Been back a few days....

scottishgirl87

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Feb 18, 2009
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1,591
and I'm missing it sooooo much :( We had an amazing time!

Got back Tuesday morning around 7.30am after a horrible night as I was sick on the plane, felt awful all day Tuesday. It just wasn't pleasant! I think I may have developed travel sickness as I was ill on the way out (although not as bad) and I was ill on another flight recently too. Don't know why or what it is as I've never had this problem before!

Won't be doing a trip report but will share some details :thumbsup2

10th - 17th May
We stayed at Pop! in a refurbished room on the 3rd floor in the 90's building 8. I was really happy with this as I'd requested a refurbished room and I really wanted a higher floor so we got everything we wanted :) Location was great as well, it was quiet and we cut across the car park to get to the buses/Classic Hall within a few minutes. Got quite a few towel animals which was great :thumbsup2
The buses at Pop! were better than I expected! I would say 15 minute wait at most but that was mostly for Downtown Disney buses, everything else wasn't more than a few minutes. The service was just great, could not complain about it! Only had to stand a few times but the majority of times we did get a seat. There was one night our full Disney bus returning from Epcot had a near miss with a car (car's fault, not bus drivers) but it was all good, driver even said "woah just saved 72 lives there! Plus the 4 in the car!". Loved the banter with the bus drivers, they were all very pleasant.
We ate at Pop! 2 nights I think, it was alright, wasn't great but wasn't bad. We also bought the refillable mugs that we definitely used to the max. Our best meal this week was probably at T-Rex, we had a great lunch there!
We saw Wishes, Fantasmic! and IllumiNations all this week and I honestly couldn't choose my favourite. I remember Fantasmic from when I was there 7 years ago and I loved it then. Queues were not long at all, most things were a 5-10 minute wait all week. Toy Story Mania was a 60-100 minute wait most times. We managed to go to HS first thing and do it then one morning, would have loved to go on it again though. We both loved Philharmagic and my boyfriend absolutely loved the safari at Animal Kingdom.
We also visited the Boardwalk but unfortunately we didn't get to go and see Cirque du Soleil like we wanted :( Also the Rock N' Rollercoaster was closed while we were there which is one of our faves.

17th-24th May
We moved onto the Royal Pacific at Universal this week and we love, love, loved it! We actually got upgraded to a Jurassic Park kids suite (Tower 1) which was massive! We had a great view of the pool from our 2 windows. It was a little wasted on us though as there was only 2 of us, so we basically used the other room for our suitcases and clothes, lol. The pool and grounds were gorgeous, loved the Express passes too.
We did Universal, IOA, SeaWorld and Busch. I think they could all take a lesson in queue management from Disney, Uni/IOA not as much but SeaWorld and Busch was a bit of a free for all and alot of times seats (not just singles but 2's, 3's, etc.) were going empty which if they'd just said "anyone a 2?" or whatever they'd have been filled!
Busch was such a disappointment :( I hadn't been to Busch before but we were both pretty disappointed. We used the free shuttle included with the FlexTicket which picked us up at 8.30am and on the way back collected at 6.50pm which was a bit of a pain as well since the park closed at 6. I think we would have enjoyed it a little bit better if we didn't feel we "had" to be there all day, alot of the time we'd go to a park in the morning, leave, and go back later on or go somewhere different. Kumba was closed, went on Sheikra and Montu. Sheikra looked alot better than it actually was.
Saw a bit of HP Land at IOA, but we weren't really interested as not interested in HP in the slightest. All the stars were there one of the days we were but we didn't realise, knew something was going on as they were being shifty in the queue up to Dueling Dragons and we could hear someone speaking behind the wall.
Again parks were quiet, 5-10 minutes wait most but obviously we had the Express pass so it didn't really matter to us. Absolutely loved The Mummy! We went on this at Uni in California and the Florida version is 100 times better. We did wait around 30-40 minutes for Rip Ride Rockit which was a little disappointing, apart from the uphill start and music it's a pretty standard rollercoaster.
Oh we also went to see the Blue Man Group for my 3rd time (seen them in New York and Vegas previously) and loved it once again. Used the TravelZoo offer Wayne posted recently to get the $84 tickets for $54. Highly recommend :thumbsup2
Oh and our best meal this week was probably at Bubba Gump's on our last night! I had an awful meal at Margaritaville but boyfriend really liked his there.

