The We Love the Rain Trip

[countingmomma]

Pre-day 1 – Tuesday, June 24th
Jumped in the car and hit the road when DH finally ; ) made it home from work. Stopped for dinner at our favorite on-the-road family restaurant, Wade’s in Spartanburg, SC. After dinner we put a couple of more road hours behind us and stopped for the night.

Day 1, Wednesday, June 25th
Arrived on the outskirts of Orlando via I-4 just as the afternoon thunderstorm was hitting. Did that electronic road sign say 50 minutes to travel 5 miles? Whoa! So I broke out the Garmin & the Atlas, and we took the next exit, navigated the city streets of Orlando, thankful for my 20 plus years of map-reading because the battery in the Garmin died. We arrived at the beautiful PBH and checked in. We decided to go to IOA that evening. DH (who hates lines) kept saying, “Its going to be crowded.” And I kept replying, “All the people have left because of the rain.” (Please, or please let that be true.) So we got on the next boat to CW with DS 13 and DD 8. When we arrived, ta da, people were leaving!!!! I took my confirmation from the online purchase of our 7 day tickets over to the electronic kiosk – no line, and followed the instructions – insert cc, enter confirmation number, and out came our tickets.

Let me say here, that I hate those finger scans. They really seem to slow down entrance into the parks. Those 5 – 10 minutes lines were some of the longest that we stood in. LOL

Finally, we were inside. Hulk was still not running because of the storm, so we headed over to Spidey, then Doom (ds skipped) and then Storm. DS hates TOT at DW, and I’m not a big fan myself, but . . . the things moms will do for their kids. After TOT, Doom is a piece of cake, in fact, I think I could eat cake while I ride Doom. No offense, I like it that way. So after I rode Doom, I promised DS he would like it, and he and DD struck a deal that he would ride it later that week. Hulk was running at this point, so we were off. DD barely made the height requirements, so Hulk was her first major roller coaster ride. Of course, we bought the picture and arranged to have it delivered to the room. I did not want to be forced to use those lockers, so I only used a waist pack which I was able to move to the side on all the “no bag” rides.

Next, we were off to Seuss Landing, where we rode Fish, and the Caraseussel before hungry took over. Desperation sent us to the Café – so let me stop here and say, if you don’t buy the meal pass, don’t eat at the meal pass restaurants. There were only two other families in front of us, but it took forever (okay, longer than we wanted it to). DS also adds that the food is not very good; however, in their defense, I had a chicken Caesar salad that was pretty good. After dinner, we rode Cat and the Trolley. I won’t ride Cat just after eating again. We made a note after exiting the Trolley through the candy/cookie shop to stop in later & get cookies.

Then we headed to Dragons, where the tm working at the entrance was concerned about dd’s height. I told him she’d just rode Hulk, and he said, “Have them measure her again at the top. We’re more strict than they (Hulk’s tms) are.” But no one at the top was concerned, so we rode Ice. Then we rode the Unicorn, which compared to Hulk and Dragons . . . .

By this time it was 9 and the park was closing. We had accomplished more than I’d expected, since we didn’t get into the park until around 5. FOTL was wonderful, although I must admit the first few times we walked by the lines of people waiting, I felt a little guilty, but I got over that. There was a boat at the dock when we got there, we got on before it was full and rode back to PBH. I called for a 7 am wake-up call just before going to sleep.

 

[t-and-a]

You were there while we were there and we stayed at the PBH too. Are you going to post any pics? We might have seen you. I have a TR on here with pics. I have it linked in my siggie, if you want to look.

 

[countingmomma]

I read your post. Its great. I'll try to post some pics later. It you saw us, you'd probably remember ds13. He's tall, skinny, and has white hair (not really blond). DD8 talks all the time and almost every ride on the boat wanted to sit up front with the Captain. Thanks for reading, btw, you're pics are great.

 

[macraven]

don't stop now, we need more of your report....we like it

 

[wicket2005]

Lovely start.

 

[RAPstar]

Can't wait to read more of your TR!

