Im Back Home Trip Report *FULL REPORT COMPLETED*

[Jordanblackpool]

Day Four - Tuesday - First Disney Park.....

We woke up about 8am today and decided against going out for breakfast, as we were both feeling quite lazy after being on our feet all the previous night. So we headed down to the hotel restaurant/shop area and picked up a crossant each and decided we would catch an early breakfast at the Hollywood Studios, so we got our passes, cameras and wallets and headed to MGM....

Once we got off the bus, we realised that we were right to both pick up jackets as although the sun was out it was bloooody freeezin! This was something new for me in Orlando. Once we got into the park and had a couple of photo pass pics, the first thing we noticed was how busy it was! In all my visit we had never seen it like this....and we couldnt believe the amount of new orleans saints shirts we saw, later finding out it was Mardi Gras so all the NO residents like to get away!

We headed towards Rock N Roll to get a fast pass, but by 10:30am....they had all gone!! Seeing a 110 minute line, we decided to head to the Great Movie Ride....which we walked straight onto...you can always trust you will get strraight onto that! We then headed towards American Idol, which turned out to be a very enjoyable show with three really good singers in the show!

After we had finished, we decided that the park was just too busy to stay in any longer, so we got on the bus and headed towards EPCOT, which was busy, but not as busy as HS.

The first thing we did was get some lunch, we both settled for a burger/fries and then had a walk round innoventions to walk our food off. We finnnally got to do a thrill ride when we headed towards Test Track, we both decided instead of waitinf an hour, that we would ride single rider, 20 minutes later we were on the ride and it was as enjoyable as always!

After that , we decided to have a wonder round the World Showcase. In all the years ive been to Disney ive only ever wondered round the Showcase once, so I said before hand that I would do it. We stopped in the Rose & Crownd for a nice Cold pint of Stella, the price wasnt cheap, but it was worth it, the staff in there were great aswell.

We spent the next few hours going through every country and even got carried away trying hats on in every country we went into, although as you can see from the pic, the hats turned into full outfits in China!!!

Once we had finished this we did Spaceship Earth and then decided to head for the bus home as tiredness had started to kick in abit. When we got back to the hotel, I decided to go for a work out in the hotel gym and follow it up with 20 mins in the hot tub, that despite the cold was very enjoyable!

We then had a walk down to the crossroads to pick a few bits up from Goodings as we were too tired to go out and have a meal, so we ended up watching abit of tele and having a very early night......

 

[Jordanblackpool]

Day Five At The Animal Kingdom....

I was the early bird on Wednesday, I woke up about 7 ish and decided to go for a run....3 miles and a shower later.....I was ready for a day at the Animal Kingdom!!! We got the bus from outside the hotel down to AK and were quite pleased when we noticed that not alot of people were getting the bus there, so we were hoping it wouldnt be that busy......

When we got to AK we headed straight for our favourite ride at the park, Everest! The que for the ride was 50 mins, so it wasnt too bad and we noticed the park wasnt as busy as Hollywood or Epcot the previous day!! Bonus!!

After queing Single rider for Everest we were both on the ride in about 20 minutes and as always screamed at the site of the yetti....now i may be a 23 year old lad, but theres something about going backwards in the dark that makes me scream like a Spice Girls fan!

Once off Everest we headed towards Dinosour to sort some fast passes out, which gave us an hour and a half to spare, so we headed for ANNNNOTHER burger and fries, I felt like i was starting to turn into one. This time we were entertained by the campest cast member I have ever seen, who danced around while clearing tables, that was at the food place near dinosour, was a real unbelievable site!

After abit of food and watching the band that play near dinosour on the drums and doing abit of rapping, who were also very entertaining, we headed towards dinosour.....

Now Im not the biggest fan of dinosour in the world...but this time it was brilliant...half way round the ride stopped just as we were in the pitch black bit between scenes!! This may not sound like fun, but when you are in a car with your brother and a family of 6 who can only be described as 'off there head'...it certainly was! The family in with us all burst into song , so we joined in, never met them, sat singing with 6 random strangers in the dark while surrounded by dinosours....only at disney would this be normal!

