ELFINJOJO'S DREAM adventure across the pond. Completed 4/20/2011

[Elfinjojo]

Well as promised here is the very first installment of my very first TR!

(There will be photos, but I will add them later!)

Happy reading folks!

 

[Elfinjojo]

Yawn - is that the alarm? it's far too early to get up on the weekend. But WAIT.......isn't something happening today? OH YES! We are off on our holibobs across the pond to DREAM!!!!

Ok so its 5am GMT, time to make the journey to the airport for our trip across the pond. But first we have to wake the kids - not a problem today, as they are really excited - any other day, forget it!!

Rob (DH) decides that first we have to drive out in the opposite direction of the airport to a local town where he has his race truck parked, as he NEEDS his other SAT NAV hence the early start. Ok so we are off, and as we approach the area where the truck is parked Rob realises that he has left the truck keys back home, but there is no way I am prepared for the 40 min journey back home to get keys and back to truck so I insist that we will just hire a sat nav for the 3 days that we have a hire carand can we PLEASE get to the airport!!

So 2 hours later we get to Gatwick and with a short check in queue and security flowing really well we are thru to airside in no time and ready for a hearty breakfast. Breakfast was is at a place called Armadillo's(mexican fare during the day) and we start as we mean to go on, with piles of pancakes(Maccy D's was the origonal choice for breakfast but these pancakes looked so good)

Tummy's full its time to browse the shops before the wait to board. Holly and Evan get a book each, Rob bought a new SAT NAV(go figures) and I get strepsils for my sore throat which was still bothering me, but not enough to spoil the trip. Then we sit and wait for the call to board.



11.30 am GMT and our flight is ready to go -Yippeeeee!! Rob and Evan are sitting behind Holly and I, so we settle down to watch our choices of films and to while away the 9 hour flight!!! Just out of interest the films I watch are: AVATAR - yes I know I was watching this the night before, for those of you following my pre-trip report, but thought it such a great film, I had to watch again. I also watch Lilo and Stitch - naturally, and Eclipse. Rest of the flight was uneventful.

Arrived at Orlando airport to glorious sunshine just after 4pm local and again got thru security real quick. We checked out the hire car and got our first glimpse of the DCL buses

We are staying for the next few days at the Lake Buena Vista hotel and Spa right opposite Downtown Disney. Its a beautiful hotel and we are in a fab room on the 12th floor with great views. We drop the bags and head right back out again to Walmarts for essential shopping (toiletries and snacks LOL)a trip that Holly always hates but we make her do , then we stop off on route back to hotel to get a Macdonalds for tea - now it is almost the middle of the night for us now and after a very long day of travelling it is time for bed, for tomorrow we have a date with Hogwarts.

Bed I am ready for you

Coming next - a surprise at breakfast and a Magical visit

 

[Mom2CJ&Kitty]

Love this and can't wait to hear more. I especially want to hear about Hogwarts!

 

[jessrose18]

 

[Elfinjojo]

After a comfortable night (with one disturbance as DD was we think due to tiredness, excitement and not eating properly) we awoke on the first proper morning of our holibobs to this view

Simply stunning and a good sign that the day was going to turn out lovely - much better than what we left behind in the UK.

We headed downstairs to the resturant for breakfast. It was a buffet which was absolutely delicious, and this is where the first treat of the day was bestowed upon us. Character greetings!!!:woohoo:

First to appear was Goofy

Then Minnie

Rob just had to have his regular smooch with Minnie

These were the only characters that would be appearing but thats fine - we know a place where we can see lots of characters

Our plans for today were Universal studios and the Island of adventures - ok I know, not Disney, but we had to feed out other passion in life and that is Harry Potter and roller coasters!!!

Hogwarts here we come ....next post

 

[Jennifer48]

I'm in!

Can't wait to hear all about it!
I hope your DD wasn't sick too long!

 

[MomsOf2boys]

Hooray I found you! I'm ready!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Great start! Looking forward to hearing all about your trip!

