Oh Dopey!! - January 2016 Trip Report & VLOGS *updated 02/21

[dancingtodisney]

Day 12 – Universal & Sanaa

Tuesday 12th January 2016
Part 1 – The moving walkway exit is approaching

Today was our day to head to Universal! My mam had zero interest but my cousin and his girlfriend were planning to head there too so we drove to their hotel on International Drive and picked them up on the way

Now one of my biggest tips for Universal if like us you don’t plan on spending a full day there is to not bring any bags or loose articles. I did have my phone with me but that was it, no camera and no bag. The only downside to that is less photos but hey it’s ONLY Universal right?! Lolz

So we paid extra for preferred parking (OMG parking is expensive now??!! I’ve not really noticed the increasing parking costs because we’ve stayed at a Disney resort the last few trips!) and walked tout towards citywalk

‘Caution… the moving walkway exit is approaching’

^^THIS reminds me of our trips to Orlando when we were younger. We would always head to Universal on our first day and hearing that announcement as we made our way along the walkway towards the park still gives me all the feels…

We made our way over to the Universal Studios Park.

Another tip for Universal is to always get there before the advertised park opening time, they let guests in earlier than the advertised time but you may have to wait to get on the rides if there is early morning ride time for onsite guests. Still you can get a head start of the bulk of the crowds.


We went straight for Diagon Alley and onto the newer of the two Harry Potter Rides Escape from Gringotts. I had my phone tucked away so we didn’t have to queue for a locker so I’m afraid I don’t have any of my own photos.

This is probably my favourite part of any ride queue ever… it’s awesome.. the detail of the goblins is fantastic and you feel like you are right there in the movie

The rest of the queue is awesome too, it’s so immersive!

I had only been on this ride once before so it was fun to experience it again, I don’t want to spoil it for anyone so I won’t! But I think I may enjoy this ride more than the Forbidden Journey, mainly because it doesn’t make me feel ill!

After that we were going to head to Kings Cross for the Hogwarts Express but the queue was already pretty long so we walked around IOA instead

We made straight for the Harry Potter area. I took some sneaky photos in the Forbidden Journey.. We did have to queue for this ride for a bit but I didn't mind too much as the queue is really cool!

We then went for a wander to Jurrasic Park... I realised something today.... If it's cold out there really isn't much to do at IOA! Especially when the Hulk is down for refurb!!!

We continued walking around until we reached Spiderman and decided to queue for that, it was about a 15min wait.

I do like Spiderman, again it's a classic for us so we always enjoy it. Transformers is basically an exact replica with a different movie!

My cousin wanted to go on Dr Dooms Fearfall but we weren't interested in queuing for it and walked back around to Hogsmead to go on the not so dueling dragons

We tried to go on with our phones in our pockets as we had done all day but they had metal detectors! My Dad went back to the lockers (which had a queue) and said to me and my sister to ride and he'd re-ride with us when we came out. We went through the queue but realised that the queue was a good 15mins long (not the 5mins posted outside) so we backtracked out (not a nice queue to back out of as it's LONG and DARK) and finally found my Dad and queued together.

I miss the Dueling of the Dragons... We used to ride this over and over again and sit in the front row on separate dragons and wave at each other every time we passed!

We came back out to Hogsmede and had a bit of a look around the shops

We used to the bathroom and said hello to an old friend... she's a bit of moan that one!

By this time my cousin had caught up with us and we all rode on the Dragons again.

We decided to board the Hogwarts Express back to Universal Studios next seen as there wasn't much else left to do in IOA.

Harmione's voice..... enough said

I do still really enjoy this journey and it's such a cool idea, that voice is very distracting though!

We walked around towards The Simpsons area, I LOVE how well they have pulled off the theme here it's awesome!!

My cousin wanted to ride the Simpsons ride so we left him and his girlfriend to do that (MOTION SICKNESS) and we explored the area

We were hungry now so there was really only one place to go

The food here isn't amazing (typical quick service) but it's KRUSTY BURGER!!!

Rachel bought a GIANT donut

She always looks at this thing and never buys it so I convinced her to this time

We sat in Moe's bar to eat which was really cool!

DUFF MAN

I could take photos around here all day!

I'm glad they still pay tribute to the old ride from this area.. presume you all know what movie this is from?!

We decided to head back towards Diagon Alley for one more explore of the area and got chatting to a friendly bus driver

We met my cousin and went over to the Mummy for our last ride of the day together...

