Live Trip Report Disney and Universal Feb 2013

[sejejoemmiev]

Our family of 6 drove down to Orlando starting at 10 pm Valentines Day. We drove through, stopping in Virginia for breakfast and SC for lunch and arriving at our hotel at Hilton Head SC around 4pm. We took a 2 hour nap, woke up and showered, and went out to dinner and a quick trip to Walmart. We went to bed early as we were all exhausted! The next morning, after breakfast we finished the last leg of our trip, arriving in Orlando and at the Orlando ticket place at 230. After purchasing our tickets we headed to Universal Islands of Adventure. We were Originally just going to check into our hotel and rest this first day, but we received a free day with the buy 2 get 1 free day at Universal so we decided to go for a few hours. We stopped at the NBA restaurant and had apps and drinks. We then went to FJ and Harry Potter!! The posted wait time was 60 minutes but we didn't care! My husband and I, and our two boys had been here 2 years ago on a trip we just took our boys on. We did a girls only trip to Disney the year prior . Our two girls were over the moon excited for this ride! My youngest daughter is obsessed and my older daughter read all the books. We measured our youngest daughter at home and she was JUST 48" The line was more like 70-75 minutes but we didn't care! We just arrived and were so excited!!! After ALL of us riding, Yay!!! We rode the Harry potter roller coaster with < 15 min wait then went to the wand shop. < 15 min line ( it was dark windy and Cold) We watched the show, none of our party was picked. My youngest daughter was mesmerized by the magic of the show though so we got right back in line and did it again with < 15 min wait!! We then did Dungeons and dragons child swap and the older kids rode twice. Walked on!! No line!! We then did Spider-Man, posted wait 20 minutes but it was walk on. The 3 younger kids then did the spinning Storm force ride ughhh I hate spinning rides I couldn't even watch them on it!! The park was now closing and we left to tons of traffic taking 45 minutes to get to the Drury Inn, 2 minutes up the street. We are only staying here one night and checking out this morning after breakfast. We are heading to Universal today!!!

 

[sejejoemmiev]

After breakfast we drove to Universal and had a long wait to pay for parking. We walked in to a long line to scan our tickets. Because of the cold, 41* in the sun right now, the fingerprint scanners were not working well and taking multiple scans for each person was causing a major line backup. Upon entering the park, Rip-Ride-Rock it is down not currently doing rides. We got in line for Despicable Me with a 90 minute wait. Eeeeekkkkkk!!!! Excited though this will all be our first time on it!

 

[sejejoemmiev]

After Despicable Me, which we loved! We noticed Rip Ride Rock it was running again. The wait said 60 minutes so we got in line. DH and DD2 did not ride, but waited with us. The ride was Awesome!! After riding we grabbed a snack. I picked a warm churro as I was freezing! Next, The Mummy only a 20 minute wait! This is DS1 and DS2's favorite ride!

 

[sejejoemmiev]

DD2 was not allowed to ride the Mummy. She was about 1/4 " too short for this measuring stick and they were strictly enforcing it. She was very upset and started crying. We did child swap and the rest of us had a blast. After the Mummy, we checked in for lunch at Finnegan's and it was a 45 minute wait so we took our pager and went to Twister. This was only a 10 minute wait. It was a good show but it Freaked DD2 out! After Twister we had a nice leisurely lunch and it was a well needed break by all! After lunch we did Simpsons with a 50 minute wait. This ride always makes me feel so sick. After the Simpsons we rode Men in Black with a 45 minute wait. Kids loved this one. Next on the agenda was Woody woodpecker kids coaster with 15 minute wait. DD2 loved this! Really cold waiting outside though. After the kiddie coaster we ended up at ET with a 45 minute wait. This ride really isn't worth this wait but it is on the list so it is a must do.

 

[purpledisneyprncess]

I heard it was cold today, my in laws are down in Disney. They too started their drive on Valentine's Day. Have a great trip! How many days of Disney are you doing?

