ChisJo
Cause afterall, a dream that you wish, will come t
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2001
- Messages
- 2,303
Hey everyone...well, we're back. We had a very hectic holiday, and it now seems that we need a holiday from our holiday! It was crazy!
We got there late on Thursday, November 29, got our car through Alamo (did the kiosk check in - went VERY smoothly). Got a Pontiac Grand Prix and the car smelt like stinky feet (really not much else to choose from for Full size - left windows open all the way to hotel and it helped!). We checked into the Hard Rock hotel on Universal property at about 11:45 pm, then BF wanted to look around, so we went over to the parks and city walk, ate some room service (SO good), and didn't get to bed until 2:30 am! I had ordered a birthday beer basket to be in the room when we got there and it was there! It was very cool - BF loved it!
We were up in the morning at 8:30, and off to the parks we went! We were the first ones on the Hulk in the morning, and it was fantastic! We went on again, then went off to Spiderman. The disappointing thing about IOA that day was Jurassic Park was down, Dudley Do-Rights was down for annual maintenance, and Dueling Dragons was closed until 10:30. We did Seuss Landing - BF loved the theming, but not the rides. By this point, it was 10:30, so we headed over to USO, did everything we wanted to (thanks to FOTL) by 2:30. We ate lunch at Finnegans (GREAT place), and then were browsing the stores, did some more rides, then headed back to the hotel - we were exhausted! Today was BF's birthday, so we went to the Kitchen in the Hard Rock for his Birthday dinner, and the food was beyond amazing. We had every intention of heading to City Walk and going to Pat O'Briens Dueling Piano bar, but we were literally so exhausted, that we went back to the room to just rest for awhile, and we both crashed. By the way, the Christmas decorations here were beyond amazing - so beautifully done - very much worth seeing!
Woke up the next morning, and went to USO/IOA adventure. BF confessed that he just fell in love with USO and was thinking about getting annual passes for here....yeah! We had the All you can eat pass for 1 park, which we used on the Studios side, and only ate at Mels drive in. We both thought that unless you eat TONS, the pass isn't worth it. We tried out Margheritaville for some drinks in the afternoon, and went to some different stores, and that was it for us.
We moved hotels today, so we packed up early, and headed to our other hotel at about 3pm. The room wasn't ready (stayed offsite at a time share resort in Kissimmee), so we headed to Orlando Premium Outlet mall off Vineland. I have been here before and tried to warn BF about it (we both have a shopping compulsion!), so I was a little worried about the deals we would find. We got the CAA coupon book from Customer service (Great book - gives you the BEST deals!), and off shopping we went....and YIKES! We spent more money in one day then we thought we would spend all trip! Ate tonight at Bahama Breeze (if you've never been, this place is WONDERFUL - the patio bar is great!).
On Sunday Morning, we went to Fantasy of Flight, an airplane museum in Polk City, Florida. My BF is a huge war craft fan, so we thought we would see what the place was like. I ended up enjoying it....it really was a great time. So much to see, and a lot of hands on exhibits. The best part was we got to go onto a bi-plane ride, and got to dress up in goggles, scarves, and the old leather jacket, and fly over lakes and the city for about 30 minutes. We got tons of pictures, learned so much about the history of those planes, and had a wonderful time. I literally had to drag BF out of the museum, or we could have been there ALL day. We left and headed to the Florida Mall (I LOVE Bath and Body Works and Victorias Secret). We were only there for about 45minutes as the mall was insane thanks to Christmas shopping, but I got my stuff that I wanted, so no complaints from me! We headed to the Boardwalk tonight and went to Big River Grille and had their beer sampler, and then we went to Jelly Rolls (which was so quiet, I think including us, there were only 4 other tables until about 11:00).
Monday we went to MGM - were the first on ToT and loved it! BF didn't like RnR coaster as it was pretty tame compared to the Hulk (which he loved). The rest of the park was pretty much just strolling along. We saw the stunt show (a first for me), and really liked it - learned alot from it actually! We ate at 50's prime time cafe - our server was fantastic! My BF really got into it, and he almost got the wooden spoon! We also had reservations later on in the day for Sci - Fi theater, but the kitchen was down! So, they got us a reservation at Hollywood Brown Derby instead - I do really love this restaurant, I just was really disappointed because I really wanted to try Sci - Fi. BF loved it though. We headed home and changed, went to Chili's for a couple of drinks and dessert, and we went shopping (again - we love to shop!).
