The Dutchies first time to Orlando! *UPDATE 7/27 on pg 11; The end (with surprise!)*

Marjol....I love all your pictures. Soarin' is my favorite ride, I think of all the parks. We get to go to WDW about four times a year. If we are not in a hurry, we always ask for the 1st row, so we don't see feet. Sometimes this means waiting for the next ride, but they have always accomodated us.

I also went on the orange line of mission space. I went on at night and was glad I did. It made me dizzy the rest of the night. I am glad I did it though, it was awesome!
 
I love your trip report! You and Gerbert are so cute, and the pictures of french fries are making me drool. ;) Thanks for sharing - I can't wait for more! :banana:
 
Marjol what a great TR!! :thumbsup2 Thank you for sharing your amazing vacation with us!! I can't wait to hear the rest! I'm wondering how soon you will back to the World again???!!!?? :rotfl: It sounds like you had a wonderful time! :hippie:
 
punkin413: I guess we met, but just didn't notice ;)

nsalz: We got to ride Soarin' first row too, but that's not untill the end of our trip :) I really liked Mission Space too, but it was a bit too intense for me.

CriminyCrafft: Thanks for reading! :) Lots of french fries pictures coming up ;)

lovealldisney: Thanks for joining my TR! We did have a wonderful time!


Up next: Day 4: Universal's Islands of Adventure & Disney Quest
 

Day 4, May 8; Universal's Islands of Adventure & Disney Quest

Our alarm clock went off at 7.00 again. After snoozing it once, we both got up, took a shower and watched Saved by the Bell on TBS (I loved that show when I was a lot younger, and it's still great :rotfl: ).

We decided to have breakfast outside our room today and around 8.00 we drove to IHOP. We both got the banana-walnut pancakes. They were excellent, but we couldn't eat them all!
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Around 8.50, we got in our car again and drove to Universal. We got there around 9.10, which was nice timing, because Universal opened at 9.00. We parked our car at King Kong 211 and walked to the City Walk. We were not really in a hurry, because we bought express passes online, which would give us express entrance to the attractions.
After this nice walk, we got to Universal's Islands of Adventure.
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We got our 7 day, 2 park tickets from one of the machines and tried to enter the park. Our tickets didn't work though, so one of the cast members had to come to our rescue. She wrote the date on our passes and let us enter.

We walked to the left, to enther the first island; Marvel Super Hero Island.
Wow, we really felt like walking into a cartoon!
We decided to get a good wake up call and went on the Hulk rollercoaster first. And what a wake up call this was. :scared1: It was real fun though, and a walk on. We actually didn't need our express tickets the whole day, so it was a waste of our money, but who really cares? :) They were only $15 each. And what's $15 on a $4000 + vacation? :rotfl:

After the Hulk, we rode Dr Doom's fearfall, which was fun, but really short. Why is there only one drop?? Imagine the Tower of Terror having only one drop. That would be a huge dissapointment, right? That's what this felt like too, although the one drop was great.

We went to Spiderman, of which we had heard many good stories. There was no wait (again) and we got in one of the cars instantly (after walking the long, long (!) waiting line). And what a great ride. I've never seen something like that before! A combination between 3D and an actual ride, fantastic! :thumbsup2 We both loved this one!
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After Spiderman, we walked to the next island; Toon Lagoon.
We decided to try the Dudley Do-Rights Ripsaw Falls. It looked like fun. We got in our flume and guess what? The other three people in our flume were Dutch too! What a coincedence!:rotfl: They warned us we would get very wet. And boy, we did. We got totally soaked. And my bag was really wet as well. It was a fun ride though, although we didn't dry up for the next couple of hours!
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Even though we were really wet already, I didn't really feel like getting soaked again, so we skipped Popeye's and walked to the next island to ride our favorite ride in the Universal Studios in Hollywood last year; Jurrassic Park River Adventure. And it did meet our expectations; it still was an excellent ride. And we really didn't get that wet on this one.

