We're Here! Live TR

[Claire Bear]

Thanks. We are staying at SpringHill Suites SeaWorld till Tuesday before we head to Yacht Club
I'll try keep a bit of a live TR.

Friday 16th
We woke up at half 8 and we checked out of the premier inn at half 9. I would definitely recommend the Premier Inn, we stayed at Runger Lane North, it cost £30 and you buy a ticket to park for £5 for 24hrs.
We then headed to Meet and Greet at Terminal 2 Manchester, this was very easy and straightforward. You just drive in, park your car in the lane they tell you and take your car key to reception, it's then about a 2 minute walk to the terminal building.
At the check in desk (Which opened at 9:40am for the 1:55pm flight) the lady explained that the flight wasn't full and due to weight distribution this was why our seats had changed from the bubble to row 55 downstairs.
The flight was delayed half an hour due to it arriving late from Las Vegas. I have been on bug planes before but it still surprised me just how big the 747's are.
When we were sat down on the plane we were given a menu for the food:

For the main meal I chose the korma and Tom had sausages and mash, it was ok I guess. The lemon GÜ pudding was yummy.
I was pleased at the IFE, I watched Silver Linings and This is 40. I know Tom watched Die Hard and Identity Thief, not sure what else.
Tom had an oldish man sat next to him who kept telling us the same stories over and over again! So we're looking forward to being sat in a pair of seats on the way back!
When we landed we landed at the same time as a German flight, the captain announced on the plane to get off as quickly as possible to get in front of them! We waited for an hour to get through immigration, there were 11 booths open.
We collected our case and had to ask someone where the taxi stand was once we found it we were got a taxi straight away and it was $37 plus tip to SpringHill Suites.
The room is lovely, really big, modern and very clean.

Not the best pictures because my iPhone is rubbish!
Went to bed at 10pm and woke up at 6am which I thought was good. Tom is still asleep, hence why I'm writing this!
We got out queue jump tickets for SeaWorld today, can't wait

 

[Tony Bush]

Glad you both got there ok Claire. Just not quick enough off the plane to beat 'ze germans' lol! M&M's and Mountain Dew - my kind of start The room looks fab. enjoy Seaworld, I presume the mime is still going at the pre show for Clyde and Seymour show.

Tony

 

[Linda67]

happy to hear that you have arrived safe and sound - have fun

 

[Lisash]

Have fun. We arrive at Yacht Club Monday so may bump in to you there

 

[PJB71]

Really pleased to hear you've arrived

Looking forward to reading more

 

[Claire Bear]

Thanks everyone. Tony I love Mountain Dew. I'll have to buy some to take to YC

Lisash you'll have to look on my PTR for a photo then if you see me you can say hi! Although my hair is naturally curly, I always have it straight at home, I have NO chance of that here! Yesterday reminded me of why I didn't want the photo pass thing, I'd rather just take photos of Tom! He says I look like a poodle!

 

[Claire Bear]

Saturday 17th

We had early access to SeaWorld, one of the privileges of staying at a partner hotel. The shuttle came at half 7 and we were stood waiting to go in at quarter to 8.
We went straight to Antartica and walked right on, I really would not have wanted to queue for this ride but glad we went on it. You can choose the mild or wild version, wild was not wild at all! You sit in what I can only describe as a mini hovercraft and float along the floor, you go through a room with fancy lights, spin a bit then into a room where you can see the penguins. You can stand and look at the penguins when you get off. We were the only ones that stayed to watch because all the Americans said it was too cold!

We then headed to manta and again walked straight on. This was fun but Tom isn't keen on big roller coasters so we only went on once.
We wandered around and saw the sea lions being fed, they were soooo noisy, it was good to watch.

This guy jumped in just after I took this photo and soaked me! Haha.
We went to queue for the dolphin feeding at 9, feeding was at half 9 but there was already a queue. You have to buy a tray of fish each which is $7. I loved this and I even touched the stinky fish to feed them (I hate fish!).

Then we hit the shows, the dolphin one was my favourite.

We had lunch at the Spice Mill before using our quick queue pass to see Turtle Trek, this was ok a bit of a strange experience.

We went through the shark tunnel twice and went to the dolphin nursery. After walking round a bit more we decided we'd seen everything we wanted to. We hadn't even used our quick queue except for turtle trek, the park was a lot quieter than I expected.
We came back to the hotel then got the 3:20pm shuttle to Aquatica to go check it out. It was quite cloudy today, we went on the Roa Rapids, I loved this! It's like a fast current lazy river and you wear a little life vest then fly round! They kept closing the slides because of the inclement weather so we left and came back to hotel hot tub and I had a strawberry daiquiri, yum. We came back to the room to get ready to go out for dinner but decided we weren't that hungry so went back to the pool bar. I had chicken tenders and Tom had a grilled chicken burger. They also sell Pizza Hut pizzas.

Today we're going to Universal IOA

 

[Rainforest]

Hello Claire Bear.

Was the Antartica Penguin thing worth it? I think someone else said it wasn't so am trying to gauge if it's worth doing first thing when we get to S/W (we're staying offsite so no S/W "EMH"!) or whether to do the dolphin feeding as the first thing, as both are expected to be busy.