After we had done this, we headed and got fast passes for The Safari and actually considered the River Rapids for about two minutes, but we realised it was absolutley freezing! We then headed for Everest to see what the line was like....single rider was about 10 minutes, so we rode everest again...bring on more screaming!!!!

It was time for the Safari, and as always, it was good fun, this time I tried to figure out which of the animals were real...and i got way too close to a rhino for my liking, it was inches away from the car....ive riden that ride 6 or 7 times in the past and never had any animal as close as this! I just cant believe dinsey keep letting them poachers in, its every year I go, you would think theyd up security!

Well that was us for AK for this year and after a wonder round the gift shop and a few photo oppertunities we headed towards the bus, which luckily enough was waiting for us, so we got home pretty quick! We had an hour or so sleep, and my brother was feeling not too good, so he decided to stay in for the night, so i had to entertain myself! (last time i did this i ended up with a hangover!)

I went down to House Of Blues and they really looked after me in there, I enjoyed a Pulled Pork again, the food in there is always so good, I really would recomend it to anyone who likes southern food! After eating I headed home and had a beer in the bar with a guy I had been chatting to in the gym the previous night and headed off to my bed for some sleep before my fav day of any orlando holiday...Universal!!

 

[jamjar84]

Another great two days there, sounds like you were having a lovely time, apart from the weather, I can't imagine going when it's so cold.

 

[Cyrano]

Great trip report. Keep them coming

 

[izzie-wizzie]

All sounds really fun!! I love that picture going up the hill on Expedition Everest, makes me really wish I was on there right now!!

 

[irongirlof12]

great trip report. love the piccie of you jumping off the steps

 

[jockey]

Great pics

 

[Jordanblackpool]

Day 6 Universal Studios/Islands Of Adventure

it was a really early start on Thursday as Universal is always my favourite day of the Orlando holiday, I think this has happened as ive got older. We were awake for about 7:30 ish and I was absolutley buzzing!

We got down to reception and realised that we didnt really want to spend $50 on return taxis to US, so having still got the bus timetable from Comfort Inn saw there was a bus there from 9:30....so we absolutley legged it down there in about 10 mins and just got on the bus....I have never been on a more crowded bus in my entire life!!!

After getting off the bus, we had a rock/paper/scissors moment, as I wanted to go in IOA and ride the Hulk first and my brother wanted to do RRR first....I lost! But oh well it wasnt such a bad thing. We got into the park fairly quickly and headed straight for RRR. I have seen it being constructed in March....but this time all finished and zooming round...WOW i was impressed, but a tiny bit nervous!!! After about 30 minutes of quieing, we got to the top of the stairs only FOR THE RIDE TO SHUT DOWN!!!!! We couldnt believe it!

We were faced with the decision stay and maybe ride or head off and re que later....Alot of people went...we stayed....5 minutes later....WE WERE ON THE RIDE! To say my stomach was lookin forward to this would be a lie! I decided to pick Donna Summer - I Will Survive....I had to try and convince myself I would...and we were off! Plenty of screams, singing and watery eyes later and I had a new favourite ride!!! I got off the ride and just stood there in shock at how good the RRR was!!!!

After RRR we headed towards the Simpsons and walked straight on it within 10 mins....I did this in March and sat at the front and loved it....this time I was sat on the back row...and didnt enjoy it anywhere near as much....later on I rode it on the front and realised it really is a front row ride!

After Simpsons, we headed towards MIB and had another one of our Orlando Holiday experiences! With the music being abit lively round there, the video camera came out and a few dance moves came out, just being silly....only for 4 Americans, in there mid 50s id say, to join in the dancing with us! It was surreal and glad we captured it on video....another family we never saw again!

The next ride was onto MIB Single rider(which had also broke down), we decided to head for the Mummy.....Single Rider Again! 5 Minutes! After riding the Mummy, which is also an absolutely class ride, we decided to head to Mels Drive Inn for ANOTHHHHHHER Burger!!! I Swear, if i ever see another Burger In my life I could scream!

We then finished up Universal with a ride on Nickelodeon which was another 5 minute line and then decided to head over to Islands Of Adventure!!! After A great Morning we were both in great spirits and in the sillyest mood we could be in!

