Day 10 - US, Last Day!!! Key Largo, Universal and MK in one wonderful just about perfect trip

Day 9/Sunday/IOA/US/IOA again/RPR pool cafe/US!!

We were up and ready to go by 7am. This was our big day doing early entry and the park open until 9pm. Boo and 2DT once again insisted on Cinnabon for breakfast. I was not into it so I told them to hit the road without me and I would meet them at the bridge to IOA on their way back. I planned to grab something at Starbucks at IOA when we got there. About 15 minutes after they left I got a call from them that Cinnabon didn't open until 7:30am so they were waiting (there goes early entry!). I said I would walk down to them. The security guy doing the bag check on the walkway to City Walk was especially conscientious, checking every nook and cranny of my camera bag. What did he think I might have in the teeny tiny pocket that is only big enough for SD cards? Was there a Barbie sized gun or knife in there? The bag has a ton of pockets and he unzipped/unvelcro'd/unsnapped every one of them and totally screwed up my carefully packed bag.

It was really foggy on my solo walk.
Universal Sony_6964a.jpg

I arrived at City Walk to crash the daily meeting of the Cinnabon Lover's Club:


Universal Sony_6969a.jpg

Once the sugar fiends got their frosting fix, we headed to IOA. It was almost 8!!!! We of course missed RD for EE. We entered IOA and decided there was no need to rush. We stopped for some pics.

1384062_57584833.jpg

Finally smartened up and wore my bathing suit under my clothes. Not sure why they have you do these silly poses:

1384062_57619734.jpg

We headed up to Hogsmeade and got in line for FJ. The sign said 20 minutes and it was about that. I think that's perfect because it gives you time to see all of the queue but you're pretty much moving the whole time. We rode FJ once together and then DD and 2DT rode again using single rider while I got a frozen butterbeer - yummmmmmy!

1384062_57584911.jpg

Boo is afraid of the creepy stuff ^^^.

After FJ it was too early for water rides so we took HE over to Diagon Alley (no wait as it wasn't the first train of the day). We got to Gringott's and the wait was 10 minutes! As we were leaving we saw our friends getting in line so we jumped back in and rode with them. L told me how their son little J had been asking for a wand but they didn't want to spend $50 on the interactive one. They had just come from the wand show at Olivander's and guess who got the full "the wand chooses the wizard" treatment? Little J of course. And afterwards the TMs took him off to pick out his wand without his parents. Well of course it was a mega expensive one and they said no and I guess a big melt down had occurred because the wand had CHOSEN him!!! He was not happy! Parents beware - you may not want to see the show if you have a big HP fan in your family and don't plan on buying the wand!

We had a great time riding Gringotts together! Even Little J although he dared to debate me on the name of the Weasley brother who is featured the most during the ride. I told him it was Bill but he insisted it was Ron. Jeesh! LOL. The kids rode in front and we were just behind them. No glitches on the ride at all. Afterwards, we were headed to MIB and they were off to Disaster and Terminator. Boo and G were a bit pouty about not staying together so we decided to all meet to ride the Mummy together after they did Disaster. We got there first and rode a few times without them:


1384062_57586247.jpg

1384062_57586407.jpg



Our friends arrived . They had not been on the Mummy yet. Again the 4 kids took the front row and we 4 adults were in row 2. I know I said this before but it bears repeating - I love this ride and it's even more fun with Mummy virgins. They were loving it and all chattering when it was "over". Muahhahaha. Of course we rode again! For some reason neither of the pictures for this ride are there on my photoconnect and I know we scanned our card because I remember looking at the first pic and it was very funny. 2nd time around we all did no hands together per direct orders from Boo and that is missing too. We went our separate ways after that with maybe plans to meet by the pool if we took a break.

No one wanted lunch so we snacked our way out of US and over to IOA. As we were crossing the bridge under the Hulk I had a burst of courage. Boo agreed to ride if I did. OMG!!!! Too late to back out now! I did it, I rode the Hulk! Me, the original scaredy cat roller coaster weenie. Doing no hands on Mummy like it's nothing and suddenly I'm a daredevil. Of course I was petrified the entire time. This photo probably caught the only second that I'd had my eyes open...

