Pancakes and Disney: the perfect combination+ Harry, Shamu, Space and MNSSHP upd 1/29

[PrincessCharlie]

Then we went in Zonko's and Honeydukes.

Then we realised when we starving so we went to the Three Broomsticks for breakfast.

Daniel had a fried breakfast and I had the fruit platter.

It was good fruit and healthy I guess but I did wish I got what the dbf had. All the food we had in here was really yummy, apart from one thing... the croissants! I dunno how you get a croissant wrong but they did. The little scone thing was quite nice. Also the only thing they got wrong was the grape jelly that came with it. We don't have grape jelly in England! It should be strawberry jam in little jars. But I won't nit pick anymore!

This place was brilliant, you could sit and stare up at the ceilling for ages, there was soo much detail, even a projection of owls shadows flying around on the wall! Sitting there listening to the Harry Potter music and just looking around was heaven. They even had a rain effect on the windows that was so realistic it felt like you was sitting in chilly England in Hogsmead. It was fantastic.

Daniel dared me to put the whole piece of watermellon in my mouth...

We went to get butterbeer in the Hogs Head next, we got frozen and cold in the souvenir cups (which I'm drinking my coke in right now, we had to buy another carry on bag to get these home )

We went to sit out the back of Hogsmeade with them.

This one makes me giggle:

We both decided we preferred the cold kind. Now, I'd bought a packed lunch with me today because I thought it would save us money until I realised that to rent a locker all day would cost more then the pack lunch was worth. Daniel suggested throwing it, but I couldn't bring myself to chuck a brand new lunch bag that Dbf's Mum had brought us. So we decided to go put in the car Bad idea. We gave up on the packed lunch thing after this, and I ended up leaving it in the freezer in the room! Which I blame on Daniel because he was rushing me like crazy and wouldn't let me double check if I'd left anything! I still feel really bad, I thought I'd got everything!

We watched some turtles before we started our trek...

 

[PrincessCharlie]

So we went all the way to the car and dropped off the lunch bag and Daniel's wand and the other things we brought. We got back to IOA completely hot and exhausted the first thing we did was go on The Hulk which I don't have any pictures of Not that keen on this ride I think its quite bumpy. Then we walked through Marvel land stopping to go on Spiderman 3D which is an excellent ride, and not nausea inducing at all.

We always saw loads of characters in this part of the park and I have to say that they were always very good and in character, some of them would run about like they were about to save the day which was quite fun to watch. I think most younger boys would have a great time in this part of the park, I know my 22 year old Dbf did

Then we went on Ripsaw Falls and got completely drenched, Dbf was desparate to go on Bilgerat Barges but they were closed

I don't look happy here!

We walked around in our sopping wet clothes and Daniel bought a Captain America t-shirt in the shop, I wanted to look around but I was so cold in my wet clothes so I sat in the sun trying to dry.

We went on The Hulk again then went over to Jurassic Park. We saw more characters on our way.

We went on the River Adventure, one of faves the theming is so great, then stopped in the Discovery center for a sit down.

Daniel was getting tired, we decided to go back to The Three Broomsticks for some dinner.

Daniel got a turkey leg and I got fish and chips... yummy.

We both got more butter beer. It's a good job they don't sell this anywhere else because I could drink my weight in it and the calories in it must crazy.

I could've sat here longer but it was so cold in there and I was still really wet and freezing my butt off.

 

[PrincessCharlie]

We got in the queue for The Forbidden Journey again so I could take pictures, it was a 60min wait. The green houses are definately the worst part of this queue, they are hot and theres not much to look at at all. It's where you do the most waiting, then when you get in the castle you zoom through.

There was a girl in this queue that would not staring at me, I mean really intently staring, it was very off putting. I was feeling bad already because I was wet, scruffy and my make up had melted off. Make up was always a problem for me because I've got quite bad patches of eczema on my face, but I always found it would melt in the heat and look a mess. But I didn't want to not wear it because then I'd look an even bigger mess.

