1975 & 2010 A Double trip report -Day 8 Shopping and Islands of Adventure

[Latte Lover]

Pre-trippie here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2558071
Day 1 here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2594850
Day 2 here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2597434
Day 3 here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2600140
Day 4 here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2604143
Day 5 here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2612417
Day 6 here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2623162
Day 7 here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2623685

We are:

Me, Theresa
My DH Tony (Tony64)
My sister Mandy (MandyJane)
My Brother-in-law Peter (FleetPete)
My Nephew Andrew (16)
My Nephew Kieran (12)
And dd Maddie (MaddieB)

Saturday 23rd October 2010

We all had a bit of a lie-in today. It was supposed to be a rest day, but of course some of us couldn’t resist the lure of the shops!

Mandy and family decided to go out for breakfast (Golden Corral) and then had a quick visit to Joanns craft store and Target before returning to the villa for a lazy afternoon by the pool.

The boys having fun in the pool



Kieran


Andrew


Tony, Maddie and I went first to Downtown Disney. We bought some cd’s with music from the parks, some Disney cake sprinkles and a Mickey pancake mould. Maddie bought two lovely pictures and a photo frame for her new flat.

It was all Halloweeny



Love the smell in this shop



Somehow, my navigating took us past Michaels craft store, so we called in and bought a few things!

We were hungry by this time, and spotted a nearby restaurant called Charley’s and decided to give it a go. This was in fact one of our favourite meals of the holiday. Maddie had fish and chips and Tony and I both chose Tilapia with rice, peppers, onions and Teriyaki sauce.



We had a big basket of scrumptiously fresh sweet bread rolls, which our excellent server kept replenishing and plenty of refillable drinks. It was absolutely delicious and we will definitely eat here again.

Next, we headed to Prime Outlets as Maddie wanted to look at Ugg boots.

I know nothing about Ugg boots other than that people rave over them and they are cheaper in Florida than here in the UK, so I just sat myself down on a bench while the very helpful assistant found Maddie the styles and sizes she needed. However, at one point, Maddie had put a rejected pair down next to me, and as we are the same size, I thought I would try them on, just out of curiosity you understand.

Well! They were so comfy, and deliciously warm being completely fur-lined and very soft inside! I bought them! Maddie chose another pair, and the two together plus a cleaning kit came to $330. Mine were $139, around £89, which is a lot more than I would normally pay for a pair of boots, but Maddie told me I had a bargain. She wasn’t wrong either; on a recent shopping trip to Reading I was stunned to find my boots in two separate shops for £250!!

We popped into a few other stores – Gap, Ralph Lauren, Bath and body works, before heading to Islands of Adventure as we wanted to see The Wizarding World in the dark.

Some of our purchases so far:



We arrived at Islands around 4pm and, Merlin’s beard, it was busy! For some reason, we were expecting lower crowd levels in the evening, but it wasn’t so.

The wait time for Forbidden Journey was 90 minutes, but we decided to join it anyway as we weren’t sure if we would have time to come back another day. However, the CM directed us to the wrong queue and we ended up in the single rider line, which was only 35 minutes. Unfortunately, although the wait was shorter, it didn’t take us through all of the castle which we wanted as we were going to take photos this time. So Maddie and I did the ride again, in the normal queue this time! Tony went and got a drink and took photos outside while he waited, and the actual wait time was only 40 mins, so not too bad. The ride was even better for doing it again.

Some details in Hogwarts: the sorting hat



The pensieve



In the conservatory
Maddie said "Do you think these plants are real?" I said "I hope not, this one has a face"


We browsed the shops, then walked around to Suess Landing, rode Cat in the Hat ride, than had Pizza at Circus McGurkus. We then headed back to Wizarding World as it was now fully dark and we wanted to get some photos.







Maddie and I went on the hippogriff ride, surprisingly no wait, and got a fabulous view of the whole park in the dark from the top of the ride (we were in the front seat, and the only ones on the ride!).

We left the park just before 8pm. It was quite spooky walking through Jurassic Park as it was empty.

We stopped at Publix for some snacks, plus Tony bought a Seminoles cap, and then drove back to the villa to catch up with the others. They had had a nice relaxing day which gave Mandy chance to rest her poor blistered feet, and had then had a lovely dinner at Bob Evans, where the boys love the desserts.

Tomorrow: A hot and slightly disorganised day at Animal Kingdom.

[Ware Bears]

Love your Wizarding World photos

I'm hoping that by the time we get back to Florida all the hype about this will have died down and there will be minimal queues!!

[strawberry blonde]

You're certainly packing lots in Theresa. Hope you had plenty of space in your cases for all those bargains

Great photos again

[irongirlof12]

you know how to shop, my DD is green with envy when I showed her all of your bags piccie- fab day shopping

[mandymouse]

I love your Harry Potter land photos in the dark, I haven't seen any before, it looks lovely

[saratogagirl]

The photos of Harry Potter World in the dark are amazing. My sister in law got me some Ugg boots for Christmas, I think that they may be copies lol, they are however, sooo comfy and warm, I am interested in trying a "real" pair on in March to compare ..

[jockey]

Love the pics of wwohp

[wicket2005]

Lovely day. The HP has different effects, it snowed once in the room with the kids on the balcony . Glad to hear single rider line is open. Did you notice an express line open?

[Latte Lover]

Originally Posted by wicket2005

Lovely day. The HP has different effects, it snowed once in the room with the kids on the balcony . Glad to hear single rider line is open. Did you notice an express line open?

Well, we did notice a third line. But it only very occasionally had people in it. There was no obvious express line at the point where you join the queue, but we may have missed it; it was very chaotic and quite dark.
We saw the snow effects, but only once. The single rider line missed this room out, unfortunately.

[Chilly]

lovely photos in the dark

[SusanEllen]

Taking a look at that collection of shopping bags and assuming that you got a modest bargain with each purchase with an occasional super bargain like the Ugg boots, I'm thinking that you have possibly offset the cost of this trip by the amount you saved while shopping. Good job, Bucklands.

[Latte Lover]

Originally Posted by SusanEllen

Taking a look at that collection of shopping bags and assuming that you got a modest bargain with each purchase with an occasional super bargain like the Ugg boots, I'm thinking that you have possibly offset the cost of this trip by the amount you saved while shopping. Good job, Bucklands.

That's exactly the way I like to look at it, Susan!

[tony64]

Originally Posted by SusanEllen

Taking a look at that collection of shopping bags and assuming that you got a modest bargain with each purchase with an occasional super bargain like the Ugg boots, I'm thinking that you have possibly offset the cost of this trip by the amount you saved while shopping. Good job, Bucklands.

Susan, she doesn't need any encouragement to spend money when we are on holiday.

[mark&sue]

Its nice to see wwohp at night it looks magical

Susan

[UKDEB]

Great photos of the inside of Forbidden Journey. I'm so looking forward to finally getting to see WWoHP and I'll definitely want to take the regular line for FJ. I don't want to miss a thing!