KanineKrunchies' Disneymoon Trip Report *Now with Belated Disney**UPDATED

Day 3:

This was the ONLY day on the trip that we planned an "early" morning and made it out of bed on time. I was super excited about going to IOA for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Harry Potter is my childhood. Harry grew up with me; we were always about the same age as the books came out. One particular friend and I created a tradition of lining up for the midnight release of the books (and movies...). I dressed up as Luna Lovegood for Halloween and this friend dressed up as Hermione. I plan on having my future children wear those Pinterest onesies that say "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." I will have Albus Dumbledore quotes in my classroom this year. So, clearly, you see, Harry Potter is up there with Disney for me. Therefore, even though I was EXHAUSTED, I was up before the alarm and jumping on the foot of the bed attempting to wake Mr. KK. In his typical style, he grumbled about it being too early (anything before 11 AM is too early), but he rolled out of bed without another wake-up attempt. This is how I know he was actually excited, too.

We made it to IOA before open and waited in line. When the park opened, we flashed our tickets and quickly made our way through Seuss land and "The Lost Continent" (or whatever it is supposed to be) and arrived at Hogsmeade. It looks really good as you enter and make your way past store fronts with dress robes and various wizarding sundries. The Hogwarts chorus was singing with their magical singing toads and it really set the Harry Potter mood for me. We went directly to The Forbidden Journey, which takes you through the castle. The castle looks AMAZING, especially from the outside. When you are actually inside the castle walls, it looks pretty great as well. I particularly liked the Mirror of Erised. I don't want to spoil it too much for those of you who have not gone, but I enjoyed the ride as well. I think it was the best part of HP world. However, here is my qualm: there is a part in the line where you are supposed to be in the Green Houses, I think. I was not impressed. I felt like we spent most of the wait there and it was not interesting or well themed at all. Another complaint was that there were lockers for backpacks and you had to pay for their use past 30 minutes (when wait time for FJ was 60 minutes plus most of the day!). I must be spoiled by Disney, but I was just so annoyed by this! Though, we ended up not having to pay because Mr. KK acknowledged that the locker attendant's job must suck due to the heat, etc, so the guy just laughed and waved off our money. Immediately following our ride on The Forbidden Journey, we rode both "dragons" on the Dueling Dragons ride...those were fun and most of the path you take to get to the ride was pretty well themed.

After The Forbidden Journey and Dueling Dragons, the rest of the time in the WWofHP was kind of disappointing. I hate to say it, because I was so looking forward to it. We ate at The Three Broomsticks at around 1030, because, I mean, you can't be in Hogsmeade and NOT eat there. We ordered 2 butterbeers and a Ribs and Chicken Platter to share. There was a sweet old man working who showed us to our table and took a picture of us with our butterbeers at the table (also on camera, working on getting this). This restaurant was one of the only places where there were actually somewhat themed uniforms for the employees, so that was nice. However, the food was not very good. The butterbeer was good, but WAY too sweet to drink a whole mug alone. So, overall, you were paying to be able to say you ate at the Three Broomsticks. We then rode the kiddy coaster, Flight of the Hippogriff, just because we could. I was REALLY looking forward to the shops, so we decided to go through and get some souvenirs. HOLY MOLY, were things overpriced and I didn't really feel as if, beyond clothing (which was also overpriced,considering you can buy much of it online), there was anything worth purchasing. I bought an overpriced Chocolate Frog and a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans to bring back to two of my siblings. Then, against my better judgment, I bought the Elder Wand to give to my sister for her birthday. The shops were overcrowded, because they were very narrow. I thought with as much storefront as they had (and they only had about 4 or 5 functional shops), they could have expanded their existing shops a little more.

Despite being a little disappointed, I am glad I went. I also think it might be a lot better once they add in their Hogwarts Express and Diagon Alley expansion--that might bring a little more magic to it. Because, right now, their Hogwarts Express is small, fake, and at the front with a Wizard Conductor who does "not know how to use those Muggle contraptions" (my camera). It would be nice to see it actually move and be able to get a little closer to it.

