wilma-bride
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- Joined
- Jul 13, 2005
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Same old people - except one of us is a year older!
Happy Birthday Christine
I’m afraid the next couple of days’ reports may be a little hazy as I stopped keeping notes about the same time as my hangover started. Therefore, I’m doing this from memory. Yesterday was easy as we didn’t do much and I can easily remember how poorly I was. Today and tomorrow may be a bit harder!
Today was a sad day as we were leaving Boardwalk Villas. It was also a happy day as we were going to Islands of Adventure, our favourite park. This was new to both Christine and Mark so they were looking forward to the experience, having really enjoyed Universal the other day.
We were all feeling refreshed today after our booze-free day yesterday. We checked out, carried our cases out to the front and loaded them into the car. We had to have one of the cases in the back of the car as we seemed to have accumulated some extra luggage over the past 5 days but it fitted easily and there was still plenty of room.
We got to IOA with no problem, again paid for preferred parking and again parked in King Kong. We were a bit early this morning so stopped at Cinnabon for some and tea and yummy cinnabon sticks. Christine wouldn’t eat anything for fear of it appearing again after the first ride on the Hulk.
It was cold again today, although not as cold as yesterday, and Gary decided he needed to buy a fleece. He was wearing two t-shirts but still feeling the cold so first stop was the store just inside the entrance to IOA where I bought him a Universal Studios fleece jacket. Then it was straight over to the Hulk, where we subjected Christine and Mark to it twice, once at the front and once at the back. I much prefer the back of the Hulk as you get more of the effect from the initial blast when you’re sat at the back. Both Christine and Mark liked it but I think we would have had difficulty persuading her to go on again. Next up was Dr Doom’s Fearfall, which they also enjoyed. We noticed a definite increase in crowd levels today – although it was still early, we waited nearly 20 minutes for Dr Dooms and by the time we got to Spiderman, the wait was almost 30 minutes – at 9:30 in the morning!!! After Spidey, we doubled back through Seuss Landing and straight on to Duelling Dragons. Christine had already decided she wasn’t going on so Gary, Mark and I went off to ride both Fire and Ice. I definitely think I prefer ‘fire’ now, although Gary still likes ‘ice’. I realised just how cold it was when Gary said he didn’t want to go on Dudley Do-Right’s – he always wants to ride it so it must have been really cold. We figured we could take a chance with Jurassic Park River Adventure, though, as you don’t get too wet on that. We joined the line (only 10 minute wait) behind another couple from the UK, who were putting on ponchos. Christine starts with the ‘I thought you said we didn’t get wet on this ride’. ‘You don’t get that wet’ I reply. OK, so I’ve been on this ride loads of times and never got particularly wet – how was I to know that on this occasion, we would get soaked! Still enjoyable though – just a shame Christine’s hair got wet on the one day the humidity wasn’t wrecking it lol.
Next, we decided to see Poseidon’s Fury, having only seen it once on our first trip in 2004. I didn’t remember being that impressed then but figured we’d give it another go. Well, it was much better than I remembered. Christine enjoyed the fire effects because they warmed her up – and dried her hair!
Having got all the big rides out of the way, we decided it was safe to let Christine eat so it was off to Mythos – where else??? We were seated straight away and our server took our drinks order – a vanilla shake, a chocolate shake, a strawberry shake and a coke. She brought us some of the lovely potato bread – it really is the nicest bread I’ve ever tasted – and took our food order.
Mark – Oriental chicken salad
Christine – Chicken Sandwich
Gary – Mythos Burger
Me – Chicken Sandwich
Mine and Gary’s were lovely. I don’t think Christine enjoyed hers very much as the chicken was chargrilled and was quite black. Mark loved his salad, though.
We left Mythos and walked round to Seuss Landing, where me and Mark rode One Fish, two Fish. Gary and Christine sat nearby and pretended they didn’t know us. We then spent an hour just wandering round the park, soaking up the atmosphere, walking off lunch and generally enjoying the day – the sun had come out and, although still cold, it had turned into a lovely afternoon.
As it was Christine’s Birthday, we decided to let her choose what she wanted to do and she said she would like to go to the cinema to see ‘Music and Lyrics’. That sounded like a nice way to spend the rest of the afternoon so off we went. We left IOA and walked through City Walk, went into some of the shops and tried on the various hats and Mardi Gras masks.
It was Christine’s turn for the silly birthday hat this time.
Then we went to the movie theatre and bought tickets – I got a discount with my Annual Pass. The film was excellent – we laughed so much and came out singing ‘Pop goes my heart’. For anyone who has seen that film, it really is a catchy song, isn’t it. It brought back loads of memories of the 80s for us too – we really enjoyed it.
