June comes before August & the APs will still be valid! I think we're done here!

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

We didn't dislike Universal, we just like Disney better.

Like I said before, that Express Pass is amazing. It wasn't very crowded, and with the Pass we hardly had to wait at all for anything. The employees were friendly, even though we had heard they might not be.

We missed a lot of stuff because there is a LOT of water involved. Had DS been wearing Crocs or sport sandals we probably would have done a few more "soggy" attractions. I am also not sure what simulator rides would have been OK. Without a hotel room to go back to today I definitely didn't want to be sick!

DS had a lot of fun, mainly because it was all new. He has already asked to go to Sea World next year, so obviously he isn't in a hurry to go back to US/IOA.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

It seems that in our absence we have had some interesting neighbors check in. There are at least 5 preschoolers. They not only scream, they run in the halls. And I do not mean a little running or a little screaming. I mean SCREAMING AND RUNNING!!!!!

It appears they are in the studio next to us. Which is fascinating, because I don't know how you cram ALLLL of those screaming preschoolers into a studio. Our unit is the lock-off of that one, so it really is ONLY a studio. It is likely that they aren't all staying in that room, but they all seem to be in there at the moment.

I will have to make sure I slam A LOT of doors on my way to AM EMH tomorrow.

 

[lovesdumbo]

Loved all your photos and review of the dark side.

It seems that in our absence we have had some interesting neighbors check in. There are at least 5 preschoolers. They not only scream, they run in the halls. And I do not mean a little running or a little screaming. I mean SCREAMING AND RUNNING!!!!!

It appears they are in the studio next to us. Which is fascinating, because I don't know how you cram ALLLL of those screaming preschoolers into a studio. Our unit is the lock-off of that one, so it really is ONLY a studio. It is likely that they aren't all staying in that room, but they all seem to be in there at the moment.

I will have to make sure I slam A LOT of doors on my way to AM EMH tomorrow.

UGH!!!Hope they don't stay long!!!!!

Elizabeth, what would you say is better, Flying Fish or Yatchsman?

Anne Marie, I've never been to Yachtman's but on my December trip all 4 of us thought Flying Fish was our best meal! Had another great meal there in May with Joe. Joe said it was his best meal in Disney ever.

 

[Dizney73]

We didn't dislike Universal, we just like Disney better.

Like I said before, that Express Pass is amazing. It wasn't very crowded, and with the Pass we hardly had to wait at all for anything. The employees were friendly, even though we had heard they might not be.

.

This DOES make me feel better! We havn't been to Universal since 1993. Our kids don't even know it exists! I keep thinking hat maybe we should go, but I just can't NOT go to WDW!

 

[hematite153]

After lunch we went to the Poseidon show. I now have a new gold standard for lame attractions. It was truly horrid. 20 minutes of my life that I will never get back.

Is it really worse than Stitch?

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

This DOES make me feel better! We havn't been to Universal since 1993. Our kids don't even know it exists! I keep thinking hat maybe we should go, but I just can't NOT go to WDW!

I think going over just for one night was perfect. Neither park was a full day for us, so we didn't need more time. Even if we had decided to wait in the Rip Ride Rockit stand-by queue for an hour we would have had plenty of time. I tend to think we could have done every attraction in both parks if we had chosen to.

Is it really worse than Stitch?

You know, I do think it is worse than Stitch because it took longer. And you have to stand up the whole time and walk from scene to scene. And it was FREEZING cold. I was wearing a jacket (yes, I carry a jacket with me because I am always cold) and I was shivering the entire time. I told DH if I could have figured out how to leave in the middle I would have.

 

[lovesdumbo]

OH...forgot to say...great job drawing Dopey!!!

 

[hematite153]

You know, I do think it is worse than Stitch...

Wow, that's really bad!!!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

OH...forgot to say...great job drawing Dopey!!!

Thanks! That was a new one for us.

Well, we have a bit of a problem. We got multiple notices that the hotel would be conductng "power testing" between 1 - 3 AM. OK, whatever. The PROBLEM is that it is now 6:20 and almost nothing in the villa has power!