1384062_57592217.jpg
Proof^^^

After a recovery popcorn we moved on and rode Spiderman then headed for the water rides. Again I wanted to drop our stuff at the Barges lockers and start at JP and work our way back. Again I got out-voted. We put our stuff in the Barges lockers and got right in line. Standby wait was 45 minutes! It was kind of funny because we hadn't ever been on the barges when we were dry before. We ended up on a raft with a family who had a daughter who was about 16. She was sitting next to me and when the ride started to move I looked over at her and with a totally straight face I asked "Will I get wet on this ride?". Her mouth opened and closed then opened again but nothing came out. At that point I lost it and started laughing. She said "Oh thank god, I thought you were serious". We all thought it was pretty hilarious.

After 2 times on the barges we went over to Dudley. 2nd time through Boo wanted us to do it no hands and we absolutely did! I may have even cracked one eye open behind my sunglasses.

1384062_57595313.jpg

1384062_57597231 (1).jpg

I confess that when we got to the very bottom of the hill and splashed down, I grabbed on because the impact is a bit too scary for no hands!

Boo was now in full whiny mode because she wanted to get back to the pool to try to catch up with G and family so we dripped our way back to RPR!
 
What a fun day. I have to confess I probably would have waited for Cinnabon too...but I suppose it can be frustrating when you want to get to the park lol. I'm especially jealous of your HE rides. Really want to see that but not sure when it's gonna happen. I'm so impressed that you went on Hulk...I don't think there is any amount of money that would get me on there. Unless I was unconcious perhaps...lol
 
Sounds like a great day so far! I can't wait to spend a little more time at universal in a few years! Hopefully it's still as good!

I am having an issue quoting this morning but can we talk about the interaction with the girl on the water ride! Amazing! Love it :rotfl2:
 
What a fun day. I have to confess I probably would have waited for Cinnabon too...but I suppose it can be frustrating when you want to get to the park lol. I'm especially jealous of your HE rides. Really want to see that but not sure when it's gonna happen. I'm so impressed that you went on Hulk...I don't think there is any amount of money that would get me on there. Unless I was unconcious perhaps...lol

2DT loves HE!!! She would rather ride that than almost anything else (except the Mummy! of course). It is pretty cool, especially the Diagon Alley to Hogsmeade route where you get to walk through the wall and also the ice attack by the Dementors. Hulk was not really that bad - it's very smooth but it is long! I was ready for it to be over way before it ended, lol. I was a bit dizzy and light headed for a minute or so after but not nauseous or anything. The popcorn cured me pretty quick!

Sounds like a great day so far! I can't wait to spend a little more time at universal in a few years! Hopefully it's still as good!

I am having an issue quoting this morning but can we talk about the interaction with the girl on the water ride! Amazing! Love it :rotfl2:

From all the plans they are announcing, it sounds like it will only get better! Kong! A water park! Nintendo themed rides! It's going to be incredible. I have a tentative return booked for Columbus Day weekend to get 1 more use out of my AP but not sure if I can swing the time off for both that and the December WDW stay. Boo definitely can't take time off from school in both October and December. If I go, I'll have to go without her and feel the wrath!!! Whether I go in October or not, I'm thinking I may let our APs expire and concentrate our travel elsewhere until some of the new stuff is open. It's hard to resist when we have APs and the SW companion pass but even with the savings from that, the incidentals start to add up! We have a lot of local plans this summer and we're hoping to head back to Hawaii in 2016 so I need to replenish the travel funds.

The thing with the girl on the water ride was really hilarious. She totally took me seriously and had no idea how to break it to me that I was about to get drenched!
 


