Cass, Rob & Kira - Universal & 10-night Southern Caribbean Cruise on Disney Fantasy 2017

[MickeyD]

Yay! Another Cass report! I just finished your Wonder report not too long ago. So looking forward to this one because I would love to take this cruise, but alas me+heat and humidity in Caribbean in June=a really bad scene. I get rather cranky with the heat and humidity and May was enough for me. I am back to cruising in Feb. I am also excited to hear about Universal as that is our next trip. So, if there is a whip emoji I would insert that here () to say "get crackin missy" we love your trip reports and we don't like to wait! Lol

 

[Timon]

Day 2, Part 1

Hello, gorgeous!

I gotta say, this view was sooooo worth all the walking we did to stay in the Tower!

Today originally was going to be our Volcano Bay day but instead we changed it up and added a day at the parks, that way we could take it a little easier, which totally worked for me!

I knew the parks would be busy and we didn't have Express passes for that day so the plan was to just hit up early entry, do the Harry Potter areas and buy some wands and robes for Rob and Kira.

I also knew that I wouldn't last long with the heat so actually I am glad we ended up ditching VB for an extra park day.

I don't eat breakfast often. At home I usually fast until about 11am and on vacation, I just feel ill when I eat in the morning so Rob and Kira got ready for the day and headed down to Bayliner Diner for some breakfast as they will both crumble to pieces if they don't eat every couple of hours.

I showered while they did this...

I told Rob to get Kira some pancakes but he said he couldn't find them. This is the same guy who can't find the milk in the fridge

They came back to the room to drop off the mugs and then we headed out to the bus stop.

Lots of people but they had two buses and they filled up right away and then we were off! We had to stand so it made for an interesting bus ride trying not to fall on people.

Notice Rob's closed eyes? Yeah, he does that a lot

Once off the bus we made it up to security, found a short line and we got through pretty fast. At Universal, everyone goes through security, it's just like at the airport so I was actually shocked when Rob was not randomly selected for a secondary search

This was Kira's first time to Universal and Rob hasn't been to Universal since 2005, so this was pretty exciting! I was here last year with Jen for a few days before a work thing over at Disney but my health wasn't great that trip and although I had a 4-day park to park ticket, I spent a few hours in the park here one day and then maybe 6 hours on the second day with Jen and was too ill to go back.

While Rob and I are thrill ride junkies, Kira is the exact opposite. I'm not sure how that happened

So, we knew we had to wait awhile until even attempting Universal with her. She loves anything that spins but she hates getting butterflies, which is the exact opposite of me

First time pic!

Rob and I spent a lot of time at Universal during our first few trips there, starting in 1999, the year IOA opened because like I said, we are thrill junkies and there's so many awesome coasters there! Once we had Kira, we focused all of our time in WDW so it was nice to be back finally! Rob wore one of his Dueling Dragons shirts from 1999 today and almost every Team Member we saw raved about his shirt! He said he's never had so many people comment on his clothes before

First time with my kid

By the way, wearing that hat really saved me! I put it on with wet hair and every time I went to the bathroom, I wet my hair again and it helped keep me cool. Makes for horrible pics but at least I am there for the pics

Rob and Kira's first time at Hogsmeade!

We rode Forbidden Journey together in the regular line. It wasn't too bad, maybe 15 minutes?

It was nice too because we all had fanny packs, we could completely skip the whole locker situation, which is just crazy and stressful!

She was a little nervous to do it but she ended up loving it. I asked her if we could do it again using the single rider line this time. She was a little nervous but she agreed and we ended up next to each other in the same vehicle anyway

I wanted to hop on over to the Studios before the non-EE people got in so we headed for Hogwarts Express.

We ended up in the front row/front car all alone!

Which made it nice and easy to take pics and video

First time for them in Diagon Alley!

We went straight to Gringott's and there was hardly any line. I didn't take pics because I was taking video but I took a few the next day that I will post. This is my favourite HP ride. I love that it has a fantastic story line and even a specific timeline for when it takes place. LOVE!!!

I really wanted to ride it again and so did Rob but we didn't want to wait in the huge line that had now amassed due to the park being open to the public now and Kira refused to ride it with single rider for some reason. She said she loved the ride but I think she was a little scared of that initial drop at the beginning and didn't want to do it again unless we were all together.

We took a little break and I got us a frozen butter beer and Gilly Water from The Hopping Pot to share.

This was going to be Rob and Kira's first experience with Butterbeer. I had tasted Jen's last year so I knew it was too sweet for me. I knew one to share would be plenty.

We never even finished it, none of us cared for the frozen version.

We watched the Tales of Beedle the Bard while we drank.

I tried to convince Kira to do Gringott's again but she just wasn't having it and I didn't want to venture out to the rest of the park without Express passes since the lines were already super long.

The only thing left to do was to get robes and wands for Kira and Rob.

