Disney Trip Day 2: Harry Potter, Holyland Experience, and Arriving!

I woke up Saturday morning to find Rain wrapped around me. She wasn't awake. I slide her off of me and went to go make some tea. I was watching the sun come up when two hands slide around me. Vince and I watched the sun rise together while drinking tea and talking softly about past family vacations.

After drinking some tea I went for a quick and relaxing bath. I totally forgot that I wouldn't have a knife with me on vacation but thank goodness for suites at hotels that do have knives in the dishwasher! I was able to slice into my bubble bar, bath melt, and part of my bath bomb. It felt soooo good and smelled even better. I promise a Lush Haul + Reviews is coming shortly!

We went to Denny's and since Vin and I are such nerds we both ordered off of the Hobbit movie menu they had for the new movie coming out (It's now out!). We tried to enjoy our meal while the woman behind us complained about everything; how expensive cigarettes are in Florida, how expensive gas was, how everything is overrated in Florida, how her daughter doesn't listen. She wouldn't even acknowledge her daughter who was barely 5. When the stupid woman told her daughter to hand her the sweetner on the table she screamed at her that if she didn't get the right one that she wouldn't get to go to Sea World. It was ridiculous. My blood was boiling. Plus her daughter kept trying to get her mom's attention. Her mom was obnoxiously loud and sounding a lot like the people I don't like in my life. The woman kept telling her daughter people were looking at them because her daughter was misbehaving which was crap. It was because she was rude, loud, and annoying.

After we left there we headed straight to Universal Studios Orlando, which is NOT owned by Disney! The only thing at Universal Studios that is owned by Disney is the Marvel Comics and they pay a hefty price for them to have them there. Yes they are close in distance but Harry Potter is not owned by Disney!!!! And please do not get it confused with Hollywood Studios! (Off soapbox now)

Vin is a HUGE Harry Potter fan. Yet he had never been to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! He was excited to use his Universal Studios Gift card one his best friend had given him as an early birthday present knowing Vince was going there. The first we did was ride the Dragon Challenge! Vince was awesome riding this. The crazy idiot literally just let his hands dangle the entire time.

Afterwards it was to the ride called Flight of the Hippogriff near Hagrid's Hut! I swear Vin was mirroring my excitement of Disney here at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! He couldn't get over everything! After that it was to the castle! This was our view on the Hippogriff ride.

So we start going towards The Forbidden Journey which is inside Hogwarts. Vince spotted the butter beer cart. He downed two of them (trust me that piece of information will come in handy.)

The Forbidden Journey is after the walk through of the castle. The ride lets you out into Filch's Emporium of Confiscated Goods. Vin of course had to buy a couple of shirts and some other souvenirs like coffee mugs and several Hogwarts Christmas ornaments. He went over the entire store twice. Vin was like a kid in a candy store all morning! Ok so we did go to a candy store but we went to Ollivander's Wand Shop before Honedydukes. In Ollivander's Vin was very excited to watch the wand show where a child gets to experience the wand choosing! Vin got 4 standard wands and then bought 7 of the collector character wands (and trust me you do not want to know what that cost him!). After that we went to Deverish and Banges next where he bought more souvenirs like throw pillows, house robes (him and his daughter Rain both got one and insisted I get one as well), he got a journal with the Hogwarts crest on it, a tie, two scarves, and a quill. I had to pull him away from the Monster Book which is battery operated... I did buy me a Hogwarts sweat shirt. I am a nerd like that.

Owlry is where I spent some money. I bought postcards, stamps, and wax and seal kit. I think it will be fun to have a Harry Potter party in the future.

After the Owlry Vin and I both had to use the restroom the great thing about the Harry Potter bathrooms... Well you never know who is going to talk to while you are pottying! That's right! Moaning Myrtle will talk to you while you potty!

I did let Vince go into the Three Broomsticks for a cold butterbeer. He was terribly excited and bought them in a souvenir mug. I am throwing this out there, if you ever visit the Harry Potter museum in the UK like I did over the summer and you buy butter beer in a souvenir mug, it's the same butter beer and the same souvenir mug.

