bengunn
Pirate Member
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2001
- Messages
- 375
Day 14 Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios
Previous episodes:
Prequel
Day 1 The trip to Orlando
Day 2 Animal Kingdom
Day 3 Magic Kingdom
Day 4 Typhoon Lagoon, Shopping and Illuminations Cruise
Day 5 - Islands of Adventure
Day 6 Epcot
Day 7 Seaworld
Day 8 Universal Studios
Day 9 Epcot and the Magic Kingdom
Day 10 Discovery Cove
Day 11 Kennedy Space Centre
The Cast:
Richard (bengunn): Chief planner
Kathy : DW, just wants to go on holiday
Josie : DD 20, at Reading University, Assistant Planner, not very good at getting up
Sam : DS 17, just done AS exams, can get up very quickly when he wants to
Thursday 29th August
This was our last full day in the Orlando area
. The plan for today was to go to IOA first, to do the odd bits we had missed and to go on our favourite rides again, then after lunch we would park hop over to US and do any rides that took our fancy over there.
We were a bit slow to get going again today; we got to IOA at 10:15 having contended with long queues for the car park (but I found a very short one always go to the left hand queue) the car parking system seems very slow here. The Express Pass system is also very slow compared to Disneys Fast Pass; mind you EP is powered by Microsoft Windows so what do you expect?
There was a 30 minute standby wait for Spiderman so we grabbed some EPs and Sam, Josie and I queued for Dr. Dooms Fearfall (10 minute wait posted but was actually 15 minutes). Josie wanted to go on this, after Sam and I had raved about it on our visit last week, but was a bit scared of it and took a bit of persuading; Kathy was going nowhere near it! The wait was quite good as we saw all of the films that they show while you are waiting which helps to explain what the ride is supposed to be about. The ride was as good as before and Josie really enjoyed it.
Next we watched the 11:00 parade of X Men, Spiderman, Captain America, Dr. Doom and the Green Goblin (they drive past of quad bikes and a car). It was then time for our Spiderman FPs; interesting to note that, with FPs, you do miss out on some of the pre-show which is in the queuing area so it is worth doing standby at least once (we had done that last week). This ride is even better the second time as you know what to expect but it still takes you by surprise.
We walked round to Jurassic Park next and went to the Discovery Centre; I found this a bit disappointing visually it is great and looks just like the film but there is not really a lot to look at.
On to the Lost Continent, and there was only a 5 minute wait for the Flying Unicorns so we wnet on that (not sure why as it is a bit tame). There was only a 5 minute wait for Duelling Dragons so we went on the Ice Dragon (all except Kathy who had not liked the Fire Dragon much); it is a very long walk through the queuing area here. Ice Dragon was just as good as Fire and most enjoyable.
It was now time for lunch so we made our way back to the Port of Entry and the Croissant Moon Bakery. A beef sandwich, a ham and Swiss sandwich, a turkey sandwich, a beef croissant, 2 choc-chip cookies and drinks for $44 delicious and the sandwiches were actually large rolls absolutely stuffed with filling.
After lunch we went back into Seuss Landing; there was a 45 minute posted wait at One Fish, Two Fish, so we reluctantly gave up on that and went on the Caro-Seuss-el which is tame but quite fun.
We then decided that it was getting time to change parks so we returned to the Incredible Hulk which had a 10 minute posted wait but was only 5 minutes in practice. It was good to do this on standby because we had missed the pre-show, in the queuing area, last time when we used EPs.
We then park hopped to Universal Studios; we wanted to do Men in Black so we went there first; the standby time was 45 minutes so we got FPs which I seem to remember had quite long return times.
It was very hot today so we went to Amity and got some ice creams from Brodys Ice Cream Shoppe. Jaws only had a 10 minute wait (which was actually 15 minutes) so we joined the queue while we finished our ice creams as it was cooler in the queuing area. Our driver this time had a bad case of over-acting but was very funny.
After Jaws, we still had time to kill so we wandered in some shops to cool down. Eventually it was time for our MIB EPs, so we went back there. I got stuck with a Noisy Cricket gun this time which was totally useless and impossible to aim (thats my excuse and I am sticking to it
) however, I did get the 100,000 bonus so the scores were not too bad.
We wandered around a bit more but it was so hot and humid that we really did not want to queue any more so we left the park at 17:00 and returned to the car via the Hard Rock Café shop and the Universal shop in Citywalk.
It started raining while we were in Citywalk, so we went back to the villa via Walmart and then it really started raining; absolutely torrential again.
We made a start on the packing as we had to be out of the villa by 10:00 the next morning and then we went to Tony Romas on the I192 for dinner. It was still pouring with rain but the food made up for it; assorted ribs (huge beef ones for me and baby back for the others), a skillet brownie (delicious but huge and very filling) and an apple crisp plus a beer and sodas for $66 (we got a discount from a coupon). I cannot recommend this restaurant enough; the food was superb and very good value. Sadly we only tried it on our last night in Orlando and there was not one in Bradenton. We finished just after 21:00 and went back to the villa to finish packing.
This is my last trip report from Orlando (except for a bit of the last day) but we now move on to the Gulf Coast area for those who are interested in life outside Orlando and the theme parks.