I didn't actually plan to go on this long, lol. Weather was amazing for the 2 weeks we were there apart from 2 short periods of rain/a thunderstorm. Boyfriend loved it more than I even thought he would and has said we can go back, yay :goodvibes Originally we were talking about next year (I still have fingers crossed) but he's saying maybe 2 years. Anyway I'll summarise a few highs and lows....

Highs (apart from the whole holiday)
- Getting extremely lucky on the way out as due to volcanic ash our flight was delayed about an hour but also an hour or 2 added on to fly round the ash. We got to Newark knowing we'd missed our connecting flight to be told our connecting flight had actually been delayed and we had about 45 minutes to spare :goodvibes
- Pop! and RPR wouldn't hesitate to stay at either again. Getting upgraded at RPR was icing on the cake!
- Loved Disney way more than I thought I would! Back in 2003 when I was 15/16 I was "too cool for school" and didn't enjoy Disney that much. Disney's "shows" are just one of a kind and I was surprised how much my boyfriend enjoyed them as well!
- Express passes at Uni/IOA are just a god-send

Lows
- Got a taxi back from the Pr1me Outlets with Star Taxis where our driver decided to let a random man hitch a ride in our taxi. The guy basically said something about his mates leaving him behind with no money. It ended up innocent but I did not like it one bit, it was the only time all holiday I felt uneasy. The whole journey I just kept thinking about how they could take us anywhere or rob us or anything, it was just awkward. I didn't let my boyfriend take his wallet out to pay or anything, I knew I had less money in my purse and I was more away from the guy than my boyfriend was. It made me avoid Star Taxis for the rest of the trip.
- Not buying as much shopping as I usually do! We went to Premium Outlets, LBV Factory Stores, Pr1me Outlets, Mall at Millenia and Florida Mall. Florida Mall was probably our best shopping but I've bought practically nothing, boyfriend got a few bits and bobs though.
- Being sick the whole way home :sick: and generally coming home!

I really am missing it quite badly at the moment :( I'm sure it'll pass or I'll have to try my hardest to persuade boyfriend to go back sooner rather than later!! We would definitely be doing a Disney/Uni split stay again!
 
For someone who wasn't going to do a trip report, that was pretty extensive!! :rotfl2:
Thanks for sharing with us, I really enjoyed reading everything you had to say.
It sounds like you had a fantastic time, but you really need to kick your man into touch about letting you go back, sooner rather than later. Believe me, there is no better way to get over those dreaded Florida Blues than to create a new ticker! :goodvibes
 
Thanks for the mini report! Sounds like you had a great time. :goodvibes

I stayed at Pop and RPR on my first visit in 2008. I loved both hotels and have such fond memories of them. The refurbished rooms at Pop sound nice, I think I'll have to book another stay there at some point!

I can't believe the taxi driver let a random guy ride with you. That's really bad and I'm not surprised you felt uneasy. :(
 
For someone who wasn't going to do a trip report, that was pretty extensive!! :rotfl2:
Thanks for sharing with us, I really enjoyed reading everything you had to say.
It sounds like you had a fantastic time, but you really need to kick your man into touch about letting you go back, sooner rather than later. Believe me, there is no better way to get over those dreaded Florida Blues than to create a new ticker! :goodvibes

LOL I know, my mind kept going blank as well then you remember something! I want a new ticker badly, something to look forward to, but we'll just have to wait and see!

Thanks for the mini report! Sounds like you had a great time. :goodvibes

I stayed at Pop and RPR on my first visit in 2008. I loved both hotels and have such fond memories of them. The refurbished rooms at Pop sound nice, I think I'll have to book another stay there at some point!

I can't believe the taxi driver let a random guy ride with you. That's really bad and I'm not surprised you felt uneasy. :(

I'm quite a cautious person so I didn't enjoy the taxi ride one bit. My boyfriend agreed it was dodgy but afterwards he was like "well nothing happened so it was fine!". I was soooo glad when we pulled up into the RPR lobby coz at least I knew there would be loads of staff round there, I had visions of him even dropping us a wee bit along the road so he could take money or something. It sounds really bad, but I just had every scenario running through my head! Plus it meant we basically paid for some random guys taxi ride!
 

