The much needed vacation.......

[circelli]

Here goes.........

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 28 ( my birthday !! )

We left home around 6:45 pm for our trip to Detroit, it takes about 2 hours for us to drive there. Nothing too exciting happened that night, we got to our hotel and checked in and ate a sub and off to bed we went.

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 29

We were all downstairs in the hotel lobby by 6:30 am. My youngest DS and I were up at about 5:30 am....who was more excited me or him????
Our shuttle picked us up at about 7:20 am and took us to the airport. We were all checked in by 8:15 am and ready to go!!! We boarded the plane AND then they tell us they have to restart a computer so the cabin of the airplane will go dark but the light outside will keep it from being dark. I almost thought I would have to get off the plane but I convinced myself to stay. Did I forget to mention I am NOT a huge fan on flying!!!
We took off at about 9:25 am and we arrived in Florida around 11:30 am!! Roger was waiting for us at the bottom of the escalators to help us get our bags and off we went by 12:15 pm for our grocery stop. ( Roger was our driver, our car service was GREAT!!)
We checked in at the Royal Pacific Resort around 1:15 pm and we got a theme park view (I asked for that...thanks HOMIES ). Our room number was 1529.

We changed our clothes...no need for pants in the 90 degree heat,we had a quick swim and then off we went to Islands of Adventure. My oldest son, sister and I believed we should cool off by riding Popeyes Rafts......we DID get soaked...oh what fun tho!!
We decided to eat at Margaritaville. We ordered the Volcano Nachos and some other munches but because it had been such a long day we had 2 VERY sleepy boys that both curled up and fell asleep on DH before the food even got to our table!! My DH took them back to the hotel after tasting the nachos and went to bed. My sister and I were tired too so we asked for a box and off we went to the hotel for some much needed sleep!!

 

[marciemi]

Hey Dawnna! Stopping in to read! The first day is always the most exhausting, but glad you got there without any problems. Looking forward to more!

 

[circelli]

Thanks for reading Marcie........I kept a little note book so I could write stuff down each night so I wouldn't forget anything!!!

 

[marciemi]

Dawnna - you may need to link everyone from the SAN thread over here at the end of the month - think everyone else is gone right now!

 

[keishashadow]

Dawnna - you may need to link everyone from the SAN thread over here at the end of the month - think everyone else is gone right now!

it's an exclusive clubthose of us left behind...

we're sitting in the corner eating worms

 

[circelli]

it's an exclusive clubthose of us left behind...

we're sitting in the corner eating worms

Help me link this PLEASE!!!!!

We can start our own club over here if you wish

 

[marciemi]

Dawnna - I tried to provide instructions on the SAN thread. If you need more help after you try, just PM me!

 

[circelli]

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 30,

I LOVE lying in bed and listening to the Hulk doing its test runs. I rode on the Hulk about 8 years ago but the sound does NOT make me want to ride it again!!! I am a CHICKEN.
We headed over to Universal Studios side this morning where the boys let us know that we will ride Jimmy Neutron FIRST!!!!
My DH looked at the long line for RRR and decided another day he would ride it!!!
My oldest DH decided he wasn’t going to go on Shrek but my sister my youngest DS and myself went on instead. I must say I love the spiders!!! My youngest DS says the best part is when Shrek toots in the dragons mouth
After we met my DH & other DS and we rode The Mummy (my favourite) okay we did do the child swap thing cause our boys aren’t tall enough to be spooked by the scary dude!!!
After a bit of convincing we went on Jaws......uhhhhh how come my sister and oldest DS didn’t get wet in the row in front of us?!?! Good job our boys know it is just a machine inside JAWS!!
I think we had lunch at the International Food Festival ( we had meal deal passes from our last trip to use this trip) and then we headed back to the hotel for a swim and relaxation!!
We went back over to the parks in the afternoon but I can’t remember where? And I did not write it down!!!

 

[keishashadow]

Help me link this PLEASE!!!!!

We can start our own club over here if you wish

u did it

so, what did u think of the meal deal? never got it, not sure we could do it justice

don't worry re forgetting to write down all the details...it's Universal...ur supposed to relax

 

[marciemi]

don't worry re forgetting to write down all the details...it's Universal...ur supposed to relax

Funny - I was thinking the same thing. When I go to DISNEY, I know every detail of everything I did because it was all written down on an index card (or on my phone this trip) months before I ever went there! Universal doesn't work the same way!

