Ice Cream for Breakfast / Oct. 2015 PTR & TR.

[Krista in MA]

In approximately seven days and twenty hours. I will be on a plane to Orlando. I can't wait! I've been reading through various PTRs & TRs, getting excited, and thought, how about I try out my own? Maybe someone will read it! Maybe I'll finish my first TR!

I will start with some background info, etc.

Hi! My name is Krista. I live in MA (that's Massachusetts in the USA for those who may not know). I live pretty close to Boston.

I've been traveling to Disney and Universal in Florida for some time now. This trip is mostly Universal with a splash of Disney thrown in.

Cast of characters:
Krista
I love Boston.


I love the Boston Red Sox.


I love animals (I work with animals, but I feel weird about posting photos of other peoples pets).

I love Legos.


I love Harry Potter.


I love Halloween (but not HHN Halloween).


I love Instagram & iPhone photo apps.


I love my sister Kimmie. We have been hanging out since the mid-70's (minus those teen years when we couldn't stand the sight of each other, haha). She is my travel buddy. About 80% of my traveling is with her.


More importantly, we love ICE CREAM FOR BREAKFAST! There will be ice cream for breakfast this trip! A few weeks ago I had ice cream for dinner, but it wasn't even close :-(

Kimmie and I are staying at the Portofino Bay Hotel from Wed., Sept. 30th - Sat., Oct. 3rd, then we move to the Cabana Bay Beach Resort on Sat., Oct. 3rd for one night. We are flying down Wed. night and flying home Sunday night. I'm already far ahead of myself and sad that we'll have to return home :-( We are renting a car. We definitely don't like being "trapped" at a theme park (here's looking at you Disney!). We like being able to eat & shop off property. We will be going to MNSSHP on Thursday night. We will not be going to HHN.

Also joining us will be Kimmie's friends:
R - friend and coworker.
S - friend and R's boyfriend.

They are flying down with us on Wednesday night, staying at the Cabana, and leaving the following Wednesday. Say what?!

I get anxious about work and I don't really like taking off more than just 2-3 days, so long weekends are where it's at for me these days.

There were supposed to be two other people joining us, but for various reasons, life getting in the way, etc., they're no longer coming :-(

Anyway, if you've read this far, thank you! My next post will be about our trip last year.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

I'm in . Your trip is so soon!!

Very sweet that you and your sister have such a great relationship. I'm envious.....my sister and I are like oil and water.

We love the freedom of a rental vehicle, too (offsite shopping is a MUST!). I've never had ice cream for breakfast (though I was shocked that the sundae machine at Golden Corral was actually on and working when we went for breakfast on one of our past trips!!) but perhaps I will have to give it a try sometime. That might just be the secret to staying young .

Looking forward to reading more about your plans!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

PS....I won't hold your love of the Red Sox against you . We're Jays fans through and through .

 

[codygirl5150]

We fly out in a week too! I'm so excited I can barely contain it!

I may have to try that ice cream for breakfast thing!

 

[Krista in MA]

So let us journey back a few years. I have never liked roller coasters that put one upside down. Just looking at them - I cringe and need to look away while telling my stomach to "calm down". Kimmie loves them. Loops & corkscrews are her friend. She either rides those alone, or if our dad is with us, they'll go on them while mom and I hang out and ride the kiddie coasters. Weeeee! Back in March of 2013, I decided to put my fear aside (vomit or anything else that may happen), and ride some bright yellow cheetah coaster that corkscrews (I think it's considered a corkscrew, I'm not up on current coaster lingo). We were visiting BG down in FL and I threw caution to the wind (nothing else thankfully) and rode that puppy about 5 times with Kimmie & dad until I felt really really sick. It was fun, and thrilling, and I was holding on for dear life waiting for it to be over. Now it's been my mission to ride similar coasters at least once. Goodbye fear, but I'm holding onto my lunch! Of course that was the only upside down type coaster I rode that whole trip when we went to BG & SW (and Legoland, but they don't play those silly upside down games there!). Sometimes I just need to start small.

My sister and I traveled to Universal (and a MNSSHP) in November of 2013 which is when we first visited the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and marveled in all of it's beauty. I may or may not have shed a tear or two walking into Hogsmeade for the first time. I may or may not have had something in my eye as we walked through the maze leading to the Forbidden Journey. Forbidden Journey was incredible (minus the spiders, ick!). It still makes me giggle though when I think of the photo spot ~ has anyone taken a good photo on that ride? All of our photos are knees sticking out, heads back, and chunky arms holding on :-D.


