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 9 Sunday 21/10/01
Todays planned itinerary MK and MGM
Weather Wet, but still warm.
Todays plan was to go to MK first, and stay to see the 3pm parade, before going to MGM for Fantasmic. However, wed since made PSs at Hollywood and Vine for 4pm as part of our Fantasmic dinner package so we opted to go to IOA in the morning and MGM after..
First things first, though. Bagels and cream cheese, getting partial to these now. Mini blueberry bagels. Very tasty. Washed down with coffee out of our illegal mugs. After carefully hiding them from the mug police, we went to IOA prepared for some wet rides. Sandals, thin shorts, no cameras, just park passes, room keys, and some cash. Stephen also had a couple of TCs in his bum bag, which I didnt find out about until later.
We were feeling lazy so took the water taxi over to City Walk, and strolled the last few yards to the park. We waved our magic room keys to go straight onto Spiderman and then went to the main ride of the day Popeye & Blutos Bilge-Rat Barges. We got wet
. Just in case there was an inch of us that was merely wet, as opposed to soaked, we went on again. And again. Oh yes, no doubt about it, were definitely wet now. There was a young couple on with us on the last go round. Youd think our damp appearance would have told them something, but they got on in jeans and heavy tops, with thick socks and trainers, and confidently held plastic carrier bags over their heads to keep them dry. We tried to warn them, honest, but they thought we were joking. You should have seen their faces 
. If youve been on this ride, youll know that there is no escape. You get wet!
Time now for the one that Ive been dreading. Dudley Do-Rights Ripsaw Falls. Id read on the Universal boards, that the angle of descent gets steeper as you go down, and that this makes you feel that youre going to fall out. Also, someone had said that there was nothing to hold onto, and it was quite scary. What a load of twaddle, that was! It was excellent. If I liked it, then it cant be that scary. Either that, or Im getting braver
. I did have a tight grip on the handrails, though.
By now, it was raining and people were diving for cover. Not much point in us doing that, though. We couldnt get any wetter
. A few people going into Dudleys eyed us a bit nervously as we came out. We didnt bother to explain that we were this wet when we went in. 
We went over to Jurassic Park River Adventure to see what that was like. The drop was a bit tamer than Id expected, but very enjoyable. Im definitely getting the hang of these drops, now. Maybe now that Ive got log flumes licked, Ill try coasters next. Maybe next year. Oy, who called me chicken?? Went on River Adventure again and then grabbed a coffee to drink while we dripped back to the hotel. Went in via our pool area short cut, and Im sure some people thought wed fallen in.
I had first shower while Stephen discovered what the impact of several gallons of water on paper money, travellers cheques and card park passes is. He managed to successfully iron the money and TCs, but mangled the park pass beyond belief. He also, strangely enough, ironed his wallet, which didnt survive the encounter. My park pass was ruined, but my cash survived without needing to be ironed.
On the way out to MGM, we stopped off at our friendly MIB concierge and sheepishly informed him that Popeye had drowned our passes. It took him some work, but eventually we had nice dry replacements, which we promised faithfully to look after.
Got to the front door, and boy were we glad about the parking problem last night. It was pouring, so we happily handed over our valet ticket and got our car brought to us without us having to get wet. By the time we got to MGM, the rain had stopped, Hooray! We browsed through a few shops in MGM, and then asked if we could go in early for our PS, as we were starving. The buffet at H&V was excellent again, and Id recommend this to anyone. I paced myself on the main course, and had room for some delicious strawberry shortcake. $38 plus tip.
As we came out, it was raining again, so we got some highly fashionable yellow ponchos. Stephen also purchased a cheap wallet to make do with. We felt a bit too stuffed for anything resembling a ride, so we did the animation tour. We did this last year and had our first peek at The Emperors new groove. This year we heard about a strange film with a small girl and a dangerous alien pretending to be a dog . Ill reserve judgement on that one. Had a good look round in the animation gallery and bought a couple of posters, and a few pins. (Well, Stephen wanted Mr and Mrs Potato Head, and you cant buy just two, can you ) It was bucketing down outside, so we went into the studio store where I got a screensaver to go with last years. We ponchod up and trotted to Muppets 3-D. I do like that! Then it was time for Fantasmic. Although it was raining hard by now, and didnt stop all through the show, the ponchos kept us nice and dry. Yes, I know thats what theyre for , I just didnt expect them to be so efficient.
Theres nothing I can say about Fantasmic that hasnt already been said, so Ill just say that it was as good as Id remembered, and were looking forward to showing it to Jo, next year.
We went back to the hotel via Publix, then Stephen decided to check how our bill was coming along. We could check it on the TV. Youll never guess what wed been charged for ..Yup, valet parking. Something to sort out tomorrow, then.
