A Fantasy/Sci Fi Family of 4 Memorial Trip! 2010

[cocofifi]

Awesome pics! Lovely family. Thanks for sharing.

 

[queenmother]

Great Report! Thanks!

 

[Karpkg]

IOA- 2nd Day
​

And so we finish with Harry Potter on the 2nd day and they kick us out. We're back in Seussland. Again, we see a show with Thing 1 & 2, Cat in the Hat, the Grinch and Sam I Am.

This time we grab a few more autographs before they call it quits, 15 min. later.

We've done all the rides yesterday so we proceed over to the Marvel area and come across the Marvel characters and we hurry and grab their autographs as well.

Cyclops

Captain America

and Wolverine.

We don't see Spiderman, but again there's a whistle and then he runs from out of nowhere and all the other marvel characters follow him, get on their getaway vehicles and drive away.

Walking through Marvel territory, there's a lot of concrete making the area super hot, loud energetic music blasting away, and colorful images from the comic books larger than life everywhere. Talk about making a statement. I don't know I'd survive working here, it's a feeling of a frantic pace.

You then pass the carnival-like area;

pass by Toon Lagoon,

and into a quieter, less crowded Toon area.

I've been looking for Popeye, and find him and Olive Oil!

DH and the kids are ready, and they go first on Popeye & Bluto's Ride, ponchos on. Notice the kids and DH, as soon as they got into the ride they took off their shoes and threw them into the protected center. They had already left their socks and bags with me.

We also take turns swapping on the Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls. Me and the kids:

We're somewhat hungry, 3 hrs past brunch so we eat at Jurassic Park Restaurant. I love the coolness yet jungle feeling of the place.

Then we hit the Jurassic Park River Adventure to get wet again.

This time we had enough time to visit the Jurassic Park Discover Center. We stopped along the way to get a pic with this guy:

And so finishes Day Two of IOA, our Third day in the Parks.

 

[Karpkg]

Awesome pics! Lovely family. Thanks for sharing.

Great Report! Thanks!

Thanks!

 

[Karpkg]

Character Dining at Aloha's
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We do character dining at Disney's and I definitely wanted to do what we could while at Universal. So for our dates we managed to book a Scooby Dinner while at the Royal Pacific Resort. I called and booked 30 days in advance which was the earliest time I could do, and you know what, I could have done it the night before, it was so not the big deal I thought it was.

Here we are at Aloha's. These were taken by DD's water camera.

Here's how empty the restaurant was. Definitely the opposite of Disney's character dining.

Here's Scooby Doo! To say the least, he spent a lot of time with the kids.

Now, DD was pretty excited. So when he left she drew him a picture on the child's menu. Well, Scooby Doo came back! And she was able to show it to him. I thought that visit was done but he came back several times. That was cool!

What I didn't know was that there were 2 restaurants you could choose; I just scheduled for a character dining, I was "assigned" Aloha. Scooby Doo was going back and forth with Aloha and Jake's. I guess there were more people in Jake's and it was a more casual dining. But when Scooby Doo came over to Aloha's, we had him all to ourselves.

Aloha's menu was more of an Asian upscale; I had seafood and noodles, DH had I forget, a fish dish that he said was good. The kids had the typical kids meal that they were happy with. Then it was off to bed for our last day.

 

[Karpkg]

Thursday, June 3rd- Last Day at US and IOA​

For supposedly a vacation I've never gotten up so early every single day! It's our last day and I'm determined to see and do everything before we head out. So, we pack everything in the van and check out before 7AM. Only a few stuff, the majority was done the night before. Back out to Harry Potter!

We've got a routine down. We head first to Ollivander's. We're the first ones in, we see the little show. The past 3 times we've done this it's been a young girl between the ages of 6-9 yrs old average. We peruse through the shops once more, and this time I bought postcards. Didn't know that they would stamp the cards with Hogsmeade stamp, and I'm told I could even send personal letters through their Owl Post. That's pretty cool!

Monster book, love this guy!

