19 Fun-Filled Days in May (the trippie part) - PICS GALORE!

[seobaina]

Hi guys

Ok this if FINALLY the start of my delayed trippie report. For those of you who didn't follow my pre-trippie, here is the link so you can see just how carried away I got making things LOL.

Pre-Trippie


We did a LOT on this holiday. Other than going to the parks themselves, we ate in several restaurants, attended the Luau, took a Segway Tour, played Crazy Golf, Shopped, Became Pirates, etc. I can promise you lots of pictures throughout (from Day 2) because I am a photoholic :grin:


Index

• Day One: Travel (Post 2)
• Day Two: Universal Studios (Post 3)
• Day Three: Islands of Adventure (Harry Potter) (Post 10)
• Day Four: Islands of Adventure Part Two
• Day Five: Busch Gardens
• Day Six: Sea World
• Day Seven: Aquatica, Malls, Cirque Du Soleil
• Day Eight: IOA, Shopping
• Day Nine: EPCOT
• Day Ten: Mall & Cinema
• Day Eleven: Magic Kingdom
• Day Twelve: Crazy Golf and fun
• Day Thirteen: Animal Kingdom
• Day Fourteen: Hollywood Studios
• Day Fifteen: EPCOT
• Day Sixteen: Star Wars
• Day Seventeen: Magic Kingdom
• Day Eighteen: Animal Kingdom / Hollywood Studios
• Day Nineteen: Last Day

Also, for those who didn't read the pretrippie, here's the cast:

There were three of us on this trip. The first two are Karen and myself...

On the left, as you look at it, is my best friend Karen. We've been best friends since we first met at University in 1996. She works in finance and is a big disney fan - something her man tollerates very well . Karen had been to WDW twice before and both times with me. We went together as part of a group of six in 2006 (with her partner and three other friends) and then as just the two of us in 2008 (when this photo was taken). Karen's favourites are Tigger and Mulan. She and I were both 35 within the three weeks before the trip.

On the right is me, Helen. Same age as Karen and also British. I currently have three jobs - I teach 'audio postproduction' for film at University one term a year, I have my own small production company (which we're trying to build up) and I work for the mouse! Yep, the mouse! And yep, I think in some ways it gives me a unique view of the 'World' and my expectations are often high because of it.

I've been a cm on and off since 1993, working part time while I did my degree and two masters. I used to be part of the management team but I don't have time anymore so I'm a regular cm. I LOVE Disney and am proud to work for them. I'm actually a Disney Ambassador and I've just finally won (after coming 2nd previous two years) the UK CM countrywide trivia competition :spin:. So yep, I'm a disney nut! However, I find you guys on here still teach me new things all the time. I've been to WDW five times before and my fave is Pocahontas, although I have a soft spot for Mickey and Pluto and...well, everyone really LOL.

The third member of our posse is Graham, who was one of the friends on the 2006 trip.

Graham is currently changing jobs but the hobby he'd like to become a job is costume work for the theatre. He is SO talented in costume!Graham was 40 at the end of last year so this trip is his belated birthday trip. None of us could get time off in November, hence the reason we went in April/May. Graham is a classic disney fan and his fave is eeyore or Fantasia Mickey. He's been to WDW just once before, in 2006, but the three of us also took a trip together to DLRP in 2007.

So, that's the gang! :grin: Let's get this trippie on the road!

 

[seobaina]

Travel day happened to be kinda a surprisingly big day in the UK. When we booked the 29th April 2011 back the previous October we had no idea that Will and Kate would pick the same day for the biggest event of the year, their Wedding :erm:

To be honest we were kinda gutted when they announced it, not because of travel issues but because we all wanted to watch it. Still, if you're gonna miss it, there is no better reason than going to DISNEY WORLD :grin:

Karen and Graham were travelling up from Bristol so I met them at the airport. I got there about ten minutes before them and sat down on a bench inside Manchester Airport to wait for them. While I was waiting this lovely couple were struggling to fill out their customs forms. They'd obviously already checked in, so I helped them out. The others arrived as we were finishing up.

