June 18th-25th...Our first Florida Visit

[Chumpson]

So, I will be adding to this post for days in the parks. I write journal entries, daily, while on vacation so that I can put it down later. This might sound more like a diary, and perhaps it is. I didn't want to type everything over for the board, so I just cut and paste from my personal information. Hope it helps, if you have questions just ask. Again, first time in DW and Universal. (experienced Cal. visitors)

June 18th, Wednesday, Travel Day…

Flying out of Seattle, decided to make the trip up from Portland to get a cheaper rate on flights. This means staying the night at the Lontz house (Grandma). Up early on the 18th..breakfast is donuts, bananas, juice and milk. Since I was the only one with a checked bag, I waited in line while others waited, could have been much faster doing only carry on bags, but with the cruise (wife and I will be cruising after DW) we didn’t have much choice. We decided to pay a little extra on Southwest so that we could get priority boarding to make sure we could get seats together. On the way from Seattle to Albuquerque we watched some movies on the Kindles/iPads. Easy flight, no issues. Time for lunch, during our layover, most did Panda Express in the airport, while watching some World Cup pool play games. Tara (sister-in-law) decided Quiznos was the choice and Lisa (wife) had a smoothie sort of thing. Back on board to go to Orlando… more movies/games and naps for some.
Arriving in Orlando we had our first speed bump on the trip. Walked to Budget to get our car…1 HOUR LATER we were on our way. Crazy, didn’t see that coming. In the car on the way to Windsor Hills. Plugged in the address to our GPS we brought along and Connor (Son #1, 14 yo) says “We have to go 40 minutes to get to the hotel?” Jeffrey, (#1 son, 16yo), answered for me, “He got a place close to the parks, not close to the airport.” Stopped off to get some groceries for the week. We didn’t know where to do shopping, made the wrong choice, all the prices in this grocery store were jacked up, live and learn. Arriving at Windsor Hills we pulled up to the guard gate. Showed our rental agreement and were given a pass that would open the gate daily for us. Walking in to the condo we were very pleased with our rental. For the 7 of us we had 3 bedrooms, 2 bath condo with living, dining and kitchen, everything we wanted/needed. 1st floor, corner location was nice for going to the pool and for short walks from parking. Unpack, make some food and get ready for tomorrow, day 1 Animal Kingdom!! Second speed bump, Jeffrey and Lisa burnt themselves using the hot pads to take some pizza out of the oven. Don’t ask how they both got burnt, but come on, that isn’t a nice way to start….Can’t wait for tomorrow!! Animal Kingdom!!!

 

[Chumpson]

June 19th, Thursday, Animal Kingdom

Didn’t sleep well last night. My head was spinning about what is coming and how to make sure the family has a good time even though this is my first time and I don’t really know what I am doing. Probably got about 4 good hours of sleep, but here we go anyway. Up at 6:30 for shower for most, breakfast in the condo…we loaded up the condo with muffins, cereal and the like to save the most time and money on the trip. Out of the Windsor Hills condo by 8am and on our way to Animal Kingdom. When we arrived at AK we were checking out the lines. I noticed one terminal was letting people in for breakfast, if I was thinking more clearly, I would have hung around there and jumped in that line right before opening like some did. As it stood we got in line and were about 30 people back. While waiting in line, Tim (brother-in-law) and Tara got buttons for their anniversary in the guest relations building. My planning said to start with Safaris, so we made the long walk to the back of the park, walking briskly and not stopping for pictures or anything. Walked on one of the first busses out. Fun ride to see all the animals, better than I expected. Headed to a meet and greet with Mickey and Minnie at Outfitters, took a little longer than I wanted, but we were still doing okay with the plan. Next we rode Kali River Rapids, good thing I wore my Keens today as Tara and I got soaked. We love these circle raft rides, we think it is because you can see your whole groups’ faces and all the laughs. Think GRR in Cali if you haven’t been to DW. Next was Expedition Everest with our first FP+. Most the people in our group, except Tara who had read about this ride online, were surprised by the backwards portion of it. “We aren’t going backwards are we?” was asked by Lisa (wife) I just laughed, Fun roller coaster ride. Kids decided to ride again in the single rider line. Adults, even me, decided to pass. As we were making our way to Dinosaur we passed Nemo, Nemo had a show starting at 11 and it was 1050, so we decided to do it now. Nemo was okay, with all the things I had read I guess I expected more. I think I like the shows with actors without the puppet stuff, preference I guess. It was okay, but likely wouldn’t do it again. Made our way to Dinosaur for our second FP+ ride. This ride is much like Indy in DL, but again I think the DL ride is better. This is when we decided to head out of the park for naps/lunch. Leaving the park gates I checked the time, 12 almost exactly.

