Travelmum’s Orlando Holiday Trip Report

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Glad you enjoyed MNSSHP, bummer about the rain but glad you still managed to have fun. I love your story about feeling misty eyed about leaving WDW. It's a pretty awesome place isn't it.

 

[Caroline NZ]

I am loving reading your trip report Travel Mum. Your photos are awesome as well

 

[PrincessInOz]

Thanks for sharing. Brings it all to life through your words and pictures.

Not that realistically we will be back at WDW but it doesn't stop me dreaming!

It took me 5 years to get back to WDW from the first vist to the second. NEVER stop dreaming.

Gosh, I really did love POR

We did too. DH still thinks he prefers the POR facilities best.

 

[WAMUMOF4]

I hope you get back to WDW sooner than you think

 

[Travel Mum]

Thanks buddies and I know that, as long as I keep visiting these Aussie/Kiwi boards, I will never stop dreaming of returning

 

[Travel Mum]

(Since I'm technically done with the WDW part, I'm not sure you want the rest but here is is anyway! )

Saturday 08 – Sunday 09 October – Move hotels and shopping

Well this post will be shorter because I didn’t really take many photos on these two days.

Saturday was our check-out day from POR. We had planned to do Typhoon Lagoon today but woke up to torrential rain (see Battymum’s TR near her Universal time!). It was absolutely pouring down and POR is not designed for rain so you get wet whenever you leave your building.

That morning we needed to use our remaining dining credits. I thought we had 9 snack credits left so last night, on our way out of MK, we stopped and bought various candies to use them up. e.g rice crispy treats, little boxes of chocolates. I knew we had one TS credit each left so I knew we could use them at the hotel food court for breakfast today which we did. Of course that is Disney’s gain but we really didn’t need another sit down TS meal. So I thought that was done but then I learnt we still had something like 4 QS credits and 3 snack credits! Our pooling of QS meals during the week must have caused that but I don’t know where the snack credits came from. So, I dashed back into the food court and they let me use a QS credit for a snack so I bought 7 bottles of juice to use later in the week. Again Disney’s gain!

At 11am (the latest check out time) we wheeled our cases through the puddles to the car and drove to our next hotel. Gosh, it was strange leaving WDW after 9 nights there and it felt like it was the first time I had actually been in Orlando. We found our way to Staybridge Suites International Drive and were able to check in straight away which was great. I had booked a two bedroom/two bathroom suite at such an amazing early booking rate that I did wonder what our room would be like but happily we were thrilled with it. It was a bit tired but the space was wonderful and I think that seeing my family spread out with glee softened the blow of leaving Disney for me. Plus we had 3 T.V.'s so everyone could watch what they wanted. I did not take photos then but did later in the week (sorry the room is messy) and here they are:

The main living room (pull out sofa bed) and kitchen:

The master bedroom with ensuite bathroom and large walk-in wardrobe:

The very messy girl's room which also had an ensuite bathroom:

After a couple of hours of relaxing in our new space (and yipee, we had free internet so could go onto the Disboards on our netbook!), we braved the pouring rain and got in the car to head towards the Premium Outlets International Drive. However, on the way we saw a Sketchers outlet so we stopped and bought shoes. Then we saw a Van Heusen outlet and DH spent quite a while buying a suit etc. So by the time we finished there, we had had enough shopping and headed back to the hotel. We decided to get drive- thru Burger King for dinner (the first time we had had to actually buy food on our holiday!) so pulled into the one further down I’Drive. We started to drive back to our hotel but the traffic was really bad and it was slow going so we pulled into a car park and ate in the car! We soon began to realise what a nice part of International Drive our hotel was located on. It was never full of traffic like the northern part and is lined with lovely big trees.

The next day, on Sunday, we had a lazy morning and then headed back up there. This time we did make it to the actual Premium Outlets where we shopped up large. Before we went in though, we had lunch at the Taco Bell across the street from the outlets because, once we saw it, we just had to go in! We love Taco Bell and were so looking forward to having it again on this trip.

That night we just wanted to eat somewhere close to the hotel so we walked next door to “Joe’s Crab Shack”. This was a really fun restaurant where every half an hour the waiters stop what they are doing and start dancing together to a song. Plus a lady came around to all the tables and made balloon animals for everyone that wanted one. We had a yummy dinner and afterwards DH just had to buy a souvenir T-shirt. It is black and simply says in bold letters on the front “Got Crabs”?” Then on the back it says “Joe’s Crab Shack does” It is a T-shirt that certainly gets attention!!

 

[Travel Mum]

Monday 10 October (Columbus Day)– Sea World

We were up bright and early to get to Sea World for the opening as I had read that, if you want to do the dolphin feeding, you should do the first one. DD6 had begged to do it and even offered to pay for herself (we didn’t accept it) so we were there in time for it. Although it was expensive (each person going in has to pay for a tray of fish so you can’t just let the children do it and parents watch), it was fun and special to touch dolphins.