We actually made it through check-in quite fast and after wandering through Duty Free (where the other two bought things) we decided to grab some breakfast/brunch. I'm never sure about airplane food so I find it safer to eat something first. To be fair the food was very nice in flight but better safe than starving right? :grin:

While eating we were able to watch the wedding, which was playing on most screens at the airport (luckily). Not quite the same as properly watching it at home but we got to see her dress reveal and the vows. Yep, we all loved it!

We were flying with Virgin and my previous experience with them wasn't good. They redeemed themselves (mostly) on this flight, however. I also liked the little touches they added to celebrate the day. This was on the back of all the seats::inlove:

And they had little packets of love heart sweets (candy) with Kate and Wills names and the date on too.

I've become nervous flying in recent years so as we were picking out which films to watch I took a couple of tablets. Plane took off, I started watching a film and pretty much drifted in and out of consciousness for the rest of the flight LOL. I know I watched Tangled but I don't remember a lot else . The meal was chicken, with mash potatoes and peas...yumm!

We touched down in Orlando after a nice smooth flight. The budget fast-track thing didn't work but we managed to get a lovely car.


As we were loading up the car another family came to our slot and apparently had been given the same car. We checked our papers, they checked theirs and they headed back to the counter as we'd got their first. It was an interesting start. It was also getting dark and as I wasn't sure where I was going, I wanted to get on the road.

The others kept laughing at me because I kept wanting to get on the turnings to WDW itself (it's a homing instinct). We were staying in Kissimmee, however, in a villa (for the first 9 nights).

The directions were 'interesting'. We found our way to the right area using our own map. There was a big Walmart on the corner of our junction luckily. However, the directions said second road on the right and it was the third...this continued. We found the villa ok finally and headed in. There were a few issues to say the least - no lake view but a fence, bar stools with the back falling off, outside lights that didn't light and actually almost caused a fire when turned on (they sparked), a curtain pole that fell on Graham's head, missing light bulbs, etc. But it was clean and nicely laid out...just bad maintance, which was a shame. Next time I'll get a dibb villa. Anyway, this was taken in the morning a few days later.

Having dropped our bags off, we headed sleepily to Walmart to get essentials. We basically needed breakfast things for now. Walmart was to become a regular stop because we forgot things every time we went :d:

We were pretty sleepy so soon as we had our main things, we headed back to the villa and pretty much straight to bed. We had an exciting, early start :d:

 

[seobaina]

We woke up EARLY! It was a Saturday so we figured the parks would be so busy and schedule wise, we only had one day at this park. And we wanted to do pretty much everything

We'd actually already booked the Universal Express to help jump the lines. I still find it a little annoying that you have to pay so much extra for this service but it helped us out, so oh well.

We decided to head straight up the first main street and leave one of my faves (Terminator) for the end. In our schedule it seemed to work best that way. As soon as we got there we saw Scooby and Karen and I slipped into our normal 'I'm 5 again' mode and dashed off to meet him

We also saw Bullwinkle *yay*

The other two wanted to see the Shrek 4D show. I do NOT like Shrek :-( so I left those two in the queue and went shopping in the store opposite. It was sooooo humid and most of our holiday was in the low to mid 90s and sticky so air con was great They had quite a long wait so after a while I'd exhausted the merchandise window shopping and headed back out into the heat! I'm glad I did because there was a whole host of friends with no lines at all.

First there was Marilyn

Then Woody Woodpecker

I don't know the name of the female...can anyone tell me?

Then Curious George

And finally Dora (not a flattering pic)

I even saw the Simpsons but didn't dare going to join them because the others were overdue by now.

And I was right as the others joined me just after I took that photo.

 

[seobaina]

Graham wanted to ride this scary thing:

Karen and I are ride wimps and did not! So we decided to walk him around to the ride so that we could get an idea of how long a wait we would have. On the way we bumped into Shrek *shudder*.

The other two convinced me to go up and take a photo. They said it would amuse my fellow cms back home and I was planning to go up and pull a face in the photo. However, Shrek was hit on the back of the head just as I got there by some idiot teenage boy and I felt kinda bad for him, so I posed properly. My colleagues have entitled the photo "keep your friends close and your enemies closer" lol

Then Graham went off to the ride and we wandered around the area a bit more. During this time the Simpsons came back (minus Lisa).