 

[sejejoemmiev]

Ok so I forgot how much I love ET. One of my favorites! Love the musty smell too. I know I am weird. The wait was definitely not 45 minutes so we lucked out. DS1 and DS2 did not want to ride ET so they did their 3rd ride on the Mummy! We met them at Shrek and watched the show together. After Shrek the Mardi GRAS parade was about to start. It was soooooo cold and we were already ready to go, just exhausted!! We decided to skip the Parade. We originally decided on Universal for this day as we were looking forward to the Parade but the cold was against us and we got out of there! We drove to our resort for the week at Bonnet Creek. This is our first stay here and I have to say we are impressed!! The room (2 bedroom Deluxe) was so big and clean. Very up to date. We also have a Epcot view of the fireworks! Wow! We attempted to watch but it was so cold on the balcony! I have to say I was nervous having my youngest out there that high up as well!! We decided to order pizza as we were in our pajamas within 5 minutes of getting into our room. We started a load of Laundry and we fell asleep!!! No pizza for us! Haha DH put it in the fridge for breakfast!

 

[sejejoemmiev]

Monday: Presidents Day
We decided to try our resort transport and take the shuttle to Epcot this morning. We took the 8:30 and arrived at 9:10 past rope drop so I was not happy we were not ready in time for the 8:00 shuttle. Straight to Soarin and the wait is already 60 minutes at 920am Ugh! We grabbed fast passes too for a ride later today. Our fast pass return time is for 1155-1255.

 

[sejejoemmiev]

I heard it was cold today, my in laws are down in Disney. They too started their drive on Valentine's Day. Have a great trip! How many days of Disney are you doing?

We are doing 5 days Disney, 3 Universal Days and a Pool day. It was in the 30's here! Ugh! We left home in the 30's so we are ready for some warmth. Cold this morning in the 30's but already warming up more than yesterday ever did! Today is supposed to reach 67 so VERY happy about that!!!

 

[sejejoemmiev]

After riding Soarin, which we all loved, we headed over to Nemo with a 30 minute wait. DD2 loved Nemo! After Nemo, DH ran across the park to get Test Track fast passes while the kids explored the aquarium and the Nemo play area. The fast passes had a return time perfect for after our dinner reservations at Via Napoli. We had reservations for 430. The test track fast passes ended up being extremely needed because the wait time reached 210 minutes quite early in the day!!! We rode Soarin again with our fast passes and did Turtle Talk with Crush. We had plans to do Sum of all Thrills but never quite made it even though it was a priority on my list. We ended up going later in the day but they closed at 7. We finally tried the soda station at club cool. In all our trips we never quite made it there. We bought some flip flops as it was starting to get quite warm and DD1 and my feet were getting quite hot! We also bought DD2 her autograph book. We never quite got around to getting our photo pass pre-trip so when we headed around the world showcase and saw our first character of the trip, DH ran over to the camera center to purchase photo pass + as DD1 and DD2 waited in line for Mexican Donald and then Snow White. We each picked different snacks around the world and then it was time for our reservation at Via Napoli. We ordered a couple pizza's and a pitcher of Sangria for us adults. After dinner we went on Test Track and then went to meet Belle, Aurora and Jasmine and Aladdin. We then went on Mission Space. DS1 and DS2 and I chose the Intense version while the rest did less intense. I thought I was going to die, no kidding. The pressure on my chest was intense and I could not breathe. I could not wait for it to be over! The boys felt the same way! We did Spaceship earth and then waited for illuminations away from the crowd. We were only able to see the fireworks, but we were so cold and tired we did not care! We did not feel up to fighting the crowds for a good view of the show. We were so tired! We took the shuttle back and passed out while DH went to the store for drinks, snacks and cereal.

 

[sejejoemmiev]

Tuesday: 2/19 Animal Kingdom
We arrived via shuttle at 905 am and headed to the stand-by Safari line while DS1 went and got Everest Fast passes. He arrived back with the fast passes and our wait was < 15 minutes. The Safari was fun and we saw tons of animals. After the Safari we rode Everest and waited to see Pochahantas. We grabbed a icecream snack and Then we rode Dinosaur. After Dinosaur, DD1 and DS2 rode Primeval Whirl. DS1 and DD2 did Triceratop Spin. DH and I then stood in line for Goofy and Pluto. The kids joined us and now DD2 was happy that she completed the Fab 5 autographs. We went to grab a reservation at Yak and Yeti and while waiting for our table we watched It's tough to be a bug! This freaked DD2 out! We received a text that our table was ready at the end of the show and we headed over. Lunch was so good. This is one of my favorites! After lunch we went for our 2nd fast pass of Everest that was just expiring and rode again. DD2 surprised us all and absolutely loved this!! After riding we got fast passes for Kali River Rapids and then got in line for Nemo the Musical. We still have alot on our list for the day and we were hoping to leave early and get some pool time. We will see!

