A trip more than worth the wait!- Updated 5/4/10 Complete

[DISWolves]

Will try this next August when we are at RPR. Food looks amazing!

 

[izzie-wizzie]

The food looks great

Have only been to Hard Rock Cafe - so might keep this in mind for another trip

Hard Rock Cafe is one place that we never got a chance to visit - so its defo on our to do list!

 

[wicket2005]

Thanks for the update, I enjoyed reading it. We usually stay onsite at universal fir the holidays and are still trying all the restaurants at Citywalk. We will try the LatinQuarter in June if we can. We did try Bubba and Margaritaville this year. Both served delicious meals.

 

[izzie-wizzie]

Thanks for the update, I enjoyed reading it. We usually stay onsite at universal fir the holidays and are still trying all the restaurants at Citywalk. We will try the LatinQuarter in June if we can. We did try Bubba and Margaritaville this year. Both served delicious meals.

Thanks for Reading! We tried Bubba's for lunch, it was so delicious and fun!

So for the next update - our day at Universal Studios! Thurs 22nd Oct. 2009


We were up early again this morning - we wanted to get to Universal Studios before it opened to hit the rip ride rockit rollercoaster first to try and avoid any big wait.

Generally most days we got to a park before or for opening - especially for Disney and Universal parks. It was one of the main tips I got from the DIS and even though it can feel very early when you first get up, it is SO worth it for 1. the quiet park and 2. making the most of your time in the park - especially in October where many of the parks are closed fairly early! Im definately another ambassidor supporting getting to the parks before they open!

Anyway, this was the first day we tried the hotel complementary breakfast which was basic but it was ok to grab some toast and cereal which was enough for us most days really - but it was a bit of a hassle getting a table / squeezing through the tiny room.

We were in the line at Universal ten mins before park opening - success! That walk from the car park to the park seems so long with the long walk-way - but it was nice to see City Walk during the day as it had been so dark the previous evening - and it was a totally different atmosphere!

We definately picked the wrong queue to wait in to get into the park, it went sooo slow in comparison to everybody else We finally got in and were so excited to get on RRR but as we were heading towards their, I spotted Scooby Doo! We made a little detour over to Scooby, but rather than just stopping to get some pics - Scooby Doo took my hand and stole me away!

It was so funny - but quite handy in that we 'skipped' along to the entrance of RRR! so we got our photos (and some with Woody Woodpecker and Curious George who was there too!) before heading in the queue at last!

In the queue we all (apart from Scott) began to get quite nervous! Apart from EE yesterday we hadn't done any big coasters yet! Well we were just about two from the front before they move you from the queue section to the loading section when the ride breaks down.

I've heard alot about the teething problems of the ride and I suppose I was kinda worried this would happen. So we waited and waited and waited some more. Until it was nearly an hour since we'd entered the park. They were advising people to go elsewhere but we decided to just wait and see what happened. Well there was probably only about 20 of us waiting now when they admitted defeat that the ride wasn't going to be open soon and gave us all FOTL passes for that ride later in the day (they didn't actually sign the passes for valid for RRR at first - and as we got our stuff from the locker i noticed the pass said 'no entry for RRR' but others had noticed and a member of staff were signing and validating the passes for the ride).

So, where first?! The Mummy - we needed a thrill and cheered up.

There was a very little 10 minute queue which went by so fast - I LOVED the queue area for this ride. although some point (i can't remember which) gave me SUCH a fright, I screamed so loud!

The ride was great as well! so from here we headed to Kidzone to see if ET was opened admiring the Delorian from Back to the Future

ET wasn't open and as it turned out many of these attractions didn't actually open til 11am but we did get to see Barney hanging out here.

So we mozyed on over to The Simpsons which was just amazing - who doesnt love the simpsons! I was so blown away by everything in this area. First i saw the Kwik E Mart and ran towards it - so excited

Then round the corner was Homer - there was no chance of us calming down anytime soon, the bother at RRR had slipped our minds and we were just happy to be here and knowing that when RRR opened again we would have 0 wait!