So this time Karen and I went to meet them

We still had time so Karen met Dora and George too.

At this point we were actually remarking how 'quiet' the park was. I'm not saying by any means that it was empty, it wasn't. But considering it was the tail end of the Easter hols and a Saturday it was really quiet.

We bought a couple of bottles of water (did I mention it was hot? *g*) and waited by the ride for Graham. SCARY looking ride!

Finally Graham rejoined us and we moved on to Twister. I kinda like this experience and I chuckled a lot at the cows! I am a fan of Bill Paxton though so I like the movie. I was filming this experience so Karen took the photos.

 

[seobaina]

As we hadn't had to wait for Twister we managed to make it out in time to go see the next showing of the Graveyard Revue. We are all big fans of this show so we dashed straight in to get good seats before Karen and I wandered off to get ice cream.

There was a store opposite that had an 'ice cream' sign outside and yes we wandered in trying to find it before we realised that it was a prop . Still, by now we were on a mission so we found a Ben & Jerrys a little further up. Karen went for an ice cream and I decided to have one of their shakes. I can't remember the name but it was chocolate and fudge etc and REALLY GOOD! I'm glad we had as long as we did though because it took FOREVER to be served. I don't know what was going on because the line was very short, in fact I think there was only one or two before us, but it took about ten minutes to be served. There was NO sense of hurry in either server at all. *shakes head* We went from having ages to only just making it back in time.

Still, the ice cream/shakes were good and they must have looked good too because the people sat behind us asked where we'd got them and what the name of my shake was

Again, I was filming the show and as I was also balancing my drink in the other hand, I left Karen to take photos. I've not had all of her photos yet but here's one.

Although the show was still good fun and the performers were great I didn't think their choice of songs was as good this time. We last saw it in 2006 so I don't know when it changed. Karen however fell for Dracula so she was quite happy *lol*

From here we headed on to Amity Island.

I love Jaws, always have, always will...but he does scare me a little *g*.

When I was in California in 2009 I had found out which seat the shark came up next too and to my dismay found it was the one I was sitting in. On that occassion I got a big 'eeek' moment and kinda wet. Yes, I know it's a fake shark but it's still scary when it pops up next to you! Anyway, thanks to the Universal Express we made it in with no wait and I sat down happy to be in a different seat to the one in LA 2009.

As the boat went around I was smiling and dunduning until I had a bad thought...and yep, I was right...the layout was different here in Orlando and guess whose seat the shark came right up too? I didn't get so wet this time but I still 'eeeked' and the others did laugh at me a LOT

 

[seobaina]

As we continued our walk around the lake we came to the classic Men In Black Alien Attack.

I love this ride and won last time I was on it. Karen is normally the crack shot and Graham is pretty good too so the challenge was on. Again we luckily did not have to wait (thanks Universal Express) although to be fair I don't think the line was more than 30 mins. Does anyone else find it irritating though that you have to walk some distance away to put stuff in lockers all the time at Universal? And lockers which, if there was a long line, you'd have to pay for? Humm!

Anyway, we walked almost straight on and I won again *hee hee*. The other two were not impressed lol. They challenged me to another round but we didn't ever actually make it back. The park was closing early that night due to a big student event and we still had lots we wanted to do.

Wandering around the park we next came to the Simpsons.

I didn't want to do this as I'd done it when I was in LA and it felt a little too like being on a coaster. I love simulator rides normally but not coasters (hate the negative G freefall feeling), so it freaked me out a little. Karen didn't want to risk it as she'd eaten and is prone to motion sickness. So we left Graham to go ride and went shopping in the store.

I'm not exactly a fan of the Simpsons but I'm not not a fan either. I've watched enough episodes to know who is whom and I enjoy it. I laughed a lot at the signs, etc all over the place.

 

[seobaina]

The next ride you come to when wandering around is ET.

I don't think we were able to do this one in 2006 because the line was 2 hours long - at least Karen didn't remember doing it. I'd been on it when I'd come with my family back in 1992 but my memory of it consisted of a 3 hour never ending and forever winding line.

As ET was such a huge part of our childhood we really wanted to go. To demonstrate how quiet the park was for an Easter hols Saturday, I think the actual line for this was 20 mins. We walked straight on with the Express. I love the way they take your name at the beginning but it's a shame you don't get to keep the boarding pass.