I was quickly dragged into Zonko's/Honeydukes. And if I thought he was bad at the other stores... Well let's just say I understand why he withdrew so much money before we left and I am equally glad he had a gift card...
At Zonko's we didn't really buy anything. We bought two jars of U-No-Poo candies, and two Pygmies Puffs (1 Pink named Elsa and Purple named Anna).
Zonko's is connected to Honeydukes. Honeydukes is the sweet shop.
So I asked Vin what all did he get at Honeydukes:
Clippy's Clippings
Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans 4 packs of them
5 Chocolate frogs
2 boxes of Peppermint toads
1 Exploding Bon Bons
Honeydukes hard candies 1 jar
2 packs of Fizzzing Whizbees
Tooth Splintering Strong Mints 1 can
White chocolate skulls
1 jar of pepper imps
Ton Tongue Toffee 1 box
Blood Pops 3 of them
Acid Pop 2 of them
3 Sugar Quills
Candy Floss
10 Pumpkin Juices (Yes he spent $50 alone on juice)
I bought the pumpkin pastries and a cauldron cake. He bought a piece of the treacle fudge. Odette, my best friend bought Hagrid's rock cakes.

So we left after that. We completely left Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios! We were getting closer to Disney World! We made a stop at Holy Land Experience!

Now if you have never heard of this place it's great to go with your family. It's TBN's park. It has shows and replicas of the Holyland.

I had been before with my family but we had never been at Christmastime. This place has Chikfila sandwiches brought in to their park and it's a meal you can get as oppose to all the Mediterranean food on the menu. There is one thing I do not recommend at this park. The Scriptorium is not worth the wait. I have never seen the line for this short and there is a reason for this. First the exhibit is how the Bible has evolve (look wise) over the years. The reason why the line is so long and the wait is forever. Is because they only let 15 people go in at a time and the doors are timed. It's very boring especially for children and the adults that were excited about the exhibit grow bored. It would be a lot better if they would just let you wander through the exhibit instead of having timed doors.

Now the kid section is great. Go inside the replica of Noah's Ark or get inside the belly of the whale like Jonah. There is a place to post testimonies. You can get baptized by "Jesus." One of the things I enjoy and one of things we did was have communion with Jesus.

They also have a wax museum with scenes from Jesus's life.

They also have The Wilderness Tabernacle that shows the priest's life after the slaves were released from Egypt. It's very interesting and fascinating.

We had lunch at the Holy Land's and watch the Christmas show "The Fullness of Time Has Come." It was very interesting. It even kept Rain's attention who isn't even 4 yet.

We left there and we were on our way to Disney World!!!

I think we were all laughing and smiling knowing that this the best trip to come! It was very exciting!
We checked in and got our room numbers and we went straight to our rooms.

When I put my Magic Band up to the door and it flashed green I'm pretty sure I blacked out because I was hauled backwards by Vin. He lifted me up and carried me into the villa. The reason this is so funny is because when I showed him my house that is being built he picked me up and carried me onto the foundation. Therefor he is carrying me across the threshold.

My surprises had been placed in the room already. I had originally planned to buy a tree from Memories by Betsy but decided against it and just stick with traditional Disney Gifts and Florists. I know it would have been cheaper to have went with the other but this was a special trip for Little Miss Rain. It was her first trip to Disney World and I was pulling out all the stops. This Christmas tree stands at 4 feet tall. It had 18 ornaments on it and was prelit. My favorite part was 6 of the ornaments were Disney picture frame ornaments! These are now perfect ornaments to remember this trip by each Christmas to come!

I also purchased some other things from Disney Gifts and Florists but that's for a different magical day!

So we unpacked and made our way to our first park visit. Hollywood Studios!

We hadFast Pass + for Fantasmic. It's a show on some nights at Hollywood Studios. Now I will say DO NOT get a Fast Pass + for this. It really is a waste. I did not know that this time, however, I still made the best of it! I got Christmas Popcorn bucket for us to share during the show. Since I was constantly being pulled on or poked by either a 4 year old or 11 year old I did not get any good pictures of this.

After that we had Fast Passes + for Toy Story Mania! It is the most sought out ride at Disney World. If you do not have a Fast Pass for this or if you don't get there early when the park FIRST opens you will have to wait over 90 minutes to ride this. No ifs, ands, or buts. It's a lot like the Toy Story Mania game for the Wii. It's a 3D ride in mania house cart and you get to shoot at things. It's so awesome! The line is even toys blown up to feel like you are Toy yourself!

After that we went to the Streets of America where the The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights takes place each year in Hollywood Studios. The lights dance to Christmas music and it snows on the streets! Yep snow in Florida!