9/12 - 9/14 RPR
Me, DW, 11yo DD & her best friend
Drove in Fri pm thru I-4 west traffic, not too bad for 5:30. Big surprise.
Did semi-quick check-in and then met up with friends out by pool. Front desk couldn't get us a room near them unfortunately. No biggie, we're here!
We walked over to IOA for a couple rides on Hulk & once on Spidey. Park was closing at 7, so back to RPR pool. Grabbed a Cat-in-Hat kids' football at Port Entry store first, perfect for the water!
Dive-in movie was Daredevil, but none of us really paid it much attention. Lot of kidsplay & adults acting like kids goin' on!
Was a little disappointed that Bula Bar closed at 8pm, right when the movie started. At least we had set up near the Jakes' side of the pool (Tower 1 & zero-entry area), and just took turns shuttling our own stuff from Jake's. Food is much the same as Bula's anyway. After feasting and more kidsplay, pool closed somewhere between 10 and 11pm.
Great start to the week-end. Everyone was in a for a wonderful slumber. Oh yeah, milk & cookies were waiting for us too!
Sat.-
I'm up at 5:15, my curse. I tip-toe out & drive over to the near-by Walgreens. Load up on sodas, water, & snacks for the room. Just about everything in the mini-bar you can find in that Walgreens. Even those square bottles of Fiji water ($3.50 ea) are sold as 6-packs for $7 there.
The next-door liquor store doesn't open till 9am. They have the little jiggers for mini-bar replacement, if ya need.
Stopped at a convenience store and gassed up (across from Walgreens & next to McDonalds), no beer sales till 7am. The worm is getting the early bird today.
Ran car thru carwash and checked all fluid levels, it's 6:10. Had another coffee and chatted with clerk about Hurricane Isabel. Offered to pick up trash in parking lot to kill time. Gave up and went "home".
Once everyone is up, we're at the pool & not-hot tub (but the jets feel great on the feet & calves). There till about 8:30, then got ready to water-taxi over to USF at 9:45.
Shrek was 1st, 5 min Express wait. Then MIB once and a Jaws ride. We're just following all the things DD's friend had never done, or couldn't remember much. It's such a joy riding/seeing things with first timers!
Managed to do Earthquake w/o the pre-show, attendant was cool about it.
Had 20 mins before Express could get in Beetlejuice, so went to Louis' for a snack. Pop-tarts had worn off quickly today.
Went ahead and made it a meal and took our time. Just back in time for BJ Show to start, still got a good seat! *were only having 2 BJ Shows Sat., hmmm.
Next was Horror Make-up Show, but juust missed it (came back later). Walked thru Lucy Tribute & saw Spongebob's initial appearance in Nick Store. Was DD's friends' highlite of day, as she's huge fan & collector of SpongeStuff. They had him to themselves for a few mins, just before Neutron show let out.
Interaction was great, he followed them everywhere in that playarea! Got lots of terrific pics.
Now we caught Horror Show, great as always, then a Neutron ride before exiting backgate (well, back of HRC anyway) to hit IOA.
In order: Hulk, Spidey, time to get soaked on Dudley (got it bigtime too), and JPRA.
After an Ice Dragon ride the girls dropped me off at Alchemy to catch some NCAA scores (NC State was giving OSU a quality game, had the bar rocking some). Seemed to be more folks anxious for the Mich/ND game tho, and the commencement of 3pm Happy Hour till Close! (Got to see some college students "cut-off" when slurring their words & money-fumbling started. These barkeeps are sharp, no monkey business could ever get started here. Besides, there's too many dad's-with-strollers willing to help take the trash out!)
Anyway, many Dragon rides & "score updates" later (*Dueling continued till just about dark-thirty, or whenever I left), met the girls by RPR pool for another nite of water fun.
Our friends had done a Disney day and joined us later. Swapped stories & kids' adventures for awhile and then all ordered Jake's take-out for the rooms. Everyone was exhausted and couldn't attempt to close the pool down tonite.
