The Theme Parks, the Dining & Compeed..nailed it! (4/10) Life Update

[khertz]

I was behind a bit but just got all caught up! I too am a bit surprised Universal didn't have anything planned for the 4th of July?? That seems odd, but oh well.

What did you think of the room at the Hard Rock? That's where we are staying in October. I might have missed it in the pictures, but is there a refrigerator in the room? We picked it to stay there because it's a little bigger than the room at Royal Pacific, which will help with DD sleeping in the Pack & Play, and because they are supposed to have a fridge.

Love all of the Harry Potter pics! I can't wait to ride the Hogwart's Express for the first time!!!

 

[Princess Leia]

I was behind a bit but just got all caught up! I too am a bit surprised Universal didn't have anything planned for the 4th of July?? That seems odd, but oh well.

You've got an excellent excuse for being behind. She really is beautiful. It seemed strange that they were suggesting offsite options.

What did you think of the room at the Hard Rock? That's where we are staying in October. I might have missed it in the pictures, but is there a refrigerator in the room? We picked it to stay there because it's a little bigger than the room at Royal Pacific, which will help with DD sleeping in the Pack & Play, and because they are supposed to have a fridge.

I really liked the room at Hard Rock - you have made a good choice. The fridge is featured in the photo with the coffee machine. You can see the lock from when it used to be a mini-bar.

Love all of the Harry Potter pics! I can't wait to ride the Hogwart's Express for the first time!!!

Thanks. I'm sure you will love it. Paxton should enjoy it too. He is at such a great age to enjoy the theme parks.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

I'm back, all caught up (again!) and loving the updates.

I'm *totally* like you.......no one touches the room until Momma gets her photos . I don't even have to remind them anymore, they just know.

We never did catch the Cinematic Spectacular when we were there in May. Its definitely on our list of must-do's for October. We know it will pale in comparison to the Disney fireworks but we still want to take in that special event, just to say we did!

Your meal at the Kitchen looked absolutely delish (Alan's burger in particular looked divine!) and how awesome that the characters were there that night!! Woody seems to be a little harder to find in the parks, too, so it was super cool that he made an appearance at dinner!

Shame on Alan for taking an afternoon siesta.....I would have loved to have seen some pool pics!

 

[Princess Leia]

I'm back, all caught up (again!) and loving the updates.

It's hard keeping up on all that's happening on the Disboards. I've been back at work this week so that's taken up most of my time.

I'm *totally* like you.......no one touches the room until Momma gets her photos . I don't even have to remind them anymore, they just know.

It's like the food photos. Everybody had to wait till their food was photographed before touching it. Had to stop this habit when I got back to real life.

We never did catch the Cinematic Spectacular when we were there in May. Its definitely on our list of must-do's for October. We know it will pale in comparison to the Disney fireworks but we still want to take in that special event, just to say we did!

I'll generally try anything once! Just make sure you have a decent view of the screen. I think it would have been alright if it hadn't been July 4th and I was wanting a bit more of an event.

Your meal at the Kitchen looked absolutely delish (Alan's burger in particular looked divine!) and how awesome that the characters were there that night!! Woody seems to be a little harder to find in the parks, too, so it was super cool that he made an appearance at dinner!

The food was really good and the surroundings were lovely. We met Woody in Universal years ago with Winnie. He was very charming!

Shame on Alan for taking an afternoon siesta.....I would have loved to have seen some pool pics!

Quite disgraceful really. Did he think we were on holiday or something? He certainly didn't get much nap time on this holiday.

 

[xlsm]

I'm caught up! I've gotten behind on the TRs I've been reading and even on mine that I'm writing!

I had to giggle at the Brit/American English "pants" situation, LOL!

The rooms at Hard Rock are awesome. I love the mirrors with the star's heights.

I love reading about your US/IOA adventures! We just had the one day there, and it was quite hectic cramming both parks into one day and staying sane!!

So weird they didn't do anything for July 4th and suggested going somewhere else in town?? What business does that?? Crazy.

I'm glad you all had such a good time, looking forward to reading more!

