Escaping Snowy New England for Freezing Florida Feb 2015 Final Hours 11/17 p. 23

[natebenma]

Friday February 20, 2015 Last Day


It was our last day at the parks, but our flight was not until 7 that night, so we still had plenty of time to play.

We had breakfast in the lounge and then, once again headed to early opening at Islands of Adventure.

Will we have trouble at the turnstiles again?


Looks like it. I was able to get through, take a picture and then one of Mark and Ben as they were still trying to get in.

The line for Forbidden Journey must have been pretty long and slow because I had some time to take pictures in the greenhouse and castle.

We rode Flight of the Hippogriff, but when we went to check on Dragon Challenge, it wasn’t running. The Hogwarts train to Universal wasn’t running either.

We decided to walk over to Universal by way of Marvel Superhero Island so we could ride Spiderman and Hulk.

Spiderman, check.



But when we got to Hulk there was a sign out saying that due to the cold, the ride would not be opening until 10:30 am. I forgot to mention that when we rode Mummy the previous day, there were team members from Rip Ride Rockit who were talking about how their ride had shut down early on Thursday, and wouldn’t be running Friday (today) because of the temperatures.

After a quick stop in the gift shop, we continued to US.

Continued in the Next Post

 

[natebenma]

Continued from Previous Post

Once at Universal, we headed to our old standby, The Mummy.

I sent a shoutout on Facebook to my friend Rob (we miss you friend)!

Look at how the woman at the photo counter is dressed!

I love this gift shop!

Most photographed backs in the world!



We looked at the wait time for Escape from Gringotts but whatever it was, it was too long for us to wait.

There was time for a little window shopping, though.

Then we were off to our other standby, Men in Black. By this point in the trip, I was pretty sick of shooting aliens. At the end of the ride, there is a place where you can earn a 100,000 bonus by pressing the red button at the correct time. I think 2 of the riders in the car of 6 can earn the bonus on the ride. Nate is pretty competitive, and since Mark and I don’t really care about our scores, we don’t go for the bonus. On this ride, Ben and a non-related rider received the bonuses.

Nate was pissed and in a pretty crappy mood after the ride. He wanted a rematch, but we had a lunch reservation at Mythos at Islands, so we had to make our way back to that park.

Thankfully, the train from Kings Cross WAS running and the line was not too long.

Attempt to get Platform 9 ¾ special effect photo.

But once again, we were riding with a family who decided to sit across from one another, closest to the window, instead of on the same bench.

This really, really annoyed Mark!

Or maybe he was just hungry.


Next Up: Lunch at Mythos

 

[pas130]

Thanks for sharing that.

Here's some cheerleaders for you. You go, girl!



And speaking of going... have a fantastic time at Food & Wine!!!

Thank you Dee! I am going to party like a rockstar next week (maybe we should've stayed at HRH LOL)

 

[irene_dsc]

Oh, no, it's almost over! It's so weird to read about it being so cold, now that it is finally starting to be cold again in the fall, lol. It's amazing how many rides go down in the cold weather there.

 

[hill6]

Thanks!

The Hard Rock pool is gorgeous!

Mark and I finally got to take a dip in the pool in August. The biggest problem with the pool is the depth. I'm short- 5 feet tall- and if you can't build a pool that has a part over my head, then you are not really trying!!! Of course, it doesn't quite measure up to Stormalong Bay either but that is not a fair comparison!

The food at Bubba's is always good, I'm not quite sure why we weren't feeling it. Maybe we were too tired, perhaps it was just too much food.

:

Stormalong Bay is in a category by itself.

 

[afwdwfan]

The Hogwarts train to Universal wasn’t running either.

This seems to be a trend...

But when we got to Hulk there was a sign out saying that due to the cold, the ride would not be opening until 10:30 am. I forgot to mention that when we rode Mummy the previous day, there were team members from Rip Ride Rockit who were talking about how their ride had shut down early on Thursday, and wouldn’t be running Friday (today) because of the temperatures.

This doesn't make sense. Or maybe I'm just crazy. I'd suck it up and deal with the cold in order to ride a coaster that I love. I mean it is only a few minutes. And it is Florida cold, not Indiana cold, so I'm pretty sure I can handle it.

Most photographed backs in the world!

Nate is pretty competitive, and since Mark and I don’t really care about our scores, we don’t go for the bonus. On this ride, Ben and a non-related rider received the bonuses.

Nate was pissed and in a pretty crappy mood after the ride

I'd be pissed and want a re-match too!

But once again, we were riding with a family who decided to sit across from one another, closest to the window, instead of on the same bench.

This really, really annoyed Mark!

Or maybe he was just hungry.

A combination of both, probably.


