National Lampoons Aussie Vacation - 12/12/16 to 25/1/17 Universal - 40+ Days at Disney World

[wsssup]

WELCOME TO THE TRIP REPORT
Hi and welcome to our trip report. I hope this will be informative, especially for any fellow Australian travellers looking at going to Disney World. Its a long trip so this will take awhile

THE FAMILY

Myself, the Wifey and my Daughter. We are all huge fans of Star Wars and Disney. Basically my wife and I are children stuck in an Adult body. We travelled to Los Angeles in 2015 for our first trip together to see Disneyland. It was amazing but it was too short.
We decided that the next trip would be long. It's a long way from Australia so you do need to make it worth your while. We were planning on returning to Disneyland but thought lets go see how its done in Orlando. It's a hell of a lot longer to get there, but all we were thinking at the time was 4 PARKS! Lets gooooooooo!!!

THE PLAN
So the plan was pretty Simple.
Spend a week in Universal and Stay at Royal Pacific Resort. Then head on over to Pop Century for the remainder of our long stay.
We had worked many hours for this trip, and Christmas break for my daughter was around 7 weeks, so what better time to go.
Accommodation was all paid for before leaving, we did not want any surprise bill at the end. We had purchased Disney World Annual Passes as well, which had saved us a lot of money instead of buying 10 day ticket slots which was adding up way too much.
And as everyone does, when your slot opens for Dinning reservations and fastpasses you get very excited. It was a fair bit of planning for the amount of time we were going for but it was fairly painless to figure out what day to be where etc.

So on with the show.... Day 1 coming soon. Followed by 40+ days of good times and yes a few bad times but all positive vibes to go hang out with the Mouse again.

DAY 1 - Travel Day
DAY 2 - We made it
DAY 3 - Happy Birthday
DAY 4 - Universal
DAY 5 - Superstar Breakfast
DAY 6 - Getting Wet
DAY 7 - Off to Pop Century
DAY 8 - Shopping
DAY 9 - Epcot
DAY 10 - Walmart
DAY 11 - Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party
DAY 12 and 13 - Relaxing
DAY 14 - Merry Christmas Animal Kingdom
DAY 15 - Jawa Antics
DAY 16 - Random Epcot trip
DAY 17 - Near Miss
DAY 18 - The 1st Order
DAY 19 - 3am Magic Kingdom
DAY 20 - Happy New Year
DAY 21 TO 23 - Down with the sickness
DAY 24 - The Bee
DAY 25 - UPS
DAY 26 - Part 1
DAY 26 - Part 2
DAY 27 TO 29 - Sick and Shopping
DAY 30 - Early morning magic Part 1
DAY 30 - Early morning magic Part 2
DAY 31 - Epcot meets Part 1
DAY 31 - Epcot meets Part 2
DAY 32 - The Darkside
DAY 33 - Crappy Gopro
DAY 34 - Star Wars Guided Tour Part 1
DAY 34 - Star Wars Guided Tour Part 2
DAY 34 - Star Wars Guided Tour Part 3
DAY 34 - Star Wars Guided Tour Part 4
Day 35 - A whole lot of nothing
DAY 36 - Go with the flow Part 1
DAY 36 - Go with the flow Part 2
DAY 37 - Sick again
DAY 38 - Part 1
DAY 38 - Part 2
DAY 39 - Super Target
DAY 40 - After Hours Part 1
DAY 40 - After Hours Part 2
DAY 40 - After Hours Part 3
DAY 41 - Toys R Us
DAY 42 - The Storm

 

[quandrea]

Looking forward to this a lot. Seven weeks at Disney. I hope to do this once dh is retired. Many years away still.

 

[Elsaalltheway]

Looking foward to updates.

 

[KarriTigger]

Can't wait to read more! 7 weeks...wowza...what a dream trip!

 

[wsssup]

DAY 1 - 12/12/16
The morning was upon us. We were getting picked up at 7am to make our way to Melbourne Airport. It was my daughters birthday in a few days and we wanted to start the trip off with a surprise for her.

Lets get a Limo. My daughter was shocked, which was the plan. The day before we had seen one at the local gas station and she had " oh i wish to go in one of them one day". She was very surprised and in shock. Getting the limo worked out much cheaper than getting a shuttle service. The Airport is just over an hour away so she enjoyed it.

