But Where Are All The People??? -A September 2016 Trip Report - Update 4/4/17

[ALEXandFAB]

Oh, I recognize that Common Core math

Oh, and waters all around, because with five people in a family, you have to take advantage of free ice water whenever you can get it!

We're only a family of 3 but we share the same sentiment!

So, we made the following plan: I would go back to the room with the kids, where we would all nap for a bit (the early morning was catching up with us!) while Ben went into the parks for a few hours. Then he would come back and take the kids swimming while I headed into the parks. Not too bad of a plan if you ask me!

Great teamwork!

First up was Reign of Kong! It just opened this summer, and he was very excited to try it. When he came back to the room later that day, the first thing he said was “Yeah, we are NOT taking our kids on that ride!” But he really liked it and was impressed with how it was done.

I'm kind of really looking forward to this ride ("kind of" because I'm hoping it doesn't trigger my motion sickness ).

What a great time you're all having! The butterbeer tasting and spell casting is calling my name

 

[caitlinnf]

Oh, I recognize that Common Core math



We're only a family of 3 but we share the same sentiment!



Great teamwork!



I'm kind of really looking forward to this ride ("kind of" because I'm hoping it doesn't trigger my motion sickness ).

What a great time you're all having! The butterbeer tasting and spell casting is calling my name

Ugh, yeah...the math

I get motion sick on simulators and I didn't find the Kong ride too bad. That could be because I closed my eyes for so much of it though!

 

[gracer9977]

Yay for another update.

That is a gigantic donut.

I love that Spiderman meet and greet. So adorable how he was holding Greg's hand and asking about his poor little pinky finger (sounds like it was a terrible injury) I love Spiderman. Another reason I definitely have to get myself to US, all the Marvel characters.

My kids love that Jurassic Park water ride. They have watched it on You tube about a thousand times. We have never been to the park and yet I know that ride by heart. I wonder how they would like it in real life though.

Going to have to splurge and get wands and pets when we finally go cause both of those sound like awesome souvenirs.

 

[PrincessPaczki]

Hi! I am really enjoying your trip report. I can't wait to read more.

 

[frostymojo]

Great report so far.

 

[tinkerbell1991]

Absolutely loving your report. Can i ask, did you but the photo pass for universal or just take photos with your own camera?

 

[Britbrie]

Awesome job so far! I cannot wait to read more!!

 

[caitlinnf]

Hi everyone! I haven't been able to update for awhile...because I've been at Disney!!! The hubby and I went with some friends for a long weekend to go to MNSSHP and do the Keys to the Kingdom Tour. It was AWESOME. I won't be doing a trip report because I went against my normal habits and took very few pictures and zero notes. It was so nice and very needed to have some time away to play (without our kids too!) Here are just a few pictures from our trip. As you can see, we had some fun

I am working on an update now, so stay tuned!!​

Yay for another update.

That is a gigantic donut.

I love that Spiderman meet and greet. So adorable how he was holding Greg's hand and asking about his poor little pinky finger (sounds like it was a terrible injury) I love Spiderman. Another reason I definitely have to get myself to US, all the Marvel characters.

My kids love that Jurassic Park water ride. They have watched it on You tube about a thousand times. We have never been to the park and yet I know that ride by heart. I wonder how they would like it in real life though.

Going to have to splurge and get wands and pets when we finally go cause both of those sound like awesome souvenirs.

Yes, it IS a gigantic donut. I was surprised that it tasted fairly fresh the next day.
Meeting Spiderman was a definite highlight. He was just so sweet with Greg, and it was a wonderful interaction.
I don't regret getting the wands and pets now, because both girls decided to use them for Halloween! (Ginny and Hermione).
​

Hi! I am really enjoying your trip report. I can't wait to read more.

Hi! Thanks so much. It was a fun trip, so it is fun to write about.

Great report so far.

Thanks for reading along!

Absolutely loving your report. Can i ask, did you but the photo pass for universal or just take photos with your own camera?

Thank you! No we didn't do the photopass at Universal. We used our camera most of the time, and sometimes just phone cameras! We did use Memory Maker at Disney because it is included in our APs.

Awesome job so far! I cannot wait to read more!!

