prncess674
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2003
- Messages
- 3,810
To see the thread that started this trip see here
To see the pictures from our adventures see here
http://ftpics.markbach.com/gallery/album29
I woke up Friday morning and did some last minute packing and checked my work email for the last time. My flight was at 10:45 AM on this holiday weekend so I decided the airport might be a bit crowded so I got to the airport about an hour before the flight. Lines were non-existent so I had plenty of time to kill before boarding. Being in New Orleans always gives you an opportunity for people watching and today did not fail. Right there in the boarding area a woman pulled out her yoga mat and took off her shoes and proceeded to strike some interesting poses on her head. The show was over and boarding began. My NWA flight was uneventful. The snack basket in FC had Granola Bars, Almonds, and Pretzels. The 2 flight attendants were efficient and polite. I landed in Memphis and got a call from lensman saying that he missed his flight and would not be making the connection to Orlando with me but would be on the later flight arriving at 8PM.
We landed at the furthest gate, as always, so I had to high tail it to the NW World Club to check out the snacks and make a few phone calls. I only had a 45 minute layover so I made my way back down the concourse and boarding had already began. The plane was full, including 3 kids in FC. I didnt here a peep out of any of them, which I was bit worried about. We actually had a meal with a selection on this flight in FC. Choices were a pasta chicken salad or a pastrami sandwich. Each came with side salad and cheese cake for dessert. I had the pasta which was tasty. I didnt each much because I wanted to save room for dinner later that evening.
We landed on time and the MCO airport didnt seem terribly busy. I bought a ticket from Mears Shuttle for $14. It took about 20 minutes for my shuttle to arrive and the driver was not very talkative or helpful, but I wasnt expecting much. There were only 3 people on the shuttle and I was the second one dropped off.
I arrived at the Hard Rock Hotel on the grounds of Universal around 5:30PM. My room was ready. It was a nice standard room with two queen beds and a view of the pool, nothing special but very nice. Bathroom amenities were shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion, hand soap, face soap, and body soap. There was an in room 4 cup coffee maker with 2 packs of regular and one pack of decaf coffee. They had sugar, sweet and low, and powdered creamer. I made the coffee the first morning and it was pretty bad, so I suggest just buying a cup from the Starbucks on the 1st floor inside the Sunset Grill. They were also selling the 4 cup Starbucks filter packs there as well if you prefer to brew your own.
The sun was still bright so I changed in my bathing suit and the sarong sent to me by eastwest and headed to the pool. I didnt actually get in the pool but I did lay around sipping a frozen margarita and finished off my 1st of two books I brought along. The sun was starting to fade so around 7PM I headed back to the hotel to shower and change for dinner. Beckles and lensman were going to be at the hotel around 8:30PM.
Beckles and lensman were right on time and we called GRS who suggested we meet for dinner at Café Tu Tu Tango. This turned out to be a good decision. It was a Tapas bar with belly dancers. We ordered about 8 selections between the 4 of us, which were all pretty tasty.
GRS left us for the evening after dinner since he had an early morning mileage run out of Tampa in the morning. Beckles, lensman, and myself headed over to the Royal Pacific Resort at Universal for a few evening cocktails. About midnight we parted ways and decided to meet up at 9:30AM in the HRH lobby to hit the theme parks in the morning.
Beckles and lensman checked into the HRH that morning and got there rooms keys which are needed for Front of the Line Access (FOTL) at the Universal parks. We started our journey at Islands of Adventure. We went to the Hulk coaster first and walked right on. This is one intense roller coaster. Definitely a cool way to start the vacation. Our next stop was the Cat in the Hat Ride, which is a cute little kiddie ride.
GoingAway called and was now in the park so we met up with her and decided to head over to Dueling Dragons, which are two intertwined coasters named Fire and Ice. Since we had FOTL we were able to ride both with no wait. Staying on the grounds definitely has its advantages. We did a few more rides and then it was time for lunch
Since the parks were getting crowded we headed out to CityWalk at Universal and ate lunch at NBACity. The food was decent but nothing spectacular. I had the pecan crusted chicken tenders with fries.
After lunch we headed over to Universal Studios and went directly to Men In Black: Alien Attack. What a fun ride. You get to shoot the aliens with your laser gun and it keeps score. Beckles smoked us all but he had the advantage of riding previously on earlier trips. So not fair. I cant remember what else we hit that day at USO.
