Most Wonderful Time Of Year - NY, Universal, DW - we are back!

[AussieTink]

Just realised you didn't specify where you are staying in midtown ??? (sounds like our kind of place)

Hi Aussie Wendy! We are at the Residence Inn Manhattan/Midtown

 

[AussieTink]

Hello!
Today was our first real day in New York! We were woken up a few times from a dump truck outside the hotel - they seem to be doing demolition on building nearby so they come and keep picking up the rubbish. Other than that, I think this room is in a fairly quiet area. You occasionally hear horns honking, sirens, but for the most it is nice. Having our own kitchen is great too, and the hotel has an awesome feature where they can do grocery shopping for you and deliver it to your room - no service charge. Before we arrived in the states we had put in an order for bottled water, eggs and some veg. All were waiting when we arrived yesterday. Fantastic as we don't have to lug the big carton of water from the shops! We've put in another order already.

So today we slept in!! Think we all needed a sleep, but were still feeling a bit weary from jet lag. We left our room about midday and headed to Times Square. We were wearing jeans, a long shirt and thick jackets - but it was not as freezing as we thought! I could have happily walked around with just a thin jacket. The downside to big jackets is you have to take them off when you go into a store because it just gets too hot. It wasn't raining at this point either.

Times Square: bright and bustling it was just amazing being there and looking around. So many people and so many cars. Lots to look at. The first stop had to be the Disney Store!! Then we headed down to Macy's. They had a really cool Charlie Brown Christmas display out the front, and some lovely decorations inside. They seemed to still be having a sale as there were lots of discounts. I went to the Visitor Centre to ask about the International Visitor Pass - she gave me some different coupons instead for a Friends & Family discount of 25% - awesome!! We are massive shoppers, and didn't even get through it all!! Back another day I think!!

We started back for our hotel around 4, and it was raining - not too heavy but the time we got back we were pretty wet and couldn't feel my nose from the cold - but again it wasn't like shivering freezing. I do need to buy a beanie I think.

Tomorrow it is also a 90% chance of rain and temps a bit cooler. We have plans to go to Bryant Park and the New York State Library.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Sounds like a nice not too strenuous first day - 25% discount woo hoo! We enjoyed a special exhibition that was on at the library when we went. While in the area you are not too far to check out Grand Central Station if you were interested too.

 

[AussieTink]

Hi again! This update will be for Wednesday and Thursday

Wednesday was raining when we woke up, but stopped when we left the hotel. Today we walked down to the New York Public Library. Wow what a huge building it is! I work in a Library, so was awesome seeing this one. The Reading Room was closed though until 2017, which was unfortunate because that looks like such a beautiful room.

We then walked around to Bryant Park, there were little shops, a Christmas tree and an Ice Skating rink there. Then we went to Lord & Taylor which was nearby. They had such a pretty entrance and a sweet window display. Again it was not as cold, I was only wearing a light long sleeved shirt and would occasionally put on my big coat.

It was time for lunch, so we found our way back to Times Square to go to Ruby Tuesday. Nice little place. Then it was back for more shopping, this time at Forever21. Shopping queues to pay have been extremely slow, most of our time is spent waiting in one! By time we got out of their, checked out Sephora, Disney Store and Toys R Us it was time to head back to hotel.

It was about 3pm and they were already shutting sidewalks off for the tree lighting. It had also started to rain. So imagine hundreds of people finding out they can't walk that way and having to go around the block, and even having to walk on the road to get to a sidewalk - it was utter chaos!! Took us much much longer to get back to our hotel. We were all so sore from today, so just veged out and watched the tree lighting on tv then straight to sleep.

Forgot to mention Ive been wearing my fitbit to see how many steps I do a day, thought it would be cool to take note. Tuesday we did about 10,000 and Wednesday about 11,000. I am thinking we will be doing much more at Disney - but that also can change due to movement being recorded from rides haha!

Today (Thursday) was soooooo cold!! Oh my goodness it was 'can't feel my ears or nose' cold. No rain thank goodness, but winds had picked up. We were headed to Central Park today, and walked along Fifth Avenue. We walked to see the Boathouse and the Alice statue. Such a massive park. Was great seeing all the doggies being walked and the squirrels running around! Very quiet in the actual park, once you get past the people trying to sell you things, donate, or ride their bikes.

We were pretty sore today, so decided to head back for lunch. We stopped along way at Laduree to grab some macarons - they get them shipped in from their Paris store every couple of days!! We stopped in at Tiffany's for a browse, and then decided on TGIFridays for lunch. We were pretty much done for the day, so popped into a H&M closest to us, and went back to the hotel. Early night tonight so we can get up and get moving early tomorrow for a full day out.