...we got back to RPR and since we were all wearing our bathing suits under our wet clothes, we headed straight to the pool. At this point we were famished so we got seats at the tables by the Bula Bar and Grill and checked out the menu. Boo was making a circuit of the pool looking for G but soon came back disappointed. We had missed them because we had spent so much time at the water rides but I was glad that we hadn't rushed back. We can swim in a pool any time but riding the water rides was just as refreshing and so much more fun. I ordered up a Miami Vice and some chicken quesadillas, Boo ordered a burger and went for a swim, 2DT got some type of grilled chicken salad I think. As usual, no food porn but I do have a drink centerfold:

miami vice.jpg

Chicken quesadillas were a bit on the greasy/soggy side and were a disappointment. Boo gave the burger a thumbs up and 2DT said the salad was fine. For pool food it was decent. We missed the boat though because the couple at the next table got the nachos and they looked so delicious and the portion was huge. Next time!

The pool was busy but not close to packed. It was about 5:30pm so a lot of people were probably at dinner.

rpr pool.jpg

We finished our meal and went up to our room for showers and clean clothes. We were headed back to the park (US) by 6:30pm.

First stop, pics at the gate:

1384062_57604339.jpg

We went straight to Mummy as Minions express line was a bit crowded. We spent about half our trip on the Mummy ride, lol. Not sure why we love it so much but it definitely had to do with there being no big drops and no loops but still the speed and fun of a grown up coaster. We had ridden Mummy so many times that it was getting a bit ho hum!

1384062_57604587.jpg


After Mummy we explored some of the NY and San Fran areas of the park. It was pretty uncrowded considering that it was open until 9pm and it was only 7! It was a Sunday night though and not a holiday and no longer Spring Break. We passed many people who appeared to be done in and heading out.

Universal Sony_6972a.jpg




Universal Sony_6975a.jpg


Universal Sony_6979a.jpg

Universal Sony_6970a.jpg

Next stop

Universal Sony_6980a.jpg

to be continued...
 
Last edited:
We spent the rest of our time in Diagon Alley. I had a butterbeer ice cream which was fantastic! Boo loved the wand shop but thankfully none of the wands "chose" her. It was pretty deserted over there - I can't stress enough that you need to see Diagon Alley at night! Little to no crowds, much cooler and the dragon fire is so much better when it's dark!



Universal Sony_6982a.jpg

wand shop:

Universal Sony_6984a.jpg

Universal Sony_6983a.jpg

Universal Sony_6985a.jpg

so much detail in DA!

Universal Sony_6987a.jpg

Weasley's

Universal Sony_6989a.jpg

A practically deserted DA:

Universal Sony_6998a.jpg

We wanted a ride on Gringotts and we ended up getting 2 rides, one of them being the last ride of the night. We didn't need single rider, in fact we walked right on both times. The 2nd ride we were in the last row of the last car and boy does that 5 second delay before the drop seem to last forever when you're waaaaaay up there in the back row! It was awesome. We closed the place and made our way back to the hotel. We decided to sleep in the next morning - it had been a very long and very fun day!
 
Wow, what an awesome day! How great that the park was so empty at night that you could just walk on things!!! The wand shop looks really cool....glad you got outta there without spending $50!
 


Day 10/Monday/Last Day/US and the long trip home

We slept in on Monday. It was our last day and we had already done so much that we planned to take it easy. We woke up, showered and packed up the room. It was quite a disaster - if you've never traveled with a 12 year old girl you have absolutely no idea what they can do to a hotel room in under 5 minutes!! We had called and gotten a late check out of 1pm. We left all our things ready to go in our room and were headed to the park about 10 -after the final meeting of the Cinnabon club of course, even I got Cinnabon (the sticks, not the rolls). We were sticking to US this last day. We went first to Gringotts and the wait was showing 30 minutes. We got into the single rider line. Usually, the SR line is just about a walk on. We were totally surprised to find the line at a stand still well before the steps. After a brief debate (I finally won one!!!) we left SR and got into the regular SB line. In less than 20 minutes, we were on. I noticed when we boarded that the guy we had been behind in the SR line was at the top of the steps waiting for next. He ended up sitting next to me. So, conclusion - SR is not always the way to go. We waited the same amount of time but we got to enjoy the queue and to sit together.

We rode Gringotts for the last time that trip. After that we spent some time in the DA area. The sky was really overcast so not the greatest pics...


