Pre-Trip & Trip Report- Hard Blue Cocoa Fun Trip! Trip starts Pg3

[Carol17]

Looking forward to reading wherever you put it!

 

[DISNEYLOVER70]

Day 1: Departure Day!! Part 1

Up at 1:30 a.m. and happy as could be Everyone showered and we loaded up the vehicle to head for the airport. No traffic on the expressway at 3:30 in the morning so we arrived at the airport in plenty of time to check in our bags and have a bite to eat.

You can tell my gang looks pretty tired...Especially Ed, poor guy. He was whooped... But we all loaded the plane and got our seats and were psyched and ready to fly out, which we did, on time with no problems. Even more reason to smile

We arrived in Orlando airport a few minutes ahead of schedule. Man do I love this airport. It just screams "I am on vacation!!!!"

We picked up our rental car.......wow do I love being able to pick out my own car......That was so much fun. We used Dollar rental car this time and we had zero problems. There was a very irrate woman at the next agent to us and she was fuming. She was ranting about something but she had a very strong accent and I couldnt make out anything other than $700... Bummer for her, but we were off and our way to get into our vehicle for the week !!!!

We got to Comfort Inn Suites Universal Studios Area at about 11:30 and was greeted by a very sweet staff member who checked us in. She asked me if I had any room requests and I asked her "Should I?" lol. She suggested first floor close to the main lobby which was the only entrance and was also where they served breakfast every morning from 7:00-10:00. We had the best room ever. First room off the lobby! We literally could walk out our door and 10 feet away was the breakfast area. So nice to be able to send the kids out and not worry and have them bring me back breakfast while I was doing my makeup/hair...It was great. We did hear some kitchen noise in the morning, but nothing that woke us and was well worth the convenience for being so close. I would definately stay here again in a heartbeat. The rate was 72.99/night with free parking and breakfast. Waffle maker, donuts, bisquits, toast, cereals, danish, eggs, french toast, juices, coffee, milk, on and on........

Our room:

We stopped at the Wendy's for a quick bite to eat and then we were off to Universal Studios for the afternoon.........

Coming up.......Afernoon at Universal, dinner at Margaritaville, Blue Man Group and then.........we lost something.....

 

[mcbailey]

So far, so good.....wondering what you lost??????

 

[Cielei]

1:30 I don't think I could have done that and then functioned that evening. Hopefully, whatever was lost was replaceable!

 

[angela3676]

Great! Can't wait to read more.

 

[xApril]

Great start! I'm anxious for more. Universal Studios is my favorite of the two parks, so I always enjoy reading about it.

 

[mrsnj91]

I think you all look pretty dang good for that early in the morn. My family would be scowling at the camera!!

 

[DISNEYLOVER70]

Sorry guys........Not feeling so well. Probably won't see update today. Went to dinner and to see the musical "Wicked" last night and half way through I started getting sick to my stomach, headache, etc. Not sure if my dinner didn't agree with me, or if its a migraine, or what.

I will be back though

P.S. See Wicked if you have the opportunity.......it was amazing

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Sorry you're not feeling well...I totally agree, I know I'm on vacation once I step into MCO -- I smile for the entire monorail ride to the terminal!

Maria

 

[wilma-bride]

Wow, you did well to keep going having been up so early. Can't wait to read more

P.S. I hadn't realised you'd started as your title still says 'pre-trip report'

 

[DISNEYLOVER70]

Honestly people, I have not quit this report! I am still sick, with what I am not sure. I have headache that will just not go away. Had it since last Wednesday. Called Doctor this morning and they can't get me in until tomorrow at 4:15. I have lots of notes and pics and they are coming, please don't leave me

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Hope you feel better! Looking forward to your report...Hang in there!

Maria

 

[wilma-bride]

Oh, you poor thing. I am still here and waiting patiently for you to feel better and get a chance to update. Hope it's nothing too serious and the doctor is able to give you something to speed up your recovery

Glad to see you managed to edit the title

 

[angela3676]

Still here. I hope you feel better soon.