Sun.
All up by 7:45 today (yay, slept in late for once!). Got the late check-out, 2pm for Loews Platinum. Could tell on the phone they didn't really wanna honor it.
Did our football picks from the Miami Trib newspaper (noticed up & down the hallway both days, no one gets Orlando Sentinel anymore... contract thing?)
DW took the girls to USF for souvenirs & shopping via water-taxi. I walked to IOA later and did a Hulk and a non-dueling Ice (it really isn't the same, but it's a ride I can't get in my backyard... nuff said).
Met in Lost Continent at prescribed time and headed for Burger Digs. Cut the girls lose to go ride Pter. Flyers & JPRA, so DW & I split a chicken tender plate for a snack. Sat inside behind the elevator so we could peer down into the closed "hot set" below. Kinda getting excited about HHN now, even tho we're not big Halloween buffs.
When DD & friend returned we ambled out toward Toon Lagoon and shot a few people with the water blasters on Dudley's bridge. Good, clean fun that is!
Hit Spidey one last time before final souvenirs in Port Entry Store. Off to a Margaritaville feast!
Bye Parks!
After prying ourselves out of Buffetts', after one terrific meal (what a chore it is leaving here), had to go check-out. DW got the souvenir Margaritaville glass w/ pina colada, knowing full well that security wouldn't let her carry a drink out of Citywalk. But, alas, no security guy on the path to RPR! Lucky for him today I guess, none of us are at our jolliest on leaving day.
Let the girls hit the pool for a little bit before departing RPR. Our friends had already hit the road. Drove home listening to NFL radio & planning next months' attack plan!
Never made it to Guest Services to do a feedback form. Sorry.
We had a blast all week-end, and we let everyone we came across know it (Practically every cash register we walked too close to also)
Hope everyones' visits are as much fun as ours are!!
Jim
Me, DW, 11yo DD & her best friend
Drove in Fri pm thru I-4 west traffic, not too bad for 5:30. Big surprise.
Did semi-quick check-in and then met up with friends out by pool. Front desk couldn't get us a room near them unfortunately. No biggie, we're here!
We walked over to IOA for a couple rides on Hulk & once on Spidey. Park was closing at 7, so back to RPR pool. Grabbed a Cat-in-Hat kids' football at Port Entry store first, perfect for the water!
Dive-in movie was Daredevil, but none of us really paid it much attention. Lot of kidsplay & adults acting like kids goin' on!
Was a little disappointed that Bula Bar closed at 8pm, right when the movie started. At least we had set up near the Jakes' side of the pool (Tower 1 & zero-entry area), and just took turns shuttling our own stuff from Jake's. Food is much the same as Bula's anyway. After feasting and more kidsplay, pool closed somewhere between 10 and 11pm.
Great start to the week-end. Everyone was in a for a wonderful slumber. Oh yeah, milk & cookies were waiting for us too!
Sat.-
I'm up at 5:15, my curse. I tip-toe out & drive over to the near-by Walgreens. Load up on sodas, water, & snacks for the room. Just about everything in the mini-bar you can find in that Walgreens. Even those square bottles of Fiji water ($3.50 ea) are sold as 6-packs for $7 there.
The next-door liquor store doesn't open till 9am. They have the little jiggers for mini-bar replacement, if ya need.
Stopped at a convenience store and gassed up (across from Walgreens & next to McDonalds), no beer sales till 7am. The worm is getting the early bird today.
Ran car thru carwash and checked all fluid levels, it's 6:10. Had another coffee and chatted with clerk about Hurricane Isabel. Offered to pick up trash in parking lot to kill time. Gave up and went "home".
Once everyone is up, we're at the pool & not-hot tub (but the jets feel great on the feet & calves). There till about 8:30, then got ready to water-taxi over to USF at 9:45.