After the Simpsons ride we went on MIB - really great queue area, horrible ride! I don't know what it was but we were so underwhelmed! We actually joked about it for the rest of the trip because it was so bad for us.

We then walked a little closer to RRR cause they were putting round some empty cars but no, it was still closed. So we rode Shrek and Nickelodeon 3D. Shrek 3D was alright, as was the Nickelodeon ride - but the part on that ride where they make you dance was so funny!

Leaving this ride (in the back of its gift shop) i met one of my favourite cartoon characters - Spongebob and then we made a 'build your own spongebob' toy - which is essentially just a spongebob Mr Potato head - such a cute and fun idea!

From here we were all a little hungry and decided to have some lunch sitting outside the Simpsons ride to take it all in. The guys had Turkey Legs and the girls had hot dogs.

I really wanted a Squishee too but they weren't selling them that day. Those Turkey Legs are hillarious though - they are just soo big!

We noticed as we were waiting that RRR was open again and people were on it So even though I'd just had far too much fizzy juice to be on a rollercoaster off we went - the nervous feeling was back - even though i knew i'd love it. We got there and got to go in through the back AND were given the front 2 rows! which sure sounds great but the thought of front row was a little scary but I knew i'd regret not doing it. So i picked my song (i selected this SO fast! i was so worried the big lap bar thing wasnt on right an kept pushing it down - of course it was safely on, but i was just nervous!) I chose MC Hammer can't touch this and I really really liked this ride! So much people have slated it online but i personally don't agree with the criticism I thought it was fun!

The queue for the ride by this point was about 90 mins no way we were waiting for a reride.

Then (I think) we headed on ET, another great ride. Then we rode The Simpsons again, and then worked our way from Jaws to the exit.

We got SO much wetter on Jaws than we expected! It was also a little scarier than I'd expected too but so awesome!

And the queue for Disaster should have a warning - not worth the wait! ok maybe thats a little harsh... it was ok - but we did have a very long wait for it.

Twister was a little TOO packed with long, pre - 'main event' videos for what it was worth. Or it felt this way anyway as our feet were all a little sore.

In hindsight i wish we'd used this time to see one or two of the shows at this park - I really regret not seeing the horror make up show in particular.

It was then that the park was closing - U.Studios was closing a bit earlier when we were there due to HHN. but IOA was open a couple hours after U.Studios closed which we weren't expecting as we assumed they both would close at the same time or if anything IOA would close earlier!

This was great as we had hoped we would have time to go there to ride the Hulk at least once as it would be a few days til we would be back here and this was one of our main rides we were all looking forward to. Around late afternoon we had accepted we probably wouldn't have time to visit IOA so discovering it was open later was very exciting and none of us really believed it til we walked through IOA gates!

We all headed straight for the Hulk which had NO queue atall! we went on it about 3 times that evening, as well as going on Storm Force Acceletron and Spider man.

The Hulk - WOW one of our favourite coasters and was worth the hype, but it did throw your head around a little at times which hurt! but it was worth it!

Spider man - it has to be another WOW. I was not expecting this type of ride at all, its difficult to even describe what this ride is like - but the effects and everything are so unique and amazing. I'm not a particular superhero fan or anything but I loved the themeing too!

So IOA was closing now and we were all Thrilled-Out!!

We managed to get a table at Pastamore as we left the park. I didn't take any pictures here but the meal was alright, nothing spectacular to write home about - there was no atmosphere and the service was ok - nothing bad by any means but not as impressive compared to the other places we visited during this trip. I had a sea food pasta which i expected to be creamy and it really wasn't so perhaps this would affect my judgement on the food - again it wasn't bad just not amazing, which many places on offer are in City Walk and in Florida overall! Although they did serve a really good Rose Wine which finished off our day perfectly

After the meal we just walked about for a little bit then headed back to the hotel. Another AMAZING day - and we were all just so tired out! So we needed our sleep for the next day, one of the parks I was most looking forward to:

Coming Up Next: Day 3, Disney Hollywood Studios

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Another great day - I'm just not brave enough for the coasters - I did go on EE once but boy was I

My family just laugh at me!! (and make use of my fastpass!)

