caroley
Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2000
<b>Carole : (40) Organiser and chief adventurer. Compulsive shopper.
Stephen : (43) Head beer drinker, and food taster. Trainee shopper.</b>
<I>As this was our third year running at Orlando, the plan was to take it all at a slower pace, and enjoy the atmosphere. No queuing and no commando tactics. We have annual passes for Disney and length of stay passes for Universal. Were giving Seaworld a Miss this year rather than try to cram too much in.</I>
Day 12 Wednesday 24/10/01
Todays planned itinerary Universal Studios
Weather Very hot and sunny. Few light showers.
Up fairly early this morning. Foggy out, but it soon cleared. We had our bagels and cream cheese in our room, with coffee in our contraband mugs. Stephen checked the TV for our bill, and guess what, valet parking had thrown a party, and now there were four. We marched straight down to reception and confronted the MIB on the desk. He seemed to think this was a common problem. Apparently, once you have valet parking once, the computer thinks you have it every night. The MIB started to take the valet charges off, then stopped and said, Hey! You guys are with Virgin. You shouldnt be charged for parking at all. And he then proceeded to remove all parking charges, which then stayed removed. Hooray! And hooray to Virgin for swinging the free parking for us, even if we nearly didnt get it.
<i>[Of course, when the room charges finally appeared on my credit card bill in December, guess what was on there .yup $60 worth of valet parking. The nice lady in accounts has now credited my card back, after I asked her nicely on the phone]</i>
We eventually got to Universal Studios at 9.30. I wanted to go straight on Men In Black. Must have been feeling kindly disposed towards MIBs
. Using our room keys for Express, we went on 5 times, one after the other before Stephen put his foot down and refused to go on again. Well, I was trying to find out where the high scoring targets were, and I was doing quite well. Still, better let him choose the next ride. This turned out to be BTTF, which was still really bumpy and made my teeth rattle. Still good though. Went into the Wild wild west show, again using Express. Sat right up at the back, so Id have something to lean back on. Jaws next, which is always a hoot, but today our guide was excellent, and made it even better. Last visit to Terminator and then I managed to persuade Stephen onto Men in Black for two last goes.
Said goodbye to US at 2.45pm and after a quick freshen up at the hotel, left for Epcot at 3.30. Id fancied a couple of hours in the pool, but Stephen was peckish and the Food and Wine festival was beckoning. Never did get in that pool, and it looked so lovely. Oh well, I guess well have to stay there another time to try it.
We were hoping to get onto Test Track. Hah! Yet again, no Fastpass and a 40-minute wait. Not a chance.
On to the World showcase to start snacking, then. Today we started at Mexico and had Quesadilla Pollo y Chorizo. Ive no idea what it was but it tasted just great. Ireland next and Boiled Irish bacon with mashed root vegetables. Although this was nice, it was probably a mistake as it was really filling.
Scandinavia was the next booth we came to and here I just had to have the Chocolate dream log, while Stephen had the Finnish onion and ham pie. Both very good. At Southeast Asia we had Chicken Satay with peanut sauce, and then we gave up. Too full to continue. Maybe next year well get all the way around. We had a general wander round, saying goodbye to our favourite places, and then went for another hopeful peek at Test track. No chance of getting on that so we went to the Universe of Energy. I like this, its funny and you get a chance to sit down for a while. We did Body wars next and as we were leaving the park, Stephen persuaded me that he really needed to say goodbye to Spaceship Earth.
Left Epcot at 7.30, stopping at Walmart on the way back.
Pins bought today none
Tomorrow Packing, shopping and the Hard Rock Cafe
Stephen : (43) Head beer drinker, and food taster. Trainee shopper.</b>
<I>As this was our third year running at Orlando, the plan was to take it all at a slower pace, and enjoy the atmosphere. No queuing and no commando tactics. We have annual passes for Disney and length of stay passes for Universal. Were giving Seaworld a Miss this year rather than try to cram too much in.</I>
Day 12 Wednesday 24/10/01
Todays planned itinerary Universal Studios
Weather Very hot and sunny. Few light showers.
Up fairly early this morning. Foggy out, but it soon cleared. We had our bagels and cream cheese in our room, with coffee in our contraband mugs. Stephen checked the TV for our bill, and guess what, valet parking had thrown a party, and now there were four. We marched straight down to reception and confronted the MIB on the desk. He seemed to think this was a common problem. Apparently, once you have valet parking once, the computer thinks you have it every night. The MIB started to take the valet charges off, then stopped and said, Hey! You guys are with Virgin. You shouldnt be charged for parking at all. And he then proceeded to remove all parking charges, which then stayed removed. Hooray! And hooray to Virgin for swinging the free parking for us, even if we nearly didnt get it.
<i>[Of course, when the room charges finally appeared on my credit card bill in December, guess what was on there .yup $60 worth of valet parking. The nice lady in accounts has now credited my card back, after I asked her nicely on the phone]</i>
We eventually got to Universal Studios at 9.30. I wanted to go straight on Men In Black. Must have been feeling kindly disposed towards MIBs
. Using our room keys for Express, we went on 5 times, one after the other before Stephen put his foot down and refused to go on again. Well, I was trying to find out where the high scoring targets were, and I was doing quite well. Still, better let him choose the next ride. This turned out to be BTTF, which was still really bumpy and made my teeth rattle. Still good though. Went into the Wild wild west show, again using Express. Sat right up at the back, so Id have something to lean back on. Jaws next, which is always a hoot, but today our guide was excellent, and made it even better. Last visit to Terminator and then I managed to persuade Stephen onto Men in Black for two last goes. Said goodbye to US at 2.45pm and after a quick freshen up at the hotel, left for Epcot at 3.30. Id fancied a couple of hours in the pool, but Stephen was peckish and the Food and Wine festival was beckoning. Never did get in that pool, and it looked so lovely. Oh well, I guess well have to stay there another time to try it.
We were hoping to get onto Test Track. Hah! Yet again, no Fastpass and a 40-minute wait. Not a chance.
On to the World showcase to start snacking, then. Today we started at Mexico and had Quesadilla Pollo y Chorizo. Ive no idea what it was but it tasted just great. Ireland next and Boiled Irish bacon with mashed root vegetables. Although this was nice, it was probably a mistake as it was really filling.
Scandinavia was the next booth we came to and here I just had to have the Chocolate dream log, while Stephen had the Finnish onion and ham pie. Both very good. At Southeast Asia we had Chicken Satay with peanut sauce, and then we gave up. Too full to continue. Maybe next year well get all the way around
. We had a general wander round, saying goodbye to our favourite places, and then went for another hopeful peek at Test track. No chance of getting on that so we went to the Universe of Energy. I like this, its funny and you get a chance to sit down for a while. We did Body wars next and as we were leaving the park, Stephen persuaded me that he really needed to say goodbye to Spaceship Earth. Left Epcot at 7.30, stopping at Walmart on the way back.
Pins bought today none
Tomorrow Packing, shopping and the Hard Rock Cafe
