So, it's our first real day here in Orlando and, for Jamie (DBF)'s birthday, we grabbed a cab and sped off to Islands of Adventure (but not before we filled our faces at Denny's! Jamie really filled his; he had the Lumberjack Slam... I'll let you have the pleasure of checking it out on the Denny's website
).
Actually, the first thing we did was wake up really, really early and sit up talking and completely failing to watch the sun come up; our balcony faces South-West!
We'd received our IoA tickets through the post weeks ago so there was no waiting around just an easy stroll through City Walk and on into Islands (where a - do they call them Cast Members in Universal? - CM told Jamie that he'd better not let Spiderman catch him wearing his Superman t-shirt!).
We've always just sped through the first area (the name of which I'm really not sure of!) and this time was no different. Our first ride of the day (and the holiday) was The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman - one of our absolute fave rides! Universal seem to be in love with the partially real, partially digital rides in which you sit in some form of car or another and zip through several different sections of physical 'set' and then through a quick CGI or filmed section before going back into the 'set'. We've come to the conclusion, though, that the reason that they do that kind of ride is a) they take up far less space than entirely physical rides of the same scale, b) they cost far less money than entirely physical rides of the same scale, c) they work so much better than entirely physical rides of the same scale and d) they do those kind of rides very, very, very well!
After speeding extremely speedily through the Spidey gift-shop (neither of us really like Spiderman - besides the ride that is), it was on to Toon Lagoon (we weren't sure if we were ready for the Incredible Hulk Coaster and neither of us really thought much of Dr Doom's Fear Fall last time) where we entirely failed to get on Dudley Do-Right's Rip-Saw Falls having seen some extremely wet (read: wetter than they would be if they'd been on a trip to the bottom of the Lagoon itself - without a wetsuit) people sloshing around near the bridge and decided that we liked our pants better dry, thank you very much.
Oddly enough, we did opt for a water ride as our next, but the folks coming off of the Jurassic Park River Adventure looked a whole heck of a lot drier (and happier) so we weren't as worried about that one.
I did decide to wrap a 'mac around myself (we brought one each but Jamie decided not to wear his - he just covered his knees with it and sat on it to protect his pants) and we tested the waterproof camera cover for our Flip camera. Needless to say, we didn't get wet in the slightest (save a few drops squirted at us by a dinosaur) so we had an even better ride than we thought we would. I'm really scared of the dinosaurs that pop out at you and roar, so Jamie enjoyed himself giggling at me squealing
I'll just point out that I'm not bothered about getting wet - I'm perfectly happy to ride all sorts of rides whatever they are - but Jamie gets extremely uncomfortable if he's wet when he (in his own words) 'shouldn't be'. I just think he's being mardy
Neither of us could wait to get to the big attraction; The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, so we practically ran there!
We've never been on the Forbidden Journey so we were extremely excited about getting on it this time (last year when we came I weighed over 6 stone more than I do now and Jamie weighed over 4 stone more and neither of us could properly fit in a seat - we tried the ones outside - and didn't want to have to get in the 'special seat' or be embarrassed about it so we left it). Jamie was bouncing like a 6 year old the entire way around the queuing circuit, which - it must be said - is extremely cool. The moving pictures and the story that unfolds as you go around is just brilliant, it's clear that this is the next high-standard of immersion for rides and really gives you the feeling that you're strolling through Hogwarts (especially the portraits). The ride itself is AMAZING! It's such good fun, full of thrills and laughs and appearances by our favourite Harry Potter characters (Jamie's one of the biggest Potter-fans I know but I'm no Muggle myself
) and it's the folks at Universal doing another of those kinds of ride that they do very, very, very well. One of the best things was that all of the filmed material was presented in such a way that it felt like and gave the impression of being in 3D without you having to wear any glasses - that and the way that the filmed sections were integrated almost seamlessly into the physical portions of the ride. Needless to say, we'd have to ride this again before we left!
Straight off HP's FJ we decided to check out Dragon Challenge. Jamie was a little hesitant as he'd had a bit of trouble after riding Nemesis at Alton Towers earlier in the year (we were doing a food-replacement diet at the time (the reason for our weight-loss) and we both thought that his headache, light-headedness and generally gray (I'm not kidding - he looked like a newspaper before the type goes on) appearance were due to lack of food and water) but he was eager to give it a go. So we did. I had a great time but, apparently, the ill feeling Jamie got had nothing to do with the diet. He came off DC looking and feeling a bit sickly and he immediately cried off going on the Hulk on the grounds that he might be a squishy puddle of squashy-sludge afterwards.
We decided, then, that we'd have a stroll around and then go for lunch. Jamie had a Pumpkin juice which he enjoyed but I felt like I was drinking Christmas - an overly spiced and not very refreshing Christmas either! - and pretty much let him swig the lot! Jamie was adamant that he would be buying a wand (I'd given him the money for one for his birthday and his mum and sister had also given him some cash so he was thinking of buying two - he bought Dumbledore's last year and loves it, not that he uses it... much) but I persuaded him to leave it until later so we headed to the Three Broomsticks/Hogs Head.