Tomorrow: Cypress Gardens and the move to Bradenton
Previous episodes:
Prequel
Day 1 The trip to Orlando
Day 2 Animal Kingdom
Day 3 Magic Kingdom
Day 4 Typhoon Lagoon, Shopping and Illuminations Cruise
Day 5 - Islands of Adventure
Day 6 Epcot
Day 7 Seaworld
Day 8 Universal Studios
Day 9 Epcot and the Magic Kingdom
Day 10 Discovery Cove
Day 11 Kennedy Space Centre
The Cast:
Richard (bengunn): Chief planner
Kathy : DW, just wants to go on holiday
Josie : DD 20, at Reading University, Assistant Planner, not very good at getting up
Sam : DS 17, just done AS exams, can get up very quickly when he wants to
Thursday 29th August
This was our last full day in the Orlando area
. The plan for today was to go to IOA first, to do the odd bits we had missed and to go on our favourite rides again, then after lunch we would park hop over to US and do any rides that took our fancy over there.We were a bit slow to get going again today; we got to IOA at 10:15 having contended with long queues for the car park (but I found a very short one always go to the left hand queue) the car parking system seems very slow here. The Express Pass system is also very slow compared to Disneys Fast Pass; mind you EP is powered by Microsoft Windows so what do you expect?
There was a 30 minute standby wait for Spiderman so we grabbed some EPs and Sam, Josie and I queued for Dr. Dooms Fearfall (10 minute wait posted but was actually 15 minutes). Josie wanted to go on this, after Sam and I had raved about it on our visit last week, but was a bit scared of it and took a bit of persuading; Kathy was going nowhere near it! The wait was quite good as we saw all of the films that they show while you are waiting which helps to explain what the ride is supposed to be about. The ride was as good as before and Josie really enjoyed it.
Next we watched the 11:00 parade of X Men, Spiderman, Captain America, Dr. Doom and the Green Goblin (they drive past of quad bikes and a car). It was then time for our Spiderman FPs; interesting to note that, with FPs, you do miss out on some of the pre-show which is in the queuing area so it is worth doing standby at least once (we had done that last week). This ride is even better the second time as you know what to expect but it still takes you by surprise.
We walked round to Jurassic Park next and went to the Discovery Centre; I found this a bit disappointing visually it is great and looks just like the film but there is not really a lot to look at.
On to the Lost Continent, and there was only a 5 minute wait for the Flying Unicorns so we wnet on that (not sure why as it is a bit tame). There was only a 5 minute wait for Duelling Dragons so we went on the Ice Dragon (all except Kathy who had not liked the Fire Dragon much); it is a very long walk through the queuing area here. Ice Dragon was just as good as Fire and most enjoyable.
It was now time for lunch so we made our way back to the Port of Entry and the Croissant Moon Bakery. A beef sandwich, a ham and Swiss sandwich, a turkey sandwich, a beef croissant, 2 choc-chip cookies and drinks for $44 delicious and the sandwiches were actually large rolls absolutely stuffed with filling.
After lunch we went back into Seuss Landing; there was a 45 minute posted wait at One Fish, Two Fish, so we reluctantly gave up on that and went on the Caro-Seuss-el which is tame but quite fun.
We then decided that it was getting time to change parks so we returned to the Incredible Hulk which had a 10 minute posted wait but was only 5 minutes in practice. It was good to do this on standby because we had missed the pre-show, in the queuing area, last time when we used EPs.
We then park hopped to Universal Studios; we wanted to do Men in Black so we went there first; the standby time was 45 minutes so we got FPs which I seem to remember had quite long return times.
It was very hot today so we went to Amity and got some ice creams from Brodys Ice Cream Shoppe. Jaws only had a 10 minute wait (which was actually 15 minutes) so we joined the queue while we finished our ice creams as it was cooler in the queuing area. Our driver this time had a bad case of over-acting but was very funny.
After Jaws, we still had time to kill so we wandered in some shops to cool down. Eventually it was time for our MIB EPs, so we went back there. I got stuck with a Noisy Cricket gun this time which was totally useless and impossible to aim (thats my excuse and I am sticking to it
) however, I did get the 100,000 bonus so the scores were not too bad.We wandered around a bit more but it was so hot and humid that we really did not want to queue any more so we left the park at 17:00 and returned to the car via the Hard Rock Café shop and the Universal shop in Citywalk.
It started raining while we were in Citywalk, so we went back to the villa via Walmart and then it really started raining; absolutely torrential again.
We made a start on the packing as we had to be out of the villa by 10:00 the next morning and then we went to Tony Romas on the I192 for dinner. It was still pouring with rain but the food made up for it; assorted ribs (huge beef ones for me and baby back for the others), a skillet brownie (delicious but huge and very filling) and an apple crisp plus a beer and sodas for $66 (we got a discount from a coupon). I cannot recommend this restaurant enough; the food was superb and very good value. Sadly we only tried it on our last night in Orlando and there was not one in Bradenton. We finished just after 21:00 and went back to the villa to finish packing.
This is my last trip report from Orlando (except for a bit of the last day) but we now move on to the Gulf Coast area for those who are interested in life outside Orlando and the theme parks.
Tomorrow: Cypress Gardens and the move to Bradenton
