Great 15 day "vacation"....

[Linxzy]

Decided to post a report (which will be all in one post, to make it easier), it won’t be that detailed since I didn’t write things down. The only thing I got is the itinerary and my memories . But before that a little introduction of the ones going to the trip.

Mom : 54 yr old (going to kill me) loves Disney and understands the magic of it all, 8th trip to the world

Me : 21 yr old, loves Disney and Universal, 8th trip also

Anyway, all started about 2 months before the trip. Mom was having an emotional breakdown due to some family problems going on at that time, so she told me that we should take a trip somewhere. Obviously that somewhere was wdw. I was very happy and started planning and frequenting more the Dis boards. It felt like it had been years since I had been to wdw, but only 5-6 months had passed since we have been at wdw. Our last trip was in Dec. 03- Jan 04. We went with my 2 nieces, sister and nephew, and it was the worst yet best experience ever. Going to wdw with little kids is not easy, but we survived.

A week later mom decided that we where going to wdw but we could be doing it through a travel agency like the last trips. I was disappointed in her decision since the travel agencies cost more, but she didn’t get it at that time (not even after 7 trips to the WDW). Anyway, we went a week later to the agency and all was done and planned: 15 days in Orlando, offsite (Quality Inn Plaza at International Drive), going to the 4 parks of wdw, Blizzard Beach, Sea World, Universal Studios and Island of Adventures. The package includes transportations to every park and airfare, so all was settled. Since we never do ps, the only thing left was to call for tickets to Cirque du Soleil for Aug. 4 at 6pm and the transportation for that day. After that everything was done.

The day finally comes, July 24. We wake up at 4:30 am and start getting ready to leave to the airport. By 5:30 am we are out the door and before 6 we are at the airport. Our flight leaves at 8am from San Juan and arrives at 11:30 am at MCO. We get our bags and leave with Javier, our driver and travel agent. Check in is not ‘till 3 pm so we left our bags and went to walk around International Drive. 3 pm finally comes, we check in and go to our room, Building B room 1162. Room is clean and very comfy for us. We had never had a problem with this hotel, and since we are never in the room for other than sleeping it is good.
We didn’t plan anything for that night so we unpacked and went to sleep, well maybe after some coffee for mom and some people watching for a while.

Day 2 (July 25):
Today was Island of Adventure day. We got there about 9:30, got express passes for Spiderman and went to Hulk (only 30 min wait, we sometimes don’t mind doing queues)
After that was getting soak. I had never been on Dueling Dragons, so I went on it. I usually chicken out on it, but this time I promised myself to go on at every ride. So I did, but only rode Fire since the Dramamine had worn off and got dizzy. We ate in Seuss Land, rode some more and waited for our bus (9pm). The park wasn’t that full, since I have always been to the parks on the week of the 4th of July or December, it wasn’t that bad for us.

 

[Linxzy]

Day 3 (July 26): Universal Studios
Again got there at 9:30 am. Went to The Mummy first to get express passes but it was down due to technical difficulties. So, we headed to Shrek 4D, did a queue of about 30 min, though it was posted a 55 min wait. It was good, but it wasn’t the best. Prefer Spiderman or Philharmagic. After Shrek we went to the Mummy and it was open, but its queue was too long (50 or more) so we decided on Single Rider line. Thank God for that line, we only did a 5 min line the first time and the other 3 times was a >20 minute wait. I loved it. Mom was in love. And may I add that though we were single riders, we were always in the same car, even twice next to each other. Then we went to see Ghostbusters, Beetle Juice, had late lunch/dinner, and then was MIB single rider 3 times, Back to the Future, ET and Terminator. After that we were tired of riding so we went and walked around City Walk. Saw some street performers and people watched for a while until 9pm that the bus came. At the hotel, mom usually made coffee and sat at the little hut they have next to Lite Bite (the hotels food court) and we people watched.

Day 4 (July 27): Epcot (at last Disney )
Our bus left at 8:45 am that day. I would had liked to leave earlier but the agency doesn’t think like me. grrr Anyway, we got there about 9:15 or a little later and went to Test Track first, single rider. Then Mission Space, it was my first time so I was nervous. Wasn’t that bad, but got a little headache. For me it’s a once a trip ride. After going to Mars, mom needed to smoke, so off we went to look for a smoking spot. The smoking places are some times the nicest places in the parks. Anyway, after that we went to Imagination!, rode Figment and saw Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. Then to The Land and it was very busy. Kids baking cookies, people eating, a 45 minute wait for Living with the land (WHAT????). I had never seen that ride so busy ever. We decided to have an early lunch, so we ate there. After that we skipped the Living Seas, since in January we where there for 2 hours with my nieces (they love animals, especially fish) and Wonders of Life. We also spent some time at Ice Cool Station. It’s always funny to see people drinking Beverly. I drank some Fanta and the watermelon drink yummy.

