New York or Orlando?? Heck, let`s do both.....12 nights NYC & Sapphire Falls...July 18 Trip Report

[macraven]

I adore your night pictures

They are spectacular!

 

[schumigirl]

Love tres leches! I made one for my birthday this year and had to give the leftovers to the neighbors before I ate the whole thing myself! Your night time pictures are just beautiful

Lol.......I keep saying I don’t really like cake.........doh!!!! I’d be like you though..........

I’ve never, ever made one of those before.......may have to give it a try..........

Thanks,........I give Tom all the credit for those........

 

[schumigirl]

Good Day @schumigirl, I myself have had bad luck there with the steak........I do believe I’ll have a go at that brisket!!!!!

You would think if they can nail the brisket then they ought to be able to at least put an edible steak on your plate.

I smoke a lot of meats and brisket is one that can easily be to dry if you’re not careful, IMO it’s harder to get right.

Oh no.....you too!!!!

Yes, you have to wonder how they can go so wrong with a simple thing like steak........but get brisket so right!!! I think that’s what I’d go for next time too......or another burger.........

I think you’d be very happy with the brisket!!!

 

[schumigirl]

I adore your night pictures

They are spectacular!

Thanks mac.........as I said, all Tom with those ones........he took loads, and only a few were blurry.......

I’ll tell him when he comes in from his new man cave.........I mean shed........lol.......I swear he’d have it decorated and carpeted if he could........

 

[DisneyLifePapioNe]

Thanks mac.........as I said, all Tom with those ones........he took loads, and only a few were blurry.......

I’ll tell him when he comes in from his new man cave.........I mean shed........lol.......I swear he’d have it decorated and carpeted if he could........

Yes all of your photos are lovely, what do you use?

 

[macraven]

Yes all of your photos are lovely, what do you use?

i think she uses Tom ......

 

[DisneyLifePapioNe]

I got a good laugh from that it wasn’t worth typing just LOL!!!!!

Whoever the camera operator I think we all will agree they are wonderful!!!

 

[macraven]

I have met Tom before and he is the nicest gentleman!

He always is smiling

 

[schumigirl]

Yes all of your photos are lovely, what do you use?

It’s a new one He treated himself to as he wanted better night shots........oh I remember now......Canon G1X mk3.....I think it’s classed as a point and shoot......but seemed more expensive than regular point and shoots.....he’s quite happy with it.........

i think she uses Tom ......

I just spluttered tea down myself!!! Lol........

But, yes...........I do.........

 

[schumigirl]

I have met Tom before and he is the nicest gentleman!

He always is smiling

Awwwww bless you!!!

I think he’s lovely too........

 

[Threeboysandachickie]

Back to you Threeboysandachickie

Lovely to see you back on the boards.......and glad you’re here posting

Sounds a fabulous trip!!! I hope you do get some pool time. I can understand why you haven’t been able to do it so far, but best wishes for your boy to be able to enjoy that time with you all.

Portofino pools are fabulous.........and coming back to the pool after the parks is a lovely way to end a day......and HHN too!! Yay!!

You have to say hi if you see us..........we’ll be there opening night on the 14th, not sure what time yet.......will decide on the day if we go for opening time or leave it a little later!! Long as I see Mr Myers I’ll be happy........

So excited for you..........and again, welcome back

i will definitely say hello if I see you and Tom! My hubby is a Tom also We are excited they added Wednesday night to the HHN lineup! Now we get 5 nights. We get tickets for older brother to take turns with us throughout the weekt! One of us stays behind with the Lukester to chill at Portifino. I usually stay out until it gets really dark, (iam completely blind when the sun goes down!) then Tom gets his fun time of horror with Noah.


Please come up to us if you see us out and about too! My son has a blue wheelchair and I have my tall white cane. Maybe we will run into you at Strongwaters! I've been looking forward to spending an evening there for a few tapas and rum flights!!

I've loved your NYC posts. I am headed there in April for 2 weeks at the guide dog school. My 15year old is joining me, he wants to visit the film schools there. I refused to go any earlier than April...l detest cold weather!!

I hope your new blinds are installed before your trip!

 

[schumigirl]

i will definitely say hello if I see you and Tom! My hubby is a Tom also We are excited they added Wednesday night to the HHN lineup! Now we get 5 nights. We get tickets for older brother to take turns with us throughout the weekt! One of us stays behind with the Lukester to chill at Portifino. I usually stay out until it gets really dark, (iam completely blind when the sun goes down!) then Tom gets his fun time of horror with Noah.


Please come up to us if you see us out and about too! My son has a blue wheelchair and I have my tall white cane. Maybe we will run into you at Strongwaters! I've been looking forward to spending an evening there for a few tapas and rum flights!!