I was hoping it would go before I went on holiday, but It still hasn't gone now and I've been back a few weeks. Anyway after today I kept my make up in my bag so I could fix it. Staring girl continued to stare for the whole queue, but I did notice she was doing it to a few people, in the end I gave her my most disapproving look and she stopped. Not sure what that was all about.

I still didn't get to take many pictures because the queue inside moved so fast.

After this we walked back to the car, didn't think I'd make it because I so tired, I think I stopped on almost every bench. It had been a great day. Daniel literally fell asleep when we got back, and I followed shortly after watching some... adverts. Seriously I've never seen so many adverts on telly before, so I ended up watching a lot of Stacy which is strangely addictive.

 

[kokotg]

Enjoyed your Harry Potter experiences and pictures! I'm hoping we'll be able to spend a day at IOA next year...oddly, I'm the one who's pushing for it the most, even though I have three Harry Potter loving boys.

 

[petals]

joining in great report so far!

 

[Aussiesalad]

Joining in! Loving hearing about your trip so far!

I had a lot of comments to make while reading through all the posts but now my mind is blank haha.

I love Atlantis at seaworld! Mainly because of the bizarre story line... I mean what does the seahorse have to do anything!

I know what you mean about Florida drivers. Everyone always seems calmer than here. Oh and I miss how wide American lanes are... So good!

Forbidden journey made me feel sick too and I was so bummed because of all the hype... I really wanted to love it! And the non screen parts were amazing. But the rest of the time blahhhh

I love all your dresses by the way

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip!

 

[PrincessCharlie]

Enjoyed your Harry Potter experiences and pictures! I'm hoping we'll be able to spend a day at IOA next year...oddly, I'm the one who's pushing for it the most, even though I have three Harry Potter loving boys.

You should definately try and go, the theming is definately on par with Disney, it really is done well. And even if you don't want to spend the whole day at wwohp there is a lot for three boys to do at IOA. Make sure you check out Spiderman 3D they'll probably like it even if they're not into the super hero/marvel thing. The water rides are really good aswell, but you will wet... really, really wet. So be prepared

joining in great report so far!

Thanks for joining in!

Joining in! Loving hearing about your trip so far!

I had a lot of comments to make while reading through all the posts but now my mind is blank haha.

I love Atlantis at seaworld! Mainly because of the bizarre story line... I mean what does the seahorse have to do anything!

I know what you mean about Florida drivers. Everyone always seems calmer than here. Oh and I miss how wide American lanes are... So good!

Forbidden journey made me feel sick too and I was so bummed because of all the hype... I really wanted to love it! And the non screen parts were amazing. But the rest of the time blahhhh

I love all your dresses by the way

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip!

Thanks for joining in! I know right! The seahorse bit is so weird.

I miss the driving in Orlando its so Disneyfied.

I'm glad I'm not alone. I so wanted to like it, I wish it was all action because those bits were so good.

Thank You! You might be able to tell that I've got a bit of a dress habit

 

[PrincessCharlie]

The plan for today was to go to Hollywood Studio's and stay till Fantasmic, we also had a reservation for dinner at Sci-fi which I was super excited about. I woke up refreshed from my long sleep, desparate to get tsm fast passes. Daniel woke up tired from his long sleep and desparate to get Ihop. I lost the battle

HS opened at 10am and it was 9am so I thought Ihop was doable and we stopped on the way there.

Daniel got the usual fry up and this time he multi grain pancakes.

He wasn't a fan of the pancakes... you just can't do pancakes healthy, they're best when their full of fat and terribly bad for you.

I got this:

Didn't like it at all. I can remember that the melon tasted really bad which is weird. Definately next time we go I'm not going to try to eat healthily at Ihop. Its a place where you just have to eat bad and get over it.

And we were on our way to HS!!! Pretty soon we were seeing this:

And sitting in one of these:

We didn't get there for rope drop but we did alright.

It was filling up pretty quick, so we started the march for TSM fast passes. At this point Daniel said "I'll take the map and I'll get us there quickly", in a voice which said "your a woman and therefore awful at directions and I'm the best because I'm a man". Well he went and took the longest possible way, while the whole time I was pleading at him to walk faster, walk faster. He is a seriously slooooow walker. Even when he's rushing he is soooo sloooow. Like a sloth. So be the time we got there the fast pass return was at 2:30pm! Bit of a fail. But honestly with Dbf being so slow it's lucky we got any at all.