Tim and Tara went rose shopping for their anniversary. I guess they do yellow roses and wanted some for the condo. Happy Anniversary to them!!! I took the kids to the pool for a bit while Lisa napped. Back from the pool we had lunch, watched some World Cup, then told the kids to take a nap/rest. I ended up getting a pretty good nap in too.

Up around 4pm got ready and headed back to AK. Jeffrey, Tim and Tara, stopped by Wilderness Explorers to see what it was all about. We looked around a bit, did some W.E. stuff, but the interest in that ran out quickly. Got in line for the last show for Festival of the Lion King, we had our last FP+. Connor got called out to help the Lions, us, cheer, Damian (his principal) would have been disappointed that he walked down the bleachers as opposed to using the aisle. Everyone liked this show better than Nemo. I enjoyed the gymnasts the most. This show is really worth seeing. Next was dinner at Flaming Tree BBQ, no wait, with only one cashier working, perfect timing. Lisa talked to the chef and got gluten free ribs, her first good meal of the trip. We headed down to the water seating area and relaxed while we ate. Back to Everest after dinner, rode with a 10 minute wait. Decided to head to Kali River Rapids for another go. Why not get wet when you are ready to call it a day anyway. Rode, turned right around and rode again without any wait. Then Tara, Tim, Bailey (daughter 12) and Connor rode a 3rd time without any wait.

Great first park day, can’t wait for tomorrow at Disney’s Hollywood Studios!!!

 

[Chumpson]

June 19th, Thursday, Animal Kingdom

Didn’t sleep well last night. My head was spinning about what is coming and how to make sure the family has a good time even though this is my first time and I don’t really know what I am doing. Probably got about 4 good hours of sleep, but here we go anyway. Up at 6:30 for shower for most, breakfast in the condo…we loaded up the condo with muffins, cereal and the like to save the most time and money on the trip. Out of the Windsor Hills condo by 8am and on our way to Animal Kingdom. When we arrived at AK we were checking out the lines. I noticed one terminal was letting people in for breakfast, if I was thinking more clearly, I would have hung around there and jumped in that line right before opening like some did. As it stood we got in line and were about 30 people back. While waiting in line, Tim (brother-in-law) and Tara got buttons for their anniversary in the guest relations building. My planning said to start with Safaris, so we made the long walk to the back of the park, walking briskly and not stopping for pictures or anything. Walked on one of the first busses out. Fun ride to see all the animals, better than I expected. Headed to a meet and greet with Mickey and Minnie at Outfitters, took a little longer than I wanted, but we were still doing okay with the plan. Next we rode Kali River Rapids, good thing I wore my Keens today as Tara and I got soaked. We love these circle raft rides, we think it is because you can see your whole groups’ faces and all the laughs. Think GRR in Cali if you haven’t been to DW. Next was Expedition Everest with our first FP+. Most the people in our group, except Tara who had read about this ride online, were surprised by the backwards portion of it. “We aren’t going backwards are we?” was asked by Lisa (wife) I just laughed, Fun roller coaster ride. Kids decided to ride again in the single rider line. Adults, even me, decided to pass. As we were making our way to Dinosaur we passed Nemo, Nemo had a show starting at 11 and it was 1050, so we decided to do it now. Nemo was okay, with all the things I had read I guess I expected more. I think I like the shows with actors without the puppet stuff, preference I guess. It was okay, but likely wouldn’t do it again. Made our way to Dinosaur for our second FP+ ride. This ride is much like Indy in DL, but again I think the DL ride is better. This is when we decided to head out of the park for naps/lunch. Leaving the park gates I checked the time, 12 almost exactly.

Tim and Tara went rose shopping for their anniversary. I guess they do yellow roses and wanted some for the condo. Happy Anniversary to them!!! I took the kids to the pool for a bit while Lisa napped. Back from the pool we had lunch, watched some World Cup, then told the kids to take a nap/rest. I ended up getting a pretty good nap in too.