I've loved your NYC posts. I am headed there in April for 2 weeks at the guide dog school. My 15year old is joining me, he wants to visit the film schools there. I refused to go any earlier than April...l detest cold weather!!

I hope your new blinds are installed before your trip!

Two Tom’s?? Double trouble.........

Sounds like you don’t have it too easy, but you seem to be a determined lady!!! And sounds like you have it well planned out so your son is amused while some do HHN!! Fabulous........

I will absolutely be on the lookout for you........oh you will love StrongWater!!!! I’m sure we will have one or two visits there..........

I’m pleased you have extra nights for HHN too........we said we may just pop in some nights to just do the Halloween house and nothing else.......yes, I am a little obsessed!!

Oh the first time I went to NY with my mum and niece in 2013, it was April!!! Never again........it was rather cooler than we planned for.......we stuck to late May and June after that.......I’m like you......I detest the cold with a passion!!!

I hope you have a lovely time there with your boy........I’m quite intruiged at what you’re doing at the blind dog school........sounds interesting.......if you don’t mind sharing of course...........

 

[Threeboysandachickie]

We love touring the way you do! No plans and popping around at random.

Yes, as my husband says " Tom too, what a weird name! " Such troublesome men

DS Noah loves doing hhn with me because the scare actors try so hard to get me, but I can't see them. He loves telling me how they'd get right up in my face during a house walkthrough. If it's a scare zone, i can say "Sorry, I can hear you, but I'm mostly blind so I can't see you!" Thankfully they laugh it off. I know some of them get frustrated, but most laugh. They are amazingly hard workers!!

oh no! If NYC is still cold in April i may wait for June!!! I am going for two weeks to get a new seeing eye dog! My current guy is 10 and is enjoying being a lazy retired family pooch now. They usually work around 7 years after training.i am anxious to get a new partner now that my kiddos are getting older. They love helping me, but not many 15\17 year olds are comfy walking around with their mom on their srm. I am very lucky though....my boys never complsin!

sorry to take over your report!! I am loving your updates!!!

 

[schumigirl]

We love touring the way you do! No plans and popping around at random.

Yes, as my husband says " Tom too, what a weird name! " Such troublesome men

DS Noah loves doing hhn with me because the scare actors try so hard to get me, but I can't see them. He loves telling me how they'd get right up in my face during a house walkthrough. If it's a scare zone, i can say "Sorry, I can hear you, but I'm mostly blind so I can't see you!" Thankfully they laugh it off. I know some of them get frustrated, but most laugh. They are amazingly hard workers!!

oh no! If NYC is still cold in April i may wait for June!!! I am going for two weeks to get a new seeing eye dog! My current guy is 10 and is enjoying being a lazy retired family pooch now. They usually work around 7 years after training.i am anxious to get a new partner now that my kiddos are getting older. They love helping me, but not many 15\17 year olds are comfy walking around with their mom on their srm. I am very lucky though....my boys never complsin!

sorry to take over your report!! I am loving your updates!!!

You`re not taking it over.....it`s lovely being able to chat...…and I`m glad to hear you enjoy the non planning aspect of trips too!!!! I have a friend who at the moment has spread sheets out!!!!! Seriously...…..she`s not normally like this but Disney has her terrified...…..not as terrified as her husbands and kids are!!!! They want a vacation not a military operation...…..

Well, maybe it was a bad April, I `m not sure what the weather is normally like in April......but, hope it`s a successful trip, sounds lovely getting a new dog.....I`m sure you`ll be happy with the new one...….

We call them Guide dogs over here.....but funny story.....well, I hope you find it funny...….over the years I heard the words Seeing Eye Dog as.....and I promise this is true...….I heard Singing Eye Dog...…. eventually as a grown adult we were watching Friends and Phoebe mentioned a seeing eye dog...….so, I turned to Tom and finally asked him what the heck was a singing eye dog anyway...…….

The look on his face was so incredulous!!!! I knew I must have got something wrong...…...he stared at me thoughtfully and didn`t speak for a few moments while he digested the crazy statement I had just made.........when he told me what it really was I felt the most idiotic person on the planet.....ever!!!! It`s become a bit of a long term joke now...……

It`s lovely your boys are happy to help you, yes, so many youngsters are amazing young people...... and sounds like you have amazing fun at HHN`s...……

I`m so glad you are enjoying reading along...…...

 

[schumigirl]

TUESDAY 24TH JULY

Last full day for us...……………..

​

This is always a sad day of sorts for us...…...although we weren`t actually leaving today, there was a finality about the trip ending soon.....but we were massively better than the previous once a year trip where we were incredibly sad at leaving...….now, we kept reminding ourselves it was just a short countdown till we came back a couple of months later...…….of course no one likes vacations coming to an end, so we planned to do what we always do on our last full day...............have some park time.

