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

[warriorping]

What a great way to spend a birthday! Love the pictures!

 

[wsssup]

Still following along..glad to see your colds did not stop you. I have to have a little giggle every time you talk about the heat in Jan in Fla. We live in south Florida and Jan in Orlando to us is usually very chilly! I have a jacket on at about 73 degrees. We did the After hours in March this year, can't wait to see if you enjoyed it.

Haha, funny you say that, because some day's we were like in shorts and T shirts thinking wow its hot, and people obviously locals are wearing jeans jumpers and beanies.

What a great way to spend a birthday! Love the pictures!

India's Birthday was a great day at Universal, and when we got to Disney World with Mickey singing happy Birthday, something she will never forget.

 

[wsssup]

DAY 40 - 20TH JAN : MAGIC KINGDOM AFTER HOURS EVENT PART 2

With our little shopping completed we headed back outside. The fireworks were going and main street was packed. We slowly moved through the crowd and took a shortcut into Tomorrowland. It was a little busy here too but most people were making their way out.

Slowly we made it around the back of Tomorrowland and to our surprise Space Ranger spin was completely empty. Why not we thought, so in we went.

We were not fans of this at Disneyland but did not mind it here at Disney World. Once again it had a better line queue, and just seemed a little more accurate when shooting targets.

India and Bec went in front and I was by myself. Look at the excitement in my face, haha. Bec took it easy and watched India play, who was just constantly spinning in circles haha.
We love Toy Story and this ride I must say was slowly growing on us. It was simple sit down fun.

I dont think I was aiming very well, I too was having more fun just spinning around, although the people behind me thought I was spinning too much. Every time I spun around and faced them they looked distressed haha. Oh well I was having fun.
Through the end ready for the picture flash to blind us.

Haha, Love India's face in the Picture, looks like something is flying into here almost. With the ride over we headed out through the Gift Shop. We had a good look around but couldn't find anything we had not already purchased from Disneyland last year. Pretty disappointed that there was really not much exciting merch for Toy Story.

As we walked outside we were greeted by Buzz. He had finished his meet and greet but still had time to say hi to us. He was pretty cool.

Gotta love his big grin. More people came up to him, and he stopped to say hi to everyone, he was not in a hurry to go which was good for people saying a quick hello. Tomorrowland had cleared out pretty quick so we headed over to the People Mover for a quick relaxing ride. This was a favourite of ours for sure, and loved going through Space Mountain hearing people scream.

While on the People Mover we could see the crowd leaving pretty quickly and it was starting to look like a ghost town. It stopped a few times, and for a minute I thought there was a problem but it was soon under away again. With the ride all over we headed back down into Tomorrowland. When we got down off the ride more Fireworks were going off. Perfect timing to stop and have a little look.

It was only after 8pm and many people had already left. The After hours event was to start at 9pm so we just wondered around and headed towards The Little Mermaid. Once again there was no one around and the ride was a walk on. So we thought why not.

Under the sea.... wooo. It's a fun little attraction and India loves it.

We headed through New Fantasy Land. It was empty as well.

It was nearly 9pm so we ducked into Memento Mori to purchase a few last items from the Haunted Mansion. Seriously love this shop and could take the whole lot home if we could. We purchased a few things and organised to have them sent to Pop Century. India wanted to sign the book as well.

Now we made our way to the back of the park. Off to Big Thunder Mountain to start our After hours event. Lots of people were still trying to ride it before they had to leave, so we waited until 9pm on the dot. They were quick to close the line and have only the fastpass line open, you had to show your lanyard and at least one of us had to scan our magic band. Other people started complaining because it was time for them to get out, and some did not have any idea what After hours was. Oh well, we were on our way to enjoy Big Thunder. It is so good at night riding this. We had fallen in love with this version and loved it way more over the Disneyland versions. Better twists and turns, thats for sure. And yes we had to ride it twice in a row to keep India happy, hahaha.
After this it was time for a little water action. Yes good old Splash Mountain.

We did not get wet as we were up the back again. Still so fun and pretty cool at night seeing the Castle just before the drop. India wanted to ride it again but we said later on we will. Time to go get some free drinks and Popcorn. There was a stand just outside of Big Thunder and we lined up and got our drinks and Popcorn. We then headed over to Pirates for a quick ride. It was only After hours guests in the park now and there seriously was not many people around at all. It truly felt like we had the park to ourselves.
After pirates we headed back over Tomorrowland for Space Mountain.