 

[cruising dis]

That is so cute - you stopped at McDonalds for tea

 

[podsnel]

Can't wait to read all about this!! So excited!!!! Did you love it???

 

[Cheryl N. WI]

Yeah, another Dream report. Can't wait to read all about it!

 

[jenseib]

This sounds like a wonderful family adventure.
I didn't realize that hotel had character breakfasts. Do you need to make a reservation or is it just for hotel guests. I love that you are doing a different style of touring and not staying on property. This wil lbe our first trip in years that we will be trying off property sites too (one being the Dream as well)

 

[Elfinjojo]

I'm in!

Can't wait to hear all about it!
I hope your DD wasn't sick too long!

Holly was only sick the once, thank goodness

Can't wait to read all about this!! So excited!!!! Did you love it???

Loved the WHOLE trip

This sounds like a wonderful family adventure.
I didn't realize that hotel had character breakfasts. Do you need to make a reservation or is it just for hotel guests. I love that you are doing a different style of touring and not staying on property. This wil lbe our first trip in years that we will be trying off property sites too (one being the Dream as well)

Apparently the characters breakfast is only on a sunday morning and its only the three characters. I don't think you have to book it in advance.
The very first stay in Orlando we did the Animal Kingdom Lodge for two weeks - that was fab but as we had planned not to do Disney parks this time round we just went for a central hotel that wasn't too far from most things)

A Womans work is never done

 

[Elfinjojo]

So with breakfast finished, we headed out for Universal studios. We had one mission for today and that was to see Hogwarts and Hogsmede. Both Holly and Evan are huge Potter fans(as am I)so this was a must do!

Now Holly hates walking - anywhere!! but this morning could we stop her? NO! She frog marched us from the carpark to the entrance and waited impatiently for Rob to purchase the passes - there were no queues so looked like it was going to be a nice quiet day Passes bought we headed in to the park and practiaclly had to run to keep up with Holly who with map in hand was navigating her way to The world of harry Potter!
The Entrance to Hogsmede

So this was where everyone in the park was hiding. Hogsmede was very busy - still early days for the attraction I guess, so people eager to see what its like. Well all I can say is WOW. The attention to detail was incredible. The main area itself looks just like the village from the films, but also as I imagined it from the descriptions in the books.

There were several shops, most of them false fronted from Dress Robe shops, and Herbology shops - complete with screaming Mandrakes in the windows and Mimbulous Mimbletonia too, to Dervish and Bangs(all false fronted) The shops you could enter were Zonko's joke shop, Olivanders Wand shop and Honeydukes - more about those later.
Holly was absolutely enthralled with the place. We stopped to watch the Hogwarts students choir sing complete with giant frogs, and for Holly to have her picture taken with Beaubaton and Durmstrang students.

We then walked towards the far end of the attraction to find Hogwarts castle looming over us in all its splender

The main ride "The forbidden journey" rides thru Hogwarts itself and is the only way you get to see inside. Evan was just a little too short(matter of 1/2 inch) to go on the ride - this does not bode well for the Aquaduck as they have the same height restriction and Holly absolutely hates rides of anykind so refused point blank to go on even though it would be her only chance to actually be inside Hogwarts. Rob got quite grumpy with her and when I suggested he go ride it alone while I sit with the kids, and then swap he too refused - So NO ONE went on the ride(gutted). We did however manage to persude Holly to go on the "Flight of the Hippogriff" ride - a bit like a runaway train sort of ride - that was almost too much for her, but we did get to "fly" past Hagrids cottage so that pleased her.

Next we got to buy the wands. A friend of ours had visited in the summer last year and her daughter really wanted a Hermione Granger wand but they had sold out, so I promised I would do my best to get her one this time round. We were sucessful and Holly chose a Ginny Weasley wand and Evan chose Dumbledores.