I also had my picture taken with Scooby and Shaggy in front of the Mystery Machine. If you look at the pictures you cant see Shaggys hand but lets just say they were definitely some roaming hands in that picture, and this guy couldnt even blame it on some costume. He was just a dirty boy!
It was getting late so we headed back to IOA to hit all the wet rides, and boy was it a good suggestion to wait till the end of the day for that. WE GOT SOAKED! Our first water ride was Popeye & Blutos Bilge Rat Barges. This raft ride just douses you with water. Since we were thoroughly drenched we headed over to Dudley Do Rights Ripsaw Falls.
Sufficiently drenched we sloshed back to our hotels to shower and change for our 8:30PM dinner reservations at Tchoup Chop. The first order of business was some adult beverages at Jakes American Bar at the Royal Pacific Resort. We called a few friends who didnt make it for the weekend and told them about the wonderful time we were having. The waiter let me keep the glass the my girlie drink came in.
We walked over to Tchoup Chop for our dinner reservation. We were seated at a cool booth on the side of the restaurant. Our waiter was nice and suggested the Caymus Conumdrum which was complex, rich, silky, and balanced. I can only give my opinion on what I had but I thought the prices were reasonable and the food was tasty.
I started with the Tchoup Chop Salad with Baby Lettuces, Toasted Cashews, Fresh Orange, Radish Sprouts and a Creamy Soy Dressing.
Instead of an entrée I picked two appetizers for dinner. The Homemade Dumpling Box with a Fresh Pork and Ginger Filling, Hand Rolled, steamed and served with Sake Soy Dipping Sauce was delicious and the Polynesian Crab Cake with Ginger Scallion Aioli and Papaya-Serrano Salsa was good but lacked some oomph. It needed some spice or something. Dessert was the Macadamia Nut Pie served with Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. It tasted a lot like Pecan Pie except it was Macadamia nuts.
We were all tired from theme parking all day but instead of calling it a night we headed to the local liquor store and bought some more adult beverages to drink in Beckles and lensman room. We drank a few drinks and polished off the Milano cookies lensman had swiped from the NW World Club. We made plans to meet up again tomorrow morning at 9:30AM and went to bed.
Part II coming soon. Highlights include Doody in the Pool and Spiderman
To see the pictures from our adventures see here
http://ftpics.markbach.com/gallery/album29
I woke up Friday morning and did some last minute packing and checked my work email for the last time. My flight was at 10:45 AM on this holiday weekend so I decided the airport might be a bit crowded so I got to the airport about an hour before the flight. Lines were non-existent so I had plenty of time to kill before boarding. Being in New Orleans always gives you an opportunity for people watching and today did not fail. Right there in the boarding area a woman pulled out her yoga mat and took off her shoes and proceeded to strike some interesting poses on her head. The show was over and boarding began. My NWA flight was uneventful. The snack basket in FC had Granola Bars, Almonds, and Pretzels. The 2 flight attendants were efficient and polite. I landed in Memphis and got a call from lensman saying that he missed his flight and would not be making the connection to Orlando with me but would be on the later flight arriving at 8PM.
We landed at the furthest gate, as always, so I had to high tail it to the NW World Club to check out the snacks and make a few phone calls. I only had a 45 minute layover so I made my way back down the concourse and boarding had already began. The plane was full, including 3 kids in FC. I didnt here a peep out of any of them, which I was bit worried about. We actually had a meal with a selection on this flight in FC. Choices were a pasta chicken salad or a pastrami sandwich. Each came with side salad and cheese cake for dessert. I had the pasta which was tasty. I didnt each much because I wanted to save room for dinner later that evening.
We landed on time and the MCO airport didnt seem terribly busy. I bought a ticket from Mears Shuttle for $14. It took about 20 minutes for my shuttle to arrive and the driver was not very talkative or helpful, but I wasnt expecting much. There were only 3 people on the shuttle and I was the second one dropped off.
I arrived at the Hard Rock Hotel on the grounds of Universal around 5:30PM. My room was ready. It was a nice standard room with two queen beds and a view of the pool, nothing special but very nice. Bathroom amenities were shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion, hand soap, face soap, and body soap. There was an in room 4 cup coffee maker with 2 packs of regular and one pack of decaf coffee. They had sugar, sweet and low, and powdered creamer. I made the coffee the first morning and it was pretty bad, so I suggest just buying a cup from the Starbucks on the 1st floor inside the Sunset Grill. They were also selling the 4 cup Starbucks filter packs there as well if you prefer to brew your own.