Steps today: 11,884

 

[AussieTink]

Sounds like a nice not too strenuous first day - 25% discount woo hoo! We enjoyed a special exhibition that was on at the library when we went. While in the area you are not too far to check out Grand Central Station if you were interested too.

Yes the discounts while shopping have been great!!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Awesome! Have a great time.

 

[cmarsh31]

Ha. Your weather reports are cracking me up. I'm in Upstate NY and we just had the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th (depends which weather report you see) warmest November ever. It's so mild so enjoy the temps - you were right to be prepared, it could have easily been 20 or less plus windchill! Did you see Wicked? It's our absolute favorite musical and well-worth the time!

 

[AussieTink]

Ha. Your weather reports are cracking me up. I'm in Upstate NY and we just had the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th (depends which weather report you see) warmest November ever. It's so mild so enjoy the temps - you were right to be prepared, it could have easily been 20 or less plus windchill! Did you see Wicked? It's our absolute favorite musical and well-worth the time!

Hi cmarsh31! We come from tropical weather in Australia - 95Farenheit at the moment. And our winters don't get too cold. So we did enjoy the chill coming from the heat. Loved Wicked again!

 

[AussieTink]

Friday was our last day in NY. We got up a little bit earlier and went out to see the Christmas Tree at The Rockefeller Centre. Was very pretty with the lights on it and the ice skating rink in front of it. While there someone proposed in front of the tree! We saw where the NBC studios were and that was cool too. We went down to checkout the M&Ms and Hershey store in Times Square - chocolate galore!! Then back to Macy's for some last bit of shopping - today was their 'friends and family' sale where you took a further 25% off discounted prices. The discounts were amazing, 50% off jewellery then take the further % off - our shops don't ever do that much!! Walked back to our hotel for lunch and then later walked down to a pet store to grab some cute stuff for our dogs! Then pack to the room to pack and have an early night. Steps: 13,338

Today (Saturday) we were being picked up for our transport to JFK airport to fly down to Orlando!!!!!!! There was a bit more traffic on road to the airport which was expected. We were picked up at 12, and the SUVs are amazingly massive and comfortable. We checked into our flight and there was only a little wait to get through security. Grabbed some water and waited for our flight. We took off about 3pm, and landed on time in Orlando. Stepped off the plane to heat. We are hoping it is not too hot though. Down to the "monorail" and to our bags, didn't seem to take too long which was great. We met with our booked car transfer FL Tours. We have used them every time in Orlando and have always been great.

Arrived at Hard Rock about 7pm. Wheeled all our bags in and checked in. Because of travel agents mistake we were spending the night in a club room and then moving to our planned rooms tomorrow. A bit of a hassle but at least we were at the hotel. The club rooms have been renovated and look really nice, really cool rock and roll vibe - will post photos when we get home. We had a king room with pullout sofa for myself. Was a little squishy with us all but doable for 1 night. DSis and I went to checkout the Rock Royalty room - it was in between service so just grabbed some softdrink. DMum ordered us room service, which was delivered by a very upbeat guy - he was totally loving his job. It was great to get some good food into our tunmies! We then went to see the dessert offerings, grabbed some cookies and left. We wouldn't pay to stay club level, the offerings weren't really our taste and there was not much of them either. But for others it might suit them perfectly with little nibbles and drinks all day.

We got ready for bed and packed our suitcases again for our move tomorrow. No steps recorded today.

 

[viaggiamo]

Loving your TR, thanks for posting it. Looking forward to photos too. Have great holiday xo

 

[AussieTink]

Loving your TR, thanks for posting it. Looking forward to photos too. Have great holiday xo

Thanks! Getting a little hard to post a new update each night! Thanks for reading!!

 

[AussieTink]

Sunday 6th December we woke up about 8am to breakfast being delivered. Sunny day outside and we could see the coaster going already and the Harry Potter train from our room. Today we had to change rooms so after a bit of packing we got going. We got a taxi from Hard Rock to the outlets on International Drive.

We arrived shortly after 10:30 and got our shop on. About 1:00 we decided to go to the Mall at Millenia. I had seen on disboards about only accepting and going with Mears branded taxis, so we ignored the rude honking yelling driver of an unmarked taxi at the ranks, and waited for a Mears to come by. Nice guy and got us there in 10mins. Was quite busy here but we did everything we wanted. I think it was about 3/4pm when we decided we had had enough and worn out and to go back to the hotel. The taxi rank here was good as the security guard would turn away every other taxi besides Mears ones, we felt safe getting a taxi from here.