Butterbeer

Now this was a must try. They have two versions - fizzy(the darker one) and frozen. Both are yummy but we all decided that we prefered the frozen one the best.
Holly really enjoyed this drink



So we had had the drink, now we needed the sweets - off to HoneyDukes. Wow I have never seen a shop so full of sweets - and people. In fact all the shops were extremely busy, and had we not promised some Bertie Botts beans to the memebrs of the Harry Potter book group that we attend back home, we probably wouldn't have bothered. We bought Bertie Botts beans, chocolate frogs and some pumpkin juice(still to be tried fortunately has a long shelf life)
One of the displays in the shop

While I was making my purchases in the sweet shop, Rob and the children headed into Zonko's where they both chose a "Pigmy puff" (pink fluffy ball type creature soft toy). We then headed across to another stall outside of a store and they both chose a "Hedwig" owl puppet - beautiful, and we got some postcards stamped with the Hogsmede post mark.

So with Hogwarts and Hogsmede experienced and marked as a hit we decided it was time to see the rest of the park.

Coming up next......theres more to Universal than Hogwarts!!!

 

[MomsOf2boys]

We also thought it was beautifully done~! The frozen was also our vote for best, although at this time, I would gladly take either one.

Did you happen to stroll into the restrooms in that section?

 

[talie]

Loving the trip report. I'm really intrigued by the Harry Potter park. My kids would love that!

 

[jenseib]

I LOVE HP. I wish we were going this trip...but we decided we would wait til lnext trip to Orlando, so I stuck to it. We figured the 1st year would be incredibley busy and we should wait a year at least. I kind of regret our decision, but we are going to give Sea World a try this upcoming trip, so at least we are trying something different.

 

[Elfinjojo]

We also thought it was beautifully done~! The frozen was also our vote for best, although at this time, I would gladly take either one.

Did you happen to stroll into the restrooms in that section?

No! what did I miss?

I LOVE HP. I wish we were going this trip...but we decided we would wait til lnext trip to Orlando, so I stuck to it. We figured the 1st year would be incredibley busy and we should wait a year at least. I kind of regret our decision, but we are going to give Sea World a try this upcoming trip, so at least we are trying something different.

I think that whenever you go the attraction will still wow. I will have to wait until Easter 2012 now until we get the chance to go again(before we go on the Fantasy MV!). We love Seaworld for the show, and Rob loves the coasters. I went on Manta Ray this time round but wasn't as thrilled by it as by another similar ride called Air back home at a theme park.

 

[Elfinjojo]

Once we had finished with Harry Potter, Seuss Landings was calling us! And who should we meet upon entering this sugar coated land? Why the Cat in the hat of course accompanied by The Grinch!!

This area of the park was really quiet and we were able to ride the Cat in the Hat ride several times in sucession - now no big wow ride BUT One that Holly loves so who are we to dissapoint?
Next it was time for Mummy and Daddy to have some fun on the rides - Hulk Rollercoaster is excellent and the spiderman experience really is an experience. We had to child swap on these rides as Holly wouldn't go on the Spiderman ride, and Evan didn't like it the first time round. We then decided to have alook in the other park but before we left we had a bit of fun trying on hats.
King for a day

Who lives in a Pineapple under the sea?


Again this park was quiet, so we took a leisurely stroll round and stopped for ice-cream

Before heading off for a bite of another kind

Unfortunatley the Jaws ride was closed for maintenence which is a shame as Holly Really loves this ride - somehow she always manages to sit the side that Jaws comes at the boat at, so we head over to Blast some aliens in the Men in Black ride and ride the Simpsons coasterWe finish the day in the park off with a ride on the ET ride and watching Scooby Doo and Shaggy shake their booties!

But no visit to Universal is complete without a stop off at our favourite resturant for dinner. Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.
Here is our starter that we shared

Our main (Rob and I had one each)

and pudding that Rob shared with the children

the end of another busy day we head back to the hotel, tired and happy.

Tomorrow - Sea World.

 

[SoonerGirl]

Oh my gosh, I love Bubba Gump Shrimp Co! We're planning on eating there the night before our cruise Do you know if they accept reservations at that location?