Monday morning is pretty busy at Melbourne Airport, but we got through check in and security pretty quick, so all we had to do was wait to get on the plane.
The first leg being Melbourne to Los Angeles, which is about 14 hours of fun on a plane.

We Flew Qantas, on the A380. In future we wont be flying Qantas anymore, they really are not a good Airline. Their planes are very outdated, extremely cramped and just pretty poor service. We made good time though with the flight and we arrived at LAX in under 13 hours.
Through customs at LAX we had a little hiccup. When my Wife gave her fingerprint scan he asked, "did you get arrested last time you were here?".
We both thought huh, no problems last time we were here. All good though, he just needed to clean the scanner as it was picking up other peoples prints.

I know LAX has a persona as being a pretty busy and unorganised airport, but both times we have been here it has been very quick to get through, and people are more than friendly, compared to good old grumpy Melbourne Airport.

We had to collect our bags and dump them at a drop off point for our next flight, which was with American Airlines direct to Orlando. We were all very tired and it was another 5+ hours of flying before we got to our destination.

Wow, it may not look like much room but when we got on American airlines we were like wow, look at the leg room. Qantas should take note of the service and cleanliness of the AA plane. Time for snooze, was in and out , drooling and coughing , throw in some snoring probably. I was wrecked, think my wife just drank coffee or monster energy, haha.
We landed in Orlando around 6:20pm, same day we left.... oh my we went back in time...

Our Shuttle driver was waiting for us down the bottom near the baggage area. After many people on this forum talking about this driver we decided to book him. Tony Hinds shuttle service was spot on. Awesome guy, great service. He knew we had flown a long way but he kept the mood upbeat.
It was pretty hot too, a taste of things to come.

We were off to Royal Pacific Resort for our first stint which was going to be Universal Orlando.
This place was nice. Very nice, all we wanted was to shower though. Check in was quick and painless. We were given our Theme park Tickets as well and a quick rundown of how to get to the parks.

After freshening up we headed downstairs to check out our surroundings.

They had a pretty cool Christmas tree with Minions in Gingerbread houses. We were feeling the Christmas spirit already. Well a sleep deprived happy sleepy feeling.
We all had not really slept at all for 20+ hours. It was time to get some sleep, the next day was going to be an adjustment day as we were in a completely different time zone.
The first part was over. Half the fun is getting there, but 25 hours is pretty painful on the legs and body.
Good times Ahead.

 

[Beccybooboo]

Holiday ro oo oo oo oo oo oo oo oo oad

Best part of being back in Australia and so far from Disney is getting to read our trip report from my amazing hubby and relive our memories. I'd better get the kleenex ready I know I am going to need them...he has a way with words.

 

[TeresaNJ]

Holy smokes, and I complain about a 2 1/2 hour plane trip to Orlando, lol! Looking forward to the rest of your report!

 

[TXPyroMom]

Excited to hear all about your super long adventure!

Love that you surprised you DD with a limo ride!

 

[frostymojo]

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip.

 

[wsssup]

Day 2 - 13th December

Oh back to reality is hard isn't it. We have all been sick and still are, but i have mustered some strength to get this going before i forget it all. So on to day 2, oh and 40 + more to go. oh dear....

So not much happened on this day. It was going to really be a try and adjust to the time difference. We were all up pretty early, i think about 3am.
Today we were off to check out City Walk, and maybe eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. Once again Orlando was putting on the weather and by 8am i was sweating.

We headed off from Royal Pacific and decided to take the walking path to city walk which is not that far.

Royal pacific is in such a good spot from City Walk and the 2 Parks. The walking track has some great scenery and this was our first encounter with a Squirrel.
By the end of this trip report you will be sick of all the Squirrel talk. We don't get them in Australia, so seeing one in person is like winning the jackpot. Seriously we spent about 20 minutes just looking at this Squirrel, people were walking past thinking we were slightly weird by staring and laughing at this squirrel.

He ran in there somewhere , the pictures we took of him were very blurry so not worth putting up. This ended up being a pretty nice shot anyway.

We continued on the path and arrived at Security. No problems here being the entrance to city walk for Royal Pacific people only. It brings you onto City Walk just over the other side of the Bridge from Islands of Adventure. We spent awhile just walking around looking in shops, all of us taking mental notes of "ooooooh i want that........ " and doing what everyone else probably does when they see the Harry Potter section, put on your worst English Accent and say "Arry Potherr". Well that what we would always do..... we are not harry potter fans anyway, im sorry i dont understand it even after painfully watching the entire series....