I really like this ride. It's relaxing and very amusing, although at one point I did wonder if I'd crossed into Star Wars and was seeing the Ewoks *g*. Still, it's great fun and we all really enjoyed it.

As we came out of ET I spotted some animals.

I have to admit I've never seen Madagascar but I knew the others would be excited. Karen and Graham watch the non-Disney animation quite a bit. In fact we are pretty sure Scrat (sp) from Ice Age was modelled on Karen. I was glad to go and have my photo taken though as I like Penguins

 

[seobaina]

I like this replica

We had a little time before the last Terminator show and the Horror Make up one was about to start so we went in.

Although I've done lots of acting in the past, I hate being pulled up on stage unexpectedly so yes, I slouched down in my seat and prayed not to be picked. I really do wish they'd ask for volunteers rather than forcing you up. Makes me uncomfortable.

The show if fabulous though and even though I knew what was coming I still found it very funny!

We then started wandering down to the Cyberdyne Building.

This is where I should probably point out that Terminator (the first one) is one of my top five movies of all time. I LOVE it and have known it backwards since I was about ten years old Needless to say, I get very excited about all things Terminator. My friend Clair, who travelled with me in 2009, has not stopped laughing about the fact that the only ride (and shops) closed on the day I last went to Universal Studios California, was the Terminator one. Luckily I'd done the ride several times before but not being able to shop too? *shock*.

Anyway, we almost missed this ride as they weren't doing the last showing due to the event that night. We made it in with about 2 mins to spare.

I'd actually forgotten how good it was. I LOVE it! It's such a cool idea and so much fun. I have to admit though that I'd love to know what James Cameron would do with it now that technology has advanced so much.

We had a look around the store and the others had to stop me from purchasing anything as we were due to come back on another day to shop with a friend who gets 35% off in Universal. I was good, I didn't buy but I did get a long list of shopping in my head.

 

[seobaina]

The park was closing up by the time we came out so we wandered out of the park and towards CityWalk.

It was a little early to eat dinner so we explored the stores on CityWalk before heading to the car.

I've gotta be honest and say that I can't remember where we ate that night. I THINK it was the Golden Coral, which is a fave of mine, but I am checking the out.

I do know that on the way back to the villa we did our (soon to become) regular stop at Walmart for supplies and then we headed to bed ready for another big day and early start!

 

[seobaina]

Another early start because today was....HARRY POTTER DAY! The park had opened about a month after my trip in 2010 and obviously wasn't open when Karen had last been in Orlando in 2008 or Graham in 2006, so we were all pretty excited to check it out. I have to admit I had some reservations, not so much for the HP bit but because I'm not a big fan of IOA.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's nicely done but it is mainly big scary rides or characters I don't really know. I know Dr Suess but I didn't grow up with it and I (until Disney bought them) knew nothing about Marvel. So it's never attracted my attention. US itself does because I can relate more to the theming. I kinda figured I'd be done after an hour cause HP wasn't that big and then I'd be bored. BUT the others love IOA and I wanted to see HP so off we went.

I'd read ALL the warnings on the forums about LLLLLLLLOOOOONNNGGGG lines for HP so our plan was to get there as early as poss and 'casually walk very fast' to HP. Not run, no never run *whistles innocently*

We're not always the best at getting going in the morning so we were about 30 mins late leaving. I expected to get to the park and find it already very busy but again it was pretty quiet. In fact, very for an Easter hols Sunday!

To give you an idea. This is the morning rush to HP and this was where most people were going.

Again I expected a line to get in to HP area alone, let alone for any ride and as you can see, that didn't happen.

After reading warnings we decided to go straight to Forbidden Journey, get that ride out of the way and then queue for Olivanders. I snapped a couple of pics on route.

When we got there the line said 10 mins, which we were shocked at (the park had been open best part of an hour by now) so we went straight through. We actually went so fast through that we literally had to wait out of the line in places to actually see the castle stuff. Gotta say, it is gorgeous inside! We didn't take our cameras with us as we'd be told to put things in lockers but we managed to solve that issue later.