Then it was basically your normal Sea World day although I had to explain to the girls that the shows were the priority for us over the rides today and I hadn’t bought their fast pass type thing. We did the Dolphin show, the Whale show and the Sea Lion/Walrus show plus looked at most of the exhibits and aquariums.

Dolphin show arena:

It was a really hot day but unfortunately the Atlantis water ride was broken for half of the day and, when it re-opened, the queue to ride it was very long so we didn’t. This was really the first park that DD6 experienced being the only family member not being tall enough to ride (although she would have been tall enough for Atlantis) as she could ride every single ride at WDW except for Rockin Rollercoaster at DHS. Earlier DH and the two older girls had queued for almost an hour to ride Kraken and that was a bit of a shock to system after using the fastpass line for all the big rides at WDW! They did like Kraken though and said it was one of the top 5 coasters of their trip.

Later on, the older two begged to ride Manta so I agreed that I would take DD6 to do other things while DH and the older two rode. The queue was about an hour long so they were very keen I thought! (Fastpass at Disney has really spoilt me and I can no longer fathom queuing for anything longer than say 30 minutes ) However, just before they entered the queue I rushed up the with DD6 and asked the staff member if I could get a parent swap pass. They gave me one so I felt very clever that DH would have to queue while I got to do other things and then, when it was my turn, I just went in the fastpass line. DD13 and DD10 got to ride again with me so they were pretty pleased.

So, it was a great day but another long, hot and tiring one. Back to the hotel we went and I can’t even remember what we had for dinner that night!

 

[kyl]

You will return one day travelmum. Your like the rest of us disney freaks once its in your blood......well you will be back!

 

[OziJo]

Love your Sea World photos. I'm a big fan of Sea World's and aquariums and usually try to fit one in where ever we go. Unfortunately Orlando Sea World doesn't fit into our schedule. Sea Life Park Hawaii is a must do though.

 

[admel00]

Wow!! The Staybridge looks great!! Totally enjoying your report Travel Mum!!!

 

[aussietravellers]

(Since I'm technically done with the WDW part, I'm not sure you want the rest but here is is anyway! )

Oh I love all TR's, the Disney part and non Disney parts!

Seaworld looked fantastic. We couldn't see the whale show the day we went as the whale had just had a baby so the show was off. (come to think about it, I don't think I ever finished my TR last year, with the seaworld day, better do that I suppose )

Your apartment looked great too. I love reading and seeing pictures of where people stay. I always make mental notes for when we go travel, keeping places others have stayed and recommended

 

[australiankaren]

loving the report...

especially the POR & seaworld photos.....brings back a lot of fond memories...and really that what these trips are about..building memories.

looking forward to more

 

[PrincessInOz]

(Since I'm technically done with the WDW part, I'm not sure you want the rest but here is is anyway! )

You're joking, right? We might be Disney nuts but I personally also like seeing ALL pictures from ANY holiday! Keep on sharing!

Looks like you and the family liked Staybridge. Your DD6 looks like she had a ball at SeaWorld!

 

[Travel Mum]

Thanks all for your encouraging words and I promise to finish the TR. It is actually lovely remembering it all (although makes me wish I was still there now that I'm back on the treadmill of normal life) and I realise it will be a great memory for me of our trip.

 

[Travel Mum]

Tuesday 11 October - Typhoon Lagoon and Shopping

This was originally planned to be a free day which would mean a shopping day. However, since we hadn’t been to Typhoon yet we needed to go today because it was really the last day we could do it since the next two days would be devoted to Universal. However, I was torn because the only other day I had for shopping was Friday and I really wanted to try the other Premium Outlets today. So we decided that we would go to Typhoon Lagoon for a few hours and go to the Premium Outlets in the afternoon. That worked well since they were the Lake Buena Vista ones and so therefore close to WDW.

Off we went to Typhoon Lagoon and turns out it is very close to POR! Again we did not arrive until after it opened and it was also packed. We took a few photos before we put the camera and all our gear in a locker which means I have no other photos. Again I did not see a Photopass photographer here either!

We dumped our towels on a chair and went off to do rides. The family raft ride at Typhoon Lagoon only takes a maximum of 4 people so our family had to split into a 3 and a 2. It was also really short compared to the Blizzard Beach one so we all preferred the BB one where we could ride together and which was much longer. We spent a couple of hours doing the rides and doing a loop of the lazy river which was admittedly very relaxing. The huge wave pool was pretty incredible and the girls spent quite a while in that. However, even though it was certainly fun, we all agree that we prefer BB to TL.

When we were getting hungry, we decided to pack up and go to the Premium Outlets Lake Buena Vista. There we were happy to find Taco Bell in the food court. We spent a few hours doing more shopping and then headed back to the hotel at about 5pm. Tonight we were meeting some of our extended family who had now arrived in Orlando from N.Z. in preparation for the cruise we were all doing together on the weekend. They came over to our hotel and we walked next door to Tony Roma’s for dinner. So that was my family, my SIL and her daughter so she must be DN13, my BIL and his GF. It was great to see them and my girls were very happy to see their cousin.