Tuesday was the MK -did all the rides we wanted to (except Pirates - it was closed that day - this was a recurring theme throughout the trip for us!) - and were done the park by 3pm (incluing standing in line for 40 min to force my BF to get a photo with Cinderella, him and me!). The new Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor was the best show ever! We were laughing out loud - how do they do this show??? We made a stop to Tony's Restaurant for lunch -wasn't that great acutally. We both had panini sandwiches, and were both disappointed! We decided to go to Beaches and Cream and get a No way Jose sundae! I tried to convince him to get "everything but the kitchen sink", but he wouldn't fold.
Wednesday, we went to Epcot, and went to Soaring right away, then MS, and then to Test Track. We had every intention of seeing as much as we could before heading to the world showcase (which we planning on spending the rest of our day), but we got stuck on test track in the car right before the loading area, so when the ride started going again, they allowed us to go through again for the inconvenience....I wish I would've gotten off. We ended up getting stuck again (in the hot room), then on the sharp turns, then in the barricade area. In total, we were on the ride for 50 minutes. When we got off, we were off to Mexico for our start to the drinking and eating around the world - we had so much fun doing this - we had a drink and something to eat in every country! And were there from 11:05 - 9:00. It was great - one of the best days! I also bought something small from each country for my scrapbook, and some of the decorations for Christmas were amazing! Loved the history of Christmas from each country - very educational!
Thursday it was off to AK - did EE, Kilamanjaro Safaris, and Dinosaur by 10:15 (and FP for later!). When we got off of Kilamanjaro, there were people there giving away things for the Year of a million dreams. I was so excited at the thought of getting a Dream FP, but no....we got blue Mickey ears. We didn't want to wear them or carry them, so we found a family with 2 young girls and gave the ears to them instead. We ate today at Yak and Yeti and this was our favorite Disney restaurant...wonderful. Our food was so good and the atmosphere in that restaurant - amazing! We rerode a couple of rides, did the Tree of Life stuff, and looked around, and were gone by 3pm. We went to go see Cirque Du Soleil and I thought BF would'nt really enjoy it, but he LOVED it....he cannot wait to see another one! We also tried Reglan Road in PI tonight, and LOVED it - great place for a drink, and the best part is you don't have to pay to the PI price to get in! Also, before Cirque, we ate at House of Blues, and it too was wonderful. We shopped in DTD and I got my personalized Art of Disney Cinderella sketch framed photo done (I get a different one done every trip!) and then we went to the Disney Christmas store where we splurged for our tree (plus, there were new Cinderella ornaments, and well, we couln't give those up!).
Friday was our worst day. We decided to go to Busch Gardens, and found out only after we paid and got in (nothing on their web site advertised this, and apparently their staff were only told about it the day before) that is was going to be one of their busiest days of the year thanks to Physics day - apparently at 9:30 (park opened at 10), 140 buses full of kids pulled up to the park....had we known this, we wouldn't have gone. This was supposed to be our quiet park. The park was so understaffed, and there was so much chaos, and the ride lines were 85 minutes long with tons of line cutting (BF actually yelled at a couple of the kids, truly embarrasing, but it needed to be done!). We had booked the Saving a Species tour before heading out, so we did a safari style of ride, got to feed giraffes and pet them, got some great photos, and then learned about rhinos (both black and white) and were really close to them (they wouldn't let us touch them!). Then we went to Brewmasters where we got to learn about beer and the proper way to drink it (kind of like a wine tasting). We ended up riding only 4 rides there, and because of the park being so busy, we missed some of the exhibits.
Saturday was free day. We just kind of took it easy and packed and got some Christmas shopping done. We went back to Reglan Road for some Irish Fare, sat on the patio and met some great people of New Jersey and had a couple of drinks with them. We were in bed early, as we had to leave for the airport by 4am....