 

[Princess Leia]

I'm caught up! I've gotten behind on the TRs I've been reading and even on mine that I'm writing!

No wonder you're busy - you have so many readers!

I had to giggle at the Brit/American English "pants" situation, LOL!

It was amusing especially given how often it happened. More recently "pants" is used in the UK to describe something not being that great e.g. It was "pants!"

The rooms at Hard Rock are awesome. I love the mirrors with the star's heights.

There were some really cool touches at Hard Rock. If I had more time I would have explored a bit more.

I love reading about your US/IOA adventures! We just had the one day there, and it was quite hectic cramming both parks into one day and staying sane!!

I've been reading about your day at US/IOA and enjoyed comparing notes. No wonder you were shattered by the end of the day.

So weird they didn't do anything for July 4th and suggested going somewhere else in town?? What business does that?? Crazy.

Why would you suggest guests going offsite? Business wise it doesn't make sense.

I'm glad you all had such a good time, looking forward to reading more!

Hoping to get an update soon - I'm currently having problems with my memory maker photos. I thought I had successfully downloaded them but now they won't all successfully open. I need to get them sorted before they expire.

 

[Princess Leia]

Day Three Part One: Where’s the Port of Exit? aka When Alan’s away the others just play!

One of the perks of staying onsite is early entry to the parks. This means that you can get in an hour early. The only downside is that the parks open at 8am in the summer. The good thing about doing it at this point of the holiday was our bodies weren’t quite adjusted to the time difference yet. We got up at 5.30am. We walked the short distance to Universal Studios and arrived at 6.45am. We headed straight for Gringott’s. I thought this was an incredible ride and just wish I had got to ride it more than once. When we were at Islands of Adventure in 2011 Hannah and I talked about what they should do next. I thought that it would be really cool to have a Gringott’s rollercoaster ride based on The Deathly Hallows. It lived up to our vision of what it should be. The photo opportunity in the queue was not opened when we went through.

We had a walk round Diagon Alley. The theming is really impressive even for those who are not big Potter fans.









We then took the Hogwart’s Express to Hogsmeade.







We wanted to ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey before things got really busy. We enjoyed this but I felt a bit nauseous at the part where they go into the quidditch section. This was probably on account that we hadn’t eaten yet.



We left Hogwart’s and Peter spotted a friend from his year group at school. They chatted for a bit. After retrieving our bags from the lockers we decided it was definitely time for breakfast. On the way we stopped off at a photo opportunity.



Look it’s that enterprising old Sylvester McMonkey McBean!

We purchased some cinnamon rolls at Cinnabon at the Port of Entry. I wasn’t able to purchase the additional day refill for our Freestyle cups at Cinnabon but was directed to a reservation cart nearby. Hannah and Peter found that the Freestyle machine was spouting out mountains of ice and wouldn’t stop. We each got a Cinnamon roll. I’m partial to a Cinnamon roll. These were incredibly sweet. Peter wasn’t a fan and gave up quite quickly.



After breakfast Alan left us to go back to the Hard Rock Hotel to finish packing up and check-out. We agreed to meet back up at 11.30am. We had some more drinks and finished putting on our sun cream. We must have been sitting for 20 minutes when I spotted Alan passing by. He tried to sneak past without being noticed. On later questioning it turned out that Alan despite being at the exit had trouble finding his way out of the park. In fact it turned out this wasn’t the first time he sneaked past us. In trying to exit the park he headed into Marvel Super Hero Island and on reaching Toon Lagoon realised something wasn’t right. Undeterred he tried again this time ending up in Seuss Landings.

With Alan away it was time to do some more roller coasters... First up, The Hulk. Alan had left his backpack which Hannah carried. For anyone not familiar with Universal they have a unique locker system. You have to go to a locker area and go to a touch screen. You then have to select your language and select ‘Rent a Locker’. The fun of this is trying to see the screen in the bright sunlight. You then scan your finger and you are assigned a locker. A light goes on beside a locker and then you have to try and find your locker somewhere in amongst all the other people in the way of your assigned locker. You have to crush your bag to get it in. It seemed to be we were often assigned the highest locker in the darkest corner. You had to press the button beside the locker to then lock the locker.



