Our 14 day whirlwind holiday! (Day 8 updated)

[l_mccafferty]

The Cast:

Me and Iain: We've been together nearly four years and everyone says we're so in tune with each other - we have even been known to finish the other person's sentence! My favourite park is Epcot but he likes them all!

My best friend Mhairi: We went to high school together and have always been friends. She is mad but truly the best friend anyone can ask for. This was her first time in Orlando.

My Mum and Dad: I have the best parents in the world. I really do. This was their first trip away with Iain and Mhairi, and my first time away with them in 4 years! They've been to Florida 3 times before this trip. My mum is not a ride person, my dad is, but unfortunately he's waiting on an operation so couldn't go on very much.

My younger sister Clare and her Boyfriend Alan: Myself and Clare are complete opposites! Which means on occasion, we do clash, this holiday was not without a few of these clashes! She loves the rides. She also doesn't draw breath when talking! Favourite park: Animal Kingdom.
I've known Alan for less than a year but he seems nice He's really into music (he plays and sings in his own band) and he prefers to do the rides too.

So that's the cast - Next up Day 1. (I'll make the pictures smaller from now on!)

 

[kirstinemma]

Looking forward to reading about your holiday!

 

[l_mccafferty]

We were flying out of Glasgow International Airport with Virgin on the 12.05pm flight on Saturday June 4th.
My dad came and picked me and Iain up around 6pm on the 3rd and we went down to their house for dinner before Mhairi came and picked us up once she finished work.
We stayed the night at Mhairi's and caught a taxi at 7.45am to the airport.
Once we arrived, we made our way to Terminal 2 to wait on the rest of the group before checking in.

Once checked in, we headed through security and then Clare and Alan went for food whilst the rest of us just wandered around the shops. We bought snacks, magazines for the plane and a quick Starbucks frappecino.

This was our first flight with Virgin and we were quite impressed. We left on time, the meal on the plane was nice (bangers and mash with a chocolatey dessert), we had a newish plane on the way out, with entertainment that you could stop and start, save for later, all touchscreen.

Once we arrived at MCO, we got through security in around 30 mins, collected our bags and got on the monorail to book our transfer.
We then were taken to our hotel - The Orlando Metropolitan Resort, Austrian Court, off International drive.
This was my 3rd time staying in this hotel and yet again before we went, the reviews were awful. I can genuinely say I would stay here again! The only issue we had in 14 days was that our keys stopped working after one week and this was resolved within about 10 minutes!

We had originally planned to go for dinner then Pirates Cove mini golf but we were all shattered so we went to Pondarosa, then off to Walgreens for drinks and snacks for the room.
We went to bed around 11pm and I was out like a light within seconds!


Day 2: Universal Studios

 

[jockey]

Great report

 

[l_mccafferty]

Sunday 5th June - Universal Studios.

We had four rooms between us in the hotel but for some reason everyone congregated in ours... Maybe it was because of our sweets and drinks!

We had agreed to meet around 8.50am and go to Pondarosa for breakfast before we caught the Itrolley to stop 9 then walked along to Universal.
I was surprised when we woke up at the reasonable time of 7am (I'm usually awake around 4am the first day) so we showered, got dressed and watched some TV before Mhairi came around at 8.30am.

We got the rest of them at 8.50am then headed first for breakfast then to US.
It was fun to watch Mhairi's face walking into Citywalk and then we took a few pictures before heading into the park.

First stop in the park was Twister (Jimmy Neutron was closed and we wanted to do Shrek in the afternoon when it was hot). Me, Iain and Mhairi then did the Mummy as the wait was too long for my dad to stand then we made our way around the park.
Everytime me and Iain have been to the park, Jaws has been down so we decided to head there before we ate and it was working! So first time on Jaws for Mhairi and Iain and they loved it.

We ate in Richter Burger which was great as usual. They have the new Coca Cola machines that you can mix flavours etc. The great thing is you can also use your refill cups on this! However, normal cups are not refillable.
I had Raspberry Coke and Iain and Mhairi had Strawberry Fanta.

Afterwards we went to the Beetlejuice Graveyard Revue before continuing around the park.

We managed to get my mum to go on the Simpsons and she had a ball! This was her first major ride of any of her visits to Orlando!

