Monday, Day 6.
We get up at 7:45 a.m. because we want arrive at IOA at close to opening. The girls have been waiting five years to go on Pteranodon Flyers (last time the line was too long) and we have heard the only sane way to do it is first thing in the morning. We get breakfast about 8:15 a.m. Heres what they offered:
Hot oatmeal w/fixings, brown sugar, raisins, cranberries, etc.
Warm glazed cinnamon buns in a pan
All kinds of pastries
Croissants
Bread/bagels for toasting, plus butter & cream cheese
Fresh sliced fruit
Cereals & milk
Fresh orange & apple juice
Coffee/teas
No English muffins while were there, but Ill survive somehow (think of the Homer Simpson episode where he eats his pet lobster). No waiting, no ordering, everyone just picks out what they want and voila, were out in a half hour. (Great if you have teens/kids old enough to handle themselves.) The staff is always friendly and ready to help while we are there. The coffee is drinkable, too -- enough to tide me over to a Starbucks. We head down to the watertaxi dock at jump right on a boat! Lucky us. We were not so lucky later in the day. Heres the dock & map:
And Map
Pteranodon Flyers is one of those love it/hate it rides. Love swinging among the trees in the breeze and the views. Hate the long line and the short ride. Oh well. We only wait about five minutes and girls and I ride. (Jack doesnt do swingy height things, but WILL do Ripsaw, but doesnt like High in the Sky Trolley ride, go figure.) I would ride this many more times if it were on FOTL. Then we split up, the girls, armed with a cell phone, go one way, and we go ours until lunch.
This is the part Ive been waiting for: meandering the parks, no hurry, no direction, no pressure. So we head over to Seuss Landing and go on High in Sky Trolley Ride. I love this! Love it! Fun fun, great views of the park over the water. My absolute fav ride at Disney world is the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Youre thinking, what a bore but sitting and taking in the scenery is just fine with me on vacation. I will make such a good old person Im going on ALL the bus trips. So Trolley Ride is very pleasant and theres something new to see each time.
After that we head over to Universal, which Jack and I ended up liking better. Its more open and adult-like. Except for E.T. Love it! LOVE it. We go on Jaws, a scenic boat ride that goes awry. There seem to be a lot of rides like this, Jurassic Park starts out nice, so does T-2 I wish mechanical arms would stroke my head before I fell to sleep. The girls get so they say, oh, no, I hope some headlights dont almost crash into us, cause that would be bad! Count the number of car/trains that almost crash into you on rides in the two parks. Im thinking 56. Heres a random photo of the Big Arm:
And heres one where I tried to catch the log coming out from under RipSaw falls, but I snapped to soon!
And heres one of the cool streets in Universal:
After Jaws, Jack and I try T-2 with low expectations. It was great! The 3-D is great and the film seemed longer than the other 3-Ds, the opening Intro to Cyberdyne is funnier than expected and the show is amusing. Id heard that Universal spent beaucoup bucks on this and it shows. We meet up at noon for lunch at Thunder Falls Terrace. We have just snacks cause were not too hungry. They have good rice, beans and decent fries. We make a note to have full lunch here later.
As we are now in full theme park routine, we head back to the hotel for an afternoon swim. The RPR pool impresses us. It has just enough depth (about 4.5 feet) in places so an adult can float comfortably. One of my goals in vacation pools is to not move a muscle. This usually involves a floating device. If you do it just right, you can float 15-20 minutes before you bump into a wall or another vacationer. I think the RPR takes all the floaties guests leave behind and puts RPR on them and then new folks can use them. I found a noodle that, doubled up, allowed me to float 18.5 minutes working only to breathe in and breathe out. Perfect. After all the walking in the parks, pool time is great. And then bouncy ball! What could be better? An afternoon storm that closes the pool? Oh well. Off we go. The girls and I check out the gymnasium facilities entrance is included with Club Level and it does not disappoint. Heres a photo of the hot tub:
Its really quite soothing and nice. Back in the womens area they also have a sauna and steam room. The place has shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, shavers, lotion, combs deodorant, hairspray and even tampons. All three of us got to shower at once instead of waiting like we would have in the room. Plus Jack got the shower in the room with no waiting. We did this routine several days.