Within about five to ten minutes we were literally boarding the vehicles. Now, as I've already said, I like simulator rides and I'd also asked a number of people about this one and the only thing I'd be warned about were the spiders. So I was, at this point, feeling fairly confident. I'd also passed this info on to both Karen and Graham so they were relaxed and excited too. The bars over my shoulders should have been a clue but some how I didn't pick up on it *blonde moment*. So there I was, relaxed, excited, looking forward to 'flying'. And that is when it all went wrong!

Poss spoilers in this paragraph....From the moment the dragon attacked we were jerked and thrown all over. Now I know people have argued that you don't go upsidedown, and I know you don't BUT any point where you are thrown backwards and your head is slightly lower than your feet...you feel like you are upside down! We were thrown all over the place (something I don't mind when expecting it or upright, as I love dinosaur) and it surprised me so much I couldn't concentrate. As soon as we entered the woods I closed my eyes so as to not get a spider in my face. I'm not actually scared of spiders but having a giant one in my face...no thanks. I then didn't get a clue when we were out of the wood so I pretty much missed the dementors and the rest of the ride. I saw Malfoy but somehow missed him saying anything (Graham told me after) and only opened my eyes at the very end, which kinda intensified the being thrown around.

As the ride stopped we all got out looking at each other in shock and saying 'never again'. Now, I'm not criticising the ride at all, it's very well done but it was FAR more intense than I ever expected and you do get that 'rollercoaster' feeling more than I was expecting too. With a few months gap I probably would do it once more, if only to actually SEE the ride. But now I'd know what to expect and wouldn't find it so scary. It's the same thing as happened to Karen and I in DL Paris. We went on Crush's Coaster which is advertised like the nemo ride in WDW and realised it wasn't like that as we were going backwards down a coaster track in the dark! Scary because it's unexpected.

Karen and Graham (who is a big coaster lover) were equally freaked by the unexpectedness and neither wanted to go again (ever). The best thing about it though is that we have the FUNNIEST photo from it. I don't have a copy at the moment but will get one from Graham asap I promise. The photo is taken (I believe) in the spider area just as you are tipped backwards. I already had my eyes closed, Graham had scrunched his face up at that point and Karen, who was wearing a dress, is frantically trying to stop it rising up ROTFLMAO! It is hilarious and when we'd all got our breath back a couple of minutes later we did spend the rest of the day laughing about how freaked we'd been However, ride wusses be warned...it's scarier than you'd think!

 

[seobaina]

You exit the ride into the gift shop so we did a little shopping. I found an 'escaped from Azkaban' (sp?) t-shirt that I caved and bought immediately, along with an order of the pheonix keyring. I did find though that some of the merchandise was very expensive. The Marauders Map for example was $50 *shock*.

They had a funky sorting hat though so here come the obligatory 'trying on hat' pics. Karen thinks she looks like a hillbillie in this!

As it was pretty quiet still, we decided to go for a wander around to take photos. So, here are a few:

No idea who the smilie lady is

The area really is pretty!

 

[seobaina]

It was now early lunch and we all really wanted to try the Butterbeer. I'd read the info and most people seemed to prefer the frozen butterbeer, so we headed to the Three Broomsticks. We had to wait 5 minutes to get in as we were waiting for the lunchtime slot to start. We made it in and as we weren't that hungry we thought we'd get a frozen butterbeer each and then split a plate of food.

Warning to those thinking about this...the food portions are small British not usual American. We were still hungry when we'd finished.

Butterbeer however....AMAZING!!!!!!!!! We were addicted from the first sip. All three of us. It's kinda a pumpkin, spice taste to it but there is a caramel topping which sweetens everything. And yes we went for the souvenir cups on our first butterbeer.

Graham closes his eyes on every photo we take. Here's the example:

You'll see throughout the holiday how often this happens but we found a solution for the butterbeer pic.

The inside of the Three Broomsticks is really nice and I love the fact that every now and then you can see shadows of house elves on the walls up high. I didn't manage to get a photo of them but here are some of the inside.

 

[seobaina]

Rather than rush the butterbeers we took the rest with us to help keep us cool in the growing humidity. We exited the three broomsticks out the back and I'm so glad we did because look at the lovely view.

