or what kind of IDIOT stands in line for five hours for a ride???
Not me, that's for sure. Oh wait....
Sometime around March we took a family vote on where to vacation. I voted for NYC with a side trip into Canada (where PS is contemplating applying for college). The kids voted for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Studios Orlando. I was outvoted. And Universal seemed like something they should do while young. But I wasn't about to spend my entire vacation inan amusement park. So we planned four days in Key West before heading up to Orlando for a. Purple of days, and then off to drop PS at camp in Georgia.
I carefully planned my vacation around the camp schedules and my trial schedule, trying to stay several weeks out from a big arbitration in late August. Oh, the best laid plans.
When the kids first suggested Universal we had no idea that a new Harry Potter was opening soon. But all the ads said it would open in Summer 2014, so I assumed it would happen weeks before our visit and crowds would thin a bit.
Meanwhile, TT and SS went to camp and I got the dreaded emergency call after SS sliced open her foot and had to go to the ER to be stitched up. 3 weeks before our beach vacay. But kids heal within 10 days, they said. Until we took her to have stitches out 10 days later and there was still a gaping hole in her foot. And 3 weeks and 2 specialists later there remains a gaping hole in her foot. So no water, no sand, no kayaking, no snorkeling, no long walks.
I cut two days off Key West. And added one day at Disney. Because Disney is wheelchair friendly. And no sand. And no water, if you avoid Splash Mountain. Oh wait, I didn't plan for torrential rains. But we just wrapped the foot in a shopping bag and it was all good (it had lots of waterproof wrapping already).
Finally made it to Key West, which was awesome. We stayed in a lovely bed and breakfast with gorgeous grounds. But we didn't have a wheelchair there and couldn't do as much exploring as we would have liked. On our only full day we sent the kids to the museums and DH and I went kayaking through the mangroves. That was the highlight of our trip. It was such a unique experience, with plants and wildlife we would never see anywhere else.
And then we headed back up to Orlando for Universal. TWO DAYS after the new Diagon Alley section of the park opened. Believe me, I would never have planned that. I hate lines, crowds, and people in my personal space bubble. Fortunately, I had booked us in an on site hotel so that we could take advantage of express passes and early entry for the aforementioned reasons long before the grand opening date was released. So we thought the park would still be manageable.
We got up at 5:00 to get in line at 6 for entry at 7. The plan was to hit the new Gringotts ride first and avoid the 7 hour waits that were all over the news the day before. I measure my life in 6 minute increments. I have left multiple doctors' offices due to too long waits. There's not much in life I'm willing to wait hours for.
So we headed straight for Gringotts when the park opened and were in the queue by 7. They told us it wouldn't be operating til 9. But we knew this was our best shot at avoiding an even longer line and so we remained. And at 9 we moved 20 feet and stopped. And then they told us 10. Which came and went. And then 10:30. Which also came and went. But by then we had already invested so much time that we were loathe to leave. And on an ordinary day the kids would just be rolling out of bed so int wasn't really lost time, right? Plus they let us out of line to get snacks and go to the bathroom. Yes, we did have meat pies and Butterbeer for breakfast. If that isn't great parenting, I don't know what is.
We began moving slowly near 11. Which was enough of a carrot to keep us in line. And so didn't load until noon. 5 hours after we got in line for Gringotts. 6 after we arrived at the park.
If anyone would have asked me if I would stand in line for five hours for a ride, I would have said hell no. But I did. Because those little carrots of intel and movement kept us in place. But I am peeved at Universal for how they handled the whole situation (the ride wasn't working, we would have waited less than 30 minutes otherwise). They need to a bit of reading in the Disney playbook. They had a horde of angry customers--people who could have been spending money elsewhere in the park if they had shut down the queue and given us return passes once the ride was up.
Once we finally got on, the ride was amazing. A whole new dimension in roller coaster technology. And Diagon Alley is stunning. The level of detail is unbelievable. If you're an HP fan, it is absolutely worth visiting--just not this week.
Overall, this has not been our best vacation between having to work around SS' foot issue and the insanity of the HP crowds at Universal. I really needed the tropical beachy wind-down time, which just didn't really happen. Oh, and did I mention that I have to take a major deposition they day after I get back. Super!