After some free sodas, we headed to the World Showcase. Before the trip even though nothing was planned officially, I did some little planning, especially with the World Showcase since I had never seen half of the things most people in the boards talk about. So, we started off in Canada, to change the pattern of always going to Mexico first. Saw the movie, looked around the shops and saw some performers (don’t remember the name, but it wasn’t Off Kilter). Next UK. Went to the stores first, saw Mary Poppins which we had never seen before. The next show of the British Invasion was about to start so we waited, while my mom smoked. (roll eyes) I loved them, mom sang every song like a hard core groupie. But she wasn’t alone. lol Almost everyone was singing along. After the British Invasion we started walking to France to eat some pastries (yummy Marvelous) and the worst happened. It started to rain. Pouring rain all afternoon long. So after eating our pastries we put on our ponchos and kept walking around. In Morocco and Japan we only went to the shops. In U.S.A. we were going to The American Adventure, but didn’t, don’t know why. We stopped for some hot chocolate and coffee for mom and saw the rudest person ever. This lady was ordering hot tea and started arguing with the cast member because it was HOT. She even told him that she was going to sue him. Huh? It was hot tea lady. After that she left arguing with her husband and the poor cast member was left mad and started talking to another cast member about the lady and her hot tea. Didn’t understand half of the things they talked since they are Brazilians and talked portuguese. Anyway, after that we saw her again in a shop arguing with another cast member and her daughter. Poor girl and husband, since they both were so embarrassed by her. Mom and I were impressed since we had never seen people argue for such stupid things, especially at Disney.
After that we kept going to the other showcases, still raining. Went to China and mom fell in love with some elephants (she collects them) but didn’t buy anything today. Then went to Norway, rode Maelstrom and looked around. Then Mexico. I remember someone that posted that they went a couple of times on El Río del Tiempo to listen and learn the words to the song. So, mom and I tried to learn it, but it was impossible. First we just laughed at it since we couldn’t understand a word of it. Then there were people talking and we couldn’t hear it, but we did learn some things from Mexico since they were Mexicans. . So we decided to ask one of the cast members, so we went to the obvious ones, the Mariachi had to know the song, since the song should be typical of Mexico. Even the Mariachi guy didn’t know the song. He had also asked around and no one knew the lyrics. He suggested to look up on the internet, still haven’t searched though. Anyway, after Mexico we went through the world showcase again, since it was still raining (not that much though) there where no performers. Sad thing, since I really wanted to see some performers, oh well next time. Anyway, walking and walking we stopped at Canada and ate a beaver tail. Yummy. I think by that time it was 6pm so we headed to Spaceship Earth and Test Track again. Then we waited for IllumiNations. Lovely as always. Though the rain ruined our plans to see World Showcase, it was still fun since we saw things, we hadn’t seen before.

 

[Linxzy]

Day 5 (July 28):
Today was MGM, but mom had hurt her ankle so we decided to take the day off. We didn’t do that much. We did go to the Outlets for a while and ate at Golden Coral.

Day 6 (July 29): Animal Kingdom
Was at the park by 9:10 am. Did the Safari first, only a 10 min wait. Did see some animals and saved little Red. Then Kali River Rapids got little wet. Rode Dinosaur which I had not done for a while. Mom didn't remember much of the ride, so she enjoyed it. Festival of the Lion King was great as always. In the last trips we had never done the animal trails so we did them all this time. Big scary bats but they were cute.
We walked around looking for Devine (sp?) but didn’t find her.
At 4pm we went to eat at Rain Forest Café, very good pastas and can’t forget Volcano!!!, though I didn’t had one. We left at 5:30 pm, mom had her usual coffee and people watched.

Day 7 (July 30):
We went to Universal Studios again today, since we had a 2 day parks and 3rd day bonus (or something like that). Went at 11am, with the hotel free buses. Rode the Mummy a couple of times again (single rider) and while in line, saw and chatted with an old classmate. Then we did other rides we have not done the other day and left to eat at Jimmy Buffet Margaritaville. Very good food. Left City Walk around 6pm. Then we went for some more walking around the International Drive.

