Tinkabelle
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2003
- Messages
- 57
OK, so you want to know about my xmas trip to the wonders of Orlando?! Thats why youre here I guess! Let me introduce you to our tribe so that you can picture the scene a little easier!
Me Laura, aged 24 9th trip and a Disney/Orlando fanatic!
Rob aged 24, 3rd trip and my partner so a tag along who finds amusement in observing Disney/Orlando addicts!
Dad Steve, better not tell you his age (ha ha!), 10th trip and apparently an Im bored of Disney veteran!
Max aged 12, 10th trip, my little brother ( who nearly couldnt come until 2 days before flying due to pins in a badly broken arm! So he has his arm in a bright blue plaster for the duration!).
Sophie Aged 14, family friend who came along for the ride, FIRST TIMER!!!!
As you may have guessed, Im a bit of a Disney etc fiend, and I am loving the fact that we have a rookie with us to show around! Gives the whole place a freshness when you show someone new!
So here we go!
Thursday 18th December 2003
Today was the first day of our Christmas holiday here in Florida. We arrived last night after our awful flight with Virgin Atlantic, and had instant excitement when we turned on the TV! We saw on the news that a shuttle was being counted down to take off as we were watching, when it took off, we ran out the front of the villa, and could actually see the flame from the rocket as it left Cape Canaveral! It was amazing, and we watched it until it left the atmosphere.
This morning, we found it difficult to decide what to do as it was reported as being the coldest day of the year! How typical! We spent some time checking out the villa, and seeing if we could spot anything that had changed since our last visit! Once we were all ready, we decided that Universal Studios was a good idea so off we went. We had a wonderful day (despite the cold!), only problem was that we had bought these special offer tickets buy 2 days get 1 day free and we didnt find out until we had gone through the turnstile that the whole ticket had to be used within 6 days of your first entry. How annoying! This meant we would have to rethink our New Year plans, not now!!!
We started our day at IOA (Islands of Adventure for any rookies!) where we as usual, headed straight for the Hulk coaster! It was every bit as exhilarating as I remembered, just I couldnt see very much due to the icy wind pounding into my face making my eyes water! This wasnt right at all, here at IOA in the cold?! Well, we just had to make the best of it now we were here! The good thing about this cool weather was that it did seem to be keeping the crowds at bay! We walked straight onto the Hulk twice with no wait at all!
Once we were done here, we headed towards Spidey. I was dying to show this ride to Sophie, and again we were surprised to find no line! We all enjoyed this tremendously, and for some reason I was screaming as though Id never been on it before! Wonderful! Our stomachs were not amused with us by now, so we bypassed Toon Lagoon (far too cold for any of those drenching water slides today!), and ate at the large restaurant in Jurassic Park. Dad and Sophie wanted to ride Jurassic Park, but Rob and I didnt feel warm enough yet to be wet, and Max couldnt ride due to his plaster. So off they went while we dutifully stood at the bottom to take pictures. When they finally dropped and got soaked, we were desperate to see them shivering and regretting their decision, and we were disappointed; they had only sneaked off to buy ponchos before riding! No wonder they were gone so long!
We carried on and lined for a faulty Duelling Dragons. This is where I must fill you in on an experience of mine from a previous trip ! I was walking through the dark dark corridor to line for one of the coasters, when a wizard appeared in my path and freaked me out so much that I hit him and screamed as though he had hurt me! So, you can imagine, Im walking very slowly round every corner, with tribe members taking great delight in poking hands through holes in walls and suddenly appearing without warning very quickly! Anyway, back to the story we were lining up for Ice, (Ice and Fire are the names of the two sides) and for some reason, it just sat still while Fire went round 3 times! We watched the cast members eventually unload the coaster and take it off the track. They then brought out a new coaster, and away we went! It was quite weird watching the track actually move right out of its line, and putting the coaster in its little garage! Well, while we were going up the ramp, we were wondering why Fire was so far behind, and we realised that we were riding solo. So the whole way round we were just looking at lots of track rather than being scared of hitting other peoples feet! Of course, due to this, the tribe all wanted to go back on and ride Fire so that we could race against a coaster finally, so I had to go through the dark line trauma all over again! This time, we got on no worries, and actually saw the other coaster three times along the way, well, I did anyway! This is what always surprises me, they all wanna ride the coaster for the fear of hitting other people, and they never actually see the other coaster!! I dont know where they are looking, cause I felt like I saw it everywhere! Anyway, onwards.
We enjoyed watching the talking fountain, and then had a walk through Seuss Landing which had been transformed into Whoville complete with the Whos specially for the holidays. It was great! You could even line to visit the Grinch in his lair, and if you were inclined, you could line to slide down Mt crumpet! By this time, we were ready to move on, so we headed over to the original Universal as it is now known!