More to come

 

[M1ckeyM0use]

Wow! This trip sounds AMAZING!!! We can just afford a week at Disney let alone a 40+ day vacation! I'm totally jealous! I've never been to Australia but it is on my list. I live in PA, USA and hate the 2hr flight to Orlando. I don't think I could survive the flight to Australia!

 

[bcwife76]

Great start to the After Hours event!! Can't wait to read more

 

[wsssup]

Wow! This trip sounds AMAZING!!! We can just afford a week at Disney let alone a 40+ day vacation! I'm totally jealous! I've never been to Australia but it is on my list. I live in PA, USA and hate the 2hr flight to Orlando. I don't think I could survive the flight to Australia!

Yes the flight is pretty painful thats for sure. There is no easy way about it, 14 to 17hours at least.

Great start to the After Hours event!! Can't wait to read more

I have been holding off, it is like the end of the holiday, haha, I dont want it to end.

 

[wsssup]

DAY 40 - 20TH JAN : MAGIC KINGDOM AFTER HOURS EVENT PART 3

Yes it was time to ride Space Mountain. A huge favourite of ours at Disneyland, but not so much here. This was all for India who loved it. You can even see in the photo my body language of Oh god, and India looking excited marching in. It was completely empty, and wow, when it is empty you realise just how long it takes to get to the ride. I could only imagine waiting in line for this, it would be painful as it just never ends. We finally made it and it was a walk on.
Oh that was painful. For me it is just too rough, and you really don't see any stars or anything, just a dark mess. My opinion, this one is so far behind the Disneyland Version.

With Space Mountain done we headed over to Speedway. India was wanting to do this one so off we went. Upon entering the queue, which had no body in it, a few young kids came running in behind and one pushed past India to get in front. The other few got stuck behind us as I blocked them from running past. Yes sorry to say, the return of rude Brazilian people. We made it to the waiting point, and the 2 kids behind me were trying to force their way in front of us so they could be with their friend who ran past us. The young kid pushed himself into my back to try and squeeze through. By this time I had enough and turned around and asked are you serious. An after hours event with no one in line and your pushing. A CM came over and was not impressed with the kids and had a word to them.

We made it onto the ride. Bec and India were in front of me, and we were off on what would be the worst ever. The whole time, the rude kid in front of Bec would drive about 5 meters and stop. Look behind to see her friends who were behind me. Then drive another 5 meters and stop. Bec being the nice lovely person she is just stopped and waited, and yes if it was me I would have rammed the car. This took forever to get around the track, and we got back I wanted out. Even getting out there was pushing through the exit, just so rude.

With that all out the way time to cheer up on a favourite again.

The good old Mine train. We were able to get a few rides in of this one. Such a good attraction , we were going to miss this one. So good at night as well, looks amazing.
After this we stopped for some more popcorn, drinks and a few Ice creams. It was a short break, and we left it in India's hands for the next ride. She took the lead and we just followed and ended up but where else.

Haha, yep, Splash Mountain. Time to get wet. And this time we were going to get wet.

The whole log to ourselves, with India and I up the front. Going up to the top of the drop I knew this was not going to end well. Down we went at full speed, and screaming my lungs out haha. Then a wave of water spraying in our faces, oh the fun. My pants were wet, shirt and face drenched. Good work Splash, you did your job well.

Again India took the lead and we followed. The park was really empty looking, it felt like a ghost town most the night. The After Hours was worth the money that is for sure.

Up next the Barnstormer. No one on this one at all. We just sat on this and rode it about 4 times in a row. It's a very short ride but it is good for a laugh.

India took the lead again.

Time to see Pooh. It is a fun little ride, India was screaming having a good old time.
Another ride down, and we headed back to a favourite of ours.

The Haunted Mansion. We had to do this one again. This would be the last time on it for the trip. It was completely empty, we had the whole drop down room to ourselves. It was good as we could really have a look when we got out of the room and all the little things you normally would not see because of the crowds and making your way to the buggy. We enjoyed this one but at the same time a little sad when it ended. Farewell Haunted Mansion, we will return.

The After Hours was finishing up, so we took some time to just wonder around and take it all in again one last time.

It was time to leave. Wow, so many great memories here. Magic Kingdom was awesome, we loved it that's for sure. So lucky to have made it and spent many days here having fun.

That really says it all. You do really leave your worries behind, and for us it was about being together on this great trip.

Farewell, time to head back to Pop for some well earned rest. Wow our trip was nearly over. Still enough time for us to have fun together as a family.