THE HULK was the first thing we saw! Ive been on this numerous times and it always excites me when I see it and hear that noise and this time was no different, to my suprise it was a 10 minute line....so we went on it three times! I can never get over the start of this ride, that original shock of the speed at the start is just amazing!

The Afternoon continued by working our way round the park taking in Spiderman on the way round and continuing munching on Churros! It didnt help that they were on 2 for 1! We then made it to Ripsaw Falls And the rapids....and decided to give them a miss! It was absolutley freezing and we thought we would never dry if we went on them, not to our suprise most carriages going round were empty! We got to Jurrasic Park....only to find the ride had shut down for a few days!! We were not happy!!!

But being keen enthusiasts of the parks, we were both looking forward to seeing Harry Potter land and what we saw looks incredible, alot of money has been put in and the detail looks amazing......the same cant be said about when we got to Deuling Dragons....70 minute line! We could not believe this! The parks were really quiet, but this ride had a very long line, so we left it!

There wasnt much left for us to do in IOA, so we decided to head back to Universal as we had an hour or so left....hmmmm what could we do with one hour left in Universal....Maybe start as we finish! Another ride on RRR!!!! This time I went for Black Eyed Peas - Pump It and this time we were on the front row! How Incredible!!!! I would recommend to anyone going on this, go on the front row!!! Deffinatley the best ride in Orlando!

That was it....Universal was closing and it was time for us to head home! We decided to get the bus to Comfort Inn for free again, with a twenty minute wait, we got chatting to two lovely young american ladies from Kansas! If only English girls were this nice! Haha! After getting off the bus, we had a walk up to Hooters on the way home to get some food and after some quick Bar food we continued to walk back to the hotel and got tooked up in bed for about 10 ish....we were both absolutley shattered!!!

But what a great day, I went to sleep with Rip Ride Rockit fresh in my mind and ready for a non theme park day on Friday...but going to watch Orlando Magic!

 

[jamjar84]

Great day.

 

[darthtatty]

sounds like a fab day.
great pictures too

 

[disney_princess_85]

Another great day.

If only English girls were this nice! Haha!

Oi!

 

[joolz1910]

Your enthusiasm for Universal really shines through.

 

[Pinky166]

A fab day! You really need to post the video of you all dancing on YouTube & add the link here so we can see.

Looking forward to reading about the Orlando Magic game as I may be booking that as a surprise for my hubby next year.

 

[Jordanblackpool]

Day Seven....Major Chill...Major Shop...Major Magic!

Thankfully we had decided against setting any alarms on the Friday, I was really ready for a good sleep after the previous days antics.....but I still woke up at 8am!! Looking across I could see my brother still spark out, So i decided to head down to the gym and have a really good session in there, which I found rather enjoyable!

By the time id done, my brother was awake and we decided to head down to Florida Mall at about half ten, via the games room to get a few games on the basketball shoot out ready for tonight, And then spend a few of them dollars we had worked so hard to save! So we enquired about a taxi and when quoted $25 we decided to have a look at the Lynx bus timetable we had printed off and fortunately there was a stop right outside our hotel and a bus in 20 minutes! Bingo!

I was a little bit dissappointed with the Lynx bus....not because of the service or the cost, which were both brilliant dropped straight outside the Mall within 30 minutes....But the reason I was dissapointed is because Id heard alot of random stories about the people who get these buses....we got on...it was empty!!!! I was slightly dissappointed!!!

We got to the Mall and decided to get some food, I ended up at the Chinese place having Orange chicken, Bourbon Chicken and Noodles.....where as my brother decided just to keep walking round and getting free samples!!!! He said he wasnt that hungry, but it was like watching lewis Hamilton doing laps of the food court!

So all fueled up we did abit of shopping picking up hoodies, trainers, t shirts the normal. We were quite dissappointed that the CD/DVD shop was in its final days of shutting down, as we both had a few DVDs we wanted to pick up, but couldnt get And I didnt buy anything in Abercrombie, which is a first for me, normally spend fortunes in there, but I wasnt impressed!