We were up early this morning......really early...…...and I as always got up first and enjoyed a long shower...….I loved this shower!!! The weather looked to be lovely this morning with some possible showers this afternoon......so we would enjoy the Studios this morning and maybe do the water rides in IOA this afternoon as long as there was no lightning around...…..I hate getting soaked and walking around, so we tended to give them a miss on regular park days...….Jurassic Park ride varies by ride how soaked you get......sometimes you come off dry, other times slightly sprinkled and other times we have been drenched...…..the other two rides we have never come off dry in any way!!! But, when it`s as hot as this it`s lovely to get soaked...…….

So, after we get ready and smother ourselves in sun screen we head over to RP for breakfast in the Club lounge...…..I was glad we had forgotten the donuts last night as this would be our last visit over there this trip.....

It doesn't take long to walk over through the convention and ballroom area...…...and they have a book conference on this week and some of the adornments around were so cute...…..

Little blurry......guess I must have taken that one!!!

We go straight up to the lounge as we are ready for some of their lovely coffee...…...and we are delighted to see a couple of our favorite staff are in this morning...….they`re all lovely, but you do get to know some better than others...……

We get a table by the window and we enjoyed some croissants and honey for Tom and I had my old favorite white toast with grape jelly...…..we can get that in the UK but I never think of buying it somehow...…...and we have a few little mini donuts since we missed out on Voodoo this morning...……one of the other Supervisors came in and when one of the staff said we were sat by the window, she immediately came over and gave us a massive hug......and we had a good catch up there and she gave us a few details about the refurb...….it sounds really lovely...…...we won`t see it finished by the sounds of it on our September trip, but will look forward to seeing it November/December trip.

Once we had finished breakfast, but more importantly catching up with folks, which is always lovely......we headed down to the boat as we were going to The Studios today...…..we usually took the boat from RP when we did the Studios, if we were going to IOA we always walked...….it takes just over 5 minutes at a leisurely pace...…..RP is so close to IOA it`s not worth taking the boat......unless you want a nice little boat ride of course...….and it is a nice little journey whether you walk or take the boat.

I had wondered where this lady statue below had gone...……..

She used to adorn the large gazebo like feature that was there before they put in the new security measures...…...she looked huge sitting on the wooden structure, but now she looked quite lost in among the plants...…...but, we were glad they kept her...…...

It takes a few seconds to get through the bag check and scanner...….and we had just missed a boat this morning...…...but, as usual didn't have too long to wait for the next one. And it`s always nice to be able to chat to folks around you......my friends always say we could chat to anyone at all, and we probably could......and I think most people are the same...…….it`s always nice.

A few moments later we are off the boat and walking into the Studios, we both commented we would miss this heat when we got back home, even with them having a heatwave back home, it would be nothing like this....…...we love the Studios......well, we love both parks......but, I think this one just gets the edge for us...….there are so many rides here we love like The Mummy, RRR, Minions and Potter of course, not mentioning the Horror Make up Show which is phenomenal and quite funny too...…..always like how they make fun of Disney a little...……..

But, today we get in without much of a line and head straight for Minions...…...it was as busy as usual...….but, no wait at all for EP...…...it was fun as always, except for the people in the row in front of us who decided they wanted to all sit on one car.....there was 6 of them...….this didn't go down well with the very patient TM who politely told them to sit down or they could leave...….two of them moved to the car they were supposed to be in and they all sat down.

We didn't go on Shrek this time...….last time the screen had been fairly blurry and hurt my eyes a little watching it...….think it may be time for a revamp there too...…..it is a cute ride, but we can recite it word for word, so we aren't too bothered about missing it this trip...……

Next up of course is RRR...…...a not to be missed ride if you like thrills!!!! Not for the faint hearted really...…..but it is so much fun...…..love the first climb and it is such a smooth drop...…...then just fun as it is fast...……one thing though.....sit as near the front as possible...….the back is rough as heck!!!! Really rough at times...…..so we always ask for the front row, you may have to wait, but it`s worth it...…...

Many people think you go upside down......you absolutely don't...…..you go up and over the loop......it is so cool!!!!

We do only do this once today, mainly because we were only planning to stay until lunchtime today...….so off we pop and pass merrily by the ride that for us, ties for the worst ride in the parks......Jimmy Fallon and F&F...……

The one thing we did like about Fallon ride was the building......it is impressive and has some very iconic images inside and a few fun things......and of course the Panda who had managed to give me a big scare the first time we rode it...…..Kyle spotted it straight away that it was going to move...….I had no idea....it made for a fun moment for Tom and Kyle......and then me!!! I do scare easily...……

The central area here is so pretty...…..but it is a smoking area. And there is usually more than a few smokers in there, so we never spend any time in there sadly...…….but it is pretty...…...

The detail in the Fallon building is still impressive....