You've got me thinking now... I'm going to a conference in January. I'm going to have one day, a Saturday to myself. I'm planning to hit US solo and I was going to buy an express pass and try to power through everything during the first half of the day. But I understand that Hulk is undergoing an extensive refurb... and if the other coasters will likely be closed if it is a cold morning in January I'm not sure what I want to do! I guess I can wait until closer to decide on the Express Pass, because if I'm not going to be able to do some of those rides, I definitely won't need it.

 

[Wood Nymph]

I would be mad if the rides I wanted to go on were closed due to the cold. Tickets cost a lot of money. I don't know of anything except water parks that close at WDW due to cold weather.

 

[natebenma]

Thank you Dee! I am going to party like a rockstar next week (maybe we should've stayed at HRH LOL)

So excited for you!

Staying at HRH is never a bad idea!!!

:

Oh, no, it's almost over! It's so weird to read about it being so cold, now that it is finally starting to be cold again in the fall, lol. It's amazing how many rides go down in the cold weather there.

There was definitely a difference between our February and August trips!

I wonder if it is a problem with the ride running when it is too cold, or if the riders just get too cold at high speeds on the rides.

Stormalong Bay is in a category by itself.

This seems to be a trend...

That was a tough morning! Our last chance to ride a few things and then they ended up not running.

This doesn't make sense. Or maybe I'm just crazy. I'd suck it up and deal with the cold in order to ride a coaster that I love. I mean it is only a few minutes. And it is Florida cold, not Indiana cold, so I'm pretty sure I can handle it.

Same here! We were leaving weeks of blizzards and feet of snow. And some of us were donning our $45 sweat shirt purchase, so bring it on!

It's true. I'm sure any of you would be able to identify my family from behind. I might be harder to pick out. Or not.

I'd be pissed and want a re-match too!

He got a couple more rematches that day, but neither turned out the way he wanted.

A combination of both, probably.


You've got me thinking now... I'm going to a conference in January. I'm going to have one day, a Saturday to myself. I'm planning to hit US solo and I was going to buy an express pass and try to power through everything during the first half of the day. But I understand that Hulk is undergoing an extensive refurb... and if the other coasters will likely be closed if it is a cold morning in January I'm not sure what I want to do! I guess I can wait until closer to decide on the Express Pass, because if I'm not going to be able to do some of those rides, I definitely won't need it.

Yes, hungry, tired and annoyed. Not the happiest place on earth!

I don't think you will need the express pass for your trip in January, although if you change your mind, you can purchase it in the parks. The two major Harry Potter rides, and the train do not have express pass anyway. Forbidden Journey and Gringott's do have single rider, but make sure you go through the regular queue at least once.

Most of the thrill rides have single rider lines and since you will be solo, this is a perfect way to get on rides. You will miss some of the line theming, but you miss that with express pass too.

Save your money and have a couple of butterbeers instead!

I would be mad if the rides I wanted to go on were closed due to the cold. Tickets cost a lot of money. I don't know of anything except water parks that close at WDW due to cold weather.

It didn't bother us too much because we had been there for 5 days and really had a chance to ride whatever we wanted. But we felt really badly for people who may just be there a day or two. Islands of Adventure was particularly a problem that morning- no Hulk, no Jurassic Park (refurb), Dragon Challenge and Hogwarts train not running. Too cold for the water rides that were running- Rip Saw Falls and Blutto's. So there were really only a couple of things to do there. It did get better later in the day.

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Aargh sometimes the dis drives me nuts!!! It ate my post and as I'm now on the train to Dublin and about to lose my free internet I won't redo it all. Safe to say Id recognize your boys from the back anywhere lol and I'm with Mark in the selfish sods that sit both sides of the train. Oh and yeah know all about competitive teens! Nuff said lol

 

[natebenma]

Aargh sometimes the dis drives me nuts!!! It ate my post and as I'm now on the train to Dublin and about to lose my free internet I won't redo it all. Safe to say Id recognize your boys from the back anywhere lol and I'm with Mark in the selfish sods that sit both sides of the train. Oh and yeah know all about competitive teens! Nuff said lol

So sorry you lost your post!

My boys are always smiling in the pictures I have of their backs. At least that is what I like to believe.

Ha! You were commenting about our train ride on your train ride. Hope you had a great time.

We were all surprised at who turned up with the best score at MIB later in the day!

 

[natebenma]

Am I still even doing this trip report???


Sorry for the long absence.




Lunch at Mythos

We had spent our morning doing a couple of things at Islands of Adventure (Forbidden Journey, Hippogriff and Spiderman), crossed over to Universal for Mummy and Men in Black and now we had taken the train back to Islands. Earlier in the week, we stopped in to Mythos and made a lunch reservation for our final day.

