Universal's Islands of Adventure: Hogsmeade

Date of Visit: January 10, 2020

Hogsmeade was part of the main reason we went to Universal Orlando. We had planned to visit years ago on a WDW trip, but decided we weren't sure it was worthwhile since we aren't into thrill rides and there's little else to do. As this year's annual family trip included Dad for the first time and we again had the ability to go to other area attractions, we decided to finally just go and stop wondering if it was really worth it or not for us. Ultimately, not so sure it was, but it certainly was better we waited to go and did not go in 2012 when there was only Hogsmeade as this area was the worst part of our visit to Universal Orlando and it was the Harry Potter stuff that opened since then that we enjoyed, especially Hogwarts Express.

The one thing that was a good experience in Hogsmeade was the butterbeer cart, which was an easy way to get some to enjoy.

Mailing ourselves postcards from Hogsmeade was a fun souvenir, but not an easy process. Getting the stamps wasn't too difficult, but only because Mik decided to not go in the shop, which was hard to get into with people selecting wands and as often happens with stores didn't have much room for maneuvering. However, it wasn't as bad as Honeydukes, which really was barely navigable with no people and Mik got mad at me for not wanting to put up with the line myself to buy what he wanted for him (luckily we later found what he wanted over in Diagon Alley where the selection was limited, but had more open space and at the time also had no one else shopping).

Mik and I watched the Frog Choir while Dad was trying to figure out how to mail our postcards, which took awhile as they just said you mail it around the corner from the shop and we assumed that meant you drop it in a post box and not that you hand them to the cashier at what seems more like a souvenir stand than a place to mail something. I thought the Frog Choir was interesting, but Mik didn't.

Overall found Hogsmeade to be a rather unenjoyable due to everything being too compact. Of course, the main reason we had never gone before was that we knew all the rides required a transfer and weren't worth it for us as they're thrill rides. However, I really expected that we could at least enjoy Honeydukes. We did at least easily enjoy some butterbeer and it was a light crowd day, so it could've have been so much worse in terms of navigating through parts.

Destination Info:
Universal's Islands of Adventure
6000 Universal Blvd
Orlando, FL 32819

Universal's Islands of Adventure: Caro-Seuss-el

Date of Visit: January 10, 2020

The Caro-Seuss-el not only has some very unique creatures to ride on, but the wheelchair accessible part is more than just a bench.

Mik usually enjoys carousels even though he just ends up by the stationary bench. The Caro-Seuss-el, though, makes the stationary bench it's own unique experience as it's own Seuss-themed vehicle.

The side opens and there is a ramp to roll into the vehicle. The two seats fold up allowing plenty of room for maneuvering to get in place making this the easiest ride we did in Seuss Landing.

One seat can be folded back down to ride with the wheelchair. Mik even ended up being the one that wanted to go again when they asked.

Destination Info:
Caro-Seuss-el
Universal's Islands of Adventure
6000 Universal Blvd
Orlando, FL 32819

Universal's Islands of Adventure: Suess Landing

Date of Visit: January 10, 2020

While we visited Universal Orlando to experience the Wizarding World, our favorite area ended up being Suess Landing. Not only were there three rides Mik could go on without transferring, but there was fun things from different Dr. Seuss books to discover.

McElligot's Pool 

Horton Hatches the Egg

One favorite was The Street of the Lifted Lorax with the truffala trees.

Whale - If I Ran a Zoo

Best find was the photo opp where Mik could actually roll into the sidecar.

Destination Info:
Universal's Islands of Adventure
6000 Universal Blvd
Orlando, FL 32819

Universal’s Islands of Adventures: The Cat in the Hat

Date of Visit: January 10, 2020

The Cat in the Hat ride was a fun journey through the story of the classic Dr. Suess book.

Dad and I enjoyed the quotes from the book that were on the walls in the queue. Mik did not because we read them aloud.

However, Mik did still enjoy the scenery of the queue.