ONE lamp works. Both TVs work, and the A/C is running. The bathroom is pitch black. We are using the cell phone screens to navigate around.

I phoned the "front desk" which goes to a call center NOT inside the hotel. She phoned the hotel and they were shocked to hear we had no power.

Ah, good! DH went to get coffee (can't make our own) and he stopped at the desk in person. The girl phoned maintenance and POOF! Now everything works!

 

[hematite153]

Well, we have a bit of a problem. We got multiple notices that the hotel would be conductng "power testing" between 1 - 3 AM. OK, whatever. The PROBLEM is that it is now 6:20 and almost nothing in the villa has power!

Oops!

 

[MrsHeg]

Loving the report, I was considering spending a day at Universal in July but I think I'll wait, I'm afraid it will get crazy crowded once HP opens.

I know when we take the whole family we'll definitely have to go as both my daughters love Harry Potter, and I think Brandon will really enjoy all the characters there.

 

[Tammi67]

I'm so excited to hear your report! The pictures are great! I'm not sure if I'm happy or not about hearing your experience riding FJ. Maybe I was better off not knowing how intense it is. Here's my plan.....arriving late morning on day one at US, then going to IOA at RD on day 2. So, opposite of your days. Think it will work?

Great pictures too!

 

[mommykds]

I will have to make sure I slam A LOT of doors on my way to AM EMH tomorrow.

Anne Marie, I've never been to Yachtman's but on my December trip all 4 of us thought Flying Fish was our best meal! Had another great meal there in May with Joe. Joe said it was his best meal in Disney ever.

Ok I am going to have to make an ADR for this summer, thanks!

 

[mommykds]

Elizabeth,
Thanks for the detailed review of WWoHP & Universal. My family knows nothing about this place & have always been hesitant to take away a day from Disney to go there. WWoHP looks very cool but the fact that you said it was small & not laid out well to handle crowds scares me.

 

[yellowfish78]

Anne Marie - don't forget that WWoHP is not another park, just another land like Africa in AK...That's where the problem is. Just one way in and out basically.

I should have told you about Posideon Elizabeth... Sorry! DH and I only did it because it was like 110 degrees when we went. Mythos is the only decent sit down place in the parks and nothing compares to Disney foodwise unless you go to CityWalk.

Glad you had fun and enjoyed yourself!

 

[PghLybrt]

After lunch we went to the Poseidon show. I now have a new gold standard for lame attractions. It was truly horrid. 20 minutes of my life that I will never get back.

I will 100 % agree with you on that one! When we went I kept thinking all of that moving was preshow...... oops.

Is it really worse than Stitch?

I actually like stitch...although I did like what they had in before better.

I always enjoy Universal. I really like their royal Pacific hotel (I think it is nicer version of the poly ) We never eat in the park, ever! I think it is that bad (and I will not get into telling you what I saw during the Halloween nights there....) Harry Potter looks neat! Although did they just re theme some rides, or are their new ones? I have not been since they put in the Simpson’s (I am still upset they removed Back to the Future). Next time (if there is one), check out the horror makeup show. It is so good and I think that is the sleeper hit of the park. Did you ride ET? (I think we decided to do ET this year for Halloween)

 

[princessallegra]

HIIIII!!!!! No wonder we didn't see you at Yachtsman!!! I figured something like that happened, and I was right! We had a fabulous dinner there, the food was superb. SOOOO glad you're having an amazing trip!!! We're sad to be home, but I had to spill the beans to DH about his birthday trip and he's so psyched! It's good too because now we can both be on board to scrimp and save for that

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Loving the report, I was considering spending a day at Universal in July but I think I'll wait, I'm afraid it will get crazy crowded once HP opens.

I know when we take the whole family we'll definitely have to go as both my daughters love Harry Potter, and I think Brandon will really enjoy all the characters there.

We were lucky that it wasn't crowded! I do think once WWoHP is officially open it will get crazy. And I honestly don't think those parks require an entire day unless you want to ride things multiple times.