We head out to the Forbidden Journey and DH and the kids go wait for me at Filch's while I ride by myself. I leave everything including the camera with them so no pics, and I whiz on in and out.

We shop till we drop- bought Potter Gryffindor shirts for me and DH, and polo style with the Gryffindor emblems for the kids. Bought tumblers I was eyeing the other day, couple pins with moving parts and we're done! We head on out and go to the Flight of Hippogriff.

Along the way we see the Frog Choir and stop to watch.

Flight of the Hippogriff, the kids favorite ride. We ride it again several times in a row. Until I feel like this:

View at the top:

We say goodbye to Harry Potter and hurry to make our ap't at Confisco's Grill 10:30 character breakfast. I don't feel they really knew what they were doing when we got there. We probably could have done a walk in, it didn't feel like we had a reservation. Anyways, we were curious and excited to see who we would meet.

Inside Confisco Grill:

Buffet table:

It's pretty much a typical buffet breakfast...with a green egg and ham sandwich.

My plate:

But we're here for the characters!

We loved Spiderman. He spent time with the kids, talking to them and was even impressed with DH's fan, asking her quite seriously if she should change the water to spiderman sticky web and she'd be able to climb walls and swing too! She thought he was being silly.

We had seen Thing 1 & Thing 2 while waiting in the lobby to be seated but they weren't there while we were eating. They arrived probably 40-50 minutes after we ate and just before we were leaving. Since we already saw them in the park, we decided to go. After a few character dining at Disney, I was used to seeing all the characters one time or another. This one you may not get to see all of them during your stay although I was told we would. And when Thing 1 & Thing 2 showed up, Cat and the Hat disappeared.

It's almost noon now and unbeknown to my husband, I was determined to make a quick stop at Universal to get the autographs of those we missed our 1st day. So we walk fast...and I grab him and the kids and make a...left turn toward the park as he was turning to the right toward the bridge and water taxi.

Oops! Sorry Hon, don't know when we'll be back again. And I want those autographs and pics with the kids!

We head off to the Jimmy Neutron ride and into the store...and out comes SpongeBob!

We head across the street and around the corner to this area I spied the last time we were there:

and find Shrek, Fiona and Donkey! Yay!

Fiona's impressed with the autograph pages I made:

She shows it off to Donkey but Donkey says he can't read, so she describes it to him.

We march over to where I saw Alex and the Penguins last time:

and yay, they're there too!

No autographs, darn, they can't hold a pen. But we got them! We head on out and take one last pic:

We swap cameras with a family so we can have everyone in the pic for each of us. Worked out well.

Bye bye Universal and Islands of Adventure! It's off to Disney again!

Character autographs/pics we obtained this day:

Universal:
Alex the Lion
Madagascar Penguins
Fiona, Shrek and Donkey
SpongeBob Square Pants

IOA:
Spiderman
Cat In The Hat

 

[Karpkg]

Back @ Disney- Thursday, June 3, 2010
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We're on our way to Disney! It's already been a full morning and we're on our last stages of our trip. We've experienced our first Star Wars Weekend, then Harry Potter World, literally bought out their shops, and will be ending our trip back in Disney. It's been a fantastic trip and I'm looking forward for more!

Boardwalk Villas
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We head to our third and last home of our stay. Boardwalk Villas!

We were in a hurry to check in so we can visit one of the parks today, so no outside pics of Boardwalk. Darn! But here's our room:

mini kitchenette:

Balcony, right side:

Left side:

The view on the left:

The view straight ahead. The trees block the view of the pool.

DH's favorite park is Animal Kingdom. So that's where we go!

Animal Kingdom
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We're doing the Photopass CD so we're getting as many pictures as we can thru the Photopass Photographers. They comment on our t shirts and spot the back.

We love watching Survivor, so I customized the logo to fit in with Animal Kingdom. Yes, we will OutWit, OutLast, OutPlay Animal Kingdom!

It's 2:00 and we're starving so we head to our favorite watering hole, FlameTree Barbecue. We love the outdoor eating area.