 

[Metro West]

So far so good...please continue!

 

[circelli]

u did it

so, what did u think of the meal deal? never got it, not sure we could do it justice

don't worry re forgetting to write down all the details...it's Universal...ur supposed to relax

Meal Deal was great because it came with our vacation package the year before. I don't think we would do it if it wasn't in our package!!

 

[circelli]

THURSDAY OCTOBER 1

I got up early as usual this morning My youngest DS and I went down to the Orchid Lounge and had a bagel and cream cheese and some orange juice
What would we do today to make time go by faster........my DH and I are going to HHN this evening
My sister came down to the Lounge with my eldest DS and she asked me about going shopping to the Prime Outlets......I take 2 seconds to ponder the idea...of course I want to go
I have to talk to DH though. Could he hang with the little guys at the pool and maybe go to Universal with them for a couple hours...he says I KNEW this was coming
My sister and I get a cab and head over to the Prime Outlets while the boys do their thing. The funny thing is there wasn’t a lot at the outlets to keep us to interested. We were on our way back to the hotel within a couple of hours.
Once again we went for a mid afternoon swim as it was HOT My family got all dry and spiffed up and headed over to Universal Studios
We did the usual Jimmy Neutron and my sister and I went on The Mummy (MY FAVOURITE) have I mentioned that before? ? ? My DH let the boys play some arcade games in the arcade that attaches to The Mummy. We then walked up back to the front entrance because it was around 5 pm. Bye, bye cute children and adoring Aunt we must head back to Finnigans for some food and the let the FUN begin
There was a very good singer at Finnigans, we were lucky and were able to get the last table inside the place My DH had ????? sorry can’t remember and I had Potato & Leak Soup and Chicken Wings....and a drink By the time our food came and we chomped it down it was time to enter some houses
I can’t remember the order we went in but I do know that we went thru every house and then did Wolfman and Dracula twice Our longest wait was to get into Saw.....45 minutes....no wonder my feet were aching so bad.

We watched Bill & Ted’s Adventure at the end of the evening, a GREAT show I must say . We went thru all the Scarezones a few times after the house, we both believe (our opinion)that the scarezones were much better last year It was around 12 am when we started out of the park and back to the Royal Pacific to give our feet a much needed break.
While we were getting our scare on my sister took our boys to the Hard Rock Café for dinner where they got to dance with the servers and a Michael Jackson impersonator. They took the boat over to The Hard Rock Hotel to check things out there and then it was bedtime

 

[Mad Hattered]

Great report. How did I miss this?? I have been stuck here too while the whole gaggle of homies were out having fun!!

 

[macraven]

came to hold my spot so i can come back to read after my errand to walgreens.

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Yea! What a fun Trippie! So great for those of us who couldn't go to the Darkside to read about the festivities!

Maria

 

[Coach81]

More, more, more!!!

 

[circelli]

FRIDAY OCTOBER 2

I was again up too early!!! The benefit to that is that I just lied in my bed and listen to The Hulk do its test runs.
My feet were a little sore from HHN the night before but I sucked it up and kept moving!!
We all got up and showered, my sister took our Eldest DS to the Orchid Lounge to get a quick bite to eat and then met us at the water taxi.
We went to IOA this morning and of course DS needed to ride Dudley Do Rights Ripsaw falls...AGAIN!! He LOVED that ride.......at least it was hot and we dried off quickly.
We did the usual rides then my eldest DS had to ride Dudley again so we split up. Our youngest DS started complaining of an earache , so off to the hotel we go. Thank goodness I had brought some Tylenol for him!! He had a bit of Tylenol and off to sleep he went. When he awoke his ear no longer hurt!!! I will go out on a limb here and just say it was water in his ear!! I was a little nervous because he had 2 ear infections at home a month before we had vacation.

My sister and I took the water taxi over to The Hard Rock Hotel for something to do while the boys went swimming!! It was a great hotel but I still prefer RPR.

There was a dive in movie tonight. Our eldest DS fell asleep around 7 pm so no movie for him!! My youngest DS and I went to the pool area, they were showing Harry Potter and my DS didn’t want to sit still so we went into Jake’s Bar and had some munchies and then headed back up to the room for some much needed sleep!!

 

[macraven]

your pictures are great.

i did pizza at Jakes.
what a wonderful place to eat!

 

[bluesky225]

Great trip report! We'll be going to Universal in a couple weeks....
Where did you meet spongebob (the character)? My son would love that....