Who's the cutest little third wheel? - USO, HHN & IOA trip report Oct 2016 COMPLETE

[BagOLaughs]

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Is it that time again? Time for another trip report...

Why hello there! thank you for joining me, I suppose I should give some sort of introduction shouldn't I? I've already got a couple of trip reports out on the Dis one in Tokyo Disney and one in Orlando. My name is Rachel and I'm the mad one with the uncontrollable compulsion to keep visiting the same place over and over and over and over... but I suppose if you're reading this you probably have this same affliction.



The guy along for the ride is Martin. We've been together now for 8 years and over that time he's gone from putting up with my obsession to actively engaging in it but he's just shy of reading the news sites and joining the Dis himself.



This time around we're in Orlando again and for the first time ever purely in Universal Studios! Anyway I'm getting ahead of myself... let’s start about this time last year...

Because we life in the UK our trips to Orlando are usually Bi yearly, ummm I hear you say… you said you were there last year… well yes, in September last year (2015) something important happened, Martin proposed to me in front of Cinderella castle. It was magical and we were so happy. The original plan was to be engaged for a couple of years before setting a date for the wedding, as we wanted to buy a house first. However we got a gift of some money towards the wedding on the condition that we got married within a year. We were blown away by the gift and of course agreed to have the wedding earlier.

So we got married on the 8th October 2016 and it was an amazing day. I’ve never laughed, dance and cried so much in one day! It was lovely to have all the family together in one place.



About 4 months before the wedding we were deciding what to do in the week after the wedding. We didn’t want to go straight back to work, that would have been a massive anti-climax. We did want to have a proper honeymoon but couldn’t afford it straight away. Then I started looking at one week, cheap deals on the internet. I found a deal for a week in cabana bay, flying with Virgin which I couldn’t really say no too... So I snapped it up and we were going back to Orlando!

Going back to Cabana Bay was actually kind of perfect because it was the hotel we were staying in when we got engaged. So it was a nice homage…. Well and we LOVE the hotel!

So we’re all caught up now… You know the story behind this trip… shall we?

 

[BagOLaughs]

• Contents

• Day 1 - Hey there hot lips, come fly with me

• Day 2 - Magical Minions!
• Day 2 - Kong, Kong, Kong... don't worry that's just the tourists
• Day 2 –Who has a turkey in a lake?
• Day 2 - Let the cringe fest begin!

• Day 3 - Can I remember what I did on this day??
• Day 3 - No no... its latex
• Day 3 - Its time to chill
• Day 3 – Drumming and pouting, pouting and drumming
• Day 3 - Here fishy fishy fishy
• Day 3 - Hell has come to Universal Studio's Orlando
• Day 3 - I'm coming to get you... run forest run...

• Day ?#£$?– Time is fleeting

• Day 4 - Graaaaaahhhhhhhrrrrr
• Day 4 - those benches can be a bit dodgy
• Day 4 - details, its always in the details
• Day 4 - Beetlejuice as the next HHN icon!
• Day 4 - That's not a football
• Day 4 - I'll join your gang
• Day 4 - smoke monster
• Day 4 - Undead cowboys!

• Day 5 - Its Friday
• Day 5 – blink, blink, blink
• Day 5 - Red, Blue and Blegh
• Day 5 - where are my keys?

• Day 6 – Saturday is a time for chillin’
• Day 6 – City Walk is a wonderful place

• Day 7 – Sunday Funday

• Day 8 - Beginning of the end
• Day 8 – Come fly away with me

• The End

 

[BagOLaughs]

Day 1 - Hey there hot lips, come fly with me

We flew out on the Monday after the Friday which hurricane Matthew had just passed the East coast of Florida. We’d been watching the Virgin Atlantic flights on the days before the wedding but to be honest we were so busy getting ready for the wedding we weren’t getting that stressed about it. You can’t control the weather so what would be, would be. The hurricane cuased massive damage and loss of life out in the Caribbean, our holiday being shorterend is minor compared to that.