Ah, the view!

The wildlife!

This guy was everywhere.

DS is now tall enough to ride Expedition Everest for the first time. He cried so hard last September when he missed it by 2 inches.

He jumps for joy when the CM waves him through into the line. But I'm looking up at the sky worriedly as the clouds turn dark. Oh oh...

Sure enough, it stars to rain and thunder. Wind whips through the trees. We're in the queue line inside the building when the line stops. The ride is closing down. Do we wait it out or leave? We're too close to the front so we hunker down. Little did we know it- it would be an hour and a half before the ride restarts.

We can hear the thunder and rain pelting outside. Sounds like a hurricane! So we just sit and wait. and wait. and wait.

 

[Karpkg]

Iphone photo as we're waiting.

Nope don't even have phone access while in the building so we wait and play games on the Iphone. I see my battery charge dwindling.

Okay, we ride Everest and DS loved it. DD, not so much.

We lost a lot of time waiting out the rain so we go look for other rides that are open. Kali Rapids of course!

I whip out DD water camera.

We do the ride twice, once with me taking the pics, the next ride DH. Of course, the pics with me in them DH found hilarious. There was no line! We literally got out, then jumped the rope and went back out. We had the raft to ourselves.

We went on the Safari next. Because I think of the rain, the animals are active.

That's it for Animal Kingdom. The rain cut a good amount of time so we couldn't tour the trails and I didn't see any characters to get pics with. We did stop to watch the Goodbye Celebration though.

The kids joined in the fun.

We head over to the Polynesian Resort for dinner. I made ADR's at Kona's for 7:30 pm.

They deliberately walk you pass the dessert counter on your way to your seat. Talk about TEMPTATION!!

My meal, at this late stage of writing, I forget what I had. But it was delicious!

The kids meals were the ordinary. But I did get pics of them happily eating their dessert. It came with their kids' meal.

It's now about 9 pm and we're tired so we head back to our villa and bed. I've got to get up at 4 AM for the celebrity autographs. The kids will sleep in with DH and catch up with me in line.

 

[Karpkg]

Friday, June 4 Star Wars Weekend 3​

Goals this Star Wars Wknd:

-Celebrity Autographs
-Character Autographs
-Rides

I get up at 4AM. Everyone's still asleep. I'm out of the room by 4:20AM and go out to the front desk. I get directions "Go out the back, head to the water and turn left. Then follow the signs."

BIG MISTAKE. Tip: GET A MAP. Find out where you're going before you leave.

I head out. Picture behind me of the Boardwalk Villa's Courtyard.

In front of me.

I'm walking the edge of the Boardwalk.

Cross the bridge, Swan & Dolphin is on my left, then I come across....the Yacht Club. I see the lighthouse.

I'm lost! In the dark! I head for the Yacht Club's front desk.

"Where's the walkway to HS?"
"It's too early for the ferry," they tell me.
"But I want the walkway."
"You may want to take the taxi instead."
"I specifically got the Boardwalk so I can walk it there!"

GRRR

I head back and walk the opposite direction....and reach Epcot's International Gateway! AUGH!!!!

I walk to where I started. A few workers were about but I get "No comprende".

I go back to Boardwalk, and ask directions again. It's the same. "You'll see directions to the walkway."

I follow the water till I reach the building with the words DANCE on it. If I continue to the right, I'll cross the bridge to Swan & Dolphin. I look around...and spy a small white waist high sign with the arrow pointing left to Hollywood Studios. YES!!!!

It's 5AM. I'm a little anxious and irritated with myself. Take a deep breath, and look around.

I spy a rabbit that's startled to see me.

Halfway point to Hollywood Studios.

It's 5:20 AM. Oh wow, there's already a pretty long line to Billy Dee Williams, a.k.a. Lando Calrissian. In front of me:

Behind me:

Just how long is this line? Well, I was told the first people arrived Wednesday night- and were turned away. You can only stay in line 24 hrs earlier. So, they started the line Thursday around 5pm. Can you believe that?