The three of us went on the Hulk. Although Hannah didn’t have fond memories of the Hulk, she was willing to give it another shot. Peter loved his first ride on the Hulk. Next we headed for Doctor Doom’s Fearfall. On the way we spotted a sign pointing to the store where Spider-Man was. Spider-Man commented on Peter’s name “You’re called Peter? I’m called Peter. Cool!” Spider-Man asked Pete “Who is your favourite Marvel Super Hero? Peter went “erm...erm...” At which stage I said “It’s Spider-Man isn’t it?” Spider-Man not missing a trick asked “Do you have any Spider-Man merchandise? Shop’s over there so you can get some official Spider-Man merchandise. Nudge nudge, wink wink”.



Spider-Man tried to teach Hannah and I how to make shooting out web signs with our hands. He had a lot of patience!



The best part of Dr Doom’s Fearfall is when you get shot quickly upwards. There is a good view from up there. It is, however, over very quickly.

We were doing well. We got into the express pass queue for The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man. Things moved fairly quickly and then ground to a halt. An announcement was made about a sinister syndicate has attacked this ride. Does that mean the ride has broken down? We kept thinking it must be starting back up soon. We decided to give it another 5 minutes...a few times! With no idea when it would start back up we reluctantly left the queue. We returned our 3d glasses and left the building. We ended up in a cast only area and had to be let back in to exit out the more conventional way. We needed to get back to our lockers.

We were just approaching the lockers when Peter spotted Storm Force Accelatron had no queue and ran to get on it. Peter refers to Accelatron as ‘Tea Cups on Steroids’ which I think is a pretty good description. Hannah and I were at the locker area queuing up behind all these people waiting for the touch screen. The queue took a while some people were getting a locker and couldn’t figure out how to do it, others had returned and couldn’t recall their locker number and still others don’t remember what finger they used. Our problem was one of the fingers we needed to get our bags back was currently spinning round on Accelatron. Hannah and I tried to recover the other bag but had to remember which number was ours and which was Pete’s. Whose finger had we used anyway? Peter quickly returned and we managed to get our bags back. The machine wasn’t recognising his finger print but after some finger wiping off on t-shirt we had success. The Express Passes save time in the queues but there was no way of Express Passing the lockers. It would be good to have the valet parking equivalent for back packs.

We decided we still had time to fit in another roller coaster before meeting back up with Alan. We headed to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We passed through Seuss Landing stopping for a quick photograph.



We put our bags in the lockers before heading on Dragon Challenge. Today I was setting off every metal detector I went through and had to wait whilst they put the wand over me. This time we did the red one also known as the Chinese Fireball. I still want to call them Fire and Ice. When we got off we immediately decided to go and do the other one and headed back round in the queue. When we got to the re-entry point the Team Member asked if we had express passes. We told her we did. She asked us if we would like to go straight on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. "Ok...why not?" She told us to head there and tell the Team member there that she had sent us. When we got to the entrance to Forbidden Journey we passed on this message and the guy told us to go along to the right and say he had sent us. The Team Members released chained off areas at each area we came to. We headed off by ourselves along a secret passageway under cover of our invisibility cloak. I felt we should have had a Marauder’s Map. We climbed some stairs and then suddenly appeared at the ride vehicles. It felt very true to Hogwarts.



We decided to get the photo printed while we were there as it can only be done at that location. It took longer than it should have to get served as team members kept moving to different areas and monitors making it hard to know where to queue. We did get it printed eventually although in the printed copy my nose was really red causing me to ask Hannah and Peter whether I had sunburn. It turns out I didn’t although I do look like Rudolph in the printed photo so it is probably destined for the bottom of some drawer.

We were now late for meeting back up with Alan – we would need to get a move on. "Wait a minute... don’t forget our bags in the lockers at Dragon Challenge!" We hot footed it back to the agreed meeting area at the wall near Cinnabon. Fortunately Alan found it easier to enter the park than exit it!

 

[Piglet4Ever]

Really enjoying your report so far!

 

[Princess Leia]

Really enjoying your report so far!