So we hadn't been on any rides and my Dbf was tired, moaning and slowing me down! We decided to go do Dbf's faves TOT and RNRC.

We went on TOT first, the wait was about 25min, not too bad.

Love this ride, so fun. I never noticed before that you line up in the basement. I loved the basement bit, the theming is amazing like being in actual hotel basement (which in real life would be really boring), in fact the theming on the whole ride is amazing.

We then did RNRC which is Daniels fave. I love the start where you go really fast and then you cruise through the Hollywood sign, but then the rest is too twisty turny for me, I wish there were more cruising bits. We got fastpasses for this.

We then walked over to Muppets, I was super for this show, it was a new one for me and I love the Muppets. On a another note it's about near enough to to Christmas to watch "The Muppets Christmas Carol" again!

Loved it! Hope the new movie is good. Picture time...

Then a very nice man offered to take a picture for us, and even got down on one knee to take it!

We went back to RNRC to use our fast passes, and got these on the way back...

That lemonade was yummy, it was really, really hot today. After today the weather took a turn and was quite bareable, but we were suffering, so that lemonade really hit the spot.

We walked over to Star Wars and got in line. I wasn't too keen on going on because it's a simulator, but guess who made me go. He was always saying "You don't know until you try".

Well I do know before I try. Horrible. I just had to sit with my head in my lap and wish that it would be over.

It was time for Lights, Motors, Action! so we made our way to the stadium. Which had no cover and a couple of useless fans. It was so in here you could have cooked an egg sunny side up on my forehead. I was dying, I couldn't concentrate on the show, I just wanted it to be over so I could get out and breathe again.

The Lightening McQueen bit was alright, but overall I was dissapointed. Too much cheese and not enough stunts. Alot of what they did was driving around in patterns but honestly if I go down to my local Krispy Kreme car park on a Saturday night I could see yobs doing pretty much the same thing in the same cars. If your gonna have that much cheese you've got to have enough crackers to go with it!

Plus it sweat drippingly hot, to the point where I was about to start screaming to the nearest CM to let me out right now. They really ought to do something about that, more fans or something.

 

[Aussiesalad]

Trying to eat healthy at ihop never seems to work well for us either. Last time we got some fruit plate before hitting disney and i swear it was all limp and sad tasting. We ended up eating again as soon as we got to the parks. Next time i'll be picking some calorie overload instead.

I think getting ANY fastpass for TSM is a bonus! SO crazy there!

Yayy almost time to watch The Muppets Christmas Carol! Actually its almost time to pull out all the christmas favs! Yayyy!

That sucks about Star Tours! The old version made me sick...so I am sure this one will too. Only problem is that I am sure I will still try it to make sure... and I bet I will end up with my head in my lap too.

Yeah that show sounds like a bit of a letdown. The really need more than those non-helpful fans!

 

[PrincessCharlie]

Trying to eat healthy at ihop never seems to work well for us either. Last time we got some fruit plate before hitting disney and i swear it was all limp and sad tasting. We ended up eating again as soon as we got to the parks. Next time i'll be picking some calorie overload instead.

I think getting ANY fastpass for TSM is a bonus! SO crazy there!

Yayy almost time to watch The Muppets Christmas Carol! Actually its almost time to pull out all the christmas favs! Yayyy!

That sucks about Star Tours! The old version made me sick...so I am sure this one will too. Only problem is that I am sure I will still try it to make sure... and I bet I will end up with my head in my lap too.

Yeah that show sounds like a bit of a letdown. The really need more than those non-helpful fans!

Thats the trouble with motion sickness! You have to try stuff just to see, then you end feeling ill. I had less trouble last holiday, I think the older I'm getting the more wimpy my belly is, so goodness knows what it'll be like when I'm thirty, I won't be able to go Dumbo without getting sick You should try Star Tours just in case, at least it's over pretty fast!

 

[PrincessCharlie]

So it was at last time to use our fastpasses for TSM and sadly the only time we went on this ride the whole trip

It started to rain and it was very very welcome. I hoped it would cool down a bit but it didn't.

