just watching with adults, though - you can’t beat:

“Mrs. Scratchit, Tiny Tom is fifteen stone and built like a brick privy. If he eats anymore heartily, he will turn into a pie shop.”


Oh, how HARD was it to pick a quote from “Blackadder’s Christmas Carol”?


I think we need ONE more…

My brother (and only sibling) got married a few years ago - and it was SO disappointing to find out his new wife didn’t like Blackadder! For twenty-five years we watched that on Christmas Eve…


And so to bed. “Grinchmas” and Mannheim Steamroller tomorrow!


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[Guest]

continued from previous post


Today was probably the day of our holiday for which I was MOST excited. I’ve seen Disney at Christmas - but this would be our first time seeing the Universal festivities.


After another fruit, bagel and bacon breakfast in the Lounge, we made for Islands of Adventure.


Holy Cow! SO MANY PEOPLE! Today was Saturday - and it was obvious that all the local AP holders were visiting today for the Christmas fun. It was quite a shock to wait in a queue to scan our passes - I regretted not getting here before rope-drop.

It looked a little bit like this:

The plan for today was to do the Grinch-y bits in IOA in the morning - watch the Harry Potter “shows” in Hogsmeade - and then see the parade and Christmas concert at the Studios in the evening.


Now I *kind of* thought “Grinchmas” took place in Suess Landing - but the stage show of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” takes place on the “backlot” BEHIND it.

When we got deep into SL, we could see a queue for the show was already forming. Hmm…


I asked a TM, and she said that this first show would probably be the best one to see - that or the last of the day. But the last show conflicted with our activities at the other park - so we hopped in the queue. I was pretty pleased, we were around persons number forty and forty-one, so I figured we’d have good seats.


BUT (and maybe this is because it was the first show of the year and they were still working out the kinks) of course the queue got longer and longer before they let us through to the back lot. And when that happened people just rushed through - so we somehow found ourselves BEHIND a couple of hundred people who had been previously behind us. And then when we got into the “theatre” (sound stage) they assigned people seats - and Poot just happened to be seated behind a group of “Bill’s Big and Tall” models. He couldn’t see at all - and there were MANY other kids in the same pickle. Very poorly organised, Universal. This would never happen at Disney.


And THEN, before the show started, some MORON from the PR department came out - and appealed to everyone in the audience to film the show and post it on social media! WHAT?!


Instead of politely reminding the crowd not to block the view of others with their devices, this b00b’s exhortations meant that every fourth or fifth person had his phone/tablet up for the WHOLE SHOW, blocking the view of the person/people behind him. I was SEETHING.


I popped Poot up on my lap (and this is not easy with a ten year old). Now normally I would warn him quite severely about bumping/kicking the seat of the person in front of him - but since today that person was a padhole, I didn’t bother. I saw NOTHING of the show - but Poot could see from his perch on my (numb) lap, and he took a few snaps above the heads of the crowd.

I debated wrecking the padhole’s video by constantly (and loudly) asking him to put it down, but I was a good girl and tried to make sure the show was at least fun for Poot.


Now despite my view being occulted by a head and dozens of devices, I could hear the music and see *some* of the set - and the show...wasn’t my favourite thing ever (though my foul mood may have affected my enjoyment). Some of the songs were from the original Grinch cartoon (like “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”) - and some were new ones (“Where Are You, Christmas?”) that I hadn’t heard before.


I try and keep things in perspective - no one was ill, injured or dead - and those are the only real problems in life, but I LOATHE bad manners, and to see them ENCOURAGED so that Universal could get lame social media publicity made me yapyap.


As we re-entered Suess Landing, there were a group of young men with clipboards waiting to ask us all questions about the show.


Oh, my friend - I would be RUDDY DELIGHTED to take your survey!


But, no - all the survey questions were things like, “If Grinchmas was no longer a part of the Christmas festivities at Universal - would you have come to the park today anyway?”


And now we see why, maybe? Is Harry Potter Christmas going to decrease the Grinch-y presence in the park during December?



ANYWAY...



During Grinchmas, you can meet the Grinch in his “Santy Claus” suit - but the queue to meet him was already 45 minutes long. I won’t lie - I would have waited, but Poot baulked.


“We met the Grinch yesterday!”


I could have insisted, but I felt that “But this is the Grinch wearing CLOTHES!” would have been a rather ridiculous reply..