 

[izzie-wizzie]

Disney Hollywood Studios - Friday 23rd October

After a quick breakfast in the hotel again, we headed straight for Hollywood Studios in time for park opening - and we were all expecting a big rush for Toy Story Mania! We joined the park opening crowd about 10 mins before the pre opening show. Which was a cute little show, but the crowd was very squished together.

So we hurried straight to TSM when the rope dropped and managed to get there and on one of the first rides of the day - completely just walked on! This ride is just amazing and FUN - totally can understand the hype about it now I've ridden it. Toy Story is one of my favourite films anyway so it wouldn't have taken much for me to enjoy it but all the little touches from the movie were just amazing.

We got off - all totally in love with this ride and then headed to ToT and RnRC - neither had a rediculous wait - both around 20 mins, but we grabbed a ToT FP, while riding RnRC standby (with the aim of using the ToT FP once we rode RnRC)

I was looking forward to RnRC as I had loved it in DLRP and enjoyed the little differences between it and the Paris version.

I was sooo nervous to go on ToT! And i will try and get the ride picture uploaded soon - but i just look terrified! Our FP wasn't up yet, so we rode standby - meaning we could FP it straight after as a reride. After I had been on it once it was ok but that first time just scared me so much

We then headed back to Toy Story Mania and manage to grab FPs for later in the afternoon. Whilst here we enjoyed the Pixar themeing. and even saw Luxo Light do a little performance which I just thought was amazing but surprisingly we were the only ones who stopped to admire it!

We then went to meet Woody and Buzz! the queue to meet them was filled with great photo ops. This one was my favourite:

We got to meet Woody and Buzz which was great fun - we all enjoyed meeting the characters more than we expected. Just shows meeting characters isn't just for the little kids

From here we decided to go on the Tram Tour. We were just entering the queue and a CM comes and asks if we want to volunteer for something. I immediately say yes on behalf of my party at this point they are cursing me not knowing what I've let us all in for! and in honesty i had no idea either...

Well turns out we'd be actors in the 'harbour attack' special effect demonstration for everybody and OMGosh it was one of the funniest things ever!! I would loved to have gotten a copy of this but it was one of the best moments of the trip and I think we all did a GREAT job!! Even if we did get soaked (esp Roy - the engineer who could hit with goodness knows how much water!)

Luckily everyone enjoyed it and in the end were glad I'd volunteered us - phew!

The tram tour was a great chance just to relax a little from a great morning!

We left the ride and went to meet Monsters Inc characters who are just at the exit of the Tram Tour:

We then went on the hunt for the Cars characters for Scotts sister who loves Mater. It took us a little while to navigate our way around that part of Hollywood Studios but we soon found Luigis garage and met Mater and Lightning.

We then looked around a couple of shops before heading to Sci Fi for Lunch.

I had the Cheeseburger and an Oreo Cocktail - Delicious!

This place was great - we shared the peanut butter chocolate cake for dessert aswell but it was a little dry - tasty all the same - unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of this.

I enjoyed sitting in the car and the service was great here. My only complaint was that this restaurant was freezing! Really just too cold.

Anyway from here we went on Star Tours, and unfortunately the Speeder Bike which you can sit on wasn't there Scotts brother in law is a huge star wars fan and i'd told him all about this after seeing it on the Dis - after asking about the 3rd CM about it, who actually knew what i was talking about - we found out that it was away to be cleaned. Roy was a bit gutted by this but I tried to reassure him that we'd be back in a week and a half and there was a chance it would be back by then (fingers crossed - luckily it was there when we went back near the end of the trip!)