Turns out we were very lucky and the hurricane was long gone by the time we flew and our holiday went as planned. I already mentioned the flight was booked for the Monday after the wedding which was perfect. Enough time to get back to my mums on Sunday, get everything unloaded, somewhat organised and get the holiday bag packed up. My mum very kindly, yet again, offered to drive us to the airport which was London Gatwick. The flight leaves at 13:30 so we arrived to Gatwick about 11:00 and dropped off our bags. We had a Nandos for lunch (as per usual) and boarded the flight.

Our plane was called Hot Lips this time.



We were excited!!! Although somewhat still hung over from the wedding and a bit tired from the early start. I also had a bit of a cold, headache and sore throat, I'd been fighting and winning from the wedding so I was trying to keep on top of it.



It was pretty uneventful flight although it was a bit busier than usual. The were probably still clearing out the backlog of people from the cancelled flights the days before. I watched finding Dory for the first time and also a bit of X-men Apocalypse. Martin watched the new Independence Day and 10 Cloverfield lane.

Eight hours later and we were landing in MCO. We always choose seats as close to the front of the flight as possible so that we can get off the plane quicker. This then means we don’t have to queue as long at immigration. I still have the memories of being stuck for 50 minutes at immigration when I visited Orlando a few years back. I want to avoid this again, at all costs!

I need not have worried. We were though in about 5 minutes. We picked up our luggage and managed to make it onto the monorail in about 20 minutes. Not too bad!

As we were saving money this year it meant no hire car this time round. It was cheapest to get a shared shuttle from the airport. I booked Supershuttle a couple of weeks before we left for around $70 for two people round trip. When I turned on my phone after leaving customs I had a text saying I needed to book in. I followed the link and booked in just as a shuttle arrived and we were put directly onto that one. EASY! I got some really blurry photos of the Magical express as we left MCO.




Not this time!

The bus only held 6 of us (two couples) and there was one drop off before ours. We drove past the Orlando eye which we'd not seen before and we saw a bit of international drive. Next it was our turn and we arrived at Cabana Bay. All in all the transfer only took about 30 minutes and the service really blew me away. I was a bit nervous about booking a shared transfer but our experience this holiday was great!

We pulled up to our Kingdom,
We were finally there,
To sit on the throne
As the royals of Cabana Bay....



Errrr... OK so i'll try and keep the rapping to a minimum for the rest of the report... although I can't promise it won't happen again.

We checked in and headed up to our room. We got a standard room this time, not a suite, and I really liked the room! It was the perfect size for the two of us.



Although we got a view of the car park (we asked for the highest floor they could give us) we could also see the parks! We could see Hogwarts and Dragon Challenge. The hulk and Dr. Doom. And the top of Ripsaw falls. It was quite a good view!



Not ready to go to bed yet we headed down to the fire pit to soak up the warm weather. The temperatures in the UK while we were on holiday ranges from about 9 - 13 deg C (high 40's to low 50's in deg F). Being in Florida during this time was lovely!



After warming up I was a bit peckish so we went to the Bay Liner Diner, grabbed our Sonic fill cup for the holiday (we shared to save money) and a side of baked mac and cheese. We both love this mac and cheese from the diner. It went down really well!



And that was it! We headed to bed ready for our 1st day at the parks tomorrow!

 

[macraven]

Ok
I'll take this spot and have a front row seat for when you start

 

[BagOLaughs]

Ok
I'll take this spot and have a front row seat for when you start

Hey Mac! Welcome along for the ride

 

[klo1335]

Can't wait to read! We leave in 21 days!!!

 

[Raeven]

Following along! We stayed at Cabana Bay last year and loved it.

 

[BagOLaughs]

Can't wait to read! We leave in 21 days!!!

Hey, welcome! How exciting, only 21 days! I'm sure you'll have an amazing time

Following along! We stayed at Cabana Bay last year and loved it.

Welcome Raeven, nice to have you along. Cabana Bay is really fun isn't it love the hotel

 

[schumigirl]

Lovely start Rachel.........