Up around 4pm got ready and headed back to AK. Jeffrey, Tim and Tara, stopped by Wilderness Explorers to see what it was all about. We looked around a bit, did some W.E. stuff, but the interest in that ran out quickly. Got in line for the last show for Festival of the Lion King, we had our last FP+. Connor got called out to help the Lions, us, cheer, Damian (his principal) would have been disappointed that he walked down the bleachers as opposed to using the aisle. Everyone liked this show better than Nemo. I enjoyed the gymnasts the most. This show is really worth seeing. Next was dinner at Flaming Tree BBQ, no wait, with only one cashier working, perfect timing. Lisa talked to the chef and got gluten free ribs, her first good meal of the trip. We headed down to the water seating area and relaxed while we ate. Back to Everest after dinner, rode with a 10 minute wait. Decided to head to Kali River Rapids for another go. Why not get wet when you are ready to call it a day anyway. Rode, turned right around and rode again without any wait. Then Tara, Tim, Bailey (daughter 12) and Connor rode a 3rd time without any wait.

Great first park day, can’t wait for tomorrow at Disney’s Hollywood Studios!!!

 

[Chumpson]

June 20th, Friday, Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Up a little earlier to be closer to the front of the line, out of the condo by 7:45. The drive to DHS seemed about the same. Quick walk from the parking lot and found a line where we were first. Did Toy Story first. Wish we would have gone to Rockin Roller Coaster first and made my first touring error as they didn’t let us in early today. I didn’t know how well the family would like the coaster, but it was a hit and we weren’t going to be able to do it twice since we went to TSMM first. Live and learn. It turns out that everyone really like TSMM, so it worked out okay, of course I won, I did, right? That is how I remember it anyway. Made our way, as quickly as possible to RnRc and found a 20 min wait. Wow, what a fun ride, it is fun to ride a ride for the first time, have missed that since we have done DL so many times. Tower of Terror was next, always fun, and usually the favorite of mine. It was cool to see the differences in the ride here in FL. Rode TSMM again using FP+, I didn’t win this time, I think Jeffrey did, then Great Movie Ride with FP+. This ride was pretty lame and became a joke all week, “Hey this is better than GMR”, “Hey, we could be on GMR.” stuff like that. Rode Star Tours stand by, fun that you can see different scenarios and that it always isn’t the same. Went to Animation Studios and drew Eeyore and headed out for lunch/pool/naps at the condo. Stopped by guest relations on the way out to get the rewards loaded on a card due to all my Visa spending. Nice to have $100 free, sort of..

After break we weren’t really able to do much. seemed to walk around a lot looking for something to do. We had our FP+ for TOT at 755, so we ended up riding Star Tours again, the only thing with a minimal line. Some of the shows and tours seem to end early, so if you want to check out one of them you need to do it early or hang out during the middle of the day, something we weren’t willing to do with the heat and exhaustion that make the vacation no fun. Rode TOT again with our FP+. I really do like this ride, both versions, here and in Cal. Since we didn’t want to wait in lines we decided to go to Boardwalk and get some ice cream. Oops! Now we wait in line for ice cream at Beaches and Cream. I got the Mickey and Minnie kitchen sink. Yum and it will be a nice souvenir, I get to keep the bowl!! Long trip with lots of walking from the parking lot at the Boardwalk Inn to the Yacht Club, but we got ice cream and have seen some of the sites there. Was also a nice walk at night to see some of the Swan/Dolphin. Tomorrow we head to EPCOT!!

 

[Chumpson]