As expected once at the front of the line we had to wait for the wheelchair vehicle to come around, but at least that meant the lead was there to load when it did. Getting Mik's wheelchair into the vehicle did end up requiring lifting it some as there is barely enough turning room to roll in and position to allow the tie downs to be placed and door closed. Definitely something Mik wouldn't do again, but it still fun to do once.

Destination Info:
The Cat in the Hat
Universal's Islands of Adventure
6000 Universal Blvd
Orlando, FL 32819

Universal’s Islands of Adventures: One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

Date of Visit: January 10, 2020

As Dumbo is a favorite of mine (and would probably also be for Mik if it was accessible as he enjoys the Magic Carpets of Aladdin), it seemed fitting that our first ever ride at Universal was One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.

The queue was easy, especially since there was no line. Discovering how they handle loading was a tad annoying, though, as when we got to the front we then waited as the ride went half full twice before the lead arrived for us to be able to load. I would hope that if this area ever is crowded they have a lead per ride and not the one that ended up being for multiple hence the wait for her at each we did.

Mik was excited that it was a red fish that was designed to slide out and have a ramp to roll onto.

The sliding in part was somewhat problematic. At first they had his chair seemingly too far back as his armrests bumped into the low part of the back of vehicle. Then they moved him too far forward and his knees were a problem. We were able to get it right eventually, though. (I think the first time would've worked fine if Dad had just listened to me and took off the armrests). I really did appreciate that they cared to keep trying to make it work because one reason Mik is always hesitant to do the Triceratops at Animal Kingdom because one time we tried they insisted he had to use a park wheelchair instead of letting us try to make it work without a transfer.

We also liked that we got to ride next to each other instead of behind him like on TriceraTop Spin or in front on Magic Carpets of Aladdin. Now seriously, though, why didn't they make Dumbos bigger or whatever needed to have a wheelchair accessible one when they expanded???

Mik was afraid to lean forward to be able to control the fish, but it was easy for me to reach and he enjoyed going up high and using his camera during the ride. Staying up the whole time also seemed to be one way of avoiding getting wet even though we didn't pay enough attention to really follow the song to stay dry.

Destination Info:
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
Universal's Islands of Adventure
6000 Universal Blvd
Orlando, FL 32819

Walt Disney World: Magic Kingdom - Main Street Trolley Tracks Trick

Date of Visit: 2018/2019

Back in November 2018, we noticed for the first time that there are parts of the trolley track that have rubber in them to make them easier to cross over. They mostly line up with the cutouts on the sidewalks of Main Street. Not sure if they've always been there or not, but they sure make it easier to ensure the casters don't get stuck, so we now will go out of our way to use them.

On our May 2019 trip, we didn't find them at first. We later figured out that the rubbers are removed for the trolley show and they aren't necessarily put back between shows. It seemed the shows were mostly in the morning and then the rubbers were in the tracks in the afternoon.

Destination Info:
Magic Kingdom - Main Street Trolley
Lake Buena Vista, FL

2019 Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival: Fourth & Final Visit

Date of Visit: May 6, 2019

On our last visit to Epcot together this trip (I went on my own on the 7th to do rides Mik doesn't typically do), we finally got over to the penguin sculpture near Living with the Land.

We started at Taste Track with the Violet Blueberry Vanilla Croissant Doughnut, which was tasty, but makes us miss the savory croissant doughnuts we've had at the Epcot International Art Festival.

Next we enjoyed the Sugar Cane Shrimp Shewer from La Isla Fresca.

One of our favorites was the Crab and Cheese Wontons from the Lotus House in China.

In China, we also enjoyed walking around to the Zodiac Garden to see all topiaries representing the 12 zodiac signs.

Mik finished with the Toasted Pretzel Bread at the Bauernmarkt in Germany, which was another of his favorites.

