The Tale of the Grow Walk ….Hunh? DCL Magic and WDW Review

[jenseib]

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We bought our tickets and headed in.

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It was nice to be back at Universal. We last were here in 2012.

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Shaggy and Scoobie.

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[jenseib]

[B][SIZE="4"][COLOR="Blue"]Claire wanted to go ride Despicable Me right away but the line was long so we thought we would try that later before we left.

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The funny thing is, Skip said this was his favorite park in Florida and then started asking the way to this ride and that….each time he named a ride I would say….that’s at Disney World. LOL!

Transformers was new since we had been here last so we headed that way.

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It was closed for repairs at the moment but they did have one out for a meet and greet. This guy was huge.

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[jenseib]

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We kept moving.

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Claire wanted to stop here, but Skip said no. This was one of Claire’s favorites last time, but Skip hated it.

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And then I saw it….It was behind walls yet and no one knew at the time when it would actually open but it was predicted to be early summer….Diagon Alley.

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[jenseib]

[B][SIZE="4"][COLOR="Blue"]I got all giddy and excited to see peeks of it.

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At this time I had no clue that in about 4 ½ months I would be back in Florida and spending a day here.

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It really looked good!

We had a goal and were going the long way around for some reason….there it is across the lake.

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More of Diagon Alley.

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[perditax]

Hi there. Thanks for posting this. I've clicked around in the thread a bit but there are so many pages and so many pictures it usually kills my tapatalk app. Can you tell me if there is any cruise-related stuff in this TR yet, and what page # I should be looking on? Thanks in advance!

[jenseib]

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It looked like it was going to be fabulous and I couldn’t wait to see it when it was finished. I was so happy that I did get that chance in August. They did a wonderful job.

On we went.

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Oh, …and we all wore pants today since we were heading back to cold Ohio…..and it was quite warm here and I regretted wearing them pretty quickly.

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The wait was not long at all. In fact much shorter than it was our last trip. Universal was much less crowded than Disney had been and I was glad for that.
We LOVE the Simpsons ride and it was a top must do while we were here.

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[jenseib]

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We love the warped sense of humor with the jokes.

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We had a blast as usual on the ride…I think we only rode it once, but we might have gone right back on again…I just can’t remember.
The Simpson area had been built up too since we had last been here so it was neat to see all the new things.

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[jenseib]

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[jenseib]

[quote name='perditax']Hi there. Thanks for posting this. I've clicked around in the thread a bit but there are so many pages and so many pictures it usually kills my tapatalk app. Can you tell me if there is any cruise-related stuff in this TR yet, and what page # I should be looking on? Thanks in advance![/QUOTE]

The bottom of page 24 starts the cruise portion. if I could edit on here I would post it on the first page...sadly they don't allow that here for some reason.

[jenseib]

[B][SIZE="4"][COLOR="Blue"]We also really like the Men in Black ride so we made a dash over there.

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I put my bag in the locker.

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We rode it and had a blast. There is a certain time where they tell you to press the red button and if you are the first one to do so you earn a lot of bonus points. I was the only one who remembered this and waited for the right moment and hit it and won the points. This brought on tears from Claire. It was no fair and she should’ve been reminded to win.

We exited with the baby, who was pouting and headed off to the bathrooms and had a seat for a few minutes.

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[jenseib]

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I was now getting hungry. That breakfast was long gone, but Claire was still pouting so we agreed to go on one more time. And then Skip hit the red button. WHY on earth would he do that when the whole reason we went back on was to let Claire win. She was tired and at her last straw from this trip and I was trying to make her pleasant so she wasn’t crying on the whole flight back. UGH! Men!

So we get off with her crying once again and she wants to ride again and I tell them they have to go as I need food. Skip says he doesn’t want to go and argues about it. I got to the point that I said he could deal with her crying but I am getting food and he then decided to take her back one more time.
I went off in search of something to get rid of my headache.

Of course I took pictures as I went.