 

[tlinus]

can't wait for more

 

[countingmomma]

Day 2 – Thursday, June 26th

7 am wake-up call moves me from the bed. While the kids and DH are finishing getting ready, I head downstairs to the Gelateria for milk and juice. We had brought cereal & bananas with us. Back up stairs, we finish breakfast & head for the boat, just as its pulling away from the dock. DH suggests that rather than wait the 15+ minutes for the next boat that we just walk. We had contemplated this last night, but I was concerned in the dark that we might not be able to find our way But alas, we did walk to the park. The thought did cross my mind that dd8 might be using up a lot of her walking for the day, but truly she did great. The walk is really not bad. I didn’t mention this before, but the boat captain checks bags before you board the boat for CW, so since we weren’t on the boat, there were two security guards just where the resort walkway ends who checked bags.

So we were back to IOA. DH, DS & I decided we could live without the Pteranodon Flyers, but we would leave it up to DD. She wanted to ride, and since it was 9:05, we only had a 10 minute wait. The ride is very short & I certainly would not wait much longer than that. TMs were riding with children who were singles – ie one parent, two kids. I rode with ds, and dh & dd.

With that checked off the list, we headed for Dragons. Rode Fire & Ice. One of them in the front, although I can’t remember which one. They were not even using the Express line yet, the ride was a walk-on. DH dragged us into Poseidon, which I have always been board at. And I wasn’t disappointed. The rest of the week, he would say periodically, “Hey let’s go see Poseidon.” And the rest of us would groan.

Then we headed back to the Marvel area. DH had a plan that we used all week, we walked back through JP to Marvel instead of going through the crowd at the entry. We rode Spidey again, and then ds kept his promise to dd and rode Doom. He actually liked it. I said, “Have I ever lied to you? I told you it was nothing.” Then we went over to Hulk (which was dd’s other part of the deal, she wasn’t sure she wanted to ride it again). It was obvious that she was nervous when she asked a tm at the top to check her height. She was fine, and this time decided that she did really like Hulk.

We decided that we barely had time to see Sinbad before our 1 pm lunch at Mythos. This was our first time at this show & I loved it. I think its better than Indy at WDW. And we literally walked out of there just in time for Mythos. This was a great break from the heat & the hubhub that was going on. It was really very refreshing. DD had . . . what does every 8 year old have . . . chicken tenders. Ds had . . . . what does every teenage boy have . . . a hamburger. I had the Cedar Plank Fish & DH had steak. The meal was wonderful as was the entire experience. We skipped dessert because I was thinking of those cookies back at Seuss Landing. So as we headed out of the park, I ducked in there & bought one peanutbutter (ds) , one peanut chocolate chunk (dh) , one chocolate with candies (dd), and one white chocolate raspberry (me).

We caught the boat, went back to the room and slept. At least dh & I did until we awoke to the thud of dd falling off the bed she and her brother were playing on. To be continued. . . . . .

 

[DonnaLeah]

I'm really enjoying your tip report!!

I hope the kids weren't hurt when they fell off the bed.

 

[countingmomma]

I don't want to leave you guys wondering if dd was injured, so here's the rest of the day.

Day 2, continued, evening

DD was fine, but ds was instructed by dh to be more careful. (and to be quiet while he was taking a nap) I broke out the cookies and they are HUGE. I insisted they break them into thirds. I’m not kidding, that’s still probably the equivalent of two normal sized cookies. And they taste as great as they look. Well, there had been the regularly scheduled afternoon FL thunderstorm, but it was still raining a little. No problem, I had brought along our well-used rain ponchos. Because of the thunderstorm, the boats were not running, so they were running extra shuttle buses. We headed over to the taxi/cab area and didn’t have to wait long for a bus. DS did not want to put on a poncho, “Mom, we’re going to be the only people in Universal wearing Disney ponchos.” Dh was still not happy about the nap/falling off the bed thing, so DS put on the poncho. And of course, we certainly were not the only people wearing non-Universal ponchos, but maybe some of the few with the old yellow Disney ones. Anybody see us?

I convinced them that a lot of the Universal stuff was inside, so we headed there. Dh was concerned everyone else had the same idea. It was around 7 when we got inside the gate. We made the very next show of Jimmy, then did Shrek, then there goes that food thing again. Do they blow the scent of hamburgers at the exits of attractions? Oh, and we were able to shed our ponchos after we got to the Jimmy line. So ds didn’t have to be humiliated too much. Jimmy was more fun than I remembered and Shrek was new since our last trip. I loved it. Back to the food – We were heading for ET, and you know that from Shrek, you have to pass Mel’s, so . . . . This was the night that I decided the problem was with the Meal Plan people. The food was typical fast food, everyone but me got milkshakes, too, but we vowed to leave the Meal Plan restaurants to the Plan people.

