My DSD came for a visit & didn't stay for our trip to WDW??? Update 1/13Kadani Villag

[jmskinner]

Great pictures again! I like the illegal one from the falls! It turned out really well!

That's too funny that they were spinning the ride the wrong way.

I'm glad you liked Spiderman! When we were there, he had his own little meet n' greet area in the back part of a store. I don't know if it's still there, but it was kind of out of the way.

I can't remember if I saw a meet n' greet area or not. Jonas and Jacob did see Storm and Rogue, but the pics didn't come out well. Actually it was just their backsides.

I don't think I would have held back on the teenagers, myself!!

The more I see all the cool places in this park, the more I want to go. Too funny about the wet money story -- I think the same thing has happened to me, where a clerk kidded me about it!

I really like the talking bubbles, for picture effects. That's scrapbooking prior to the scrapbooking! LOL

I could see you going off on those teenagers. I still remember the Fiesta TX employee that made you throw away your french fries before the raft ride. Many years ago, we were at Fiesta TX together. Vickie had just purchased french fries, you know, like $6 for fries or something like that. Well we go to get in line and the employee at the entrance says no food is allowed, so Vickie eats a couple of fries and tosses the rest. We get in line and wait...and wait. 30 minutes later we were finally on the ride. Why couldn't she finish the fries in line. There were trash cans and the worst part, they even had coke machines in line. So, Vickie had 30 minutes to think about those fries she threw away. So, as soon as we are off the ride, Vickie heads straight out to find that employee and give him a piece of her mind. I doubt that kid ever made anyone throw food away again.

I wish we had gotten more pics of the talking bubbles. They are really cool. There were several other photo ops I had wanted to get but no one would take the time to do it.

You will have to go to Universal sometime.

Wait a minute. You didn't save a piece of chocolate for me, your BFF????

Melissa- can we copy your Spiderman photo, Jack wants to put it on our computer as the desktop picture, he LOVED it.

You got some great shots of all those rides.

Simmerbaggins- Chocolate is a great end to any day So beautiful too, looks so nice I don't know if I could've eaten it who am I kidding

Yes, you can copy the pic. Sorry I didn't get more.

Melissa - great update. I too liked the RipSaw Falls pic! What a great day you have had at IOA. You have managed to get so much in. Isn't that typical male behaviour that they didn't wait and started to spin straight away!!!

Lots of good pics of Jacob with lots of smiles. He is obviously having a great day.

Don't like the look of that storm....

Simmerbaggins - that fridge looks like something I could cope with on holiday!!!!!

ScotsMinnie, great . I'll start soaking Jacob before all pictures. That might just work.

More about the storm coming up.

 

[jmskinner]

So, Kara and I are finishing up for our night at Hard Rock. I happen to glance at the TV with the Weather Channel up and I see across the bottom, TORNADO WARNING. We both stop talking and read. They are showing the county that Orlando is in, but are naming communities that are affected by the warning. They never say Orlando, just areas like Seminole. Well of course I have no idea where that is. So I don't know if we are going to get hit or not. So what do we do, go find the boys and head for the Hard Rock. I believe I texted Vickie to warn her because I figured they had no idea what was going on. I mean, how often do you hear the news while at WDW.

So we tell the boys in the arcade and head out. We decide to head for the bus instead of the boat thinking the boat may not be running due to the weather.

Of course I took some pics:

After about 20 minutes the bus shows up. Well, they called it a bus, but it was more like a van. I was in a hurry to get to the restaurant and out of the weather. Jonas and Kara were just in a hurry to get to the restaurant.

We make it to CityWalk and the drop off is close to the Universal entrance. The rain has held off, but is starting. So just a few drops, but the lightning was another story. So we were trying to run/walk to get to the restaurant and we made it.

Jonas tried to get my picture. I always either look stoned or drunk.

Elvis' Pink Caddillac

Jacob was having fun:

MARGARITA!!!!

One food porn shot, dessert the best kind!

Our food was really good. And in case you noticed a hurricane glass in front of Kara, she got a virgin daiquiri (sp?). Our server mentioned we could walk around and look at everything, so off we went after paying the tab.

Jonas had to check out the Pink Floyd stuff:

Anyone know who this Black shirt belonged to?

Jonas took this one in the Hard Rock Store:

Can you tell he loves Shakira? Jonas' love for Shakira started back when he was in the desert 10 years ago. One of her video's came on and as he tells it, the meeting he was in became completely silent as every man in the room, stopped and watched Shakira on the TV. I have to say it, MEN!