It was time now to check into our home for the next 2 nights, Homewood Suites on American Way. I had felt really pleased about booking this place and getting a really good rate. Unfortunately, on our first night in Orlando, we heard a report on the news about a couple being robbed at gunpoint in their room at the Travelodge on American Way. I have to say that this didn’t exactly fill me with confidence about the location of the hotel – I’ve never really liked the area at the top of I-Drive anyway so I was a bit nervous. However, I shouldn’t have worried. The hotel was lovely, they were obviously very safety conscious as all external doors except the main door could only be opened using a room key and the main door was locked at 11 pm.
We checked in and were allocated our rooms. The receptionist apologised as they didn’t have 2 rooms near each other so we were on separate floors – it wasn’t a huge problem though.
We had booked King bed suites and, when we got to our room, found we’d been allocated a disabled room so it was absolutely huge. It really was a lovely suite. There was a kitchenette and lounge area, a large bedroom with a king size bed and a huge bathroom.
We had a view of the pool, which was good as I’d read that the traffic noise on the other side of the hotel could be a bit of a problem. We didn’t have any problems with noise, though, and neither did Christine and Mark, who were on the other side.
We quickly unpacked, washed and changed and then it was off to Tony Romas for Christine’s birthday dinner. We did have to wait about 30 minutes for a table but we’d expected that seeing as it was Friday night and we didn’t get there until almost 8:30.
Christine and Mark ordered the onion loaf to start. The server also brought some lovely fresh bread to the table.
We all ordered steak, except Gary who chose ribs. When the meals came, the steaks weren’t right – Christine’s was supposed to be well done and was still raw and Mark’s was medium and was charred. They could have just swapped except for the fact that Mark’s had a sauce on and Christine’s didn’t. The server took them away and promised she would get it sorted as quickly as possible. I was a bit peeved that they didn’t offer to take ours away too as I felt a bit uncomfortable with us eating our meals while Christine and Mark were waiting. I suppose I should have said something, though, and I didn’t so it was as much my fault as theirs. The server did offer a salad or something else while they were waiting but they declined. The meals were out again pretty quick and everything was fine this time. In fact, Christine gave hers 9 out of 10 (would have been a 10 if it wasn’t for the mix up).
We left Tony Romas and drove back up I-Drive, stopping at Dunkin’ Donuts for a carton of ice-cream to take back to the hotel. We had a few beers in the room and retired to bed about 1 am.
Same old people - except one of us is a year older!
Happy Birthday Christine
I’m afraid the next couple of days’ reports may be a little hazy as I stopped keeping notes about the same time as my hangover started. Therefore, I’m doing this from memory. Yesterday was easy as we didn’t do much and I can easily remember how poorly I was. Today and tomorrow may be a bit harder!
Today was a sad day as we were leaving Boardwalk Villas. It was also a happy day as we were going to Islands of Adventure, our favourite park. This was new to both Christine and Mark so they were looking forward to the experience, having really enjoyed Universal the other day.
We were all feeling refreshed today after our booze-free day yesterday. We checked out, carried our cases out to the front and loaded them into the car. We had to have one of the cases in the back of the car as we seemed to have accumulated some extra luggage over the past 5 days but it fitted easily and there was still plenty of room.
We got to IOA with no problem, again paid for preferred parking and again parked in King Kong. We were a bit early this morning so stopped at Cinnabon for some and tea and yummy cinnabon sticks. Christine wouldn’t eat anything for fear of it appearing again after the first ride on the Hulk.
It was cold again today, although not as cold as yesterday, and Gary decided he needed to buy a fleece. He was wearing two t-shirts but still feeling the cold so first stop was the store just inside the entrance to IOA where I bought him a Universal Studios fleece jacket. Then it was straight over to the Hulk, where we subjected Christine and Mark to it twice, once at the front and once at the back. I much prefer the back of the Hulk as you get more of the effect from the initial blast when you’re sat at the back. Both Christine and Mark liked it but I think we would have had difficulty persuading her to go on again. Next up was Dr Doom’s Fearfall, which they also enjoyed. We noticed a definite increase in crowd levels today – although it was still early, we waited nearly 20 minutes for Dr Dooms and by the time we got to Spiderman, the wait was almost 30 minutes – at 9:30 in the morning!!! After Spidey, we doubled back through Seuss Landing and straight on to Duelling Dragons. Christine had already decided she wasn’t going on so Gary, Mark and I went off to ride both Fire and Ice. I definitely think I prefer ‘fire’ now, although Gary still likes ‘ice’. I realised just how cold it was when Gary said he didn’t want to go on Dudley Do-Right’s – he always wants to ride it so it must have been really cold. We figured we could take a chance with Jurassic Park River Adventure, though, as you don’t get too wet on that. We joined the line (only 10 minute wait) behind another couple from the UK, who were putting on ponchos. Christine starts with the ‘I thought you said we didn’t get wet on this ride’. ‘You don’t get that wet’ I reply. OK, so I’ve been on this ride loads of times and never got particularly wet – how was I to know that on this occasion, we would get soaked! Still enjoyable though – just a shame Christine’s hair got wet on the one day the humidity wasn’t wrecking it lol.