I'm really glad we got to do the couple of days at Universal.

 

[khertz]

I really liked the room at Hard Rock - you have made a good choice. The fridge is featured in the photo with the coffee machine. You can see the lock from when it used to be a mini-bar.

I thought that might be the fridge but I wasn't sure. Thanks! We are really looking forward to staying there again!

Those lockers at Universal are SUCH a headache! We have had issues with them more than once!

How cool that you got kind of backdoored into Forbidden Journey! I wonder how often that happens??

 

[Princess Leia]

I thought that might be the fridge but I wasn't sure. Thanks! We are really looking forward to staying there again!

Those lockers at Universal are SUCH a headache! We have had issues with them more than once!

How cool that you got kind of backdoored into Forbidden Journey! I wonder how often that happens??

I wasn't sure what to expect from HRH but we really liked it.

I think the way to go is to leave a non-rider with the bags and then swap. They were really strict this time on items in pockets and were turning people back to go and put items in lockers.

The chance to go a secret way into Forbidden Journey was quite unexpected. I love when these moments happen. Funnily enough Hannah and Peter were relaying the story to my cousin and it turns out the same thing happened to them.

 

[Princess Leia]

Life Update

Apologies to those who were following my trip report. Life has been crazily busy and only the real must do’s have been getting done. I have currently been working through a bad cold with an annoying chesty cough. Unfortunately there is just too much to be done at work for me to take time off to be ill. Hoping I’ll be able to shift it soon.

Since going back to school in August life has been incredibly busy. Hannah is in her 3rd year of senior school. She will be doing her qualifications in English, Maths, History, Modern Studies, Biology, French, Drama and Music. She has joined the school Chamber choir. She has started rehearsals with her Youth Theatre group for Fame. Hannah is also a member of RSNO (Royal Scottish National Orchestra) Junior Chorus. She was singing this afternoon in a Hallowe’en concert at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.

Peter is now in his final year of primary school. He has been busy with rugby at school. He has recently also joined a local rugby club. He also continues with his swim training. At a recent swim meet he got 5 PBs and a Bronze medal.

Alan has been continuing with golf lessons and has purchased his first set of clubs. At work, he is currently covering the vacant Headship of a semi-rural primary school. The school is set in extensive grounds and he has enjoyed a lovely autumn there.

I have started rehearsals for 9 to 5 with my theatre group. It is shaping up to be a good show.

At the end of September my cousin George lost his fight with cancer. George gave a brave fight and made sure he spent the time between treatment doing things he really wanted to do. This included a good number of trips to USA as he had a real interest in American history. The weekend before he died he spent with his brother in Belfast.

 

[Princess Leia]

Interlude: September weekend in Scotland

The schools had 2 days off at the end of September. Hannah went away for the weekend with the Youth group from our church. They went to Teen Ranch at Inchture which is near to Dundee. Hannah had been feeling a bit off colour so we wanted to hire a cottage nearby in case she needed a bit of TLC.

We hired a cottage in a little place called Benvie near Dundee. We had stayed in this location a few years ago. Rose cottage had 2 bedrooms. It is a great location, out in the countryside but only a short drive to Dundee.

The morning we were due to be heading off I got a phone call from the company we had booked with to say that there had been an oil spill at the cottage and we would not be able to stay there. I stopped packing (I’d been too busy at work to be organised in advance) and desperately started trying to find alternative accommodation. We were getting nowhere with this search when a couple of hours later the owner of the cottage phoned. He was feeling really bad about the situation. He offered to let us stay at the cottage free of charge. We decided to go for this option – if the smell was too bad we could always come back home.

With the delay we were later leaving than planned. We headed off late afternoon and had a smooth journey up.

