Skywalker3
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2018
- Messages
- 2,519
Been back a little over a week now...finally finished unpacking yesterday.....we drive and take WAY too much stuff on our trips.
I do plan to add pictures when I can. I"m typing this up on the desktop PC, but pictures all on phone, and using that tiny screen is rough on me anymore. My 50s are fabulous in many ways, but each day seems to bring a new ache/pain or some new fun that comes with aging.
Will start with the drive down. We live in middle TN, about 10-12 hours, depending on traffic, pit stops, etc. We opt for the I75 route through GA, DH likes that one because the interstate is 3 lanes on each side. (but Atlanta traffic!) I kinda like the route through Alabama, but it's only 2 lanes on each side, and then you do get off of the interstate sooner, and have back roads, but my family is from that area, so I'm familiar with it and no going through Atlanta.
Sat Oct 5:
DH had decided we were going to drive it in one day...we all woke up about 4:30 in the AM, he'd told kids we were leaving at 5 AM, they actually got up. Usually when we give ourselves a time to leave, it's about an hour after that for actual time, and that day was 6:40, so we were quite a bit off our mark.
Our stops are generally planned around the 2 Buc-cees in Georgia, with a few rest areas thrown in. There is a really pretty rest area in TN, right past Sewanee, near the Nickajack Lake. Nothing special about the facilities, but the view of the lake is pretty.
Lots of traffic north of Marietta, and south of Atlanta. Lots of trees down, you could see the Hurricane Helene damage all around Valdosta. No traffic in Gainesville despite a home Florida game. We are DVC, and already had a week booked at Boardwalk Villas. DH was not coming with us on our Universal part of the trip, so we didn't alter the BWV reservation, just kept it for the whole week.
Room ready text from Boardwalk around 2:30. Actually got a standard view 1 bedroom fairly close to elevators, yay. Our last few room requests have been the complete opposite of what we request. Got there about 7:30ish DH hurried off the Epcot, kids and I waited for bell services. We needed 2 carts! I think we had 20 items, way more than ever. We brought a LOT of stuff.
All day, I"d been following the weather.....I'll back up. Friday, I followed the weather all day, and saw that Sunday night, our HHN night, would be rainy, so I contemplated moving HHN to Thursday, but since I was within the 5 day cancellation for the Universal hotel room, I didn't really want to call and fool with it. I also still had a room booked for Thursday, just in case. I'm glad I trusted my gut. I"m so, so glad I didn't call and shift dates (since event got cancelled.)
Saturday, when we left, there was an unnamed disturbance in the gulf, just an invest, but they were predicting it might strengthen....by the time we got to Orlando that night, it was named Milton, and predictions began on it hitting Fl later in the week.....
Played a new car/board game on the way day, "I Should've Known That." Basically a trivia card game, each card wtih 4 questions, and points subtracted when you don't know something. It was fun (maybe because I won, haha. ) Sometimes our car games get a bit too competitive, but no tears/arguments this time....
Sunday, Oct 6: DH up early to get GotG BG, Kids and I up fairly early to head to Universal to check in. Easy drive there, but was raining Sunday morning already. Checked into Royal Pacific. I'd done online checkin, Room not ready, but got room keys. Went to ticket desk and got DS"s new AP, they said they couldn't print our HHN tickets, and to use our paper printout or phones.....ok, but I had already planned to ask guest services in the park to try again.
Off to IoA: first up, Velocicoaster. I think the most fun roller coaster I"ve ever been on, best in Orlando. My overstuffed backpack almost didn't fit in locker, had to adjust. Kids waited for front row. I just stayed in regular line, and I got back row. Met a nice young man who was riding first time, had a blast. He'd just arrived, not sure from where. I heard so many interesting and various accents this trip. would've loved to ask where everyone was from.
