The food is so good at Thunder Falls Terrace!
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Oh, yes, I should have mentioned that. It was every bit as good as it looks!
There was no line and they were loading up the trays so you could just grab one without ordering. Without thinking about it, we each grabbed one. That was silly and wasteful as most of us only ate half our food. We should have split them.
But it was super yummy!
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Your pic and rec definitely makes Thunder Falls a must do tonight.
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I’ve read and by the pics would confirm that the food at Thunder Falls is essentially the same stuff they have at Three Broomsticks, minus the butterbeer and substitute other treats like that key lime pie. If so, it is very good stuff.
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That was what I was guessing. And minus the crowd! Butter beer is fairly easy to obtain at carts when there is no payment involved.
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DC1 and DC2 had arrived separate from us at the event and been doing…MIB and Simpsons, I think?
They had planned to take the Hogwarts Express over to meet us for dinner at 8pm but what with the rain chaos, we were done eating before they arrived. DM decided to sit and wait for them while the rest of us scampered off to JP River Adventure. So fun to do in the dark! We were glad we were dressed to get wet and had changed into flip flops, leaving our tennies with DM.
(Note: As expected/hoped, everything was pretty much a 0-10 minute wait after 7pm, except Hagrids.)
DC1 and DC2 were just finishing eating when we got back. Switched back to tennies, and headed for Hogsmeade.
The line for the butter beer cart between Hogsmeade and JP was fairly quick throughout the evening whenever get we passed. DS16 and I grabbed 4 glasses to share while the rest caught the end of the frog choir, and then we headed to Forbidden Journey.
Next was Ollivander’s. We were with 3 people not in our party, one of whom was full-scale robed out and delighted to be picked for the wand ceremony (so it was hard to be disappointed none of us were-he was obviously WAY more into it).
But Ollivander sprinkled us with pixie dust (is that allowed at UOR?). He pulled the twins aside, asked their names, “Oh, I was wondering when you’d get here!”, and went through a slightly different version of the wand ceremony for both of them! He even did this sweet thing that their wands have heart strings from the same dragon so they should always be loyal to each other. 
DS11.1:
DS11.2:
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I’m so glad you had a wonderful time!
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That’s fantastic! How cool for them.
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That is so cool!
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The twins had a great time on Forbidden Journey. We had promised we’d let people starting opting out in intensity of rides when they stopped having fun, so we pressed everyone to all go on Hagrid’s in spite of the indoor queue.
But yeah, Covid is barely on the radar at UOR. Maybe 10% are masking.
When you enter from the parking garage, there is this nonstop recorded message from a woman with a (very vaguely British?) accent reminding everyone that masks are not required if you’re fully vaccinated. If not vaccinated, they should be worn inside. Also, maintain physical distancing from other parties and wash your hands.
It just comes across to me as very “dystopian sci-fi future” to me instead of actually instructive or helpful.
The 7 vaccinated in our party of 9 built a distancing “bubble” around the twins as much possible. There were 2 sections of switchback that we couldn’t do much more than center them dead center from either side, but I felt mostly ok with the rest of it. We were able to skip a large chunk of switchbacks at the very end thanks to DM’s “chariot” so that was a bit of a relief. But basically it meant I was watchful the whole queue. Instead of catching up on posting to y’all. And this is all about y’all, right? 
Lots on tape on the ground still that most everyone ignores (just like Disney). No efforts to social distance between parties despite random ongoing reminders throughout the park from the dystopian future lady. Why do people insist on aggressively edging forward in a fully inside queue during a global pandemic? I mean, it’s one thing to keep getting bumped by the couple behind you, but at one point I got bumped by someone from the party behind them?
If I felt any more definite about the twins being higher risk, I would be bailing on it, I think. But I have to give them credit that they aren’t complaining about masking, even though few other kids are. And they know what “get back in your bubble” means. 
Ok, enough lamenting on that!
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Everyone absolutely loved Hagrids. So clever and well worth the wait!
By the time we got off, it was about 11:15pm.
We jumped on Hippogriff real quick (shortest ride ever?) and then we caught the Hogwarts Express back to Kings Cross and jumped in line for Gringotts. The queue looked so interesting, we may try to linger some there tonight.
That ride was lots of fun too!
By this time, it was after midnight. All the restaurants had closed at 11:30pm but food carts and such were still open.
We swung in and grabbed another round of butter beer. Then hit a couple food carts near MIB for churros, pretzels, chips, popcorn, and corn dogs.
And…it started to pour again. We were able to grab a couple of benches and wait until it mostly kept up. Then it was back to the car, full and exhausted and happy.
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We got in around 1:30am, so it was good to sleep in until around 9am. Then rousted everyone up to go to brunch…
So yummy! Then it was back to the room for a nap before heading back to Universal!
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you are killing it either your food organization.
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Love Homecomin’!!!
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Wow, I wish I had a crew to share food with to try it all!! It all looks soooo good, I guess DH and I will have to make many trips to try them all. 
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Finally, someone recognizes it! 
So glad you enjoyed your time at Universal and that brunch looks heavenly!
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When I come to stay 6-8 weeks in FL, let’s eat together!
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Yessss!!!
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I really have no plans to visit Disney Springs on my upcoming trip, but I keep seeing those deviled eggs and I need them in my life! Maybe on our rest day.
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Worth the trip.
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