YOUR SOALS ARE MINE!!!!

We said our goodbyes and then myself Dad and Rachel rode the Minions ride and Rip Ride Rocket on our way out of the park.

And that was it from Universal for us! We were finished by around 2pm and I think that was partly due to the lack of rides in IOA but also the crowd level being higher than we expected which meant we skipped out on rides that we've been on loads of times before.




​

 

[rteetz]

Nice update! I've never been to universal but do want to go to check it out. I'm not a huge potter fan either but I've heard it's pretty amazing. One day I'll get there.

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

What a fun day at Universal! Even though, I'm not a huge fan of the screen rides there is so still a lot to do there. I loved Dragon Challenge a lot! And Simpsons are always hilarious

 

[TheLittleKatie]

8 DAYS TO DISNEY

Not sure if I mentioned on here yet or not but I'm heading back to Disney World next weekend with my sister for a week.... EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK

Eeeeeek see you soon!!!!

 

[chelynnah]

I'm 49 and one of my favourite parts of IOA is the Dr Seuss area. I'm such a child!!

Loved both Gringotts and FJ. I was finally able to get on. Partly weight loss and partly they adjusted the lap belt. So I actually got to ride both twice in November.

I did Spiderman and Transformers, and it just irritated me that they were exactly the same ride. I think I was more irritated though because I was feeling sick from the Simpsons ride (not sure why that gave me motion sickness when nothing else did), so to be thrown around to the exact same story in Transformers as we had done with earlier in Spiderman irritated me (have I used that word enough yet) and just smacked of laziness on the part of Universal.

We didn't do any coasters as Mr Chelynnah is a wuss, though he did brave Splash Mountain in Nove,her and realised he might actually be able to do big drops, so we are gearing up for him to try a few at DLP next month. If you see a 45'ishyo man having a breakdown in the queue to RnR or TOT with his wife in an ECV next to him pretending to ignore him, that'll be us.

And OMGosh yes the parking prices were astronomical. We stayed off property so both Disney and US cost us $20 a go! Another perk to staying in-site. Free parking when you're not using internal transportation.

 

[ZellyB]

Yay for a Universal day. We really enjoy Universal and spend time there pretty much every time we go to Orlando now. We are big Harry Potter geeks though, so that portion of the parks alone makes it worthwhile for us! I love the Escape from Gringotts ride and the Mummy so you hit my favorites.

 

[dancingtodisney]

Day 12 – Universal & Sanaa

Tuesday 12th January 2016​

Part 2 – It's all about the bread service
​

After Universal we decided to chill at our resort for the rest of the afternoon. I sat out on the balcony checking out our visitors

You just can't get bored of this view!

One thing we really wanted to do on our last trip but didn't get the chance to was roasting marshmallows so today we knew it was happening at Animal Kingdom Lodge (it alternates between there and Kidani Village) at 5pm. We made our way down to the lobby and there were signs directing us out of the back exit towards the marshmallow goodness!

We each collected our stick and marshmallow and started toasting


Mmmmmmmmmmmm marshmallow...

We got to reload our sticks as many times as we wanted! Rachel is in her element right here! I genuinely had to plan our next trip with marshmallow time in mind so that we can go back a few times over the week!

After a few I had my technique for the perfectly roasted marshmallow! They were so delicious!!

I took some more photos of the animals that were out and about on our walk back to the lobby, we were going back to the room to get ready for our dinner reservation which was going to be a first for all of us!

We got ready and went out to the front of AKL to catch the bus to Kidani Village. There is a little mini bus that runs back and forth between the two resorts. We waited a few mins for it to arrive and hopped in. The driver was playing some Lion King music and me and Rachel were singing along. There was only us and another couple in the bus and I'm pretty sure they were enjoying the sing along haha

We arrived at Kidani and went straight to the check in desk for Sanaa, we didn't have to wait long before we were shown to our table.

I had done some research online and I already knew what I wanted... Bread Service & Butter Chicken!

We ordered a bread service with all the dips and then two services of butter chicken & braised beef.

The bread service arrived and it was love at first sight

It was all so nice!! We tried all the dips and we ended up ordering some extra bread so we continue eating them! It was fine to share between the four of us although I could easily have eaten more!

Next was our main courses

Wow how good does that look?!

It tasted as good as it looks as well and just like I expected the butter chicken was my favourite! Seriously if you're getting one of these to share you pick two main courses and I would recommend butter chicken with butter chicken because you're going to want a portion of that all to yourself.....