Thank you! I'm having a great time writing it. Working on the next update now!

 

[caitlinnf]

Day 3: Chapter 2- Last Minute Universal Fun

Once we were all freshened up and packed up, we went down to the lobby to check our bags at Bell Services. While down there, we had to wait for awhile because Ben had left his sunglasses in the bathroom downstairs earlier that morning, and the front desk had to track them down.

We enjoyed the opportunity to rest in the air conditioning!

About 10 minutes later, the sunglasses were found and we headed over to Universal Studios!

The kids had been requesting to do the Minion ride again, so this was the perfect opportunity for that. The girls thought it was cool that they were wearing new Minion shirts on the ride.

Look at those refreshed, happy faces!!

After our cute but nauseating ride, we were hungry but needed to eat quickly so we didn’t miss our next plans. The closest restaurant was Monsters Café, so we went there. This is your standard quick service place, with mediocre pizza, burgers, etc. I got chili cheese fries and they were decent. The kids split a (giant) slice of pizza and some french fries, and Ben got a burger. The restaurant itself is pretty cool though because it is filled with movie monster memorabilia (say that 5 times fast!) But here’s the funny part…Bethany, my fearless adrenaline junkie who will try anything? Yeah, she HATED it here. We were sitting in a room with alien models and she was so freaked out by it that she lost her appetite. Go figure. Kids are unpredictable sometimes! So we finished as fast as we could and hightailed it out of there.

The reason we were in such a hurry was that there was a show about to start that I was sure the kids would love: Animal Actors on Location!
This is one that we haven’t seen before, but our family has been to Sea World a lot and have enjoyed similar shows there. Well, I am SO glad we made the time for it because when it came time to select a kid for some audience participation….

Yep, Becca was ecstatic. She loves to be the center of attention, PLUS she got doggy kisses. I just wish we had been sitting closer, or that I had my better zoom lens on my camera!

While we were in the KidZone area, we had to introduce the kids to E.T. as well. They were a little nervous at the beginning, but by the end they were begging to ride it again. Afterwards, Bethany asked a million questions about the movie, so we looked online to see if it was available to stream on Netflix or Hulu. It wasn’t But lo and behold, guess what was released just a couple of weeks ago to Netflix?? Of course, our schedules have been so busy we haven’t been able to watch it yet, but a movie night is planned for the near future and I even have some Reese’s Pieces stocked away for it too!

Our time was quickly running out at this point, but we still had a couple of important to-dos left. So we booked it over to Diagon Alley and got in line for Gringott’s! Once again, I was grateful for the child swap system at Universal because Greg got to see the goblins in the queue!

No, not this goblin!

Or this one!

Hahaha, she found them!

We didn’t have time to do this ride twice, so I waited in the Child Swap room while Ben took the girls. As expected, Becca was nervous about this one. I told her that I would never make her do it again if she didn’t want, but that there was a lot of really cool Harry Potter stuff in the ride that I didn’t want her to miss out on. She understood and agreed to ride. When it was over, she said it was scary, but I could tell that she was actually fine with it and I am sure she will ride it next time too. With that, we were out of time in Diagon Alley, but we had to stop for an important picture!

At this point, our ride would be arriving very soon, but wait! We have only ridden the Hogwart’s Express one way! The kids haven’t seen King’s Cross station yet! They need to see platform 9 ¾!!! So we run over there and hop in line. We all enjoy the ride, of course.

(the minion candy fan that Greg is holding is his 2nd souvenir. He decided he wanted that instead of a Harry Potter pet. Thanks for saving us $30, kid!)


After our ride to Hogsmeade, we could not delay the inevitable any longer. It was time to leave Universal. So we made the walk out of the park and back to the hotel. Since we had taken the train over to Islands of Adventure, we added at least 15 minutes extra to our walk.

Not the best planning, but worth it. When we got there, our driver was waiting and we hopped in and settled in for the ride to Disney.

The busy day had caught up with the kids, so it was a quiet ride!

(I don't know why I took this picture)

We arrived at Art of Animation, checked in, picked up a package that we had ordered (thanks Amazon!), dumped our luggage in our room, and headed straight back out again to get to our rapidly approaching dinner reservation.