 

[luckylady]

I hope now that Pres. day is over your wait times are down to almost nothing.

 

[sejejoemmiev]

After Finding Nemo the Musical, which is even better than I remembered it, we went to get a family picture in front of the Tree of Life. We tried 3 different photopass locations to try and get a good shot. After driving my kids crazy with pictures we headed over to Kali to finally ride. The kids had been begging to ride this the last few hours, but I kept putting it off, as I was not looking forward to getting wet. Of course I got drenched! But we had a good time. After Kali, we decided to do something we had never done before. We took the train to Rafiki's planet watch. This was near the end of the day about 5 pm, so I don't know if it is better, earlier in he day, but we were like. This is it? We did get a meet and Greet with Rafiki, but other than that it was a long wait to get on the next train out of there! We were ready to go, except DD2 who wanted to go to Camp Mickey. We attempted this on the way out, but a Festival of the Lion King show was just getting out, and there were people everywhere! The lines for Donald, Mickey and Minnie were out of control! She also had already seen them at Epcot. They also had two characters from ? Jungle book a Ape and Bear that had huge lines. I gave DD2 the option of waiting or leaving to swim and she thankfully picked swimming! We took the 630pm bus back to our resort and quickly changed into swimsuits as soon as we got back. We started out at the lazy river but it was chilly so after 20 minutes we hit the Hot tub. The kids wanted to try the pirate pool and waterside so we walked over. The slide was already closed so they just swam in the pool. We gave them as long as we could before we had to go back to the room and change as we had 9 pm reservations for TRex at DTD. The restaurant was Packed! Tons of commotion! The theming was really cool though! Food was below average quality, typical chain restaurant food, edible but not really good. It was really cool to experience it, but we wouldn't go back. DD2 was really tired and started falling asleep while still eating her dinner. That was disappointing as we picked this restaurant with the youngest two kids in mind. We had a totally exhausting day though. After dinner, we asked the kids if they wanted to walk around DTD for awhile. They all voted NO! They couldn't wait to go to bed, so we drove back and did exactly that!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[sejejoemmiev]

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Magic Kingdom! Finally!

We finally arrived on our Magic Kingdom day! We had Crystal Palace reservations for 8:15 so we had to wake up real early to get ready and out the door on time. We arrived at rope drop at 730 and let in through the reservations line. We took empty Main Street pictures and had a family picture in front of the castle with the photo pass photographers. We had a wonderful, yummy, Crystal Palace breakfast and the food was delicious. The puffed French toast was so yummy!! The kids took cute photos with Pooh and friends. After breakfast, we got out shortly after rope drop and headed straight to Fantasyland. At 915, Belle was already at a 60 minute wait. We went to Voyage of the Little Mermaid and rode twice walk on and absolutely loved it!!! The robot characters are unbelievable!!! The music gets you singing along! Such a happy ride!!! We then rode Peter Pan and It's a small world with 10 minute waits!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[sejejoemmiev]

After, It's a Small World we ran over to Space mountain, to ride with the fast passes DS1 ran and got right after breakfast. Couldn't believe DD2 loved this! She is a Dare devil! We grabbed another fast pass for later and then we split up. DD2 and I rode the carousel while waiting 20 minutes for her Bippidi Boppidi Boutique reservation at 1140. My youngest daughter was so excited for this. She did this a couple of years ago on our last trip, and has been asking to do it again ever since! DD2 was signed up for the castle package, so at the start of her appointment she looked at all the dresses to decide which one she wanted. She picked Ariel, which I believe was the most beautiful dress they have. The fairy godmother in training had a dress, wand and crown in a dressing room ready for her to try on. DD2 Hated the feel of her dress. She sad it was too scratchy!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[wiigirl]

Following along.