After we had all done it was abou two ish, this time we had no girlfriends with us, so we managed to get the shopping done in quite good time, we jumped back on the Lynx bus 111 to our hotel, $2 and half an hour we were home...or to the hotel, it does become home doesnt it!

By now it was 3pm and I had a couple of hours to kill and my brother had gone to Epcot as he wasnt going to the Orlando Magic game, but as I sat there flicking through the tele....i had a pleasant supirse.....THE SUN HAD COME OUT!!!! You have never seen a human being put there swim shorts on and get down 9 floors to a sun lounger as quick as I did!!!!

I lay in the sun for 2 hours or so, in and out of a snooze, no kids by the pool, no noise by the pool, just a date.....me and the sun! It was heaven! But soon enough, the date came to an end and I wondered if id ever see her again! I got changed in good time as Florida Dolphin Tours was picking me up outside the hotel at half five, so I was ready!

Within two minutes of me bieng downstairs this 16 seater bus pulled up and out hopped Charles, a mid 20s chubby hispanic lad who was rather enthusiastic!! On the bus there were two british couples and there kids and we had another three pick ups, we had some absolutley brilliant banter on the drive to the Amway Arena mainly about The English driving system, but it was all good fun and finalllly we were parked up smack bang outside the Amyway Arena....I had pre match nerves!

To desribe what goes on outside an NBA Arena is strange as there is so much! It was a regular season game, but it was like an English Cup final! There was so much going on outside, create a sign, the EPSN Camper van, Basketball free-throws, Playstations, Guys on stilts...it was almost carnival like...and it was like this every game!!!! I was just really amazed and the hour I had outside really flew by!

I made my way inside the stadium after a thorough security check and was greated with a free match day programme by the lady on the door and straight away the guy infront of me is shouting 'BEEEEER, GET YOUR BEEER HERE'.....I found like id found my home!!! After a relatively priced beer, think it was about $6 I made my way to my seat which was a great view just as the national anthem was being sung!! This is an event in itself, they had a guy hitting all the notes and lots of whoooping from the crowd!

The game started and I found msyelf getting really into it, I was up out my seat everytime the magic hit a 3 pointer or dunk and this was only 4 or 5 mins in....then a time out was called!!!! Time out is about 2 minutes long and its the most incredible two minutes you will see in your life at sport!

In the 8 time outs we had I saw :- Crowd Volleyball, A floating Cow on a milk bottle, 10 Cheerleaders dunking, A lot of kids dancing on the big screen, two large americans break dancing in the isles on the big screen, 2 Harlem Globetrotters having a dunk off and a giant dinosour waving a flag ontop of a 25ft ladder......I was really confused!! As a child id had time outs and was sent to my room.....these time outs looked far more fun!!!!

We got to the second half and id pollished off a hot dog and a thing of nachos, the food there is so vast, its hard to explain! Add to that another couple of beers, I turned into Orlando Magics most vocal fan! I even managed to get my picture took with two of the Magic Cheerleaders!

The game finished and the Magic had lost but id really enjoyed the experience, we got back to the bus and I was back to my hotel within 45 minutes still really taken back by what I had witnessed, I was worried that going to an Arsenal game at home would be a let down when I came home now! But after that I got myself all took up in bed....as we were attacking the Magic Kingdom tommorow!

 

[Jordanblackpool]

Another great day.



Oi!

Ooooops! haha!

Cheers for all the quotes guys, its actually quite theraputic writing the reports, i knew id had fun but I had millles more than I realised as im sat here writing them and looking at the pics im laughing away!

 

[arielrocks]

lovin it so far - keep up the good work!

 

[disney_princess_85]

Wow, the Orlando Magic game sounds great! I might look into going to one, as my boyfriend would love it. I don't think I'll let him near those cheerleaders though...

 

[fav_is_tink]

Great report so far, looking forward to reading more

 

[darthtatty]

great report, its nice to hear of the other things you can do in Orlando

 

[buzz for boys]

Wow what a great trippie.
Can I ask how you managed to get tickets for TNA wrestling ?? My ds is a massive fan and whilst I knew it was filmed at universal im clueless at how to get tickets ??
Cant wait to read more x