trip report: day three

[kirbsam]

we woke up to another sunny 80 degree day in florida. we slept in a little today because instead of hitting the parks, my girls and i were going to wet n' wild, while my wife lounged around the hotel. did a little shopping and relaxed by the pool. after a delightful breakfast at the lounge, we went to the bus stop to wait for the free bus to the water park. the bus runs to the water park and seaworld. it got to the portofino at 9:50, and then goes to the other hotels and then to wet n' wild. it picks up at wet n' wild at 6 pm, which makes no sense since wet n'wild closed at 5. oh well. the big disappointment of the day was when we got to wet n' wild, the few rides that we really wanted to ride were closed for the day. the two longest, highest and steepest water slides, bomb bay and der stuka were closed. the hydro fighters were closed, and the family raft ride was closed. the park still had some great slides, the h2o disco and the storm were our favorites. the park was not at all crowded, and we didnt have to wait in line much. the wave pool was fun, but nothing special. we had lunch which consisted of hotdogs and fries, and it was good. we bought our tickets at the ticket desk at the portofino and they really were not real helpful as far as what attractions were closed. if we had known all those attractions were closed, we probably would have gone to blizzard beach. we still had a good time though, and the lack of any crowd was a definate plus. guest services calle du a cab and a few minutes later we wre back at the hotel. the cab ride cost 7 bucks, plus tip. it was about 2 in the afternoon, and i needed a nap and the kids went to join their mother by the beach pool. i joined them later and we decided to head to ioa before the mardi gras parade. we went on all of our favorite rides for a couple of hours at ioa, again fotl was great. and then headed to universal studios. thanks to a tip, from robvia, i think, we took the side entrance into universal about 6, and there was a lone ticket taker there and no lines. there were lines at the main entrance. thanks for that great tip, by the way. people were already staking out a spot for the parade. my wife staked out a spot on the corner at the end of the main street that shrek is on, near mummy and the girls and i went on twister and rode mummy about three times until about 730. got a cool drink and settled on the curb to watch the parade. the parade starts over near amity and winds its way around the park and goes up the street that mummy is on last. the parade got to us about 815 or so. about 810, a few groups of people were walking up the street, even though they were being told to vacate the streets by workers, and decided to stand right in front of my girls, and other kids. i am 6' 5", so i was standing toward the back allowing kids to get in front of me for a better seat. well, needless to say there was a lot of bickering going on when these groups decided to park themselves right in front of us at the last minute. so i decided that they had to go. i let them know that they would be leaving so the kids could see, and they left. all the parents around me were pretty happy and they all thanked me, it felt pretty good. anyway, i digress again. sorry about that. the parade started and there were floats and stilt walkers, and tons or beads. and my girls each got s strands of beads and it was a super fun parade. and we laughed as we tried to catch some beads and congratulated eachother and others when they caught beads. it was really a great family atmosphere. after the parade the taylor hicks concert started immediately. it was very crowded leving the park, since my girls didnt want to stay for the concert, and i had no idea who taylor hicks was. sorry, i am so out of the loop. we walked over to nba city, showed our hotel key and had a table within 5 minutes. this was about 845 on saturday night. i had the steak and shrimp, very good. my 14 year old had hot wings, my wife had salmon and my youngest, 10, had chicken fingers. all were good. and i loved all the memorabilia on the walls. fun, and loud place. we hopped a boat back to the hotel. stopped at the lounge for dessert and slumped back to our room exhausted after another great day. thoughts so far: fotl is the best. i know i have said that at least twice in every post, but it can not be said enough. even though almost every room had a newspaper by the door in the morning, meaning the hotel was booked pretty solid, it seemed deserted. i can only remember riding in an elevator once or twice with other people. the elevators are plentiful and never had to wait for one. my wife is not an animal lover and when i told her the hotel was pet friendly, she was a little worried that the place would be overrun with dogs. the fact is we probably saw two or three dogs the whole time we were there, and there was no noise or animal smell at all. either we were always lucky or the boats run very frequently, but we never had more than a five minute wait for a boat. the only time the boat was crowded was at park closing on saturday night. call wet n' wild before you buy the tickets to find out what is closed, so you wont be disappointed like we were. even though, people on the disney board blast disney for dinoland the carnival type games, the games at city walk and universal, are well run and certainly add to the fun. i dont get why people on the disney board are always bashing that area. we fly out tomorrow, so stay tuned for my last installment of our trip report. my wife already wants to know when we are going back. when i told her our next trip is going to be to disney, she asked for a split stay, and she hates split stays. bottom line is, we are coming back to universal. a few bumps in the road, but overall we have had an awesome time so far. thanks for reading. until next time.

 

[MouseGirl]

Excellent trip report - so glad that you and your family had a wonderful time. Thanks for taking the time to post for all of us.

We will be at HRH March 14-15 and are so looking forward to it!

Best regards,
MouseGirl

 

[Motherfletcher]

Good report. I relate to getting connected to the kids on vacation. At home we all go to our our own rooms/areas and have 4 different TVs going but on vacation you are forced do things together which makes it special. My son and I played dodge ball with the bocce balls since we didn't know the game. PBH is a great resort.
I've been to Green Bay in the winter and can appreciate your liking our warm Florida weather.

 

[kirbsam]

you played dodge ball with bocce balls? how long before you had to call the ambulance?

 

[Motherfletcher]

Luckily no one was hit but we had some serious laughs attempting it.

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your report ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[scorpad99]

Taylor Hicks was there, WOW!!!! He is the American Idol winner from last season, my DD(11) would of been so estatic to see him that close! We will be there in June, guess it was only a special concert for Mardi Gras, huh?
Glad you had a great vacation!

 

[Hollywoodhaha]

Very Good and Detailed.

 

[Disney owl]

another good report thanks