Glad you had a great time, and Upgrade at RPR was great , as they are not renowned for upgrades,
 
Glad you had a great time, and Upgrade at RPR was great , as they are not renowned for upgrades,

For the first night we were there I kept expecting them to call or chap the door and say they'd gave us the wrong room! Tbh, I think we got it because there was 2 conventions on at the time we were there and one was a 5000 people convention!! I think they obviously couldn't put one of their conventioners in the room being a Jurassic Park suite and all. Couldn't believe our luck!
 
Awww, sorry the flight made you poorly. :(

Thanks for your report, I'm glad you had a fab time!!

I'd have demanded the taxi stop so I could get out I think. :scared1:

Any photos of your suite?!
 
Thanks for letting us know how it all went - and I hope you now stay around to offer advice based on your new found experiences :)

I know you didn't plan on doing a trippie but you put lots of brilliant information in your post so it would be great to see some photos that could compliment it all :thumbsup2
 
Welcome home! Glad you enjoyed youreself. Good to hear you weren't too badly affected by the ash cloud. I remember you being worried about it!

How was the stop in New York? And did you manage with your luggage allowance?
 
Awww, sorry the flight made you poorly. :(

Thanks for your report, I'm glad you had a fab time!!

I'd have demanded the taxi stop so I could get out I think. :scared1:

Any photos of your suite?!

Thanks, Torsie. Yes we took quite a few of our suite, lol. I'm just uploading them just now as I haven't really sorted out all our photos. We also did Photopass but got a poor 37 photos!! Not really worth it for $99 but we got 1 or 2 good ones I'd like to keep so may as well :)

Thanks for letting us know how it all went - and I hope you now stay around to offer advice based on your new found experiences :)

I know you didn't plan on doing a trippie but you put lots of brilliant information in your post so it would be great to see some photos that could compliment it all :thumbsup2

I'm gonna try and stay around but without a trip to plan it's gonna be difficult! I was just saying to my boyfriend I wish I'd written everything down as we've forgotten so many bits and pieces and then they just come to you randomly!

Welcome home! Glad you enjoyed youreself. Good to hear you weren't too badly affected by the ash cloud. I remember you being worried about it!

How was the stop in New York? And did you manage with your luggage allowance?

It was absolutely fine, no problems whatsoever! We had the 9 hour stopover on the way back as we were going to travel into NY for the day but we didn't bother. It was a stupid idea and I wouldn't do it again! Luggage allowance was more than fine as we both only had 1 case each which were around 14kg each on the way out. It did say when I did online check-in that we had the 2 bags but we really didn't need it.
 
Ok here's some photos of a Jurassic Park suite at RPR. I included some of the grounds and the view from our room as well. We were on the top (7th) floor in Tower 1.

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wow!!! what an INCREDIBLE room!!!!! amazing!!!

welcome home - time to start planning your next trip!! that's the only antidote to being sad about it being over.. :)

do you know which buildings at the pop have been refurbished?
i'm going to be at the pop in June ....wondering if i should ask for something specific or not...
 
Thanks for the mini report. I can't see the pictures since I'm at work but I can't wait to get home and take a look. Great news on the upgrade - what room did you originally have booked?

I agree with you about the Disney shows - they really are truly amazing. I just love Nemo at animal Kingdom and Beauty and the Beast never fails to make me cry.

So glad you had a good time, hope you are feeling much better now (apart from the horrible post-holiday blues).
 
Really enjoyed your mini trippie!

I can't believe that the taxi driver just let some random guy get in with you, I think I would have got out and got a different taxi, that is awful.

I can't believe that you didn't like Busch :scared1: It's my fave! :goodvibes
Different strokes though eh!

My DS would love that Jurassic Park room, although I fear that he may spend the whole night rawing like a dinosaur rather than sleeping! :rotfl:
 
i forgot about the taxi when i saw the pictures of that room..

i meant to say that i would have been very nervous having someone picked up that way....i'm terribly suspicious and tend to worry about the worst case scenario....i would have been very upset by that just as you were...
 
wow!!! what an INCREDIBLE room!!!!! amazing!!!

welcome home - time to start planning your next trip!! that's the only antidote to being sad about it being over.. :)

do you know which buildings at the pop have been refurbished?
i'm going to be at the pop in June ....wondering if i should ask for something specific or not...