After Star Tours we went to see Muppets 3d which had really good 3D effects in comparison to some we'd seen before which I thought were a little blurry (ITTBAB at AK and Shrek at Universal - but this might be to do with wearing contact lenses?) - and then we used our FP for TSM

From there we went our seperate ways - the guys went to see the stunt show (which me and leanne had both saw in Paris and weren't desperate to see it again) so me and leanne went to see the little mermaid - which I loved!! It was so lovely and the effects were fun! We just managed to catch a show aswell so no wait!

Before we met the guys (as their show was longer) we had time to grab a FP from RNRC for us all to use later before Fantasmic and whilst there we rebelled and got some (temporary) tattoos .

So we met the guys and were able to catch a show of Indiana Jones and then go on the Great Movie Ride.

By this point we had to go straight on RNRC then it was on to Fantasmic! I would have liked to have got to the Fantasmic theater a little earlier but we still got a decent seat and had time to grab some popcorn - we were all still a bit full from lunch to have anything else.

We sat and watched Fantasmic - which was just Fantasmic!! I can totally see why it would be scary for some little one's but overall i was blown away by it! I almost wish we'd had the time to go see it again during the trip. When I'd first started planning this trip there were only meant to be 2 showings of Fantasmic a week (this changed to everyday) and I'd many people on the DIS recommended not to go too out of your way just for this show - well if anyone who is reading this has never seen Fantasmic and considering giving it a miss - Dont!! Ok ok i know its all a matter of opinion but asides from Wishes, this was our favourite show in Disney It gave me goosebumps!

We took our time leaving the park, and it was quite cool as the park was empty and we got some cool pics of us and the hat at night. I also picked up a Minnie Mouse flask which i've been using for tea on my way to uni in the mornings. Scott was also really happy with the light up drumsticks he'd got earlier this day from RnRC gift shop.

Coming Up: Photopass Pictures from Hollywood Studios

 

[izzie-wizzie]

After not finding one photopass photographer in our first Disney day at AK we were already considering whether to just give up on the whole Photopass idea. But we found quite a few today and decided we'd just be majorly on the lookout and go for it.

Heres some of the best ones from this day.

Coming Up : Day 5 - Typhoon Lagoon and MK Wishes Dessert Party - I can't believe it took us so long to go to MK!

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

I always wondered how the 'actors' got picked - so how lucky were you!! I hope they gave you a towel to dry off

Sounds like another fab day - again, I haven't been Sci Fi - just never fancied it - but reading a few reports it sounds like fun - something my DD would enjoy.

Looking forward to some more.

 

[irishdancer86]

hey really enjoying your trip reports, love the photos, your itinerary is really similiar to me and my bf's going in july, can't wait...your calendar is a good idea...i've been reading the park maps before bed for months now!!!

 

[DISWolves]

We are hoping to Sci-Fi next year - thanks for the warning of the temp You certainly covered a lot in a day

 

[wicket2005]

Thanks for the updates I enjoyed Reading them.

 

[buzz for boys]

I only just found your trip report and its fab !!!
I love reading about citywalk at night as thats something that DH and I alwas say we would like to do but got a good few years till our kids are old enough to be left - Im still picking up tips on the best places to go though

Cant wait to read more

 

[izzie-wizzie]

A huuuggee thanks to everyone for reading and posting to my TR!

I always wondered how the 'actors' got picked - so how lucky were you!! I hope they gave you a towel to dry off

Sounds like another fab day - again, I haven't been Sci Fi - just never fancied it - but reading a few reports it sounds like fun - something my DD would enjoy.

Looking forward to some more.

Luckily the big blue suits we were given to wear were enough to keep 3 of us dry - but Roy who 'played' the engineer (who gets the big bucket load of water on him) was soaked through!

hey really enjoying your trip reports, love the photos, your itinerary is really similiar to me and my bf's going in july, can't wait...your calendar is a good idea...i've been reading the park maps before bed for months now!!!

