Friday, Day 3: Your Ankle Cant Handle The Truth!
We decide to hit the parks earlyish around 9 a.m. No crutch for me; its go time. I down a Bonamine because I dont spin well. A few years ago I had an inner ear problem and was spinning even without rides. Two years ago I tried Everest at Animal Kingdom and wow did that teach me a lesson. The taxi there is $8 flat rate, but I think if we had a metered cab it might have been less, according to the reports on this board. I LOVE the feeling of walking into a theme park for the first time on vacation. The Magic Kingdom makes me positively giddy. I put my arms up Evita-style with a silly grin on my face at the end of Citywalk facing the parks the girls quickly tell me to put my arms down. Good luck, I tell them.
We (meaning the D14 & D16) make a beeline for The Simpsons Ride. Oh how weve been waiting for this! The best part about the ride for me is the running commentary. The beginning bit with Sideshow Bob and Homer is hilarious! I dont want to spoil anything but, I will say the ride wasnt as wonderful as Id hoped. But then I have spin issues and the beginning is very (virtually) spinny. The reviews from my family are as follows: Husband/loved it! Went on four times!, D14/just okay, D16/just okay (both spent their free time riding Mummy and MIB). Also, D16 is itching to ride Hulk again (Jack and I dont do upside down). Then Spiderman. Over the week we ride Spiderman several times, and the front row is definitely a better experience, but made me very woosey feeling. Then the girls do Dueling Dragons.
Whats that, Little Ankle? You think Im overdoing it? No, no, were tough and we dont feel pain, understand?
A storm is coming up just as we enter the Jurassic Park ride and it closes down so we head over to Suess Landing and ride Cat in the Hat because its one of the few indoor rides in IOA. Let me tell you, Cat in the Hat is a spinny ride! If you have spin issues, avoid that one. And Spidey. And MIB. (I managed to do MIB three times only because I was so embarrassed about my score but I paid for it.) Well, its still raining so we ride the Carosuessel and hang in the gift shops until the rain subsides. After the storms we head back to Jurassic Park. It is my fav. themed land. The foliage just knocks me over. We do a passby on Pteradon Flyers but the line is wayyy to long so we head back to Jurassic Park River Adventure. Going on Jurassic Park is great. I love the slowness of the first part. We all love the drop at the end and the jaws of death descending upon us just before. At this point my ankle starts to complain and threatens to stage a coup on the rest of the vacation, or at least the rest of my body.
So we head back to HS and to the Hilton Garden Inn pool. Ahhhhh. Then we take a cab to the Milennium Mall for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory because we have a gift card. I have to say the nachos were great there. A stack of warm chips served with real cheese, hot and gooey, sour cream and guac, yummm. We walk through the mall which is nicely designed with muted, natural lighting and a cool change from the hot concrete in the parks and elsewhere. This is not outlet shopping, however. One of the anchor stores is Macys and the other is Neiman Marcus? Anyway, the girls gravitated towards Urban Outfitters and we gravitated towards our credit cards lest the girls tried to spirit them away from us and purchase the stores contents. My ankle demands ice and NOW, so we cab it back home and call it a night.
Saturday, Day 4: Fathers Day IS Tomorrow
Today we split up for the morning. Jack and D16 decide to hang by the pool and D14 and I hop on the I-Trolley to Festival Bay Mall (outlet shopping) to get souvenirs and Fathers Day gifts. The I-Trolley roughly follows International Drive via the red and green line. Fares cost $1/ride or there are cards you can buy in time increments like 1/3/5 day passes. The I-Trolley really provides a convenient way to get around without toooo much waiting. The nice thing about going to Festival Bay Mall is that the trolley stops right at the entrance doors to the mall, instead of plopping you on International Blvd., about 2 blocks out. If you can, visit the Universal Studios store there we saved about 50% on all our purchases there and it saved us the hassle of lugging stuff back from the park. When we were there, almost all of the merchandise was marked down and there were signs everywhere that read: Take an Extra 30% Off the Lowest Marked Price. Bingo!
Heres what $45 bought us:
Cute pink tank top w/Universal Studios logo in sparkle writing for D14
Red Cherry 7-Up fitted t-shirt for D16
Blue Shirt w/Royal Pacfic Resort logo for Jack (thats where were going to stay!)
Dr. Suess Character Mug w/Jack on it for Jack
Dr. Suess Character Mug w/Bob on it for my father
Some Universal Pens
After looking at the prices in the parks, this was a huge score for us. As you know, you can easily spend $17-25 on one shirt in the parks. Having said that, the merchandise is mostly not the up-to-the-moment choices you have in the parks, but what do we care once we get home? D14 did end up buying a Homer shirt in the parks with her savings and I think she appreciated it all the more. The girls, by the way, saved their spending money by themselves so they became smart shoppers.
