We're back!!

[BitsnBearsMom]

What a great weekend!!

Flew out Saturday from Rochester at 1:15pm - crossed the border at 7:30am ish and didn't have any wait at all. Were in rochester shopping at Target by 9:45am. Rochester is the easiest airport I've ever been through for navigating and getting through security. Flight was uneventful and we landed in Orlando at 4pm. Had a rental car through Alamo - just picked it out and drove up to the gate.

Stayed at AKLV Jambo in a SV studio - not sure I would go for the SV at Jamob again - saw lots of the tree tops and not so much of the animals since we were on the top floor. Room was clean and did the job though!!

Sunday was our Epcot day - got there for opening and by 12:30 had done all the rides we wanted to do AND had a 2nd fast pass for test track to use later. Tried lots of samples around the world showcase - love the wrist gift cards they had this year - made it easier to budget for samples! We were back at the room for our dinner and a swim by 5:45. We had all had enough by then but we did head back to Epcot after to use our fastpasses for TT and see Illuminations.

Monday was shopping day - made a huge retail dent - got lots of new clothes for me that I desperatly needed plus lots of other stuff. Dinner was Raglan road - was ok.... not amazing just ok. Didn't feel too comfortable there with them understanding ds' allergies.... nuts and coconut seem easy for them to understand but when you give them something different like an allergy to palm oil it was more difficult!!

Have to add in here that the first night we did Mara for dinner and Chef Trish was amazing - made ds' separate food in the back and went out of her way to make sure the food was safe.

Tuesday - Wizarding worlds of Harry Potter - went back to there first and it was amazing. because we were there earlier we only had a 25 minute wait for FJ - I almost wish it was longer as I would have liked to dawdle in the castle and check everything out..... by the time we got out it was a 1hr wait and hogsmede was packed. Butterbeer.... tasted like sweet cream soda with cream on top we thought.... not too bad!! Saw the frog choir and the drumstrang shows.... very cool. Honeydukes was neat to just look in and we didn't get into Olivanders due to the 1+hr wait.... ds' bought a wand at the other cart near FJ. We could have done without the rest of IOA - we aren't rollercoaster people.... spiderman was a neat ride but the waiting area seemed quite run down and showed lots of wear!
We did pay the extra to go over to the studio's and we wished we hadn't bothered. I don't think we will be back at Universal too soon... kids weren't impressed with most of the rides and the graveyard review was 25 minutes of my life I'll never get back. Sorry to all the Universal lovers but it just didn't thrill us!!

Overall the trip was wonderful - I love the short trips the best. I think we need to lay off on the parks though as the whole family is getting tired of them I think!!

 

[tgropp]

Short trips are amazing. We like to go for four days, take in a football game and spend 2 days at WDW. We usually only spend about 3-4 hours in the parks a day as we have seen everything, but want to do a few things. It is nice to laze by the pool, go shopping, visit the parks for a while and then head to Epcot to eat and then watch illuminations

 

[Disneyof3]

Glad you had a good trip. I found Rochester very easy to navigate also but the hotels near the airport kinda suck. Don't stay at the Comfort Inn, verrrry badddd..... My kids were feeling the same way when we went to US, too many simulator rides and we won't be back either. That is too bad the family is sick of parks, were going to try DL this year for a change and see how that goes.

 

[BitsnBearsMom]

I loved the hotel attached to the Rochester airport - clean, good breakfast and just a walk to the terminal.

I don't think it's so much they are 'sick' of the parks..... just tired of doing the same stuff/rides over and over. I think next year we are going to use our DVC at DL and just do 3 days in the park - haven't ever done DL before - and tour around to see/do other stuff. I need to get cracking on using DVC points as I still have 4 points leftover from last year that are going to end up going to waste (anyone need 4 points?? PM me if you can use them!!) Haven't even touched this years points yet and no trips planned until California next year!! Sigh... the dilemma of having too many DVC points!!

 

[papertraveller]

I'm just curious why Rochester, since you're in Guelph? Who did you fly with, and was it that much cheaper than Buffalo?

We're in the GTA, and have our next three DVC trips planned through Buffalo. It's soooo much cheaper than Pearson, plus we can get a bit of shopping done before travelling (especially if we're using ME, and won't be going off-property once we're in Florida).

 

[BitsnBearsMom]

When I search for flights I always look in Rochester and Buffalo and book where I get the best deal - I managed to get $150 per person return out of Rochester on Air Tran so that's where we booked from.

In December when we go to San Juan we booked AirTran again but out of Buffalo this time since that's where I found the best price from!

 

[damo]

For anyone else heading out to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and wanting to dawdle in Hogwarts...if you ask the attendant they will direct you to a special line just for those who want to tour the castle. You can take your time but you don't gt to ride.