 

[wsssup]

DAY 41 - 21ST JAN : TOYS R US KIDS

Day 41... Booo hahaha. Another day upon us. No big plans for today. A little bit of shopping was on the cards, need to fill those suitcases with goodies. It was another beautiful looking day, so after our breakfast we went for a little walk near the lake. On our way we stumbled into a little furry fella. This squirrel was a bit of a character.

As we walked back to our room, he had ducked into the bush and came out in front of us before we got to the stairs. All of a sudden he was off up the stairs to our level.

He soon figured out this was not a good spot to be in. We thought he was going to jump, but he kept running around looking a little confused. We thought best to leave him so he could get back down the stairs.

With our little morning experience over, we got ready and headed off in the car. We were off to Florida mall, as we wanted to check out Toys R Us. We have Toys R Us in Australia but not many people really shop there. We wanted to see what it was like over here. It's a fair drive to Florida Mall but it was pretty quiet on the roads so we got there pretty early.

First thing we noticed was, yes it is 50 times bigger than back home. They had just opened so in we went. Oh my, we were in toy heaven. Down every isle we went looking for goodies. We picked up a few things. Some Powerpuff goodies for India, a Godzilla for me and some Deadpool goodies for Bec. It was a good hour or so of looking around. With that we headed just over the road to Florida Mall.

Another look in our favourite shops. First was Think Geek. They had some cheap Pop Vinyl so we loaded up with a few. Love this shop.

Oh how I wanted to take this home. It is nearly $200 back home, and yes I should have got it. Oh well.
More browsing around to see if we missed anything. We headed into the Sports shop and I was able to get a few Raider Items. Now back to our favourite store, Hot Topic.

Bec was loading up on dresses and other goodies. Lots of things were half price so we did not want to miss out this last time. We had plenty of bags so it was time to head back to the car and offload. Florida Mall had been shopped well by us . Time to duck into Target. More Shirts and Toys and gifts, this was getting tiring.

Mmmmmm, Target food. Hahaha, ok so it is not so great. It got rid of the hunger pains though and we were able to power on through Target. We were going to miss Target. More Tampa Bay Bucs finds for everyone. The Sporting Merch was piling up.
Our shop was over so back into our rental and off to Pop to enjoy the rest of the day lazing about by the pool. Another day done, and even though it was just shopping it was still fun and exciting for us.

 

[bcwife76]

Ack, I can't believe your trip is nearly over now

Where do these rude buggers come from and WHY do they always seem to find you Good for you for blocking them.....little poops besides that incident the After Hours thing looked like a blast!

Ah more shopping, love it While you guys were busy getting your shop on, we were disembarking from the Disney Fantasy that morning and starting our looonnnnng trek home (2 flights, a total of about 9 - 10 hours with the layover) to Vancouver. Not exactly the long travel days you guys have to get over from Australia, mind you!

 

[Beccybooboo]

Still following along..glad to see your colds did not stop you. I have to have a little giggle every time you talk about the heat in Jan in Fla. We live in south Florida and Jan in Orlando to us is usually very chilly! I have a jacket on at about 73 degrees. We did the After hours in March this year, can't wait to see if you enjoyed it.

I like that you have a little giggle.
73 degrees back home I am usually in a jumper I think that our adrenaline because of where we were gave us extra warmth too haha.
We are just not used to winter warmth, our winter ranges between 33 and 53 degrees fahrenheit where we are in Australia that is why it was so hot to us

 

[Beccybooboo]

Oh Magic Kingdom how we miss you

 

[Beccybooboo]

Ack, I can't believe your trip is nearly over now Ah more shopping, love it While you guys were busy getting your shop on, we were disembarking from the Disney Fantasy that morning and starting our looonnnnng trek home (2 flights, a total of about 9 - 10 hours with the layover) to Vancouver. Not exactly the long travel days you guys have to get over from Australia, mind you!

It is like our trip is ending again

Missing shopping for goodies going to Target back home is not exciting lol

I would take that painful flight in an instant to be back at Disney and escape our horrible winter weather

 

[wsssup]

DAY 42 - 22ND JAN : DISNEY SPRINGS AND STORM

Oh dear, the trip was coming to an end. Today was also due to be a stormy evening. This was going to be a storm that put an end to the Disney Marathon Weekend. With that in mind we decided to stay away from the Parks, as it would probably be chaos by the end of the day. We opted to just see where the day would take us. A trip to Disney Springs was on the cards, India had some shopping she wanted to do, and what better place than World Of Disney.

The clouds were out, but it was still pretty warm this early in the morning. We jumped in the car for the short drive to Disney Springs.

