Celebrate Everyday! Sept 2009 *updated May 23* Day 5: MK Resort Hopping

[cherry-pops]

We've been home a week already and the time has flown by. I think it's about time to relive the magic through a trip report and share our adventures with all of you. I'll start with some of the vitals before moving onto the day-by-day account, with plenty of photos!

The Cast
Cheryl (Me): 24
James (Boyfriend): 24

Here's a picture of us, you'll see many, many more no doubt!

Travel & Accommodation
We flew with Thomson/First Choice on Tuesday September 15 from East Midlands airport to Sanford Orlando. Our accommotion was the Staybridge Suites on International Drive. I chose not to rent a car because James doesn't drive and I didn't fancy doing it to be honest - we used shuttles, taxis, buses and the I-Ride trolley to get around.
Here are some pictures of the Staybridge Suites - I think I'll write a full round-up or review of the accommodation at the end of the trip report.

The flight is always more traumatic than you can imagine. When you're outbound you have no measure of how long it really takes to get there, other than it's the equivilant to one full day at work! We managed it quite well with books, mp3s and movies.

We arrived at the Suites late on Tuesday evening. It was warm, sticky and raining. We bought snacks from the shop in the lobby and retired to our room. We tried to stay up as long as possible in order to go to bed at a reasonable American time, I think we managed 9 or 10pm. We stayed up watching ESPN and The Biggest Loser!

TRIP REPORT SUMMARY
Find all links to each day below
* Day One: Seaworld
* Day Two: Animal Kingdom
* Day Three: Disney's Hollywood Studios
* Day Four: Breakfast at The Beach Club
* Day Four: Downtown Disney & Disney Quest
* Day Five: Grand Floridian & Contemporary Resorts

Day Five: Disney's Hollywood Studios & Fantasmic
coming soon

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

Great start! Can't wait to read more Cheryl

 

[jamjar84]

The hotel looks really nice.

It's always hard to stay up on the first night, don't think we managed it last time, which set us in a pattern of getting up by 5am Florida time for about a week. lol!

Looking forward to hearing more.

 

[SusanEllen]

Good beginning of your trip report. Counting on the promise of the next segment "Coming Soon" to be the fact.

 

[cherry-pops]

Counting on the promise of the next segment "Coming Soon" to be the fact.

Definitely soon, tomorrow I hope - I've already written precise notes to help and pictures are already uploaded! I hope to get each day out pretty quickly, all in one thread.

 

[suzycute]

Great start to your trip report - look forward to reading more

 

[jockey]

Great start can't wait for more

 

[natalielongstaff]

Great start

 

[tinks_1989]

more please more!!!

 

[buzz for boys]

more please more !!!

 

[Cyrano]

Great start

 

[irongirlof12]

fab start

 

[craigs bride]

great start ! love the pics .

 

[mandymouse]

Great start and lovely pics too

 

[cherry-pops]

Day One
We were up really early, at around 4am, on our first day - naturally because we were adjusting to the time difference. It gave us some time to unpack and a hang a few things, put a few things away in draws and settle in a tiny bit. It was nice to have the time to shower and relax and not be rushing to get out the door. We were one of the first people down for breakfast, the other group having breakfast at the same time as us were the group on our flight who had checked in right in front of us.

The breakfast was surprisingly great, it looked small and like there wasn't mch choice but to be honest there is only so much a person can eat before 7am! I managed a selection of toast, Fruit Loops and Bacon+Eggs - the bacon was amazing! James had to try the waffle irons and make his very own waffle! It turned out great and it became a breakfast neccessity everyday!

After breakfast a quick visit back to our room we decided to walk down I-Drive to get acclimatised to the area - I had visited Florida five times previously but never stayed on I-Drive, we'd only ever driven up and down. We walked south, as we were headed to SeaWorld for the day anyway. On the walk I was shocked to see the closure of Race Rock - it was a bit like a cross between the Hard Rock Cafe and the Nascar Grille, on previous visits we'd gone there. It didn't take long to walk from stop 19 to stop 24 where we eventually decided to stop and wait for an I-Ride trolley. We'd bought our 14 day I-Ride trolley passes from our Thomson rep on the transfer coach from the airport the day before.

The ride to SeaWorld didn't take long, the trolley can get crowded but we found standing wasn't a problem although some handrails are a bit few and far between if you're too short to reach the overhead rails! We had a voucher for our SeaWorld tickets as we'd already paid for them before we left the UK. Our tickets were collected from the Will Call window, both our passports were used as identification with our names printed on the tickets - the tickets we had were valid for 14 days and included entrance to Aquatica. Because we were there before opening there was a little waiting to get through the turnstiles, but at 8:45 they started to let us through. We got to a rope just before the entrance to Manta - they had started the Manta coaster with a couple of staff members riding around on it to get the guests excited. At 9am the American national anthem was pumped through the park and the rope attendant put his hand to his chest as he faced the flag flying on top of Sky Tower and sang along. It was a wonderful moment and something that I never realised they did before opening - it turns out they do the same thing at Aquatica.