Not really my thing but I was happy to tag along for pics and video.

Got in line for Ollivander's Wand shop. I knew they did a special show where they pick a kid from the group and like in the movie, the wand chooses the wizard type of thing plays out. I've never seen it so I thought it would be neat to experience before they chose their wands.

The line around the corner for Ollivander's.

I took this opportunity to hit the loo and cool off my head again

I LOVE Diagon Alley! It's so neat and detailed. I like Hogsmeade but I LOVE Diagon Alley!

Let's end this chapter here

 

[jedijill]

Diagon Alley looks so amazing! I've got to get down there soon!

Jill in CO

 

[CJK]

Amazing pictures!! Everytime we visit Diagon Alley, we always notice more details. Great job getting both Harry Potter rides done during EPA! Kira was brave! I still have family members who refuse to do FJ! LOL Gringotts is my fav too. Loving the report already!

 

[bcwife76]

So we did Universal in California last year(first time going since 2003, my husband had been a little more recently, in 2011 without me *sob* but it was our kids first time going). We did the Harry Potter stuff first because NONE of us are Potter fans but we knew we had to do it to get it out of the way and said we had done it We did the whole thing in maybe an hour? lol Before moving on to the rest of the park. HP is totally lost on us

 

[Timon]

Yay! Another Cass report! I just finished your Wonder report not too long ago. So looking forward to this one because I would love to take this cruise, but alas me+heat and humidity in Caribbean in June=a really bad scene. I get rather cranky with the heat and humidity and May was enough for me. I am back to cruising in Feb. I am also excited to hear about Universal as that is our next trip. So, if there is a whip emoji I would insert that here () to say "get crackin missy" we love your trip reports and we don't like to wait! Lol

You and me both

When I first booked this I thought, Oh my dog! What the heck are you doing?? But really, the Caribbean is the same temp year round so I knew it would be only slightly worse than all of our previous cruises. Well, except for Tortola, that place was just hot as Hades but then again, we cruise for the ships, not the ports so I was okay

I knew though that I would not be able to do the Disney parks, which is why we stuck to Universal, I am hot in the parks in Nov/Jan/Feb

Diagon Alley looks so amazing! I've got to get down there soon!

Jill in CO

They did such an amazing job with it

Amazing pictures!! Everytime we visit Diagon Alley, we always notice more details. Great job getting both Harry Potter rides done during EPA! Kira was brave! I still have family members who refuse to do FJ! LOL Gringotts is my fav too. Loving the report already!

LOL Really? She did do it many more times eventually, she just didn't want to be alone.

So we did Universal in California last year(first time going since 2003, my husband had been a little more recently, in 2011 without me *sob* but it was our kids first time going). We did the Harry Potter stuff first because NONE of us are Potter fans but we knew we had to do it to get it out of the way and said we had done it We did the whole thing in maybe an hour? lol Before moving on to the rest of the park. HP is totally lost on us

I feel the exact same way about the Simpsons! I know people love it and I really do not care at all for it, the show, the ride, the whole area! We don't watch it so we are not fans and we just walked right by it, I don't even think Kira knew what it was and she didn't ask either.

We are all HP fans though, so we LOVED both DA and Hogsmeade. I can see though, if you're not a fan, that it wouldn't do anything for you.

 

[jenseib]

I know all about stubborn children. I had a tail for many days. LOL. At the beginning of the trip she didn't like me then it turned to not wanting to do anything unless I was doing it. Crazy kid!

I don't care for the frozen version of butterbeer either. I hope they tried the cold version. And I am not craving it...thanks. LOL

 

[MickeyD]

But really, the Caribbean is the same temp year round so I knew it would be only slightly worse than all of our previous cruises. Well, except for Tortola, that place was just hot as Hades but then again, we cruise for the ships, not the ports so I was okay

So was it windy at all? Sometimes the breeze can help. We had NO breezes in May and it was unbearable in San Juan. We were supposed to go to Tortola, but didn't, guess it didn't matter because SJ was still like being on the surface of the sun.

 

[Jodyfarmgirl]

I'm so excited to see the Universal Studios part of this TR. You do such a good job describing and taking photos.
You may help me decide if we need to try a visit there sometime
I think it's very generous of you to do this for me

 

[Timon]

Day 2, Part 2

We made our way finally into Ollivander's! We all just shuffled into the little room and we were at the back but Kira was up front with the other kids.

The wizard came out and started talking and then walked right up to Kira and chose her!



I totally didn't expect it and I didn't even tell her about the whole being chosen thing because I didn't want her to be disappointed when she wasn't chosen. There's probably a good 50 people in there and they usually choose a kid that is all dressed up so when she was chosen, I was so happy for her and shocked as heck too

She was just beaming the entire time and she knew she was very lucky!