I'm so excited to hear your report! The pictures are great! I'm not sure if I'm happy or not about hearing your experience riding FJ. Maybe I was better off not knowing how intense it is. Here's my plan.....arriving late morning on day one at US, then going to IOA at RD on day 2. So, opposite of your days. Think it will work?

Great pictures too!

Thanks! You know DH and his cameras...
FJ was weird, because I didn't expect to feel sick. And I rode on an empty stomach, too. I think if I had eaten breakfast before we went I would have been REALLY sick.

Anne Marie - don't forget that WWoHP is not another park, just another land like Africa in AK...That's where the problem is. Just one way in and out basically.

I should have told you about Posideon Elizabeth... Sorry! DH and I only did it because it was like 110 degrees when we went. Mythos is the only decent sit down place in the parks and nothing compares to Disney foodwise unless you go to CityWalk.

Glad you had fun and enjoyed yourself!

Yes, WWoHP is a small section of IOA, and it is currently like a little cul-de-sac.
We did have fun. Thanks for helping me with it, Chanon!

I will 100 % agree with you on that one! When we went I kept thinking all of that moving was preshow...... oops.

I actually like stitch...although I did like what they had in before better.

I always enjoy Universal. I really like their royal Pacific hotel (I think it is nicer version of the poly ) We never eat in the park, ever! I think it is that bad (and I will not get into telling you what I saw during the Halloween nights there....) Harry Potter looks neat! Although did they just re theme some rides, or are their new ones? I have not been since they put in the Simpson’s (I am still upset they removed Back to the Future). Next time (if there is one), check out the horror makeup show. It is so good and I think that is the sleeper hit of the park. Did you ride ET? (I think we decided to do ET this year for Halloween)

I *think* Forbidden Journey is the only new thing, but I may be wrong. The Dragon thing used to be Fire and Ice, and they have redone the queue. We DID ride ET! I thought it was cute. In the middle of the ride DH said to me "I want to go to Magic Kingdom!" We LOVED the Horror Make-Up Show! We were in the front row. It was really fun - DS had a blast. He will be required to do a stage make-up class so it was interesting.

HIIIII!!!!! No wonder we didn't see you at Yachtsman!!! I figured something like that happened, and I was right! We had a fabulous dinner there, the food was superb. SOOOO glad you're having an amazing trip!!! We're sad to be home, but I had to spill the beans to DH about his birthday trip and he's so psyched! It's good too because now we can both be on board to scrimp and save for that

I hope you guys had a FABULOUS time!!! I was sorry that we missed the chance to see you. YAY for birthday trip planning!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Today we braved Star Wars Weekends!

We went in with the intention of doing nothing but standing in line, and that is precisely what we did!

We got there about 7:50 and got in the FastPass line for celebrity autographs. BUT the line doesn't start MOVING until 8:45. That was a pain. I stood in line for Peter mayhew, DH took Ray Park, and DS took Jeremy Bulloch. The cast members told us we wold be allowed to go through the line together but we could only have ONE autograph if we only had one FastPass. Which was fine. But that turned out to be wrong. Only the person HOLDING the FastPass can go through the line, but the way it was set up that turned out to be fine. DH was still able to take pics of DS with the celebs. And there was no way we would have been able to get tickets for all 3 without dividing up into different FastPass lines.

We got our FastPasses but the park wasn't open yet. It was AM EMH but we were way over on the right and they only allow EMH entry throught he one WAY on the left.

We got in and went straight over to a character line. It started off as Donald, but they swapped out to Minnie before DS got up there. I went to stand int he merchandise line, which turned out to be really short. Because they were mostly sold out of stuff. I did get an AP pin. From there I went to hold a spot in the Darth Vader line. That took about an hour. Then we went to find a spot for the parade. After the parade we had lunch, then we got n the Chewbacca/Ewok line. About an hour in that line, too. Then it was time for celebrity autographs. We got our 3rd autograph and we were MORE than ready to head for the bus! I bought a Star wars Weekend 2010 baseball cap for DS to have them sign. It looks nice!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

SWW pics