June 21st, Saturday, EPCOT

Up again early and at the park prior to park opening. We were, once again, able to find a line where we were close to the front, only one family in front of us. We decided that since we scheduled Soarin for FP+ later in the day we would go to Test Track first thing. Walking quickly, we were some of the first people on the ride. It was fun to have everyone design their own car, we didn’t realize that we were supposed to design together, so we took up too many terminals. Rode again, with little wait, this time we partnered up and competed against other pairs to see whose car performed better. Can’t remember who won, which means Connor and I didn’t, though our car looked the coolest. Next we went to Sum of All Fears, fun simulator ride for two. You develop a track and the simulator takes you through your experience. Connor and I chose to make it as daring as possible, you have to choose Jet at the beginning, always picking the extreme maneuvers. Hammerhead was the best maneuver. Turned out to be very cool and one of our favorite experiences. Funny that you have a screen in front of you to watch, but there is also a camera for the cast member to watch you in case you freak out being in the contraption. I watched over his shoulder while Jeffrey was on his ride, neat. Next we made our way to Mission Space. Not knowing how much it would affect people, we went with FP+ for the lesser extreme Green version, wasted FP+ as it turned out to be only 10 min wait standby, used it anyway hoping to get through our FP+ early and get a fourth, maybe for TT? Decent ride, likely won’t do it again, I had some little motion issues. Took some pictures, did some shopping, then Tim, Connor and I decided to try Mission Space Orange version, yikes… WOW, what a blast off, the Gs you pull were very neat, but now I know the difference between the rides, glad we did the other version, some of us wouldn’t like that version at all. I had to breathe my way through it in parts. Very cool to have done, but I won’t be doing it again any time soon. Time for World Showcase. Made our way to Norway for our FP+ with Maelstrom, boat ride through Viking legend stuff, but we were too early for our time slot. Headed to the close treat shop. I had the horn thing with cream inside, it was YUMMY! Tim had some bread filled with some sort of cream that was recommended by the CM and he said it was good too. Time for Maelstrom, then tried for a FP+ for Soarin or TT, and no such luck, so 4th FP+ is useless in tiered park unless you want one for something that doesn’t need a FP anyway, this was 11:30, maybe you could get through the 3 FP earlier and get one? Next we went to Mexico and toured, rode the ride with 3 Caballeros Grand Fiesta which was fun. Hmm, World Cup stuff shopping, I can see me getting something at some point. Time to head back to condo for naps/pool/World Cup.

Back to EPCOT for our evening touring and went right on Spaceship Earth, 5pm. I think the posted time was like 5 minutes, perfect, just as planned. Neat little ride to see once. Back to World Showcase. China, browsed around and then watched their show, Reflections of China, that played on screens 360 degrees around you, interesting. Little more shopping, then watched some acrobat performers. Since the plan was to eat around the world I bought some potstickers to share with the kids. Next up Germany…No show or ride so we looked around a bit, then bought strudel for the kids and myself, should have bought 2 and split them, 1 was more than enough, but it was YUMMY!! Next we made our way to Italy. The only food was sit down restaurants, at least that I could find, would have been nice to buy a slice, so we moved on disappointed that I couldn’t eat in Italy. On our way to USA, saw a band playing a tribute concert to Journey, they were okay I guess. Watched the American Adventure, thought people would fall asleep, I almost did as well. Good show to see, just long day and now you sit in a cool dark theatre. After USA show it was time to watch Illuminations with food from Germany. I bought a rice krispie treat with chocolate on the top, and also bought a bag of caramel popcorn, both lasted a few days, but were a nice treat at the end of the day.
Favorites at EPCOT…
Connor—Some of All Thrills
Bailey---- Test track
Jeffrey—Test Track
Me—Mission Space Orange…I made it through!

Tomorrow we get to see MAGIC KINGDOM!!!

 

[Chumpson]