We head to the Club Lounge for the evening presentation and heres what it was:
Night 2: Appetizers
Warm dish: Red beans & rice with shrimp.
Cold dish: Chicken veggie salad (cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, feta, spices, & chicken)
Fresh veggies with two dips: ranch & thousand (homemade)
Asssorted cheeses and crackers/bread
Fresh tortilla chips with guacamole, sour cream, and salsa.
Good wine: a Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Merlot, & Cabernet, and Amstel, Corona and domestic choices. Sodas, milk, & water.
Again we linger over cocktail hour and food. One of Jacks favorite foods is red beans and rice so he is VERY happy. The girls are perfectly happy. I must say though, we are not a family of picky eaters. We love fruits & veggies and eat very little fried food so the Club selections worked well for us.
After dinner we head back to the parks and go our separate ways. We plan to meet at the dock at 8 p.m., but then decide to just meet back at the room. We do a few rides including MIB (Im terrible!) Then silly me says to Jack, lets take the boat to Portofino to check it out since we are eating there tomorrow night. We have plenty of time. As we float down the waterway, I realize we have no cell phone with us. Not to worry, well just check out the menu at Sals and then head back. Can you see where this is going? We hop off a Portofino, check out Sals and are back on the dock in ten minutes. Waiting, waiting . waiting for the next boat. So, 20, 25, 35 minutes later and no boat. Its getting dark. We could have walked, we could have taken a bike-taxi, but we keep on thinking, its almost here. And then the boat materializes under the bridge. Yea! What? The boat is broken and no one can board! Ugh. So, we have to wait for a replacement boat. Here we are alone on the dock at dusk when what should happen? Across the piazza an opera singer appears on the balcony in a spotlight above Sals and begins singing every Italian song we know, including Thats Amore. So my husband and I begin dancing, all alone, with live music across the water very romantic.
Balcony above Sals (Is Sals a play on UniverSAL?)
We felt like she was singing just for us. Soon enough, the boat comes at we make it back to the room, and make our apologies to the girls and go to dessert. Tonight there are cookies, mini fruit and nut tarts and pineapple upsidedown cake, along with sliced fruit and berries. All is well. Next up: Days 7, 8, & 9, rest of photos and end notes.
We get up at 7:45 a.m. because we want arrive at IOA at close to opening. The girls have been waiting five years to go on Pteranodon Flyers (last time the line was too long) and we have heard the only sane way to do it is first thing in the morning. We get breakfast about 8:15 a.m. Heres what they offered:
Hot oatmeal w/fixings, brown sugar, raisins, cranberries, etc.
Warm glazed cinnamon buns in a pan
All kinds of pastries
Croissants
Bread/bagels for toasting, plus butter & cream cheese
Fresh sliced fruit
Cereals & milk
Fresh orange & apple juice
Coffee/teas
No English muffins while were there, but Ill survive somehow (think of the Homer Simpson episode where he eats his pet lobster). No waiting, no ordering, everyone just picks out what they want and voila, were out in a half hour. (Great if you have teens/kids old enough to handle themselves.) The staff is always friendly and ready to help while we are there. The coffee is drinkable, too -- enough to tide me over to a Starbucks. We head down to the watertaxi dock at jump right on a boat! Lucky us. We were not so lucky later in the day. Heres the dock & map:
And Map
Pteranodon Flyers is one of those love it/hate it rides. Love swinging among the trees in the breeze and the views. Hate the long line and the short ride. Oh well. We only wait about five minutes and girls and I ride. (Jack doesnt do swingy height things, but WILL do Ripsaw, but doesnt like High in the Sky Trolley ride, go figure.) I would ride this many more times if it were on FOTL. Then we split up, the girls, armed with a cell phone, go one way, and we go ours until lunch.
This is the part Ive been waiting for: meandering the parks, no hurry, no direction, no pressure. So we head over to Seuss Landing and go on High in Sky Trolley Ride. I love this! Love it! Fun fun, great views of the park over the water. My absolute fav ride at Disney world is the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Youre thinking, what a bore but sitting and taking in the scenery is just fine with me on vacation. I will make such a good old person Im going on ALL the bus trips. So Trolley Ride is very pleasant and theres something new to see each time.