We were in 90's building 8 which has been completed. While there we saw 80's building 7 being worked on (Roger Rabit building). I simply requested a refurbished room and nothing else. I ended up getting everything I wanted as I wanted a refurbed room, a high floor (we got 3rd) and the 2 decades which most appealed to me were 80's and 90's! There's a thread on the Resorts board with which buildings have been done and which haven't :thumbsup2

Thanks for the mini report. I can't see the pictures since I'm at work but I can't wait to get home and take a look. Great news on the upgrade - what room did you originally have booked?

I agree with you about the Disney shows - they really are truly amazing. I just love Nemo at animal Kingdom and Beauty and the Beast never fails to make me cry.

So glad you had a good time, hope you are feeling much better now (apart from the horrible post-holiday blues).

We just had a Standard 2 queen room booked! I wanted to change it to a King which is usually the same price but there was so little availability for our dates, they were constantly sold out. I am feeling better now but I'm loaded with the cold :sick: Just never ends!

Really enjoyed your mini trippie!

I can't believe that the taxi driver just let some random guy get in with you, I think I would have got out and got a different taxi, that is awful.

I can't believe that you didn't like Busch :scared1: It's my fave! :goodvibes
Different strokes though eh!

My DS would love that Jurassic Park room, although I fear that he may spend the whole night rawing like a dinosaur rather than sleeping! :rotfl:
i forgot about the taxi when i saw the pictures of that room..

i meant to say that i would have been very nervous having someone picked up that way....i'm terribly suspicious and tend to worry about the worst case scenario....i would have been very upset by that just as you were...

We didn't even really get a chance to say anything! It was weird, we went to the taxi rank at Pr1me, and 2 other people managed to nab the only taxi left, but this guy was talking to the taxi driver and then he kinda walked away and was hanging about a bit. We had to wait for about 10 minutes for another taxi to pull up. It does, we get in, then the guy appears again. At first I thought maybe he was to do with the taxi's somehow but, no. The taxi driver came over (who didn't speak perfect English either), opened the door and was like "I let him ride with you, he's going close to where you're going, ok" and the guy hopped in. We didn't even get asked or anything and it would have been soooo awkward to say "well no actually we'd like to get out", there was just nothing we could do. The guy said something about his mates leaving behind with no money and kind of laughed, I was like yeah great. Just everything raced in my head, I was also thinking about RPR and the guy probably then thinking we had money or something coz of where we were staying. Luckily we actually only had 1 small shopping bag that day as we hadn't bought alot.

I'm glad I wasn't just over-reacting about it! I had a mind to complain but I didn't see the point as what would they have done, nothing! While in the taxi I was taking down the taxi # and all, just incase anything happened, can't remember it now though. It was the only Star Taxi we got in the whole time though.
 
We didn't even really get a chance to say anything! It was weird, we went to the taxi rank at Pr1me, and 2 other people managed to nab the only taxi left, but this guy was talking to the taxi driver and then he kinda walked away and was hanging about a bit. We had to wait for about 10 minutes for another taxi to pull up. It does, we get in, then the guy appears again. At first I thought maybe he was to do with the taxi's somehow but, no. The taxi driver came over (who didn't speak perfect English either), opened the door and was like "I let him ride with you, he's going close to where you're going, ok" and the guy hopped in. We didn't even get asked or anything and it would have been soooo awkward to say "well no actually we'd like to get out", there was just nothing we could do. The guy said something about his mates leaving behind with no money and kind of laughed, I was like yeah great. Just everything raced in my head, I was also thinking about RPR and the guy probably then thinking we had money or something coz of where we were staying. Luckily we actually only had 1 small shopping bag that day as we hadn't bought alot.

I'm glad I wasn't just over-reacting about it! I had a mind to complain but I didn't see the point as what would they have done, nothing! While in the taxi I was taking down the taxi # and all, just incase anything happened, can't remember it now though. It was the only Star Taxi we got in the whole time though.

oh i don't think you overreacted at all - i would have been TERRIFIED :eek:
i also wouldn't have said anything....but would have been so worried the entire way back to the hotel!!
glad everything worked out ok!!!!
 












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