Day 16 - The really, really last day!

[Ang1e]

This Really is the Trip of a Lifetime Day 16

The Cast

Me – Ang 34
DH – Enz 43
DD – Gabriella 11
DS – Gianni 8

29 October 2004

The Really, Really Last Day

The alarm call rang at 7.15 – no Mickey to wake us this time – just a quiet line.

We eventually woke up properly and left the room at about 9am. We did the check-in at DTD outside Cirque du Soleil. It was very quick and efficiend – even more so because we had booked to fly back Premium Economy

We were quickly on our way to breakfast and decided to try the IHOP across the road from Crossroads. Oh boy did I enjoy my brekkie – I had pancakes with warm cinnamon apple! Gabs had a cheese omelette and pancakes. Gianni had his Silver Five again and Enz had the buffet. $30 plus tip. We had a lovely server, Daisy, who told Enz to share his buffet with us – he duly collected French toast for Gabs and sausages for Gianni.

We took a drive towards Int’l Drive because I thought maybe we could nip into one of the attractions we’d seen a few nights ago. As we were driving along Enz spotted the turning for Universal and suggested we go there!

We parked in ‘Cat in the Hat’, walked through City Walk and up to the ticket booth and $222 (gulp!) later, in we walked.

Ive never been to Universal and I have to say they have some fab rides. It maybe isn’t the right park for Gianni’s ages but the rest of us loved it.

We all loved Shrek 4D – it was just a shame that some of the queuing takes place outside, not very pleasant in the hot Florida sun.

Enz & I went on Twister whilst the kids waited outside for us. I found this quite an emotional show.

Revenge of the Mummy next – kids waited for us again. It’s close between this ride and T O T but I think this is my fave ride of the holiday. Gabs decided she wanted to do the ride so I went on with her. We did the Single Rider line – we practically walked on and she loved the ride too.

We watched the Blues Brothers – I actually think the sax player and the female singer were the real stars of the show.

We all did Earthquake next and thought it was pretty good.

For lunch Gabs had fish n chips. The rest of us had hot-dog and fries.

It was getting close to the time that we’d planned to leave for the airport – time for 2 more rides.

We all wanted to do Men in Black and as there was a 15 minute stand-by time we encouraged (read forced ) Gianni to the Single Ride line. Gabs and I ended up sitting in the same vehicle but Gianni & Enz were in separate ones. Another fantastic ride. I had the highest score in our vehicle – 140,500 (maybe that’s why I liked it so much)

The children and I did Back to the Future – another thumbs up.

We left Universal and we’ll definitely make sure we do this and Islands of Adventure next time (what next time??).

The only negative thing is the having to pay extra to use the Express Pass – to be honest I didn’t even bother finding out how much it was because I’m so used to Disney’s Fast Pass being included that I refused to pay extra here. Did we do the right thing? Who knows? We still had a great day.

We hit the road for the airport. Somehow we managed to return the car to the Dollar Depot. The signposting was awful – one minute it was mentioned the……nothing! Returning the car was pretty pain free – the barcode on the windscreen is scanned, you’re given a receipt and off you go to Terminal B.

A quick freshen up and change of clothes in the loos – we couldn’t very well land in cold Gatwick in shorts and t’s – and off we went in search of food – again! Kids had McD’s, I had a s’wich and Enz had a stir fry.

I bumped into Sam in a shop whilst I was buying sweets and my beloved Peanut Butter Cups, and managed to have a quick chat with her before we boarded the plane. Sounds like she and her family had a great holiday.

The food on the return journey was OK – Enz, Gabs & I had pasta. The kids didn’t like the looks of their’s so am glad I fed them before boarding.

The kids slept peacefully all the way back once the Garfield movie had finished. Enz & I dozed on and off. The kids slept through brekkie, Enz & I had fruit salad.

