September was a busy month!
We moved into a new office this month at work. I miss the old 100+ history of our last office, but now I have a view of the mountains from my desk!
Its been years but I made it back up to Estes Park for the Scottish/Highland Festival. I really enjoyed the parade, but the rest of the festival is much smaller than I remember it use to be. I think if I go again I’d just go for the parade.
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Favorite Tessa Memory:
Yesterday took Tessa on a long walk…that is until she decided, nope she didn’t want a walk and completely stopped. So I asked her want she wanted to do. She got happy, and lead me back home, and then brought me her toy she likes to be chased around and play fetch with. Oh My Heart! She just wanted to play with me.
And here she is all smiley.
I also started on scrapbooking all my past travels. I have boxes and boxes of mementos and started digging through it. Here are a few pages so far:
Travel
On the travel front, I had a business trip to Florida and managed to spend a weekend at Universal & Walt Disney World! As well as staying with my awesome co-worker Megan!
Universal
I’ve become a pro at doing Universal’s two theme parks in 2 days, so decided to attempt doing it all in 1 Day. I tried 2 years prior, but it was the last day of my trip and I just couldn’t walk much that last day. So this time I put Universal first. This was a smart plan. I spent a full 12+ hours at Universal. I started at Universal Studios and got there before gates open so I was let in 20 minutes early. I quickly made my way to Harry Potter Land. I managed to ride the Gringotts ride multiple times. I don’t like this ride that much, so I think I won’t ride it much in future trips.
Next I took my wand that I got on my last trip, and took the time to do ALL of the spell spots. For those that don’t know, they have special wands that you can use to cast spells, from making it rain from an umbrella to making shop windows come alive. I’ve never spent the time doing this, as usually later in the day there are lines of kids and fans alike trying to get a chance. I had so much fun and just tried to take things slowly for once.
While wandering around I also decided to hop into Florean Fortescue’s ice cream parlour. Every other trip, its been so busy, so I decided “Why not have butterbeer ice cream for breakfast.” It actually was a pretty stupid idea and I threw it away after a few bites. Ah well, at least I checked that off my bucket list.
I then waited a bit for the Tales of Beedle the Bard puppet show. I enjoyed it! I thought about waiting around for Celestina Warbeck, but didn’t want to wait around for an hour so instead headed to MIB and rode that for a few times. I was surprised how quickly I was getting on rides. I had heard that September can be hit or miss because of Hurrican Season, and Universal was as empty as I’ve ever seen it. I managed to quickly get on the Simpsons ride, and then Tilt N Hurl. As it was the start of Halloween Horror Nights, the park was decorated for Halloween as I walked.
It still wasn’t time for lunch yet so I headed to the new Jimmy Fallon ride as I knew its “queue” had some nice seating areas where I could charge up my phone. It was okay. A quick single ride of Transformers before I remembered I don’t really like the Transformer movies. I then headed to The Mummy, my favorite dark coaster at Universal and rode it multiple times until the line got too long. Again I was surprised by how many times I did manage to ride it. I then did single ride line for Fast and the Furious but was disappointed that it was almost identical to the one in Universal Studios Hollywood.
I then took one last look at Universal Studios and hopped in line for the Hogwarts Express. I snacked while waiting in line. After arriving in Hogsmeade (Universal Islands of Adventures) I snapped a few quick photos before needing a break to sit down and actually eat. This was the first travel trip I had after finding out I have food allergies, and I had researched the chicken dinner at Three Broomsticks. It was probably around 1-2PM and so I took a leisurely lunch.
Hogsmeade seemed lot busier than Universal Studios was, so decided to knock out all my spellwork as soon as I could. I then attempted to shop, but then realized I didn’t need anything! (Thank god.) So I went to Hogwarts for the Forbidden Journey ride. This one is my favorite and I love the single rider line as I can easily ride 5-7 times when the board outside might say a 45-90 minute wait. Over and over again I road the ride. When my locker time ran out I left and managed to catch the Frog Choir sing some songs and then the Flight of the Hippogriff a quick 30 second kid coaster.
Needing a break I then head out to Jurassic Park. I was tired, and almost passed up the Discovery Center, but decided to poke my head in. And I then almost cried in amazement! They had the baby triceratops prop out. I watched from above as two kids finished petting it and I ran as fast as I could down the stairs. I love triceratops and had heard of this prop, but never saw it before. I laughed and smiled as I got my photo taken with it.
Happy, I ended up watching the tail end of the raptor birth event, and then headed outside and caught up with the baby triceratops handlers again. I then got in line for the Raptor Encounter. I did it in 2016…and the suit was a bit comical. Now they have Blue, and the suit is a work of wonder, and the staff really are in character. I loved it!