Anyway, after Harry Potter we went and made reservations at Mythos, Universal's highly revered restaurant, and then went to ride some more rides in the rest of the park. We rode the Sneetch ride in Seuss, the Amazing Spiderman, took a break to take some pictures with the cartoon bubbles, and then made our way to the Jurassic Park ride. There weren't many things we HAD to ride, since we mainly came for HP. In addition, the wait times were super long and their Fast Pass system is ridiculous. You basically have to purchase a fast pass for the whole day, and we were not going to buy in. We finished making our loop at about 130 or so, decided to watch the Poseidon show to kill some time (which was NOT fun--super long wait and then you stand the entire time). After the show, we ambled across the way to Mythos to see if we could get in early. The hostess initially quoted us about 45 minutes, but then realized we had a reservation for later that day, so she said " we will have you seated in 10 minutes." While we waited we watched the people go by. It seems there is a new trend of crop tops and high waisted shorts. High waisted shorts pulled so high that everyone can see your bum. I am concerned for the future. We were having a tremendous time watching the fashion show (we may have snapped a few butt shots with the camera) and talking about getting Mr. KK a pair of booty shorts so he could fit in, when our names were called. We were seated at a table on the perimeter of the dining room, and our waiter was a definite upgrade from the evening before. He was very sweet and made sure we were comfortable. Mr. KK ordered the Mythos Pad Thai and loved it so much that I couldn't get a picture before he dove in and had halfway consumed it--and I only got an action shot.

I ordered the Cordon Bleu Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Parmesan Fries. It was delicious. So delicious, in fact, that I forgot to take a picture until I was already at this stage:

Needless to say, we were hungry and scarfed it all down really quickly. I took other pictures with my camera of the restaurant itself, but these were all I had on my phone! I will add them tonight, if my attempt at getting my pictures off the camera (using a strategy that I learned courtesy of mrhub) goes well.

With our tummies full, we decided to head back to the hotel, take a nap and go to DTD. We got to the room and took a nap around 3 o clock. The nap went a little long and we didn't get on our way to DTD until about 5. Our first stop, after our 30 minute search for a parking spot, was Ghirardelli. Mr. KK wanted to get some ice cream and send some mean "ha-ha we are at Ghirardelli" pictures to his mother. We ordered a sundae and a scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough and then snapped some shots of our treats. I attempted to add these photos to this post, but they would not work, so I will attempt to add it in an edit or in another post.

We then spontaneously decided to go see Monsters University at the AMC. I wasn't going to eat anything, but then really wanted some nachos, and hey, it's Disney. You don't diet in Disney. We loved the movie! It was super cute and we were both laughing quite a bit--some characters reminded us of REAL people we had met in college. We snagged a pretzel and watched the Dance Party, which was adorable. I loved watching all the little kids (and adults) get really into it and it made me excited to one day bring our kids to Disney.

On our way out, we ran by Art of Disney. This time it was NOT closing time, so we actually got to browse a bit. I had come in set on a painting, but Mr. KK and I watched one of the sketch artists and we started thinking we might like one of those. We decided we would wait until one of our last days to actually purchase so that we could think about it some more. We left to drive back to the hotel and hit a major traffic jam due to lane closures, but we eventually made it home. We were beat, but we had to figure out how to consolidate all of our crap so that we wouldn't have to carry everything (we had packed for 3 weeks) on to the cruise ship. With that chore done, we passed out for the night.

I will do a brief cruise report and then jump right into Disney if I get the pictures off tonight! These long-winded pre-Disney World entries have been my stalling method : )

Thanks for all that have commented!! I am really excited to be a part of this community and do my first trip report!

Allie- yeah, I kept saying "I wish Disney had done this" Haha

I'm glad I'm not crazy, because I really really wanted to give a raving review.

Good news all: it appears I will be able to get the pictures! Mrhub is now my hero! Thanks for giving me great advice.

And h0ney: we took a picture with them on, but did not buy them!

Spook-- I said the same thing about Ollivander's! But I know they HAD to do it for money purposes. haha I was also telling my mother-in-law about the "muggle contraption" thing. I said I called B.S. unless he just meant he couldn't use a digital camera, because the Wizarding World has cameras, too! The mechanics would be much the same, I would think! You just push the button. Anyway, she just looked at me like I was crazy and nodded along, because she has never seen/read HP.

Small snag in the photo recovery-- some files are just fine, others are all kinds of crazy, so I am attempting a second time to see if I can't get them all. With or without them, I will try to post another update today, if I have time! I am trying to get my new classroom in shape for the start of school on August 21--the previous teacher subjected this room to 20+ years of abuse and it was already old to begin with, so it is a big job!

Okay, sorry everyone for being a liar... it has been crazy busy around here getting ready for school to start. BUT, I kinda rescued some pictures. It cost me 90 bucks in the end, but at least I have some salvaged pictures from the trip. I am still a little depressed/disappointed that this happened, but oh well. The joys of modern technology... some of the pictures might be edited to be b&w or possibly weird colors in order for you to see them. Some of them had odd exposures when recovered, so bear with it.

SO, we left off at the night before our cruise, but I will try to get up to date with pictures from before that point.

Arrival in Orlando/Downtown Disney:

Harry Potter/IOA:

Downtown Disney/Ghirardelli:

You are welcome for the life-size ice cream pictures... not the most attractive view of me, but oh well. I deserve the public scorn for my crazy delay in getting this out.