After that we head over to Universal, which Jack and I ended up liking better. Its more open and adult-like. Except for E.T. Love it! LOVE it. We go on Jaws, a scenic boat ride that goes awry. There seem to be a lot of rides like this, Jurassic Park starts out nice, so does T-2 I wish mechanical arms would stroke my head before I fell to sleep. The girls get so they say, oh, no, I hope some headlights dont almost crash into us, cause that would be bad! Count the number of car/trains that almost crash into you on rides in the two parks. Im thinking 56. Heres a random photo of the Big Arm:
And heres one where I tried to catch the log coming out from under RipSaw falls, but I snapped to soon!
And heres one of the cool streets in Universal:
After Jaws, Jack and I try T-2 with low expectations. It was great! The 3-D is great and the film seemed longer than the other 3-Ds, the opening Intro to Cyberdyne is funnier than expected and the show is amusing. Id heard that Universal spent beaucoup bucks on this and it shows. We meet up at noon for lunch at Thunder Falls Terrace. We have just snacks cause were not too hungry. They have good rice, beans and decent fries. We make a note to have full lunch here later.
As we are now in full theme park routine, we head back to the hotel for an afternoon swim. The RPR pool impresses us. It has just enough depth (about 4.5 feet) in places so an adult can float comfortably. One of my goals in vacation pools is to not move a muscle. This usually involves a floating device. If you do it just right, you can float 15-20 minutes before you bump into a wall or another vacationer. I think the RPR takes all the floaties guests leave behind and puts RPR on them and then new folks can use them. I found a noodle that, doubled up, allowed me to float 18.5 minutes working only to breathe in and breathe out. Perfect. After all the walking in the parks, pool time is great. And then bouncy ball! What could be better? An afternoon storm that closes the pool? Oh well. Off we go. The girls and I check out the gymnasium facilities entrance is included with Club Level and it does not disappoint. Heres a photo of the hot tub:
Its really quite soothing and nice. Back in the womens area they also have a sauna and steam room. The place has shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, shavers, lotion, combs deodorant, hairspray and even tampons. All three of us got to shower at once instead of waiting like we would have in the room. Plus Jack got the shower in the room with no waiting. We did this routine several days.
We head to the Club Lounge for the evening presentation and heres what it was:
Night 2: Appetizers
Warm dish: Red beans & rice with shrimp.
Cold dish: Chicken veggie salad (cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, feta, spices, & chicken)
Fresh veggies with two dips: ranch & thousand (homemade)
Asssorted cheeses and crackers/bread
Fresh tortilla chips with guacamole, sour cream, and salsa.
Good wine: a Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Merlot, & Cabernet, and Amstel, Corona and domestic choices. Sodas, milk, & water.
Again we linger over cocktail hour and food. One of Jacks favorite foods is red beans and rice so he is VERY happy. The girls are perfectly happy. I must say though, we are not a family of picky eaters. We love fruits & veggies and eat very little fried food so the Club selections worked well for us.
After dinner we head back to the parks and go our separate ways. We plan to meet at the dock at 8 p.m., but then decide to just meet back at the room. We do a few rides including MIB (Im terrible!) Then silly me says to Jack, lets take the boat to Portofino to check it out since we are eating there tomorrow night. We have plenty of time. As we float down the waterway, I realize we have no cell phone with us. Not to worry, well just check out the menu at Sals and then head back. Can you see where this is going? We hop off a Portofino, check out Sals and are back on the dock in ten minutes. Waiting, waiting . waiting for the next boat. So, 20, 25, 35 minutes later and no boat. Its getting dark. We could have walked, we could have taken a bike-taxi, but we keep on thinking, its almost here. And then the boat materializes under the bridge. Yea! What? The boat is broken and no one can board! Ugh. So, we have to wait for a replacement boat. Here we are alone on the dock at dusk when what should happen? Across the piazza an opera singer appears on the balcony in a spotlight above Sals and begins singing every Italian song we know, including Thats Amore. So my husband and I begin dancing, all alone, with live music across the water very romantic.
Balcony above Sals (Is Sals a play on UniverSAL?)
We felt like she was singing just for us. Soon enough, the boat comes at we make it back to the room, and make our apologies to the girls and go to dessert. Tonight there are cookies, mini fruit and nut tarts and pineapple upsidedown cake, along with sliced fruit and berries. All is well. Next up: Days 7, 8, & 9, rest of photos and end notes.