Oops, image limit, more to come in next post.

 

[jmskinner]

Now the reason we were in the store was to get the souvenier Hurricane glasses we purchased with our drinks. So we got them and were on our way.

I had to take a pic of a poster from our favorite show:

They were testing the new Rip Ride Rockit:

Which, when the ride train goes up the lift hill, the lights on it are green and once it gets over the lift hill they turn pink (kind of hard to see, but the pink lights are the train):

So that was our last night at Universal, but we still had a half day to go. Wow, Vickie and I are finally together in this TR. This was the end of our Wednesday evening. July 15th.

 

[ScotsMinnie]

Hard Rock looks great and you seemed to have dodged the storm well! My DH is also a Pink Floyd fan so would have loved that stuff too.
Shame you missed the new coaster. Is it open yet?

 

[irky416]

Sounds like you had a good time in Hard Rock! Lucky you missed getting rained on. Did it ever storm really bad that night?

 

[jmskinner]

Hard Rock looks great and you seemed to have dodged the storm well! My DH is also a Pink Floyd fan so would have loved that stuff too.
Shame you missed the new coaster. Is it open yet?

No, still isn't open, but they are advertising it more, so shouldn't be long.

Sounds like you had a good time in Hard Rock! Lucky you missed getting rained on. Did it ever storm really bad that night?

I think it went around Orlando or something. We never heard the storm in the Hard Rock, not that you can hear much in that place. We were lucky the storm missed us. Sounds like it hit WDW though from what Vickie said.


Ok, for those of you who are followers of my other TR, you know I am always shocked by the critters we find in the yard. Well, today it was this guy:

It's a monitor lizard. Can't find him now, so I guess he made his way out of the yard. I don't know if I want us to retire in Florida or not. Especially since Jonas wants to live in the country, can only imagine what will show up.

 

[ScotsMinnie]

Ok, for those of you who are followers of my other TR, you know I am always shocked by the critters we find in the yard. Well, today it was this guy:

It's a monitor lizard. Can't find him now, so I guess he made his way out of the yard. I don't know if I want us to retire in Florida or not. Especially since Jonas wants to live in the country, can only imagine what will show up.

I would have to ensure that there were absolutely no holes anywhere near my house for creepy crawlies to get in!!!!!! Quite impressive though!!! (as long as he stays outside!!!!)

 

[JPFamilyMom]

What a great end to the day Melissa.

Thanks for the spidey pic, no worries, just means we'll have to go and get a bunch of spidey pictures (forces me to take him )
Costume catalogs have been arriving in the mail and he wants like five spiderman costumes

 

[jmskinner]

What a great end to the day Melissa.

Thanks for the spidey pic, no worries, just means we'll have to go and get a bunch of spidey pictures (forces me to take him )
Costume catalogs have been arriving in the mail and he wants like five spiderman costumes

How cute. You will have to post pics of all the ones you buy him.

 

[jmskinner]

It is now the morning of July 16th. We had spent the night before packing and getting ready to switch hotels. The plan was to be at POR by 3:00.

We asked Kara to take Jacob to the arcade while we loaded the truck. Now, the truck was all the way in the back of the parking lot since we didn't valet park. I believe it took 3 trips for Jonas and I to get everything out there. It was HOT! We were already tired and sweaty and we still had plans to spend the day at the park.

From the parking lot:

Walkway into hotel from driveway:

Pics from the walkway:

Doors into lobby:

The lobby while waiting in the checkout line:

The kids had run out of money and were now in the gift shop. This wasn't a very big gift shop, but had some souveniers and food. We bought Jacob a pair of shades in hopes he would wear them to protect his eyes.

Cool kid. These actually worked out really well since for pictures we could tell him to look cool in his shades.

Pool:

Boat Dock:

Overall this was a very nice resort, but they will nickel and dime you. We paid $150 a night, which was a florida resident rate, normally $250. It was $15 a day for parking. $15 each for Jonas and Kara to use the gym.

No fridge. Ok, there was a stocked one but I didn't want to pay $7 for water, so didn't even get the key to open the thing. We used an ice chest.

I had signed up for Loew's reward program and had listed that I wanted upper floor rooms, well they didn't have me on file when I got there and we ended up on the 2nd floor which was below the lobby. Had no view from our room except the bottom of trees.

I forgot to mention we did go to the pool the first night. It was nice. No slide but did have a water area where the kids could spray each other with water and water pouring down on them. Jacob had fun with one little boy who decided to play shark. He kept coming up and "biting" us. We never did see his parents. May have been the two ladies passed out on the chairs.