The celebrity lines:

Iphone pic again of me in line.

Behind me.

DH and the kids arrive 7:20AM. I tell them to go to Jeremy Bulloch's (Bobba Fett) line. If they get through before me, then head to Ahsoka's line(Ashley Eckstein). Then, get to me. At least that was the plan.

While I was waiting in line through the early morning my bags were already checked and the drug security dog had already sniffed his way past us. The rule of the game: Once you get your fastpass you must continue around the building, no running and back into line and through security again. You're better off not holding anything.

The process went by fast! I was only able to get standby for Billy Dee. DH and the kids never got back to me. They got their session with Jeremy Bulloch and stand by with Ashley Eckstein. I really also wanted Ray Parks who plays Darth Maul. Hmmm, maybe I can talk DH into coming back tomorrow and getting him....

 

[Karpkg]

We see the stormtroopers on the roof with Boba Fett.

We head over to Star Tours which is the Light Side of the Force and get in line for Chewbacca, who's very popular. Already a 20 min. wait. We get a pic of the bike speeder.

Chewbacca!

See how tall this character is when compared to the people?

And how short this Ewok is?

Luke & Leia Skywalker

I think this guy was a fan, I'm not sure if he was really a character.

It's time for the parade again so we find a place by Star Tours.

It's Mickey Ice Cream Time! It was soo hot, the kids devoured a lot of water and ice cream.

The celebrities:

Asajj Ventress:

R2D2:

I overhear that C3PO is making his debut this year, so we get in line after the parade for him.

We look now for the Disney Characters.

This would be the only shot of them we get. Out of all the characters, we miss Jedi Mickey and R2MK(?) They always leave before we get to them. But we get Darth Goofy, Stormtrooper Donald and Minnie Leia.

It's hot and I decide we need a lunch break. We try for a walk in at the Sci Fi Dine In and get in! We cancel the 3:15 time slot we had.

 

[LeahJ]

WOW!! Thanks for all the great photos you shared!! I wasn't that excited about Universal. Now - I'm stoked!!!

 

[MagicStitch]

Loved your TR!! Your pics were awesome! Thank you so much for sharing! I particularly loved your photos from WWoHP and RPR as I am in the middle of planning a trip for October to both!! RPR looks beautiful... any tips or thoughts on the hotel you can give me? It's just me and my DH going down for about 4 days... Thanks again for the great TR!!

 

[mikkiwikki]

First trip to Universal in 23 days and so excited after reading your report!

Ill definitely have to do the star wars weekend someday.

 

[Karpkg]

Thanks everyone for the nice replies!

My 'puter's been down for 3 wks now while I'm awaiting a new motherboard being shipped. Gotta do brain implant when it arrives; so my last few days of the trip has gotta wait since all my pics are in that 'puter. Using the kids' computer in the meantime....they're grumbling.... ha ha.....


If sometimes you see no pics, but a notice instead, "You have exceeded bandwidth"...I received another notice that I've exceeded my freebie 10 Gig bandwidth of looking at my pics. Don't worry, it'll reset the following month. I've received that e-mail twice now since June.

Check back occasionally, there's still more to come!

 

[ydrj]

Were you able to use the ticket voucher you bought from Viator for US/IOA? If you did was it easy turning them into tickets? I bought the same ones during their promotion and will be going in August and hope there will be no issues.

BTW your kids are adorable!
Thanks!

 

[Karpkg]

Were you able to use the ticket voucher you bought from Viator for US/IOA? If you did was it easy turning them into tickets? I bought the same ones during their promotion and will be going in August and hope there will be no issues.

BTW your kids are adorable!
Thanks!

Thanks! I can't tell them, the compliment will go straight to their heads!

Absolutely no problems. Had the vouchers, driver license for ID and a credit card to pay for them. All the lady did was take a look at it, call her supervisor to sign off on them, then gave me the tickets and a receipt. HANG ON TO THE RECEIPT!!! She told me that's my proof I bought the tickets in case the tickets get lost. I kept the receipt separate from the tickets.