So after lots of window shopping, it seriously was getting hot. Like real hot. Time to check out the Hard Rock. It was completely empty, and this was around lunch time. The food was pretty good, quick service. I still couldn't get over how big it was. We got India a Birthday Ice cream, well a pre birthday ice cream. She was a little shy when the waitress started singing and shouting to everyone else to sing happy birthday, but she was happy.

Bellies were full, and when we walked out it was toasty. India was ready for a swim, so it was back to the hotel for a lazy pool afternoon.
We crashed pretty early in to bed, the time difference was still a bit out of wack for us. There wasn't much sleep through the night though. It was India's 7th Birthday tomorrow and our first day at Universal Studios.

And it was going to be a good one.........

 

[wsssup]

Day 3 - 14th December - HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY

Well we were up early for this one. Especially India our Daughter, as it was her Birthday today... Yipppeeeee.
With everyone ready it was time to head to Universal. Birthday Badge was on, and we walked down to catch the ferry this time. It was 7am and no one was around. Security at the dock greeted us with smiles and birthday wishes for India.
It was a very foggy morning indeed, but still there was warmth in the air and it was going to be another hot day.

We took a few snaps of the Spinning logo, and proceeded to the front gate. It was an early opening this morning and well it was the first park of our visit so we were excited to get in there. We found a gate no one was lining up in for some reason so we were up the front. We started chatting away to the ticket guy as he was setting up. Another gentleman had opened the gate and wished India a Happy Birthday. He heard our accent and asked where we were from.
After chatting a bit about Australia he asked, would you guys do me a favour and come on in and open up the park with me....

Well that was a surprise and we said no worries. The guy was awesome, gave us some tips and gave us an extra day on our photopass which we had already purchased a 3 day pass. Took a few photos and was told to collect an official certificate before we left the park.... this was a cool experience.... 1st day in a park wow.

I left the duty to my wife and daughter while i was a typical dad tourist with my camera rolling. With a quick welcome from the gentleman my Wife did the old Lights camera action and the Park was Open...

With the park open we joined the masses heading to Harry Potter. We didn't rush too much, stopping along the way to take some snaps as it really was not that busy. The park looked great and was better than what we were expecting. We entered Harry Potter and this is coming from a person who couldn't care much for the little wizard, and i was completely blown away.
The detail was amazing, not knowing what to really expect made it that much better. The movies suck but this was amazing.

It was time to ride Gringotts. It was a short line and we were in on the ride pretty much walk on. All i could say after was wow, what an experience. I was not expecting the drop at the start, we all loved it. Upon walking out pass the photo area we thought there was a ride photo, but was told it was for a photo opp halfway through the line. The nice man said follow me and I'll take you there....
So we followed and were taken down a different line to everyone else to get a photo in front of something.... then he said are you riding the ride again..... why not hey..... and we were taken pass the queue and almost a walk on again....

After the ride i started to feel a bit light headed. Motion 3d rides can make me feel a bit sluggish sometimes, and even my Wife felt it. India on the other hand wanted to go again and again and again.
It was time for a drink..... Butter beer it is... Tasted like creamy soda, was a bit sweet but still enjoyable. And what's butter beer without a few butter beer snaps, mind you i wasn't ready for my shot.

Hahaha.

The park was fully opened now so we headed off to check out some more things. We headed over to Men In Black, I cant say it was overly exciting and seriously it feels like you are shooting blindly. But it was fun enough.

Over the bridge to Simpsons Land. Even from a distance it looked amazing. It was time for another ride, and one both my wife and myself were not excited about, as we had heard average things about it.

Yes, that mouth is like walking into hell. This ride broke myself and my wife. Our daughter on the other hand, no problems, loved it. I seriously had to close my eyes the whole time, the motion sickness was instant, the room was hot with no ventilation. We walked out like we had gotten out of the pool. We can laugh about it now but oh boy.... it was pretty painful for a few hours after this ride. It was time to take it slow and check out the rest of Simpsons land and other places.

Oh Back to the Future, you seem so neglected. The car looked terrible, this was a shame being huge fans.

Spongebob would cheer us up. The souvenir shop was great and had to purchase the Krusty Krab shirt. It was good timing while we were in there as Spongebob arrived. He wasn't as lively as i have seen on other clips but still a fun meet.