Afterwards, I faced my fears and did the Jurassic Park River Adventure. I hate heights with a passion. And I had to psych myself up to do it. It was fun and I didn’t get too wet. Tired I then ended up in Camp Jurassic…which was a graveyard. (haha didn’t mean to make it a pun.) No one was there, and so I wandered this children’s playground area alone…that was until two girls popped out and started following me. I ended up losing them in the cave system.
Tired, I decided to wait in the single rider’s line for Kong. This was a mistake. The line was much longer than I expected. The people in front of me, two early 20’s something couples, were…awful. I had actually bumped into them multiple times that day. Each time they were loudly playing videos on their phones and being generally rude. I tuned them out. After waiting a long time, we all got seated as “fillers” for the ride. The two girls were sitting next to each other, but the guys were split with me sitting next to one of the guys. Realizing they were friends I offered my seat to the guys so they could sit next to each other. I was just trying to do it to be nice, but one of the bitchy girlfriends started hassling her boyfriend. “DO YOU WANT TO SIT NEXT TO YOUR FRIEND. Hey asshole, don’t be a pussy. Why did you move?” “She asked?” “And why do you want to do the fat dike any favors?” I was in the middle row between this lovely conversation so she was hissing it into my ears. She continued to make fun of her boyfriend and me. (Again I’m not sitting next to them, just between them in rows. If I hadn’t moved, I would have sat next to the other girl’s boyfriend.) The ride…sucked. I figured it would be more adventurous, but it was another “4D” car ride.
After I got off, the girl continued to make fun of me and her boyfriend…not realizing I was right behind them. Eventually, the embarrassed boyfriend saw me and guided them elsewhere. No good deed goes unpunished am I right?
I then quickly ran through Toon Lagoon and made a beeline for the Spiderman ride. I really like this ride and the single ride line is always fast so rode it a few more times. Then I had to make the gauntlet back to the Harry Potter land. After a few more spells I caught the Triwizard Spirit Rally before riding the Forbidden Journey another 5+ times. During the last time the ride froze right as the dragon threw steam right in my face, so I had a lot of time to marvel at its head before the ride was fixed.
When I got out, the night light show was about to begin so I managed to catch it, but at a weird angle. I thought about staying for the next show, assuming it was every 15/20 minutes as it was the previous year at Universal Studios Hollywood, but apparently, they were doing it once per hour. Not wanting to stay as I was about to pass out I then left while there was still an hour of the park being open.
I then caught an uber, not to home, but to Walt Disney World…
Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto and Tiki Bar
Because of course after having a marathon 12+ hour theme park day isn’t enough for me! Last year I got to go to the Disneyland version of Trader Sam’s, but I still had on my bucket list the original at Walt Disney World. So I took an uber to the Polynesian Resort and put my name in for a 1+ hour wait at the Grog Grotto. I had a quick meal at the food court, Captian Cooks, while I waited, and then got in the bar for standing room only.
At first I was a bit sad, but it did mean I got to talk a lot with the delightfully funny bartenders. The big sell of this Tiki Bar is that its magical. Order a zombie head drink (like I did) and ghosts start chanting and the lights change. Other drinks the bartenders might put on pool floaties and swim the drink to you with a bubble machine behind them.
Beyond the zombie drink (which to be honest I mostly just got for the souvenir mug) I also got the Pearl drink, as its a WDW only version. After I finished it, the bartender gave me a glowcube to make it a discoball pearl. Finally, I dragged myself home.
Pool Party
The next day I smartly didn’t do a full day at Walt Disney World, instead opting to relax at Megan’s house, and then heading to her friends for a pool party. The pool was amazing, and I stayed longer than I initially wanted as it was just so relaxing!
Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party
Eventually, I pulled myself out of the pool and head to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. It was too hot to do my Ariel costume (I’ll wear it in October) and instead had my backup as “Vanessa” Ursula’s human form in the Little Mermaid. A few cast members realized who I was which was awesome!!
After picking up my allergy Halloween bag (which was disappointing), and stopping to see the Flag Ceremony as I got Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom cards, I then I headed to Tomorrowland for some rides and for a gluten free chicken burger at Cosmic Ray’s. After a few rides I did the 7 Dwarves Minecart before getting in line to meet Ariel & Eric in human form. I got there right as they went on break, so spent over an hour waiting on the ground for them to return and make my way to the front of the line. Night fell as I waited, but it was well worth it. Eric kept asking if I was there to do harm, and I asked for them to sing for me. It was fun banter.