We ate (yes, ate... we really couldn't drink it) a milkshake and went to the Pteranadon Flyers, but the line was really long (60 minutes, this was were all the people were!!) and our express passes couldn't be used for this one, so we decided to skip it.

We walked to the next Island; the Lost Continent. The flying Unicorn looked like a kiddy ride, so we walked past it to the Duelling Dragons; which looked like a lot of fun. We walked the long, long line (what is it with Universal and their enormous waiting lines?) and chose the red dragon. But when it was almost our time to ride, the ride had some technical difficulties. We waited a couple of minutes, but after that we decided to go and try this one later.

We walked over to Poseidon's Fury, which was OK, but also a bit too theatrical for us ;)
The dragons still weren't duelling, so we decided to get some lunch, because we wanted to see the 1 pm Sindbad show after that.
We had a really nice burger and great fries at the Enchanted Oak Tavern. Probably the best burger we ate on this trip.
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The outside seating area of this restaurant had a great view of the other side of the park as well.
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When we walked to the Sindbad show, we noticed the Duelling Dragons were running again. We couldn't resist and went on the Fire one first, which was great!

We also were just in time for the 1 pm Sindbad show. It actually was a great show, a lot better than I expected it to be. It was funny and the stunts were nice. We enjoyed it!
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After the show, we tried the Ice version of the Duelling Dragons. I liked that one even better than the Fire version. What an excellent ride. So cool! :cool1:
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We had an icee and after that, we went to the last island; Seuss Landing. This island had a lot of kiddie rides, which we skipped. We did the Cat in the Hat though, which was pretty cool. Now we finally understand the "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" merchandise everyone wears. Dr. Seuss isn't really well known in the Netherlands, we had never heard of his creatures.

At 2.30, we were at the entrance of the park again! We really though we would need a whole day for this park. We decided to do Spiderman again, because it was such a great ride. But after that, we decided to leave the park. Gerbert grabbed an ice cream on our way out.
We liked this park; it had lots of cool rides, but I really missed something... the Disney atmosphere! And what to do with this free afternoon that we would have now?? ;)

up next: Disney Quest
 
We decided to head back to our hotel, to rest a little. This was actually pretty nice. We watched some TV and I checked my favorite websites on our laptop.
Around 5 pm, we got in our car to go to Disney Quest. I didn't have Disney Quest planned for this day, but now that we had some "free" time on our hands, why not use it? :thumbsup2

We parked right in front of Disney Quest and walked right in. It seemed to be really quiet, which was great. We really got a lot done in these few hours we were here. I really forgot to write down what we did exactly, but I remember we started with shooting balls at other cars and did the Magic Carpets ride with Aladdin after that. We really liked this one; the Pirates of the Caribbean.
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It was the only ride we had to stand in line for, but it was totally worth it. Gerbert was the captain of the ship and I shot the other ships, which was really cool :woohoo:

We also had an animation drawing class. This was different from the one we had in the MGM Studios, because we had to draw on a computer here. But it was still a lot of fun. Here's Gerbert drawing Minnie:
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His drawing turned out pretty nice, mine is too bad to show here :laughing:
We also recorded a song, which was a lot of fun to do :)

We decided to get something to eat at the foodcourt. It was really quiet there! We got pizza and cheese fries, quite the combination, but they both taste pretty well :rotfl:
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After eating, we tried all the other games. I really liked shooting hoops and the old arcade games; Gerbert liked the bowling game. We both won once.
Around 8.30, we decided we had seen enough games and we left Disney Quest. It was a fun experience!

We drove to the Wal*Mart to get some breakfast stuff and a present for my little sister (she's crazy about Pirates of the Caribbean, so we got her a Pirates bag for just $4,99! :rotfl: )

We arrived back in our hotel around 9.45 and watched some TV (can't remember what was on) for the rest of the evening.

Up next: Day 5; Typhoon Lagoon and shopping!
 
Great update! Universal looks like a lot of fun. I wish I had planned an extra day on my trip so that we would have time to hit up the Studios, oh well I will just have to go back, perhaps in 2009 when the Harry Potter park opens!
 