I did manage to ride the red (I think it's red?) Dragons Challenge coaster a few times, screaming my lungs out at every flip upside down. Eeeeek! With that and riding the Forbidden Journey multiple times, my stomach was not holding up that well and I halted all further upside down coaster rides. I realized that for future trips, I would need to try motion sickness pills, bracelets, etc.

You may be asking yourself why I keep riding coasters that I don't like and that scare me... There are many other things that scare me in life. Those are things that I don't believe I will ever learn to conquer or fight my way through. Riding scary coasters seems to be an "easy" fear to get over. As long as I can get my butt in that seat, strapped in, and make it to the end, I'll put a tiny little check mark in the 'win' column of life. In a small way, I feel better about myself after riding such a coaster (cue Rocky music as I run willy-nilly around City Walk as I raise my arms triumphantly).

This brings us to our trip last year, where we got to experience Hogsmeade again AND Diagon Alley. I love most things Harry Potter (spiders? ick). I love the books, the movies, I wear t-shirts and sweatshirts, I have wands and other souvenirs. HP weekends on the Family Channel (is it still called that?) are a good reason to stay home in my pjs. You can not be my friend if you don't understand that (okay, just kidding...but not really). You don't have to love the HP universe, or even like it, just as long as you understand that I do

Last year was also a good year to further conquer any coaster fears of mine (can you see where this is going yet? haha). I managed to get on (and survive) both sides of the Dragons Challenge, AND Rip Ride Rockit (after which I think I muttered "never againnnnn" as I silently cried to myself as I gathered my belongings from a locker). Even with my trusty motion sickness pills, I decided to skip the Hulk....there's always next year, right?! :'-(

To be continued...

 

[Krista in MA]

I'm in . Your trip is so soon!!

Very sweet that you and your sister have such a great relationship. I'm envious.....my sister and I are like oil and water.

We love the freedom of a rental vehicle, too (offsite shopping is a MUST!). I've never had ice cream for breakfast (though I was shocked that the sundae machine at Golden Corral was actually on and working when we went for breakfast on one of our past trips!!) but perhaps I will have to give it a try sometime. That might just be the secret to staying young .

Looking forward to reading more about your plans!

Thanks for reading along! I'm really glad my sis and I have such a good relationship. Vacation tends to bring out the worst in each other though - we usually take some cooling off time after we come home. We tend to revert back to our 'mean girl' selves when we share a room on vacation. Maybe one of these days we'll be able to afford separate rooms.

 

[Krista in MA]

PS....I won't hold your love of the Red Sox against you . We're Jays fans through and through .

Oh boy. The Jays are doing terrible this year! Haha. I think they're only ahead of the Sox by about 7 million games or so?! I went to the Sox game last night. It was the bottom of the ninth and the Rays were up 6-0. When the Sox scored 6-1 then 6-2, what was left of the fans went craaaaazy! You would have thought they won the Wild Card or something Toronto is on my short list to try and go to a Sox vs. Jays series.

 

[Krista in MA]

We fly out in a week too! I'm so excited I can barely contain it!

I may have to try that ice cream for breakfast thing!

Yay! Both of our trips are right around the corner!

I'll offer just a small piece of advise... Ice cream for breakfast is fun & exciting, but ice cream for breakfast AND lunch is not quite as magical as one may hope

 

[Kivara]

I'm in! Sounds like you guys have had some fun times in the past! You have me beat, I still haven't ridden RRR. That first straight up incline, EEK!
Ice cream for breakfast is always a good thing! At Uni, we also like churros for breakfast...basically a donut, right?

Can't wait to read all the fun things ya'll do this trip!

 

[Krista in MA]

I'm in! Sounds like you guys have had some fun times in the past! You have me beat, I still haven't ridden RRR. That first straight up incline, EEK!
Ice cream for breakfast is always a good thing! At Uni, we also like churros for breakfast...basically a donut, right?

Can't wait to read all the fun things ya'll do this trip!

That incline on RRR is a doozy! It felt like I was going to keep going and flip over - eek

Churros for breakfast? Sounds yummy! Unfortunately, I don't know if I can lose a morning of ice cream for breakfast and switch to a churro

Do you have an upcoming trip or have you been recently? Thanks for following along!