Afterwards I attempted to get on Peter Pan, but then realize “I don’t like this ride” and bailed after waiting 5 minutes. I then got in a very fast moving line for Haunted Mansion while listening to the lady ghost roast people as they walked by. I managed to come out right as the parade was going to start and managed to get a good spot behind some people in scooters. I don’t normally like parades but they do a good job.
I then raced to knock Dole Whip off my to-do list while then waiting in line for Pirates of the Caribbean. This had a Halloween theme with live pirates within the ride. I got confused and thought I had time to hit up the Big Thunder rollercoaster, but they made an announcement about the fireworks so had to abandon that plan and instead head to the castle. Rain and thunder delayed the fireworks for an hour, which then delayed the final Hocus Pocus Villan’s Spectacular well past closing time.
I then attempted to redeem my allergy tokens, but they claimed it was closed. A group of very angry allergy people then formed a line at city hall and we waited another hour to get some allergy appropriate candy. (If I go again I’m just going to skip this.)
When I left, I was so lost. I couldn’t remember how I got there as the trams didn’t seem to be running anymore, and since I wasn’t staying on site I didn’t know which bus to take. So instead I hopped onto a boat and got taken to the Grand Floridian Resort. It was empty and huge and took a while for me to figure out how to exit. Then Uber took ages and ages, so I was sitting outside at 2 in the morning before I managed to make my way home.
I’m going to simply list out all the rides I rode:
- Space Mountain (Normal)
- Space Mountain (Halloween Themed Dark Ride.)
- Star Tours x2
- Buzz Lightyear
- Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups (Non-Halloween version)
- 7 Dwarves Minecart x2
- Under the Sea
- Haunted Mansion
- Pirates of the Caribbean (Halloween overlay)
I think if I had gotten there at 4 instead of 5 I could have hit everything I wanted to do, but I’m happy what I got accomplished and had a lovely time. I loved seeing everyone in costume and the castmembers are always amazing.
Recommended Reading
Other Blogs
While starting my scrapbooking project I found these articles reminded me of some of my past travels:
And other good articles I read were:
- Best Travel Films of All Time
- Dreamy Riads in MoroccoÂ
- Trips to Book a Year in Advance
- New Orleans EssentialsÂ
- Remote Spas
Audio Books
I’ve been listening to American on Purpose by Craig Ferguson.
Watchlist
TV
On Nextflix: The Good Place Season 2, Friends from College, Alias Grace, Lizzy Borden Chronicles, Travels with My Father Season 2.
On TV: The Good Place Season 3
I really enjoyed Alias Grace, about a woman serial killer who doesn’t seem the part. It is years after she was caught, and she is talking to a doctor but she isn’t a reliable narrator. After that I decided to watch Lizzy Borden Chronicles…which is pretty much a gory murder fest and not historically accurate. High Body Count doesn’t even cover it.
Alias Grace
On the non-murdery standpoint, I was happy that Jack Whitehall did another season of Travels with my Father. Although it was shorter it was still funny. I also watched Friends from College with my co-worker when I was in Florida and it was hilarious.
Movies
On Nextflix: To All The Boys I’ve Loved, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Ibiza, The Road to El Dorado, The Emperor’s New Groove, Mamma Mia, Daniel Sloss.
On Amazon: Double Jeopardy, Agora, Accepted, What We Do In The Shadows, Swiss Army Man
On HBO: Darkest Hour, The Mummy, Victoria & Abdul
Other: Oceans 8
Plus TONS of Halloween movies (will share those in a separate post).
I loved “To All the Boys I’ve Loved”, they did an amazing job! I also had avoided Mamma Mia and finally watched it to be pleasantly surprised.
Road to El Dorado and Emperor’s New Groove were two animated movies I somehow had never seen before which were cute.
I loved What We Do In The Shadows! Really well done and great comedic timing from the wonderful Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement.
Agora, on the other hand, was stunning in a horrifying way. It made me feel bad for being Christian and I had to pause it when the library was destroyed, it made me so sad. Not to mention the end. Holy Crap!
I finally got around to watch Swiss Army Man. I had heard it was darkly funny, but a movie about a crazy guy and a corpse…just wasn’t something high up on my list. It was weird and moving (and not just because of Dan Radcliffe’s dick that becomes a compass…yeah really…)
Victoria & Abdul was weird in that it was based on a true story…a true story we only recently rediscovered. I wonder if the PBS show Victoria will run long enough to cover this?
I watched the Tom Cruise version of “The Mummy”….could they have made his character any more of a dick? I felt bad for the female mummy…she should have been given the franchise.
And I love heist movies so of course I loved Oceans 8.
What’s Next
IT’S FINALLY OCTOBER! I’ll be finishing up my Halloween Movie 3 month journey, doing some ghost tours and pumpkin nights!
I cannot wait!
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