Curious George was hanging out the front of E.T. so we go a quick snap. Bec and India went for a ride on E.T while i was still trying to get my head around the punishment the Simpsons ride gave me.. i really was not feeling good.

It was about this time that i was filming with the gopro gimbal when silly old me ran into my Wife and bang.... broke the gimbal... whoops. Oh well something we sort out later on.

It was getting very hot again, the December Winter weather was perfect. We enjoyed the rest of the day browsing in shops, a few Birthday treats for India and by early afternoon we were toast.

India was getting pretty tired and it was all time for a swim. It was a great day , and the best birthday for our Daughter. Really impressed by the Staff at Universal and the Resort itself.

Still on Australia time we crashed pretty early again, another day of fun was around the corner. Tomorrow was Island of Adventure.

 

[wsssup]

DAY 4 - 15th December

The Adventure was living on. We awoke at a normal time for once, and didn't rush about. Once again Orlando was putting on the weather. HOT HOT HOT. Today was Island of Adventure day. With the new camera we purchased from Best Buy (painful experience), we were on our way. The crowds were starting to get a fair bit larger. Christmas was just around the corner.

Well maybe not that crowded.

First point of call was I wanted the large Spongebob Drink bottle. Turns out it was a fair bit of a pain to carry around and the straw on it made it pretty hard to get anything out without dribbling it all down your face hahaha. But hey its a huge Spongebob drink bottle. We did opt for the Refill cup eventually which was well worth the money.

Hulk to the left and Seuss to the right....... lets go right, Hulk would be ridden by only 1 later on.

The Christmas decorations were out. Seuss Landing was pretty amazing. It was bringing back childhood memories of reading all the books. So it was off to ride a few of the rides here which we all loved. The express ride pass that comes with staying at Royal Pacific was working out well. Universal in both parks has their ride lines for express worked out. Wait times were minimal, almost instant most times.

One thing i was starting to notice about Islands of Adventure was, there was hardly any shade. And it was getting very hot.

We spent a bit of time in Seuss Landing, but alas it was time to wonder on. Stopping along the way to window shop and slurp from Spongebobs drink bottle, dribbling it all over ourselves.
We finally arrived at Hogsmeade, or what felt like Stampede. Walking through this side of Harry Potter was far less awe inspiring. It was packed and well i guess you have to be into Harry Potter to want to go stand in a small shop with no where to move....pass.
It looked ok but not like over at Universal side. We pushed on through, slow and steady as the crowd was not moving much and finally made it to Jurassic Park.

Finally some shade at Jurassic Park. Ok it was time to get wet and see the big ol T Rex.

Up the font about to get extremely wet. Now the only flume type water ride we have done was back in good old Disneyland, Splash Mountain. This felt like 10 Splash Mountains stacked on top of each other at warp speed. I was not expecting the drop to be that big, what a great ride. Like i said before the express pass worked wonders. The normal line was packed to about an hour wait. Express line was a walk on.
We were all nice and wet, which was needed.

We grabbed a bite to eat, and relaxed for awhile in the Jurassic Area. After resting up and drying off pretty quickly, it was off to see the ride we were all very excited to do.

Yes it was time for Kong. This looked amazing even from the outside. We were on the ride within 10 minutes, and on our way. This for us was another wow ride. I started feeling a little motion sickness coming but i was loving it too much to worry. Even our daughter was loving it, saying Kong was cute.
So when the ride was over there was only one thing left to do.

India wanted to buy a Kong Soft Toy. Who could resist, he was kinda cool looking. She wanted him left in the bag so he wouldn't get dirty or sunburned.

We had almost made it all round the park. The Popeye area we would save for another day. Dudley Doo Right looked insane, it looked like 50 Splash Mountains stacked on top of each other. What a Fun one to come..... for another day.

Hulk was finally in front of us all...... the lonely rider left the group and was on their way to funtown.

Yep so it wasn't me...... it was the Wifey who loves roller coasters. I like looking at them from the ground haha.
She loved it, and was very excited to tell us about it, although hearing it made me feel woozy. It looks awesome all lit up at night time and we got some great video shots.

The night was upon us and the park was closing soon. We decided to take the Harry Potter Choo Choo train back across to Universal to go collect our certificate from the other day. It was a nice ride over, but for me i think i was getting over the Harry Potter.... i needed Stormtroopers.

