Sunday, March 29, 2015

Disneyworld Trip 2015 Scrapbook: Part 6

These are all the scrapbook pages from Universal.

(Click to Enlarge)








Materials Used:

Most Journal Cards and Background are from Project Mouse
The Hulk/Minions/Title Card are from Pixie Sprite
The Harry Potter Pages were made with this Kit
The Harry Potter Alpha was purchased Here.



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Saturday, March 28, 2015

Disneyworld 2015 Recap Trip: Part 8


Wednesday we headed over to Universal. We got a late start due to lost tickets and Austin feeling ill. And that all made me a little anxious because I had a plan, and I like to be on time. And I might have gotten a little impatient, but eventually I got over myself. And I was ready to start our day.

This ended up being a really relaxed day, we mostly did whatever we felt like, and we rested when we wanted, and we left a little early to hang out at the hotel & sleep. It was so pleasant!




Our first ride of the day was Minion Mayhem, I just love those silly minions. The whole area was decorated with cute images of minions. The ride was a simulator, and it was pretty realistic, and so stinkin' cute. A great start to the day. 




We headed over to the Springfield USA area to ride the Simpson's ride. Adam is a Simpson's fan, ever since that every Simpson ever marathon that aired last year. Springfield at Universal is so well-themed, it is like stepping into the television show! It was just so cool. The ride was another simulator, and it was very life-like. It even made Adam a little queasy. 






We needed to head over to Universal's 2nd park, Islands of Adventure, to catch our lunch reservation, so we got our first taste of Harry Potter World, and jumped on the Hogwart's Express. The train ride was pretty cool. I've been to King's Cross in London, and it reminded me a lot of that. You really felt like you were going on a train trip. During the journey, you sit in train cars, and they project images on a screen, which makes you feel like you are really traveling far. 






I had made us all  reservations at Mythos because I had read it had been voted the best theme park restaurant in America. I was really into Mythology back in high school, even taking a whole class focused on it. So I loved the Mythology/Gods themed decor of the restaurant. One of my favorite touches is the pats of butter they brought that had the Universal logo stamped on them. I had the crab cake sliders, and we all ordered different desserts. The entrees were fabulous, the desserts were lackluster, but maybe they were just having a bad dessert day? Overall, the restaurant is definitely worth checking out.





After we had lunch, it was time to check out Hogsmeade. I am not a huge Harry Potter fan, I've seen the movies, and read a few of the books, but it's not really my thing. But I was VERY impressed with both Harry Potter areas at Universal. It was so detailed and well-themed. I really just wanted to soak up the atmosphere. 

The first thing we did in Hogsmeade was head over to Hogwarts to ride the Forbidden Journey. The ride was an excellent simulator, but really the castle tour was my favorite part!




We couldn't come to Harry Potter world, without trying the signature beverages, Pumpkin Juice and ButterBeer. I really loved the butter beer, it was creamy & butterscotchy, and it left you wanted more. We tried it both frozen and cold, frozen was definitely sweeter. But the pumpkin juice was just weird! I did save the pumpkin topper as a souvenir though. We also hit up the candy store, Honeydukes, which had candy as far as the eye could see. Jana and Adam bought some chocolate frogs. The cashier told us to make sure we bit the legs of the frogs off first, so they didn't hop away. 


Adam bought a wand before we left the area. It was Mad Eye Moody's wand. Adam said it suited him because Mad Eye is like him, "old & grumpy."




Our next stop was Marvel Super Hero Island. This area is a lot of fun, with the comic strip motif, and Marvel characters everywhere. We saw the Green Goblin and Doctor Doom hanging about.  Adam and Austin spent some time in the arcade. And then we all went to ride The Incredible Hulk. Riding the Hulk was a big moment for me. I had to give up Thrill Rides years ago because I was too big to fit on the rides. So not even having to think about whether I would fit on a ride was such a relief. What a crazy thrill riding the Hulk was! I loved it so much, I rode it twice!  







After doing a loop around Islands of Adventure, we hopped back on the Hogwarts's Express to check out Diagon Alley. It was just as cool as Hogsmeade. I loved Gringott's Bank and the Weasley's joke shop. We meandered down knock turn alley, talked to the Knight Bus Conductor, and posed for pictures outside 13 Grimmauld Place. We would have liked to have ridden the Gringott's ride, but it was closed!


The last thing we did was ride the Men in Black ride (super fun) before heading home for the evening. We hit up the McDonald's for dinner, and then we spent the rest of the evening at the hotel goofing off. Which means Adam & Austin spent over an hour playing with our stuffed Baymax's. We went to bed early, it was lovely.


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Thursday, March 26, 2015

Disneyworld Trip 2015 Scrapbook: Part 5

These are the scrapbook pages from part 2 of our day at Magic Kingdom. I have pages on the rides in Tomorrow Land, Anna and Elsa Meet & Greet, Rides in Fantasy land, and two pages for Be our Guest restaurant.

(Click to Enlarge)



Materials Used:

Most Elements/Papers/Journal Cards are from Project Mouse
The Ride Specific Cards are from Pixie Sprite
The Anna & Elsa Meet & Greet Page was made with this Kit
The Anna & Elsa Meet & Greet Title was found Here
Be Our Guest Pages made with this Kit


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Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Disneyworld 2015 Recap Trip: Part 7

This is part two of our day at Magic Kingdom, read part one by clicking here.