 

[Minniespal]

Great report ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[tammy]

Sounds like you are having a blast. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Linxzy]

Day 8 (July 31): Magic Kingdom

Another early day. In the park by 9:30 am. This day my mom decided to rent “Ears to the World” or something like that, those are the red headphones used to help people that don’t know English very well to have most of the things in the attractions in their language (in this case Spanish). Mom didn’t like it that much, since it did not work in most things (or maybe it didn’t work for us). Though, it worked perfectly at the Hall of Presidents where mom really wanted them to work.
First thing we went was Adventureland, like we always do. First was Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Tiki Room. Then off we went to Frontierland, got fast passes for Big Thunder Mountain and rode Splash Mountain will only a queue of 15 min. Then saw the Country Bear Jamboree. Then we went to Liberty Square and we went on the Haunted Mansion (only 10 min wait). After that we headed to Fantasyland, of course it was busy. We only did PhilharMagic here, since we didn’t want to do the other rides. Went to eat at Columbia Harbour House, yummy food. Passed next to It’s a small world and kind of missed it. Don’t know why since I hate those little creepy dolls singing…. Who am I kidding, they are cute, but still creepy.
Then was Mickey’s Toontown. Love Mickey and Minnie’s houses. After seeing Mickey we headed to Tomorrowland, got fast passes for Space Mountain and rode TTA, Carousel of Progress (always a favorite) and the Timekeeper, which I know I have had seen it but didn’t remember it too much. Went on Space Mountain afterwards and watched the kids and parents that were riding the Indy Speedway cars. Love those happy little kids driving around and their parents looking at them with so much love. Just realized that we forgot to ride Buzz.
After we finished riding this, we went to the Hall of Presidents and left for Epcot via monorail (which I wanted to ride upfront, but every time there were a couple of families waiting or when it was our turn a family with little kids came and we let them ride). Went to China to buy some elephants my mom had spotted the other day. Then went to Mexico and shared a combinación. Then we headed again to Magic Kingdom to see the parade. After the parade we had to leave since our bus was picking us before Wishes started, so I got to see the fireworks from the bus, but its not the same.

Day 9 (Aug 1): Sea World

Today was Sea World. Got there by 9:30am. First we rode Kraken (couple of times, since it didn’t have that much wait), then it was Atlantis. Love those two rides. Saw the sea lions show, all ways a hit. Plus can’t miss that mime before the show, so funny. Then we went to see the animal show. After that I don’t remember that much. I know we left early since it was raining and mom’s ankle was acting up again. Think we left by 3pm or earlier, went to eat somewhere on I-Drive. Mom rested for a while in the room and later on sitting in the hut. I walked around and browsed the stores at Pointe Orlando.



Day 10 (Aug 2): MGM

Was at the park by 9:30am. Took some fast passes for the coaster and did the queue for it. lol Had some people looking at me weird for doing that. It was just a 15-20 min line and we wanted to ride again, since I don’t like Tower of Terror that much. After we rode the coaster and talked to a lady and her daughter about the fast passes (some people don’t read maps) we headed to the Great Movie Ride. Had the gangster one this time. Then we went to 50’s Prime Time to reserve seats for 2 pm. After that we went on some other rides and show and 2 pm came by. Went to the dinner and had Aunt Susan. She was a pretty fun auntie. She made me eat my greens veggies via airplane (including the noise of the plane done by the guy next to me) lol It was fun and the fun very good. Though the gravy was a little salty for my tastes, but still good. After eating, we went to Who wants to be a Millionaire, fun like always but the time inside it went by so fast. After that we saw the Walt Disney’s movie.
Today we had to leave early again because of mom’s ankle, but it was okay. We were not in the mood for any of the other things in the park nor for Fantasmic (sad but true, but we do love the show).

Day 11 (Aug 3):

We had a no park day today. I actually don’t remember what we did. Think we were in search for a gift for my nephew. I do remember buying tickets for Busch Garden and reserving the bus, mom had the urge to go to that park.

Day 12 (Aug 4):

We had the morning free, just sleeping around until our 3pm Mears shuttle came to go to Downtown Disney. Got there by 3:30, first went Cirque du Soleil to look for my tickets. Then we walked to the Marketplace and browsed around for a bit. Then went to Bongos to drink some coffee. Back to Cirque by 5 and entered by 5:30. We where at Category 3 and didn’t mind not being at the other categories. The seats were perfect. Every seat in the house is perfect. Such a wonderful show. Had a couple of laughs with the little boy that was sited at the back, since he was yelling “Bravo, Bravo” all the time. So cute. The show was over by 7:40 (more or less). Wish I could go to their other shows. La Nauba was great. Mom loved it too. Forgot to buy the CD, hopefully I will buy it on the internet. Our shuttle was picking us up at 9pm, so we decided to walk around Pleasure Island. A band (don’t remember the name) was on stage, very good by the way. After walking around and some refreshments, we left. Shuttle was on time and was “home” safe and tired by 9:30.