We arrived before opening, so we checked out some of the Lego area. Can't say we are huge fans of Lego, but some of the display's looked pretty cool.

After checking it all out World Of Disney was open and in we went. This was a last chance to get a few items we had been holding out on. India was in toy heaven, and looking around for a few things to take home. It was pretty busy this early in the morning. We kept finding things and figuring out whether to buy or not. Oh it was hard to decide haha.

Yes we will take one of those, and Cogsworth as well. We spent a good hour or so, and finally made it out. I was surprised how busy it was getting so it was a good time to leave. With our little Disney shop over we wondered around checking out some other shops. To us it was a pretty bland affair at Disney Springs, lot's of High end shops and brands we really do not care for at all. I see what they were trying to do, but i really don't see how these shops survive. Apart from the few like World Of Disney and Lego and a few others, the rest are always completely empty. Every second shop is a bag shop or clothes shop that looks the same as the last one.
Anyway it was time for an early lunch. Bec wanted to try out Blaze Pizza, so we headed over. It had just opened so there was no line, compared to when we were here last and the line went for miles. Service from the start was pretty average. The guys taking the pizza order were ok but the checkout girl was rambling on bout things to other staff while we were paying. Not very well spoken at all.

We headed outside to grab our seat and wait for our order.

Time to chow down. Can't say what all the fuss was about, pretty average, the kind of pizza you can get around the corner at home for $5. Bec enjoyed hers which was good, but yeh, i would not wait in line for this, no way.

With our early morning lunch out the way it was time to leave Disney Springs. Where to next? The clouds were slowly coming in but we thought lets just drive around again and see where we end up.

Yes we had to stop here, haha. We had seen this place on a few vlogs before. We knew there would be nothing inside but we had to have a look. Just like every other gift shop we had been in. Cheap crappy shirts and other crappy products. I should say it is not cheap really. Even a pen with Florida badly printed on it was $5. Oh well mission accomplished , we saw the wizard gift shop haha.

After a quick bite to eat we were on our way again. We punched in Target on the GPS and headed way out into the open road.

It was getting pretty windy outside. I had no idea where the GPS was taking us. It was a Target we had not been to before and it was a long way away. All of a sudden the pretty surroundings turned ghetto pretty quickly. Being directed up back streets it started to get a little sketchy out here. Run down homes and liquor stores on every corner. In almost an instance we were turning right into a massive shopping complex. Weird.

Into Target we went, for more Toy Hunting. This was a pretty messy store, all the shelves had stuff just thrown everywhere. A few goodies were found though.

After target we headed back to the car. It was really windy now. In another part of the complex was Sears, so we thought we would drive over and check it out.
Upon getting to the car park and pulling up, we had a bit of a laugh watching a trolley in the wind. Almost taking out a car, haha. It was good for a laugh.

After looking in Sears and pretty much walking out straight away, we decided to head back to Pop. It was very windy now, and the clouds were building up. Did not want to get stuck in any rain.

Back at Pop, it was time to bunker down for the evening. The storm was coming in fast.

India was prepared haha.

It came in pretty fast, and it rained for a long time. The most we had seen this whole trip. Time to just get into bed, watch some NFL and get some sleep.
You could here the wind all night, but we all got a fairly good sleep, ready for the next day.

 

[jpeterson]

Time to chow down. Can't say what all the fuss was about, pretty average, the kind of pizza you can get around the corner at home for $5. Bec enjoyed hers which was good, but yeh, i would not wait in line for this, no way.

I agree. Blaze is a chain and it's fine but I don't think it's anything special. We literally have one half a mile away here in Texas. Because of that we've never considered going at Disney Springs

 

[Sinders99]

We liked Blaze but completely agree. It wasn't life changing or spectacular. We found pizza in the US so strange with only minimal toppings. I much prefer the topping options we have here in Australia! Pizza Capers - although expensive - is a favourite gourmet option of ours.

 

[wsssup]

I agree. Blaze is a chain and it's fine but I don't think it's anything special. We literally have one half a mile away here in Texas. Because of that we've never considered going at Disney Springs

I was wondering if it was a chain. Myself I am not really a fan of thin crust pizza, and it just felt soggy and under cooked.

We liked Blaze but completely agree. It wasn't life changing or spectacular. We found pizza in the US so strange with only minimal toppings. I much prefer the topping options we have here in Australia! Pizza Capers - although expensive - is a favourite gourmet option of ours.