At the hotel we checked back in to get our new room - 2 garden view rooms with connecting doors. We ended up on the 6th floor with a view of the front of the hotel. We ordered room service again and got everything ready for the parks tomorrow.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

You do love your shopping.......hope you had a great first day at the parks!

 

[AussieTink]

You do love your shopping.......hope you had a great first day at the parks!

Yep! The small town I live in hardly has any shops (the best shop we have is a Woolworths lol), so when I knew we were going overseas I saved up to get my shop on over here

 

[AussieTink]

Monday was our first day at the parks!! We got a simple breakfast delivered to our room - just so convenient for us. I think we got to Universal about 10:15. We had to stop in the lobby to get a photo and print our express passes and then walked down to Universal. Hard Rock is so close to the park that it doesn't take long at all. We went through bag check and then had to go redeem our voucher for tickets at the window. Once through the fingerprint scanner and turnstiles we were finally here yay!!

Grabbed a map and walked straight to the new Simpsons area. When we were last here it was only the Simpsons ride, so all the new theming was great photo opportunities. We saw Men In Black was only 5min wait so went straight to that. We had to get a locker for the ride and used our express passes for it and walked right through. Love this ride!! DSis won the day with over 40,000 points! We also love walking out of the ride to the Men In Black song, bop along to it haha!!

We then made our way around to the new part of Harry Potter. Last time they only had the castle over at Islands of Adventure, so was new for us. You first see just a London scene with the bus in front, then walk behind the wall and you are literally transported straight into Diagon Alley. We were all gushing as we walked around at how fantastic and detailed the theming was. Absolutely spot on - you could have been on set of the movie. It was just amazing, and the dragon, wow. We explored some shops and they were also themed to perfection. I didn't feel adventurous enough to try the Gringots ride though. We spent a good amount of time just wandering around, taking all the sights, sounds and music in, and taking lots of photos.

I wanted to ride Transformers before hopping parks so DSis and I went and found that to do. I had ridden it previously in Universal Hollywood so was excited to see DSis reaction as she loves Spiderman. She thought it was great, and we had an adrenalin rush after that!!

We decided to go on the train to Hogwarts. You need a 2 Park pass to do this, so was a fun bonus. Well WOW is all I can say. From the moment you enter the station, to seeing the Hogwarts Express, boarding into your own carriage, it just feels exciting. What a way to make a backstage short train trip into a must do. The window to the 'outside' is a video screen that shows various scenes and characters from the movies, and the door is also a screen which shows shadows of characters talking. Magical is the word I'm looking for. And both ways have something different. We all got off and were just like wow, Universal have upped their game.

We got to Hogsmeade and this is where all the crowds were! Was pretty packed so we walked over to Jurassic Park area, considered the ride but didn't feel like risking getting wet today. So we decided on Spiderman before lunch. Along the way we saw the new King Kong area being built - the facade looks so detailed. The Toon area feels a bit old, but still fun to look at - and goodness the people on the Dudley ride were absolutely SOAKED!!

Down to the Superhero area and we saw a couple of characters out and about. DSis and I rode Spiderman - looks so good with the updated graphics! DSis said she prefers Spiderman, but I prefer Transformers. We stopped in at the Diner across the way to grab a bite to eat for lunch and we walked down to the Seuss area. The Cat in the Hat ride was cute, surprised how long it was! Decided to go back to Universal so we could get the other experience of the train ride over. As magical as ever!! And the dragon even breathed fire when we were back over in Diagon Alley - we were beginning to wonder if it still did.

We didn't really have any specific plans so DSis and I went and rode the Simpsons version of Dumbo, and then we decided to go to E.T - DSis loves this ride. It was then getting towards the 5pm Macy's Christmas Parade so we walked towards the front of the park to watch - very cute and the massive balloons are great. I believe you can sign up before the parade to be a balloon handler, that would be a fun experience. It was the end of our day so back to the hotel room and to get ready for the next day - another relaxing day at the parks. Todays steps - 18,454.

 

[AussieTink]

Tuesday 8/12 was our second and last day at the parks. We had ridden most of what we wanted to yesterday, so today was just re-visiting what we wanted to do.

When we arrived the Despicable Me ride was a 45 minute wait, so we headed down to Men In Black and did that, and then walked back to Despicable Me. On the way there we passed Doc from Back to the Future who loved DSis BTTF 2 shirt!! We also stopped by Bumblebee at the Transformers character spot too, he was pretty amazing up close!

Express Passes are excellent at Universal, we love how you pretty much walk onto a ride and can re-ride over and over. We did Despicable Me which was super cute, then wanted to ride Spiderman so we took the Harry Potter train over and rode Spiderman twice in a row.

Walked back to Universal side for a bite to eat and then onto Diagon Alley again. I had remembered seeing a cute shirt in a shop there - and we got so distracted by the scenery again we spent half an hour there!! Even got to see the dragon breathe fire!!

