Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Tuesday
15 Nov 2016

Today we did three less steps than yesterday. 21,391! Most of today was just wrapping up loose ends, making sure we saw everything we wanted to see, and shopping for anybody we wanted to buy gifts for (including ourselves). It was a leisurely day, we got up at 8a again and had the usual breakfast, I got frustrated trying to post the blog from the day before (typical!).

First order of business was to do the minion ride, the only one we hadn't done the day before. We entered the park and walked into 'Production Central' to get to 'Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem' where you get turned into a minion on a 3D motion car ride. It was cute but the ride itself was a little jerky. When we left the ride and got shuffled into the store there was a minion there waiting! We were happy to pose for a photo, of course.

Next we checked out a big ship with Hello Kitty items, among other things, and when we exited we found Hello Kitty herself! We have had great luck unintentionally running into these guys. We also ran into Universal's Superstar Parade and boogied down with Dora & Diego. We also saw the float yesterday in Hollywood and a man tried to give me a hula hoop, I told him I haven't been able to hula hoop since 1995 and he busted out laughing. 😂

Now we were in New York and we started to hear singing.. it was 'Sing It!', an a capella show that attempts to be like a riff-off from the movie Pitch Perfect. It was interesting, the singers were good but I was confused at first because the main girl was making hardcore bitch faces, I thought she was upset because her mic wasn't working or something but it turned out she was acting mad at the main guy because they were doing the riff-off thing. 😂😂🎙🎶🎤

We rounded the corner after the show and what did we run into in San Francisco?! Another show, 'Beat Builders'! They are a group of guys who play tunes with only instruments made from things you'd find at a construction site, and they're only wearing construction vests and tight jeans 😍👌😘 They were very impressive, I enjoyed the show vey much. They called up a volunteer, Kailey from New Zealand, and she was HYPED about it, she was funny. And the guys really were good musicians and good showmen.

Back to Diagon Alley to ride 'Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts' again, it's really great! I enjoyed it even more the second time. We sat in the third row (of three) so our feet were dangling because they have the seats stadium style so you can see everything. MARVELOUS ride!!!

We also stopped for some ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour. Em got Earl Grey & Lavender and Apple Crumble, I got Chocolate and a divine Salted Caramel Blondie in a waffle cone! We sat under Gringotts to enjoy it while the dragon blew his fire right above us. The Butterbeer flavour is definitely tempting but you can't mix it with anything so I left it for next time.

Traveled down Knockturn Alley again where I took more photos and some low quality video. I also took some photos of the spell spots on the ground. These are interactive areas of the park where, if you have purchased an interactive wand, with a flick and a wave(and of course the right words) you can make things happen, such as turning on lights or making drinking fountains work. The ultimate HP experience!

We boarded the train and Em got photos and video of me passing through the brick wall to get to platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station. I loved every second of it and the ride to Hogsmeade. It's all really incredibly well done.

Hogsmeade was the first HP park and is always (at least in Em's experience and my opinion from the three days I saw) crowded as all get out. We did the Hogwart's Castle tour (you basically just walk through the line and then exit before getting on the ride) so that I could take some pictures (if you're riding you have to put your things in a locker). This is also well done, they included the talking portraits on the wall as well as Dumbledore's office and a classroom.

After the castle tour we got the heck out of Hogsmeade and headed to Skull Island to ride Kong again. Our wait was no more than five minutes or so with express and this time we sat on the RIGHT side of the car (previously we were on the left). I enjoyed the ride MUCH better the second time around, so if you ride it once and arent impressed, give it another shot.

Lunch time! We walked through Marvel Super Hero Island to get to an Auntie Anne's, we just couldn't resist the smell of those pretzels and we didn't want a huge lunch. We satisfied our appetite and watched some birds chirp around for food. Em sacrificed a pretzel and they rudely flitted away! I'm sure they ate it after we left.

There was NO LINE to see spider man so we ran to meet him and he was from MICHIGAN! I think. He got totally geeked when we told him where we were from and made the mitten with his hand. He also talked about how he misses the Northville Cider Mill so much! ♡♡♡ He was really awesome and totally wanted to talk to us all day. He was my favorite character to meet!

Just down the street we saw that Dr. DOOM was out, he did NOT appreciate my Gryffindor sweatshirt and booed and hissed at us. "Slytherin is where it's at," he said. Silly Dr. Doom.

Next we went back to Seuss Land so that we could find the Lorax for EZ, he's her favorite character! We were just looking for a statue and not only did we find that and a whole little land, we also found the Lorax in the flesh! Well, in the fur. I was so happy that i did a happy dance and then he did one too! He kissed my hand and my cheek and we took a photo together where we are both on fleek 😉 (sorry, I really wanted that to rhyme 🙃)

Across the street from the Lorax were two of my mom's favorites, the GRINCH and Cat in the Hat (and Thing 1 and Thing 2) as well as someone the storyteller called "Sam", I can only assume he is 'Sam I Am' from Green Eggs and Ham. We had a very gleeful photo session before Em and I headed back to HP one last time.

In the midst of saying goodbye to Diagon Alley, we encountered yet another show! It was none other than Celestina Warbeck and her Banshees. They sang a few songs and brought a very uncomfortable man on stage who ended up really coming out of his shell, his daughter was beaming the entire time. It was adorable! We bought our last items and headed out. 😭

When we ate dinner at Toothsome Chocolate Emporium we had taken a gander at their shop and decided we had to go back. Now was the perfect time! Em got her mom some incredible looking chocolates and we each got a delectable birthday cake macaron for later. We weren't too hungry for dinner yet so we went back to the hotel and began packing, then headed back out to City Walk for one last meal. I was still craving this magical sounding cauliflower burger from Hard Rock so we went there. Unfortunately that menu had ended the day prior and I assume they had still been out of cauliflower anyway so no worries. I got the nachos again and they were just as delicious and just as hard to finish as the first time. Em got a pulled chicken sandwich and we both got chocolate Ben & Jerry's shakes for the walk back (which were covered in hot fudge and amazing - but not as good as Toothsome!).

After the excitement and accomplishments of this day AND the last two we could barely stand any longer so we went back to the hotel and Em read & I wrote the majority of the previous day's blog before passing right out. Goodnight!