At this point its like 8:15, and the last T2 starts at 8:30, so we take a vote, ET or T2. ET won, and it was a crazy walk-on. I’ve waited a long time for ET before, I couldn’t believe it. I LOVE FOTL. We actually made the 8:30 T2. Of course, the park was closing when we finished with that, but that was OK. I couldn’t believe what we’d accomplished in two hours. We made it to the boat & was back in the room by 9:30. Same wake-up plan for tomorrow, but we want to finish at Universal in the morning. Until then. . . . .

 

[pixeegrl]

 

[czycropper]

You were there the same time I was BUT I've been soooo bad about doing my TR

 

[countingmomma]

Now back to the report.

Day 3, Friday, June 27th

Ugh, the wake-up call. Drag myself out of bed, head downstairs to grab the juice & milk. Oh, there’s a breakfast sandwich. I think I’ll not have cereal today. So kids & dh have cereal & fruit, and I have a breakfast croissant. Everyone’s happy. And we made the boat! We were actually inside US by 8:50 that morning, but the only rides that were operating were Jimmy & Shrek. I liked them a lot last night and I was tempted . . . . but, the Mummy was waiting. We ducked in the gift shop to waste a few minutes and finally the tm’s let us and the others by and into the other areas of the park. (They had been holding the crowd just past the entrances of Shrek & Jimmy.)

Off we go to ride the Mummy. Here again, they were not using the Express line. And the ride was a walk-on. Or would have been except that dh wanted to ride in the front, so we waited for the next car. This ride was great. We got off the ride and dh & ds wanted to go again, that would have been fine with me, but dd drew the line on that one. I don’t think she’s going to be a big fan of bugs. So she & I waited it out while the boys rode again, which didn’t take long at all.

Then we were off to Jaws. This had not been our original order plan, but neither Disaster nor Twister were open yet. Disaster had a sign that said they would open at 10, but I don’t know what the delay was with Twister. Over at Jaws, they were training new boat drivers, so we had to wait for two boats to practice pulling up to the dock and pulling away, complete with the driver going through their memorized narration. We finally got on a boat with dd on the left, then me, then dh, then ds. Warning, you will get wet on this ride. What???!!!! I remember getting splashed before, but water came pouring in over the side of the boat, and flooded our seat, so no I didn’t get splashed, my pants got soaked. All of our pants got soaked. Well, at least it was a hot day. (I probably need to add at this point that this was the day that I’d decided to wear my white denim shorts, neither of which are the best for wet.)

I didn’t want to wait much longer in the day to ride MIB, so we headed there next. Four times in a row, we rode that morning. Do I ever love that ride!!! We are all so competitive, that’s why someone at the end (usually not the person who’d had the highest score) would say, “Let’s ride it again!” But by this time it was around 10, and we knew that Disaster had opened. So we abandoned the aliens & headed that way. Passing by Fear Factor, they were already out to talk to people about participating in the 12 pm show. They talked to ds, and told him that he could if dh would as well. Dh is competitive enough (haven’t I said that already?) that he probably would have done it, if it had not eaten into so much of our park time.

We finally made it to Disaster, who’s queue area is more that than the attraction IMO. We must have walked up just after they’d taken a group inside, because there was only one other family in front of us in the Express area, but we had to stand there outside for probably 15 minutes (Am I becoming a line snob?). Finally we go inside and volunteers are chosen. The show is cute, but not one of my favorites.

I had planned on us seeing the Animal show before the noon Fear show, but we were not making it at this point, so we went over to Twister, which totally freaked out dd. I know – she’s fine on Hulk & Dragon, but don’t talk about mummies, bugs, or tornadoes.

Fear Factor was next, and dd volunteered to be an assistant. She loves being in the spotlight. She did the rain for the ending event. I really enjoyed this one, and I’m not a big fan of the TV show – too many bugs for me (sound familiar?). When the show was over, I realized there was another Animal show starting that we could just make, but we were all starving. So we compromised with popcorn & drinks during the animal show. (Side note, I had one of those strawberry mixes, and it was really good. At least as good as the one that I had later in the week at the pool. No alcohol in case your kids want to share.) We came away from the animal show, proud of our dog at home. (She’s a chocolate lab, who’s well on her way to being an entertainer.) Seriously, we love the animal show. Frank was dd’s favorite.