Have a great trip

We are hoping to Sci-Fi next year - thanks for the warning of the temp You certainly covered a lot in a day

I can't believe how much we managed to get done and it didn't feel like we were rushing / commando style at all after we did TSM in the morning - we were just lucky I guess that the crowds were so low!

Thanks for the updates I enjoyed Reading them.

Thanks for reading

I only just found your trip report and its fab !!!
I love reading about citywalk at night as thats something that DH and I alwas say we would like to do but got a good few years till our kids are old enough to be left - Im still picking up tips on the best places to go though

Cant wait to read more

Plenty more City Walk shenanigans to follow! It really is great there at night!

 

[izzie-wizzie]

Saturday October 24th - Typhoon Lagoon

After a good nights sleep we got up all refreshed after a tiring first few days.

We decided to visit Ponda Rosa breakfast buffet beside our hotel by Wet and Wild for breakfast before we headed out today. When Scott and Leanne were in Florida as kids they ate here a lot and consequently bigged it up majorly.

Well maybe it was the inch thick dust on the counters where the food was being served, the disgusting tea and coffee or the bad service (I could go on but there really is no need - you get the picture) but this place was soo bad - obviously its went downhill!! I couldn't believe the queues to eat here when this was all it was..! We actually found a place called Sizzlers about 5 doors down, with no queue, and about the same price as Ponda Rosa (again it was a breakfast buffet, same idea as ponda rosa) but it was significantly better there!

Anyway after a not so great breakfast we headed towards Typhoon Lagoon - we were only able to scheduled in time for one of the Disney Waterparks for this trip and after much consideration TL was agreed upon - majorly because of the wave pool.

We got in, got our lockers, and roy got some new flip flops after forgetting his.

We managed to get a great spot by the wave pool and set our towels down before going to explore. It was really pretty here. Luckily we had plenty of sun cream on - today was actually the hottest day of our trip and im quite sure it was up there in heat records for October in Orlando.

We started with something light and a go on the lazy river.

Well... Lazy Til I ended up in the waterfalls...

We then did some of the flumes where we could all fit in the raft before heading to the wave pool

The guys then went on the big flume, i can't remember its name, but big flumes like those just scare me so much!

We then did the Crush n Gushers which were all great! Then went to the Shark Experience, which was amazing! soo cold when you first get in but you get used to it real quick! The first time was good to get used to it - but we saw much more the second time and I got a little freaked out but felt so brave afterwards

We then had one more go in the wave pool... well i sat out and sunbathed for most of it and just enjoyed the little beach area and the sun and my own peace and quiet for a little while.

hehe.

We then got packed up and showered, great shower / dressing areas there. Went into the shop so I could pick up a pin and then headed into the car for our first trip to MK!!

Next: Our Afternoon and Evening in MK!

 

[izzie-wizzie]

After our great morning/early afternoon at TL we were off to MK for the first time in this trip - and for Roy and I, the first time ever

I was sooo excited that finally we'd see the castle - the essential symbol of WDW! I really can't believe we'd done so much stuff before we came here!

Anyway the only aim for today was to enjoy the dessert party - the rest of the time we would just go with the flow, take our time, relax, chill out. It was a Saturday and MK was going to be pretty busy (we'd planned to return again on a quieter day)... anyway - you can be the judge on how 'easy' we took it (or not)

We drove to the TTA and chose to take the monorail to MK

Oh my gosh the castle is getting closer!!!

And then we went through the gates..

I'll just mention now my little sunbathing session gave me hillarious tan lines which are so noticeable in the dress I was wearing! oh well We all have rosy cheeks in the pictures!

Anyway we were taking our time enjoying all the sites for the first time, taking pictures and such.

We were SO hungry at this point too as we hadn't ate since breakfast - but we had decided to wait til now to eat - having a late lunch/early dinner would be good for us as we could make the most of the desserts at the party without being full. We decided to eat at Caseys - id read about it on the DISboards and it seemed like a great CS to head to! So off we went!