All in all, the trip was packed with excitement, and we are looking forward to heading down there again soon! Sorry so long!
We got there late on Thursday, November 29, got our car through Alamo (did the kiosk check in - went VERY smoothly). Got a Pontiac Grand Prix and the car smelt like stinky feet (really not much else to choose from for Full size - left windows open all the way to hotel and it helped!). We checked into the Hard Rock hotel on Universal property at about 11:45 pm, then BF wanted to look around, so we went over to the parks and city walk, ate some room service (SO good), and didn't get to bed until 2:30 am! I had ordered a birthday beer basket to be in the room when we got there and it was there! It was very cool - BF loved it!
We were up in the morning at 8:30, and off to the parks we went! We were the first ones on the Hulk in the morning, and it was fantastic! We went on again, then went off to Spiderman. The disappointing thing about IOA that day was Jurassic Park was down, Dudley Do-Rights was down for annual maintenance, and Dueling Dragons was closed until 10:30. We did Seuss Landing - BF loved the theming, but not the rides. By this point, it was 10:30, so we headed over to USO, did everything we wanted to (thanks to FOTL) by 2:30. We ate lunch at Finnegans (GREAT place), and then were browsing the stores, did some more rides, then headed back to the hotel - we were exhausted! Today was BF's birthday, so we went to the Kitchen in the Hard Rock for his Birthday dinner, and the food was beyond amazing. We had every intention of heading to City Walk and going to Pat O'Briens Dueling Piano bar, but we were literally so exhausted, that we went back to the room to just rest for awhile, and we both crashed. By the way, the Christmas decorations here were beyond amazing - so beautifully done - very much worth seeing!
Woke up the next morning, and went to USO/IOA adventure. BF confessed that he just fell in love with USO and was thinking about getting annual passes for here....yeah! We had the All you can eat pass for 1 park, which we used on the Studios side, and only ate at Mels drive in. We both thought that unless you eat TONS, the pass isn't worth it. We tried out Margheritaville for some drinks in the afternoon, and went to some different stores, and that was it for us.
We moved hotels today, so we packed up early, and headed to our other hotel at about 3pm. The room wasn't ready (stayed offsite at a time share resort in Kissimmee), so we headed to Orlando Premium Outlet mall off Vineland. I have been here before and tried to warn BF about it (we both have a shopping compulsion!), so I was a little worried about the deals we would find. We got the CAA coupon book from Customer service (Great book - gives you the BEST deals!), and off shopping we went....and YIKES! We spent more money in one day then we thought we would spend all trip! Ate tonight at Bahama Breeze (if you've never been, this place is WONDERFUL - the patio bar is great!).
On Sunday Morning, we went to Fantasy of Flight, an airplane museum in Polk City, Florida. My BF is a huge war craft fan, so we thought we would see what the place was like. I ended up enjoying it....it really was a great time. So much to see, and a lot of hands on exhibits. The best part was we got to go onto a bi-plane ride, and got to dress up in goggles, scarves, and the old leather jacket, and fly over lakes and the city for about 30 minutes. We got tons of pictures, learned so much about the history of those planes, and had a wonderful time. I literally had to drag BF out of the museum, or we could have been there ALL day. We left and headed to the Florida Mall (I LOVE Bath and Body Works and Victorias Secret). We were only there for about 45minutes as the mall was insane thanks to Christmas shopping, but I got my stuff that I wanted, so no complaints from me! We headed to the Boardwalk tonight and went to Big River Grille and had their beer sampler, and then we went to Jelly Rolls (which was so quiet, I think including us, there were only 4 other tables until about 11:00).
Monday we went to MGM - were the first on ToT and loved it! BF didn't like RnR coaster as it was pretty tame compared to the Hulk (which he loved). The rest of the park was pretty much just strolling along. We saw the stunt show (a first for me), and really liked it - learned alot from it actually! We ate at 50's prime time cafe - our server was fantastic! My BF really got into it, and he almost got the wooden spoon! We also had reservations later on in the day for Sci - Fi theater, but the kitchen was down! So, they got us a reservation at Hollywood Brown Derby instead - I do really love this restaurant, I just was really disappointed because I really wanted to try Sci - Fi. BF loved it though. We headed home and changed, went to Chili's for a couple of drinks and dessert, and we went shopping (again - we love to shop!).