We spent a full day at the park with hardly any wait times at all (The simpsons was 10 mins) and then we went to Citywalk for dinner. Me, Iain and Mhairi ate in Bubba Gump whilst my parents ate in Pastamore.

Iain had the full rack of ribs, I had Mama's fried chicken and Mhairi had the soup and salad combo. I had a Lt. Dan's Pomegranate Punch and a Mango lemonade thing. Iain had Strawberry Lemonade and Mhairi had the Mango thing too.

We shared the Cookie dessert which was a freshly baked cookie with ice cream, whipped cream and caramel sauce.

I would rate the food in Bubba Gump's a 4.5/5 and would definitely return! (My cocktail came with the glass included in the price!)

We met my parents outside and shared a taxi back to the hotel

Coming up: Day 3 Premium outlets and Florida Mall

 

[l_mccafferty]

Shopping at the Premium Outlets and Florida Mall

The plan for today was to get started on our shopping so we planned to go to the outlets first on the Itrolley then get the 42 Lynx bus to the Florida Mall.

We had a slight disagreement as to which set of outlets to go to but me and Iain were sure that the 42 cut off of I drive at Sandlake road so we decided to go to the bottom outlets.
We went through all of the shops to see if we could see anything but this year, I must admit, very little caught my eye!
I bought a pair of Crocs in a dolly shoe style ($19) but for the first year ever did not buy anything in the Levi shop! Iain got jeans ($21) and Mhairi picked up some Crocs ($24). My mum bought some perfume and we both bought a pair of Mary Jane style Crocs for $15. I spotted a gorgeous Swarkovski bracelet in the outlet shop and had to be dragged from the shop before I bought it!

We jumped on the 42 to go to the Florida Mall and guess what? It didn't turn off at Sandlake Road, it went all the way up to the outlets at the top of Idrive before making it's way to the Florida Mall. Over 1 hour later, we arrived at the mall. We split up from my mum and dad as they like to browse every single shop.... even if there's nothing in it for them! We wandered around the shops and Mhairi got accosted by a woman selling mineral cosmetics on a stall. Mhairi is the type of person who finds it hard to say no, so I went over to "rescue" her. Funnily enough the woman didn't try and sell me anything. So she makes up half of Mhairi's face, gives her a box and tells her to pick what makeup she wants and then tells her its $250! Mhairi said to her that she didn't have enough money on her but she still insisted, so I said to Mhairi, we can come back on our way out but we've still got all the shops to go to. At this point the woman grabs her away from me, tells me to stay away and starts whispering in her ear. (The woman said that I knew nothing and this was a great deal that I was being nasty and keeping her from!) She rang the items through the till! Eventually I just told her no and stood between her and Mhairi and walked away.

We met my parents later outside of the M&M shop and me and Mhairi got our picture taken with Red.

We then jumped in a taxi back to the hotel, met with Clare and Alan and got changed to go to Bahama Breeze for dinner.
Me and Iain loved this restaurant last time but none of the others had been.
I ordered a Bahamarita which came with cactus scnapps to pour over the drink - once i did this I couldn't drink it as I found it tasted disgusting so my mum took it and I ordered a Bahamian sunset which was much better!!
Dinner here was brilliant as per usual and I would rate this 4.5/5

After dinner, Me, Iain and Mhairi went to Pirates Cove mini golf and played the hard course.
Mhairi managed to put her ball in the water on her first shot as well as fall over on the green!

Coming up: Day 4 - DisneyQuest and Downtown Disney

 

[irongirlof12]

What a fab time, shame about the bad makeup counter experience

 

[kirstinemma]

Great report so far! I was thinking the same thing, it's a shame about that bad make-up counter experience.

 

[RolyPoly]

Great report so far!

If you dont mind me asking, how much did the taxi cost back to your hotel from the Florida Mall and how long did it take? We're heading to Orlando next week(without a car) so im trying to plan on how to get around a few places. I was considering the Lynx buses, but after hearing your story, as well as other peoples, I've been slightly put off.

 

[l_mccafferty]

Great report so far!