So glad I'm caught up now, you've been having tons of fun. i feel the same way about Universal, it lacks that magical something, still some good rides though. You're getting loads done, can't wait to see what you get up to next:thumbsup2
 
islands of adventure looks like fun and every time i read a TR where it's included i'm tempted to go......but then the poster always says they miss disney and i decide to just stick with disney for now....until i can afford a longer vacation that will include universal!!! i'm glad you guys liked disney quest. we're thinking of checking that out next april when we go back. looks like fun!
 
Awsome updates... I have never been on soarin', test track, or mission space. I hope when I go without kids in November I will get to go then.
I agree America is very boring at Epcot..

I love Dr. Seuss Landing at IOA. Especially at Christmas time.. With having kids its our favorite land.. We too can go to both parks in one day..

I can't wait to hear all about disney quest. I have never been before so I want to go this August..
 
Lifelong_Dreamer: Universal can't be compared to Disney, but I'm glad I went there, both parks are a lot of fun!
The Harry Potter theme park sounds great, doesn't it?

fizz13: Yeah, we did get a lot done. We were there for eleven whole days and were in the parks every single day :)

punkin413: You really should visit Universal some day!
And Disney Quest was great for 3-4 hours, so many cool games to play. And if you go in the afternoon/early evening like us, it is very quiet, which is good! :wizard:

crossfamily: Wow, I can't believe doing Epcot without those three attractions! :scared1: And I already put my Disney Quest report up, it's on this page! :goodvibes
 
I have bee to WDW many times and have never done Universal or Disney Quest. Great pictures at Universal, I really have never looked at park pictures. It looks fun, but while we have Annual Passes, we will stick with Disney. Love reading your reports Marjol...looking forward to Typhoon Lagoon pictures. I have been there twice and love it!
 
I'm sure we will have lots of fun at DQ especially going with 3 teenage boys.. :rotfl2: We have been to both water parks and I like TL the best.. I can't wait to read what you thought of it.. Your pictures are great I can't wait to see more..
 
What a great report...and Ic annot believe English is not your first language....you cannot even tell.

Love all the pics makes you feel like you are there with you!!:thumbsup2

Looking forward to reading more! :cool1:
 
May 9, Day 5: Typhoon Lagoon & Shopping

This morning was the first morning that we could sleep in, the alarm clock was set at 8.00 instead of 7.00! :woohoo:
We took a shower and had breakfast in our room. We bought some bread rolls and fresh fruit salads at Wal*Mart the day before. The fruit salad was excellent!
We took our time in our room, because Typhoon Lagoon didn't open before 10.00. I updated my Dutch weblog and we relaxed a little.
Around 9.45, we got in our car and left for Typhoon Lagoon. We both love swimming, so we were quite exited about this, wondering how it would be.
On our way to TL, I finally took this picture of the Walt Disney World sign, which we saw twice every day.
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It took us only 15 minutes to get to Typhoon Lagoon. There were only a few cars there, so we parked right in front of the entrance and walked towards it.
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It was really quiet at Typhoon Lagoon. Later on the day we heard a cast member saying that was because the air temperature was a little too cold for most people. Well, it was perfect for us! Around 82 degrees and sunny!
We rented a locker, put our stuff in it and found ourselves two beds on the beach around the big pool and put our towels on them. We rubbed ourselves in with suntan oil and decided to take a look around.
We came across the Castaway Creek and decided to start out slow. We floated around in our tubes for 20 minutes and were perfectly happy. This is what a vacation should be like :cloud9:
When we reached some kind of waterfall, a photopass photographer took these pictures of us, I think they're quite funny :rotfl:
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After the relaxing start of the day, we decided to try out the Storm Slides, which were pretty cool. :thumbsup2
Unfortunately, Gerbert's feet were hurting pretty bad after those slides. To prevent them from getting worse, we decided to buy him a couple of Walt Disney World water shoes. Those were a big relief for him :wizard:
We both had a hotdog and a drink after that and took this picture of the big wave pool:
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After this, we tried almost all the other slides, like the very cool Crush 'n Gusher, in which you sit in a tube together and ride some kind of "rollercoaster slide" Very nice! :yay:
We also did the Keelhaul Falls, the Mayday Falls and my favorite, the Gangplank Falls, big family sized tubes!
We weren't feeling up for the Humunga Kowabunga slides, which Gerbert regretted later, after visiting Blizzard Beach.