Universal2015_6912a.jpg

Universal2015_6947a.jpg

Universal2015_6950abc.jpg


Universal2015_6927ab.jpg


Universal2015_6923ab.jpg

Universal2015_6921ab.jpg

Universal2015_6918a.jpg

To be continued...
 
More Mummy and some more pics:

1384062_57618211.jpg

1384062_57618551.jpg

Universal2015_6901ab.jpg

Universal2015_6899a.jpg


We had lunch at the pizza place in "NY". It was not bad for theme park pizza but then again, we were pretty hungry. The woman in front of me in line at the restaurant counter didn't speak English (she was French I think) and was pantomiming what she wanted by holding her hands a few inches apart then stretching them out to about a foot apart. I may have a dirty mind but I have to say it was hilarious and I was struggling to hold back my laughter. The girl working the counter gave her spaghetti. The woman was confused. Husband showed up to translate and guess what she wanted??? A hot dog.

We wanted one last time on Minion Mayhem so we headed that way. As we got into line we spotted G and family wandering toward us. We were happy to get one last ride all together. Of course J and little J were the unshowered on the screen, lol. After that we parted company and then sadly made our way back to RPR to collect our luggage. We said goodbye to 2DT, hopefully she will come up to Boston to visit us this summer!!!

Boo and I returned the rental car and found the SouthWest counter. It was totally jammed!!! Uhoh. There was a group of what had to be 200 teenagers with chaperons waiting to check in their bags. We hadn't cut it all that close but if we had to get behind that school group we would never make our flight. There was a very short line for those who already had their boarding passes - I had checked in online and not printed ours!!! I headed toward the boarding pass line and explained that we were not with that group and would we miss our flight if we waited behind all of them to check bags. She let us use the boarding pass line and we were on to security. We had TSA pre-check so security went quickly.

First leg of our flight home was fine. We arrived at BWI for our 60 minute layover only to immediately get a text from SW that our connecting flight to Boston was delayed and wouldn't be leaving for 2 hours. We decided to find something to eat. There was a diner there so we had some BFD. Got our first look at a tv in over a week and found out about the Baltimore riots. No idea if that was the reason for the delay... back to reality.

After our BFD we just happened to walk past our gate on the way to the newsstand and I noticed that people were lining up. We went over to check it out and the delay was no more! No text about that though... I would have been pretty ticked off if we had missed our early bird spots after paying for them. We were soon on the flight and still no text that the flight was now leaving on time!

The rest of the flight was uneventful but we did have a seriously funny flight attendant. Some of her gems, if I can remember them correctly...

When doing the safety dance at the beginning of the flight and getting to the part about the oxygen masks, "Stop screaming, put this over your mouth and breath normally"
When pointing out the buttons, "the one with the light bulb on it turns on the light, the one with the flight attendant on it does NOT turn us on"
At the end when giving the wait until the seat belt sign is turned off speech, "Be careful when you open the overhead bins because shift happens"

It was a great trip. So many new experiences in the Keys and so much fun in Orlando! Can't wait to go back in December to see WDW all decked out for Christmas!
 
Wow...what a great trip! And you get to do another one so soon!!! I just love all the theming at HP in US ....wish it wasn't such an ordeal to do both US and Disney in one trip...You have shown that it can be done...but it's an expensive and logistical undertaking...especially if you don't want to rent a car...sigh!! Love your pics with the Shark :) And that HP Bus is so awesome!! Oh and a 12 yo boy can destroy a room pretty quickly too lol
 
Finally getting back here!

Wow, your pictures are so fabulous!

:goodvibes:


We stopped for lunch at the Olive Garden in Orlando (I know I know... but Boo is addicted to their chicken gnocchi soup and frankly, the food there is not half bad).

You won't get any flak from me. We love Olive Garden.

:thumbsup2


Well, in our excitement to be at Universal and finally start that part of our trip, I'd never gone back and moved the car!