We went on T2, Shrek (excellently funny!) and Twister and ended up staying long enough to watch the Macys holiday parade which was incredible. You can see some of my pictures from that parade on the thread in the photo section called Tinks xmas trip pics part 1.
Once this was finished we headed to Walmart to buy some decorations for the villa and then we came home and decked the halls o to speak! We even got into the spirit enough to decorate the outside of the villa which was great! And so cheap!!!
Friday 19th December 2003
Todays plans went awry when dad spent the morning off-roading in his mates Hummer! We had planned to go to Disney Quest and do a bit of shopping, but in the end we went driving in what felt like the ghetto, in search of air boat rides (which we never found!). It was now 2pm, as I forgot to mention dad had driven us all the way back to the airport to change our hire car as it had too many miles on the clock! That was cruelty, taking us back there so soon after arriving! New car (6 miles on clock!) in hand, we did our bad exploring, and as I was saying it was now 2pm so we were starving. We went to the Golden Corral for lunch which was fab! The sweet trolley was out of this world, so needless to say we ate ourselves to a standstill! We then went to Ross shopping and got some bargains, then we had to dash home for warmer clothes ready for Mickeys Very Merry Christmas Party at the Magic kingdom (MVMCP).
We had a truly wonderful evening and we really made the most of it. During the first parade, we decided to skip this and head to Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain, good choice! Splash Mountain was a walk-on, so much so that Max, Rob and Sophie actually stayed in our log and went round again! The logs were actually going round empty for 10 whole minutes! We then ran to Thunder Mountain ahead of the parade crowd. We luckily made it just in time, as the parade finished a massive surge of people formed a huge line behind us!
We enjoyed the rest of the evening (the free cocoa and cookies helped!), we rode the Carousel of progress, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin (looking dated already!) and took a tour on the Wedway people mover around Tomorrowland. This was great, as when we passed into Space Mountain (40 minute line!), it was floodlit as there was a hitch with the ride! It looks so different in the light I couldnt believe it! We took time to stop for the Wishes fireworks (OMG!) after the Haunted Mansion, and the Very Merry Xmas Parade on its 2nd trip. As we made our way out, we followed the parade down Main Street under the snow, snuggled under our Mickey and Minnie mouse Santa hats. Despite the cold, I could now say, I felt well and truly in the holiday spirit! A truly magical Disney evening!
Me Laura, aged 24 9th trip and a Disney/Orlando fanatic!
Rob aged 24, 3rd trip and my partner so a tag along who finds amusement in observing Disney/Orlando addicts!
Dad Steve, better not tell you his age (ha ha!), 10th trip and apparently an Im bored of Disney veteran!
Max aged 12, 10th trip, my little brother ( who nearly couldnt come until 2 days before flying due to pins in a badly broken arm! So he has his arm in a bright blue plaster for the duration!).
Sophie Aged 14, family friend who came along for the ride, FIRST TIMER!!!!
As you may have guessed, Im a bit of a Disney etc fiend, and I am loving the fact that we have a rookie with us to show around! Gives the whole place a freshness when you show someone new!
So here we go!
Thursday 18th December 2003
Today was the first day of our Christmas holiday here in Florida. We arrived last night after our awful flight with Virgin Atlantic, and had instant excitement when we turned on the TV! We saw on the news that a shuttle was being counted down to take off as we were watching, when it took off, we ran out the front of the villa, and could actually see the flame from the rocket as it left Cape Canaveral! It was amazing, and we watched it until it left the atmosphere.
This morning, we found it difficult to decide what to do as it was reported as being the coldest day of the year! How typical! We spent some time checking out the villa, and seeing if we could spot anything that had changed since our last visit! Once we were all ready, we decided that Universal Studios was a good idea so off we went. We had a wonderful day (despite the cold!), only problem was that we had bought these special offer tickets buy 2 days get 1 day free and we didnt find out until we had gone through the turnstile that the whole ticket had to be used within 6 days of your first entry. How annoying! This meant we would have to rethink our New Year plans, not now!!!
We started our day at IOA (Islands of Adventure for any rookies!) where we as usual, headed straight for the Hulk coaster! It was every bit as exhilarating as I remembered, just I couldnt see very much due to the icy wind pounding into my face making my eyes water! This wasnt right at all, here at IOA in the cold?! Well, we just had to make the best of it now we were here! The good thing about this cool weather was that it did seem to be keeping the crowds at bay! We walked straight onto the Hulk twice with no wait at all!