Off to JP River Adv, one of my nostalgic all time favorites. Then DD got butterbeer, NO line at the cart. Not one person, which I've never seen....I stopped at a guest services equivalent to WDW blue umbrella, and got our HHN tickets and express printed out to have hard copy in lanyard. I do want to send a cast compliment for several TMs, and this guy was one of them. He was nice. I did ask about unlimited HHN express, but he didn't have that. I stopped to try the Isla Nublar beer. Delicious! light, fruity, IPA, and I think a little better than the Hogshead brew.
DS went off to ride VC again, I had his rain jacket, so of course it started raining harder while he was gone. He got pelted. DD and I got in Three Broomsticks line, sloooowly moved inside, DS met us. I had fish/chips. It was good enough. I usually find fish/chips breading a bit too much/heavy, so did pick some off, but the fish was yummy. Typical so-so theme park quick service, but the atmosphere is so fun. I hadn't eaten in there since 2011. . Rode FJ, well kids rode, I just walked the queue, which is great, but that ride is beyond nauseating. Looked at wands. I've always either wanted McGonagall's or Dumbledore's, but I still haven't gotten one. I have my birthday one from years back, but it's not interactive. I think I"ll wait and see what they offer for Epic. I also like the look of Narcissa's, but don't like her as a character. I like Luna, but not her wand. I may just treat myself to one for Christmas.
Rode Storm Force Acceleration, which I"ve never done. I wanted to scratch it off my list. It's just like Mad Tea Cups, but I don't like spinning rides at all. I rode separately from the kids, who were spinning theirs like crazy. It's not bad if you just sit and dont' touch that spinner in the middle.
When I checked in, I got that initial text greeting. I'd been texting (per DD persisting ) asking if room was ready, and finally got a room ready text. Back to Royal Pacific to exchange our temp room keys (that we were just using as express,) to actual room keys. Room was very convenient to front of hotel, Tower 2, 1 floor down. Got stuff from car, and I watched the kids who thought they knew where they were going, hurry off in the wrong direction past the check in desk......my DD has no sense of direction, and DS KNOWs not to follow her, but he did....they finally figured it out, and found me waiting and we unpacked and freshened up a little before HHN. Room was very nice as usual. Had standard view, some greenery, but did see someone walking a dog, a little past the shrubs.
Forecast was for rain....most if not all of night, so plan was to go to S/S, but not super early, but if it wasn't raining, to do scare zones asap.
Got to the stay/scream holding areas for New York, maybe around 4:40ish. It was one area, then you'd decide which house to do first: Insidious or Ghostbusters. Either would be great. We chose Insidious, had heard it was the scariest house, etc, etc. plan was do try standby then repeat w express....but at 5:15 when we got to the scan point, express was already open, DS had ZERO tolerance for lines, so did express.
We were done with 3 houses (Insidious-meh, I know we got bad walk through, DD had to point out the main scare, and several spots were empty that probably should've had scare actors. Wish we'd repeated it later, but disappointing) , Ghostbusters (did not expect to love this as much as I did, but I did. Movie details were fabulous. I liked the movie, Frozen Empire, a lot more than the first one,) , and Quiet Place (another very disappointing one, nothing special) by 6:10,. Express was flying. Headed into the Torture Faire scare zone. Thank goodness some actors were out, and DD is so petite and cute, they were all about scaring her. DS too got some interaction. I was trying to film/take pictures. A few props didn't have actors yet. It was very early/just opening. The Plague doctor was the best! got great shots of them with kids and just being creepy. Blum house, had good interaction. We should've slowed down, or repeated. Megan wasn't out yet, but several were. Did Major Sweets. I loved it. I did push 2 buttons, and the first big scare actor in there was great.
Made way to Diagon Alley, and caught the Deatheaters just coming out. That was awesome. got Florian's ice cream (sticky toffee pudding and clotted cream, skipped butterbeer this time ) w NO Line, like walked to the register. (usually line is out the door, around the building,) at this point, it started raining steadily and never stopped. Not a heavy rain, but constant, steady drizzle....no more scare zones.....scare actors are not out when it's raining. Rode Gringotts, used express, but no wait, great pictures.