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[jenseib]

[B][SIZE="4"][COLOR="Blue"]
I caught a glimpse of Krusty!

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And Sideshow Bob!

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These guys cracked me up.

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[jenseib]

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Yes I was looking for food.

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I thought about stopping and getting a Flaming Moe, but I didn’t….wish I would have now.

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Inside there are several options of food places to order from.

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[jenseib]

[B][SIZE="4"][COLOR="Blue"]And the lines were massive for all of them. It actually was into another room to get started. I just couldn’t wait that long.

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I believe this was Luigi’s only before the refurbishment.

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I headed outside to see if something out there would be faster….I really debated on donuts.

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[jenseib]

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I settle for here!

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The line wasn’t too long…it wasn’t fast, but it was better than inside at least.

While in line I saw my favorite Movie props.

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I made my order and waited for it to be done and then found a seat.

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It really hit the spot and I was back to being nice again.

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[jenseib]

[B][SIZE="4"][COLOR="Blue"]As I waited for Skip and Claire I took some more Back to the Future pictures.

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It seemed to take forever for them to come over to find me. (I had Skip’s phone by the way…ugh). I guess the line had gotten much longer this time around so it took them longer to get through it, but at least the tears were gone. But they were hungry too. They didn’t want tacos so we moved on to find them something different.

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Skip got Claire some nuggets and I sat with her at the table while he went to find something for himself.

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We spotted Doc off to the side talking to people. How exciting. I don’t think I have ever seen him here before. I took this picture with my phone and posted it on facebook.

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My friend Cass replied “Great Scott! Someone needs to empty the trash can”! LOL.
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[jenseib]

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[jenseib]

[B][SIZE="4"][COLOR="Blue"]
After everyone had a full belly we decided we better get in line for Despicable Me so we worked our way there.

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A Dora spotting…at the time my niece was still really into Dora…I think now at the mature age of 5 she is growing out of her a bit.

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Transformers was back up and running but we just didn’t have time for it now.

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[jenseib]

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We got in line, which I believe was over an hour wait if I remember right.

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Once you get inside there are still a few more waiting rooms. This was supposed to be their house.


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From this room we went to another room and then into our loading area. The ride, which is like a simulator but all in one room, was fun. We enjoyed it a lot…however I don’t think I would wait in a long line for it again.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/B]

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[B][SIZE="4"][COLOR="Blue"]After our fun with the Minions we did a bit of shopping.

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We were in there for quite some time trying to find the perfect shirt for me and something for Claire. I also bought a magnet. Skip sat outside and waited for us.

Sadly it was time to go. We had to fill the car up with gas yet too.

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We made our way to our car and started out to the airport. I said something about getting gas in the area and Skip said no, let’s just wait till we get closer. DUMB idea!!!!!

The crying now began. Claire did not want to go home…neither did I, but I told her we would do something again and be back. But then she cried because her dad doesn’t always go with us and he needs to do a long trip with us. He told her he would do more trips, but it wasn’t helping. She was very over tired and just worn out from a long trip.

We saw no signs for gas stations along the way and the next thing you know we are pulling into the airport. We turn around and look for one down the road….the cost of gas was about $8 a gallon…I kid you not! Skip said get it and I said no and he said get it and I made him pump and pay. I was so disgusted that this place can get away with charging so much for gas.

With the tank full of gas that was more valuable than gold we headed off to return the rental car. We were a little behind schedule but if security went ok we should be ok.

When we returned the car a porter asked if we needed help with our bags. I was surprised when Skip said yes. I was also happy. The guy was really nice and asked how our car was and we told him how crappy it was. He said “Well you had a Versa or a …..(something else). Yep we had the Versa!
He took us to a different checkin counter for Southwest. He said it was busy upstairs and not many people know about this location. It had just a few people in line and before we knew it we had tickets in hand and off to head through security.

I don’t remember much about it, so it must’ve not been too bad. It’s always busy, but it seems like I didn’t complain much about it.

With that done we hopped on the monorail.