Glad you enjoyed the shared transport, have seen a few people concerned about that, so it's good to hear positive reviews of the service.

I think Hot Lips was the first Virgin Jumbo Jet we ever flew on.........

Will look forward to reading along.........

 

[woodynjessiesmomma]

We were there shortly after you, maybe overlapping. CB looks like so much fun! Congrats on the wedding, can't wait to read more.

 

[Robo56]

Yeah!!!!! Rachel looking forward to more of your trip report. Never been to Cabana so looking forward to hearing more about it. Great pics.

 

[BagOLaughs]

Lovely start Rachel.........

Glad you enjoyed the shared transport, have seen a few people concerned about that, so it's good to hear positive reviews of the service.

I think Hot Lips was the first Virgin Jumbo Jet we ever flew on.........

Will look forward to reading along.........

Schumi! So nice to have you along for the ride. We've got a bit of trip report inception going on.

We were there shortly after you, maybe overlapping. CB looks like so much fun! Congrats on the wedding, can't wait to read more.

Thanks very much Woody & Jessies momma (are you really! )

Yeah!!!!! Rachel looking forward to more of your trip report. Never been to Cabana so looking forward to hearing more about it. Great pics.

Hey Robo, nice to have you on board. The next segment is going to kick off.... now...

 

[BagOLaughs]

Day 2 - Magical Minions!

Good morning all! And I mean morning... I woke up at 5am Florida time and couldn't get back to sleep. I was feeling wide awake which might have been my sore throat... who knows. I lay in bed for a bit talking to some people back in the UK about the wedding and what not on whatsapp. When Martin woke at 6am we decided just to get up and get going! Early park time starts at 7am so we might as well make the most of it!

It was a good morning, overcast but warm. We popped into Bayliner diner to grab some breakfast. I had a fruit yogurt pot and Martin had a cinnamon roll. My Yogurt was really good but HUGE! I ate most of it on the bus but fortunately it came with a lid so I popped that on at the metal checks and ate the rest while walking through city walk. Martin's let me have a taste of his cinnamon roll and that was really good too. It was warm with gooey frosting that was dripping over the edges. yum!

We went through city walk and used our tickets for the first time! I forgot to mention, we'd purchased our frequent fear + HHN tickets as soon as they were available from Universal Studio's online months before we left and we used the Will Call kiosks in the hotel to print them out. It was really easy and saved us having to queue later on.

We got through the turnstiles and showed our hotel keys to get into the park early. YEY!!! I really wanted to turn around and say "see you later suckas!" but I restrained myself. Minion Mayhem had a 5 minute queue!!! We've not been on this ride for 4 years because the queue's were always so big, so of course we jumped in line. The team members were very happy 1st thing in the morning on this ride... I wonder what sort of coffee Universal serves for them...



I like the theming in this ride. Its just like being in the movies!



Of course, we love Despicable Me and this ride is fun.



Not the best ride but its pretty harmless and a lot of fun. The 3D is good and who doesn't like minions. The voice overs are the original movie cast so its hard not like to like this ride. Its also a great way to start the day!

Then all of a sudden we where here...



Well actually we did ride Rip, Ride, Rock'it first as that only had a 5 minute queue too. I'd googled how to get the secret menu and I really really really wanted to listen to "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Metallica however I messed up and it took me ages to get the stupid menu to open up, when it finally did I typed in 702 as quick as I could but accidentally pressed backspace instead of enter!! GAAAHH, so I ran out of time and had to listen to some disco song I'd never heard of... DANG. However we did get front row seats which was very cool!

Anywho... ah yes, we ended up in Diagon alley next. Its still looking as amazing as it did last year! I mean the maintenance on this place is top notch. It really does still look like new in my eyes! Escape from Gringotts had a 10 minute queue so on we went!



The level of detail in this queue line still blows my breath away. Just the chandeliers alone are amazing!



I did get the head goblin to talk to me... I walked up to him and said "Good morning" and he replied "here to open an account?". Whether he actually responds to people or I just timed it dead right, who knows. It was so funny watching the kids reaction behind me.