Any guesses where we were headed for the rest of the night?​

 

[BellaBaby]

So cool Becca got to be in the pet show!! About 10 yrs ago both my DDs got chosen to open the Lion King show at AK with the hand jive. So cute! Not sure if they even still do this as we haven't been back to the show since. Not that we didn't enjoy the show, but the kids just got more into riding rides I guess.

You had quite a busy last day at US! Looked like fun!

Good for you guys for taking an adults only trip! DH and I have done the same with some friends and it's a great little getaway!

Not sure where you were heading next...will be back to find out!!

 

[VACamm]

I just found your TR, and I am LOVING it! It looks like we had 2 overlapping days at WDW!

Your pics are terrific, and it looks like you guys had a total blast at Universal Studios! I cant wait to read more!

 

[ariane37]

Yay for adults only trips! Love them What did you think of the Key tour? DH and I did it on an adults only trip last year and we really enjoyed it. This past Aug. we did the Undiscovered Futureworld tour in Epcot and it was absolutely fantastic! Our kids are still too young for just about all the tours so that's one thing we try to do when we go without them.
I have to go back to your past update with the donut: we got one of those last year, I kept hearing about it and had to try it. Other than DH having a very tiny piece and one of my DS's having another tiny piece, I ate the whole thing myself

You guys had an awesome time at Universal! Looking forward to your Disney days, hope they were just as fun!

 

[caitlinnf]

So cool Becca got to be in the pet show!! About 10 yrs ago both my DDs got chosen to open the Lion King show at AK with the hand jive. So cute! Not sure if they even still do this as we haven't been back to the show since. Not that we didn't enjoy the show, but the kids just got more into riding rides I guess.

You had quite a busy last day at US! Looked like fun!

Good for you guys for taking an adults only trip! DH and I have done the same with some friends and it's a great little getaway!

Not sure where you were heading next...will be back to find out!!

Getting chosen to be in shows like that is a surefire way to make a vacation more fun! We love the lion king show and go almost every trip, and I don't remember a hand jive, so maybe they don't do it anymore.

I just found your TR, and I am LOVING it! It looks like we had 2 overlapping days at WDW!

Your pics are terrific, and it looks like you guys had a total blast at Universal Studios! I cant wait to read more!

Thank you! We really did have an awesome time. I was a little unsure how the kids would like Universal, but I am so glad we went!

Yay for adults only trips! Love them What did you think of the Key tour? DH and I did it on an adults only trip last year and we really enjoyed it. This past Aug. we did the Undiscovered Futureworld tour in Epcot and it was absolutely fantastic! Our kids are still too young for just about all the tours so that's one thing we try to do when we go without them.
I have to go back to your past update with the donut: we got one of those last year, I kept hearing about it and had to try it. Other than DH having a very tiny piece and one of my DS's having another tiny piece, I ate the whole thing myself

You guys had an awesome time at Universal! Looking forward to your Disney days, hope they were just as fun!

Yes, Disney as adults really is the best! We loved the Keys tour. I'm a huge fan of Disney history and love the hows and whys behind everything, so it was great. It made me want to do all of the other tours too, so it's nice to know that the Future World one is good too. I'm laughing that you finished the whole donut...but I shouldn't laugh too hard, because this weekend I ate TWO Be Our Guest cupcakes by myself!

 

[ALEXandFAB]

Love that Becca was chosen for the show!

 

[caitlinnf]

Love that Becca was chosen for the show!

It was so much fun!!

 

[gracer9977]

Looks like such an awesome last morning at Universal and sooooo very cool that Becca got picked to be part of the show. She looked like she was having such a great time.

Love the picture of them passed out in the car.

I am going to guess you are off to MK but no idea where you might be going to eat.

Can't wait for the next update.

 

[caitlinnf]

Looks like such an awesome last morning at Universal and sooooo very cool that Becca got picked to be part of the show. She looked like she was having such a great time.

Love the picture of them passed out in the car.

I am going to guess you are off to MK but no idea where you might be going to eat.

Can't wait for the next update.

MK...interesting guess! I will be posting another update tomorrow, so you'll find out soon enough!