We spent some time in the big wave pool and experienced the quite powerful tsunami waves. They were great! A photopass photographer took this picture of us being hit by the wave :rotfl:
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Around 1 pm we had done everything we wanted and decided to go back to our beds to rest a little and let our bathing suits dry up. What I didn't know, was that we placed ourselves right in front of a radio, so we didn't rest, but enjoyed surfing music for an hour or so :rolleyes1

Around 2 pm we got back to our car and drove to our hotel, to change. We looked for the directions to the Florida Mall and drove there. I think it was around 3.30 pm when we got there.
Because we only had a hotdog at Typhoon Lagoon, we could use something to eat. We found a Starbucks, got a frappuchino and a sweet roll, which were both pretty good.
After that, we browsed the Florida Mall. We looked in some shops, bought some very cheap souvenir shirts for our niece and nephew in the Disney Store, but we weren't really amazed by this mall. After about two hours, we'd seen everything we wanted and decided to head back to our hotel. We stopped at some cheap souvenir stores on our way there, but didn't find anything interesting. Gerbert did buy new swimming pants though.

We arrived at our hotel around 6 PM, watched some TV and around 7, we drove to Olive Garden, a restaurant really close to our hotel which looked interesting. It was quite busy, but we only had to wait 10 or 15 minutes before we got seated. And wow, this was a great restaurant. Highly reccomended!
For starters, we got a mixed plate of stuffed mushrooms (for me!) and chicken tenders (for Gerbert). Very, very nice!
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And for main course, I had the Steak Gorgonzola-Alfredo, served over fettuchini. It was delicious! :thumbsup2
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And Gerbert had the Mixed Grill, which I have to admit looked even better than my choice.
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We really enjoyed our meal here! :woohoo:
After eating, we got back to our hotel and watched some more TV. Tomorrow would be Animal Kingdom day! :cheer2:

Up next: Day 6; Animal Kingdom
 
it's funny that you said 8:00 was sleeping in! if i had my choice, we'd be sleeping til 10:00 every day of our vacation. and if ray had *his* choice, we'd be sleeping until noon!!!

did you guys eat the salad at olive garden? i :love: their salad!!!
 
Typhoon Lagoon looks like so much fun! I'm glad to see that they have Photopass there as I want to have pictures of the park but I'm unwilling to bring my digital to a water park.

I love the Olive Garden as well! I wish they had it up here in Canada, but no such luck!
 
I didn't know they had PP photographers at TL. That is so great we are going in September and I wanted pictues, but don't want to fork out the money for a waterproof digi camera. It sounds like y'all had a great time. I agree w/ punkin413 I :love: OG salad. Our closest one is about 30 minutes away. :sad2: Which is really far for some. :rotfl: Can't wait to hear more.
 
I'm so excited to see your pictures of TL.. They are awsome.. I'm also happy to see that they have photopass at the waterparks now.. Thanks for the updates.. Can't wait to read more.
 
punkin413: Yes, we did eat the salad at Olive Garden and loved that as well, and we really liked the breadsticks as well! :goodvibes
And about sleeping in; I hate sleeping too long on a vacation; I want to see and do things!

Lifelong_Dreamer: There aren't a LOT of Photopass photographers around, but we've seen at least three; one at the Castaway Creek, one at the entrance/exit and one in the wave pool.

disneymoon_0703: Thanks for reading my TR. You're so lucky to have an Olive Garden so close, we have to travel to the USA for it. But luckily, we also have great restaurants here :thumbsup2

crossfamily: Thanks! I like the pictures too! :goodvibes
 












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