 

[Krista in MA]

There were three of us last year, myself, sis Kimmie, and our friend T (who was supposed to join us this year but life threw a curve ball). We spent two nights at the Cabana and two nights at the RPR. We tried to cram most of the DA & H visits into our Cabana days as we put our express passes from the RPR to good use. The first morning we were there, we made sure to get our butts up, get on that bus, and make our way over to US for early entry so we could get our butts over to Escape from Gringotts with the rest of the crowd. We needed to stop for a few pictures along the way and stuff our stuff into the lockers before escaping from Gringotts. Amazing! We escaped!! I think we escaped about 10 times throughout the trip. After that it was time for BREAKFAST! It was our first foray into having ice cream for breakfast. We clearly picked a winner! When we muttered to ourselves....foodfoodfood, there in the distance, what do we see?! It's Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour! Soft serve ice cream! In waffle cones! I had the toffee twist several times on our trip (we did have a "real" breakfast at the Leaky Cauldron one morning).

(cue "chick pic" for Instagram)


Oh, would you like some? Just a bite please and thank you!


We tend to jump around both parks, ride most rides multiple times, go off property to eat and go outlet shopping. Since we've all been to UO before, we don't feel the need to spend every little moment at the parks.

My favorite ride just might be Revenge of the Mummy. Ever searching for the perfect ride photo...try to look scared Kimmie (in yellow on the right).


We are definitely kids masquerading as adults. We did get the photo pass thing (with our APs we get the one that lasts for the year of the AP).

We had SO MUCH FUN (K, me, & T)!


No, really, we did!

We enjoyed the lazy river at the Cabana. I had bought all of us tubes at Target before the trip so that we didn't have to pay to rent them down there (just bring them to the tube hut and they'll inflate them for you).

Normally when we stay on UO property, we take an hour or two of time to visit IoA and ride the water rides multiple times. We'll ride Ripsaw Falls, Bilge-Rat Barges and the Jurassic Park River Adventure over and over again. Once you're wet, you're wet, so just get wet again! Weeeeee! Please leave your ponchos in your bags!


I think that's about it for a look back. Hopefully, this trip is as much fun, if not more.

To be continued...

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

At Uni, we also like churros for breakfast...basically a donut, right?

Cute little fact....there's a churro stand just across from Spiderman.

When we were there in May, DH wanted to make it his first ride after rope drop. I opted to take a pass and get some empty-park pics of the Marvel area instead. All of a sudden, I heard this incessant quacking.....and as the churro guy opened up shop for the day, he was greeted by this little flock of feathered friends:



He greeted them with a cheery "Good morning!" and instructed them to wait patiently for just a few minutes. He disappeared in the back, and was out a moment later holding an assortment of day-old churros. Ripping them into small pieces, he tossed them to the ducks and they happily devoured them. They must have been pretty tasty, because once they were gone, those enthusastic ducks tried following him right back behind the counter in their quest for more . He had quite a job "redirecting" them .

So, the moral of the story is.....you are not the only one who enjoys a churro for breakfast!!

 

[sue_88]

Nice report so far!
I love the pic of the dragon having a bit of your ice cream cone! Best dragon pic I've seen. I may do a version of that in November.
I do like the idea of eating something completely devoid of nutrients for breakfast while on holiday. I may go with cake or cookies as ice cream doesn't agree with me.
I haven't decided yet if I want to get the photo package. But I do like seeing the photos that other people have taken.
I enjoy the Harry Potter world myself. I used to be a bit more obsessed than I am now, because, truthfully, I have become obsessed with Doctor Who. Please don't judge me for that.

 

[Dee2013]

Love reading! I am also just north of Boston! Go Patriots! Went down and stayed at royal Pacific this week, the 22nd- 24th. And yep! I had butter ever ice cream for breakfast! Yum!

 

[Kivara]

Cake for breakfast is great! That's our traditional day-after-birthday breakfast
Love the dragon eating ice cream!

My family just went to Uni in June of this year. Hoping to go back next summer!
Loving your trip report! I've never splurged on the photo package before, I might have to, seeing all your fun ride photos!

 

[tink1957]

The only thing better than ice cream for breakfast is this:

 

[tink1957]

Sorry that was so big.....it's a pink donut sundae minus the cherry as someone stole it before I took the pic.

We'll be at CB 9-29 - 10-6 hope we can say hi.

 

[Krista in MA]

What time is it? That's right. It's almost time to go to Universal! It's almost time to come home! You're right. I'm getting ahead of myself.


There's so much to do beforehand. I need to pack, make a list of things to pack, make a list for work, make another list for work, find my swimsuit, do laundry, find all of my electronic gadgets, doohickey's, and plugs, etc. I'd usually start the weekend before, but this weekend was jam packed and I haven't had much time to do any trip stuff. Ugh! I'm driving myself crazy trying to figure out when I'll have time to do any. I think what will end up happening is that Tuesday night and Wednesday morning I'll grab a bunch of stuff and shove it into my suitcase, hoping I have the essentials. Ha!