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We decided we better eat something since we will be getting in pretty late to Detroit and settled for McDonalds.

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At some point we lost Skip. I forget why he left us but it took him awhile to come back and we both were getting annoyed at him wandering off. He did this a lot on the trip and I was sick of staying put to have him find us or just wondering where he went.

We finally headed to our gate. There was another flight before us there still and looking at the monitor it was scheduled to fly out just 5 minutes before ours. I questioned it and was responded by grumbles. Why am I worrying about that? Just go to the gate. Well I am not stupid…2 planes cannot load at the same time and our plane can’t pull up and load in 5 minutes.
We chatted with some people sitting in the area who were waiting on the first flight. Evidently their plane had technical issues and another plane was being brought in for them.

As time grew closer (Not long really) they were getting ready to board but no word for us yet. I went to the desk to question it and they told us that we would be boarding after….ok, sounds good.
Then the talk started around the area that our plane was being used for this group and we were now delayed. Then word got out it would be a couple of hours and we were to go to another gate. Finally it was announced (and my email notification came). I was pretty annoyed by this. I know it happens, but I just wish they could’ve figured it out earlier and sent the emails out so we could’ve stayed another 2 hours at Universal.
It was crowded but we found a seat with plugs and Claire and I plugged in and she played on her kindle while I worked on editing pictures from my Disneyland trip.

Skip was sitting in a different area and just dozed off.

Finally we were ready to board. The flight crew was annoyed as well as they were kept in the dark till the last minute as well.

We boarded and soon were in the air. Claire was at the window and I was at the aisle, with Skip in between us. Drinks and snacks were served and then it went completely downhill from there. Claire had her drink on her tray and I have no idea why but Skip whipped his hand around and Claire’s drink went flying. It completely spilt all over. All over her lap, some on his and somehow even some on mine. I passed the napkin over and caught the flight attendant’s attention and she brought us some paper towels. Claire started crying because she was soaking wet. Skip was not taking blame at all. He just kept saying it was an accident and he was wet too, but you could tell by the way he was acting that he felt it was her fault when she did nothing wrong but have her drink on her tray. We cleaned up the best we could…nothing like sitting almost the whole flight wet with sticky pop and we heard the people behind us ask for towels too as it spilled on them as well. It was like this cup had gallons of liquid in it. Well hearing that the people behind us got wet put Skip in a mood. What I call acting like a baby. He sat and pouted the rest of the flight and refused to talk to either of us. Seriously??? It was an accident and Claire was over tired…give her some slack. Evidently he was over tired too.
When we landed he didn’t say a word but got off the plane and just took off. Claire and I had to go to the bathroom so we bee-lined to one down the hall only to find it closed…so we went further down and were only about 20 steps away and a guy tells us it was closer to go to the one around the corner. I told him we didn’t care, she really had to go and we were fine, but he insisted that we not go to this one. Good grief. So we go around the corner…and it’s closed!
So we head down to baggage claim and Claire is about to pee her pants she has to go so badly, but we beat the crowd and were fine.
When we came out the line was stretching out the door.
We have lost Skip, but I assumed he went outside to smoke. I call my dad to tell him we are waiting on bags.
We look outside and don’t find Skip but come back in to find him and the bags. He is still grumpy and quiet. He takes off outside and we keep waiting for dad and Skip keeps yelling to tell him we will walk to him. Oh and it’s snowing, and freaking cold! Claire and I have sweatshirts on but Skip is just in short sleeves. I call my dad and he tells me he is waiting but no one is around and no one is coming out. What? Then he tells me he is at the Delta terminal….NO!!!! We are at Southwest…a completely different building, which I think is a few miles away.
So Dad makes his way towards us and Skip starts walking. Claire and I follow….both of us whimpering about the cold and snow. The sidewalk ends and Skip still keeps walking. What the heck is he doing???? Then he stops when he can’t go any further and waits and starts to complain he is cold. Well duh. Dad finally comes around and we load in the car and Skip pouts a bit on the way home, but he does warm up and talk to dad after a bit.
It’s about an hour or so to get home but with the snow it took a bit longer.
When we arrived Skip and Dad brought bags in and then Skip went directly to bed. It was late and much later than we had planned to be home, but that is just the way it goes with flying.