This area really was empty...…..we stood for ages and took several pictures, and there was no one came to make the place look busy...….and we commented how different it is when HHN is on...…..you really can`t move at times for crowds...….but, it is a huge amount of fun and a wonderful event...…..we are so looking forward to this years event!!!

Turning now towards The Mummy...….we were incredibly lucky with crowds this trip...…..and we relished every quiet area we encountered as it could be so different...……..

The Mummy new locker area is so much better than the previous set up......spacious and light and didn't seem as crowded as the old way......much better...….so we dropped off my bag and hats and headed on the ride......I have no clue what the regular line was but it couldn't have been too bad as they were only operating one side of the ride and we more or less got straight on...…….and again we asked for the front row...….then realized we were the only ones on this side...…..

This ride is incredible. When you go fast, you really go fast and it is exhilarating...…...good theming helps make this ride one of the best in Orlando......it`s certainly in the top 5 for us!!!

We didn't get our pictures with our usual stilt walker...……but we did want to amble around this area...…..this is where old style Universal still had theming......when you look up at the detail in the windows, you can really see the time and effort that had gone into making Universal Studios what it was...….even before Potter it was amazing. Just not as amazing as it is now...…….Potter had obviously been a massive game changer here.

How empty was this!!!!!

Louie`s pizza is by far the best pizza in the park...…..for a counter service it really is an excellent buy...…..the slices are now a lot larger and they do a good deal if you buy a whole pizza...…..we always get the pepperoni and Kyle loves the plain old cheese pizza!!! We didn't eat here this time, but did plan to in September hopefully during HHN...….we had tried last year and it had closed for an hour around 9pm, so we ended up in Richter Burger……not a place I`d choose to eat again...…..we have tried several times over the years, but apart from a nice meal in 2007 the others hadn't been good at all.

More coming up...…….

 

[AussieBritTraveller]

Oh My Goodness, the Steak saga! as you said how hard is it to get a steak rare and Twice! Plus the attitude from the server, I worked in hospitality for a long time and you never question the diner

Think we will stick to a burger there!

 

[schumigirl]

Oh My Goodness, the Steak saga! as you said how hard is it to get a steak rare and Twice! Plus the attitude from the server, I worked in hospitality for a long time and you never question the diner

Think we will stick to a burger there!

Yep, it annoys me places serve steaks but have no clue how to cook them, but I was surprised how poor the quality of the meat was also...…..yes, wasn't great. I`ve had better steak at cheap and cheerful Millers Ale house!!!!

But, their burgers and brisket at NBC are fabulous!!!!

 

[keishashadow]

Ok, just about caught up. Almost time to start that new TR wheee

i think she uses Tom ......

Lol i do think he could give lessons.

I have met Tom before and he is the nicest gentleman!

He always is smiling

He’s infectious..his smile Wonderful sense of humor, with that special twist only the Brits can pull off well.

Yep, it annoys me places serve steaks but have no clue how to cook them, but I was surprised how poor the quality of the meat was also...…..yes, wasn't great. I`ve had better steak at cheap and cheerful Millers Ale house!!!!

But, their burgers and brisket at NBC are fabulous!!!!

My heart almost dropped when i say miller’s ale house and thot u were going to dis on them lol. Haven’t tried the one near U. Reviews seem mixed. Is that the one you favor when dining there? We enjoy the one near WDW crossroads but not fans of the one near west gate/Kissimmee at all.

 

[schumigirl]

Ok, just about caught up. Almost time to start that new TR wheee



Lol i do think he could give lessons.



He’s infectious..his smile Wonderful sense of humor, with that special twist only the Brits can pull off well.



My heart almost dropped when i say miller’s ale house and thot u were going to dis on them lol. Haven’t tried the one near U. Reviews seem mixed. Is that the one you favor when dining there? We enjoy the one near WDW crossroads but not fans of the one near west gate/Kissimmee at all.

Aww shucks!! He is fabulous.......I know I’m biased but he really is......... Thanks Janet.....will pass on your compliment.........when he comes out of the shed!!!

He is trying to make home brew wine down there not sure about this at all.........I will try it of course......

I was quite late to Millers Ale House.........but we went and loved it!! Yes, the one on Kirkman........not too many tourists which we like (I know I hear myself at times......) staff were incredibly friendly and food was good!! One of our more budget meals!! But we will go back.

Glad you’re catching up.......I know you’ve been busy ...........and yep, will get this one finished in plenty of time to start new one........you know how I hate to drag them on and on and on.........

And so excited 2 weeks tonight is opening HHN!!!

 

[Zosha]

Hello! I was very excited to see you had another trip report on the go when I popped back onto the Dis for the first time in ages. Your trip looks amazing (as always) and isn’t the Maserati just the icing on the cake?! look forward to reading more and looking even more forward to the next one starting!