If you dont mind me asking, how much did the taxi cost back to your hotel from the Florida Mall and how long did it take? We're heading to Orlando next week(without a car) so im trying to plan on how to get around a few places. I was considering the Lynx buses, but after hearing your story, as well as other peoples, I've been slightly put off.

The taxi back from the Florida Mall was around $25.
The Lynx buses are great and to be honest had we gone to the top outlet first or even from outside our hotel it would have been much less! The taxi was about 15 minutes. If I was going again, I'd get the bus there and taxi it back.

 

[l_mccafferty]

DisneyQuest and Downtown Disney

We left the hotel around 9am and got the Itrolley to stop 32 and crossed the road to get the lynx 50 to Downtown Disney (It also goes to the Ticket and Transportation Centre). Whilst we were standing at the bus stop, one of the minibuses stopped to offer to take us to Downtown Disney for $3 each.

We got to Downtown Disney Westside by 10am and realised that not only did Disneyquest not open until 11.30am the shops didn't open until 10.30am!!

We sat on a bench, then once the shops opened we had a wander through them. Went into Candy Cauldron and got chocolate covered marshmallows and some juice.

Once DisneyQuest opened we went in there and went straight to Pirates of the Caribbean where Iain and Mhairi made the mistake of making me drive the boat..... Then we went on Jungle cruise. We went on most things around DisneyQuest and also had some food in FoodQuest (the foodcourt)

After DisneyQuest we wandered over to the MarketPlace through the old Pleasure Island - I really can't wait to see what they do to the place once they build Hyperion Wharf!

Once in the MarketPlace we went to TRex for food. As me and Mhairi weren't too hungry we decided to share some apps. We got the Appetiser sharer, mozzarella sticks and the flatbread. Iain got a burger and some chicken wings. We just had juice with our meal and we also ordered the sharer dessert Chocolate extinction. We were sat in the Ice room which was quite dark - I actually saw a man use his phone as a torch to read his menu!

After this we went round to the new Lego store

Iain bought me a Beauty and the Beast snowglobe from World of Disney and got the deal with the beach towel for $12.95 but we didn't buy anything else today.

We went back to the hotel and decided to chill out tonight as we were not hungry from the feast we had eaten at lunch!

I'd given TRex 4/5. The food was delicious and I would go back but I didn't like the Ice Room and when the meteor shower happened every 20 minutes, the ice room started flashing colours which gave me a headache


Day 5 - Epcot and the big surprise!

 

[Tinks1984]

Great updates today!

I was shocked to read about the make-up lady - how rude! And $250! I'd have laughed in her face at that price!

Looking forward to you hitting Epcot

 

[l_mccafferty]

Epcot

Our hotel had a free shuttle to Disney. It picked up at 8.25am and took you to Epcot only.

We were all going this day to Epcot and I had reservations at Le Cellier at 11.30am for 5 of us (It was for 6 but then Alan joined the holiday too late and I couldn't change the reservation so Clare decided she'd go with him instead) then reservations at 9 Dragons at 6.30pm that night.

We arrived at 9.10am and started by heading to Soaring, the line was already 40 mins long! so we fast passed it for 12.45-1.45 and went on Living with the Land and then to the Seas with Nemo and Friends. We headed over to Mousegears and Innoventions, then Clare and Alan left us as we headed towards Le Cellier.
We checked in and waited for them to open - they open by singing the Canadian National Anthem which was cool.
We were then seated and served by Wade. I had a Torontopolitan, Mhairi had a Canadian Unibroue Ephimere, Iain and my mum had a red maple and my dad had a coke.

We didn't have any starters. For Main courses me, Iain and Mhairi had the Mushroom Filet (No changes), my dad had the burger with no pancetta and my mum had the open faced sandwich. Iain had the moose to finish.

Wade was a brilliant waiter and he also brought me and Mhairi two light up Tinkerbell's to celebrate our graduation.

I'd give Le Cellier 5/5 - The service and food was amazing!

After Le Cellier we headed back and used our Soaring fastpasses then decided to go around the world starting in Mexico.

We also went into La Cava where Me, Mhairi and my mum shared a margarita flight.

I have to admit, I thought all of the margaritas were not nice! I also learned I don't like salt!