Now for some serious lunch, we decide to try for Margaritaville. Ds said this was his favorite meal. He had the barbeque bacon cheeseburger (shock), dd had . . chicken fingers, I had the fish tacos, and I can’t remember what dh had, but he tried some of my fish tacos. I thought my meal was better than Mythos (sorry). I really liked the corn salsa that they serve with the tacos. It was great.

We then headed back to the boat, for what would be a very short break at the hotel. Next up . . . Swimsuits in the park.

 

[tlinus]

waiting.

for more.

patiently

 

[countingmomma]

Day 3, afternoon

We arrived back at the room to find the maid’s cart in the hallway, and our room had not been cleaned, yet. We had planned to rest for a little while then change into our swimsuits and water-friendly shoes and head over to IOA for the water rides. But when the maid knocked on our door about two minutes later, we decided to flip things around. I asked her if she could give us about 15 minutes, and she very nicely agreed. So we hurried and changed into swimwear, and off we headed back to the parks.

On the boat on the way back, dd met a girl about her age, Christina, and her little brother, Zach (he was probably 4-5). Turns out their family's plan for the afternoon was the same as ours, so we headed to Popeye together.

This was the only day we were there when it didn’t rain, so it was about 150 degrees and there were so many people in line for Pluto, that we had a hard time finding the Express line. Once we did, it was great. Now I had worn my suit with my cover-up, but once we were on the ride, people who’d dressed like me pulled their cover-up off and stuffed it in the covered area in the middle of the raft. Why not, I thought. So there I was, riding in my swimsuit, that’s what dd was doing, and the boys were in there trunks with t-shirts. DH was wishing that we’d found some of those quick-drying water shirts for him and ds before we’d left. Anyway, Pluto was great. I hope no one was offended that I rode in my swimsuit. We actually rode it twice before we headed over to Ripsaw.

Ripsaw was a waiting nightmare. I can’t imagine how long the regular line was. The couple in front of us told us they had observed the tm at the ride entrance letting anyone walk into the Express line. As a result the Express line took about 20-25 minutes. No one was checking passes at a later point in the line. Finally, we arrived at the loading area. It’s a really fun ride. At the top of the drop, the ride had been stopped and the tm supervising that area (he’s on the right at the top of the hill, inside) was calling to someone in the log in front of us, “Please, put your lap bar down.” They finally did, and we were off & going down. I really like it, but not enough to stand in that line again. We actually tried again later in the night, but the line was still long.

Next, we headed to JP. Dh stopped at one of the kiosks to buy a band for his sunglasses. The tm could not get the room key to scan, dh even had them try mine, too, but no luck. The family we’d paired up with & were still with, had also tried to purchase something & their’s wouldn’t scan either. So apparently, there was some sort of electronic issue at that kiosk. Since neither of us had taken anything but room keys with us, we were out of luck.

Back to JP, we walked on, and rode it twice. The first time on the back row, and we barely got sprinkled. I'd heard that you get wetter up front, especially if the front of the boat is heavier. Well, the second time, we were on the second row, and when I estimated how much the front row weighed, I thought, "We are going to drown." Seriously though, it is really a cool ride.

Then we headed back to try Ripsaw again, but passed when we saw the line. We rode Popeye once more and were planning another, when the ride de-loading slowed way down. It took forever to get off, and there was an announcement that there was a problem with the ride, and there would be a delay. So we decided to call it a day, and headed for the exit. Some wonderful scent caught my nose as we neared the Port of Entry and drew me over to the Cinnabon spot. “I’ll take four to go.” And the room key worked!

When we got back to PBH, dh and dd decided to check out the pool. Ds & I headed upstairs, leaving instructions to bring a pizza from Sal’s upstairs when they were finished swimming. About an hour later dh & dd arrived with the pizza, and one bite into it, dh announced, “We’re going to need another one.” So I called down to Sal’s and we got another one. We thought it was great pizza. MIB was on tv, and we watched it while we ate pizza. I think dd really appreciated seeing the movie after killing all those aliens earlier in the day. (She'd not seen MIB until then.)

We had some more of our cookies from IOA & crashed for the night. I have no idea how I slept knowing there were Cinnabons in the room waiting to be eaten at breakfast.

 

[macraven]

who won?

you or the cinnabons.........