Tuesday was the MK -did all the rides we wanted to (except Pirates - it was closed that day - this was a recurring theme throughout the trip for us!) - and were done the park by 3pm (incluing standing in line for 40 min to force my BF to get a photo with Cinderella, him and me!). The new Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor was the best show ever! We were laughing out loud - how do they do this show??? We made a stop to Tony's Restaurant for lunch -wasn't that great acutally. We both had panini sandwiches, and were both disappointed! We decided to go to Beaches and Cream and get a No way Jose sundae! I tried to convince him to get "everything but the kitchen sink", but he wouldn't fold.
Wednesday, we went to Epcot, and went to Soaring right away, then MS, and then to Test Track. We had every intention of seeing as much as we could before heading to the world showcase (which we planning on spending the rest of our day), but we got stuck on test track in the car right before the loading area, so when the ride started going again, they allowed us to go through again for the inconvenience....I wish I would've gotten off. We ended up getting stuck again (in the hot room), then on the sharp turns, then in the barricade area. In total, we were on the ride for 50 minutes. When we got off, we were off to Mexico for our start to the drinking and eating around the world - we had so much fun doing this - we had a drink and something to eat in every country! And were there from 11:05 - 9:00. It was great - one of the best days! I also bought something small from each country for my scrapbook, and some of the decorations for Christmas were amazing! Loved the history of Christmas from each country - very educational!
Thursday it was off to AK - did EE, Kilamanjaro Safaris, and Dinosaur by 10:15 (and FP for later!). When we got off of Kilamanjaro, there were people there giving away things for the Year of a million dreams. I was so excited at the thought of getting a Dream FP, but no....we got blue Mickey ears. We didn't want to wear them or carry them, so we found a family with 2 young girls and gave the ears to them instead. We ate today at Yak and Yeti and this was our favorite Disney restaurant...wonderful. Our food was so good and the atmosphere in that restaurant - amazing! We rerode a couple of rides, did the Tree of Life stuff, and looked around, and were gone by 3pm. We went to go see Cirque Du Soleil and I thought BF would'nt really enjoy it, but he LOVED it....he cannot wait to see another one! We also tried Reglan Road in PI tonight, and LOVED it - great place for a drink, and the best part is you don't have to pay to the PI price to get in! Also, before Cirque, we ate at House of Blues, and it too was wonderful. We shopped in DTD and I got my personalized Art of Disney Cinderella sketch framed photo done (I get a different one done every trip!) and then we went to the Disney Christmas store where we splurged for our tree (plus, there were new Cinderella ornaments, and well, we couln't give those up!).
Friday was our worst day. We decided to go to Busch Gardens, and found out only after we paid and got in (nothing on their web site advertised this, and apparently their staff were only told about it the day before) that is was going to be one of their busiest days of the year thanks to Physics day - apparently at 9:30 (park opened at 10), 140 buses full of kids pulled up to the park....had we known this, we wouldn't have gone. This was supposed to be our quiet park. The park was so understaffed, and there was so much chaos, and the ride lines were 85 minutes long with tons of line cutting (BF actually yelled at a couple of the kids, truly embarrasing, but it needed to be done!). We had booked the Saving a Species tour before heading out, so we did a safari style of ride, got to feed giraffes and pet them, got some great photos, and then learned about rhinos (both black and white) and were really close to them (they wouldn't let us touch them!). Then we went to Brewmasters where we got to learn about beer and the proper way to drink it (kind of like a wine tasting). We ended up riding only 4 rides there, and because of the park being so busy, we missed some of the exhibits.
Saturday was free day. We just kind of took it easy and packed and got some Christmas shopping done. We went back to Reglan Road for some Irish Fare, sat on the patio and met some great people of New Jersey and had a couple of drinks with them. We were in bed early, as we had to leave for the airport by 4am....
All in all, the trip was packed with excitement, and we are looking forward to heading down there again soon! Sorry so long!