There was still a bit of a queue even with the fastpasses, and the amount of fastpass people coming in was a bit mad, I guess because the slot had just oppened up. I wouldn't have wanted to be in stand by line just then, the CM's were hardly letting anyone through from that lane. The look on some people faces as we all poured past them!

While in the queue the kid behind decided to pull my skirt up! And I was on the top of stairs, bum out to the world Its lucky he was only 4 and very cute.

You can't beat the theming in here it's amaze balls. It was good ride but Dbf's shooter wasn't working properly... he still beat me though But in my defence I was bothering to aim at things, his balls were going everywhere at a furious speed. Of course he didn't get the highest score of the day so naturally he got the hump

After that we had a little while till our reservation at 4 so we went to do TOT and RNRC again.

It was still really cloudy, that bit of rain didn't help at all.

We were about half an hour early for our reservation but we couldn't wait anymore! I was about ready to stuff my face.

We waited in the lobby on a nice bench and I started to feel sore throaty and headachy and it so nice to sit in the air con and watch the old movies

And now i need to explain that my camera, even though it passes for acceptable in the day, is awful anywhere that is a bit dark. So please forgive these photo's for being a bit rubbish.

As you can see I tried all the different settings, it just hates the dark! I'm looking for second hand "proper" camera right now, so if anyones got suggestions?

I really want something that can take clear pictures of fireworks and parades and things.

We were sat behind a family in the back seat and it felt a little awkward at first, they kept taking photos and we would have to duck down with our heads on the table. It would've been nice to sit in the front and to gotten a picture, but we still enjoyed it.

We both had an oreo milkshake...

Daniel had chilli and he cleared the whole plate so he must've liked it

I had onion rings, which were very tasty.

I got the beef and blue salad, which was great. Lovely tender beef and crisp lettuce. I hate leafy lettuce its like rabbit food.

Daniel got steak and mash, and he liked it but didn't rave about it.

I started to feel really tired and sick, and I was torn between staying for Fantasmic! or going home for a sleep. Daniel didn't think he could stay awake so we left, and I have no more pictures because we had a pretty boring evening.

We went to the supermarket, where I got some dayquil. Which is amazing! I wish they sold it over here.

Anyway after I had it I had it I felt better and we went to find Pirate Cove mini golf. We found it next to Foodings supermarket and played the easy course. Its on quite alot of swampy water and I sat on a wooden bench and got bit on the bum by a spider which hurt reallllllly bad!!!! Like being stabbed by a tiny little sword. I was sorry I sat on that spider

We had fun, but it was easily the hottest night of the trip, sweaty buckets hot. And the mozzies were loving the swampy water, and having a field day on our arms and legs. After being eaten alive... nearly, we went home and crashed, and I "accidentally" ate a whole box of Junior Mints . They are my absolute fave, wish we had those over here too!

Next up Typhoon Lagoon and we finally get to go to Fantasmic!

 

[Aussiesalad]

Oh Florida rain... you always think it's going to cool you down ...but no

Everyone loves those kids that lift up strangers skirts and dresses, it's one of those hazards of wearing dresses to Disney. Good thing he was cute haha

Yeah my camera has the same issue with indoors. I am getting a second hand canon 40 d in a couple of weeks. Hopefully that is better... I'll let you know.

Lovvveeee pirate cove mini golf! Stupid stabby spider!

Yes i also love dayquil...and niquil and junior mints!
They just selling junior mints here though, so i don't have to miss them anymore haha yayy!

Can';t wait to see typhoon lagoon!!

 

[PrincessCharlie]

Oh Florida rain... you always think it's going to cool you down ...but no

Everyone loves those kids that lift up strangers skirts and dresses, it's one of those hazards of wearing dresses to Disney. Good thing he was cute haha

Yeah my camera has the same issue with indoors. I am getting a second hand canon 40 d in a couple of weeks. Hopefully that is better... I'll let you know.

Lovvveeee pirate cove mini golf! Stupid stabby spider!

Yes i also love dayquil...and niquil and junior mints!
They just selling junior mints here though, so i don't have to miss them anymore haha yayy!