So lets get down to some of our plans. Now, someone please correct me if I'm wrong about this... I believe that since HHN is going to be at US on Thurs. - Sun. nights, that US is the park that will be opening one hour early for early entry at 7:00am. Assuming that is the case, my plan (I can't speak for anyone else) is to be up and at US Thurs. - Sun. morning to get a jump on the crowds at DA, Gs and wandering around. I am a morning person. I am that person who watches the clock in the hotel room for the minute to roll over so that I can wake everyone else up to GET MOVING! Oh no! She said to wake her up at 6:15! <<quietly paces back and forth while I try to telepathically wake her up>>


The only other set plans we have are to be at MNSSHP at 4pm on Thursday and have our reserved dinner with Pooh and friends around 6pm. Last year I had a mini-adult-meltdown at the Magic Kingdom (little sleep and go go go!!! will do that to me haha), and we decided that a sit down dinner would give us a nice rest before staying in the Magic Kingdom until midnight. I realize that we don't have to stay at the party from 4-midnight, but it's Disney! It's Halloween stuff! It's vacation! We can sleep when we get home. Plus, we need to have all of our wits about us to ride every ride and hit every candy spot. Or some of them. This plan may come tumbling down at some point due to the fact that we have two other adults with us, and who knows if they are prone to having any mini-adult-meltdowns. I'm guessing no, but it could just be that they're tired and end up doing enough. Maybe my sister and I should hatch a plan to get them pumped up on sugar and caffeine?! Weeeeee! Last year for MNSSHP, my sis wore a batman shirt + tutu. I wore an orange Halloween tee that we had made for our family back in 2008 (for a MNSSHP that we went to with our parents... dad + candy + space mountain = good times).


This year, I'm trying to decide between a simple skeleton tee or a simple Friday the 13th tee. My main objective is just to be comfortable (and that usually includes a tee and shorts / jeans).


I saw a cute Mickey skeleton / glow in the dark tee at Target, but just one, and it was too small. If I see it in my size when I make my pre-trip stop today at a different one, I may pick it up. My sister is "bounding" as Wonder Woman. She has a cute sparkly red shirt, blue skirt, and we've been on a mission this past week to find just the right gold accessories. We both agree that even if no one "gets it", she'll still look super cute. R is going as Ariel and S as....I'm not sure, Kimmie forgot.

I saw a mention of the Orlando Eye and the SeaLife place, which we might go to on Friday or Saturday night and grab dinner while out and about. Kimmie needs to check with R & S so we can try and get tickets before we leave.

Other than that, we just have very loose plans of going to the parks, enjoying the lazy river at Cabana, hitting some outlets & restaurants, and enjoying some ice cream for breakfast.

Thanks for following along so far!

 

[Krista in MA]

Cute little fact....there's a churro stand just across from Spiderman.

When we were there in May, DH wanted to make it his first ride after rope drop. I opted to take a pass and get some empty-park pics of the Marvel area instead. All of a sudden, I heard this incessant quacking.....and as the churro guy opened up shop for the day, he was greeted by this little flock of feathered friends:



He greeted them with a cheery "Good morning!" and instructed them to wait patiently for just a few minutes. He disappeared in the back, and was out a moment later holding an assortment of day-old churros. Ripping them into small pieces, he tossed them to the ducks and they happily devoured them. They must have been pretty tasty, because once they were gone, those enthusastic ducks tried following him right back behind the counter in their quest for more . He had quite a job "redirecting" them .

So, the moral of the story is.....you are not the only one who enjoys a churro for breakfast!!

So cute! I wonder if they're still hanging out in the area?! That guy can sing "my Churro brings all the ducks to the yard..."

 

[Krista in MA]

Nice report so far!
I love the pic of the dragon having a bit of your ice cream cone! Best dragon pic I've seen. I may do a version of that in November.
I do like the idea of eating something completely devoid of nutrients for breakfast while on holiday. I may go with cake or cookies as ice cream doesn't agree with me.
I haven't decided yet if I want to get the photo package. But I do like seeing the photos that other people have taken.
I enjoy the Harry Potter world myself. I used to be a bit more obsessed than I am now, because, truthfully, I have become obsessed with Doctor Who. Please don't judge me for that.

Thanks Sue! This is the third trip we've taken that we've had the photo thing for. While we do have many ride photos, we didn't utilize it as much as we could have (with characters and photographers just out and about). Sometimes it's nice to have a bunch of photos to look back through and remember

No judgement on Doctor Who here!