Vacation...All I Ever Wanted (The Trip Report) -- Updated!!

[livandemsmom]

Since I am getting very excited about trip starting in ONE week, I thought I'd post a pre-trip report. Which should inspire me to actually follow up with a trip report when we return home! In May 2007, we went to Dinsey World and had a fabulous time. But my husband is not a repeater. He won't even watch the same movie twice. So the only way I can weasel in another Orlando trip was to do something different - so Universal and Sea World, here come the Kansans!

The Cast:
Myself 35 year old school counselor; I live for vacations!
DH 38 years old; has a great time on vacation once you talk him into agreeing to it
DD 7 years old; just finished 1st grade; adventurous and precocious and loves rides where you get wet!
DD 2 years old; she was but a babe when we hit WDW but she's almost three now and lives for Dora the Explorer. Sing it with me -- Dora, Dora, the Exploreeerrrr:
Grammy 63 years old; was also our comrade on the WDW trip; she had no intention of traveling with us this time but we spent a week at her house over Spring Break and magically, she's going!

The Schedule:
May 27 - Head to a hotel near the airport so we don't have to get up quite as early the next a.m.
May 28 - Drag 50 lb sleeping child, 30 lb sleeping child, and several pieces of luggage to airport by 5:30 a.m. What was I thinking? Layover in Atlanta. Arrive in Florida around 1 p.m. Get in the rental car that we nabbed on priceline for a good price and head to..............(the kids still don't know where we're staying)......Nickelodeon Hotel. The girls are going to flip out! Especially our Dora stalker. We'll just hang out around the hotel and hit the pools that night.
May 29 - Universal Studios. I'm hoping to fit in some of the big rides, with lots of time for the kids in the Kid Zone. Definitely want to do Jaws with Grammy. I don't know why, but DH and I love to watch her scream. I'm not riding anything where I'm sure I will die, so no Hulk or Dragons for me. I may be able to do ROTM (I survived Everest at WDW but I lost my voice from screaming). DH really wants to dine at NBA City that night.
May 30 - We'll split the day between US and IOA. Definitely want to get some time in at Seuss Landing, as it's a place we'll probably want to go more than once. DD loves the Scooby Doo gang so we each got a shirt with a Scooby character to wear. DH is going to love that. Maybe we'll hit The Kitchen that night for the Scooby meal.
May 31 - Sea World. Grammy sprung for luau tickets that evening, so we'll spend the entire day and evening there. I haven't been since I was a teenager, so I'm really looking forward to it.
June 1 - Back to IOA. DH will probably ride all of the scary stuff, while I eat pretzels and cotton candy. Lunch at Mythos. DH is a former chef, so we'll see how it measures up.
June 2 - Spend the morning at the swimming pool. Pack up and head to the airport around 1 p.m.

Really looking forward to another trip to Orlando and hoping it's as much fun as the last one!!

 

[jcc0621]

Looking forward to hearing about your trip. We are going in August with our DS (Who will be a couple of weeks shy of 6 when we go). Can't wait see how your oldest likes US/IOA

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Yea! What a fun trip -- I'm looking forward to hearing how everything goes!

Maria

 

[livandemsmom]

Most of our first day was spent traveling, but I've got to start somewhere so here goes. We headed to the city on Wednesday night and woke early Thursday morning to get to the airport. I have read horror stories about Air Tran online but their service personnel at the airport were awesome. (At least on the departing trip - I'll tell you about the return trip later.) First leg of the flight was fine. At the Atlanta airport, we ate breakfast and looked around for awhile, then got ready for the final leg of the trip. Our last flight took longer than normal because there were thunderstorms in Orlando - the pilot kept mentioning where we were hovering...Tampa, Tallahassee....at one point, my husband noticed we were over the ocean. Finally we arrived in Orlando. We picked up the rental and headed to the Nickelodeon Hotel. Should be about a 20 minute drive. Except that "Venus", the GPS, sent us on a wild goose chase around Orlando and we didn't realize that she was sending us about 340 miles out of the way until 40 minutes into our drive. Of course, it was not that we programmed Venus wrong. After getting back on track, we stopped at Publix for breakfast items and snacks and finally arrived at Nickelodeon Hotel.