June 22nd, Sunday, Magic Kingdom

Up even earlier to make it to the park today as you HAVE to take some sort of Disney transportation to get to the Magic Kingdom. We parked at the Magic Kingdom parking area and boarded the quickly arriving monorail, not too bad, sort of a ride in itself, fun way to start the day anyway. We ended up being the farthest back in the gate lines that we had been all week, even with the earlier start. However, by the time we made it down Main Street, Connor and I had managed to pass enough people to be right behind the rope being walked by the cast members. We made our way to Peter Pan, always Peter Pan first, learned this a long time ago. The family caught up and we were the first people on Pan, I think most were going to Anna and Elsa, or Mine Train. Next we walked on Big Thunder, seemed like DL was a little better and we could have stayed on as people in our train asked to go again and they were permitted to stay. We had other plans. Next was Spash, always a favorite of ours. Seemed different, does DL have the bigger logs now too? Again, I like the DL version better. Pirates said the wait was 10 minutes so we decided to do that now, but it wasn’t 10 min, we walked straight on a boat. Haunted Mansion was next and our first wait and it was already getting warm, felt it in the line. Made our way to Tomorrow Land and rode Space Mountain, this was Disney’s mistake. The line said 10 min, ended up being about 30 minutes. After Space we used our FP+ for Space and rode the second time much more quickly. Walked back to Fantasy Land and experienced Philharmagic. This show was very cool, I really enjoyed it! After the show we made our exit, like always, right around noon. Hot now and having to wait for the monorail to get out, this stunk and was not fun, took too long for the monorail to be ready to go. On the way home we stopped by the newly found cheaper grocery store for some groceries. With some early thunderstorms starting we decided to eat and nap, then perhaps have some pool time if the pool is available before we needed to head back. Took in the USA vs Portugal game while having dinner in the condo, fun time with all the fans. Will always remember Tim running out of the bathroom when we all cheered for the second US goal, hilarious. Heartbroken by the tie, the twists and turns of this game were crazy on the spirit, we headed back to MK. First we made our way Splash and used our FP+, again, fun ride. Made our way through the crowds to watch Electric Parade along Adventureland walkway. I remember thinking how hot it was standing there, at night, in the dark, while watching the parade, I think I was sweating. Weird experiencing the weather in Florida, for sure. As soon as the parade ended in our area we made our way to Main Street to watch the firework show. When we got our spots Tara said, “Wow you really know how to work this.” We were middle of Main Street with a great view of the castle. The castle show leading up to the fireworks was really cool and we all liked this show better than the DL version. The size of the castle makes the show so much better. After the fireworks we did Buzz. DL version is MUCH BETTER. What is with all the targets being circles? Your gun is also locked in place? Nothing glows when you hit it so you know that you have hit it? Yuck! We did, however, find our first hidden Mickey in the queue on the earth. One of the continents was shaped like Mickey.
Made our way to Fantasyland, walked on Dumbo (only a couple of us, some of us were too cool, NOT ME!) Walked on Barnstormer then experienced Seven Dwarfs Mine Train with our FP+. I missed too much of it trying to get photos. I remember thinking, neat, smooth, I like the rocking back and forth feature. Not a thrill ride, for sure, but neat nonetheless. At this point tried to get another FP+, none were available which makes sense this late at night. Did Little Mermaid after stopping at Gaston’s Tavern for Lafouf’s Brew and a cinnamon roll. The brew was decent, different, but interesting taste. Decided to try BTMRR one more time and Connor talked us all in to one last Splash ride. Made our way to Splash, but decided the line was too long to wait, we were all tired and ready to head out at 1:30am. Tomorrow we get to sleep in and take an afternoon trip to EPCOT.

 

[Greenfield1984]

I'm thoroughly enjoying this journal entry type trip report.

It could use some paragraphs simply to make it easier on my eyes to read but overall i'm looking forward to the rest of your trip

Keep it coming!

 

[Chumpson]

June 23rd, Monday, EPCOT 1/2 Day

Slept in, had breakfast, watched some World Cup, went to the pool, just a nice slow morning to rest a bit. When we decided to go to EPCOT we made our way to Soarin to ride with our FP+. Actually, the FP+ kind of determined when we would leave for the park.

It wasn’t until this day that we were told an unwritten rule that the scanners will allow you into the queue 5 minutes early. Shared that with another group that was waiting for their window to open. When a dad said, "YOu want to stand around here for 15 minutes just to get in line?", I told him he could get in 5 minutes earlier than that. Seemed to settle his anxiety a bit.

Soarin is always fun, best part we were TOP ROW, CENTER, best seats on the airline! Next we did Living with the Land. I wasn’t sure what this was, but everyone seemed to enjoy it, especially the part where you went through the living/working exhibits of agriculture, pretty neat.
Tara wanted to do the Storm simulator so most made their way that way to experience it with her. Connor and I went to Club Cool for some more of that crazy soda. I liked South Africa the best, but it really isn’t very good. Rode Nemo, okay for what it is. Dinner time, so we hit Sunshine Seasons. Lisa was shocked that she found a whole station to choose food from that was gluten free, I wasn’t shocked as I knew they had selections thanks to researching online.
Okay, now we are back on our way to World Showcase. Canada was the first stop and we decided to watch their film. A lot like the Chinese one where you watched screens all around you as they told the story of their country. Made our way to England where Tim bought a t-shirt(more on that later). France was next, oh France!! I wasn’t into all the sites, but the DESSERTS, YUM!! Napoleon and a chocolate croissant was my choice, Jeffrey had chocolate mousse, Bailey had a macaroon treat with some berry sauce, Connor had lemon meringue pie. Lisa didn’t see a treat that she liked at the bake shop so she went to the ice cream shop and got caramel; sweet and salty. Connor and Bailey decided to shell out some of their cash from the family and bought an ice cream as well. Everyone said their treat was good. I plan on getting more treats in a few days when Lisa and I come back.

Browsed our way through Morocco and shopped a bit. Connor bought souvenirs for his friends Angel and Joshua. Next on the path was Japan, the time I had been waiting for. I had read online about the pearl thing you could do, so I decided to surprise Bailey with her first pearl. Bailey got to pick one of the oysters in the tank. They then opened it up to show her the pearl she would get. Bought a cage for it and she will use a chain she has at home to wear it as a necklace. Took a bit of time, but glad we did it, even though we were all hot and tired by this time. Five fun Disney days. Looking forward to two days at Universal over the next two days!!