As far as comparing to a WDW resort. It was themed well and you didn't feel like you were near an amusement park, so that was nice. Staff was nice and room was always clean. Room was about the size of a normal room. I guess about the size of the value resorts at WDW, the moderates at WDW are bigger. It was a tight squeeze putting in the twin air mattress for Jacob. Even storing all of the luggage was a little difficult and still have walking space. Drawers were ok, but couldn't put in as much stuff as we do at WDW.

I guess I have been spoiled with WDW with the food courts in all of the resorts. It's nice to be able to go down and grab a quick bite to eat.

Would I stay there again, yes. Why, just for the express pass service. If they stop that, I probably would not stay there and just drive from WDW.

 

[Born 2B a Princess]

Great updates...I'm excited for your move over to POR! I've already been warning our girls that our room will be smaller on our upcoming October weekend trip than our CBR room was...it was definitely nice having more space in a moderate than a value. I'm excited to see some pictures of POR!

 

[Dr_Finkelstein]

Hi Melissa!!!

Really enjoyed all the updates!!!! You're right- Spiderman is the best ride out of all the parks (though Simpsons is close!) I wish WDW would come up with something to rival them!

The RPR looks lovely - we're thinking about maybe staying there for 1 night on our NEXT trip (yes, I am already planning for 2012!!!! Hoping to go for 3 weeks in June/July 2012 and get FOTL passes for US/IOA with the 1 night at RPR and the rest of the time offsite, maybe at Cypress Grande Villas )

I'm very impressed with the margharita!!!

Di x

 

[JPFamilyMom]

Ok, Melissa, so based on your experience on this trip:

1. if you aren't doing "Big" rides, is the pass thing necessary?

2. do you think you could get the bulk of the rides (kids rides, ones Jacob would ride -meaning a good chance Jack would ride) done in one day if you only did IOA?

Only saying this cause if the room is that small, and I'm paying full price, I don't know how worth it is if I am mostly going to see characters and do "kid" rides, with the exception of spiderman. I think I would rather stay at WDW then, but I'm all about convenience and cutting down waiting time for Jack, and all of us. So thoughts?

on a side note, today I had to kill time before work and Targets dollar section has a ton of spiderman dollar items right now (coloring books, crayons, stickers, etc) I'm thinking of going back in a week or so to stock up on stocking stuffers and small gifts for our trip.

 

[jmskinner]

Great updates...I'm excited for your move over to POR! I've already been warning our girls that our room will be smaller on our upcoming October weekend trip than our CBR room was...it was definitely nice having more space in a moderate than a value. I'm excited to see some pictures of POR!

Ok, don't get your hopes up, I don't think I took that many of POR. The value room isn't that much smaller from the moderate, the only thing I noticed different is maybe the 4 feet or so in the width of the room. Having that curtain in the moderates is nice also, don't know why they don't go ahead and put one in the values.

Hi Melissa!!!

Really enjoyed all the updates!!!! You're right- Spiderman is the best ride out of all the parks (though Simpsons is close!) I wish WDW would come up with something to rival them!

The RPR looks lovely - we're thinking about maybe staying there for 1 night on our NEXT trip (yes, I am already planning for 2012!!!! Hoping to go for 3 weeks in June/July 2012 and get FOTL passes for US/IOA with the 1 night at RPR and the rest of the time offsite, maybe at Cypress Grande Villas )

I'm very impressed with the margharita!!!

Di x

Oh, you really think you could stay offsite? Wait, 3 weeks! Spiderman is a great ride, very advanced technology wise.

Ok, Melissa, so based on your experience on this trip:

1. if you aren't doing "Big" rides, is the pass thing necessary?

2. do you think you could get the bulk of the rides (kids rides, ones Jacob would ride -meaning a good chance Jack would ride) done in one day if you only did IOA?

Only saying this cause if the room is that small, and I'm paying full price, I don't know how worth it is if I am mostly going to see characters and do "kid" rides, with the exception of spiderman. I think I would rather stay at WDW then, but I'm all about convenience and cutting down waiting time for Jack, and all of us. So thoughts?

on a side note, today I had to kill time before work and Targets dollar section has a ton of spiderman dollar items right now (coloring books, crayons, stickers, etc) I'm thinking of going back in a week or so to stock up on stocking stuffers and small gifts for our trip.

