***Winter OI Meetups*** November & December, 2023

[ruthies12]

Looking forward to hearing reports of how this weekend went for everybody! I have tickets for the second Dec meetup and have never been to one before.

 

[AuroraluvsPhillip]

I'm interested too, especially with the rainy weather lately.

 

[GreyStr0ke]

I went Friday night and then on Saturday I made the decision to text OI and see if they had any tickets left for that night. They did so my GF and I went both Friday and Saturday.

Friday my GF had to work later than we wanted so we didn't get on the road from West Palm until about 3pm. We were staying at Aventura this night and also had Ruby passes that we wanted to use on Hagrid's before the event started. We booked it to Orlando and by the time we got to Aventura we knew we needed to run to get to Hagrid's. Our friends had arrived a few minutes before us and took the boat from Sapphire Falls. We ended up walking from Aventura and beat them by about 30 minutes. Apparently there was some issue when they docked and were stuck on the boat. Glad we avoided that.

Check in was super easy and took place between Hard Rock and Universal Studios. We were checked in within 5 minutes.

We started at IOA and ran to Hagrid's to try and use our Ruby passes before 7. I had reached out to OI earlier in the day and they told me that the passes had to be used before the event. Well... They didn't. We hustled all the way there for no point. They were accepting the Ruby Passes all night long. Regardless, it was a quick 20 minute wait. By then, our friends had made it and we were off.

After Hagrid's we experienced 0 waits for all attractions. We did Velocicoaster, Kong, Spiderman, Dr. Dooms, Hulk, Mummy, ET, Escape from Gingotts, and Villain Con Blast. We ended up eating at Pizza Preditoria, Thunder Falls, Finnegans, and stopped at a few bars.

It drizzled slightly on Friday, but nothing major.

Total Steps: 17370
Distance: 8.5 miles

Saturday we woke up and went to hang at Disney Springs before heading home. Only we were having so much fun we decided to stay another night and I texted OI to see if they can accommodate us.

On Saturday we ate almost every where and tried to hit up some of the rides we missed the previous night like River Adventure and Forbidden Journey. Again, all the lines were walk on except Hagrid's.

By the end of the night on Saturday I was stuffed beyond belief and had the worst shin splints ever.

It was super comfortable in terms of temperature and we were both in Jeans both nights.

Steps: 22043
Distance: 10.39 miles.

Any questions and I will do my best to answer.

 

[AuroraluvsPhillip]

I have a question @GreyStr0ke . My DD wants to know where the hot butterbeer is served in both Hogsmeade and DA during the event. I've seen trays of it at The Hopping Pot in videos, how about at the Fountain of Fair Fortune? And what about in Hogsmeade? Is it served at the Hogs Head or any carts? Basically I'm trying to avoid standing in line at the restaurants as I don't plan to eat there.

Also are the candy stores open in the WW? Honeydukes and Sugarplum's?

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Last Nov you could just walk into Leaky Cauldron or Three Broomsticks, and they had trays of the various drinks out so you could just grab whatever you wanted. The Fishy Green Ale was surprisingly good! Something I never would have tried otherwise.

 

[MrBellatrixLestrange]

Last Nov you could just walk into Leaky Cauldron or Three Broomsticks, and they had trays of the various drinks out so you could just grab whatever you wanted. The Fishy Green Ale was surprisingly good! Something I never would have tried otherwise.

Fishy Green Ale was my introduction to bubble tea, love that stuff. During one Meetup I actually drank so many I got a stomach ache, somewhere my Mom was smiling even if she didn't know why.