 

[Chumpson]

June 24th, Tuesday, Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios

Up EARLY today and out of the condo by 6:30. We wanted to be able to get to our Universal hotel, Royal Pacific, to get our early entry and front of the line passes prior to today’s visit at the park. This meant we needed to get going and we did. About 7 we entered Royal Pacific, nice hotel, and signed in. Easy process to drop off bags, get our passes and head straight to the park.

Today we decided to start with IOA because of Harry Potter. We are too early to get to see this year’s new rides, but the current WWoHP stuff is supposed to draw big crowds as well. This means if we want to see it we need to do it during early entry.

In line at 7:30, early entry starts at 8, and had about 20 people in front of us. Park ended up opening up at 7:45, but they did hold us at the end of a path leading to Seuss Land until 8:00 when we could go anywhere in the park. Quick walk, you need to walk very quickly, or people will just pass you buy. Walking up to the world was pretty cool, the buildings are really neat to look at. Made our way quickly to Forbidden Journey. The queue leads you through Hogwarts castle and it was pretty amazing to see, sort of wish we weren’t just quickly walking through this to get to the ride. All the details, that I noticed, were great. Everyone said the ride was great and LONGER than expected. It might just be the best experience this trip, truly a different type of ride, have to do it to know what I mean.
Next was Flight of Hippogriff after I bought a mug of Butterbeer at the cart right out of FJ. WOW, this stuff is GOOD!! Ended up buying the souvenir cup and shared some with all the kids so they could try it. Dragon Challenge was next and a pretty cool coaster ride with dangling feet, I think Tim said it was a first for him. After the coaster we strolled around the world some more, took some pictures, looked at shops and decided to head out at 9:10 as the crowds were just arriving. CRAZY!! I couldn’t imagine doing this part of the park without early entry, truly worth the expense of staying onsite.
Made our way to the main coaster area of the park. Most of these rides are based on super heroes. First was Hulk and it turned out to be Bailey’s favorite ride in the park. Doctor Doom’s Fearfall, which most said was blah, but I really like drop rides. This one was more of a thrill going up than coming down, still fun for me. Spiderman, sort of like Transformers, good 4D (is that the right description?) ride.
Okay, so now it’s getting hot… WATER RIDES!! The rides said “You will get soaked.” Thought I knew about this from Kali R.R, but no, these are much wetter. Popeye and Bluto’s Bilge Rat, circular like GRR, but much faster and wetter. Then Rip Saw Falls, kind of like Splash without the cool show/animatronics, but more water. Final wet ride was Jurassic Park River Adventure. In this ride you are in a big boat, like PoTC, but do a drop like Splash. Got told to put my camera away when shooting the big TRex. Was warned to not do flash, but they didn’t say anything about pictures. Weird, but I guess it saved my camera as the splash at the bottom was BIG and we got pretty wet, not that we weren’t already wet because we were.

At this point we had made a complete circle of the park and were back at WWoHP. We decided to eat at Three Broomsticks, something I had planned as adding to the experience of the world. Pretty neat place to experience the ambiance of Harry Potter. Tim, Connor, Tara and I shared the Great Feast platter for 4. Came with Ribs, Chicken, Potatoes and assorted veggies, also a family style salad to share. Turned out to be more than enough food for the four of us. Everyone but Tara and Lisa had Butterbeer, yes, I had another one!! YUMMY!! Suggest the frozen though I haven’t tried the regular version.

Call the Royal Pacific to see if the room is ready, no, on to Universal Studios. Walked by NBA restaurant and Hard Rock on the way, was a fairly decent jaunt to change parks. The lines at this time of day were pretty long, but the front of line passes were helpful, usually we are on our way to the condo at this point in the day. Did Shrek 4-D movie. Was good once we got in and people would sit down, but had to wait a long time in the torture chamber. After Shrek we rode Rip-Ride Rocket. Connor and Bailey really liked it, I thought it was okay. With the heat building and another call to the hotel confirming one of our rooms was available we decided to head back for a break. Tara, kids and I hit the pool for a bit while Tim and Lisa rested. Wait, actually I had to run to a shop to get another pair of swim trunks first as I left mine at the condo. After the pool we all rested/napped for a bit.