I am currently recovering cruise and Day 1 Disney pictures. Report forthcoming.

Apparently no Ghirardelli pictures? They were in my post, but I guess they decided to rebel. I decided I definitely have to get out an update today, so here goes!

Day 4-7: This is the cruise and since it is not Disney, I will just give you highlights.

We had plenty of time to get into Port Canaveral to board our cruise ship, so we allowed ourselves to take it easy this morning. We had breakfast in bed. I can't remember what we ate, but that is what the trip notes say: "breakfast in bed." So it must be true. We headed out at around 11 AM, paid a million dollars in tolls (okay, really about 4.25, but we were annoyed that there were toll booths every five feet), and arrived at Park 'n' Cruise. We paid 5 dollars a night to park our car and then were transported to the cruise terminals by shuttle. We had a pretty seamless boarding process and we went STRAIGHT for the buffet, naturally. Also, a nice waiter handed me a pretty, fruity cocktail and I eagerly grabbed one, thinking "ah, they know how to treat a lady." He then kindly puts his hand out to Mr.KK for our room charge card. haha OOPS!

We hung around the decks for awhile, laid out and watched other cruise ships outrun the storm--we were just out of reach of it. At around 8 o'clock, we met one of our highlights of the whole cruise: our dinner mates. We had 3 couples with us (the 4th showed up the very last night). One couple was married the same day as us, one was celebrating 1 year, and one was celebrating their 2nd. None of us had ever been on a cruise before and we had a blast. The dinners each night were fabulous and each night we also were entertained by our "super-charged maitre d'" who would serenade or dance for us. He was hilarious, as were the waiters. Two of the nights we stayed "out" with our dinner buddies--one night we did a newly wed show, and the other night we went to the comedy shows, and then we stayed up til about 2 am eating "all you can eat" ice cream. I think I gained about 10 pounds on the cruise portion (though I think I walked it off at Disney, because I came back weighing the same)

Port Highlights:

I "swam" with a dolphin and I absolutely loved it! Instead of the Atlantis excursion, I did the private island getaway at our Nassau port, called Blue Lagoon Island. This won out over Atlantis, because it was cheaper and because Mr. KK could come with me for a cheaper price, since he wasn't getting in the water with the dolphin. Mr. KK did not want to pay for him to actually swim with the dolphin, since he wasn't super keen on it, but he took video and pictures of the occasion. I got to "dance" with her, give her a kiss and a hug, and rub her belly. I can't remember the dolphin's name now, but she was a new mommy, so she would occasionally swim off to go check on her baby. She was super sweet and I definitely would do it again. The Blue Lagoon excursion also turned out to be a plus, because there was a private beach to hang out on. Or, it would have been a plus had it not POURED rain. We only briefly got to explore the beach, but we entertained ourselves by taking pictures of hairy men in red speedos.

Half Moon Cay (Carnival's Private Island) was awesome. It was just an all-day, hang out on the beach day. We got some sun, played in the water, and we had some DELICIOUS jerk chicken (and some not so delicious burned hamburgers) at the Pavillion picnic lunch that Carnival provided for us. There were hens and roosters roaming free on the grounds, and I just thought they were very entertaining, clucking about and occasionally scaring some tourists. One of our dinner mates told us that they saw one guy literally scream, cry, and run away, because they terrified him. Apparently he was a big, buff grown man, so it added to the humor.

On the "at sea" day, we didn't leave the cabin until about noon and basically just ate all day. We did take a break from the buffets long enough to play a windy game of mini-golf on the deck, but there was a group of kids up there being rowdy and unruly, so it wasn't as relaxing as it could have been. After that we hung out on the deck watching a group of 12 year old girls dancing at the pool to Gangnam Style...and discussed how concerned we would be if they were our daughters. It looks like adolescence is going to be a fun time for those parents.

Other highlights:

NAP TIME was a highlight everyday--we would watch the in-cabin movie of the day and be rocked to sleep. I LOVE sleeping on a cruise ship. I know that is abnormal, but I don't care. It was comforting haha

The 24-hour pizza was amazing. It was some of the best pizza I had ever had.

Balcony room: Loved having the space and I loved the view. Downside--apparently no animal towels, like our dinner mates!!

Overall, I enjoyed the cruise and I would love to go on one again. Next time around, though, I would like to do a DISNEY CRUISE, of course. Also, definitely need a bigger pool. We NEVER got in the pool or hot tubs just because there were too many people and not enough space. I was disappointed by that. We also thought it would be more relaxing than it was. But because it was such a short cruise, we both felt that we needed to constantly be doing something to get our money's worth. So, next time, definitely a longer cruise and MORE beach time.

NOW, for the part you all actually care about: DISNEY!!! I will post this and then begin working on our first day at Disney World on this trip: Hollywood Studios!