I had the camcorder going the entire time and it's really dark in there so I don't have any pics but this is her and Rob afterwards looking over the wand that chose her

And if you know my husband at all, you just know he wasn't going to NOT buy it

They spent an inordinate amount of time in this WAY too tiny shop!!!


It was small and PACKED! It was like these wands were made of gold and they were giving them away except, they're totally not and they totally weren't!!

I think the average price of these babies was about $50, and there was a line up to pay for them!!!

They both kind of knew which wand they were getting but they perused for a bit anyway. Rob bought Sirius Black's wand (as well as the wand that chose Kira ) and then Kira chose Ginny Weasley's wand.

For those of you who don't know what the heck this is all about, Universal came up with the best money making scheme ever by making the windows of some of the shops in both HP lands interactive and then you can go buy these wands and do the correct spells (they come with maps and spells) and the stuff in the window moves.

Bloody brilliant!



I couldn't handle the crowds in that store anymore, which tells you a lot since I gave up A/C to go outside!

I spotted our next stop...Madame Milkin's

While I was waiting, I took this, kinda cool I think, all tilted and artsy LOL!

They finally emerged and went right into the next shop!

They both got Griffindor robes. We bought Kira's a little big so she could grow into it. Rob put his on for the sake of the next photo but then took it off because these robes are no joke! They are thick and heavy, very good quality but it was 6 billion degrees out and even he was warm!



Not Kira though! She refused to take her robe off

She was ready to do some spells no matter how hot it was.

To be fair, it didn't seem too bad in Diagon Alley because there's a lot of shade and cover in there. I was doing surprisingly well!

The robes were also awesome because they had an inside pocket for your wand and map, genius!

They did a few spells and then it was time to finally eat for me! They were hungry too so we headed over to The Leaky Cauldron, of course!

I prefer this to Three Broomsticks because I like that they bring your food to you!

Kira's fish and chips.

Rob's fish and chips.

I got the specialty chicken because I wasn't too sure if fish was the best option for me as it was technically my breakfast and it was super hot out. The chicken was good but I had some of Rob's fish and it was amazing and I was second guessing my chicken sandwich.

No one can resist this photo opportunity

We were on our way to get dessert! Butterbeer ice cream!

I didn't get the chance to try it last time so I made sure we all had it this time! While I am not a huge ice cream lover, this was the BOMB!

We were all pretty full so we just split it and it was just perfect for us, size-wise.

We were all very hot and tired so we decided to just head back to the hotel. I told Kira that I would TRY to go to the pool with her since we didn't get the chance to do it last night and they were calling for more thunderstorms later this evening.

We took the Hogwart's Express back to IOA so we could experience it both ways together as it is slightly different going back.

This TM put us in the front car and said we would get the cab all to ourselves. She asked Kira a lot of questions and was writing everything down. I thought maybe it was for the Universal equivalent of a Magical Memory thing over at Disney but we never saw her again, so that was kind of weird.

Oh, here's a close up of what the wands look like....for your viewing pleasure

We walked back to CityWalk, down to the bus area and waited for a Cabana Bay bus.

Kira was getting a little grumbly. We think it was because she was hot but she didn't want to admit because then she would have to take her robe off

Rob was laughing at us on our way back to the room...I was walking super fast because I was DYING of heat and wanted to get into the AC and Kira was not happy because she was trying to keep up but was also warm. I mean, come on child, it was now 34º C (about 93F) with the humidity through the roof and the sun beaming down on us and she was wearing this heavy, thick robe!

Craziness!

 

[jenseib]

I didn't realize you got THREE wands. I just thought the 2. OMG! Well now you can play with one if you want too I suppose! Stephanie says that butterbeer icecream is wonderful but it was out the day I was thinking about trying it. I must get back and try it some day.

I still prefer 3 broomsticks over the leaky cauldron. I may give it another chance though in the future. Breakfast wise I am fine, but lunch had some things I wasn't so crazy about on the menu.

 

[CJK]

You gotta admire Kira's determination...........no matter the temperature, she WAS GOING TO WEAR THE ROBE!!!

 

[JOANNEL]

Following along on your fabulous vacation!

 

[lucas]

I'm so excited for another great Timon trip report! I love reading about your adventures.

And, we just missed sailing on the Fantasy with you! We were on the 6/17/17 11-nghter right before you. Can't wait to re-live the cruise thru you guys.

(Also, I wanted to say I was so sorry to read about your furbabies, Lilo & Stitch. I remember reading your reports when you first got them. They were such beautiful doggies. Time has passed way too quickly!)

 

[bcwife76]

Ok even I, a non-HP fan, have to admire those robes and wands. They are pretty dang cool! And wearing it in that heat....that takes dedication kid!