After seeing Will Weasley we were loaded onto our elevator and went down into the depths.



I love this ride so much. Its just the right level of themeing and thrill I think. I always have a massive grin the whole way round. *SPOILERS* one of my favourite parts is the warm air that is blown on you when the dragon breathes fire! Its so immersive.



After our tangle with the dragon we had a potter around Diagon Alley (see what I did there ) and decided to head over to Islands of Adventure of their opening at 9am. The Hogswart express already had a 30 minute queue so we decided to walk around and have a gander at Toothsome on the way. I don't have any photos now but I've got lots later.

OK so are we ready to jump into the magical portal between posts?... well... here... we... go!

 

[schumigirl]

Nice update........yep those chandeliers were 2 million dollars each........can't imagine dropping them like in Only Fools and Horses........lol..........

Love the whole DA area.........

 

[BagOLaughs]

Day 2 - Kong, Kong, Kong... don't worry that's just the tourists.

BAMF!

Well did we all make it?? Where did we end up? Well Skull Island of course!



And the new King Kong ride. This was a new ride for both Martin and myself. I'd unfortunately spoiled the ride by watching a video on youtube when it had 1st opened up... I just couldn't help myself. Martin on the other hand had managed not to spoil it for himself.



We both thought the theming in the area was really cool with lots of skulls and spooky things, The only tiny thing I thought was a bit odd, was I found it actually quite hard to take a picture of the big door thing. The wall and plants surrounding it really cover it up, but its a minor thing. The queue was also really cool and *RIDE SPOILERS* the hidden actor in the queue got me really good! I jumped out of my pants!

The ride itself was really enjoyable and the screens that cover all away around the trucks really do immerse you in the action. Only points Martin and I had were 1. its a very short ride and 2. its not really that repeatable... I mean either side of the truck gives you very different experiences but its just another screen based ride.

The huge Kong at the end is definitely the star of the show. That animatronic is amazing.



Next on the morning's activities was water rides! It seems to be a theme with Martin and I that we'll do water rides on the 1st day of our holidays.

Firstly we did Jurassic River Adventure which is always fun. All the dinosaurs were up and working although the boat was a little out of sync with the raptors in the indoors uphill bit. The splash down didn't get either of us particularly wet but this was only the 1st ride.

Next it was Dudley Do Right's Ripsaw falls and boy did this get Martin wet!! I was being a wuss on this day partly because I wasn't feeling 100% and had a poncho on. Martin however had nothing. He got drenched on this ride.






I however in my very sexy bright yellow poncho, stayed pretty much dry! However, alas, this wasn't to last...



Next up was Bilge-Rat Barges that had just opened up. You see how I'm smiling in the picture down below... well...



I was doing all well and good on this ride until you go into the cave. That waterfall does not part, it does not get any less than a torrent of water that went right down the back of my poncho soaking my back and butt! So much for the poncho!!! Seeing as we were both now completely soaked we decided to head back to the hotel.

The thing about being wet in Orlando is its not like the UK. You don't instantly freeze to death... its really warm and other than the clothes sticking to your legs its actually not too bad.

On the way back to the bus I grabbed a Menchies frozen yogurt to help with my throat. The cold really felt good against the scratchy-ness. I love Menchies and I really wish they would open one up in the UK!!! Do you hear me frozen yogurt gods! I want a Menchies!

Ah no wait... I forgot something. Before leaving IOA I got a cream cheese filled croissant from the Croissant moon bakery! I was a bit peckish and wanted a mid morning snack. It was pretty good although not the best I've ever had but it filled a gap. I guess I actually got the Menchies on another day... er... I'm getting myself mixed up now. ha



Ah hem... next post time I think.

 

[Robo56]

Rachel Escape from Gringotts is my favorite ride. You are right just enough thrill and theming to make it great. I love Diagon Alley. Always find something I did not see before there.

Took a break from party prep and propped the tootsies up and enjoyed your update. Great pics.

 

[BagOLaughs]

Day 2 - Who has a turkey in a lake?

