Saturday, December 1
Sadly, our last day in Florida was upon us far too soon.
I woke up this morning early (not on purpose) and decided to take a walk around the resort. Actually, it was just to Starbucks and then the front desk to print our boarding passes.
I wandered around the lobby a bit and grabbed some starbucks for K and J on the way back to the room. I remember we packed most of our stuff on Friday night so we were able to get our luggage to our rental and hop on a bus to Universal by around 815.
Someone was in a great mood this morning... I thank the breakfast delivery.
Today was also the warmest day of our trip and J and I had worn clothes specifically to get soaked... well because sometimes you have to.
We were again there for early entry to Hogsmeade and made our way towards that area, with plans to see and ride as much as possible in both parks.
I actually don't have a bunch of pics from today so it's nearly all from memory. I do remember us riding FJ a few times but not Hippogriff since the line was a little long.
We spend a little longer in Hogsmeade and then made our way to Jurassic Park where J and I rode River Adventures twice. I was initially skeptical of J being on the ride but we watched a few rafts go down the last drop and he decided he was game, so on we went!
After that it was K's turn to do some rides, so she and J went on the Pteranodon Flyers and we hung out exploring Camp Jurassic for a bit. Cool area!
After being slightly soaked from JPRA we decided to try a few other water rides. So we made our way over to Toon Lagoon and J saw Ripsaw Falls, which of course we had to go on. I pretty well knew we were going to get soaked on this one but I was surprised that it actually wasn't the big drop that did it but one of the smaller ones earlier in the ride!
Anyway, we were both dripping at the end which felt great! (mostly) since it was a very nice day by now. I did opt not to do Bilge Rat but I am not entirely sure why. I mean, we were already soaked. Ah well, next trip.
Having not eaten since very early and having had promised J a hot dog earlier in the trip we decided to grab an early lunch at Blondies. I remember J and I getting hot dog combos that weren't anything crazy good (except the brownie/cookie dessert bar...whoa) and K having a turkey sandwich.
Our plan was to continue on towards Spider-Man and hopefully do that one last time but I think the wait time was posted for 30 minutes which we just couldn't handle (haha). So we opted to walk from IoA to USO instead of doubling back to Hogsmeade to catch the train.
Actually, the walk from park to park was really nice down by the water and we sat for a bit and took a breather. The trip was definitely catching up to us.
Upon entering we made our way towards E.T. and rode that once again. And then we checked out Curious George for a while.
We ended up back in Diagon Alley one last time, where we hung out for a while. We caught one of the performances enacting the deathly hallows story and had our last butterbeer of the trip. Actually, I think K had butterbeer and J and I had ice cream from the Hopping Pot, since I took this pic in line:
It's kind of tough to see but it was snowing in Diagon! Do they do this everyday or just for the holiday season?
Anyway, after our snack we left and wandered counterclockwise towards the park entrance. It was here that J decided that we should ride Rip Ride Rockit!
He is just tall enough for the ride and the wait was extremely short (I believe we caught the 2pm parade right before riding since I remember us standing in front of the Monsters Cafe and J pretending to be electrocuted in the chair.
I was a little nervous for him on the ride and I know after the drop and loop I looked over and he was not having it. However, he did rebound nicely and once we were off he proclaimed that he wanted to do that ride first next time we were there. Yay!
We did a bit of shopping in the store on the way out (I got the massive Lard Lad Donuts mug) but unfortunately missed out on Voodoo today since the line was nearly out the door.
Bye Universal!
Thanks to the boards I knew about the locker change rooms at Cabana Bay we we went there and changed to (finally) use the pool areas for a while. I had actually packed inner tubes with us and the staff was extremely helpful getting us blown up and floating in no time.
I think we spent close to 2 hours at the pool area, mostly lazy river which was a great "end" to our time at Universal. We debated a few ideas for dinner but ended up eating at the Hideaway Bar and Grill (which is more or less poolside) and ate on the second level which overlooked the pool.
After that we went back to the locker rooms, showered and changed and headed towards MCO for our night flight.
And that's when things got interesting.
I was filling up gas in the car (total spend for trip: $3 hahaha) and K was like... our flight's cancelled.
Uhh what?
Our flight's cancelled on the app. Well, the app was a bit misleading because the time had moved 20 minutes later departure but I was really nervous that our flight was indeed cancelled. We definitely flew from a small airport on a budget airline and I'm thinking there's no way we can get back there tonight if it's cancelled.
I make the last few miles to rental drop off and we head into the terminal, K and J find some seats and I'm thinking I'll go find out what's going on.
Ok... I see airline on overhead boards so I'm heading in the right direction... past Air Canada... Westjet... ok close... ummm why are there a hundred people standing in the queue???
@$%^!!!!!
Long story slightly short, it turns out the flight leaving Canada never left due to mechanical
so the plane never arrived to bring us home.
That's a problem.
Uhhh so what do we end up doing???
The airline's solution was for us to get across state to Tampa where there's a plane being held for us to bring us back to Hamilton.
@#$%^!!!!
There are a few flights to Toronto we could have gotten on, but we'd still be an hour away from Hamilton once we landed.
So, we run downstairs and (once again) rent a vehicle and proceed to drive the 1.5 hrs to Tampa to catch the flight!!
Actually, the trip across state was uneventful and (thankfully) the staff at check-in are well aware there are people coming from Orlando. There are 3 seats available for us and there's a good chance we will actually be back in Hamilton tonight sometime.
Which we were. Unfortunately the plane is delayed until a take-off of around 1am (I was supposed to be nearly home, in bed by now). K and J were seated separately from me, but we all got home.
Of course, to add to the day when we arrived back in Hamilton our checked bag did not. So I had to fill out paperwork and track down luggage (which is another story) but it was finally delivered Tuesday to our front door.
Up next.... final thoughts on everything Universal!!
following along. Can't wait to read more of your adventure. Fellow Canadian here
I'll just live vicariously through your pictures as no warm weather trip again for us this winter.
) Nana and Papa met us in Citywalk and we all went back together. We showed them around a bit but we were pretty exhausted. I don't think any of us saw 830pm.