The next day Skip was fine and I started the laundry and putting everything away. I enjoy traveling with him but coming home usually annoys me as he is always in such a hurry to get home and back to work.

He has stated several times last year that he wanted to go to California this year, but now that this year is here he has not committed to anything. A lot is going on here right now, so I understand why he can’t totally commit yet, but as of yesterday we are no longer going to be in the dairy farming business. Milking cows are being sold. He and his brother just are too tired of all the work involved and getting older and their bodies are not young anymore so they have decided to just raise cows …but not milk anymore.
He won’t commit till after that sale is over and things have calmed down…..but I still think he could give us an estimated timeline. All I got was sometime in April, May, or June….and then he said summer another time….Yeah, that doesn’t help with the planning at all.

And that is the Tale of the Grow Walk…….
I will add some final thoughts later…..[/COLOR][/SIZE][/B]

[jenseib]

My thoughts on this trip!

Well…First off it was MUCH busier than I expected. I did expect it to be busy but it was just insane at WDW. I did do quite a bit of complaining about the crowds, but we still had a good time and did some new things or different things than we normally do. I however will probably avoid going that close to Easter in the future.

 

I was not a fan of the magic band or the My Disney Experience. It does seem to be getting much better now a year later and hopefully Disney will continue to tweak it but it does seem like every step forward leads to 2 backwards before they fix things. The biggest issue is not everyone has a smart phone or even uses a computer so it can be really hard for some people. …My brother in law is contemplating going in a few weeks…and he has neither and is not tech savvy. If he does go I am going to have to give him step by step instructions for everything and I will have to set him up an account and pray he can understand the FP’s, etc.

 

Even though the trip was fairly long, it still seemed way too short and I still didn’t do all I had wanted to or wished to do. I have heard people say they are ready to go home after a trip, but I never have that feeling. I really think I could spend a month easily there and still not really want to go home.

 

I have learned that my body just can’t go go go like it used to and I could use a nap each day. I really did feel tired more often this trip than I have in years past. That didn’t stop me though, but if I stayed longer I could get more rest without feeling like I was missing out on something.

 

The cruise was great. I really think Skip enjoyed it too. We have begun some talks of an upcoming family cruise like we did in 2012 and Skip actually seems like he wants to go. When I mentioned it recently to him he said if it’s planned for this year then that would be the vacation we go on verses Disneyland, which I keep trying to get him to commit too, but it sounds like now it may be 2016. Until DCL releases the dates and itineraries we can’t make a solid plan on that, but ideally we all seem to want to have a longer cruise…5-7 days. I know most of the family does not want to do WDW along with it but if I can work it out I would like to either throw in the Halloween party and or the Christmas party.

 

We had a good time at Sea World and just an OK time at Legoland. I probably will skip a few years before going back to Sea World again and not sure if I ever will go back to Legoland. Distance is a factor there too; it is not close and for us, just not worth it. Maybe when Gracie gets older I will change my mind on that and rethink it.

 

A year ago I was on the Magic (We boarded Mar. 28) and I am really feeling the itch to get away. It’s been a blah winter and I just need some sunshine. I was very fortunate to travel 4 different times last year and I don’t see it happening again this year.

I made some great memories with my family, earned a certification and got some extra relaxation last year!

 

Thanks so much for reading a long and sharing our experiences. I am taking a slower break from the boards now. I will still be reading when I can, but I just can’t seem to keep up as much anymore and keep up with work and life. Am setting some weight loss goals this year and I really need to focus on that rather than play on the computer in my free time. I will most likely write a TR for my next trip, but I am probably not going to start it right away so that I can get it pretty much close to ready and completed before I start posting….that way I don’t feel the pressure of posting on a regular basis.

 

Thanks again!