OOPS! :blush:

Thanks so much for the pictures of the your room. We booked a late summer trip to Universal (Curse you, Annual Passes! , then I will head solo over to Disney for a few nights with friends. I wanted to give RPR a try, but I couldn't convince Mark to give up the convenience and location of the Hard Rock.

Great start with Minions and Mummy. Gosh, you didn't even have to travel very far into the park.

Now, I am getting ready to head to MK with you.

:banana::banana::banana:
 
Morning at MK:


Sprinkles are for winners.

:rotfl2:

Because I was driving, Boo had the honor of taking the cliche "We're at Disney!" pic:

AWESOME PICTURE!!!

Great job, Boo!


Here's a tip - if you're holding magic bands for 10 others, have some idea of what they want before it's your turn.

Amen to this!

I was making FP for our group of 17 at a kiosk and I was behind a line-up of 5 parties who had no clue! Some didn't speak English. One woman who was right in front of me finally got to the front of line and then spent the next few minutes calling her partner over. Once I made it to the kiosks, I had no problem selecting what we wanted in about two seconds.

Your suggestion of a scrolling display of what is available is a great one!

::yes::

***************************************************

Wow! I am very impressed with your morning!

You took some great pictures and even the out of focus one of the two of you by the PP is pretty special.

Fun breakfast!

That's a pretty cool image with the crowds waiting to march down Main Street.

Then BTM x3, Splash, BTM, Pirates, HM, Mine Train, People Mover x 2 ( a few great shots- it is so hard with the dividers there), Space, Buzz

Great to take a break and return invigorated to the Mk, with a FP in your possession.

:thumbsup2
 
Last edited:
Finally getting back here!

Wow, your pictures are so fabulous!

:goodvibes:

Welcome back and thanks!


You won't get any flak from me. We love Olive Garden.

:thumbsup2




OOPS! :blush:

Thanks so much for the pictures of the your room. We booked a late summer trip to Universal (Curse you, Annual Passes! , then I will head solo over to Disney for a few nights with friends. I wanted to give RPR a try, but I couldn't convince Mark to give up the convenience and location of the Hard Rock.

Didn't find RPR any less convenient than HRH, especially when wanting a quick return to the resort after the water rides. And liked the pool much better. Give it a try. I had a October trip tentatively booked but canceled in favor of WDW in December. Still might fit in a long weekend before school starts due to our APS - so tempting!!!

Great start with Minions and Mummy. Gosh, you didn't even have to travel very far into the park.

Now, I am getting ready to head to MK with you.

:banana::banana::banana:

Morning at MK:




:rotfl2:



AWESOME PICTURE!!!

Great job, Boo!

She is so proud of that pic, must have asked 10 times if I woukd use it in my TR and reminded me to give her photo credit.


Amen to this!

I was making FP for our group of 17 at a kiosk and I was behind a line-up of 5 parties who had no clue! Some didn't speak English. One woman who was right in front of me finally got to the front of line and then spent the next few minutes calling her partner over. Once I made it to the kiosks, I had no problem selecting what we wanted in about two seconds.

Your suggestion of a scrolling display of what is available is a great one!

::yes::

***************************************************

Wow! I am very impressed with your morning!

You took some great pictures and even the out of focus one of the two of you by the PP is pretty special.

Fun breakfast!

That's a pretty cool image with the crowds waiting to march down Main Street.

It definitely illustrates the value of the pre park opening ADR. Worth it just to avoid that stampede.

Then BTM x3, Splash, BTM, Pirates, HM, Mine Train, People Mover x 2 ( a few great shots- it is so hard with the dividers there), Space, Buzz

Great to take a break and return invigorated to the Mk, with a FP in your possession.

Yes FP+ has a few redeeming features!

:thumbsup2
 
Came across your trip report and just read it all, it was fantastic! It makes me want to visit both Key Largo and Universal. After the winter we had in Boston I'm sure you appreciated that trip!
 
Came across your trip report and just read it all, it was fantastic! It makes me want to visit both Key Largo and Universal. After the winter we had in Boston I'm sure you appreciated that trip!

Hi. Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I highly recommend both destinations.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!






Top