Pins bought today 5
Tomorrow Shopping, IOA, and more shopping
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 9 Sunday 21/10/01
Todays planned itinerary MK and MGM
Weather Wet, but still warm.
Todays plan was to go to MK first, and stay to see the 3pm parade, before going to MGM for Fantasmic. However, wed since made PSs at Hollywood and Vine for 4pm as part of our Fantasmic dinner package so we opted to go to IOA in the morning and MGM after..
First things first, though. Bagels and cream cheese, getting partial to these now. Mini blueberry bagels. Very tasty. Washed down with coffee out of our illegal mugs. After carefully hiding them from the mug police, we went to IOA prepared for some wet rides. Sandals, thin shorts, no cameras, just park passes, room keys, and some cash. Stephen also had a couple of TCs in his bum bag, which I didnt find out about until later.
We were feeling lazy so took the water taxi over to City Walk, and strolled the last few yards to the park. We waved our magic room keys to go straight onto Spiderman and then went to the main ride of the day Popeye & Blutos Bilge-Rat Barges. We got wet
. Just in case there was an inch of us that was merely wet, as opposed to soaked, we went on again. And again. Oh yes, no doubt about it, were definitely wet now. There was a young couple on with us on the last go round. Youd think our damp appearance would have told them something, but they got on in jeans and heavy tops, with thick socks and trainers, and confidently held plastic carrier bags over their heads to keep them dry. We tried to warn them, honest, but they thought we were joking. You should have seen their faces . If youve been on this ride, youll know that there is no escape. You get wet!Time now for the one that Ive been dreading. Dudley Do-Rights Ripsaw Falls. Id read on the Universal boards, that the angle of descent gets steeper as you go down, and that this makes you feel that youre going to fall out. Also, someone had said that there was nothing to hold onto, and it was quite scary. What a load of twaddle, that was! It was excellent. If I liked it, then it cant be that scary. Either that, or Im getting braver
. I did have a tight grip on the handrails, though.By now, it was raining and people were diving for cover. Not much point in us doing that, though. We couldnt get any wetter
. A few people going into Dudleys eyed us a bit nervously as we came out. We didnt bother to explain that we were this wet when we went in. We went over to Jurassic Park River Adventure to see what that was like. The drop was a bit tamer than Id expected, but very enjoyable. Im definitely getting the hang of these drops, now. Maybe now that Ive got log flumes licked, Ill try coasters next. Maybe next year. Oy, who called me chicken?? Went on River Adventure again and then grabbed a coffee to drink while we dripped back to the hotel. Went in via our pool area short cut, and Im sure some people thought wed fallen in
. I had first shower while Stephen discovered what the impact of several gallons of water on paper money, travellers cheques and card park passes is. He managed to successfully iron the money and TCs, but mangled the park pass beyond belief. He also, strangely enough, ironed his wallet, which didnt survive the encounter. My park pass was ruined, but my cash survived without needing to be ironed.
On the way out to MGM, we stopped off at our friendly MIB concierge and sheepishly informed him that Popeye had drowned our passes. It took him some work, but eventually we had nice dry replacements, which we promised faithfully to look after.
Got to the front door, and boy were we glad about the parking problem last night. It was pouring, so we happily handed over our valet ticket and got our car brought to us without us having to get wet. By the time we got to MGM, the rain had stopped, Hooray! We browsed through a few shops in MGM, and then asked if we could go in early for our PS, as we were starving. The buffet at H&V was excellent again, and Id recommend this to anyone. I paced myself on the main course, and had room for some delicious strawberry shortcake. $38 plus tip.
As we came out, it was raining again, so we got some highly fashionable yellow ponchos. Stephen also purchased a cheap wallet to make do with
. We felt a bit too stuffed for anything resembling a ride, so we did the animation tour. We did this last year and had our first peek at The Emperors new groove. This year we heard about a strange film with a small girl and a dangerous alien pretending to be a dog . Ill reserve judgement on that one. Had a good look round in the animation gallery and bought a couple of posters, and a few pins. (Well, Stephen wanted Mr and Mrs Potato Head, and you cant buy just two, can you ) It was bucketing down outside, so we went into the studio store where I got a screensaver to go with last years. We ponchod up and trotted to Muppets 3-D. I do like that! Then it was time for Fantasmic. Although it was raining hard by now, and didnt stop all through the show, the ponchos kept us nice and dry. Yes, I know thats what theyre for , I just didnt expect them to be so efficient. Theres nothing I can say about Fantasmic that hasnt already been said, so Ill just say that it was as good as Id remembered, and were looking forward to showing it to Jo, next year.
We went back to the hotel via Publix, then Stephen decided to check how our bill was coming along. We could check it on the TV. Youll never guess what wed been charged for ..Yup, valet parking. Something to sort out tomorrow, then.
Pins bought today 5
Tomorrow Shopping, IOA, and more shopping