This next picture is when we FIRST saw the castle, I was actually tearing up at this point as i was just beyond happy, the sun was shining, I was in MK and I was there with the love of my life!! Roys face in the background of this picture is hillarious as he's looking at the Castle in awe!

So in Caseys we all went with the hot dog/fries and shared a bucket of corn dog nuggets

What i didn't realise about Caseys - and what I absolutely LOVE about it, is the location - when we were sitting outside, we were just looking at the castle - just right in front of us! Really just Perfect!

The food there was yummy too! I would definately go back.

We did try to just stop / savour / relax... but there was so much to do here that we hadn't done before!! So we went up closer to the castle , half watched the dream along with mickey show and half took some more pictures

Dont quite know what Scotts doing here - but check out his own little mickey ears!

Continued in next post...

 

[izzie-wizzie]

Once we were able to tear ourselves away from the Castle we headed to Frontierland - Splash Mountain was nearby!

We picked up FPs for BTMRR and joined the giant queue for Splash Mountain which took about an hour. The FPs for Splash were all for later on at night and we were all really excited about riding it and wanted on it ASAP. It was one of the few waits we actually had in Disney though, as we were usually at parks for rope drop / FP utilising pro's thanks to the advice on here! The hour went by fast anyway and all the little things in the queue were great and we just said for about an hour 'wow its amazing here!'

Splash Mountain.. well amazing! I sang along and actually got really scared just before the big drop! But after the first time its really not as bad as it looks! All the times we went on this ride we realised in the big drop - rows 1 and 2 get wet, but rows 3 and 4 dont - however, its just luck if you get wet with those cannons at the start!

We then used our FP for BTMRR which was dissapointing after being on the Paris version

Walking out of Frontier land we stopped in by the country bear jamboree! Hehe cute show

We then managed to walk right on HM! At the graveyard bit, something popped up and Scott got such a fright - i looked after him though! I was really impressed with our visiting ghost friend too !!

As we left HM it was all of a sudden pitch dark! and we just had a little while til we could get in to our dessert party. We explored tomorrowland a little, and grabbed a FP to do Buzz after fireworks and also rode the TTA (i dont know why but i loved that ride!)

So we headed to our desserts and got an amazing table that had been covered with mickey confetti! heres our pics from the party

Being able to watch wishes, with a great view, a glass of milk and a cookie, not in a big crowd of people and cozied up was amazing Wishes was beyond my expectations.

After we were all done here, and full of desserts, we went on Buzz (I won )

Queued for far too long to get on Astro Orbiters (but it was fun, if a bit SCARY! )

Went to see Monsters Inc, which was hillarious and Roy actually got chosen by one of the female monsters who had a crush on him and started singing a new song about roy and scotland.

We then managed to catch the last Stitch ride of the night. What a bizarre ride indeed.

We went through some of the shops on the way out - and i used money i got for my birthday from my grandparents to buy a mickey mouse head charm from uptown jewellers - i was between two of them for so long before choosing but i'm glad with my decision (even if it did break when i got home but Disney Merchandise were amazing about it and sent me a replacement - ill be getting this charm Soldered and everything onto my charm bracelet in the next couple weeks)

Had a little seat beside Goofy before leaving, and kicked myself a little for not making ADRs at Tony's as despite some of the negative responses on the DISboards about this restaurant i just love Lady and the Tramp so much!! I did try to get some online for the days we'd be back at MK but no luck! Next time!

Next : Photopass Pictures from MK.

 

[buzz for boys]

fantastic update!!!

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Great day - I love TTA too - I think because you can relax & have 40 winks

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

Love your report so far

 

[irishdancer86]

i'm adding wishes dessert party to my research list...loving the trip report...hoping there's another installment tomorro to cheer me up on my 1st day back to work after xmas...!