 

[DISNEYLOVER70]

Ok, so we arrived in Orlando, had lunch at Wendys and were off to the parks about 1:00 pm. Sweet...

The weather: Sunny, windy, light sprinkle here and there and about 76 degrees. But sunny so it was all good.

We parked in Kong One and got on the moving escalators to Universal Studios. Boy do we all love riding on those. There was no one else on the escalators so I let Mitchell have a little fun on them. He wanted to try to run the opposite way, so I let him. No flames please. I have THE best behaved children around. It was vacation, no harm no foul. He had the biggest belly laugh going and got the rest of going as well. If he would have fallen, we would have been laughing harder (after we made sure he was ok of course!)

My first picture of the US

My son being a Nascar fan and a lover of Monster drinks, we had to take this pic:

And of course the standard pic we all have to take :

As we walk a little closer, we see the main entrance! And it is so pretty!! The Mardi Gras sign is fiber optic and lights up beautifully even in the bright sunshine!!

We walked through the gates and to the turnstiles. I bought our 7 day multipark tickets on the US website and had printed confirmations to use. New to us is the fingerprint scanning system. Everyone's worked but mine. Everytime at every park. Odd. They had me trying different fingers, different pressures, yada yada yada, and nothing was cutting it. The guy at the gate said I must be such a hard working mother, I wore the print right off....Ok, so big smile, and I fully expressed my love for him right there at the gate. And then, my wannabe jokester son says, or it could be because she turns 40 in two days....... everything wears out some time Mom. Good thing he said it with a smile and an immediate hug....Again we have another good laugh compliments of Mitchell....

Mitchell has to check to make sure he is tall enough to ride all the attractions

Sadly, those days of being too short are long over for my little guy.

Allison and Mitchell both want to ride RRR first so that is where we head first. We spot a few of these guys on the way

Turn the corner and we see the entrance! Woo hoo. And check out the wait time.......

Which really was not even correct. We literally walked right on. Twice. Great ride and we all loved it.

Got off and bought a coke to the tune of $3.75. I was NOT going to be carrying around a refillable cup all week. (yeah yeah, we will see) I wanted to ride Mummy in a big bad way. So that was up next. Saw this interesteting character outside:

The ice blue contacts he had in really made him super creepy! Loved the ride! It was fantastic. Again, no wait at all. The park was pretty much empty. I do think a little bit of a line would be nice only so you can take in some of the que areas. We were in a slow jog going through most of them. I suppose we could have let the people behind us pass us, but my kids were so excited about no line, there was no holding them back. Me either lol.

Few random pics we took walking around:

Mitchell loves baseball and basketball. And lately, the thing is hopping up with both feet onto any raised surface. He says "I got hops"... Drove us freakin nuts. Especially Allison. She informed him he was being embarrassing. He did not care. After awhile, we stopped noticing. I did offer him something with banana at every meal because I was certain he was turning part monkey...


We did also do Shrek, Jimmy Neutron, the Arcade, Jaws, MIB, Simpsons, and I am not sure which order we did that in... All were good. Simpsons probably the kids liked best after RRR. Shrek was kind of a let down. I am not sure what I expected. Or it may be that my kids are older and it just wasn't that thrilling for us. No wait, so we didn't feel as tho we lost any precious time in any event

Up next Margaritaville and Blue Man Group.......

 

[wilma-bride]

Great update, hope you're feeling better today

No flames from me, we love to play on the moving walkways. DH usually goes along one opposite us and then stops behind a pillar - I guess you have to be there but it cracks us up every time

 

[DISNEYLOVER70]

Great update, hope you're feeling better today

No flames from me, we love to play on the moving walkways. DH usually goes along one opposite us and then stops behind a pillar - I guess you have to be there but it cracks us up every time

Thanks, I am feeling a little better. Still have a dull headache so I am keeping my doctor appointment today. But it has been killing me to not get an update on here! I remember too well from my trip how anxious I was for updates!