Very cool theming!

The interior of the restaurant is impressive, too!

This was our second time dining here. We remembered the restaurant having a really expansive menu, but when we looked, we thought it was limited.

When I get a chance, I’ll scan in a copy and add it here.


Mythos Menu


OK, now that I look at the menu posted, I have found a lot more things that interest me. Changed menu? Or perhaps the lunch menu was smaller.

Ben started with the Caesar salad.

I got the Pad Thai with chicken and shrimp

Mark and Nate both got burgers

Ben’s Panini

Oreo Shooter

Crème Brulee


For drinks we got a pineapple juice, virgin strawberry daiquiri and iced tea.


The food was good, but not spectacular.


The check total was $76.76, pre-tip, after the $8.01 AAA discount, which I don’t think is too bad.

Next Up: Final afternoon

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Looks like a decent lunch and basically once you mentioned creme brûlée I was sold Yum

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

So sorry you lost your post!

My boys are always smiling in the pictures I have of their backs. At least that is what I like to believe.

Ha! You were commenting about our train ride on your train ride. Hope you had a great time.

We were all surprised at who turned up with the best score at MIB later in the day!

We had a brilliant time. Nice just to catch up with each other and have some nice dinners together without work/ technology interrupting the craic. Kids wanted to see where their dad stayed when he was working in the south but I think the hotel staff were just as excited ( lots of oohs and aahs) as Matthew ran and jumped into his dad's arms in the lobby <3

Now it's not quite the size of disneys gingerbread creations but the chef had created Halloween masterpiece for the lobby which the boys longed to eat lol

 

[Wood Nymph]

Mythos has quite a lot of character but the menu is kind of normal. It should have a theme, too.

It looks like a fun place to eat.

 

[SarahDisney]

Mythos looks amazing! That decor is really cool!

 

[afwdwfan]

Lunch looks good! I've heard great things about Mythos, but have never eaten there myself. The price really doesn't seem all that bad for a place with such a good reputation. And it compares pretty favorably to the price of a similar meal at Disney's parks.

 

[pas130]

Yep, I've still never eaten at Mythos. I never have an appetite (or foresight to make a reservation), and then we get back to the resort and end up eating there. Or the Simpson's area, I love it there

So excited for you!

Staying at HRH is never a bad idea!!!

:

In hindsight, we should've done HRH CL. JK, then we would've missed F&W. We are having the PBH vs. HRH debate in our house for summer. If they weren't so awesome at PBH CL lounge we'd be fine with HRH CL. We always have a great time at Universal!

 

[natebenma]

Looks like a decent lunch and basically once you mentioned creme brûlée I was sold Yum

I know, right?!? Actually I didn't have my first crème brulee until about 20 years ago. We were at Mark's Christmas party and one of his coworkers was horrified that I had never tried one before. He scouted one out for me to try.

We had a brilliant time. Nice just to catch up with each other and have some nice dinners together without work/ technology interrupting the craic. Kids wanted to see where their dad stayed when he was working in the south but I think the hotel staff were just as excited ( lots of oohs and aahs) as Matthew ran and jumped into his dad's arms in the lobby <3

Now it's not quite the size of disneys gingerbread creations but the chef had created Halloween masterpiece for the lobby which the boys longed to eat lol

I'm glad you had a fun trip.

Those sculptures are pretty cool and yes, I can understand why the boys would want a sample.

Mythos has quite a lot of character but the menu is kind of normal. It should have a theme, too.

It looks like a fun place to eat.

I would be thrilled with a Greek menu at Mythos!

Mythos looks amazing! That decor is really cool!

It is a neat restaurant, but not a must-do for us.

Lunch looks good! I've heard great things about Mythos, but have never eaten there myself. The price really doesn't seem all that bad for a place with such a good reputation. And it compares pretty favorably to the price of a similar meal at Disney's parks.

Not a bad price at all. I think our meals at the Harry Potter-themed quick serve places ran around $60 or so, not much different. (But I would pick either of the HP places if I had to choose between them and Mythos)

Yep, I've still never eaten at Mythos. I never have an appetite (or foresight to make a reservation), and then we get back to the resort and end up eating there. Or the Simpson's area, I love it there

Nothing wrong with those choices!

In hindsight, we should've done HRH CL. JK, then we would've missed F&W. We are having the PBH vs. HRH debate in our house for summer. If they weren't so awesome at PBH CL lounge we'd be fine with HRH CL. We always have a great time at Universal!

I'll be interested in hearing where you end up.

We still don't have any summer plans. We will be going back to Washington DC for the boys April vacation, but nothing in place beyond that.

