Friday, May 1st.....the rest of our park day:
Ride chicken that I am, I wasn’t sure if we should go with the motion seating or the non-motion seating in Despicable Me.....it had been such a majestic day so far, and I didn’t want to end it feeling icky. The queue was jammed with little folks, though, and they were all being shuffled into lines for the regular seats by the TM (and no parents were looking nervous or alarmed) so I figured I’d take a chance and see how motion-y it was. You only live once, right?
Once inside the building after we bypassed the lengthy line with our Express, it wasn’t long before the fun began. The intro part was so darn cute, complete with Gru, the three girls, an assortment of minions, and a fart gun that smelled like bananas. The minions were HYSTERICAL in the queue where they demonstrated how to (not) wear the 3D glasses....one put them on like a bikini top, the other wore them on his butt (and shook his booty while letting loose an infamous minion giggle). For the ride itself, we were nearer to the back....row 5, if I remember correctly, which I really liked because we were quite far back from that HUGE screen (which gave us a good vantage point). Steve wasn’t particularly fond of the motion and was glad when the ride was over (but thought the story line of the ride was adorable....he’s a Despicable Me fan too) but thankfully, it didn’t bother me much. I was feeling mighty fine as we exited into the gift shop, which was good news because look who was waiting for us!
Best. Anniversary. Ever. I met the Minions!
The dance party after the ride is just a hoot.....Universal has done such a great job with this attraction. The music, the projection of dancing guests on the wall, the lighting....it all works so well together, and creates such a fun buzz. We were also super impressed at how the TM’s kept the meet and greet line moving nice and steadily, getting through everyone in a surprisingly short amount of time.
I had one of those moments where I thought to myself, I don’t care what happens from here on out on this trip. In my heart, it was already a complete success!
We poked around the gift shop for a little bit and noted a few items that we’d pick up before the end of our week as souvenirs (the “Minion Fuel” was really quite novel.....small chocolate bars with banana bits......several of which I brought home as little surprises for my dearest friends, who were not at all surprised that the souvenirs I gave them were Minion themed
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As we acknowledged to each other that we were fading fast, we agreed to head straight to our final park attraction of the day: Diagon Alley. In spite of the weariness that was starting to take hold, our curiosity was killing us and we simply could NOT leave the park without getting a first glimpse. No one said patience was one of our finer virtues
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We didn’t stop to soak up the London waterfront in any great detail....there would be time for that on another day. But we did stop dead in our tracks once we caught sight of this:
Anyone who says Disney is the King of Theming truly hasn’t been to Diagon Alley. For a few moments, it was hard to even move......it was so much to take in, and there was so much to look at, our eyes didn’t know where to go first and our feet almost refused to move. Thankfully (and may I say, rather surprisingly) it wasn’t busy at all and we could have those initial moments of stationery-ness without being trampled or causing a nasty pedestrian back-log.
JK Rowling, you are incredible
. Even with all the photos we had seen and Youtube videos that we watched during the vacation planning process, the entire area was more amazing than we could have imagined.
We stopped at the Leaky Cauldron and grabbed a cold Butterbeer to share.
See? I told you it was really, really uncrowded!
A wonderful TM saw me holding my camera and offered to get a photo for us:
With our beverage in hand, we took a stroll around and tried to soak in all the wonderful little details.
Actually seeing DA in person, we were both even more excited for the chance to devour the area when we were rested and had unlimited time at our disposal. Sunday could not come soon enough!
With the Butterbeer drained (and our energy too), we headed out of Diagon Alley.
We had reached....and perhaps, exceeded....our energy limit for the day, so we tiredly headed to the park exit and then to the garage to fetch our car. It was time for a nice anniversary dinner followed by a much deserved soaking in the hot tubs at the resort. I let Steve make the final decision on where he would like to dine for our celebratory meal, and he decided to go big.
VERY big!
Hash House a Go Go is next.
. Stay tuned, more to come!
) so I shooed him along as he protested...weakly. Today was our actual anniversary....22 years!!....and I think he was worried that I’d be iinsulted if he admitted that yes, he wanted to ride something that I didn’t. Very sweet, but so silly. GO, I told him. I was happy to explore the New York area with camera in hand, and the posted wait was only 10 minutes anyway. We set a meeting place, and he entered the queue while I took a stroll.
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. We slept like babies that night, though! 
. I'm the boring practical one!!
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. Neither Steve nor I can wait to repeat our couples getaway in October, especially knowing that we get to do a family trip at Christmas.