Slogged to back of park to do those houses. Had been warned about puddles back there, and they were there. I had on crocs , so no issue for me, but kids' shoes soaked. The Monsters and Goblin's Feast both said 5 min standby. We'd been doing Express, but thought we'd try a standby since short....it was not short. It was a good 25 mins at Monsters standing in the steady rain. No more of that. DS was not pleased. He didn't even want to repeat it with express. He went off to MiB,. We met there and rode. Then Slaughter Sinema. it was fine, but campy, which was the intent. DD and I very much liked the Monsters. Kids liked Goblin's Fest. I thought it was fine, but didn't love the costumes. We all enjoyed the Museum house. I don't think it's gotten great reviews, but I had a lot of scares in it. It was a good one for us.
Got pizza fries after a long wait. Just sat on the ground next to where we got them, to get out of the rain. I did not get my usual blinky cup and did not try and specialty drinks. It was just too hard to fool with that in the rain. Oh well.
Did Monstruous, which I really enjoyed. I still need to look up some of those monsters. I think it was the goriest house, and those curtain strips you have to pull back between rooms, one had 'blood' all over it, and it was wet, yuck! Finished with Triplets of Terror. We'd been warned about a certain scene. It was good enough, gory.
We had passed through the other 2 scare zones, which were empty, but the fog effects were at least on, got a few creepy pictures of the kids. Bummer not to be able to experience them though.
Back to room early, about 11:00. Walk back was kinda creepy, lonely dark path, in the rain. The kids had gone on ahead, so was just me.
DS done, DD talked of going back. She's 20, but I was kinda worried still. But then, I started having crazy body shakes, and chills. DD said it was dehydration, overexertion. I'd done over 35,000 steps! and hadn't brought water, because I thought I'd be getting other drinks.....lesson learned, stay hydrated. It was actually kind of freaky. I"ve never had any type of reaction like that. But once I rested, drank fluids, warmed up, I was ok. It was still raining steadily, and we were hurting, so didn't go back out. The only thing I wanted to do was repeat a few houses, esp Insidious, because I think we got a bad walk through. We had an awesome night though, despite the rain.
Hope to add some pictures, and more of the week!
I do plan to add pictures when I can. I"m typing this up on the desktop PC, but pictures all on phone, and using that tiny screen is rough on me anymore. My 50s are fabulous in many ways, but each day seems to bring a new ache/pain or some new fun that comes with aging.
Will start with the drive down. We live in middle TN, about 10-12 hours, depending on traffic, pit stops, etc. We opt for the I75 route through GA, DH likes that one because the interstate is 3 lanes on each side. (but Atlanta traffic!) I kinda like the route through Alabama, but it's only 2 lanes on each side, and then you do get off of the interstate sooner, and have back roads, but my family is from that area, so I'm familiar with it and no going through Atlanta.
Sat Oct 5:
DH had decided we were going to drive it in one day...we all woke up about 4:30 in the AM, he'd told kids we were leaving at 5 AM, they actually got up. Usually when we give ourselves a time to leave, it's about an hour after that for actual time, and that day was 6:40, so we were quite a bit off our mark.
Our stops are generally planned around the 2 Buc-cees in Georgia, with a few rest areas thrown in. There is a really pretty rest area in TN, right past Sewanee, near the Nickajack Lake. Nothing special about the facilities, but the view of the lake is pretty.
Lots of traffic north of Marietta, and south of Atlanta. Lots of trees down, you could see the Hurricane Helene damage all around Valdosta. No traffic in Gainesville despite a home Florida game. We are DVC, and already had a week booked at Boardwalk Villas. DH was not coming with us on our Universal part of the trip, so we didn't alter the BWV reservation, just kept it for the whole week.
Room ready text from Boardwalk around 2:30. Actually got a standard view 1 bedroom fairly close to elevators, yay. Our last few room requests have been the complete opposite of what we request. Got there about 7:30ish DH hurried off the Epcot, kids and I waited for bell services. We needed 2 carts! I think we had 20 items, way more than ever. We brought a LOT of stuff.