Destination Info:
2019 Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival
Lake Buena Vista, FL

2019 Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival: Third Visit

Date of Visit: May 5, 2019

As we got to Epcot before the food booths opened at 11am this day, we started by going through the gardens in the United Kingdom while the World Showcase was still pretty much entirely empty. The English Tea Garden is interesting in that it has the different plants that are used in different Twinnings teas growing in teacup shaped pots.

What we found most interesting, though, was the Shakespeare Garden. This area had signs with lines from different Shakespeare plays along with the plants mentioned in the lines.

For food on this visit, we started at the Northern Bloom in Canada. Mik had the Seared Scallops, which he thought were okay. He liked my Maple Popcorn Shake more.

Next at the Flavor Full Kitchen, Mik enjoyed the Cookie Butter Worms and Dirt, which ended up being his favorite beverage this year, while I had the Citrus-poached salmon.

We tried the Smoked Salmon Stack at Arbor next, which neither of us liked much mainly because it seemed too salty.

Mik enjoyed the Grilled Sweet Corn on the Cob from Trowel & Trellis as our final stop this visit. We ended up with two cobs because the guy serving them said they were small.

Destination Info:
2019 Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival
Lake Buena Vista, FL

2019 Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival: Second Visit

Date of Visit: May 4, 2019

For our second visit to the 2019 Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival, we focused on the areas at the beginning of the World Showcase. Our first stop was the Citrus Bloom, where we tried the lobster tail, which we liked the taste of, but found hard to get off the shell as tends to be the norm for lobster...

Next we stopped at the Honey Bee-stro. Mik enjoyed the honey-peach cobbler freeze and the chicken flatbread.

Nearby we checked out the Goodness Garden Butterfly House. There's lots of butterflies to see, but not that interesting to us because it just seemed like they were mostly flying by the netting trying to get out.

Next we stopped by the Gardeners Terrace where Minnie's Garden Party is going this weekend only. Here we picked up the button they were giving out and also tried the fried green tomatoes at Arbor, which Mik didn't like, but I got them mainly for me and I liked them except the paprika oil does make them spicy.

Our last stop was dessert from Pineapple Promenade. Mik had the pineapple soft-serve ice cream and I had the desert violet lemonade (sadly my flower blew away as I was carrying the items back to Mik).

On the way out of Epcot to park hop over to Magic Kingdom, we stopped for a photo because Mik wanted one with his Darth Vader socks for Star Wars Day. We were going to do a photo in Hollywood Studios earlier in the day, but we were just done with the park after discovering that we couldn't use our Toy Story Mania fastpass because the wheelchair accessible vehicle was down.

Destination Info:
2019 Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival
Lake Buena Vista, FL

2019 Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival

Date of Visit: May 2, 2019

Every year we talk about wanting to go to the Flower & Garden Festival again. We'll go next year turned into five years since the last time we went mainly because we started doing an annual extended family trip every January (once it was February) and then it just seemed too soon to go again for the Flower & Garden (or we were doing Destination D for our just us WDW trip for the year).

As we started our day in Hollywood Studios with Toy Story Mania fastpasses, we entered Epcot between the UK and France pavilions. After hanging out in the gift shop by the entrance for the rain to let up, we decided to start in France where Mik had one of his favorites from before - the duck confit. We also enjoyed the chilled cucumber soup.

Next we enjoyed a key lime tart and a watermelon cucumber slush (my favorite thing we had today) at Florida Fresh between France and Morocco.

Next Mik had the shredded beef brisket with smoked potato from The Smokehouse in American Adventure. He didn't particularly enjoy it, but we did like the sunflower topiaries with Mickey and Minnie.

After the brisket, Mik was full so we just strolled through the rest of World Showcase making note of what we might want to try later this week. Of course, we also strolled through Mik's favorite part of Epcot - the Romantic Road in Germany.

We also enjoyed checking out the various topiaries with my favorite being Huey, Dewey, and Louie.

Destination Info:
2019 Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival
Lake Buena Vista, FL