We weren’t sure how the girls would be feeling today, but they woke up set on going to Universal. We made the decision to go (suitably wrapped up in Christmas Harry Potter leggings and lots of layers as it was rather chilly) but just for a wander around as the main thing they wanted to do was buy the interactive wands Santa had promised them.
We ended up making early admission park opening so headed straight for Diagon Alley and to Olivanders for the interactive wand show where a child gets chosen to have their wand selected for them. It’s a lot of fun although I always feel sorry for the parent of the child who is chosen as it would be very difficult not to buy the wand afterwards.
The shop was very busy when we got there but the girls knew exactly what they wanted (Hermione for Polly, Draco for the small one!) so didn’t take us long to get sorted. We then set off to cast some spells around Diagon Alley. Diagon Alley itself is absolutely incredible. The attention to detail is phenomenal and the fire-breathing dragon on top of Gringotts is a must see (and a welcome warm up as it was absolutely freezing first thing!) Scattered around are a series of gold medallions on the floor, each showing a spell and wand-saving instructions for casting it. Each one casts a different spell and they are all a lot of fun. Well, that is if you can get them to work. Our two were less about the wrist action and more about the whole-body dance-move style spell casting, which clearly isn’t the Hogwarts way!! Still, they did eventually get some working and had a great time.
We then went to buy Winnie a t-shirt as the one I ordered her for Christmas never arrived. Now, you may remember from previous trips that Winnie is not the easiest person to shop with, but this time she knew what she wanted as soon as she saw it, and chose her new Slytherin top straight away!
Polly had one request today, and that was to have breakfast at The Three Broomsticks (which we did last time and for some reason she loved 🤷♀️) so after a quick stop at the Knight Bus we set off for the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade on Islands of Adventure.
Now when they designed the islands they clearly didn’t think about what might happen if they added extra rides. Hogsmeade is just a crazy mess. There is nowhere to really queue for one ride, let alone three, and with the ridiculous crowds (which are showing no sign of dispersing) as well as the fact that you have to pass through to get from one section of the island to the next, it was sheer madness! We managed to get our breakfast (we got two adult ones to share but the girls quaffed the lot. Winnie asked why we got children’s breakfast and when we told her they were adult ones she said, ‘well if that’s an adult breakfast I need a Granny sized one!’
After breakfast we quickly decided spell casting could wait for a future visit as the crowds were even bigger now, and left Hogsmeade. We wandered down to Seuss landing, and happened to meet The Cat in the Hat with no queue.
The girls then wanted to play on the little Seuss-themed play area where they spotted the green eggs and ham window was open (it’s never been open on any of our previous visits) so asked to try some. Now these are the children who won’t eat a potato if it’s a slightly different shade of beige to normal, so the chances of them eating green eggs was non-existent! They did eat the tater tots and ham though, leaving Steve the green eggs (we weren’t sure if they had pine nuts in as they tasted of pesto so I couldn’t risk it!)
They also met the characters from the book as we were leaving, which was fun, and spotted Santa again (cue another super-spy photo!)
As they’d only eaten 2 adult breakfasts plus ham (minus green eggs) they were obviously still hungry. Winnie sniffed out the sugar and found the world’s largest candy-floss. The ones on the picture is actually one that they split into 2 for us. Imagine how big it would have been!
Teeth suitable rotted, we walked around the rest of the Islands. Aside from a 45-minute play on Camp Jurassic (we strategically sat ourselves in the sun to attempt to thaw out) all the girls wanted to do was have their photo taken with every prop they saw. And I mean EVERY prop. It didn’t have to be interesting. They didn’t have to know what/ who it was. They still wanted a photo. At one point they even asked for a photo with a bin!! A BIN!! It was genuinely the slowest walk of my life.
We did have a Hard Rock Cafe reservation in case we decided to stay and watch the Christmas parade but there are only so many prop-based photos a mummy can handle in one day, so we set off back to the hotel. We were left a lovely note from our Mousekeeper Said, as well as a Mickey balloon that we are guessing was left by a guest who had since checked out, but it made the girls’ day!
A quick chat about where we wanted to eat, and we decided on either fish and chips or Les Halles in Epcot.
Now this is where we ran into issues. You see, neither of these have a specific children’s menu. This was never an issue when quick service credits were not split into child/ adult credits, but now they are there is nothing for children to order. We were told that we had to use adult credits for our meals. Les Halles eventually backed down and let us have 2 as children’s credits, but Yorkshire fish and chip shop said we had to use adult credits for all meals. That means that the only way to eat there as a family would be to use your adult credits, leaving you at some point with only children’s credits to feed the adults in your party. It seems that there are a lot of things they haven’t thought through before introducing the adult/ child QS split, and short of having to fight your case every time you order from a restaurant with no children’s menu which is a/ embarrassing and b/ stressful on what should be a relaxing holiday, the only other option is to avoid anywhere without children’s menus which seems wrong. The other option suggested to us was to go to front desk to get credits readjusted, but who wants to do that every time you eat (especially as front desk is so busy?)
Anyway, quick service grumble aside we had a lovely (if slightly chilly) time wandering into EPcot. Winnie decided ahead really wanted to meet Pooh bear to tell him her name was Winnie too (no idea why she decided that tonight was the night to do it! If I’d had an idea she wanted to do this I’d likely have washed Polly’s face, so it wasn’t covered in chocolate mousse first!! 🤣)
Tomorrow is a lazy start then Story Book dining with a possible trip to Magic Kingdom, depending how the girls are. Turns out our easy day today actually involved 9 miles of walking so they may need a rest!
#doodleandpegdodisney
Doodle & Peg Do Disney 