We didn't have desert but I did have a cocktail

We REALLY enjoyed this meal, it was one of my favourites of the whole trip. It was really handy too that it was right at our resort and it was nice to just spend the evening there instead of heading to a park.

With full bellies we went out to catch the bus back to AKL and head to bed. ​

 

[dancingtodisney]

Day 13 – Magic Kingdom & Shopping
Wednesday 13th January 2016
Part 1 – Why would he leave us?!
We had another rather chilled day planned today (Dopey made us tired!) with Shopping during the day and then Magic Kingdom at night to see Wishes. Myself and Rachel decided to head into the Magic Kingdom first thing in the morning to catch the opening ceremony and go on a couple of rides before we went shopping.

We walked out to the bus stop at AKL and as we were approaching I saw a Magic Kingdom bus was pulled up, YAH! We ran towards it and the driver legit saw us and indicated to pull out, we were at the bus by the time he started moving and he looks right at us and shook his head

WHAT????!!

WHY WOULD HE LEAVE US!!!

I've never experienced this before, the bus drivers are always so lovely

We waited for the next bus which of course took FOREVER and by the time we made it to MK we had missed the opening ceremony...

Main Street USA wasn't too busy as we came in so we stopped for some photos

We had a nice photographer that posed us for some extra shots

We made straight for Space Mountain to ride without a wait before using our fastpass

The ride photo was down first time (I find this happens a lot first thing in the morning?!)

I'd been having a sneaky look online at where the targets where with the highest points on Buzz Lightyear (don't judge) and so we decided to head there next

This photo is always a funny one as it catches you when you're really concentrating

I wish they had one on TSM I bet that would be a hoot as well

I did very average but good enough to beat Rachel.... she blamed my controlling the stick!

We rode again.... and I won again... hehe Rachel looks a bit shocked in this one

We got much higher scores this time, around 400,000

And... back on Space Mountain

It was terrifying

We went into the photo booth in the gift store and took some pictures, you can get them on photopass for free but if you want the prints you pay for those.

This is one of my favourite photos:

We lived the photos so much we got the printed ones too, it was about $7 I think!

We decided to spend some time just browsing the stores on Main Street before heading out, I love browsing on Main Street!

We got the bus back to AKL and met my parents before heading off to the Florida Mall. After shopping we stopped into the Cheesecake Factory for some dinner

Chicken wings to start

I got a parmesan chicken dish for main

And we got some cheesecake to takeaway.... I don't seem to have a pic of them.... OOOOPS!




​

 

[dancingtodisney]

Day 13 – Magic Kingdom & Shopping
Wednesday 13th January 2016
Part 2 – Stars of the show
We came back to the Magic Kingdom in the evening to enjoy some night time fun! We had a fastpass for enchanted tales with Belle and then Wishes (so sad this isn't a thing anymore)

We stopped on Main Street for a famliy photo

Does anyone else find it really hard to go down Main Street without taking a photo??? It's just necessary...

We walked over to Enchanted Tales with Belle and got in line. It was kinda awkward because we got to this door after going through the fastpass queue and there was nobody at it and so we were just like 'hellllooooooooooooo' ..... 'helloooooooooooo' and then we were let into the pre-show thing were there were other guests that were probably wondering who the crazies were outside...

We went on to the next part of the pre-show with the Wardrobe and both me and Rachel were selected to participate in the show... Rachel was Mrs pots and I was the Wardrobe herself! I knew my parents would get a massive kick of this!

Rachel had her moment to shine with Chip

And I just... stood in the background... apparently the Wardrobe doesn't do very much lol

We then went around the room in a little parade while everyone clapped!

And finally we got our picture taken with Belle

Afterwards we went to The Plaza for ice-cream before claiming our spots in fastpass viewing area for Wishes

Celebrate the Magic was first

Then Wishes... I was using my phone and not really wanting to snap too much during the show

It's a great view from this area (the fenced off grass area in the hub) so I'm going to try and watch from there anyway next time.. It was really nice that it wasn't as crowded as the rest of the hub so I guess that'll change

It was EMH so let the crowds exit and took some photos

Next we decided to try again for those Galactic Hero badges

Look at Mam checking out my score with ENVY!!!