We got back to the hotel about midday and the next job on our list was to visit the Wall Mart Supercentre on Turkey Lake Road. Now, those of you who have been paying attention will remember we had no hire car this holiday however, through the power of google, I'd found out that there was a super easy bus that went from just outside Cabana Bay, in a straight line down to the Wall Mart! Easy! The bus is every 20 minutes or so during the day and it was $2 per person, per direction and took a quick 10 minutes! It literally drops you right outside the supermarket. The hardest bit is walking to the bus stop outside Cabana Bay. Because of the way the walkways are laid out you need to walk around the hotel but we're fit and healthy so we didn't mind.



I have zero pictures from Wall Mart but we did stock up on breakfast items (to save a bit of money) and marshmallows and sticks to roast over the fire pits. I also managed to get some more medicine for my evil cold and some throat lozenges.

Now, if someone could tell me why the road is called Turkey Lake road i'd be very interested. Does it have a sordid history involving poor Turkeys dying in a lake? Maybe the Turkeys were a famous road side attraction... the famous water skiing Turkeys!? What ever the reason, it always seemed like a funny name for a lake and road to me.

Back at Cabana Bay I'm actually really glad we didn't get a pool side view... I mean it looks nice from one angle...



But then you turn around and... er...



Yup that's the new water park they're building. Volcano Bay. It looks amazing but that, coupled along with the new towers they're putting onto the hotel and its a bit of an eye sore! Strangest thing is, we used this pool and actually the building work didn't bother us at all. Odd I know. Its actually quite fun to watching it being built in front of your eyes. There is a 2nd pool in Cabana Bay too which we used a fair bit when we didn't want to deal with the noise of the building works.

After dropping off the shopping it was back to IOA for us!



While waiting to get through the turnstiles I did pop into guest services to see if they had any of the Celebrating buttons... they said they'd ran out all over the resort and were having a big problem getting hold of them. I smiled and said it didn't matter, its only a small thing and I really didn't mind, but she did congratulate us on our marriage which was really sweet.



I love the entry way into IOA its really detailed and you can just spend so much time looking at all the little touches and jokes dotted around the place.



After the Hulk being silent last year I cannot tell you how GOOD it was to hear it running again. I mean, i say hear, but actually its so quiet now! Its not silent but really, compared to before its like a whisper. The queue was 45 minutes for this so we decided to skip it... soon my lovely... soon.



Ah, sorry was I talking to the roller coaster again... gotta stop doing that...... *longingly looks back*... soon.

No sooner had we stepped foot into Marvel Island but who should show up? Spidey, Rogue, Storm and Cyclops. I didn't want photos with them but it was cool to see their trikes.



Spiderman had a big queue too so we decided to skip rides for the rest of the day... I had a plan and it involved something which I knew would make me cringe and make Martin sigh.



Cringe? What do you mean? Yes, all will become clear soon.

We also saw Wolverine posing for pictures with kids. Somehow I don't think its secretly Hugh Jackman under that mask so I slyly took this pic and moved on.



What sort of attraction would make you cringe at IOA? Have you guessed what it is? If you've been on it, you might know what it is... you'll just have to wait for the next update.

 

[BagOLaughs]

Nice update........yep those chandeliers were 2 million dollars each........can't imagine dropping them like in Only Fools and Horses........lol..........

Thanks Schumi, 2 million!! Oh my blazes! I would never have guessed that much... that's, well unbelievable but so worth it!

Rachel Escape from Gringotts is my favorite ride. You are right just enough thrill and theming to make it great. I love Diagon Alley. Always find something I did not see before there.

Took a break from party prep and propped the tootsies up and enjoyed your update. Great pics.

I'm glad there is another gringotts fan in the house! woop! Thanks for compliments, glad you enjoyed the update!

 

[tink1957]

I don't know how I missed your trip report until now...better late than never.

I had to laugh about your RRR experience since the same thing happened to me not the first time but the second time I tried to get the secret menu...I think I got that same disco song nobody knows

Keep up the good work

 

[macraven]

This is a fun trippie read !