So we went down to Hogsmeade - which was very quiet. I definitely think that I was correct in my assumption that the mob was here for the Christmas shows. Forbidden Journey was down for refurbishment - but this was AWESOME - as it meant that the castle was open for touring. Now we’ve done the “Castle Tour” before - but more was available for “looking at” this time. The lights were also a little brighter - that and the lack of crowds made for (slightly) better photos.

Oh, dear - my old house doesn’t seem to be doing very well in the House Cup standings...

We stood in the portrait gallery and listened to the long conversation between the Hogwarts founders. So cool!


Rowena Ravenclaw:

Godric Gryfindor:

There was a TM stationed near the Mirror of Erised, and she was letting kids through one by one to stand/sit in front of it for photos. Yay!

More Hogwarts:

Now I love a bit of Disneybounding, but after we left Hogwarts we saw our first ever “Unibounding”. There was a young couple dressed like the scientists from “Jurassic Park” - they looked AMAZING. I wasn’t quick (or brave) enough to take their picture - but she looked a little like this:

Hello, if this is you.


HEMANCLOFTY, do you Unibound? Or is it only Disney for you?


The second thing on our agenda for today was watching the shows in Hogsmeade. It was HOT again - and we squeezed into a sliver of shade alongside the steps to watch the boys of Durmstrang…

...and the girls from Beauxbatons:

This is a cute show, but I definitely wouldn’t wait for it again. Poot is of a similar mind.


Next up was the Frog Choir:

This was really cute - we heard “Can You Dance Like a Hippogriff?” and “Hedwig’s Theme”. Poot also thinks they sang a Christmassy tune - but if they did neither of us can remember what it was called.


Poot was really taken with the young lady in the Slytherin robe (“She smiled at me”) and wanted to get a picture with the choir.

We went back to Suess Landing to see what else was going on as part of Grinchmas. There were a group of “Whos” singing Christmas carols -

- and we watched them for a little while, but the whole area was SO crowded, and it was SO hot...we decided to go back to Portofino, have lunch and swim.

We popped into Sal’s Market Deli -

- because we still had money left on our dining credit (see Universal Part 1) - I ordered us two sandwiches and a cupcake. We ate one sandwich and one cupcake for lunch - and saved the other sandwich to take back to Universal Studios Park tonight - so we’d have something to eat while we waited for the concert.


Lunch sandwich:

Chicken Parmigiana Sandwich Crispy Chicken Breast, House Marinara, Mozzarella Cheese; With Home Made Potato Chips ($13)


Poot really enjoyed this; I gave him most of my half, too. The house-made chips here were nice - crunchy and not too greasy. They were much better than the ones at that Saratoga Springs QS.

Cupcake:

Red Velvet ($4.25)


The cupcake was OK, but nothing special.


Back in the room, we called R.C. - and by the time Poot filled him in on all of our adventures, it was too late to go for a swim. Instead we grabbed up our Christmassy clothes (Poot was already wearing his Superman Christmas t-shirt) and some ice to keep the sandwich cold and headed back - this time to the Studios.

When we got there, we decided to scope out the parade route, and see if people were already staking out seats. Yep.


I thought it would be nice to sit on a bench - so we grabbed the last open one (not far from Despicable Me) and sat down with our novels to wait (we sat down at about 4:15 - the parade started at 5:00). Poot read:

He liked this - and has since gotten the next two from the library.


I read:

Oh, this was a very good book. Historical fiction set in ancient Israel - give Mesu Andrews a try if you like reading about that period in history. She’s a little bit “literal” - but that makes for some interesting plot devices!


About five minutes before the parade was due to start, Poot was jostled - by a foot. A family was trying to CLIMB UP and stand behind us (ON THE BENCH) to watch the parade. Well, after the Grinch mess (see what I did there?) this morning - I’m afraid I was less than welcoming…


“I can’t think that they’ll let you stand on the bench - and I don’t think it would be very comfortable for us either.”


“Well, aren’t you going to stand when the parade starts?”


“Nope.”


“But my kids want to see the parade!” (the kids were teenagers)


“My kid wants to see it too, which is why we got here early.”



Sorry, late-arrivals - poor planning on your part does not necessitate a crisis on my part.


But OBVIOUSLY, if they’d had tinies I would have let said tinies sit in front of us on the kerb. I’m not a MONSTER.


The jostlers walked off to try their luck with other bench-sitters - hopefully they were all as hard-hearted as me.


Parade Time!