On our way back round to Hogsmeade we saw this sign

The entrance area to Olivanders (I know it says a diff name)

We decided that as it was getting busier we would go to Olivanders. The line had reached about twenty minutes which is not bad at all but it was in the direct sun. Graham didn't want to wait so he went wandering while Karen and I got in line.

I have to admit that I have mixed feelings about Olivanders. Mainly because I think they missed out big time on the magic! The show itself is fun, although to me not worth the 2 hour queues I've heard about. It's nice to see things moving and wands misfiring etc but the shop afterwards and is disappointing.

For those who have not been, Owl Post and Olivanders are joined. The stores in IOA are great for authenticity but terrible for practicality. I'm not claustrophobic but with only fifteen people the stores get really packed, so with the forty or so in there at the time I entered, you could barely move let alone see anything. I'm used to crammed stores but even I'd had enough and wanted to get out after only ten minutes.

The items themselves are lovely but again expensive. One thing we loved was being able to get postcards stamped with a Hogsmeade postmark. We bought postcards in the Owl Post and went and did this straight away.

The shop has some odd items thrown in that don't really fit but I guess they have to put them somewhere. My biggest disappointment however is with the wands. They look lovely but when I'd first looked into HP I actually thought everyone had a wand picked for them at Olivanders. Before I went out there I found out this wasn't true. I guess for time limits they can't do that but you would think there would be a way to have one chosen for you within the store itself. Whether this was by the cast or by a machine. It doesn't seem to me that it would have been that hard to come up with a 'magical' way to randomly select a wand.

The cast member I spoke to said that she agreed and that the only way they could select was by your date of birth. This in itself is not a bad idea, however you are told which wand you would be but not why. Mine, for example, was a willow wand but I was not told why a willow wand nor any of its qualities. Before I flew out I had anticipated buying a wand and was excited to find out what wood and what core my wand would be. This experience kinda left me flat and I didn't buy one. I figured if it was a case of me just picking my own I could have done that on the internet. Oh well, saved me $30+. I still think they missed a golden opportunity here.

For fun we did pose with our wands. Excuse my expression I blinked mid photo.

 

[seobaina]

Heading over the road we entered Honeydukes and Zonkos. The two stores are actually joined in the middle. They have slightly more room to walk around in than Olivanders but not a huge amount.

I wasn't tempted by anything in Zonkos because most of the things in there are the sort of thing we can get in traditional English toy/joke shops but I could see how it would appeal to people from other countries. And to fair that also probably makes it more accurate. Here are a couple of photos from inside.

I was, however, extremely tempted my many things in Honeydukes . I'd be warned about the chocolate in the chocolate frogs so I didn't get one of those but they did look cute. While wandering around I bumped into an American couple who were trying to work out what coconut ice was, so I had fun trying to explain. It's not easy to explain it and still make it sound as yummy as it is lol.

I bought a chocolate wand to take home as a gift (should have bought it later in the day because it kinda melted, broke and is still in my fridge *g*). Then Karen and I caved at the unit in the pic above. Graham did too but he is lactose intolerant so he was limited in what he could have. Karen and I liked the look of the cauldrons, so we treated ourselves to one each.

They present them to you in a little box but we wanted to eat them there and then so we stepped outside the store and took some photos before tucking in. Or at least that was the plan. Here is the before photo....

And then Karen picked it up by the handle to eat it *shakes head*. And this is the result.

When Graham and I had stopped laughing, which took a good five minutes, I split mine in half to share with her. The look on her face still makes me giggle even now.

The controller was out by the train so we ran over to take a photo.

Then we went back to the castle. Nope, we did not want to ride again *shudder* *g* but I wanted to look at the castle in more detail. For those of you who do not know, you don't have to queue in the normal line if you just want to do the castle tour. You can go up to the line entrance and tell them you wish to do the castle tour and they'll let you in to the express line (which isn't really express as they don't offer it on that ride). Obviously you can't get on the ride at the other end but you can take your time wandering through the rest. The only bit you miss out is the herbology (sp?) classroom.

Here are a few photos from inside (the blank pics are moving ones...they show on the video camera but unfortunately not on these).

You can just make out Dumbledore up on the top.