After lunch, we headed over to Tomorrow land. A really nice family who was in line with us to meet Gaston, gave us some fast passes for Space Mountain. So we went through the line quickly, and we were put on the Omega track (which is the longest track). Space Mountain is one of my favorite rides in Disneyland, but the Disneyworld one is better.  More lights, more tracks, and more awesomeness! We would ride this ride one more time before we left for the day.

We then went over to Stitch's Great Escape. I wanted to ride this ride, simply because I've heard it is the WORST ride. So how could we not? It was truly awful, just imagine Stitch burping in your face, and then smelling his warm, chili dog breathe. That is all you need to know.



Jana and I left the boys to do their own thing for a little while, and we went off to meet Anna and Elsa. First of all, Jana and I are apparently awful map readers because it took us forever to find Fairy Tale Hall! But once we got there, we skipped the long lines with our fast passes. Since it was Jana's birthday, she was wearing her birthday button. So both Anna and Elsa suggested we eat some chocolate cake. And since the weather was crazy bad back home, I asked Elsa to unfreeze Alabama before we returned. 




After our royal meeting, Jana and I headed down to main street to do a little shopping. We also squeezed in a little Castle photo shoot in our ponchos. And then Tinkerbell showed up which was pretty darn fun. My main souvenir for the day was the hitchhiking ghosts ornament from the Haunted Mansion ride. I kind of love it. 




Before we met up with the boys, we jumped on the Happiest Cruise on Earth, Small World. I feel like you can't go to Disney without going for a sail. I don't find it obnoxious as some do. It is so colorful, a real feast for the eyes. The only bad part is the end when you are waiting to get off the boat, you have nothing else to see, and all the boats are bumping into you, and the song is still playing... There was a part of the cruise, where there were balloons with clowns. I thought Jana was going to jump ship, being that she hates clowns. We even stopped right under the clowns and they kept inching closer and closer! Classic! 






We met back up with the boys to do our next two fast pass rides-Enchanted Tales with Belle & Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Enchanted Tales with Belle was precious.Basically children and people take on acting rolls, to reenact the story of Beauty and the Beast. The children made it so precious. And I really loved the Lumiere audio-animatronic. 


Mine Train was such fun! I have never been on a roller coaster that slowed in the middle, so you could roll through movie scenes. 





We had some time to kill before the fireworks started, so we headed over to Space Ranger Spin. This one was fairly similar to the one in Disneyland (you have to shoot the target for points and sabotage your opponent). I beat Adam this time, which never happens! But only because I figured out a trick, holding down the trigger continuously. Adam says this was cheating, I think it was brilliant. Look at our faces in these pictures, we were all concentrating so hard!

Next, we hoped on the Tomrrowland Transit Authority People Mover. People mover is an attraction, that takes you all around Tomorrowland. It is pretty cool at night with all the lights in the park. And it's fun to go through Space Mountain, as you get to hear everyone screaming above you! 



I didn't capture any good pictures of the fireworks, as that is an aspect of photo taking that I don't excel in. But I did get a pretty picture of the castle at night. Wishes (the firework show) was wonderful. We actually ended up watching it in Fantasyland. Which was 2nd best to watching it in front of the castle, this way we got to see it above 3 castles (Cinderella's Castle, Beast Castle, & Eric's Castle).  Next time, I am camping out for a Cinderella Castle view though!





We had reservations that evening at Be our Guest. We were so excited. Be our Guest is one of the hardest reservations to come by and I managed to snag one. I now know why it is the hottest ticket in Disney. The food and atmosphere are superb. If you didn't know, Be our Guest is completely based off Beauty and the Beast. We were seated in the beautiful ball room, with fake snow falling outside the windows. And when I sat down at the table at our plate settings with the roses,  I really felt like a princess as corny as it sounds.







After we put in our order, Jana and I went off to explore all the rooms in the castle. Isn't that stained glass gorgeous? We then took in the West Wing, complete with torn painting and wilting rose. Then, there was the Rose room, with the life-sized musical box, that supposedly was given to Belle & Beast on their wedding day by Belle's father, Maurice. And near Beast's study, there were knights in armor.



Soon it was time for dinner. I ordered champagne as a treat for Jana's birthday, and it made the meal feel extra fancy.  We each ordered different entrees, I got the French Onion Soup, which was to die for. We all also ordered many desserts, so we could try them all out. We got the grey stuff (it's delicious, don't believe me, ask the dishes), and I also loved the orange eclair.



We were invited to meet the Master of the Castle, before finishing up our Magic Kingdom Day. The Beast was utterly charming, he kissed both Jana and mine's hand, and posed for various picture combinations. 

I also wanted to share a short story. I realized at dinner, that I had somehow lost my phone, and I was freaking out. And I couldn't remember seeing my phone for a couple of hours. The boys were my heroes though. Austin took off running, so we wouldn't have to skip seeing the Beast, and he went to the last ride I remembered having my phone on. Right after we got our pictures, we ran over to the lost and found at City Hall on Main Street. My phone was there! I was so thrilled.

I have never lost a cell phone (my husband has lost many).  So my streak continues!


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