We made our way around the world showcase, stopping in at the shops and buying bits and bobs: Lucky cats, sweets, marble soda in Japan. Both me and my mum did the pick a pearl in Japan and got Blue/Silver pearls.

By the time we got to America, I was starting to feel sick and needed shade so we sat in the shade for a while. We were actually considering leaving but knew we wouldn't get back for Illuminations so we decided to stay.

We got to Morocco and my mum and dad were sitting outside whilst me, Iain and Mhairi went into the shops. Mhairi went out to get them first then me and Iain left too.

Outside the Morocco pavillion, we saw that Mhairi had met a group of Americans who loved her Scottish accent and once they found out we were Scottish too wanted us to walk with them to the next pavillion (France).
One of the guys wanted to buy us all drinks (including for my mum and dad) and no matter how many times we said no, he wouldn't take no for an answer, so we got wine in the wine shop.
We stood talking for a while when the conversation turned to when Iain was going to propose to me. It was making me feel awkward and I don't like Iain feeling pressured so I went to find my mum and dad.
After saying our goodbyes from the group of lovely americans and exchanging emails etc, we stopped to sit on a bench. My mum, dad and Mhairi walked on.

And then the surprise happened!

Iain got down on one knee and proposed. I thought he was joking! Turns out he'd had it planned for months!! That's why he seemed slightly off after those guys were going on about it!

We found the group of newly found friends in the UK pavillion and told them, then carried on throughout Epcot.
We stayed for illuminations then got a taxi back to the hotel to see if we could find Clare and Alan to tell them

Coming up: Day 6 - Mall at Milenia

 

[jockey]

Great reports

 

[strawberry blonde]

Did you say yes

Great report apart from the lady selling cosmetics at the mall. We just don't entertain them. Usually it's ' let's just look at your hands' as they try to sell their wonderful products. Well my hands look like they belong to a 90 yr old so they've no chance

It's great when you go with people who have never been before. We did it 2 yrs ago with my SIL and hubbie from Paisley. They loved it so much that they went back the next year without us

Can't wait for your next day.

 

[kirstinemma]

Congratulations!

Looking forward to your mall day!

 

[crabbie1]

Great TR laura. The lego area at DTD looks ace. Glad you liked t-rex.We took DD last year and were suprised how good the food was. It wasnt overly busy and lke you we shared a main but had the french onion soup to start which was ace.
What have you graduated in I graduate this year but never thought to put it as a celebration. Good thinking bat girl

Look forward to reading more.

 

[Tinkerbell1989]

Great report!

I'm mentally making notes of where to visit next time. Le Cellier, T-Rex, Bubba Gumps, Candy Cauldron, Foodquest... I'm gonna need to save up!

And you met the M&Ms man! Jealous!

xxx

 

[Tinks1984]

Wow ~ congratulations on your engagement! Epcot is a great place to get engaged

What a nice day, sorry to hear you were feeling poorly though!

 

[l_mccafferty]

Mall at Millenia

Today 6 of us got a taxi to Mall at Millenia (Alan didn't want to come). We went in to Macy's first where I bought a Clinique Chubby Stick for $15 (It's £14.50 here!)
The other 4 were wanting to wander round Macy's some more so me and Iain left them and said we'd meet them later.

We had a wander around most of the shops, especially A Thing Remembered. We bought a Baseball game for the PS3 for Iain's big brother and then I hit the Yankee Candle store! Bought a sweet apple scent and a fruit salad. (I love Florida for buying Yankee Candles!! So cheap)

We met up with the rest of them and decided we would go to Johnny Rockets for food. Clare and Mhairi decided to head back to the hotel.
I had a club sandwich and the rest had burgers. 3.5/5 for johnny Rockets

We then went to the rest of the shops and my mum and dad took me into Tiffany's to buy me something for graduation.
I didn't see anything I liked
I actually didn't buy much again! This was a miracle! Normally I have bags and bags.

We got a taxi back to the hotel and me Iain and Mhairi just ordered into the hotel room

We had Buffalo strips, Mozzarella sticks, Pepperoni pizza and a meatball sub.
We then went to bed early as we were going to Disney's Hollywood Studios for Star Wars Weekends tomorrow.

Coming up: Star Wars Weekends at Disney's Hollywood Studios.