Ok, I have rewritten this about 4 times now. Keep changing my answer. I think you probably could do all of the kids rides without the express pass in one day. You would have to ride Spiderman first, just head to the left when you get to the park and then head back towards the entrance of the park and hit Suess Landing on the other side. Then walk in the circle around the lagoon to do all of the other stuff. Irky Gordon, and Di, if you are reading this, don't you think they could do all the kid rides at IoA in one day without an express pass.

Also, have you checked to see if there is a guest assistance card offered at IoA?

That is a fantastic idea about the $1 items at Target.

 

[jmskinner]

We had 7 day passes to Universal, but this was going to be our last day of use. The truck was loaded up and we headed to Universal Studios. We hadn't been able to ride Destruction since it was closed the day before and we also wanted to ride Men in Black and The Simpsons again.

I was trying to remember why that Jeep was in that last picture, didn't really fit, but now I remember, it was pulling these guys:

Sadly, they were on their way to a break.

What should we do first, well this will probably give you an idea what we did:

Kara said he burped when she walked up to him.

This time we were placed on the bottom and I enjoyed the ride much more. I couldn't see the other ride vehicles, so I wasn't so distracted.

After The Simpsons we were off to take out more Aliens on MIB. Since the camera was put up for the Simpsons Ride and I knew we would have to put stuff in a locker I didn't bother taking it out, so no pics for awhile. Jonas finally beat me on MIB when he remembered to hit the red button and got a 100,000 point bonus, before that I was consistently about 100,000 ahead of him. We were all excited because we moved up on the scoring categories for the ride. Can't remember what we were though.

Oh, before the ride on MIB is when I got really irritated about the lockers. We waited in line to get a locker. Went through the steps, got a locker number and it was right next to the people who got one before us. We couldn't get to our locker until they finished with theirs. They couldn't get their stuff in the locker and by the time they did, we could no longer open ours. So back in line for another locker. When we came back to open it, we had the system open it and as I was trying to get everything out, someone was trying to get their stuff in the locker next to ours. I stepped back, but holding on to my door and told them to go ahead because I knew they would lose their locker. Over the 3 days at Universal, I helped several people try to figure out these lockers and I never saw an employee at them to help people out. At least one would have been nice. They also need a large sign to state that the lockers are free for at least 30 minutes depending on the length of the ride line. I answered that question a couple of time. Funny how many people won't take the time to read a screen. I got a kick out of helping a spanish speaking woman. Clicking on the spanish button and going through the steps for her.

Now, I had read the we had to do the Horror Scream Show, hey Irky recommends it, so was it worth the walk back? You'll just have to wait to see.

 

[irky416]

Jacob does look really cool in those shades!

I want to try the Simpsons ride now after all the good reviews here!


JPFamilyMom: I would think you could do all the kid rides without a pass. We did all the big rides (and almost every other ride) without a pass in about 4 hours and waited no longer than 20 minutes in each line (most lines were closer to 10 minutes). We got there at 8:30 and got let in early and had a jump on the crowds. It was really busy with long wait times when we left around noon. My guess is as long as you go early you shouldn't have a problem. If you can't/don't want to get there early, you might be better off having the pass. This was about 2 years ago, so I'm not sure how much has changed, but I check out the Universal boards every once in a while and they still recommend the basic plan we used. I'm sure if you asked over there you would get a great answer!

 

[JPFamilyMom]

WOW Melissa, you got some GREAT shots this day. I love all the scenery, looks like you are really in the area, Cali, and stuff. Fun.

JPFamilyMom: I would think you could do all the kid rides without a pass. We did all the big rides (and almost every other ride) without a pass in about 4 hours and waited no longer than 20 minutes in each line (most lines were closer to 10 minutes). We got there at 8:30 and got let in early and had a jump on the crowds. It was really busy with long wait times when we left around noon. My guess is as long as you go early you shouldn't have a problem. If you can't/don't want to get there early, you might be better off having the pass. This was about 2 years ago, so I'm not sure how much has changed, but I check out the Universal boards every once in a while and they still recommend the basic plan we used. I'm sure if you asked over there you would get a great answer!

Thanks, yes, I've found my way to the US/IOA board and asked a few questions. We will go early, I like to get places when they open but we also want to do the character breakfast, so I'll have to see about scheduling it toward the end of the breakfast window, and maybe go ride Spiderman first, then eat, then go do all the kid areas. When we go my kids will be 5 and 2- so won't stress too much about not getting on too many rides, the main things is for my 5 yo to ride spiderman, see spiderman, eat with spiderman, do you notice a theme here But he also saw the Seuss area online and they did a Seuss lesson at school last year that he remembered the picture of the cat in the hat.