That night we went to the Nick Studio Live show (which was free). It was an old-fashioned game show, and my husband loved watching it. It reminded us of the "Double Dare" days.
We were in Building One by the Oasis pool which was only open limited hours, so it was pretty quiet. The girls had a Fairly Oddparents bedroom which they loved. Everyone here was very accomodating. The only complaint was that we had to wear these snap bracelets that said Nick Hotel for five days straight -- they drove DD's nuts and after the adults finally got to take them off, we were still feeling around our wrists for them for days.

Here's a pic of oldest DD in the hotel room. Tomorrow....off to Universal.

 

[dopeyrunner]

What are the bracelets for?

 

[mjohnson96]

What are the bracelets for?

It lets them know you belong there

We stay at the Wolfs Lodge here in Kansas and you have to keep them on to get into the waterpark or other resort areas. I understand it is a pain, since no matter what the little ones like to lose theirs and my DH hates to have his on.

 

[mjohnson96]

Most of our first day was spent traveling, but I've got to start somewhere so here goes.

It sounds like you guys had a great first day.

Just think what could be better taking one day to travel, but to take 3

We are going to drive from Kansas to Orlando in only 2 more weeks, we take 3 days so we don't rush ourselves. Plus with a DD 6 and I'll be almost 6 months along it means lots of little stops.


Look forward to knowing how much more fun you had.

 

[livandemsmom]

I had a long trip report typed out then lost it. So this one will be short and sweet.

When we got to the park (shortly after opening), we walked thru Beverly Hills and the children's area (all closed) and rode Men in Black twice and then got on the Simpsons. My DD had no idea who the Simpsons were but she LOVED the ride. My mom had to close her eyes during most of it, but we all thought the ride was awesome. We backtracked to the children's area and let the kids play in Fievel's playground and the Curious George playground where they got soaked. After that, I wanted to ride ET but the wait was 45 minutes and DH just won't do anything longer than 25 so we went and watched the Barney show instead. Oldest DD griped and cried "I hate Barney" the whole time we waited, but she survived. We then ate at the International Food Festival because it was close and didn't have a line. I had read pretty awful things about it but DD had pasta and DH and I had Chinese and it was passable. And only cost us $30.

Curious George Playground BEFORE:

AFTER:

The fam in front of the Simpsons (oldest DD is taking the picture):

After lunch the ride for ET was down to 15 minutes and I was glad we go to go on it. I'll never forget seeing that movie at the drive-in theater when I was little.

Then we headed over to Jaws, which was another classic I didn't want to miss. I think we waited about 20 minutes for this line (thank goodness it was under DH's time limit!). My youngest DD slept through the whole thing and 7 year old DD had fun but definitely was not scared.

The obligatory Jaws pic:

Then we saw Beetlejuice's rock and roll show. It was really funny and a great break in our day. He made some inappropriate jokes about Michael Phelps and Walmart so Beetlejuice got a thumbs up from me. After that, the fam did Twister while I waited with youngest DD. We're from Kansas and we've seen the real thing so they weren't overly impressed. By this time, everyone was hot and tired from traveling the day before so we just went to Shrek 4D and called it a day. The Mummy was broken so that was a bummer, but overall we had fun. There are a few things we didn't get to do that we wanted to - Mummy, Terminator, and meet Scooby Doo and Shaggy! - but if we ever go back, I'd cut this down to a half day park. It wasn't one of my favorites in Orlando. If you're curious, my favorites are Magic Kingdom, Islands of Adventure, Epcot, and Sea World but I'm glad we went and experienced it. The plastic Barney (seen in the Simpsons picture) was refillable for less than $1 in both Universal parks. After awhile we got sick of the fact that his head wouldn't stay on, so we just walked around without the head. But it was a good deal.

 

[Worfiedoodles]

I am so loving the family Scooby shirts! Great pics, and it sounds like a great time was had by all!

Maria

 

[BrerMama]

More, More!

My family is probably going to Universal next year. We're going to need to pick your brain.

Love ya sis!

 

[Disney Brat]

Great TR so far! Can't wait to hear more!!

 

[shellbelle]

Looking forward to reading more!

We haven't been to US since Oct 05, hoping to go back soon!!!!

 

[Metro West]

Great report and pics!