I don't think I've ever had to queue for that long for some food before - we both agreed that TB/HH is probably the most popular restaurant (in terms of people wanting, and waiting, to eat there) in Orlando (if not Florida, the USA and the world itself!), but we wanted to eat there too so we waited!
Chicken and rib platter and a pair of frozen butterbeers went down extremely well (we shared the platter and were soooo glad that we did - there's plenty there for two and we're both very concerned that we'll put the weight back on again, despite assuring ourselves often that we won't be concerned about that whilst we're on holiday!) and Jamie was feeling a lot better afterwards.
We bounced, then, into the Lost Continent and decided against doing just about anything there except for walking on through. Same for Seuss Landing. I think Jamie was a bit worried that we weren't doing much in these areas but there really isn't anything to do. The LC is just shows and Seuss is pretty much a children's zone. It's a shame that there isn't more to attract people to these carefully constructed and really cool areas - we definitely were not the only people using them as just another place to walk through.
We decided to ride Spiderman again (get our money's worth), and Jamie told me that he really wouldn't mind if I went on Hulk myself. So I did. I can honestly say that he probably would have either been sick or passed out or both if he'd gone on that thing - I had fun but I certainly felt my stomach turning when I came off it! It's odd; there's nothing like a roller coaster of this nature in the Disney parks - the closest you get is Space Mountain or Rockin' Roller Coaster - but I can honestly say that I prefer (and I'm sure Jamie agrees) the less upside-down-ey rides like Spiderman, Harry Potter's Forbidden Journey and things like the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean - there's nothing quite like being able to see where you're going!
By this time the weather was taking a turn for the extremely wet so we were nipping in and out of cover and trying not to fall over in flip-flops!
Jamie had a buzz around some shops and found stuff he'd like to buy then we swooped back to Hogsmeade for another ride on HP's FJ. In fact, make that another two rides!
Every time we went on it we noticed more stuff - the griffon guarding the way to Dumbledore's office, Hermione sending you on your way at the start of the ride, the fact that those faces in the mist are yours (they're your soul that the Dementors are ripping out - creepy, huh?), and more - and I'm sure that some clever-clogs will pipe up that they noticed all that stuff the first ride through but we spent all our time looking all around and marveling at everything that it took several goes for us to notice. To tell the truth, I think we were so overawed by the entire experience the first time to really register what was going on (it was only on the second ride that we realised that there were stairs going down to the gift-shop after the ride)!
*QUICK TIP* Someone may already have pointed this out but I thought we'd whack it in there - if you have bags that you need to leave in a locker on HP's FJ then the best course of action is probably to go through the gift shop rather than up the ramp to the ride entrance. That way you won't have to queue by the door and you can get right in at the back of the lockers (where there are more likely to be fewer people fighting for lockers), pop your bags in really quickly then get into the ride proper. You'll also have your bags closer to the shop on your way out! We found this really useful for beating the rush
BTW, you can get to the gift shop by carrying on past the main ride entrance and up the path to the right of it. There's nothing else up there so you won't get lost.
After that we did some shopping (I say 'we', I mean Jamie - he got Snape's and Sirius' wands and had to be physically removed from the vicinity of the $50 Marauder's Map and the 'real' Time Turner (the one on a chain, not the keyring one)) then decided that it was about time for a stiff drink.
*QUICK TIP II* If you're in the market for a wand, don't bother trying to elbow your way through the throng at the front of Eylops' Owl Emporium, instead go straight through (if you've gone in that way) or go around the back - where the exit of Dragon Challenge lets out - and into Dervish and Banges - it's actually all the same shop - and look in the back corner at all the wonderful wands and all the lovely space around them because no-one goes back there
Much better than getting kicked in the shins by excited children or jabbing said children in the head with your elbows as you struggle with those pesky wand-boxes!
We had a bit of a look around City Walk before heading to Margaritaville (yeah, I can't spell that) and taking it very slowly with some extremely alcoholic beverages!
We went to Bubba Gump for shrimp and ate - what felt like - as much shrimp as a crew of men on a 100-foot shrimping boat could catch in a year! When we stood up it felt as though all the food slammed into our stomachs and filled us up from the tongues on our shoes to the tongues in our heads! Soooooooooo muuuuuuuuuuch shriiiiiiiiiimp!
Wobble out of City Walk, say 'bye bye' to IoA, grab nearest taxi, back to hotel, write TR, pass out in food-coma.
H
-----Tomorrow; twisting by the pool-----
(PS: Sorry for the wordyness! We did a lot today
)
) was the only trip I ever put weight on but I still can't shift that darn 10lb.
Congratulations - what an amazing place to get engaged. Now you need to change dbf to df on your signature strip to make it official 
