just arrived

[dc1964]

Hi, just arrived last night at the Homewood suites on I drive, up early, 6am here, so thought i would write a brief first day report.
Myself and DW left Manchester airport at 0830 yesterday for a short connecting flight to Gatwick, great flight, suprised they offered a cooked breakfast on such a short flight, i declined as had just eaten at hotel.
Gatwick was great, more like a shopping Mall at the North Terminal, we just had enough time to browse and have a quick beer before our 1130 flight.
left on time and had a great flight with BA, would highly recommend them, good in flight entertainment and food, watched Ghost town, Its a wonderfull life and transiberian, ate cottage pie, which was delicious, DW had a xmas dinner. They only did one run of free drinks but we got a gin and tonic and 2 wines, which was enough.
Arrived at Orlando international 30 mins early, immigration and bags done and dusted in about 20mins, no queues at Dollar.Unusually there was no hard sell at Dollar, they did not try to push addiitnal products.
When we collected the car we found that instead of standard intermediate car we had been given a very nice convertable Chrysler Seebring, very nice.
Straight to the hotel on Beeline expressway (528 i think). Arrived at hotel and unpacked and was having a beer within an hour and a half of landing, sat round the pool drinking the free beer, ate at Tony Romas which was great, potatoe skins followed by ribs and mash, all shared with DW, dont want to go
overboard when portions are so big.
Got to bed about 10pm, very tired.
Supposed to be 76 deg today, will work out how to get roof down on car and will head to Universal IOA to collect AP.
Going for a jog now, then breakfast.
I will add more as holiday goes on, as long as we have a wireless connection.

 

[jen_uk]

Sounds like the perfect journey! Hope you are having a great first day

 

[higgy66]

Sounds a great start to your hols - hope the rest goes just as well.

Have a great time!

 

[natalielongstaff]

Have a great trip !!

 

[elkvideo]

I hope you enjoy the rest of your holiday and love reading your thread. I am looking at booking to go again next year and hearing your report makes me want to go even more. happy new to you!

 

[wicket2005]

I am glad you had a good journey, looking forward to hearing more.

 

[suzycute]

Sounds like a great start to your holiday!

 

[Pinky166]

Sounds like a great journey. Hope you are having a great first day!

 

[dc1964]

just back in in time to enjoy the nmanagers reception at the hotel, the beer and wine is free till 7pm so will make the most of it i think.

We have been out since 8am, got IOA for 0845 and got the APs, got then electronically off the internet, they had a great collection system at the park, took less than a minute to enter details on a screen and tickets popped out.

Parks were busy and we got in the slowest queue to get in, one proplem was that people were been refused entry as the tickets were not recognised on their fingerprints, mind you there was also a group of 8, i think pueto ricans in front of us who were refused entry due to the fact they were trying to use Disney hopper passes.
Anyway once in the park we went straight to the hulk, already 60mins wait at 9an so did not bother, by 1030 it was 120 mins, no worries will go back after new year when parks are quieter.
Went to Dr Dooms Fearfall and got straght on as a single rider, then to duelling dragons which i think is probably the best ride, only 15 min wait so off we went.
Only 5 mins wait at Jurassic park water ride, sat at the back and did not get wet.
We then decided to relax in the sun and have a cold beer, well it was 1030 so that is ok. We sat next to the water in the Marvel area.
All the rides now had queues of well over an hour apart from the water rides, maybe the mid 70s is not warm enough.
Anyway by 11 we decided to walk to city walk for Buffalo wings and another cold one in Nascar, see the pattern here.
Then off to Universal studios, just for a walk, no rides and yes u guessed it another cold beer in Finnegans, the irish bar next to The Mummy, i noticed they are building another rollercoaster there due for completion in 2010.
We also had some fish and chips to share in the pub....very nice.
By 1 0clock we decided to hit Florida Mall for some shopping, got the 11% discount card from customer services and then onto Walmart on Sand Lake road, which just about brings me up to date, having a beer now and then off to Olive garden later, nice bottle of red at the bar with a nice pasta, then i think it will be bed time, plenty of sleep required for a busy New Years Eve

a couple of pics
the car

IOA pics

 

[rpbert1]

Glad youre having a good time, love Finnegans myself.
New ride Rip Ride Rocket, hope youre wrong with the opening of 2010, its supposed to be May 2009

 

[Snowy-girls]

Enjoying your mini trippie .Would love to hear more about your hotel when you have the time+some piccies would be great,were thinking of maybe staying there next time we go .
We love Tony Roma's,which reminds me i must buy some more of there sauces they have for sale-are they still selling them?I hope so.
Hope Olive garden is a nice meal,we are going to eat there next year as we have'nt tried it yet .Let us know what you think.
Great pics by the way.x.