As an aside, I don't like the Simpsons land much, either, though we did buy the massive doughnuts. And went into a sugar coma 10 minutes later My favourite part of Universal, which I know is only at the California parks, is the backlot tour. Did it twice this past time, it's the BEST part of Universal Hollywood in my humble opinion

 

[jedijill]

Kira is a true Wizard wearing that robe! That is so awesome that she was chosen for the wand ceremony!!!

Jill in CO

 

[ukintheus]

Just found this and following along. Great TR so far - you've done a bunch in a short amount of time. Love the view from your room. We've never been to Universal, it always looks great in TRs though!

 

[nh3223]

Following along as well. We were also on the this cruise (our first ever) so it will be fun to relive it and probably find out about all kinds of things we missed. From your last TR, it looks like your daughter is almost exactly the same age (within a week or two) as my son, so it will be interesting to contrast their experiences.

 

[Timon]

I know all about stubborn children. I had a tail for many days. LOL. At the beginning of the trip she didn't like me then it turned to not wanting to do anything unless I was doing it. Crazy kid!

I don't care for the frozen version of butterbeer either. I hope they tried the cold version. And I am not craving it...thanks. LOL

LOL! Kids!

Yes, she had a few regular ones the following two days

So was it windy at all? Sometimes the breeze can help. We had NO breezes in May and it was unbearable in San Juan. We were supposed to go to Tortola, but didn't, guess it didn't matter because SJ was still like being on the surface of the sun.

Yes, it was windy in Aruba and Curacao, which totally saved me! No wind in St. Kitts or Tortola though

I'm so excited to see the Universal Studios part of this TR. You do such a good job describing and taking photos.
You may help me decide if we need to try a visit there sometime
I think it's very generous of you to do this for me

HAHAHAH! All just for you

I didn't realize you got THREE wands. I just thought the 2. OMG! Well now you can play with one if you want too I suppose! Stephanie says that butterbeer icecream is wonderful but it was out the day I was thinking about trying it. I must get back and try it some day.

I still prefer 3 broomsticks over the leaky cauldron. I may give it another chance though in the future. Breakfast wise I am fine, but lunch had some things I wasn't so crazy about on the menu.

Yup! Threeeee wands

Well, Steph is SO right cus I loved it and I could take or leave ice cream but I am actually craving this stuff right now.

They both have very similar menus, chicken sandwich is only at LC, which I think you would like but the fish is on both menus and it was way better than when we had it last year.

You gotta admire Kira's determination...........no matter the temperature, she WAS GOING TO WEAR THE ROBE!!!

LOL, you mean stubborness???

Following along on your fabulous vacation!

Hi Joanne, glad you're here!

I'm so excited for another great Timon trip report! I love reading about your adventures.

And, we just missed sailing on the Fantasy with you! We were on the 6/17/17 11-nghter right before you. Can't wait to re-live the cruise thru you guys.

(Also, I wanted to say I was so sorry to read about your furbabies, Lilo & Stitch. I remember reading your reports when you first got them. They were such beautiful doggies. Time has passed way too quickly!)

Glad you made it!

Oh wow! One cruise away! You should do a trippie

Yeah, it feels like we just got them the other day, I miss them so much!

Ok even I, a non-HP fan, have to admire those robes and wands. They are pretty dang cool! And wearing it in that heat....that takes dedication kid!

As an aside, I don't like the Simpsons land much, either, though we did buy the massive doughnuts. And went into a sugar coma 10 minutes later My favourite part of Universal, which I know is only at the California parks, is the backlot tour. Did it twice this past time, it's the BEST part of Universal Hollywood in my humble opinion

Yes, true dedication

We did Universal Hollywood way back when, on our honeymoon actually and the backlot tour was awesome but the rest of the park needed some work. Next time we head to DL, I think we will make a stop there but sad they don't have Gringott's which is by far, the best ride

Kira is a true Wizard wearing that robe! That is so awesome that she was chosen for the wand ceremony!!!

Jill in CO

She still wears it at home, holding the wand, watching the HP movies

Just found this and following along. Great TR so far - you've done a bunch in a short amount of time. Love the view from your room. We've never been to Universal, it always looks great in TRs though!

Glad you found me

You should make it over one day, so much fun!



Just to let you all know that my computer is now in the shop getting some warranty work as I was having some video card issues

I have already edited photos up until the end of day 3 but since I won't have my Photoshop, I can't edit any more until I get my computer back, which may be next week sadly.

So, I will continue writing the report on Rob's laptop but I can't go past day 3, so we shall see how it goes.

Thanks for reading and I appreciate all comments you make here and will respond to each and every one of them! It makes me feel like someone is actually reading these time-sucking things

 

[jenseib]

They both have very similar menus, chicken sandwich is only at LC, which I think you would like but the fish is on both menus and it was way better than when we had it last year.

It had a lot of English dishes and I didn't care for the sounds of them and I passed on the fish after last years not being so great. But of course it looked better and everyone who got it love it.