kenandteri
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2011
- Messages
- 3
Just got back from our trip to US/IOA (myself, DH and DD-13) and thought I'd share a few highlights (sorry this is so long)...
1. We did a timeshare preview Wednesday morning and our "gift" was saving almost $200 off the cost of 3, 2-day park to park tickets. We paid $256 for the three tickets, which were actually good for 7 days and included early entry to IOA.
2. Decided to go ahead to US after the presentation Wednesday morning. After standing in line for way too long to exchange our voucher for the actual tickets, we were inside the park around 11:00 am. I do believe that was the longest line we stood in for the whole trip (took us about 45-55 minutes in line).
3. Started with Shrek 4-D and worked our way around the park and rode everything...Left the park about 3:00 to go grab a bite to eat at City Walk and then came back to ride Rip Rocket, Jimmy Neutron and the Mummy (2nd time). Finished everything by about 6:00 pm.
4. We decided not to purchase the Express Pass option and found that doing the single rider line whenever possible was just as fast as those with the express pass in most instances. This was true in both parks. Longest we had to wait for a ride was about 40 minutes for the Dr. Suess train ride in IOA - and rode it so DH could catch a quick nap
5. Tried to get to IOA at 7 am on Thursday fo early entry... made it there by about 7:45 and headed straight to Harry Potter World. This was my daughter's 13th birthday and she was so excited to be spending it at Hogsmeade! Headed straight back there with no stops along the way.
6. Went directly to the Forbidden Journey and (after a brief stop to put my bag in a locker), got right on using the single rider line (general wait time was about 45 minutes at that time). This ride was unbelievable. I'm not a HP fan (having only seen the first movie), but it didn't matter - the effects and the ride itself were terrific!
7. Did the Flight of the Hippo thing and decided to wait on the Dragon Challenge till our return to HP world. We had already decided to skip Ollivanders - DD didn't want a wand and there was no way I or DH were going to waiting in a line for an hour just to enter a shop!
8. Left HPWorld and circled our way through the rest of the park, doing all the rides. Rode everything with the exception of the Hulk coaster and Dr. Suess landing by 12:00!
9. Left park and went to Margarittaville for lunch and to dry off (from all the water rides and came back to the park by about 1:30 to finish our first run-through.
10. Went back to HP World and did the dragons (DH even rode it back to back) then went on the FJ once again. Waittime for single riders was a little longer - took us about 15 minutes in line to get on. For some reason, however, this time the ride wasn't as enjoyable - in fact, it made me a little queasy. I get motion sickness on most any kind of ride, but I had a patch and had taken a Bonine. Nothing else had bothered me - but I think it was a little too warm and muggy in there - while we were in line it had started raining and it seemed to steam things up a bit.
11. Speaking of rain.... here's my only complaint: Yes, I know US has no control over the weather and I'm really not complaining about the rain in general. However, when we got off the FJ ride, we couldn't even get down to the exit area due to all of the people who had come into the Shop to get out of the rain. Just imagine all those people (place was filled beyond capacity - you couldn't even move)...wet bodies....very warm temperatures...you get the picture, right??? I had to maneuver my way through the masses to get to the locker area which was even worse - there's no ac at all in that area and it was like walking into a stinky sauna!!! We were going to just fight the rain and head out to leave the park, but DD needed to spend her money on a few things. So we found what she wanted in that store and then decided to head over to HoneyDukes to get her chocolate frog and something else she wanted. DH decided to continue his little nap (he had found a nice little corner to rest in) and DD and I headed out. I'm not one to spend $8 on a rain poncho so we just made the most of it and played in the rain (we had already spend the morning drenched from the water rides, so we were fine). Made it over to HoneyDukes... but they were not letting anyone inside. basically they weren't letting anyone inside any of the buildings and they had stopped all the rides - even those that were indoor like FJ. So for 20 minutes, we stood under a little overhang and watched all the people trying to get in to 3 broomsticks and the other buildings. Needless to say, there were a lot of very angry people! Then at some point they decided to open things back up - rain hadn't let up at all so I'm not sure what made that the right time to open... but we got in and made our purchases. DH met us there - he had tried to call me on cell phone but had to walk outside to do so and wasn't able to get back inside to his nap spot.
12. Leaving the park that day was a madhouse - took us almost 90 minutes to get back to our hotel that had taken us maybe 20 minutes the day before!
13. I strongly recommend the Single Rider Lines if you don't have an express pass. Yes, you don't get to ride with the rest of your party - but in most of the rides, it doesn't really matter who you are sitting next to - you can't see them or talk to them anyway!
14. We had considered getting the Meal Deal they offer - $20.99 per adult and you get unlimited entrees and desserts all day long. But, we found that we really didn't want to eat that much and it was less expensive for us to just go to CityWalk and grab something - for 3 people, 2 meals, we spend less than $40!
Overall, the experience was much better than I had anticipated. I would've rather gone to Disney (since I don't really like all the motion simulator rides and am not a HP fan), but I'm glad we were able to give my daughter her wish for her 13th birthday! She got to have a butterbeer and spend her birthday in her dream world!