Decided after naps to try and do US tonight. Thinking we would be doing IOA first thing again to see Harry again. So back to US…Did Mummy, everyone seemed to like this dark coaster. I wasn’t going to ruin the surprise of going backwards that I remembered from Cali. Then we saw the Twister show, pretty neat and surprised at a couple different affects while experiencing it. Strolled down to see the new HP stuff at US, wish it was open, saw Creacher at one of the windows. Guess you had to leave the “Muggle World” to see more of it. Transformers 3D was next, Lisa and Tara decided to pass. This ride is a lot like Spiderman in the other park. Fun. Rode ET, pretty lame after the other stuff, kind of like Pan I guess. Mummy one more time? YEP!! We would have liked to do Dispicable Me, but it always seemed like too long of a line, is that because it is right there at the entrance? Thinking so…

Good full day at the Universal parks, different, but lots of fun at these parks!! At the resort everyone but Tim cooled down in the pool. This pool was much warmer than the condo, not very refreshing really.

 

[Chumpson]

June 25th, Wednesday, Islands of Adventure

Up early to take advantage of the hour extra in the park prior to regular park visitor hours. Did I say this was worth it yesterday? Well, it is. You are on vacation, save your money somewhere else. Thinking staying offsite at DL and onsite at Universal was the way to go for sure.

WWoHP was up first again. Tim, Connor and I rode Forbidden Journey again, walked on, the others decided with the dizziness factor that yesterday was enough for them, they saw it and now know what it is. The others decided to check out Ollivander’s Wand Shop, wish I could see it, but not so much to miss out on FJ. We met the rest at Dragon Challenge, again a fun coaster. Tim and Tara did some HP shopping while Lisa got breakfast at Three Broomsticks, the rest of us couldn’t resist the urge to get some Butterbeer while we waited, YUMM, right? Yep!! Get frozen!!! We need a HP land in OR so that I can drive there to get some. L Crowds arrived, once again, as we were leaving. I just started laughing at the crowds running to HP knowing the line was already like an hour. WOW.

Next we did the same touring we did yesterday…Hulk, Drop of Doom, Spiderman and one last Rip Saw Falls (only Bailey and Connor, nobody else was ready to get soaked just yet) We didn’t have a second night at Royal Resort, but the condo is still ours. Drove back to the condo, at this time, planning on coming back for our 3:45 reservation at Mythos, apparently a nice dining establishment in the park.

Swimming and naps at the condo for most, then departure at 3:00 to head back to the parks. We realized we were barely going to make it on time, so Tim and I were dropped and walked quickly to the restaurant to check in. The others arrived and we were seated shortly. This place is hard to book, so book early if you want a place with little waiting, there seemed to be a lot of people waiting around for a seat. Seemed like everyone enjoyed the food. The atmosphere was cool, the stone carvings, the view of the park, all nice.

After dinner we decided to do wet rides and then head back to the condo for the night and the last night of the trip. Did Jurassic Park first, did Popeye as a walk on. Turned right around and did Popeye again walk on, rode it a third time without wait. Then had enough, three times was enough. Connor could stay there and ride that ride all day long. Did some souvenir shopping on the way out, soaked. Good by to US.

Tomorrow we tell the kids and aunt/uncle good-bye and have three days at DW, just the two of us! Woot!

 

[Chumpson]

I don't know that any more of my report can help anyone with touring, but I thought I would at least finish the posting of our days in Orlando. We did go on a 7 night cruise after that, but I am posting those on a cruise website for people interested in cruising. Hopefully, if you have made it this far you have learned what can be done in June at the parks. We got a lot done and saw a bunch while taking breaks each day and staying off site.

June 26th, Thursday

Today we say good-bye to the kids, Tim and Tara. Up early, 6:00 to shower make sure all the kids have packed all their stuff and get to the airport on time. Arrive at the airport at 7:15 to drop everyone off. We just pulled up to the curb, unloaded and gave a quick departure hugs and stuff and off they went. Feels weird not heading back to Oregon with the kids, but we will get over that soon enough, I hope.

Returned the rental van and got an economy car since there were only two of us. We were back in the Budget line, only one person in front of us, but we still waited 20 minutes. This is crazy, you would think they would have better customer service. They tried to talk us in to a larger car. Why? There is only TWO OF US! Come on…

Fun, quiet, car ride with conversation, music, paying tolls for the people behind us (we did that on the way to the airport too for the kids to see). Quick stop at the grocery store to get some items that were needed for the next few days. Found our first “left” item of Connor’s, his spongy ball he got somewhere. Lisa took a nap while I watched some TV waiting for the US vs Germany game. Lunch, USA loses but still advances to the knock out round and then some more TV.