I got pretty high this time, around 600,000 and Dad was NOT impressed he knew something was up after getting less than 100,000 himself. We let them in on our sneaky secret and re-rode

We got stuck right at the start when I had a perfect shot at one of the 100,000 targets! We stopped for like 15secs but that was enough time for me to get my score right up so I had maxed out before we even got halfway!

I was trying to help Mam at this point...

So we get the exit of the ride and I'm SO EXCITED to collect my badge when we realise that the little area you normally walk through where they have the photopass pics showing and you get your badge was CLOSED.... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Luckily I had picture evidence of my achievement and planned to claim my prize tomorrow!

We made our way towards the exit and Rachel took this random selfie on my phone so I'm sharing

I was sending a post card home so I got some proof that it was sent from Main Street USA!

Back to the bus stop and off to bed with our tired selves. I was so smug on the way back now that I had (almost)official galactic hero status

​

 

[Ariel484]

Ahh...so much to comment on! I'm going to forget so this may be a few posts...

- SO glad your visit to First Aid paid off (and I love that you call Band-Aids "plasters" )! Especially for the WWoS stretch, that area is so tough!
- Related note...DYING at the WWoS character pictures! So cute! And BOO...Ah, so jealous!
- So proud of you for staying tough and finishing - I knew you would. congratulations!!!
- So glad that your mom has been well for a year

Even though it was tough at times you guys have so many amazing photos and it looks like you had a blast!! So happy for you!

 

[Ariel484]

Okay, part 2

Boy, you guys sure seem to be holding up well after the marathon!
WOOHOO for a DISmeet!
Aren't the Harry Potter areas of Universal AMAZING?! They really look perfect. But I am with you on the illness-inducing Forbidden Journey, yikes!!
So glad Rachel got The Big Pink - if there's a day to eat a donut as big as your head, the day after running a marathon is it!
You are KILLING me with those Sanaa pictures!! Bread service and Butter Chicken - sooo good!

Hope you're having a fun trip! Maybe I'll see ya!

 

[ALEXandFAB]

We ran towards it and the driver legit saw us and indicated to pull out, we were at the bus by the time he started moving and he looks right at us and shook his head

I literally gasped when I read this. What a tosser! (Thank you Google for helping me find the proper British insult )

I'd been having a sneaky look online at where the targets where with the highest points on Buzz Lightyear (don't judge)

No judging here. I plan to do the same thing because I want to completely demolish my husband's score when we go!

It was kinda awkward because we got to this door after going through the fastpass queue and there was nobody at it and so we were just like 'hellllooooooooooooo' ..... 'helloooooooooooo' and then we were let into the pre-show thing were there were other guests that were probably wondering who the crazies were outside...

 

[dancingtodisney]

Ahh...so much to comment on! I'm going to forget so this may be a few posts...

- SO glad your visit to First Aid paid off (and I love that you call Band-Aids "plasters" )! Especially for the WWoS stretch, that area is so tough!
- Related note...DYING at the WWoS character pictures! So cute! And BOO...Ah, so jealous!
- So proud of you for staying tough and finishing - I knew you would. congratulations!!!
- So glad that your mom has been well for a year

Even though it was tough at times you guys have so many amazing photos and it looks like you had a blast!! So happy for you!

Haha Band-Aids

It's funny, I really had it in my head that WWoS would be the toughest part and it ended up being one of the easier parts, most likely thanks to the painkillers and characters but probably also the fact that I was expected it to be bad!

Aw thanks

Okay, part 2

Boy, you guys sure seem to be holding up well after the marathon!
WOOHOO for a DISmeet!
Aren't the Harry Potter areas of Universal AMAZING?! They really look perfect. But I am with you on the illness-inducing Forbidden Journey, yikes!!
So glad Rachel got The Big Pink - if there's a day to eat a donut as big as your head, the day after running a marathon is it!
You are KILLING me with those Sanaa pictures!! Bread service and Butter Chicken - sooo good!

Hope you're having a fun trip! Maybe I'll see ya!

Ye I think we were doing ok, you can definitely see there is a shift in pace though from our days before...

YES! It is! We actually did the studio tour at the weekend in London which was AWESOME but even in comparison to that Universal has done AMAZING! The Great Hall in the studio tour is pretty impressive but then you look at Diagon Alley and I think Universal have nailed it and you can actually go into their shops! Plus Gringotts.. it's perfection..
Haha true, she definitely deserved it!
I'm killing myself! We do have a reservation in a weeks time though EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!

