Just Back- 1st onsite TR-updated w/ pics!

[macraven]

you sure are skinny for all the food you packed away............


wish i could be like that.......

 

[Gabriel&Nana]

It's a really nice trip report.

I've been 8 times in Orlando and always go at least 5 days to USF / IOA, but I've never stayed on-site, as we go to all major parks.

But after reading trip reports like yours , I'm looking forward staying on-site and enjoying the front of line on my next trip ...

 

[LeslieR]

Enjoying your report..just a couple of questions...

Was the pizza place called Sal's or was it a different one?

And...I'm thinking about getting spa treatment lined up for my family when we go in August. Is there a spa menu on the web I can see? did you make ressies before you went or while you were there?

Eagerly waiting for more of your report!!!!

Thanks!

 

[Disneychix]

you sure are skinny for all the food you packed away............


wish i could be like that.......

My trick is I eat just a taste and let my DH finish it and pack on the pounds! Aren't I generous??!

It's a really nice trip report.

I've been 8 times in Orlando and always go at least 5 days to USF / IOA, but I've never stayed on-site, as we go to all major parks.

But after reading trip reports like yours , I'm looking forward staying on-site and enjoying the front of line on my next trip ...

I really can't say enough about how impressed we were with the resorts at US. And the FOTL access it tops. You seriously can do the whole park in 1 day!

 

[Disneychix]

Enjoying your report..just a couple of questions...

Was the pizza place called Sal's or was it a different one?

And...I'm thinking about getting spa treatment lined up for my family when we go in August. Is there a spa menu on the web I can see? did you make ressies before you went or while you were there?

Eagerly waiting for more of your report!!!!

Thanks!

No, we went to Splendido Pizzeria as it was right by the Spa and smelled good while we were walking. It was very good too.

Here is the link http://www.mandaraspa.com/Main/SpaView.aspx?SpaID=7

DH planned everything so I'm not sure how he did it. I know he made ressies before we went.

 

[Disneychix]

Day 3 (i think) cont: I believe I left off as we were getting back to RPR and needing to ride some coasters. We were well fed and rested at this point having just come from lunch and the spa. We went back to our room to change and get our tickets and we set off for IOA.
DH hadn't been to IOA since 2004. I went for 1 day in 2005 with my mother. We did precisly 4 rides that day. Hulk, Spiderman, Jurassic Park and DD. My mother only likes coasters and we were only in town for 1 day. So I was in need of some IOA time too!
I planned ahead and purposly didn't bring my bag or purse with me because I hate hate having to get a locker to ride hulk and DD. So I gave DH the camera and my wallet (thank God for cargo shorts!) and off we were. We immediatly went to the Hulk first and flashed our very handy FOTL cards. We were on in 2 mins! Actually when we got up to the boarding area there were 2 seats open on that very car and we stepped right in them. This wasn't all that good though. You see I didn't have any time to prepare and hadn't even seen 1 car take off so I didn't know what to expect. No time for fear! Dh said, "Ready?" and we took off. I screamed and screamed. I seriously never scream on rides but it was just coming out of me! It was a very good ride!
Next up was Spiderman. The wait on the regular line was 50 mins so we thought we would have a little wait on the FOTL line. No Way! Got our glasses and went right on! Just as good as we remembered! No time to stop now though. We needed more rides!! I just looked and I don't have any pictures from this part of the day because I guess when I gave the camera to DH to put in his pockets I never remembered to ask him to take any pics and he didn't take any on his own. Oh well. Sorry!
Next up was Dudley's Rip Saw Falls. Now we did not do our research on this as this was a surprise trip and we didn't know about the new lapbars! Who were the test people on these cars that felt as if they fit in there without taking off ribs and organs and leaving them in the lockers? Now Dh is a pretty big guy I guess. He's about 6' and 200lbs. They put him in the front!! He could hardly get in or out and felt very uncomfortable throughout the whole ride. I think they put him there just to laugh at him trying to get out! I was in the second seat and am only 5'2" and I was feeling the "closesness" of the space too. Watch out for this ride if you are a bigger person. Not sure DH will ride again anytime soon. Back to how we got on the ride. This was the longest line of the day so far. Regular line was saying 70 mins. The worker at the FOTL line couldn't say how long the wait was. She kept telling people "less than 70 mins" or "about 45 mins". We decided to go in anyway as at least it was out of the sun. The wait ended up being only about 7mins. This worker was nuts. Where was she getting 45 mins from? So with only a 7 min wait we were put in the new "Made for people with no organs" cars and sent on our way. There was this little kid, maybe 10yrs, behind me and he was telling me all about the ride as I kept screaming at the little hills. I went along with him pretending like I'd never ridden before. i could tell he thought he was so cool to be telling an adult about something. Right before the big splash he's telling me about the hill and how you really go underground. It was cute. Down the hill we went and we actually didn't get as wet as the first couple of hills. And no one was aiming for us from the water guns so I didn't have to make any snarky comments in front of my new 10 yr old friend! We got off and that was when I realized I HAD gotten soaked. And where was I wet? My butt and mid-region so it looked a little (ok, a LOT) bit like I peed myself Oh well, everyone else around was wet too! And it was very hot so I dried off quickly.
Onto my next favorite ride, Jurassic Park. Now I swear to God and I say it everytime, that Dinosaur is really really gonna EAT someone. I swear it's real!! We were seated towards the back which is both good and bad. Good because I knew we wouldn't get too wet, bad because it's more realistic up front. This is a really good ride I think. I still remember when I first went on it and it is totally like you are in the Movie. Still a very good ending and I can still see inside that T-Rex's mouth and swear he's going to eat me!! Dh just at me!
After JP I was craving something sweet so we split a ice-cream sandwhich. This is when I got myself in trouble! It was very crowded in the JP section of the park and we were trying to walk quickly to get to DD. DH and I kept getting split up between different groups of people but would always end up back together. Well at one point I went to grab DHs hand and steer him my way around a family. Well, it wasn't DH! It was a man with a family and I touched his hand and he looked at me and got his family away from me ASAP! He didn't even give me a chance to apologize! You should've seen them run! To make it worse DH was behind me and saw it all and kept asking me if I was going to run away with another man! He thought it was soooo funny!
Onto Dueling Dragons. This was the longest line of the vacation. They do not really have the whole FOTL line going on this ride yet. There is a little bit shorter wait but everyone just jams into the last bit of line. I wish they would re-do this part at the end. I always get scared that I will lose my shoes on DD. I always have flip flops on and have to sit on them. I know I will not move my butt that much that they will fall out but it always scares me anyway! We chose Fire and away we were. Still a good ride but not my favorite.
It was getting to be about my nap-time so we were going to call it a day for the parks. I think it was about 4:30ish by now. We stopped to do one of those questionnaires as we walked out of the park. Although I don't expect that they owe you anything for doing those at least they should offer a drink of cold water or something. I mean it would only be nice! I think we walked back to the RPR and took a little nap. We were not very hungry yet but we talked about what we wanted for dinner. DH wanted just a sandwhich somewhere so we decided to just head to CW and look at the different menus.
TBC...