After that we head to Ron Jon Surf Shop to round out the Fathers Day purchases they have good prices on some merchandise as well. Before leaving we hit the Subway and get lunch for all of us for $17. I dont love Subway, but I love not spending $45 for lunch. Another savings today. To catch the I-Trolley back, ou need to walk two blocks out the International Blvd. and then about a half a block to the stand. It has a bench and shading. After lunch at the room we cab it to Universal. This cab asks for a $10 flat fee! We negotiate to a better price. I really need to start asking for metered cabs.
We arrive around 1 p.m. and its not that crowded. We head for Universal first. Heres where I try to insert my first photo. Wish me luck.
Photo of 3/4s of family:
And heres three photos of us with Curious George. Guess which one I am!
There are many characters our during our stay and the lines for photos are nothing like Disney. Im not sure if the parks are less crowded but it was much more relaxing to get character photos here.
We head to E.T. Ive forgotten how much I like this ride and the scent! Yes, I remember it now and riding among the stars! And E.T. saying my Vacation Starbucks name! [A little side note: my husband makes the best coffee in the world, yes its true and youd think so too, if you came over to our house for breakfast. He grinds the bean fresh every morning and so on. So on vacation for our caffeine fix we resort to Starbucks or Caribou, or a local coffeehouse if we can find one, but mostly we cant. At Starbucks they usually ask your name and write it on the cup. For some reason, I started saying my name was Lucy so Lucy is my Vacation Starbucks name. And now my E.T. Come Home Name. Try it! It feels like magic.]
Later we take the obligatory shot of the child being eaten alive by a shark:
I love not being in a rush at US and IOA. We are meeting our friend Winslow again for dinner so we leave the parks fairly early, knowing tomorrow (Sunday) we check into the Royal Pacific and will have four more days ahead of us with FOTL.
Winslow picks us up takes us to a GREAT sushi restaurant off the Sand Lake Road called Nagoya. DA14 says her goyza are the best shes ever eaten and she likes goyza like some people like French Fries. D16 and I have sushi plates that are outstanding and Jack has the teriyaki chicken because, being a farm boy at heart, he doesnt do uncooked things that were once alive. After dinner we walk to TooJays for decadent dessert on the patio. Its surprisingly nice out for a June evening. Ahhh, its nice to be full and tired. Coming up: Day 5: Fathers Day and Royal Pacifc Photos.
We decide to hit the parks earlyish around 9 a.m. No crutch for me; its go time. I down a Bonamine because I dont spin well. A few years ago I had an inner ear problem and was spinning even without rides. Two years ago I tried Everest at Animal Kingdom and wow did that teach me a lesson. The taxi there is $8 flat rate, but I think if we had a metered cab it might have been less, according to the reports on this board. I LOVE the feeling of walking into a theme park for the first time on vacation. The Magic Kingdom makes me positively giddy. I put my arms up Evita-style with a silly grin on my face at the end of Citywalk facing the parks the girls quickly tell me to put my arms down. Good luck, I tell them.
We (meaning the D14 & D16) make a beeline for The Simpsons Ride. Oh how weve been waiting for this! The best part about the ride for me is the running commentary. The beginning bit with Sideshow Bob and Homer is hilarious! I dont want to spoil anything but, I will say the ride wasnt as wonderful as Id hoped. But then I have spin issues and the beginning is very (virtually) spinny. The reviews from my family are as follows: Husband/loved it! Went on four times!, D14/just okay, D16/just okay (both spent their free time riding Mummy and MIB). Also, D16 is itching to ride Hulk again (Jack and I dont do upside down). Then Spiderman. Over the week we ride Spiderman several times, and the front row is definitely a better experience, but made me very woosey feeling. Then the girls do Dueling Dragons.
Whats that, Little Ankle? You think Im overdoing it? No, no, were tough and we dont feel pain, understand?
A storm is coming up just as we enter the Jurassic Park ride and it closes down so we head over to Suess Landing and ride Cat in the Hat because its one of the few indoor rides in IOA. Let me tell you, Cat in the Hat is a spinny ride! If you have spin issues, avoid that one. And Spidey. And MIB. (I managed to do MIB three times only because I was so embarrassed about my score but I paid for it.) Well, its still raining so we ride the Carosuessel and hang in the gift shops until the rain subsides. After the storms we head back to Jurassic Park. It is my fav. themed land. The foliage just knocks me over. We do a passby on Pteradon Flyers but the line is wayyy to long so we head back to Jurassic Park River Adventure. Going on Jurassic Park is great. I love the slowness of the first part. We all love the drop at the end and the jaws of death descending upon us just before. At this point my ankle starts to complain and threatens to stage a coup on the rest of the vacation, or at least the rest of my body.