We headed back to the hotel, another day done with a whole lot more to come. Disney World was coming up just around the corner, and we still had a few days left in Royal Pacific Universal.

 

[Duckie42]

Sounds like you had a great time and awesome that you had such a long trip. It's such a long way to get to Disneyworld (I am from New Zealand) but worth it once you are there.

 

[wsssup]

DAY 5 - 16TH DECEMBER

Another beautiful morning in Orlando. We rose early to get down to Universal as we had the Superstar character breakfast at 9am. We had an hour to kill
so we headed back to Harry Potter and looked around. It was fairly quiet this morning with hardly any crowds.

The Scooby Doo parade balloon looks awesome. We all love Scooby Doo so this was cool to see. The Building behind will be the Fast and Furious ride, seems to be going a little slow in construction.
It was time to head off to our breakfast. We checked in and were seated all the way around the corner from pretty much everyone else. Not very many people were at the breakfast. A few of the Characters were doing the rounds. The major disappointment with this already was there was no Photopass person only a few handlers following the characters around.

Spongbob and Squidward came over. We had such high hopes for Spongbob on this trip. Many Vlogs we watched he seemed to have great interaction with people. Both times we met him he was not like Spongbob, still cool for a pic but could have been a bit more into it. Squidward on the other hand was awesome.
The food was pretty average. It was help yourself buffet, and being one of the first there i was expecting the food to be a tiny bit warm. Pancakes bacon etc tasted like they were left in the fridge overnight.

The best of the bunch was E.B ( i think thats his name). Being a long time drummer myself this guy was rocking. Had to do the metal pose.
Dora , Minions and Gru were also walking around. At one point Gru broke character and was chatting to a fellow female staff. It was not a good look with lots of kids around and they were getting pretty friendly with each other. Finally the Handler came up and pointed out people were watching their antics.

We finished up and walked out forgetting that the Superstar breakfast got you tickets for a reserved area for the parade. Would have been nice to been given them instead of going up and asking. Even asking they seemed confused at first then finally gave us the tickets.

The day was warming up once again. This weather was really amazing for us since arriving. We did a fair bit of window shopping, checking out things to purchase later on in the evening.

Homer was awesome, he started jumping around like a kangaroo for a bit when he found out we were from Australia, a few beer jokes and some pics we were on our way again.

There was something India wanted to ride, and had wanted to ever since she saw it. My wife had ridden it a few times already and loved it. Me well im a bit of a wuss when it comes to coasters but hey thats cool with me.
She really wanted to ride it so i didn't want to say no. She knew daddy was a wuss and i told her, no way that scares daddy. Bec explained a quick rundown of what it does and that it may look cool from the ground but it's a bit different when your on it.
She's 7 and invincible so she was one her way with Bec to ride Rip Ride Rocket.

Oh i feel sick just looking at the picture. I waited for them to return, i could see my daughter a mile away with a big smile on her face. She said it was awesome and was so happy she had ridden it. As we walked off my Wife told me the truth of the experience, haha. There was excitement at the start but once they reached the top i think little India was thinking oh my gosh, and at the top of the loop i think it was a sheer terror face. Bec did a great job of keeping her calm and half way through she was screaming with big smiles loving the last section of the ride.
If it was me i would be screaming the whole way and crying so thumbs up for getting on it.

Night was falling upon us. We had missed the parade, but we had seen most of it anyway on various days we had been there. We hit the shops, had to get the Slimer Pop Vinyl and really wanted something Sharknado but wasnt that impressed with the selection.
Back to the Hotel for some rest, we had an extra day given to us for free. The staff at Universal were great.

I had left these pics out last time. We had gone on one of our Favourite Rides, E.T. And afterwards got some snaps with the little fella. Enjoy.

 

[wsssup]

DAY 6 - 17TH DECEMBER

India thinking, hmmmm the Hulk has a few loops.
It was another hot morning already. And we had a mission. To go get wet. How does one do that at Islands of Adventure... Jurassic Park? Nahhhh. Popeye? Nahhh.

Oh yes. Dudley Do Right Rispsaw Falls. The line was short and it was hot so it was time to ride this. Just standing looking at it made me tremble. But i love water rides especially flume rides so this had to be done. This really makes Splash Mountain look like a toddler ride.
As we were walking up through the line we could see people getting off totally drenched. It looked like they had gotten in the shower with their clothes on.
Even just getting in this ride you know you are in for a big drop. If your a tall person it would be a hard to get into your little log. You have to slide yourself in keeping your legs straight, the bar comes down locking your legs and pushing you in the seat a little.