I wondered how the narrower “streets” of a theme park would work with the Macy’s parade ballons - but the “big” balloons remained lashed down - and smaller ones were walked through the park.

This was REALLY interesting to see - just how much effort was required to control one of the (relatively) small balloons.

I enjoyed the parade, and it was worth the wait - but I wish there had been a more cohesive over-riding theme.

Balloons or no, the Christmas parade at Disney was better. But this one was available to EVERYONE with park tickets/APs all throughout December - so as a “freebie”, I think it was AWESOME.



More freebie fun next...and it was the thing for which I was MOST excited - the Mannheim Steamroller concert! My late father used to take us to see Mannheim Steamroller at Christmas - so I was BEYOND jazzed to take Poot (his namesake) to see something that Grandpa loved so much.

We had agreed to meet Poot’s new friends from yesterday as close to the stage as possible after the parade - and we saw them walking toward the front of the stage at the same time that we were. The very front “row” of the grass was already taken, but we took up spots in row two, and I was happy enough. It was about 5:30 - the concert was due to start at 7:00.


The kids went tearing off to go on the nearby rides - after hearing from both of us mothers, “Rip Ride Rocket, Despicable Me - and then STRAIGHT BACK HERE. Can you remember where we’re sitting? Tell me where we’re sitting.”


The kids were good and after the rides came STRAIGHT BACK. When they joined us again, I unpacked our Sal’s dinner and the other family got out their little bag of snacks. It was too dark for food photos to turn out, but our dinner looked something like this:

Sal's Classic Italian Sandwich Ham, Capicola. Aged Provolone, Tomato, Lettuce, Pepperoncini, Red Wine Vinaigrette, Kalamata Olives; With Home-Made Potato Chips ($13)


Yum. This was much nicer than the Chicken Parm we’d had for lunch. I did NOT share my half, but we did share our potato chips with Poot’s new friends - and not long after the kids demolished them, the concert began!


In case you have different musical taste to me - here’s what Wikipedia has to say about Mannheim Steamroller:


Mannheim Steamroller is an American Neoclassical new-age music group founded by Chip Davis, that is known primarily for its Fresh Aire series of albums, which blend classical music with elements of new age and rock, and for its modern recordings of Christmas music. The group has sold 28 million albums in the U.S. alone.


Chip Davis was introduced to the crowd - he spoke for just a minute or two...

And then music!

I LOVE Mannheim Steamroller’s Christmas music - and being in my Christmas togs, having just watched the parade (and the fact that it was DECEMBER) - well, I was really feeling in the spirit. Poot and the other kids all seemed happy to listen - and we adults just sat back and took in the beautiful music and the little light show that accompanied it.

They performed several traditional carols (performed as only Mannheim Steamroller can) - but also “Jingle Bells” and “Let it Snow!”

It snowed. Poot and the other kids really enjoyed the soapy-snow, which they promptly christened “snoap”.


As I watched the children play in the snoap, I couldn’t help but feel sad that my father wasn’t here to see this. Time eases some of the pain, but not all - since lost loved ones never get any less dead, do they?


ANYWAY…


The only meh bit of the concert for me was when we all just sat there AND WATCHED A VIDEO of Chip Davis’ teenaged daughter sing “Greensleeves”. Now I’m sure he loves his kid - but if a performer can’t BE there in person - I don’t want to just watch a pre-recorded video of said performer. That’s not why I go to see live music. They should have done MY favourite Christmas song (“Masters in This Hall”) instead.

That’s right proud, get ready to be cast-a-down...


And the concert finished with...the music from... the “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” show we’d seen earlier in the day! Which, unbeknownst to me - Chip Davis had composed.

So we heard “Where Are You, Christmas?” and “Welcome, Christmas” for the second time that day. But the reprise was much more enjoyable, as I didn’t have to watch it around Poot’s head and through fifty TABLET SCREENS!

We said goodnight to Poot’s new friends and their parents - they were off to dinner (at Toothsome!) and we were heading back to Portofino for dessert.


We didn’t change before stopping in the Lounge, so were the victims of some good-natured ribbing about our ensembles:

Tonight’s dessert:

These were especially nice - and, look! More giant American blackberries!



A mostly good day - and a VERY good three days.



And so to bed.



One more post to go! I can see the finish line - and the lady waiting there with my medal and Lucozade!



So...I’m sure you can guess what this week’s highly-unscientific poll will be...


If you haven’t already posted it - what is your patronus?