Shrek was 1st, 5 min Express wait. Then MIB once and a Jaws ride. We're just following all the things DD's friend had never done, or couldn't remember much. It's such a joy riding/seeing things with first timers!
Managed to do Earthquake w/o the pre-show, attendant was cool about it.
Had 20 mins before Express could get in Beetlejuice, so went to Louis' for a snack. Pop-tarts had worn off quickly today.
Went ahead and made it a meal and took our time. Just back in time for BJ Show to start, still got a good seat! *were only having 2 BJ Shows Sat., hmmm.
Next was Horror Make-up Show, but juust missed it (came back later). Walked thru Lucy Tribute & saw Spongebob's initial appearance in Nick Store. Was DD's friends' highlite of day, as she's huge fan & collector of SpongeStuff. They had him to themselves for a few mins, just before Neutron show let out.
Interaction was great, he followed them everywhere in that playarea! Got lots of terrific pics.
Now we caught Horror Show, great as always, then a Neutron ride before exiting backgate (well, back of HRC anyway) to hit IOA.
In order: Hulk, Spidey, time to get soaked on Dudley (got it bigtime too), and JPRA.
After an Ice Dragon ride the girls dropped me off at Alchemy to catch some NCAA scores (NC State was giving OSU a quality game, had the bar rocking some). Seemed to be more folks anxious for the Mich/ND game tho, and the commencement of 3pm Happy Hour till Close! (Got to see some college students "cut-off" when slurring their words & money-fumbling started. These barkeeps are sharp, no monkey business could ever get started here. Besides, there's too many dad's-with-strollers willing to help take the trash out!)
Anyway, many Dragon rides & "score updates" later (*Dueling continued till just about dark-thirty, or whenever I left), met the girls by RPR pool for another nite of water fun.
Our friends had done a Disney day and joined us later. Swapped stories & kids' adventures for awhile and then all ordered Jake's take-out for the rooms. Everyone was exhausted and couldn't attempt to close the pool down tonite.
Sun.
All up by 7:45 today (yay, slept in late for once!). Got the late check-out, 2pm for Loews Platinum. Could tell on the phone they didn't really wanna honor it.
Did our football picks from the Miami Trib newspaper (noticed up & down the hallway both days, no one gets Orlando Sentinel anymore... contract thing?)
DW took the girls to USF for souvenirs & shopping via water-taxi. I walked to IOA later and did a Hulk and a non-dueling Ice (it really isn't the same, but it's a ride I can't get in my backyard... nuff said).
Met in Lost Continent at prescribed time and headed for Burger Digs. Cut the girls lose to go ride Pter. Flyers & JPRA, so DW & I split a chicken tender plate for a snack. Sat inside behind the elevator so we could peer down into the closed "hot set" below. Kinda getting excited about HHN now, even tho we're not big Halloween buffs.
When DD & friend returned we ambled out toward Toon Lagoon and shot a few people with the water blasters on Dudley's bridge. Good, clean fun that is!
Hit Spidey one last time before final souvenirs in Port Entry Store. Off to a Margaritaville feast!
Bye Parks!
After prying ourselves out of Buffetts', after one terrific meal (what a chore it is leaving here), had to go check-out. DW got the souvenir Margaritaville glass w/ pina colada, knowing full well that security wouldn't let her carry a drink out of Citywalk. But, alas, no security guy on the path to RPR! Lucky for him today I guess, none of us are at our jolliest on leaving day.
Let the girls hit the pool for a little bit before departing RPR. Our friends had already hit the road. Drove home listening to NFL radio & planning next months' attack plan!
Never made it to Guest Services to do a feedback form. Sorry.
We had a blast all week-end, and we let everyone we came across know it (Practically every cash register we walked too close to also)
Hope everyones' visits are as much fun as ours are!!
Jim
! Glad you all enjoyed!
I may have seen you on Sunday...I was at Universal Studios AND Margaritaville. If you saw a girl with a neon yellow seat cushion, that was me...LOL.