Once we were done here, we headed towards Spidey. I was dying to show this ride to Sophie, and again we were surprised to find no line! We all enjoyed this tremendously, and for some reason I was screaming as though Id never been on it before! Wonderful! Our stomachs were not amused with us by now, so we bypassed Toon Lagoon (far too cold for any of those drenching water slides today!), and ate at the large restaurant in Jurassic Park. Dad and Sophie wanted to ride Jurassic Park, but Rob and I didnt feel warm enough yet to be wet, and Max couldnt ride due to his plaster. So off they went while we dutifully stood at the bottom to take pictures. When they finally dropped and got soaked, we were desperate to see them shivering and regretting their decision, and we were disappointed; they had only sneaked off to buy ponchos before riding! No wonder they were gone so long!
We carried on and lined for a faulty Duelling Dragons. This is where I must fill you in on an experience of mine from a previous trip ! I was walking through the dark dark corridor to line for one of the coasters, when a wizard appeared in my path and freaked me out so much that I hit him and screamed as though he had hurt me! So, you can imagine, Im walking very slowly round every corner, with tribe members taking great delight in poking hands through holes in walls and suddenly appearing without warning very quickly! Anyway, back to the story we were lining up for Ice, (Ice and Fire are the names of the two sides) and for some reason, it just sat still while Fire went round 3 times! We watched the cast members eventually unload the coaster and take it off the track. They then brought out a new coaster, and away we went! It was quite weird watching the track actually move right out of its line, and putting the coaster in its little garage! Well, while we were going up the ramp, we were wondering why Fire was so far behind, and we realised that we were riding solo. So the whole way round we were just looking at lots of track rather than being scared of hitting other peoples feet! Of course, due to this, the tribe all wanted to go back on and ride Fire so that we could race against a coaster finally, so I had to go through the dark line trauma all over again! This time, we got on no worries, and actually saw the other coaster three times along the way, well, I did anyway! This is what always surprises me, they all wanna ride the coaster for the fear of hitting other people, and they never actually see the other coaster!! I dont know where they are looking, cause I felt like I saw it everywhere! Anyway, onwards.
We enjoyed watching the talking fountain, and then had a walk through Seuss Landing which had been transformed into Whoville complete with the Whos specially for the holidays. It was great! You could even line to visit the Grinch in his lair, and if you were inclined, you could line to slide down Mt crumpet! By this time, we were ready to move on, so we headed over to the original Universal as it is now known!
We went on T2, Shrek (excellently funny!) and Twister and ended up staying long enough to watch the Macys holiday parade which was incredible. You can see some of my pictures from that parade on the thread in the photo section called Tinks xmas trip pics part 1.
Once this was finished we headed to Walmart to buy some decorations for the villa and then we came home and decked the halls o to speak! We even got into the spirit enough to decorate the outside of the villa which was great! And so cheap!!!
Friday 19th December 2003
Todays plans went awry when dad spent the morning off-roading in his mates Hummer! We had planned to go to Disney Quest and do a bit of shopping, but in the end we went driving in what felt like the ghetto, in search of air boat rides (which we never found!). It was now 2pm, as I forgot to mention dad had driven us all the way back to the airport to change our hire car as it had too many miles on the clock! That was cruelty, taking us back there so soon after arriving! New car (6 miles on clock!) in hand, we did our bad exploring, and as I was saying it was now 2pm so we were starving. We went to the Golden Corral for lunch which was fab! The sweet trolley was out of this world, so needless to say we ate ourselves to a standstill! We then went to Ross shopping and got some bargains, then we had to dash home for warmer clothes ready for Mickeys Very Merry Christmas Party at the Magic kingdom (MVMCP).
We had a truly wonderful evening and we really made the most of it. During the first parade, we decided to skip this and head to Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain, good choice! Splash Mountain was a walk-on, so much so that Max, Rob and Sophie actually stayed in our log and went round again! The logs were actually going round empty for 10 whole minutes! We then ran to Thunder Mountain ahead of the parade crowd. We luckily made it just in time, as the parade finished a massive surge of people formed a huge line behind us!
We enjoyed the rest of the evening (the free cocoa and cookies helped!), we rode the Carousel of progress, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin (looking dated already!) and took a tour on the Wedway people mover around Tomorrowland. This was great, as when we passed into Space Mountain (40 minute line!), it was floodlit as there was a hitch with the ride! It looks so different in the light I couldnt believe it! We took time to stop for the Wishes fireworks (OMG!) after the Haunted Mansion, and the Very Merry Xmas Parade on its 2nd trip. As we made our way out, we followed the parade down Main Street under the snow, snuggled under our Mickey and Minnie mouse Santa hats. Despite the cold, I could now say, I felt well and truly in the holiday spirit! A truly magical Disney evening!