All day, I"d been following the weather.....I'll back up. Friday, I followed the weather all day, and saw that Sunday night, our HHN night, would be rainy, so I contemplated moving HHN to Thursday, but since I was within the 5 day cancellation for the Universal hotel room, I didn't really want to call and fool with it. I also still had a room booked for Thursday, just in case. I'm glad I trusted my gut. I"m so, so glad I didn't call and shift dates (since event got cancelled.)
Saturday, when we left, there was an unnamed disturbance in the gulf, just an invest, but they were predicting it might strengthen....by the time we got to Orlando that night, it was named Milton, and predictions began on it hitting Fl later in the week.....
Played a new car/board game on the way day, "I Should've Known That." Basically a trivia card game, each card wtih 4 questions, and points subtracted when you don't know something. It was fun (maybe because I won, haha. ) Sometimes our car games get a bit too competitive, but no tears/arguments this time....
Sunday, Oct 6: DH up early to get GotG BG, Kids and I up fairly early to head to Universal to check in. Easy drive there, but was raining Sunday morning already. Checked into Royal Pacific. I'd done online checkin, Room not ready, but got room keys. Went to ticket desk and got DS"s new AP, they said they couldn't print our HHN tickets, and to use our paper printout or phones.....ok, but I had already planned to ask guest services in the park to try again.
Off to IoA: first up, Velocicoaster. I think the most fun roller coaster I"ve ever been on, best in Orlando. My overstuffed backpack almost didn't fit in locker, had to adjust. Kids waited for front row. I just stayed in regular line, and I got back row. Met a nice young man who was riding first time, had a blast. He'd just arrived, not sure from where. I heard so many interesting and various accents this trip. would've loved to ask where everyone was from.
Off to JP River Adv, one of my nostalgic all time favorites. Then DD got butterbeer, NO line at the cart. Not one person, which I've never seen....I stopped at a guest services equivalent to WDW blue umbrella, and got our HHN tickets and express printed out to have hard copy in lanyard. I do want to send a cast compliment for several TMs, and this guy was one of them. He was nice. I did ask about unlimited HHN express, but he didn't have that. I stopped to try the Isla Nublar beer. Delicious! light, fruity, IPA, and I think a little better than the Hogshead brew.
DS went off to ride VC again, I had his rain jacket, so of course it started raining harder while he was gone. He got pelted. DD and I got in Three Broomsticks line, sloooowly moved inside, DS met us. I had fish/chips. It was good enough. I usually find fish/chips breading a bit too much/heavy, so did pick some off, but the fish was yummy. Typical so-so theme park quick service, but the atmosphere is so fun. I hadn't eaten in there since 2011. . Rode FJ, well kids rode, I just walked the queue, which is great, but that ride is beyond nauseating. Looked at wands. I've always either wanted McGonagall's or Dumbledore's, but I still haven't gotten one. I have my birthday one from years back, but it's not interactive. I think I"ll wait and see what they offer for Epic. I also like the look of Narcissa's, but don't like her as a character. I like Luna, but not her wand. I may just treat myself to one for Christmas.
Rode Storm Force Acceleration, which I"ve never done. I wanted to scratch it off my list. It's just like Mad Tea Cups, but I don't like spinning rides at all. I rode separately from the kids, who were spinning theirs like crazy. It's not bad if you just sit and dont' touch that spinner in the middle.
When I checked in, I got that initial text greeting. I'd been texting (per DD persisting ) asking if room was ready, and finally got a room ready text. Back to Royal Pacific to exchange our temp room keys (that we were just using as express,) to actual room keys. Room was very convenient to front of hotel, Tower 2, 1 floor down. Got stuff from car, and I watched the kids who thought they knew where they were going, hurry off in the wrong direction past the check in desk......my DD has no sense of direction, and DS KNOWs not to follow her, but he did....they finally figured it out, and found me waiting and we unpacked and freshened up a little before HHN. Room was very nice as usual. Had standard view, some greenery, but did see someone walking a dog, a little past the shrubs.