 

[Princess Leia]

Interlude: September Weekend in Scotland Day 2

On Saturday morning we were up early. After breakfast we drove into Dundee. Peter and I went to the Olympia swimming pool. A scout group arrived just in front of us. It was pretty busy for early on a Saturday morning. It had 4 flumes. I promised Peter I would go on the yellow cannonball flume which had a 3.8m drop into the diving pool. As soon as we got in we hit the flumes – only 3 of the 4 were open. They all had aqua catches at the end. The flumes all had various features including LED lights, music and holograms. On two of the flumes you chose what effect you wanted. I had great fun choosing the music and singing my way down the flume. Unfortunately I do not have any evidence of me dramatically singing “Let it go” as I went down the flume. You will just need to imagine it! I went to get Peter’s goggles from our locker. As I opened the locker I heard our pound coin drop down and then when the door opened it had disappeared. I emptied the locker but it was nowhere to be seen. I figured it must have dropped into the locker below. It is not only at Universal that I can have locker issues! I spoke to an assistant in the changing room. She had a master key and opened the locker below and handed back the pound coin. Seemingly it is a common problem. Note to self next time take a bottom locker (no danger of your coin going into locker below and you might even make a few quid!). Peter enjoyed some time on the diving boards. He even jumped off the top board. The wave machine came on but after Typhoon Lagoon nothing compared so we went back to the flumes. The yellow flume didn’t open during our time there as it only opens when the diving boards are shut as it shares the same pool. During the time Peter and I were at the pool Alan went shopping for a new suit for work.

We met Alan back at the car park and headed across the Tay Road Bridge. Alan wanted to visit Scotland’s Secret Bunker. We had visited years ago and Alan was keen to revisit since we were back in the area. We drove through St Andrew’s which was pretty busy. We continued onto Crail. The weather was sunny something we hadn’t seen over the summer months. We got some sandwiches, crisps (potato chips to my transatlantic friends) and drinks at a local Co-op and located a picnic bench on a grassy bank overlooking the sea. After lunch Alan and Peter headed off to the Secret bunker. I didn’t want to spend a sunny afternoon in Scotland underground so I opted to stay in Crail. Most of the shops were closed early obviously Crail still observed the half day Saturday. I had a pleasant afternoon walking round Crail. Crail has a lovely little harbour.













I also spent some time sitting on a bench, reading a book, looking out to sea. This was just what I needed after a particularly busy time at work. Later in the afternoon I went into a little tea shop. It looked promising. I found a table looked at the menu and decided what I wanted to order. The tea shop was busy. After a while of no-one coming over to my table I decided to go over to the counter to see if I could order there. After 10 minutes still no-one came over so I decided that enough was enough and voted with my feet. Instead of coffee and cake I went for another walk. A healthier option I’m sure you’ll agree.





Alan had agreed to phone when he was on his way back. I had walked a fair distance so I walked to the nearest road – Alan put it in my Sat Nav and was able to locate me quickly. The boys enjoyed their trip to the Secret Bunker and Alan found it really interesting.

In the evening Alan went out to get some food from a Chinese takeaway. It turned out to be a bit of a lengthy trip as there wasn’t one in the local village so he ended up getting one in Dundee City centre. When he returned we settled down with our meals to watch the Rugby World Cup match between England v Wales. It was a very exciting match with a dramatic late victory for Wales.

 

[Princess Leia]

I'm not sure whether anyone is reading this little Scottish interlude. Just in case anyone is I'd better finish what I've started!

Scottish Interlude Day 3

We were up bright and early on another beautiful sunny day. I knew where I wanted to spend the morning. We crossed over the Tay Road Bridge again and soon found ourselves traveling along some B roads, making good use of the passing places on these single track lanes. Our destination was Tentsmuir National Nature Reserve. I knew from a previous trip that we would need the exact change to open the barrier to the car park. Once we paid our £2 the barrier lifted and we were able to go and park in the forest. It was like we were parking in Endor. We crossed the sand dunes to access a wide expanse of empty sands. The boys had brought some balls with them (ok this is the DIS so I’d better rephrase) erm… ‘the boys started playing with their balls’. Ok I’d better just put up some photos.

They started off doing some rugby passes.





Alan seems to be using his Jedi powers.

Let’s change to some football. Peter’s more of a boy for his rugby so it was an unusual sight to see him with a football at his feet and not covered in mud!







It was such a beautiful morning. This was just the break I needed from work.

Oh look things are getting busy! The dogs were loving all the space and were enjoying running in and out the water.