LOL, I know exactly what you mean about hiding behind a pillar...hysterical Lots of laughs

 

[DISNEYLOVER70]

So we had to wander around and kill time before we were to meet my girlfriend and her boyrfriend at Margaritaville at 6:00 p.m. We had just missed the Horror Makeup Show We wandered around some shops in Universal and then headed to US CityWalk to check out a few shops there on the way...

I have one of Ed somewhere but it must be on my other camera (at home). I didn't get all those photos downloaded to photobucket yet.

We meet up with my girlfriend and had a fanatastic dinner. There was a girl on stiltz that made mitchell a really cool hat that he wore the entire dinner...She made it purple, one of his favorite colors so that may have helped

I had a pulled pork sandwich that had onion rings on it that was the BEST pulled pork I have ever had. Mitchell had ribs, which he continued to do the entire week, Allison had a chicken entree as well as Ed. Everyone enjoyed their dinner and the atmosphere. I would definately go there again. The only down side was my margarita. Which is soley personal preference. I asked the waiter to give me the sweetest one he had. He recommended the banana one. I love bananas so I was cool with that. It didn't come in a pretty glass and it wasn't sweet either.... Again, personal preference. I am not a big drinker. I like a good mudslide or glass of wine now and again, but this just tasted bitter and no one drank it. Not even my girlfriend who had put down a few waiting for us to arrive she can put down a few and it doesn't phase her at all. Now me, if I were to drink that, I would probably have been sleeping under the table and would totally miss the Blue Man Group.........speaking of...

We head over to the BMG Theatre, such a nice walk.....

This show was fantastic!! I won't say too much, so as to not ruin it for anyone, but it was definately worth the price tag.

We left the theatre at approximately 10:15p.m. Now please remember as I tell the following story that we were up at 1:30 am this morning.

We say our goodbyes to our friends and head out to get our car. My eyes are bloodshot, Mitchells calves hurt from "hopping" all day, Ed has to go to the bathroom and wants to wait to get back to the hotel, and Allison, surprisingly, is in a good mood and leading the pack. We get to Kong One and guess what, our car is not there. So we go up to level 2, nope. go up to level 3, nope.... Ed says, you guys stay here and I will go look for it because i know it wasn't higher than three and this is ridiculous for all of us to keep hiking these floors. I tell Mitchell to go with his father. We don't need Ed lost too. I lean up against the wall near the elevator and Allison in her infinate wisdom says "why don't we use the phone over there that says "help" and find it before Dad and Mitchell do?" This sounds like a very good idea to me. So I pick up the phone and admit we have lost our vehicle and the embarrassing part is there are only a handful of vehicles left in the garage... She says not to be worried, this happens all the time. She asked me what time we arrived that day and informed me they were loading in Kong 4 at that time. So I call Ed on his cell and tell him to meet me at level 4 at the car.......... I loved making that call.

So we head out and stop at Walgreens near our hotel to pick up some floss and hair gel that we had forgotten and back to the room to get some Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.......

Coming up...... Day 2: Seaworld

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Awesome update, love the photos! The Mummy is one of my favorites, too! The Shrek ride is fun, but definitely more exciting for the younger crowd. I think of it as Jimmy Neutron with a bit more attitude.

Don't worry about losing the car, it happens to everyone!

Maria

 

[DISNEYLOVER70]

Awesome update, love the photos! The Mummy is one of my favorites, too! The Shrek ride is fun, but definitely more exciting for the younger crowd. I think of it as Jimmy Neutron with a bit more attitude.

Don't worry about losing the car, it happens to everyone!

Maria

Love the attitude in Shrek and the adult underlying humor, it just seemed a little lacklustre to us. But it was still fun...

Mummy was just amazing......Love Love Love that ride