1. We did a timeshare preview Wednesday morning and our "gift" was saving almost $200 off the cost of 3, 2-day park to park tickets. We paid $256 for the three tickets, which were actually good for 7 days and included early entry to IOA.
2. Decided to go ahead to US after the presentation Wednesday morning. After standing in line for way too long to exchange our voucher for the actual tickets, we were inside the park around 11:00 am. I do believe that was the longest line we stood in for the whole trip (took us about 45-55 minutes in line).
3. Started with Shrek 4-D and worked our way around the park and rode everything...Left the park about 3:00 to go grab a bite to eat at City Walk and then came back to ride Rip Rocket, Jimmy Neutron and the Mummy (2nd time). Finished everything by about 6:00 pm.
4. We decided not to purchase the Express Pass option and found that doing the single rider line whenever possible was just as fast as those with the express pass in most instances. This was true in both parks. Longest we had to wait for a ride was about 40 minutes for the Dr. Suess train ride in IOA - and rode it so DH could catch a quick nap
5. Tried to get to IOA at 7 am on Thursday fo early entry... made it there by about 7:45 and headed straight to Harry Potter World. This was my daughter's 13th birthday and she was so excited to be spending it at Hogsmeade! Headed straight back there with no stops along the way.
6. Went directly to the Forbidden Journey and (after a brief stop to put my bag in a locker), got right on using the single rider line (general wait time was about 45 minutes at that time). This ride was unbelievable. I'm not a HP fan (having only seen the first movie), but it didn't matter - the effects and the ride itself were terrific!
7. Did the Flight of the Hippo thing and decided to wait on the Dragon Challenge till our return to HP world. We had already decided to skip Ollivanders - DD didn't want a wand and there was no way I or DH were going to waiting in a line for an hour just to enter a shop!
8. Left HPWorld and circled our way through the rest of the park, doing all the rides. Rode everything with the exception of the Hulk coaster and Dr. Suess landing by 12:00!
9. Left park and went to Margarittaville for lunch and to dry off (from all the water rides and came back to the park by about 1:30 to finish our first run-through.
10. Went back to HP World and did the dragons (DH even rode it back to back) then went on the FJ once again. Waittime for single riders was a little longer - took us about 15 minutes in line to get on. For some reason, however, this time the ride wasn't as enjoyable - in fact, it made me a little queasy. I get motion sickness on most any kind of ride, but I had a patch and had taken a Bonine. Nothing else had bothered me - but I think it was a little too warm and muggy in there - while we were in line it had started raining and it seemed to steam things up a bit.
11. Speaking of rain.... here's my only complaint: Yes, I know US has no control over the weather and I'm really not complaining about the rain in general. However, when we got off the FJ ride, we couldn't even get down to the exit area due to all of the people who had come into the Shop to get out of the rain. Just imagine all those people (place was filled beyond capacity - you couldn't even move)...wet bodies....very warm temperatures...you get the picture, right??? I had to maneuver my way through the masses to get to the locker area which was even worse - there's no ac at all in that area and it was like walking into a stinky sauna!!! We were going to just fight the rain and head out to leave the park, but DD needed to spend her money on a few things. So we found what she wanted in that store and then decided to head over to HoneyDukes to get her chocolate frog and something else she wanted. DH decided to continue his little nap (he had found a nice little corner to rest in) and DD and I headed out. I'm not one to spend $8 on a rain poncho so we just made the most of it and played in the rain (we had already spend the morning drenched from the water rides, so we were fine). Made it over to HoneyDukes... but they were not letting anyone inside. basically they weren't letting anyone inside any of the buildings and they had stopped all the rides - even those that were indoor like FJ. So for 20 minutes, we stood under a little overhang and watched all the people trying to get in to 3 broomsticks and the other buildings. Needless to say, there were a lot of very angry people! Then at some point they decided to open things back up - rain hadn't let up at all so I'm not sure what made that the right time to open... but we got in and made our purchases. DH met us there - he had tried to call me on cell phone but had to walk outside to do so and wasn't able to get back inside to his nap spot.
12. Leaving the park that day was a madhouse - took us almost 90 minutes to get back to our hotel that had taken us maybe 20 minutes the day before!
13. I strongly recommend the Single Rider Lines if you don't have an express pass. Yes, you don't get to ride with the rest of your party - but in most of the rides, it doesn't really matter who you are sitting next to - you can't see them or talk to them anyway!
14. We had considered getting the Meal Deal they offer - $20.99 per adult and you get unlimited entrees and desserts all day long. But, we found that we really didn't want to eat that much and it was less expensive for us to just go to CityWalk and grab something - for 3 people, 2 meals, we spend less than $40!
Overall, the experience was much better than I had anticipated. I would've rather gone to Disney (since I don't really like all the motion simulator rides and am not a HP fan), but I'm glad we were able to give my daughter her wish for her 13th birthday! She got to have a butterbeer and spend her birthday in her dream world!