Can';t wait to see typhoon lagoon!!

Oohh you'll have to let me what its like! Can't wait to get a camera that doesn't freak at the fist sign of low light.

Pirate cove mini golf is a must do in Orlando.

Lucky! Although I did just find a shop that sells Junior Mints and all the American stuff so I brought a few packs to tide me over... they didn't last long

 

[PrincessCharlie]

I have to say sorry in advanced for not having many pictures for today. All I've got is one of me at Typhoon Lagoon and some real bad pictures of Fantasmic! which I will blame on the camera. So I hope you can forgive me.

We had a little lay in, had breakfast, and we were off to Typhoon lagoon, which took about 5 minutes it was so close!

The first we did when we got in was take this photo:

Then we went to get a locker and brought an underwater throw away, but I havn't got it developed yet because we never used all the photo's. But goodness knows what they'll come out like anyway!

Typhoon Lagoon was great! We went round and round the lazy river where I laughed hysterically at Daniel's attempts to get in the rubber ring, and Daniel soaked me at every opportunity. Then we went on a few slides and headed to the snorkeling bit.

We got out snorkles and listened to the safety instructions, then got in the freeeezing water. The first time I completely panicked, I felt like I couldn't breathe even though I obviously could So I took it off and just swam to the other side but your not allowed to kick so it took a rather long time. The second time a got halfway and then snorted water and had to take the snorkel off again. The third time I got the whole way! And it was really good fun, we decided we'd love to go to discovery cove.

After that we had lunch, we got a pulled pork sandwhich which was yummy. The best roll we had at Disney, freshly baked and crusty a soft in all the right places. We also got a chicken wrap which was gross, so be warned.

After lunch we did the coaster slides, which were fantastic, love them, then we did some more lazy river and called it a day.

We went back to the room and I had a swim and Daniel went to the gym and had a little swim.

I suggested we do Fantasmic! since it was a perfect time. So off we went.

And the first thing we did was look for mickey ears and get some snacks. We didn't find mickey ears but we found snacks!

I adore chocolate m&m's and I'd already picked out this chocolate dipped pretzel.

Daniel got a mickey cookie and a brownie, he didn't eat them all at once!

We queued up, it was hot hot hot. And for some reason I have this picture of said random persons head:

Perhaps for the sky?

The clouds started rolling in, and a message came over the speaker saying due to the weather the show might be cancelled Nooooooooooo...

The lightening was amazing to watch, we took some video's as the storm came nearer and nearer.



And it gradually moved away! The Brazillion tour groups proceeded to do chanting and the mexican wave, they've got extreme noisyness down.

Continued...

 

[PrincessCharlie]

Fantasmic! started. I LOVE this show, it's brill.

The best bit is the end! The music! Mickey! Its sooo good.

Took a bit of video then my camera ran out of space! We made our way out and took our tired selves to bed for a good sleep. Next up is Universal and Citiwalk! See you then.

 

[Aussiesalad]

Love that skirt!
Ahh I really want to go to Typhoon Lagoon next trip!

So much chocolate and sugary goodness. That looks delish. Drool

Hmm pretty sure you wanted a picture of that random man's head and the clouds were just an excuse

Fantasmic

 

[PrincessCharlie]

Love that skirt!
Ahh I really want to go to Typhoon Lagoon next trip!

So much chocolate and sugary goodness. That looks delish. Drool

Hmm pretty sure you wanted a picture of that random man's head and the clouds were just an excuse

Fantasmic

Lols, think I just took a fancy to that little curl of hair he has in the middle of his forehead

 

[PrincessCharlie]

Today was a Universal Studios day! We parked the car and made our way down to citwalk, we noticed that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part two was on and even though we've seen it we decided we had to see it again after Universal!

At some point in the days before I had put my sunglasses at the bottom of my bag and they broke Think it was Harry Potter day but I never kept a diary so I'm a bit sketchy on the fine details. Anyway on the way in bought new ones from a stand and vowed not to break them. First I looked in the Quiet Flight surf shop but the sales assistant was trying to force me to buy this pair of sunglasses that didn't like and she would not leave me alone! For two seconds. I said I'd get them and she put them behind the till, then we ran away! I know, I know... shameful. But it was like she'd had way too much cofee and drugs, and I like to take my sweet time picking out sunglasses.