Can't wait to see the rest of your day Melissa

And then of course WDW

 

[irky416]

WOW Melissa, you got some GREAT shots this day. I love all the scenery, looks like you are really in the area, Cali, and stuff. Fun.



Thanks, yes, I've found my way to the US/IOA board and asked a few questions. We will go early, I like to get places when they open but we also want to do the character breakfast, so I'll have to see about scheduling it toward the end of the breakfast window, and maybe go ride Spiderman first, then eat, then go do all the kid areas. When we go my kids will be 5 and 2- so won't stress too much about not getting on too many rides, the main things is for my 5 yo to ride spiderman, see spiderman, eat with spiderman, do you notice a theme here But he also saw the Seuss area online and they did a Seuss lesson at school last year that he remembered the picture of the cat in the hat.

Can't wait to see the rest of your day Melissa

And then of course WDW

Enjoy your Spiderman day! I don't know if you've made it to the Creative Disigns section but there's a thread that has some Spiderman designs that your DS might like (ok, love going off your theme! ).

Now I'm done hijacking Melissa's thread.

 

[SimmerBaggins]

Up for our busy day, after our busy yesterday! We have eaten our free breakfast from concierge (no pics, sorry), and have packed bags, and gotten ready to leave this room…already. It’s a sad event.

But the girls are ready to hit Magic Kingdom!

It’s funny, you don’t know whether you are more excited for yourself, or excited for the kids’ excitement!! I was really happy to bring Emily for her first time. If you'll notice, in my lap is the My Pal Mickey. We brought him because we thought he would still guide and entertain us in the parks like he used to.

It was a beautiful day, walking from the bus stop to the front gate. Don’t you always feel like you have to hurry??

Caught a pic of Robert at the baggage check line…look how little the line is!

A beautiful, glorious day! We were there a little after 0830, after all we had to do. Still, not too many people. It was about this point that My Pal Mickey had a seizure. He began chuckling and shaking non-stop. He babbled. We turned him off.

Did we need a map? Probably not, but still…

The: we are here, we can’t believe we’re here! Pics

This is Robert’s last picture of the day, just not even 10 minutes inside the park. What’s he taking a picture of?

We are wondering about the Photopass thing. Seems harmless enough.

Now, on the way to BTMRR (to get a FP), I lead through the little smoking area because it seems shorter. Through this way, my DD notes this door being ajar. She begs me to go with her to look inside. Do I do it? NO! But I take a pic.

I often do these “jog up ahead and turn around” pics.

We think, after we get the FPs, that we can catch the train and go to Mickey’s Toontown Fair so Emily can meet the characters, so on the train we hop!

Oh, and DH does take video, just no more pics.

I love this shot of the lynx on the cactus. Is that the thing that hisses at you so loudly when you go by?

The train is empty!

Is Pocahontes really here? They always indicate this is her camp.

This water was so gross. There’s a think layer of green slime on top. Is it always like that?

This is where we figure out that Mickey’s Toontown Fair is closed. We have to go back to the beginning of the park. (sigh)

Closed TT. 

Back to square one! I promise, not all our trip will be so literal…

 

[jmskinner]

I want to try the Simpsons ride now after all the good reviews here!

I didn't realize you had not been on the Simpsons ride. Are you planning on going in October?

Now I'm done hijacking Melissa's thread.

I don't mind hijacking on my thread. I love it when people get to "meet" and help each other out on these boards.

I'm going to try to remember to comment on Vickie's portion in a different color instead of quoting her whole update, so here we go.

Even though Vickie and I eventually meet up, but not on this day, I didn't know any of this took place. Sorry that Toontown wasn't open yet, but . I only laugh because that sounds like something we would do, try to be smart, ride the train over, only to learn the area isn't open.

And you are so right about the hurrying. Got to beat at least one person through the gate.

So does Pal Mickey not work in the parks anymore? That's sad.

Ok, think I will do a quick update, even though I am now ahead of Vickie. Hope we aren't too confusing. I have a crazy couple of weeks coming up. Don't think I posted here, but Jonas is getting on a plane for Afghanistan this evening and will be back in a couple of weeks. Hopefully while his Mother is still here visiting, yes I will have the DMIL here while he is gone. I'm not going to tell her that he may be back in time to see her. Hoping I can just tell her we have a surprise at such and such time and see if she figures it out.

Also, the science museum has a back to school bash and thought I would take Jacob tomorrow and on Sunday we are going to Epcot to have a couple of Dis meets. One Dis'er from Schertz, TX that I have never met and another I have met before. Also may swing by MK to get his hair cut.