And, most importantly, does anyone out there have a more depressing patronus than me?

One final thing:

I lied, one more final thing:

[Redrach1903]

Was just off to bed when I saw you posted this, so made myself a cuppa and settled in

Part 1

Hehehe I love the Patronus shout outs! I felt a strange sense of pride having my chum Helen being mentioned too She is hilarious isn’t she? I’m a Wildcat btw. I can’t remember what it means, but probably nothing good! Ha!

I did NOT know that place used to simulate earthquakes. That would have been cool. Not so cool about the meal. Yuck.

OMG that snake is tiny, but no way I’d be picking it up. I hope Poot was ok after his wee bite!

Aw that is so typical that Poot got chosen at Ollivanders the next day! Bless his wee heart telling the truth ❤

In all my visits I have never ridden the Storm teacup thinymabobs! Will have to try that next time! Although, I am getting more averse to spinning the older I get

Oh Spider-Man singing Memories. Epic. Just epic.

Ok, is it weird that I’m DYING to do the Lumos spell? I’m not fussed about the rest. I wonder if I could swipe a shot of a wand from some unsuspecting kid

Part 2

Loving how quiet it was for you guys. Must have been a dream AND to get a carriage on the Hogwarts Express all to yourselves? Winning!

Oh I tried Bread Box this year and it was lovely. The staff were a bit, erm, miserable though.

Poor Poot and his foot, but it did encourage the James/Semaj story and that was a hoot. My god, some people need to have a word with themselves!

Part 3

A lot of rude people today it seemed! Glad you put the bench thieves in their place!

Totally loving the Hogwarts photos. I wish I could have a good nosey without having to worry about holding up the queue!

Aww I’m glad you enjoyed the concert and no, the sad feeling of losing a loved one doesn’t get any easier does it? I lost my Mum out of the blue 2 and a half years ago and it bloody sucks!

SNOAP. I love this.

Excellent read as ever, thank you xxx

[DizzyDisneyMum]

I have to say that it gives me such joy when I see a new post from you (and an extra entry from Poot is a real bonus). Thank you for taking the time to put so much detail into your posts, it feels as though we are on your holiday with you.

I'm in Gryffindor by the way (which was lucky as I'd already bought the t-shirt!) and my Patronus is a 'black mare', which just makes me think about me in a mood on a bad day 😶 (I hope that's the embarrassed face, I'm not very good at working out what the little faces mean).

Have you taken Poot to the Warner Bros studio tour here in the UK? The second time we went I rented us all the audio guides and we all spent hours looking at everything and listening to all the details that they give. I can certainly recommend it (although it doesn't fit into the cheap category that you asked for).

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Redrach1903

Was just off to bed when I saw you posted this, so made myself a cuppa and settled in

Part 1

Hehehe I love the Patronus shout outs! I felt a strange sense of pride having my chum Helen being mentioned too She is hilarious isn’t she? I’m a Wildcat btw. I can’t remember what it means, but probably nothing good! Ha!

I did NOT know that place used to simulate earthquakes. That would have been cool. Not so cool about the meal. Yuck.

OMG that snake is tiny, but no way I’d be picking it up. I hope Poot was ok after his wee bite!

Aw that is so typical that Poot got chosen at Ollivanders the next day! Bless his wee heart telling the truth ❤

In all my visits I have never ridden the Storm teacup thinymabobs! Will have to try that next time! Although, I am getting more averse to spinning the older I get

Oh Spider-Man singing Memories. Epic. Just epic.

Ok, is it weird that I’m DYING to do the Lumos spell? I’m not fussed about the rest. I wonder if I could swipe a shot of a wand from some unsuspecting kid

Part 2

Loving how quiet it was for you guys. Must have been a dream AND to get a carriage on the Hogwarts Express all to yourselves? Winning!

Oh I tried Bread Box this year and it was lovely. The staff were a bit, erm, miserable though.

Poor Poot and his foot, but it did encourage the James/Semaj story and that was a hoot. My god, some people need to have a word with themselves!

Part 3

A lot of rude people today it seemed! Glad you put the bench thieves in their place!

Totally loving the Hogwarts photos. I wish I could have a good nosey without having to worry about holding up the queue!

Aww I’m glad you enjoyed the concert and no, the sad feeling of losing a loved one doesn’t get any easier does it? I lost my Mum out of the blue 2 and a half years ago and it bloody sucks!

SNOAP. I love this.