We were both scared the rest of the trip that we'd run into her!

Daniel refused to take pictures next to the Universal ball but promised he'd do them later.

First we did rip, ride, rock it. Daniels fave ride of the trip. They pump music into the chair you sit in, which you get to choose when you sit down iPod stylie.

We went a on few time because there were no queues.

It's a really smooth ride with some big drops, and its really weird to be listening to whatever music you choose. I choose something quite mellow in the pop genre. I recommend this ride if your a scaredy cat, because the music really changes the experience, I know this is a bit hard to believe, but it really does!

We skipped the mummy and dissaster because they had 20min queues, and headed here:

Where we stood last hoiliday and took the same picture whilst Daniel was on the phone telling everyone how empty it was. De ja vu

We went on Men In Black, and the Simpsons, there was a short wait for both. And then it was unbearably hot and Daniel was moaning, moaning, moaning... so it was time for luch and air conditioning. We looked on the map and decided we'd go to Lombards landing instead of eating junk food. I still ended up eating junk food though.

It was 12:15 and Lombards hadn't opened so we sat inside to wait with a few other people. There were a couple of Universal bigwigs who were seated first.

It's a really nice restaurant with quite good theming, better then some Disney ones we went to. I know...

We sat down and ordered drinks. Daniel was feeling like this:

Bless him, all the excitement was making him sleepy and grumpy, like a 5 year old

Daniel had Lobster Bisque which was reallly good. Flavoursome without being fishy.

I took more photos of random people:

Or perhaps it was a picture of the fish tank.

I had shrimp and fries. It was yummy.

And Daniel had crab cake sandwhich, which he deemed to be nice but I don't really get much info out of him other then a grunt, or "it's okay".

Overall it was a very nice lunch, and I'd go back again and probably get the Lobster Bisque for lunch and something else from the appertiser menu.

To be continued...

 

[PrincessCharlie]

Refreshed, we made our way out of a nice air conditioned restaurant and the ridiculous heat. It was very pretty out.

First stop was Jaws

I know Jaws is old but it really good ride, I can understant why they don't want to get rid of it. For a good ride sit on the left hand side, its actually really scary.

Next up was Shrek 3D. This is from the orientation part, which is quite funny.

Then the Mummy!

The queue for this is excellent. Theres interactve bits and people walking around dressed out scaring everyone.

When we came this lady was meeting and greeting:

And this is the other table service restaurant Finnegans:

We'd missed Beetlejuice because the queue for the Mummy was soo long so we decided to wait for the next one and do Dissaster which takes up about 25mins.

The beginning part is a bit tedious, but the cms are funny and the end bit is worth the wait.

Now it was time Beetlejuice's Graveyard Review, so we got a snack and a drink.

Not the best churro ever, too skinny and crunchy.

And lemonade that was mostly ice. Nice when the ice melted though.

We got a spot at the frount and waited for it to start.

Continued...

 

[PrincessCharlie]

Beetlejuice comes out first and he's really funny, but a little dirty. It didn't offend me but parents might've found it a bit much. To be honest I don't think the kids wouldv'e understood the naughty jokes but it was a bit different from a Disney show. Not bad different, just different, which it should be, it's Universal after all.

I fed my habit of taking pictures of random people:

They sang about 6 different songs, and it was quite enjoyable, sitting there singing along.

And that was it, we we're tired and made our way of Universal, not before taking the obligatory Universal ball pictures.

We went back to the resort and got changed ready for Harry Potter, and then back to Universal. The drive was so easy, right on the I4 and then when you come off turn left and your there!

We walked around Universal which was fun.

Proof that Daniel's pictures are worst than mine.

I went to sweetshop and loaded up for the movie, and Daniel got a pizza in the cinema.

It was great seeing HP again! Can't wait till it comes out on DVD and I get to watch it again.

We came out and went in the shop.

Then we went back the to resort and a well deserved sleep.