So we head back to HS and to the Hilton Garden Inn pool. Ahhhhh. Then we take a cab to the Milennium Mall for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory because we have a gift card. I have to say the nachos were great there. A stack of warm chips served with real cheese, hot and gooey, sour cream and guac, yummm. We walk through the mall which is nicely designed with muted, natural lighting and a cool change from the hot concrete in the parks and elsewhere. This is not outlet shopping, however. One of the anchor stores is Macys and the other is Neiman Marcus? Anyway, the girls gravitated towards Urban Outfitters and we gravitated towards our credit cards lest the girls tried to spirit them away from us and purchase the stores contents. My ankle demands ice and NOW, so we cab it back home and call it a night.
Saturday, Day 4: Fathers Day IS Tomorrow
Today we split up for the morning. Jack and D16 decide to hang by the pool and D14 and I hop on the I-Trolley to Festival Bay Mall (outlet shopping) to get souvenirs and Fathers Day gifts. The I-Trolley roughly follows International Drive via the red and green line. Fares cost $1/ride or there are cards you can buy in time increments like 1/3/5 day passes. The I-Trolley really provides a convenient way to get around without toooo much waiting. The nice thing about going to Festival Bay Mall is that the trolley stops right at the entrance doors to the mall, instead of plopping you on International Blvd., about 2 blocks out. If you can, visit the Universal Studios store there we saved about 50% on all our purchases there and it saved us the hassle of lugging stuff back from the park. When we were there, almost all of the merchandise was marked down and there were signs everywhere that read: Take an Extra 30% Off the Lowest Marked Price. Bingo!
Heres what $45 bought us:
Cute pink tank top w/Universal Studios logo in sparkle writing for D14
Red Cherry 7-Up fitted t-shirt for D16
Blue Shirt w/Royal Pacfic Resort logo for Jack (thats where were going to stay!)
Dr. Suess Character Mug w/Jack on it for Jack
Dr. Suess Character Mug w/Bob on it for my father
Some Universal Pens
After looking at the prices in the parks, this was a huge score for us. As you know, you can easily spend $17-25 on one shirt in the parks. Having said that, the merchandise is mostly not the up-to-the-moment choices you have in the parks, but what do we care once we get home? D14 did end up buying a Homer shirt in the parks with her savings and I think she appreciated it all the more. The girls, by the way, saved their spending money by themselves so they became smart shoppers.
After that we head to Ron Jon Surf Shop to round out the Fathers Day purchases they have good prices on some merchandise as well. Before leaving we hit the Subway and get lunch for all of us for $17. I dont love Subway, but I love not spending $45 for lunch. Another savings today. To catch the I-Trolley back, ou need to walk two blocks out the International Blvd. and then about a half a block to the stand. It has a bench and shading. After lunch at the room we cab it to Universal. This cab asks for a $10 flat fee! We negotiate to a better price. I really need to start asking for metered cabs.
We arrive around 1 p.m. and its not that crowded. We head for Universal first. Heres where I try to insert my first photo. Wish me luck.
Photo of 3/4s of family:
And heres three photos of us with Curious George. Guess which one I am!
There are many characters our during our stay and the lines for photos are nothing like Disney. Im not sure if the parks are less crowded but it was much more relaxing to get character photos here.
We head to E.T. Ive forgotten how much I like this ride and the scent! Yes, I remember it now and riding among the stars! And E.T. saying my Vacation Starbucks name! [A little side note: my husband makes the best coffee in the world, yes its true and youd think so too, if you came over to our house for breakfast. He grinds the bean fresh every morning and so on. So on vacation for our caffeine fix we resort to Starbucks or Caribou, or a local coffeehouse if we can find one, but mostly we cant. At Starbucks they usually ask your name and write it on the cup. For some reason, I started saying my name was Lucy so Lucy is my Vacation Starbucks name. And now my E.T. Come Home Name. Try it! It feels like magic.]
Later we take the obligatory shot of the child being eaten alive by a shark:
I love not being in a rush at US and IOA. We are meeting our friend Winslow again for dinner so we leave the parks fairly early, knowing tomorrow (Sunday) we check into the Royal Pacific and will have four more days ahead of us with FOTL.
Winslow picks us up takes us to a GREAT sushi restaurant off the Sand Lake Road called Nagoya. DA14 says her goyza are the best shes ever eaten and she likes goyza like some people like French Fries. D16 and I have sushi plates that are outstanding and Jack has the teriyaki chicken because, being a farm boy at heart, he doesnt do uncooked things that were once alive. After dinner we walk to TooJays for decadent dessert on the patio. Its surprisingly nice out for a June evening. Ahhh, its nice to be full and tired. Coming up: Day 5: Fathers Day and Royal Pacifc Photos.
Right up my alley...