Excellent read as ever, thank you xxx

See more...

No, Thank YOU.

I think rather than edit "new" patroni into THIS post, I will put them at the beginning of next week's post. I will have to hunt up a good "wildcat snap" for you.

Poot was fine after the bite - I think being picked for the wand ceremony healed all wounds. And yes, I was proud of him for telling the truth. He's got a heart as big as Texas - it goes with his mouth.

I had never done the Marvel teacups until 2014 - somehow I just don't think I knew they were there. But if you like the Mad Tea Party - you will love them. And if I can get them spinning - imagine what your DH will be able to do. The cups with men in them looked ready to shoot off the table!

You can get one of the light-up wands from Amazon (at least I HOPE you still can). Poot's was £5 (and looked EVERY BIT of that £5, lol) - but he got WAY more attention for that one than he did for the "proper" ones - because everybody wants to do "Lumos".

Fiat Lux, don't you know.

We just couldn't get over how quiet the parks were. One of the Lounge staffers said that Portofino was at 40% occupancy that week. It was heaven - I will ABSOLUTELY be booking that week again. If only so we get to hear more of Spiderman's repertoire...


And yes re: Breadbox. I hate running down restaurant staff, they have HARD jobs - but most of the Disney QS staff are on the CP these days (I think) - and the contrast with the Universal QS staff was...significant. Nobody was rude, but there was an almost-idleness that I found hard to get on with...

Poor Semaj - but one of my girlfriends is a teacher back in America, and she has TWO girls in her class this year called NEVAEH (that would be Heaven, backwards). I swear - if children came pre-named (like Cabbage Patch Dolls), there would be fewer kids in therapy!

I'm so sorry about your mother. I went round and round about leaving death out of the trippie - but it's what I was thinking at the time. When someone so important to you dies - the REST of your life is bittersweet. Every big moment has that little bit of sadness to it.


PS: I'm sure Poot/LEGO/LEGO's sister were not the first ever to come up with "snoap" - but they were PRETTY proud of themselves. It was rather precious.

PPS: Helen is FUNNY. It's rare that I find something in writing laugh-out-loud hilarious - but "My poor rat" is the funniest thing I've ever read on the Dibb.

Originally Posted by DizzyDisneyMum

I have to say that it gives me such joy when I see a new post from you (and an extra entry from Poot is a real bonus). Thank you for taking the time to put so much detail into your posts, it feels as though we are on your holiday with you.

I'm in Gryffindor by the way (which was lucky as I'd already bought the t-shirt!) and my Patronus is a 'black mare', which just makes me think about me in a mood on a bad day 😶 (I hope that's the embarrassed face, I'm not very good at working out what the little faces mean).

Have you taken Poot to the Warner Bros studio tour here in the UK? The second time we went I rented us all the audio guides and we all spent hours looking at everything and listening to all the details that they give. I can certainly recommend it (although it doesn't fit into the cheap category that you asked for).

See more...

Well, Dizzy - what wonderful compliments. Thank you SO very much.

And HAHA - that's exactly what I thought when I saw "black mare", though it's heaps better than "moody cow". Or (whisper it) Helen's rat.


I will list your patronus in next week's post - it has been an embarrassing amount of fun to see them all - and to hear about where all of us have been sorted. Gryffindor is still in the lead! And you DO have the most/best merchandise to buy. There's never any good Ravenclaw stuff at Primani.


Great minds think alike - R.C. and I are planning to take Poot to the HP Studio Tour for his birthday (in November). And if you think the audio guides are worth it, I'll make sure we get them. We'll keep how much it costs between us girls (R.C. won't ask, and I won't tell).

I'm sure that TF would love to go, too - but I want it to be a special thing for our family to do together...does that make me sound like a black mare? Please say no...

[DFussy]

Hi Gopherlass. Loving your trip reports. Taking our 10 yr old girl to Universal for the first time in Aug, along with a day at MK, AK, and going to SeaWorld and Busch, so finding them very useful, and very entertaining.

We are in South East too, so thought id offer up some suggestions for entertaining Poots penpal?

Hever Castle do some themed days I think it might be weekend only though in summer - jousting, etc. We enjoyed a day there last year, and found it hard to fit everything in.

Science museum or British Museum maybe, or National Portrait Gallery if you think it will be the kind of thing both boys like? I think Brtish Museum is one of my daughters favourties, but that might be because it is so close to my old dutch pancake house!