We don't leave until Saturday... Ye maybe! I've got on you on Instagram (me and Rachel started a joint account) so I'll be stalking.. I mean following you in case we end up in the same place!

You creeped out yet?

Hahaha! Excuse me I'm very giddy today... 3 DAYS TO DISNEY!!!!! Only 2 for you right??!

 

[rteetz]

I love AKL! I've never stayed there but have been there a couple times and it's one of my favorites.

I have yet to eat at Sanaa but hope to in the future.

That bus driver needs some patience I guess.

Looks like a fun MK day. I have yet to be a galactic hero but hopefully I'll get there next time.

 

[dancingtodisney]

I literally gasped when I read this. What a tosser! (Thank you Google for helping me find the proper British insult )

HAHAHAHAHA LOVE IT!

No judging here. I plan to do the same thing because I want to completely demolish my husband's score when we go!

ROBOT ARMS!! That's all I'm saying haha

I love AKL! I've never stayed there but have been there a couple times and it's one of my favorites.

I have yet to eat at Sanaa but hope to in the future.

That bus driver needs some patience I guess.

Looks like a fun MK day. I have yet to be a galactic hero but hopefully I'll get there next time.

Oh it's beautiful I love staying there! It's also usually cheaper than the other delux resorts. Hoping to get a couple of days in either the Polynesian or Grand Floridian on our trip next year.

Sanaa is amazing.. GO!

Fingers crossed for next time!

 

[emilyindisney]

So enjoying your report- your 5k costumes are beyond clever!! Would you and your fam consider going Dopey again?

 

[dancingtodisney]

I'm back!!!

BUT

I've got Disneyland Paris in two weeks.... EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!

So enjoying your report- your 5k costumes are beyond clever!! Would you and your fam consider going Dopey again?

Hi Emily! YES we would... in fact we ARE... Fingers crossed all going to plan we will be back for Dopey 2018...

 

[chelynnah]

I'm back!!!

BUT

I've got Disneyland Paris in two weeks.... EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!



Hi Emily! YES we would... in fact we ARE... Fingers crossed all going to plan we will be back for Dopey 2018...

Well that answers Nick's question ( @Mr Chelynnah ). I'm not sure if he actually asked on here or if he just wondered aloud to me if you would do it again.

Hmm we were tossing around last night if it would be possible to do Jan 18, though he would only do the marathon.

 

[dancingtodisney]

Day 14 – A Breakfast Tradition & 50's Prime Time

Thursday 14th January 2016
Part 1 – Our Favourite Breakfast

The next morning we were up early again and off to Animal Kingdom! We drove from our hotel and it was such a quick trip, Animal Kingdom Lodge may be a bit further away from the other parks but it’s pretty perfect for an AK day!

We parked up and walked into the park… I was feeling a bit off this morning and I’d say that was still the weekend catching up on me but I was really looking forward to a few rides on Everest and our traditional character breakfast…

We went straight to Everest and rode that twice in row with no wait

We then took a leisurely stroll over towards breakfast at Tuskar House

Check in was quick and we waited to be called

It was pretty quiet!

This breakfast is one that we always go to, it’s the best character breakfast food wise in my opinion and possibly even overall but I did really enjoy Crystal Palace too so it’s hard to choose!

We were given our jungle juice and set off to fill our plates with delicious breakfasty GOOOODNESS!

While I was away I'd missed Donald! DEVASTATED!!

I just asked our server if he could come back later and he said to let him know when we'd seen everyone else...

Next up was Mickey! I just love his Safari outfit, it's so adorable!

Everyone knows what Mickey loves right???

CHEEEEEEEESE!!!

Next was my favourite! GOOFY! He actually became my favourite as a result of our first ever character breakfast in this very restaurant about five years ago. We had literally just sat down at our table when Goofy strutted into the room pulling his gloves tight on his hands and pointed directly at Dad as if to say 'YOU' and then stood in a pose waiting for Dad to join him for a photo... It was so funny!

They still have a special connection... in fact I'd say Dad is probably most like Goofy!

Our lovely server was kind enough to take a group photo

Next up was Daisy... she was sassy as every!

I did have a few more plates but I'm sorry it must have been too tempting to scoff the lot and I didn't take any more photos... WHOOPS!

We let our server know that we'd seen everyone else and he got Donald to stop by on his way into our room

​

 

[ZellyB]

Great pictures. Especially that family shot with Goofy! We've got a Tusker House breakfast scheduled for our January trip along with one at Crystal Palace. Can't wait!