Next, we decided to see Poseidon’s Fury, having only seen it once on our first trip in 2004. I didn’t remember being that impressed then but figured we’d give it another go. Well, it was much better than I remembered. Christine enjoyed the fire effects because they warmed her up – and dried her hair!
Having got all the big rides out of the way, we decided it was safe to let Christine eat so it was off to Mythos – where else??? We were seated straight away and our server took our drinks order – a vanilla shake, a chocolate shake, a strawberry shake and a coke. She brought us some of the lovely potato bread – it really is the nicest bread I’ve ever tasted – and took our food order.
Mark – Oriental chicken salad
Christine – Chicken Sandwich
Gary – Mythos Burger
Me – Chicken Sandwich
Mine and Gary’s were lovely. I don’t think Christine enjoyed hers very much as the chicken was chargrilled and was quite black. Mark loved his salad, though.
We left Mythos and walked round to Seuss Landing, where me and Mark rode One Fish, two Fish. Gary and Christine sat nearby and pretended they didn’t know us. We then spent an hour just wandering round the park, soaking up the atmosphere, walking off lunch and generally enjoying the day – the sun had come out and, although still cold, it had turned into a lovely afternoon.
As it was Christine’s Birthday, we decided to let her choose what she wanted to do and she said she would like to go to the cinema to see ‘Music and Lyrics’. That sounded like a nice way to spend the rest of the afternoon so off we went. We left IOA and walked through City Walk, went into some of the shops and tried on the various hats and Mardi Gras masks.
It was Christine’s turn for the silly birthday hat this time.
Then we went to the movie theatre and bought tickets – I got a discount with my Annual Pass. The film was excellent – we laughed so much and came out singing ‘Pop goes my heart’. For anyone who has seen that film, it really is a catchy song, isn’t it. It brought back loads of memories of the 80s for us too – we really enjoyed it.
It was time now to check into our home for the next 2 nights, Homewood Suites on American Way. I had felt really pleased about booking this place and getting a really good rate. Unfortunately, on our first night in Orlando, we heard a report on the news about a couple being robbed at gunpoint in their room at the Travelodge on American Way. I have to say that this didn’t exactly fill me with confidence about the location of the hotel – I’ve never really liked the area at the top of I-Drive anyway so I was a bit nervous. However, I shouldn’t have worried. The hotel was lovely, they were obviously very safety conscious as all external doors except the main door could only be opened using a room key and the main door was locked at 11 pm.
We checked in and were allocated our rooms. The receptionist apologised as they didn’t have 2 rooms near each other so we were on separate floors – it wasn’t a huge problem though.
We had booked King bed suites and, when we got to our room, found we’d been allocated a disabled room so it was absolutely huge. It really was a lovely suite. There was a kitchenette and lounge area, a large bedroom with a king size bed and a huge bathroom.
We had a view of the pool, which was good as I’d read that the traffic noise on the other side of the hotel could be a bit of a problem. We didn’t have any problems with noise, though, and neither did Christine and Mark, who were on the other side.
We quickly unpacked, washed and changed and then it was off to Tony Romas for Christine’s birthday dinner. We did have to wait about 30 minutes for a table but we’d expected that seeing as it was Friday night and we didn’t get there until almost 8:30.
Christine and Mark ordered the onion loaf to start. The server also brought some lovely fresh bread to the table.
We all ordered steak, except Gary who chose ribs. When the meals came, the steaks weren’t right – Christine’s was supposed to be well done and was still raw and Mark’s was medium and was charred. They could have just swapped except for the fact that Mark’s had a sauce on and Christine’s didn’t. The server took them away and promised she would get it sorted as quickly as possible. I was a bit peeved that they didn’t offer to take ours away too as I felt a bit uncomfortable with us eating our meals while Christine and Mark were waiting. I suppose I should have said something, though, and I didn’t so it was as much my fault as theirs. The server did offer a salad or something else while they were waiting but they declined. The meals were out again pretty quick and everything was fine this time. In fact, Christine gave hers 9 out of 10 (would have been a 10 if it wasn’t for the mix up).
We left Tony Romas and drove back up I-Drive, stopping at Dunkin’ Donuts for a carton of ice-cream to take back to the hotel. We had a few beers in the room and retired to bed about 1 am.
checking it out for the Dis Meet on the 25th