Yeh the toppings are very limited. At least there was no headaches of what to choose, you only had 3 options hahaha. Back home with Pizza as you know, its a 1 hour process of figuring out the what the heck you want,

 

[bcwife76]

Wow that looks like quite the evening storm! Glad you were able to get out and about before it really hit. Haha, love that hoodie, India definitely looked prepared

 

[wsssup]

Wow that looks like quite the evening storm! Glad you were able to get out and about before it really hit. Haha, love that hoodie, India definitely looked prepared

Im sure for people in the area it was normal, for us it was pretty wild. Wild enough to close down the Marathon events... India loved finding her Minecraft top in Target.

You know your back to reality when the updates are coming slowly due to working too much.... Oh life, Disney we miss you so bad.
More updates coming soon.

 

[Melissa Thors]

Hey, just joining in on your magical TR. Love the photos... Shows what a magical time you all were having Kwaherini!

 

[wsssup]

DAY 43 - 23RD JAN : PRINCESS DAY

Back again.... life is back to normal, but busy.... time to get this report going.... only a few days left of the trip... BOOO HISSS, hahaha.

Back to Epcot for one last adventure. We all had mixed views about Epcot, we loved it, we did not like it, back to we loved it. It really could be hit or miss on any given day but we were back again to track down some princess action. One in particular who was the most favourite of Bec, Snow White. I made sure we arrived nice and early, the sun was out again and we were ready to go. Ahh the annual pass holder line, what a life saver. It was pretty packed this morning but we headed over to the passholder line which was pretty much empty. A few people had no idea what an annual passholder was, and were asking us. They looked surprised when we told them.

It was not long before we were let in. Another magical day was upon us and away we went.

Spaceship earth looking great as always. People were lining up for this already, but not us we were on our way to Frozen to get an early morning ride in.

It was pretty empty, and did not take long to get on the ride. We were right up the back for this one so we were not going to get wet. I did not see much of the ride, a guy in front of me had his phone out and was snapping pictures with his flash on. Even after asking nicely mate turn your flash off at least, he just kept snapping away. I don't mind people taking happy snaps etc, but in a dark ride with your flash and light constantly on... dont think he spoke english, oh well.

Still a great ride, it is a little rough and the seats are tiny like Pirates, but glad we got to ride it a few times while we were here.
Next it was time to go meet Joy and Sadness. We headed over and got in line. We had only a few people in front of us and slowly behind us people starting filling up the room very quickly. Just as we got to our turn we were told the characters were going for a quick rest and would be back. A quick change and we were up. This was a great meet, they have a pretty big area thats for sure. Joy was awesome. I told her our last name was Joy and she got very excited. Sadness was funny as well. Can't help but laugh just looking at her. Plenty of hugs and chats and some happy snaps. A great meet for sure. Wish Bing Bong was around.

We still had a little bit of time before all of World Showcase was open so a quick ride on Figment was on the cards. India had her Figment toy with her and she was very excited. She loved the ride, and so did we. I still remember the first time we rode it and it scared the crap out of me at the end. Ahh so much fun.

Epcot was still pretty quiet when we got out. Time to go meet our first Princess. Our destination was France. Belle was first on the list. We were first in line, and out she came. Pretty standard meet, nothing too exciting, and was over pretty quick. The girls were happy.

As we walked through france they had art stores open. I regret now not purchasing anything, they had amazing star wars pictures. Oh silly us.

Next it was Jasmine. First in line again. This would have to be the worst meet ever. Just like in Disneyland when we met Jasmine she was pretty average, and things here were no different. We had misplaced our Pen and she went to sign the books for the girls and when we said sorry do you have a spare pen, it was like a drama to walk off and get one from her set. Straight into pictures and see you later. Jasmine was India's favourite but after that she said not anymore.

Then it was off to the meet Snow White. Bec was super excited and so was India. Once again Snow White rocks, this was how a meet is supposed to go. Great interaction between everyone. Some other Princess's could take note.

With our meets all over, we spent most the day shopping around, and grabbing some last minute goodies. Club cool was visited a few times as well hehe.
We finished off with a Spaceship Earth ride. Bec was in the back behind us. It was funny at the end when we got out to look at the world map. Bec had held up her BB8 backpack and he had his picture taken and showed up on the map next to Bec. Heaps of kids saw this and started screaming out. They wanted to know where he lived.... and followed him to Australia.. They were all clapping, great stuff.

It was time to leave, another great day, good times, but it had to come to an end. We waved goodbye to Epcot, so many great times we had here. It was sad to walk out, but one day we will be back thats for sure.