 

[mya1k9]

Just found your trip report, loving it!!! I'm going to US/IOA in March and you've made me even more excited! Can't wait to read the rest of your report!!

 

[caitlinnf]

Just found your trip report, loving it!!! I'm going to US/IOA in March and you've made me even more excited! Can't wait to read the rest of your report!!

Welcome! I hope you love your US trip. It's really fun!

 

[caitlinnf]

Sorry for the delay. I had every intention on doing an update this weekend, but life seriously just got in the way. I always tell myself that things will settle down eventually, but our schedule just keeps on getting crazier! Anyway, here's the next installment, where we finish up day 3!

Day 3: Chapter 3-Hoopin’ It Up


When we last left off, we were dumping our luggage in our AoA suite and hurrying back out to the busses to get to our dinner ADR. Unfortunately it was a bit stressful, because we first had to grab a bus, which took a VERY long time for people to load and unload, and ride to Magic Kingdom. Once there, we booked it over to the boat docks where we waited.

And waited.

And admired the beautiful Grand Floridian while we waited some more.

And then we took a verrrrrrry slooooooooooow boat ride. But we finally made it to Fort Wilderness for our evening at…the Hoop de Doo Musical Revue!!!


I had read so many trip reports and reviews of this place and it has been on my radar for a long time. Who does love music, corny jokes, and too much food? This girl certainly does! The price tag for a family of five had always been a bit of a deterrent though. But at the same time, I knew it was something my kids would enjoy, so I didn’t want to save it for an adults-only trip either. First world problems, huh? I jumped at my chance to do it this trip because we were on the dining plan (which we normally don’t do), and since tax and gratuity are included, it didn’t *feel* expensive. LOL We were seated, but as soon as we got to our table I went back out to guest services in order to have the reservation put on our DDP, since I had booked it before adding the dining plan, and therefore had originally paid for it out of pocket. Let me tell you, that was a nice refund on the credit card statement!

This is also where I had a most unpleasant experience, because while I was at the counter, there was a lady behind me across the walkway, who was clearly fed up with her little boy. He was maybe three or four and was throwing a tantrum, so she apparently decided to take him behind the bushes to scream at him and smack him...loudly. Let’s just say it did nothing to calm him down, and it sounded like they were both having a miserable evening. Okay, enough of the logistical details and other un-pleasantries. I hurried back into the hall and joined my family.


Very quickly, the food starting coming out. And boy was there a lot of it! Cornbread, salad, ribs, chicken, corn, beans…and I think mac and cheese?

The kids thought it was hilarious when the server would plunk an entire bucket of food right onto their plate.

The food was good. It was not amazing. I wasn’t a fan of the ribs either. But it was plentiful and filling and I didn’t have to make 10 trips to a buffet to feed my family, so that was awesome.

I probably ate my weight in cornbread, because that was GOOD.

I think Greg only ate cornbread that night.

But I just didn’t care, as long as he was quiet and didn’t ask me for food later!


I took zero pictures of the show because I was too busy enjoying it and watching my kids have fun.

(terrible pictures!)
It was pretty adorable. I love puns and corny jokes, so this was right up my alley.

The kiddos LOVED the show and said it was over way too soon. The strawberry shortcake was super yummy too! We had category 2 seating, and were near the front but off to the right. I would not recommend this seating location to anyone, because it was right next to the kitchen doors, and right behind us is where the servers prepare for the next course. Since all of the dishes are tin/metal/something, it made for constant activity and loud clinking right behind us, which made it a bit harder to hear and to pay attention to the show. So I think if we go again while on the dining plan, we would go to the 8:30pm show in order to have Category 1 seats. Of course that’s late to bring kids to dinner, so who knows what the right answer is?
Speaking of servers, ours was awesome. He pretty much refilled our drinks as soon as we took a sip, and he paid special attention to the kids, and made Greg a napkin hat.

Overall, though, this was a great night. We had a fun meal, a great show, and it was a really nice way to transition from our time at Universal to the Disney portion of our vacation! We headed out and I believe we took a bus back to Magic Kingdom, another back to AoA, and then we CRASHED. It had been a long day and there was a lot more fun ahead!


Day 3 Step count: 27,933​