 

[seobaina]

We left the castle again and walked down to do the last ride. Well, Graham wanted to do the duelling dragons but Karen and I didn't. He actually went to do the ride while Karen and I were in Olivanders.

The hippogryph ride is very like Goofy's barnstormer and was good fun. Here are a couple of photos of the walk to and through the ride.

Can you spot Buckbeak

Hogsmeade was getting extremely busy now as it's quite a small space and obviously very popular. It was also about 2pm. The rest of the park was really quiet but obviously that area is not.

We decided to walk anti-clockwise around the park, which took us from Hogsmeade to Jurassic Park. This was the last clear view of the castle on our route.

Then it was through the scary park gates.

I love the movies so I'm actually very excited about the news that Spielberg is talking about doing another one. I like the way Dinosaurs are hidden in this area and Karen always has to pose LOL

The self service restaurant and gift shop are inside a building that looks very much like the welcome centre from the first film.

 

[seobaina]

The other two (and me too if I'm honest) were craving something savoury so we popped inside to grab some fries and burgers. We ate so healthily this trip *g*

There are dinosaurs inside the building too.

Afterwards, Karen and Graham went shopping. They had lots of amber jewelry and Karen is a necklace-a-holic! She can never have enough and along with books, it's her obsession!

Happy with her new purchases, we left to continue our walk around the IOA. The others didn't want to go on the Jurassic ride and I'd done it before so we just paused to take photos and shop for one of my friends (he wanted a t-shirt) before moving out of the area.

Next around the lake is Toon Lagoon.

I liked the look of this one but it also looks very wet and we decided not too for today

I have to be honest and say most of Toon Lagoon didn't mean much to me and the others didnt want to go on any rides there so we mostly just wandered around the shops.

We did take some fun pics though.

 

[seobaina]

Toon Lagoon moves into the Marvel area. I knew very little about Marvel if I'm honest. I'm learning more now that we sell the items but my brothers were never into it so I didn't get to know much about them growing up. I knew some of the character names but that's all. Still, the area looks really cool and the other two are fans.

This is Karen's fave character.

As soon as we entered the area we bumped into the Green Goblin.

And then Spiderman

We actually couldn't have timed our arrival any better because the characters were all about to arrive and there were hardly any people. They only appear for a short time and we managed to get them all in ten minutes because there wasn't a line for any.

Dunno why Karen looks so shocked lol

 

[Hollywoodhaha]

Oh, I love seeing all of the characters at Marvel!

 

[seobaina]

We still had some time before the park closed so we thought we'd try to get as much of the Dr Suess area done while the park was quiet. We were planning on coming back as we still wanted to do Atlantis, the Sinbad show and the shows in WWOHP but the more we ticked off the list the better.

As I've already stated, I didn't grow up with this stuff so again it didn't mean a lot to me but Karen and Graham are BIIIIGGG fans so off we went.

First things first we headed towards the Cat in the Hat with the aim of going on One Fish, Two Fish.

None of us are quite sure how we did it but we joined a very small queue (5 mins) that was for the wrong ride lol. We actually ended up on the Cat in the Hat ride, which I loved although I had/have no idea what was going on!

Upon exiting we ended up in the gift shop where the other two took forever LOL I did get a great photo though.

We then wandered around this strange maze thing where I again didn't have a clue what was going on...this is a recurring theme for this area! *g*

For some reason though we didn't make it on to this ride, I'm not sure why cause we like carousels.

We did finally find our way on to One Fish, Two Fish though. And Graham was a terrible driver so he and I got very wet!

We also made it on to this ride. When they were checking the safety belts (which we assume are purely to stop people walking off) we made the mistake of asking if it was fast. The cast member grinned lots and teased us because we knew nothing about the ride or the story. Although the other two did realise what was going on as the ride progressed. I still have no idea *g*.

The park was about ready to close up so we headed out of the park. We had another wander around the shops and I noticed this which I'd missed the day before.

Again I'm not certain where we ate that night but I will find out and post it here. Don't worry, later in the hol I know where we ate EVERY night because we had meals/experiences book

 

[seobaina]

Oh, I love seeing all of the characters at Marvel!

Yeah, we'd never seen so many before, it was great. And all within such a short period of time!