On our way to the park we remembered, after talking to the kids who had now arrived in Seattle by now, that I had a birthday card I wanted to mail from DW that I left on the kitchen table. Went back to pick it up. Arrived at the park, got the stamp we needed and went to guest relations to mail it and pick up Happy Anniversary buttons now that we were celebrating our 20th. Met back up with Lisa to use our first FP+ at the Indy Show. We were a little early, so we found some drinks at a close cart and headed to the line. We ended up being in the 4th row center. They were looking for people to be in the show so Lisa volunteered to do it. They dressed her up and did some little acting stuff on the stage before telling us the show would be canceled because of the thunderstorm being so close by.

Disappointed that we had used our FP+ for that we moved on to the Animation building to draw another character. Seems like everyone was looking for something to do inside as we found a really long line. A CM actually said, “I’ve never seen it this long.” Oops! We did get in the second show and it wasn’t too bad a wait. Ended up getting to draw Goofy. I have done him before, but still fun to do it. Next we headed straight to RnRC for our FP+. We had a fun time with this one, it was fun to experience it a second time, wish the kids would’ve had the chance to do the coaster a second time. After the coaster we needed to find shelter from the rain. Hopped from shop to shop waiting for our FP+ window to open up. Fortunately we knew the 5 minute rule so that cut down on the waiting. Lisa was a trooper waiting it out with me so that I could do my favorite ride even though I could tell she would rather go back to the condo. Apparently she felt something “coming on”. Hope this isn’t something that sticks around. I really don’t know how TOT isn’t everyone’s favorite ride. It doesn’t have any of those heavy feelings, but lots of that weightless stuff. It is simply GREAT.

Okay first day without kids. Back to the condo, ice cream, some Last Comic Standing/NBA Draft and then to bed.

 

[Chumpson]

June 28th, Saturday

After a good night’s sleep I think I am just about recovered from the week of the parks. Although the dates for the cruise dictated the necessity to stay a few days in Orlando prior to the cruise I think it was a good idea and if anyone asks, I will say I planned it that way.

Lisa is at the pool, I am just about ready to watch the World Cup, first game of the knock-out round is about to start. Chile vs Brazil, ended in a shoot out. Look out Brazil, you don’t look too good. I am disappointed that we won’t be able to see the games while on the ship. Apparently Carnival doesn’t have rights to ESPN when off the coast or something.

Another day without kids. Might sound good, and in a way it is, but I miss having them around in the parks. Afternoon touring of EPCOT. Made our way to the Disney Visa Card member private photo op. We ended up being first in line, I guess it was a down time and when we went out there was a line, so perhaps perfect timing. Got do mess around with Goofy and Mickey, we danced with them they made fun of me and also got a good, FREE 5X7 photo. Nice.

Headed to the character spot I had used the FP+ for, let’s face it there really isn’t much you would want to use a FP+ for at this park outside of Test Track and Soarin and you can’t do both. DUMB. Got pictures with Goofy and Mickey, again, and Minnie.
We then played around a bit in Innovations building before our FP+ for Soarin. Went to Soarin, our last ride at DW, always fun.

Needed to try and return Tim’s shirt, apparently he doesn’t wear a youth large shirt, who would have guessed. Couldn’t find the right color, apparently the one he picked, red, is only offered in the youth sizes, weird. Guess he gets grey instead. Found a Test Track pin for Jeffrey. He said it was his favorite ride at all the parks, I think he liked the designing of the cars better than the actual ride. The pin he saw of TT wasn’t one he particularly cared for so we told him we would look for another one. Wouldn’t you know they only have one pin for that ride?

Wandered around some more, looking for souvenirs, and made our way to France. I was thinking treats were in order, but decided the line was too long and moved on. Watched “Impressions of France” another show detailing much of France, like the China and Canada shows.

Ended the night at La Hacienda de San Angel. I had booked this place so that we could watch the World of Color during dinner. First off we were a little early and ended up finishing dinner prior to the show. Second they put us in a spot we couldn’t have watched the show anyway. Disappointing for me as I had high hopes for the dinner. Expensive, for sure, but the food was good and Lisa had a gluten free meal.

Did some final pin shopping on the way out of the park and headed back to the condo excited for the cruise tomorrow. Watched some TV and hit the sack.