Ok this must be a serious drop if your getting locked into your seat. Away we went, up and down, water spraying. There is a great middle section having you go up and down like a roller coaster getting sprayed with water everywhere.

We reached the final section about to go up and up and up. While going up a waterfall pours water all over you. It felt like i had jumped in the bath with my clothes on. We reached the top and slowly turn the corner. Oh dear it is time for the drop. Yes i swore, norty words came out my mouth. We all found out the reason for the legs being locked in place , this is a massive drop straight down almost. The stomach loss feeling that I hate just wouldn't stop haha.
You go so fast when you hit the bottom you shoot up again under the tunnel for more water splashing goodness. Oh my, we were laughing so hard.
Best ride , and a great way to cool off.

I love the drying machines they have. A little room with hot fans blowing. It was just as easy for us to walk back to the hotel and get changed which we did.
And head back to the park again.

When we got back to the park we headed to Poseidon's Fury. The outside looks amazing and is massive. This is a walk through show. It's not the greatest and can get a bit crowded inside. The last sequence is pretty cool, but most of the show does not make any sense at all. But a few explosions and fire wake you up and it does look pretty awesome.

Walking through the Harry Potter section was packed again. There is no shade here and it is just madness everywhere. It looks amazing though, you cant fault it even when i dont like the movies. We pushed our way through back to Jurassic Park. Some shade finally and a bite to eat.
We went to check out the Dinosaur education centre they have.

You can hatch dinosaur eggs and check out other things. They had a baby dinosaur the kids could go up and touch which was pretty cool.

We did a few laps of the park afterwards. Rode Kong again, such a great ride. Had some delicious hot dogs, and ended up at Hulk for the Wife to ride at night. India had made her mind up that she was not going to ride it, which was a good idea.

Another day done.
NEXT - LAST DAY AT UNIVERSAL THEN OFF TO POP CENTURY FOR 40 DAYS OF DISNEY

 

[JaimeAyers]

Signing on to hear more!!

 

[elcmum]

I'm loving this report! Happy to read about fellow Aussies!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

What an amazing trip this is going to be. I can't even imagine being in the parks for so long. Wonderful memories being made for sure. I look forward to hearing all about your adventures.

 

[wsssup]

DAY 7 - 18TH DECEMBER - LAST DAY AT UNIVERSAL AND OFF TO POP CENTURY

Another morning was upon us and we were up bright and early. The plan for today was to go to Universal and leave by around lunch time to head off to Pop Century Resort. Once again, the weather was perfect. We opted to walk to the park along the Royal Pacific Trail. Its a nice short walk and we just loved always seeing a squirrel running around.

Right at the entrance inside we had to say g'day to these 2 fellows. Woody looks like he is on some serious drugs, was a nice meet and greet. We were not really in the park for rides, just wanted to look around and see what we could find as this was the last time we would be here.
Around the corner was a street party going on with Dora. Lucile and Marilyn were out and about too. Lucile was great, she was dancing around with my Wife and Daughter, although India was a little shy she still had a smile on her face.

There were not many people in the park and i guess it was too early for loud music and dancing, as everyone was just walking past. Nothing like a dance first thing in the morning.
We did a lap of the park, browsing into shops trying to find some goodies but not really finding anything. Although the life size Slimer was tempting there was no way to get it back to Australia.
It was getting hot so we headed to Simpsons to grab some food. First a quick chat with Sideshow Bob, to see what evil plans he had going on.
Then it was off to Moes Tavern to try a Flaming Moe and grab a Krusty Burger.

The Flaming Moe gets the thumbs up from everyone. Just a fizzy orange drink poured over the top of dry ice. Moes tavern inside looks amazing. Really feels like your in an episode of the Simpsons. As for the Krusty Burger, it was pretty good.
With our bellies full we stepped outside and boy was it hot. Really hot, we all looked at each other and thought the same thing. Time to go back to the hotel and head over to Pop Century.
Our time at Universal had come to an end. We didn't think we would have this much fun at Universal, it really is a great place. The parks are clean and all the staff there are friendly and happy to be there.