 

[tinkerpea]

We stayed at the spring hill and really loved the place, thought the rooms was great!
Loving the trip report

 

[paul_toria96]

Glad you are having a great time, I notice they are still doing "Blue Horizons" at SeaWorld, do we know if they are going to change it? We saw it in 2005 and 2010

 

[Scrap_Vamp]

Just caught up as we've been away for the weekend! Really pleased to see you're doing a live trip report

It's a shame you won't be in any photos! I wear my hair in different varieties of plaits for the most part when I'm in Florida due to heat and humidity but would hate not to be in any photos

Hope you had a great time at IOA

 

[Claire Bear]

Thanks Tinkerpea. We really like the hotel, it's got everything we need and I can't fault it at all.

Rainforest- I personally wouldn't have wanted to queue for Antartica, it's nice to see the penguins but I thought the ride was certainly nothing worth waiting more than 20 minutes for. I would rather feed the dolphins. You can go see/ touch the dolphins in a separate section at any time of the day but they might not actually come near to you. I thought queueing and paying the $7 was worth it. If you have any other questions I might be able to help with just ask

Paul - I really don't know about Horizons, it's 2005 since I've been, I didn't remember it being the same show but maybe my memory isn't that good. I loved it.

Scrap_Vamp - Thank you for reading. Hope you had a nice weekend away. I will be in some photos, I'll just be selective! Haha. IOA was great fun, I've seen HP land in photos but it was amazing in real life. (I'll write an update in a minute).

 

[Claire Bear]

Sunday 18th - We both woke up at half past 6 and had breakfast in the hotel followed by a Starbucks in the hotel lobby.
We got the first itrolley bus that came at ten past 8 to Wet n Wild. We got off and walked over the bridge to Universal. It took about 15-20mins to walk. We got to IOA entrance slightly after 9 and headed straight to HP and Forbidden Journey. I was amazed by HP land I couldn't believe how much detail they have used.

We got in the queue for FJ which already said 60 mins but it took 45mins. (Single rider was only a 5 min wait). It was great walking through the castle and we both loved the ride even though it made me feel a bit sick! That didn't stop me going in the Three Broomsticks and buying a frozen butterbeer to try. It tasted like ice-cream to me.

We then went on the Jurassic Park water ride, we got a bit wet but not too bad. We headed for Ripsaw Falls and got soaked!

Seen as we were wet we went on the Popeye raft ride, this was probably a mistake as we were now so wet it was hilarious!
I wanted to go on Spriderman so we squelched over and went in the single rider queue which took 20mins. I enjoyed it, thought it was fun. We then had a wander round by which time it was 1pm and we decided to leave and go get dry!
We then decided to go shopping and got on the itrolley to Premium outlets north. (Our itrolley pass was only $7 each for 3 days). Tom bought some Raybans. I bought some Yankee candles. We ate at China Max in the food court, I thought it was quite nice.

After we'd eaten we went to the Ralph Lauren shop, they currently have an extra 30% off everything. We couldn't believe how cheap everything was. Men's t-shirts with the logo were $15! We ended up going to the till 3 times.
We got the itrolley back to the hotel and a huge storm came. We ran from the bus to the hotel and were drenched! We couldn't stop laughing!

Today we're going to universal studios!

 

[Tony Bush]

Claire, HP looks fantastic, I can't wait to see it We just love all the water rides t IOA, DW won't do Jurassic Park but will do the others. I've never plucked up courage to do Spidey as sims make me very nautious, I shall have to be brave next year Its the time of year for the 4.00pm thunderstorm ! almost set your watch by it

Hope you enjoy US tomorrow

Tony

 

[Scrap_Vamp]

Haha we know that completely drenched feeling well from those rides!

I saw some photos of Magic Kingdom after that storm you mentioned - water up to people's ankles, absolutely mad!

 

[Claire Bear]

Tony - I think Jurassic park was the mildest of those 3 water rides, plus there was no queue so that's a bonus! I didn't go on Spider-Man in 2005 because I thought it might make me sick but I'm glad i did this time,I enjoyed it. Although I must say after going on FJ, Spider-Man, then Transformers and Simpsons yesterday, I don't think I cold stomach another simulator ride for a couple of days at least!

Scrap_Vamp I've never seen rain like it, it was fun though. Tom had to pour the water outing his pumps!

Yesterday was good at US, I'll do a report this afternoon because I need to get sorted, we're going to Aquatica this morning, then checking out of this hotel and heading to YC! Disney here we come! Yey!

 

[Lisash]

Have a great day. You are going to love Yacht Club it's amazing

 

[Claire Bear]

We're here at YC! Have a lovely view of the quiet pool, just heading out to Epcot

Photobucket isn't working but I'll try again later.

 

[Linda67]

Ooh have fun at Epcot

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Just read your report and really noting it. We are going to Universal for the first time in a few years so good to read your review.

Yacht and Beach club now, I think that s my dream resort! Looking forward to your thoughts