As the rope was dropped there was a surge of guests towards the Manta coaster, many were turned away from the entrance for carrying bags and wearing loose items - all items had to be kept in a locker while they were on the ride. James went to ride Manta while I stayed with all our belongings, I watched as each Manta went round the tracks - he was wearing his red shorts and white vest, so he was easy to spot on the way round.

James rode Manta once, he could've gone round again but didn't feel up to it! So, from there we headed towards the Stingray pool and the Dolphin feeding area - the dolphin feeding area has changed quite a bit since I was there last, now there is only a limited section where you can feed the dolphins, the rest of the area is for viewing only. Even though we weren't feeding them the dolphins still came really close to the side of the pool and James was able to touch one of the dolphins as it swam past.

From the dolphin pool were headed to the 10am showing of Blue Horizons at the Whale & Dolphin Theater. It was a great show, elements of it had me very emotional at times. I find everything about the shows very magical even when we're not a Disney there just seems to be the same quality in everything. For a whale and dolphin show I found the use of birds in there slightly confusing but it did feel amazing when they're soaring right over your head as part of the show.

After Blue Horizons we followed the masses to the 10:45 showing of Clyde and Seamore. I remember old Clyde and Seamore show, most notably Hotel Clyde and Seamore from the 90's. The show still has some of that slapstick style and adult jokes, mistakes by actors and guests who were extras. It's a really funny show, well worth seeing!

From there we took the time to take in the Shark encounter, my Mum was always too scared to go through this exhibit but I always find it fascinating! After the sharks we fancied something a bit more fluffy and headed for the Penguin encounter where we saw lots of penguins and, my favourites, puffins! The puffins were incredibly cute and I remember turning to James and asking if I could have a pet puffin! lol.

We grabbed lunch of burger and fries at the Spice Mill Cafe - the fries were amazing with the skins left on and some lovely chip-spice sprinkled on them. I did find the food to be quite cold, like it had been sitting for a while - I guess the hot lamps aren't that hot... After lunch we headed for the 12:15 showing of Al'ure. This was a stunning show of acrobatics with lots of colour and great music. Some of the stunts performed were brilliant and they got plenty of applause.

I had wanted to be brave and ride Atlantis, but chickened out and thought Splash Mountain at Disney was a safer bet! James didn't fancy Kraken either, moving in two directions at one time isn't his favourite thing. We also totally missed out Shamu's Happy Harbour as it's mainly for kids - although I cannot help wondering if we might have 'met' Shamu there? I remember a character meet with him a few years ago, does he still wander the parks, or is he confined to his pool nowadays?

We paid a few extra dollars in the park to ride the Sky Tower, the ride isn't very long but the views are wonderful. You can see across the whole park, across the road there was Aquatica and in the distance a few Disney icons, particuarly that of the new balloon at Downtown Disney.

Eventually we took the decision to not stay in the park all day and left about 2pm to head back to our Suite for a wash and quick change before getting the trolley back to SeaWorld in time for the 5pm showing of the Shamu show Believe. The show was amazing, really emotional and full of wonder! I'd forgotten how amazing these shows could be!

We exited the park over the big bridge across the lake with everyone else who was doing the same, that was quite nice and it turned out that we didn't have to wait very long for a trolley either. We got a seat, the trolley soon got very crowded.

We had dinner at Ponderosa which was next door to Staybridge Suites. I was really disappointed because I remembered having a good experience there in the past but found the food to be quite awful this time around. James didn't mind his, but I had a grilled chicken breast and found it a bit rubbery - it was a shame because it was right next to where we were staying and could've been quite convenient. We didn't eat there again.

At the very end of the day we relaxed by watching lots of ESPN and WESH2 News! It was a great first day, very relaxed and easy-going. There's no rush at Seaworld, you have plenty of opportunities to see shows and you're always guaranteed to get in. Every show we saw was full to capacity and that was great because it added to the atmosphere and the experience. I don't think SeaWorld has enough for annual repeat visits but it's nice to go after a 5-7 year gap.

Day Two: Animal Kingdom
coming soon!

 

[tinks_1989]

Yay I havent been to seaworld for quiet some time either it really looks like it has had lots of changes looking forward to the update

I want a pet penguin so i totally understand your want for a puffin

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

Yay a update, i love seaworld....i get emotional watching the shows aswell.

 

[raph_b]

Great first day

I love Sea World - and cant wait to try Manta next year

So did James let you get a pet puffin?!

 

[cherry-pops]

So did James let you get a pet puffin?!

We saw some little puffin figurines in some of the gift shops, I almost got one of those! lol. But no, so far I do not have a pet puffin! haha.

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

I like Sea World too - oddly I find it more relaxing