 

[Linxzy]

Day 13 (Aug 5): Busch Gardens

Today was a very early day, since the bus leaves from El Mercado at 8:30, we had to left the hotel by 7:45 to be there by 8. (We like to be at the places on time lol) When we boarded the bus, we were the only non-Europeans on it lol. Had a quiet drive and got to Tampa by 9:30. It started to rain, but it stopped after we finally got our ponchos on (same thing happened a couple of times) First we went to Rhino Rally, the water park was not working, so it was a short ride. First time on it, so I didn’t had that much to see. But it was still good and bumpy. Then it was time for Kumba. Mom and I got out of it with headaches since our heads were banging the sides of the restrainers (sp?) through all the ride. Was my first time on it, very good. Then we went to Congo River, got soaked. I got soaked and was bleh for all day long. Got to add that I started the day sad since this park was going to be the last park visited in our trip, so I was not enjoying the park that good. Actually every time I go to Busch Gardens I don’t get to ride many things since something has to happened (sickness, moodiness….) Anyway, after I got soaked and bought some pants, since mine became clear, we walked around. Ate at Morocco, nothing fancy, just burgers and a wrap. Did some other rides (Montu, the 4d Show….) and some shopping. Left the park at 7pm.

Day 14 (Aug 6):

Today was another lazy day. Went shopping around for some last minute souvenirs. Ate, think it was Ponderosa (love those buttery rolls, we don’t have those over here, just plain rolls). We got to the hotel by 5pm, mom did some coffee (yes she loves coffee, though not the coffee from the states, but she has to have some). We did our last people watching and went to pack. Sad night it was. Couldn’t sleep at all.

Day 15 (Aug 7):

Last day. Were up by 7, got breakfast and went to do some last minute packing. Checked out by 8:30 and waited for Javier to come and pick us up. Were at the airport by 9:30, checked in at ATA and were lucky enough to be randomly selected to be searched. My line was just a 10 min wait, the regular line was longer. A kid even was telling his mom that they should had picked up some Fast Passes. After we were checked, we went to our gate and waited for our departing time (11:15 am) The flight had no problems, though it was very cloudy. Got home by 2pm.



We had a wonderful trip. Did everything we wanted to do with no hassle at all. Had great meals at Rain Forest Café, Margaritaville and 50’s Prime Time. Most of the times we were looking for hidden Mickey’s or just looking around. The only thing that could stop us was my mom’s bad ankle, but she still kept going. Hopefully next time we come back it will be on-site. Don’t know if we will be coming next summer, since dad wants to go on a cruise. Let’s see what the future holds. Right now we are just with the blues, wanting to go back again.

 

[Linxzy]

Tammy,
I did had a wonderful trip.

 

[linnettevl]

Hi:
Great report!!!!

How is The Mummy ride? Does it have big drops? Is this like a roller coaster? sorry to ask you but I will be in Florida in a couple of weeks and my husband and kids are dying to "do" this ride and to tell you the truth I am a whimp when it comes to rides...
Linnette

 

[ncmvp]

Great report!

My family does the same thing on El Rio del Tiempo. All we know is Hola mis amigos na na na na na. So you see we haven't gotten very far, and we speak Spanish LOL.

 

[Linxzy]

Originally posted by linnettevl
Hi:
Great report!!!!

How is The Mummy ride? Does it have big drops? Is this like a roller coaster? sorry to ask you but I will be in Florida in a couple of weeks and my husband and kids are dying to "do" this ride and to tell you the truth I am a whimp when it comes to rides...
Linnette

The Mummy is great. It does not have that big of a drops, but not so little like the Pirates ones. It is a roller coaster with no loops. It goes ones backwards, just like the ride in Norway (Maelstrom). I am also a little whimp with coaster, though this trip I did almost every coaster, and the Mummy is very good. Have fun in your trip.

 

[Linxzy]

Originally posted by ncmvp
Great report!

My family does the same thing on El Rio del Tiempo. All we know is Hola mis amigos na na na na na. So you see we haven't gotten very far, and we speak Spanish LOL.

.


This is what my mom got out of the song

"Hola mis amigos la fiesta va a empezar......."

In a point in the song it says something about Acapulco and Guadalajara and in some other point it is in english. We are trying to look it up on the net or write disney to see if they know the song. Mom "needs" to know lol.