Forecast was for rain....most if not all of night, so plan was to go to S/S, but not super early, but if it wasn't raining, to do scare zones asap.
Got to the stay/scream holding areas for New York, maybe around 4:40ish. It was one area, then you'd decide which house to do first: Insidious or Ghostbusters. Either would be great. We chose Insidious, had heard it was the scariest house, etc, etc. plan was do try standby then repeat w express....but at 5:15 when we got to the scan point, express was already open, DS had ZERO tolerance for lines, so did express.
We were done with 3 houses (Insidious-meh, I know we got bad walk through, DD had to point out the main scare, and several spots were empty that probably should've had scare actors. Wish we'd repeated it later, but disappointing) , Ghostbusters (did not expect to love this as much as I did, but I did. Movie details were fabulous. I liked the movie, Frozen Empire, a lot more than the first one,) , and Quiet Place (another very disappointing one, nothing special) by 6:10,. Express was flying. Headed into the Torture Faire scare zone. Thank goodness some actors were out, and DD is so petite and cute, they were all about scaring her. DS too got some interaction. I was trying to film/take pictures. A few props didn't have actors yet. It was very early/just opening. The Plague doctor was the best! got great shots of them with kids and just being creepy. Blum house, had good interaction. We should've slowed down, or repeated. Megan wasn't out yet, but several were. Did Major Sweets. I loved it. I did push 2 buttons, and the first big scare actor in there was great.
Made way to Diagon Alley, and caught the Deatheaters just coming out. That was awesome. got Florian's ice cream (sticky toffee pudding and clotted cream, skipped butterbeer this time ) w NO Line, like walked to the register. (usually line is out the door, around the building,) at this point, it started raining steadily and never stopped. Not a heavy rain, but constant, steady drizzle....no more scare zones.....scare actors are not out when it's raining. Rode Gringotts, used express, but no wait, great pictures.
Slogged to back of park to do those houses. Had been warned about puddles back there, and they were there. I had on crocs , so no issue for me, but kids' shoes soaked. The Monsters and Goblin's Feast both said 5 min standby. We'd been doing Express, but thought we'd try a standby since short....it was not short. It was a good 25 mins at Monsters standing in the steady rain. No more of that. DS was not pleased. He didn't even want to repeat it with express. He went off to MiB,. We met there and rode. Then Slaughter Sinema. it was fine, but campy, which was the intent. DD and I very much liked the Monsters. Kids liked Goblin's Fest. I thought it was fine, but didn't love the costumes. We all enjoyed the Museum house. I don't think it's gotten great reviews, but I had a lot of scares in it. It was a good one for us.
Got pizza fries after a long wait. Just sat on the ground next to where we got them, to get out of the rain. I did not get my usual blinky cup and did not try and specialty drinks. It was just too hard to fool with that in the rain. Oh well.
Did Monstruous, which I really enjoyed. I still need to look up some of those monsters. I think it was the goriest house, and those curtain strips you have to pull back between rooms, one had 'blood' all over it, and it was wet, yuck! Finished with Triplets of Terror. We'd been warned about a certain scene. It was good enough, gory.
We had passed through the other 2 scare zones, which were empty, but the fog effects were at least on, got a few creepy pictures of the kids. Bummer not to be able to experience them though.
Back to room early, about 11:00. Walk back was kinda creepy, lonely dark path, in the rain. The kids had gone on ahead, so was just me.
DS done, DD talked of going back. She's 20, but I was kinda worried still. But then, I started having crazy body shakes, and chills. DD said it was dehydration, overexertion. I'd done over 35,000 steps! and hadn't brought water, because I thought I'd be getting other drinks.....lesson learned, stay hydrated. It was actually kind of freaky. I"ve never had any type of reaction like that. But once I rested, drank fluids, warmed up, I was ok. It was still raining steadily, and we were hurting, so didn't go back out. The only thing I wanted to do was repeat a few houses, esp Insidious, because I think we got a bad walk through. We had an awesome night though, despite the rain.
Hope to add some pictures, and more of the week!