The sun was still bright so I changed in my bathing suit and the sarong sent to me by eastwest and headed to the pool. I didnt actually get in the pool but I did lay around sipping a frozen margarita and finished off my 1st of two books I brought along. The sun was starting to fade so around 7PM I headed back to the hotel to shower and change for dinner. Beckles and lensman were going to be at the hotel around 8:30PM.
Beckles and lensman were right on time and we called GRS who suggested we meet for dinner at Café Tu Tu Tango. This turned out to be a good decision. It was a Tapas bar with belly dancers. We ordered about 8 selections between the 4 of us, which were all pretty tasty.
GRS left us for the evening after dinner since he had an early morning mileage run out of Tampa in the morning. Beckles, lensman, and myself headed over to the Royal Pacific Resort at Universal for a few evening cocktails. About midnight we parted ways and decided to meet up at 9:30AM in the HRH lobby to hit the theme parks in the morning.
Beckles and lensman checked into the HRH that morning and got there rooms keys which are needed for Front of the Line Access (FOTL) at the Universal parks. We started our journey at Islands of Adventure. We went to the Hulk coaster first and walked right on. This is one intense roller coaster. Definitely a cool way to start the vacation. Our next stop was the Cat in the Hat Ride, which is a cute little kiddie ride.
GoingAway called and was now in the park so we met up with her and decided to head over to Dueling Dragons, which are two intertwined coasters named Fire and Ice. Since we had FOTL we were able to ride both with no wait. Staying on the grounds definitely has its advantages. We did a few more rides and then it was time for lunch
Since the parks were getting crowded we headed out to CityWalk at Universal and ate lunch at NBACity. The food was decent but nothing spectacular. I had the pecan crusted chicken tenders with fries.
After lunch we headed over to Universal Studios and went directly to Men In Black: Alien Attack. What a fun ride. You get to shoot the aliens with your laser gun and it keeps score. Beckles smoked us all but he had the advantage of riding previously on earlier trips. So not fair. I cant remember what else we hit that day at USO.
I also had my picture taken with Scooby and Shaggy in front of the Mystery Machine. If you look at the pictures you cant see Shaggys hand but lets just say they were definitely some roaming hands in that picture, and this guy couldnt even blame it on some costume. He was just a dirty boy!
It was getting late so we headed back to IOA to hit all the wet rides, and boy was it a good suggestion to wait till the end of the day for that. WE GOT SOAKED! Our first water ride was Popeye & Blutos Bilge Rat Barges. This raft ride just douses you with water. Since we were thoroughly drenched we headed over to Dudley Do Rights Ripsaw Falls.
Sufficiently drenched we sloshed back to our hotels to shower and change for our 8:30PM dinner reservations at Tchoup Chop. The first order of business was some adult beverages at Jakes American Bar at the Royal Pacific Resort. We called a few friends who didnt make it for the weekend and told them about the wonderful time we were having. The waiter let me keep the glass the my girlie drink came in.
We walked over to Tchoup Chop for our dinner reservation. We were seated at a cool booth on the side of the restaurant. Our waiter was nice and suggested the Caymus Conumdrum which was complex, rich, silky, and balanced. I can only give my opinion on what I had but I thought the prices were reasonable and the food was tasty.
I started with the Tchoup Chop Salad with Baby Lettuces, Toasted Cashews, Fresh Orange, Radish Sprouts and a Creamy Soy Dressing.
Instead of an entrée I picked two appetizers for dinner. The Homemade Dumpling Box with a Fresh Pork and Ginger Filling, Hand Rolled, steamed and served with Sake Soy Dipping Sauce was delicious and the Polynesian Crab Cake with Ginger Scallion Aioli and Papaya-Serrano Salsa was good but lacked some oomph. It needed some spice or something. Dessert was the Macadamia Nut Pie served with Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. It tasted a lot like Pecan Pie except it was Macadamia nuts.
We were all tired from theme parking all day but instead of calling it a night we headed to the local liquor store and bought some more adult beverages to drink in Beckles and lensman room. We drank a few drinks and polished off the Milano cookies lensman had swiped from the NW World Club. We made plans to meet up again tomorrow morning at 9:30AM and went to bed.
Part II coming soon. Highlights include Doody in the Pool and Spiderman
I have never seen that Hulk picture, I really like that! Can't wait for part 2 