If you look up kids go free theatre details, I quite often try and book a show in the summer, and make a day of it. I think they do an offer for 2nd child maybe 1/2 price? Like you I only have one so not sure.

We love a good country park for cheap days out, as she loves to climb trees.

If you are going back this Nov have a great time.

Going to look up the how to do the Patronus thing, so we can do it before we go.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by DFussy

Hi Gopherlass. Loving your trip reports. Taking our 10 yr old girl to Universal for the first time in Aug, along with a day at MK, AK, and going to SeaWorld and Busch, so finding them very useful, and very entertaining.

We are in South East too, so thought id offer up some suggestions for entertaining Poots penpal?

Hever Castle do some themed days I think it might be weekend only though in summer - jousting, etc. We enjoyed a day there last year, and found it hard to fit everything in.

Science museum or British Museum maybe, or National Portrait Gallery if you think it will be the kind of thing both boys like? I think Brtish Museum is one of my daughters favourties, but that might be because it is so close to my old dutch pancake house!

If you look up kids go free theatre details, I quite often try and book a show in the summer, and make a day of it. I think they do an offer for 2nd child maybe 1/2 price? Like you I only have one so not sure.

We love a good country park for cheap days out, as she loves to climb trees.

If you are going back this Nov have a great time.

Going to look up the how to do the Patronus thing, so we can do it before we go.

See more...

Thanks so much for your suggestions, DFussy (I am imagining that stands for Daughter: Fussy - but that is probably not right! ).


We are lucky and have a spinney on our land - so YES I hope that he will fancy a bit of tree climbing and perhaps treehouse building. He lives in a flat in Paris, so I think he'll either be SUPER INTO country pursuits - or have no interest at all. Fingers crossed for the former.

We've still never been to Hever Castle - but you're right, that is a good idea (I wonder if they take Tesco vouchers ).

Embarrassingly, though - the first thing I will Google is "Old Dutch Pancake House". Do they do pannekoeken? Because to pannekoeken. I make them in the late summer and pile them high with the blackberries that grow in our hedge.

So glad you stopped by today. I hope that in all this patronus/fencer silliness you've actually found some useful advice, too. Please let me know if there's a question I can answer.

[2littleboys]

Hey April!

Mammoth read this morning, great way to get through my 3 hours shift on a Friday

You made me laugh at the crazy names some people give their children:

I used to work with a girl and her names was:

First Name: Tracey
Surname: Stacey

WHY WOULD YOU! I also know a child called Sydonai!

The results are in of my Patronus test and I am:

"Your patronus takes the form of a Stag. A stag is proud and strong, which is characteristic of your personality. You have a powerful and compassionate heart. You find strength in protecting others, particularly friends and family, or those who are weak. Your patronus is shared by one of the most famous wizards ever, Harry Potter. You have little to no trouble conjuring a patronus because your desire to defend yourself and others outweighs your fears and allows you to focus on the task at hand"

[Guest]

Originally Posted by 2littleboys

Hey April!

Mammoth read this morning, great way to get through my 3 hours shift on a Friday

You made me laugh at the crazy names some people give their children:

I used to work with a girl and her names was:

First Name: Tracey
Surname: Stacey

WHY WOULD YOU! I also know a child called Sydonai!

The results are in of my Patronus test and I am:

"Your patronus takes the form of a Stag. A stag is proud and strong, which is characteristic of your personality. You have a powerful and compassionate heart. You find strength in protecting others, particularly friends and family, or those who are weak. Your patronus is shared by one of the most famous wizards ever, Harry Potter. You have little to no trouble conjuring a patronus because your desire to defend yourself and others outweighs your fears and allows you to focus on the task at hand"

See more...

EDIT: OK, back now.

I think it VERY cool that you have the same patronus as the main man himself. Better make sure the boys have cooler ones than you, though.

More name stories -

- a school friend of mine (surname ROCHE) decided to hyphenate when she got married - and her husband's name is HEAD. So now her surname is Roche-Head.

- and the babies born to the women in the rooms on the other side of mine in the hospital - Genesis and Montana. And I had a neighbour called Spontaneous.

How do you pronounce Sydonai? ACK - when I Googled it this came up:

In the film, "Hellgate", Sydonai is the name of an Elder Demon, presumably a Eldest described in The Origin of Evil. He is one of the leaders of the demonic invasion of Earth.




Hmm...this may be a good question for next week's highly unscientific poll...


Thanks for checking in - see you soon!