 

[thehails]

Sounds lovely! Love the car also. The weather sounds fantastic, well compared to here which is -1 and foggy

Looking forward to the next update

 

[dc1964]

Glad youre having a good time, love Finnegans myself.
New ride Rip Ride Rocket, hope youre wrong with the opening of 2010, its supposed to be May 2009

sorry u are correct, it is 2009, i was confused with the Harry potter ride which is 2010

 

[wicket2005]

It looks a fantastic rollercoaster, I am looking forward to going on it. I think you can choose from about 6 genres of music to listen to whilst you ride it. Construction is in between Spongebob shop and Twister with track extending through end of Twister building when we were there and entrance down from the Jimmy Neutron ride.

So glad you are enjoying yourself and looking forward to hearing more.

 

[dc1964]

up again at 5.30 watching local news, drinking strong coffee, will be running at seven, have a nice route if anyone knows it, run from hotel to i drive, turn left, passed point orlando, left up universal boulevard then left sandlake road left at big Mcdonalds and back down I drive, once round for me, DW does it twice, she likes to show off i think
Last nights meal was good at Olive garden, it was very busy with a 50 min wait for seating, we sat at the bar and ate there, think this is nice, better for the atmosphere and people watching i think.
We asked for a bottle of house red, it was very nice but it was a magnum so could not drink it all, $30 a bottle but thats ok as it was twice as big, we brought the remainder back to hotel in a nice gift box.
We have booked tickets for News years Eve at a bar called Howl at the Moon, it is a piano duelling /music bar. We were too late to book a table so have to make do with standing, looks ok though, $70 each for entry and an open bar from 8pm till 2am. We will make the most of that i can assure u. It is staggering distance back to the homewood suites as well which is good news.
Off to Cocoa beach today, weather is about 72 deg today which will be ok, it is above average for next 7 days.
Happy New Year to everyone

 

[dc1964]

Snowy-Girl

some pictures from a previous thread

The free beer offered at managers buffet Monday to Thursday.

It is agreat hotel in a great location for access to all parks, beachces and shopping.
Not great for sun bathing though, the pool is surrounded on all sides by the building so only gets a little sun, great breakfast buffet , the staff are also the friendliest we have come across.

 

[wicket2005]

Have a nice day.

 

[amberandolly]

Sounds great! Happy New Year.
We had a Sebring, though not a soft top - I'd have one again, very comfy.
It's minus 5 degrees and foggy here - want to trade places?

 

[dc1964]

well its 5pm again so time for another beer.

Just back from a day at Cocoa beach, set off at 9am this morning and thought we would take the roof down, it was a beautiful sunny day, no clouds but as we discovered it was no where near warm enough to drive 50 miles with the wind in our hair ( not that i have any), so on our arrival at 10am we were freezing. Any way parked at Alan Shepherd park, $7 to park, then sat on the beach, it began to warm up and by 11am we were ready for a beer at a beach bar, sitting outside in the sun was fantastic. A couple of beers later and we were back on the beach, stayed till 3pm then headed back to Homewood suites, again with the roof down but a little warmer this time.
DW has gone out for another run giving me time to write this.

Hope everyone has enjoyed new years eve, ours is just beginning

 

[Beep]

I love reading your live trip report, it's making me homesick for Orlando! Sitting here with fluffy slippers and the central heating on

Sounds like a great trip so far, and the perfect outward journey. If only they were all like that...

Have a fantastic time at Howl at the Moon. We loved it there and I bet it's fantastic on New Years Eve.

Happy New Year