 

[natebenma]

Final Hours

After our lunch at Mythos, we entered into the Wizarding World for the last time during this trip. The boys wanted to ride Dragon Challenge. I walked through the line with them, but then bailed.

I am sad that I can no longer do this. Shortly after our trip, Universal started enforcing a policy that you can’t have ANYTHING loose in your pockets (phones, coins, etc.) for the extreme rides and they installed metal detectors in the queues. Free lockers are provided. Even if you tell the team member that you just want to go through the line (for pictures, or to be with your family) and don’t want to ride, you can’t get past the metal detectors with a camera.

I watched from here:

You can still watch your family from this viewing area, but now you must get there through the ride exit.

Jurassic World of Harry Potter


When we got to Marvel’s Super Hero Island, we found that it was warm enough for Hulk to be running. Mark, Nate and I went on the ride while Ben went on Spiderman.

Sadly, no more queue line photos on Hulk, either, because of the metal detectors and required use of ride lockers.

Next, it was off to Universal (by foot).

Speaking of feet, we realized that we had not yet done the traditional vacation flip-flop picture

That important task completed, of course we started by riding Mummy.

One of the things we wondered about the Hogwarts Express was whether it actually travelled between US and IoA or if it was just simulated motion. On a long ago trip, Mark and I snuck into the Living Seas at EPCOT (there was no Nemo to find then) through the exit Hydrolators and *spoiler alert* discovered that the elevators did not really move.

As we were walking from Mummy towards the Diagon Alley area, we discovered the answer as we watched a moving train.

Another form of Wizard transportation.

We cut over the bridge to a very crowded Springfield.

Since we had express passes, we did go on the Simpsons attraction.


After that, Nate wanted to exact his revenge on Men in Black for earlier that morning when Ben got the bonus points on the ride, thwarting his brother’s quest for a high score.

When you use Universal’s Express passes for Men in Black, you are “always” loaded on the right hand track. On this particular ride, for some reason we were loaded on the left track, which was a slightly different experience.


Nate was not happy with his score on this unfamiliar course, so he wanted to go again.

This time we were seated on the “right” track- the right track- with two other people.

When I grabbed my gun, I noticed it was slightly different from the others- sort of a sawed-off blaster. The ride started and somehow I was racking up the points big time! I NEVER score well on this ride.

Time for the ride photo and to catch a few Zzzzzs.

As we arrived at the bonus point area, I had a dilemma. Do I go for the 100,000 bonus point by pressing the red button? This was what really pissed Nathan off earlier that morning- someone else had collected the bonus.

My finger stayed still.

Nate got the bonus and his highest score ever: 400,450


My score:

652,150

Without the bonus.

I have no idea how I got that score. Did I hit a huge point target? Was it the gun?

Fortunately, Nate happy with his score and was more stunned than mad at my success.

PHEW!

We ended our time at Universal by soaking in the atmosphere in Diagon Alley.


Continued in Next Post

 

[natebenma]

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety-Jig

Continued from Previous Post


Wandering around Diagon Alley:

A final butterbeer:

Spending a few moments walking around Diagon Alley was a great way to end our trip.


To the exit

Huh? We had overhead RRR Team Members the previous day saying that Rip Ride Rocket would not be operating due to the cold expected. As we walked past, it looked like the ride was running. But we didn’t have time.

Back to the Hard Rock, where we waited for our ride (Ed Korgan Travel) back to the airport.

I timed the ride and it was 30 minutes.

We breezed through security, but the same could not be said for some of our traveling companions.

One guy was told that he had to take off his gold chain before going through the metal detector. When he was picking up his stuff from the conveyer belt, he couldn’t find the necklace. We didn’t stick around to see how that was resolved.

Here’s a few pictures from our evening takeoff:

I don’t have any notes written from about our return flight home, except that we were seated behind a small child who was making a lot of noise and was a bit disruptive. Part of it was due to his mom disappearing for part of the flight. When she came back, I realized it was someone I knew from my hometown.




I sincerely thank you all for following along on our February 2015 journey!

At the beginning of the trip report, I said that we were looking forward to touring the parks in cooler weather, and that I should be careful what I wish for. Despite the cold, we had a fantastic trip.

We certainly felt we got our money’s worth out of the Annual Passes we purchased for this trip.

Or did we?


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

As most of you know, we returned to Universal for a 3 night summer family trip in August before I continued on to meet up with Disney friends at the Beach Club.

I haven’t decided how much I will chronicle that visit in a trip report. I am juggling two other reports here in addition to the work I do on the Beach and Yacht Club FAQ. Maybe I will post some favorite photos. Probably tell the story of being recognized at Cowfish. And I will likely at least post some pictures from our meals. Because Food Porn!

If/when I do that, I will add it here and I will try to give you a heads up.

Thanks, again!