We managed to get the seats I’d pre-booked in both directions – maybe because we’d ordered special meals? Gianni had a kids meal, Gabs a vege meal and Enz & I had the low-fat meal. I just got carried away on Virgin’s Manage your Flight site and thought we’d both have something different!

We landed at 9.15 – it didn’t seem to last 7½ hours, the benefit of getting a bit of sleep?

The Virgin staff were great on both journeys and very attentive to the kids and chatty to them. I don’t think we’ll pay the extra for PE again though. We booked it because it was the last time we’d get both the kids in there with the kids price – and we wanted to try it just once. Our last 2 return journeys were a nightmare because the kids either slept on our legs or took up 2 seats each to sleep in so we stood at the back of the plane for the majority of the flight. And let’s face it – it’s better than Economy but not perfect – it ISN’T a bed!

Out of the airport by 10.15 and a short drive to the Premier Lodge to collect the car which Enz drove home whilst the kids and I slept all the way back

Well, that’s it. Holiday over But you have to come home to be able to go back again

Thanks for putting up with my ramblings – if you’ve managed to last this long

 

[wilma-bride]

Great report - looking forward to the next one (what next one )

 

[KayleeUK]

Great reports Thanks for sharing.

 

[natalielongstaff]

that was a fantastic report, very entertaining and informative

thank you for posting it

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your reports ~ Thanx for posting.

 

[MazdaUK]

Great reports! Interesting to hear your views of PE - I didn't feel we'd need it on the way out but would have been nice on the way back to have a little more room.

You only pay extra for the extra express at US/IOA - the ordinary express works similar to FP (but breaks down more often and can be tricky to scan tickets ) but it you pay extra you get the "front of line" privilege you get if you stay at a universal resort (although you can only use it once for each line) - basically no queue at all, you get straight on! How flash is that? And no, we didn't pay for it either

 

[Verity Chambers]

Sounds like you had a Fnatastic holiday

Glad you enjoyed universal.

 

[Ang1e]

Great reports! Interesting to hear your views of PE - I didn't feel we'd need it on the way out but would have been nice on the way back to have a little more room.

You only pay extra for the extra express at US/IOA - the ordinary express works similar to FP (but breaks down more often and can be tricky to scan tickets ) but it you pay extra you get the "front of line" privilege you get if you stay at a universal resort (although you can only use it once for each line) - basically no queue at all, you get straight on! How flash is that? And no, we didn't pay for it either

Looking forward to Front of Line next year when we're at the Royal Pacific Resort

 

[ely3857]

Hiya

Sounds like you had a good trip.

As said already, You dont have to pay for UE. The UE Pass Plus you do pay for, It is a ticket that entitles you to UE access to all rides with a UE system. You are allowed to go once on each ride (more if the cm doesnt mark you ticket the first time round) any time you choose (so are not subject to a UE return time) commencing 1 hour after the park opens.

I did buy a UE pass plus for my first day on holiday for IOA - I didnt need it for all the rides I went on as we got there early but I was glad I had it, Saves starting your holiday queueing behind USF resort guests with there FOTL room key access!

The £ of the UE Pass Plus was dependent on when peak/off peak season.



Jodie

 

[wicket2005]

Lovely report though I was extremely surprised you hadn't visited Universal or IoA before your last day. Universal is our favourite park now.

A tip if any one finds their Fast Pass machine doesn't work properly report it to the CM. It happened to us at Test Track the CM gave us a Fast Pass with a return time of any time between the current day and the day after. At IoA the tickets didn't print out and the CM just told us to go straight in the Express line.

 

[fizz13]

well I just read all 16 parts in 1 sitting and they have kept me glued from start to end. I have a new list of restaurants to try and breaking up a trip with a few days at the beach sounds great. I did pay for a day's UE pass and felt it wasn't worth the money as everything seemed to be a walkon, or it wasn't checked or in the case of Duelling Dragons, just led me into the main line scrum anyway!

Thanks for posting and maybe I will see you next October in the "world",

Claire xx