We had pretty much done everything by then, so decided to finish the day with Men In Black, well we ended up doing that 4 times in a row!!! And because of the Express Pass on our last ride DSis and I got to be in the car by ourselves, so we just had to have the cute on-ride photo at the end!!

Some last minute shopping to end the day and back to the resort for dinner and packing as tomorrow we were onto Disney!!!!!! Set our alarms for 7:30am, ordered breakfast, so we could be organised for the 9am car pickup.
Steps: 14,117

 

[AussieTink]

Wednesday 9/12: we got up bright and early, today was Disney day!! It was shorts and shirt weather today. I was pretty excited, we were starting off at The Beach Club - Ive always wanted to stay there!!

Packed, dressed, breakfast and checked out. 9am on the dot our driver pulled up, and we were off!! He said I-4 had a bit of traffic backed up so to expect a delay. Such a super nice driver we chatted with. Today was also my birthday! In the car DMum and DSis gave me a cute little mickey necklace to wear! The driver then informed us the traffic was gone, and within half an hour we were cruising up to the security window, and being welcomed home! Woohoo!!!

So I had reserved a room for myself at the Beach Club, and DMum and DSis were booked into the Villas. We parted ways, I went and checked in and sat in the lobby (room was not ready yet) waiting for them to come back. I got a text while waiting from DMum saying they had been upgraded to Club Level - how exciting for them!! Their room wasn't ready yet either so we met up in the lobby and headed to Hollywood Studios by foot. The lovely concierge guys in Club had put together a super cute jewelled birthday button for me which DSis gave to me as a surprise - loved it!!

It took us probably 15/20 minutes to walk over to Studios. It was slightly busy but we were in Disney!!!! Didn't take long for bag check, and first time using the magic bands was different. Our first fastpass was for the Muppets at 11:15, so we slowly walked our way over there, and along the way got in line to meet Donald. We finished up the Muppets about 11:45, and our next one was for Toy Story at 12:20. DMum had not ridden this before, and she loved it!! We all loved it, and I may have gotten the highest score hehe. After that we saw a lineup for Santa Goofy, just had to go meet him, and he was really good with meeting everyone. We did have reservations for Indiana but we decided to go have lunch and go to our rooms as we had got our room numbers texted and emailed to us.

It was overcast as we walked back and started spitting a little. We went to my room first, was on the first floor, very pretty and was surprised with a birthday present! A personalised set of birthday mickey ears with some chocolate! How exciting!!

We then went up to the Club Level to check out DMum and DSis room that they got upgraded to. We walked down the hall, and started to get confused when got to double doors. They had been upgraded to the Newport Presidential Suite!! We were all absolutely gobsmacked!! We opened the doors and our mouths were just hanging open - a big entrance with a massive lounge and dining room. We were walking around stunned. So many rooms! A kitchenette and bar, a main bedroom with a massive master bathroom, second bedroom with seperate lounge and its own bathroom, and all with balconies to sit on and look out. We had been massively pixie dusted!! Now we actually had 3 beds, and could fit myself in their reservation!

So I went down to organise that out, came back up and we were all just still in shock. The view, the room, our own christmas tree - incredibly beautiful. We felt incredibly lucky to be chosen to be upgraded! I could just sit there all day and night people watching. It was heading close to 5pm, and we had a reservation for Coral Reef at Epcot at 6:55. So we got organised, and walked over, was a little cool out this time.

We were here early so went over to Nemo as it was a 10 minute wait. Well that was a walk-on! Browsed some stores and checked into our reservation and waited. Was about a 30 minute wait for our reservation, and we got seated in a lovely booth overlooking the fish tanks. How beautiful!! Saw some lovely fish, sharks and turtles, was very cool. Was about 9pm when we headed out, was going to stop and watch illuminations but we were pretty tired and full from our meal, so decided to head back to our room and call it a night. We were able to see the Illuminations fireworks from our balcony which was cool. Will try and upload a pic tomorrow, but for now - sleep!
Steps: 12,000

 

[jevs]

Wow. What a wonderful upgrade, and a great start to your birthday!

I loved HP world at Universal, they had it just right and the little details were just amazing.

Looking forward to the next installment.

 

[crazy Cat Lady]

Fantastic trip, the room sounds amazing.

Happy Birthday BTW!

 

[Aussie Wendy]

What an amazing upgrade. Sounds like you are having a great time. I was surpised you didn't ride Gringotts in Diagon Alley - you would have loved it. Ride-wise its a track similar to Transformers - not really a coaster at all - a few dips and bends - stressing dips not big drops.