We walked back to the Hotel and began getting ready to leave. We called for an Uber X and we were on our way. Our Uber driver didn't speak much english, so when we said Pop Century, as i had put on the Uber app as well we assumed no problems. Turns out she thought because we had all our luggage she was taking us to the airport.
Once we got it all cleared up where we were going everything was ok.

HELLO DISNEY WORLD.
It felt weird seeing the sign as we had seen it in so many Vlogs. We had made it, yippee. We arrived at Pop and checked in no problems. Our room was ready and it was a preferred room overlooking the main Pool.

So what better than to jump in the pool, seeing as it was boiling hot. Its a great feeling being at your destination, all the extra hours of work for a year had paid off for us all. It was fairly quiet and was not very crowded. We knew that would change in the coming weeks leading up to Christmas.

After the pool we settled into our room and did some exploring.

Our Room was this building, second level on the right.

Pop looks awesome at night. And yes plenty of crazy little squirrels.

We headed inside to check things out. The Christmas tree looked pretty cool, but nothing like Royal Pacifics tree. The Pop shop was next. Looking from the outside we could already see some Star Wars things. Ohhhhh dear it has begun. We must have been in that shop for an hour just smiling. I think we walked out with nothing though. All in good time as we hadn't even gotten to the parks yet.

Well we had made it. It was time for sleep. Time to get ready for 40 more days of this amazing place.

 

[wsssup]

DAY 8 - 19TH DECEMBER : DISNEY SPRINGS AND SHOPPING

What are you doing Easter Bunny , it's nearly Christmas.
We woke early. What a beautiful morning. The lake looks awesome in the morning.

Today was going to be a shopping day. We had to head to Disney Springs first to get our Annual Passes. But first another quick look around Pop.
Still not a real lot of people yet. I guess kids were still in school. Morning coffee for the Wife and Energy drink for myself (bad).

I dont know what im doing in this picture, but i am pretty sure this is how I look after my breakfast Red Bull. " LETS GO WOOO".
Time to organise an Uber to Disney Springs ( at this stage we had no idea buses went from Pop to Disney Springs).

Off to catch our Uber ride out the front. I must say this was the start of our bad Uber drivers. He pulled up in well lets just say a crap heap. The car was dirty and his driving was , well lets just say India could drive better and she is 7 and doesn't have a license.
We arrived at Disney Springs, I think, haha. He dropped us off in the weirdest spot, far away from the entrance down a dirt road almost.
Not to worry , we all just wanted out.

The Disney Springs Entrance no one uses, hahaha. Off to Guest relations to get those Annual Passes. It was a quick and painless process, and before you knew it we were holding our Annual Passes. Woo hooo.. We went Annual Passes as it worked out way cheaper than purchasing Day Tickets by at least a few thousand dollars.
We headed over to the Coca Cola building for some drinks on the top floor. Hmmmm what to get, just give us the Float sample tray.
For $10 it's pretty good value. Although it doesn't take long before your off to the toilet.

With our thirsts quenched we had a quick look around. Of course we found the Star Wars Shop and we were all in heaven. We had been holding out on buying hats from Universal as we wanted Star Wars hats. Lots of goodies in there, we will have to come back to that one.

Ok time for another Uber. This time off to the Factory outlets close by. Our Uber driver arrived in the wrong spot, then drove off with someone else. He finally came back though. Another unclean car and poor driver, but we got to the outlets safe and sound. It was warming up once again.
First point of call was of course the Disney Warehouse. I had high hopes for this place but I was let down myself. Plenty for my Bec and India but not much for Dads in there. Some things really are dirt cheap so it's nice to grab a bargain.

Before

And after, haha.
Bec was off to some shoe shops. Even with the crappy Australian Dollar, shoes in America are so cheap still. So the wife picked up a fair few pairs of shoes at great prices. India grabbed a pair of Glow shoes from Sketches, ( pretty crap they dont work much now ) .

And Daddy , me , finally found a sports shop. I was in heaven, Baseball and NFL. Luckily they had what I was after, Derek Carr for the Raiders. Yes an Aussie Raiders fan. It's hard for us back home to get any good NFL gear so i was excited to get something legit.

The heat was really beating down today. We had come and shopped, time to Uber it back to Pop Century.

After an afternoon nap, we headed to Pop Diner for some grub. Followed by some more looking in the Pop Shop.

Another day done. Tomorrow was EPCOT. Oh how excited we were.