OK, Peter seems to have had his arms buried. Alan what are you doing?



I left the boys digging a hole.



Tentsmuir Sands are situated at the mouth of the Tay Estuary in north-east Fife. I wanted to walk, so walk I did. I walked for miles.





I even paddled in the sea with my wellies on, of course.



I came to the end of a sandbank and realised that I would need to cross the channel further up where it was shallower.



It was fascinating to observe the tidal movement and currents. I just love being outdoors particularly when it is not raining. To have a dry and sunny day in Scotland and even better not be at work is a day not to be wasted. I could have kept walking for hours. I did eventually force myself to turn round and walk the other direction. I had actually been walking at quite a pace so I’d walked even further than I realised. I had been so keen to see what was on the other side of the Point.

On my way back I spotted Peter in the distance. He had seen me and started heading towards me.



As you know when I left the boys they were digging a hole. When they had had reached a good depth they stepped back to admire their handiwork. Peter was delighted to a see a small dog playing nearby. Without thinking Peter attracted the dog’s attention. The dog scampered over. Focused on Peter, the dog failed to notice the boys’ excavation and in spectacular comic book fashion disappeared down the hole. After 30 seconds of desperate scrambling the dog managed to scramble out the hole.







We drove back to Dundee stopping to pick up Alan's new suit which had needed some alterations. We then popped into a supermarket to get pizzas to take back to our cottage for lunch. In the afternoon we watched some more rugby - this time Scotland v USA. The final score was 39-16. It was a good game and USA put in a good effort.

I had chosen the restaurant for that evening and looked at the menu online. We drove to the nearby village of Errol, parked and walked up to the entrance of 'The Picture House' only to discover it was closed. It looked like it had closed down. We drove nearer to Dundee and stopped in at a carvery restaurant only to be told there would be an hour wait for a table. OK back in the car and into Dundee city centre. We parked the car and walked round a few streets. There were a few possibilities, including a nice looking Mexican restaurant, but there were no tables available. There were also a few dodgy looking places that we decided to give a miss. We got back in the car and after a bit more driving found another carvery in a retail park. It wasn't a particularly memorable meal but the food was good.

 

[xlsm]

Oh my goodness, your photos of Scotland are gorgeous!

We are always planning our dream trips to Europe, and this makes me want to speed things up!

 

[tazdev3225]

Just found your report and I loved the bit about Universal but I really loved the report on Scotland. I will be traveling to visit Scotland at the end of July with my mom. We are going on a tour group and those pictures have made me rather impatient for the time to pass.

Sorry about your cousin.

 

[ariane37]

Just caught up! Nice to see you back again I know it's been a few months, but my condolences on your cousin George's passing.

 

[Princess Leia]

Oh my goodness, your photos of Scotland are gorgeous!

We are always planning our dream trips to Europe, and this makes me want to speed things up!

Scotland has so many beautiful places. It was great to have a weekend away from all the business of life and just enjoy being outdoors. Hopefully you will get your dream trip some day.

Just found your report and I loved the bit about Universal but I really loved the report on Scotland. I will be traveling to visit Scotland at the end of July with my mom. We are going on a tour group and those pictures have made me rather impatient for the time to pass.

Sorry about your cousin.

Thanks. I'm so glad you enjoyed the part about Scotland. I wasn't sure what interest there would be in it. That's great you are coming to Scotland in the summer. What places are you going to visit?

Just caught up! Nice to see you back again I know it's been a few months, but my condolences on your cousin George's passing.

Thanks. Last year was a tough year for our family. My aunt, George's Mum died in January. George was such a lovely, generous person.

 

[tazdev3225]

I have always wanted to see England and Scotland. I majored in Medieval History and Arthurian legends years ago. We are flying in to Glasgow and heading to Oban, Loch Fyne, Dunoon, Ayr and Edinburgh. I do know that we will see the railway from the Harry Potter train scenes. They have a lot of sightseeing planned for us and a day on our own in Edinburgh so I wil be researching what to see and do while there. Any suggestions?

I really am looking forward to the trip if I can survive my mother for 8 days. Seriously it should be a lot of fun.