 

[Travel Mum]

Wednesday 12 October - Universal Studios

Today was the day we packed up an overnight bag, left most of our gear at Staybridge and moved to Loew’s Royal Pacific Resort. We wanted to get there early so that we could make our way to Universal Studios before it opened at 9am. We checked into the hotel which was gorgeous and certainly the highest standard of hotel we stayed in on this trip! We were all set to store our luggage but surprisingly our room was ready so we were able to go up to it and leave our bag in there. Our lovely room had two queen beds and a rollaway – all very comfortable (sorry forgot to take a photo!). So, armed with our room swipe cards (we had one each) which gave us express pass entry to the rides, we made our way to the boat dock and travelled by boat to the Universal Citywalk which is where the entrance to the two parks is.

We got to Universal just as it was opening and headed straight to Hollywood Rip Ride Rock It as that is the only ride at Universal that does offer an Express pass line. We had to do Parent swap (DD6 had to get used to this in the Universal parks but did not like it ) and then took turns riding that incredible rollercoaster.

From that point on, we had such a relaxing day and especially so for me because I never had to FPV or follow a touring plan like at the WDW parks. Because we had the fantastic Express pass, we just leisurely toured the park in a clockwise manner and never really had to wait in any queues – it was a wonderful way to visit a theme park! At lunch time we met up with SIL and DN13 who were also touring Universal that day but without Express passes (which is why we didn’t tour the park with them).

After doing a complete circle of the park and finishing with some rigorous foam ball shooting activity in the kids area, we made our way back to Citywalk and back on the boat to the hotel.

We got back in plenty of time to have a swim in the huge swimming pool which I was surprised to find that, despite how large it is, it had no deep area.

The view of the pool from the level of our room:

Then we went back to the room, out the car and drove to have dinner and, can you guess, Taco Bell!!

 

[Travel Mum]

Thursday 13 October – Islands of Adventure

The other reason I wanted to stay onsite while we did Universal is because we got to go into The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at 8am, one hour before the park opened at 9am. So we were up early and got there before 8 along with all the other onsite hotel guests! We made our way into the park and back to WWOHP which was amazing as was to be expected. I lined up with DD6 for The Forbidden Journey while DH, DD13 and DD10 rode the Dragon Challenge rollercoaster. However, as we were waiting, we were told that the ride was broken down. We were told we could do a castle tour and then get an express pass to use later when the ride was working (this ride does not normally have express pass hence why you want to ride early). So when the others joined us, we made our way into the castle and toured through it which was fantastic. I particulary liked the part when it snowed when we were in Dumbledore’s office! At the end of the line, we were given special Express passes.

So we made our way out of Hogsmeade, stopping to try some Butterbeer, go in the shops and take some photos on the way.

We went over to the Jurassic Park area and the girls and I went on the Pteranodon Flyers kids ride. Then we decided to go on the Jurassic Park River Adventure so, knowing we would get wet, we donned our trusty Disney ponchos and got on a boat. The ponchos worked quite well but when we went to get out of the boat, the lanyard that DH was wearing must have tipped upside down and our room cards/express passes all fell out and some disappeared! We panicked because the Forbidden Journey express pass was also there. Anyway, to cut a long story short, with the help of some staff members who had to take the boat out of service (!), we got the FJ pass back but it was very wet and soggy as well as three room card but the other two were gone as they said they would have to take the boat apart to get them out and that would take weeks! The supervisor arranged for us to get replacement express passes but DD13 and DD10 (whose keys they were) were disappointed because they no longer have souvenirs from Universal.

Eventually we got back on track and continued touring the park. We met up with SIL and DN13 plus MIL and FIL (who had now also arrived in Orlando) for lunch and toured the rest of the day with them – sneakily swapping the express passes amongst us.

I thought these mist machines were great in the heat!

At this park, you even get wet on the kids "Dumbo-like" ride!

This was a fun park but ridiculous how wet you get on the rides. I went on the Dudley Do-Right Ripsaw Falls with my girls, DN13, MIL and SIL. I had my poncho on but still got really wet as the water was too much for my poncho! So, after that I had had enough of the water rides but the girls wanted to do the raft ride and dear MIL agreed to go with them since she was already so wet.

This is how wet they were after getting off Ripshaw Falls:

So they decided they may as well go on the raft ride and I took this photo from the top of a bridge:

On the other side of the bridge, this is what happened to them:

By late in the afternoon, DH and I actually felt we were over theme parks (not forever but this trip is somewhat theme park overload) and we decided that we’d take our girls and make our way back to the hotel. On the way out, we let them chose a Harry Potter wand as a souvenir which they were thrilled at. DD13 chose Dumbledores’s , DD10 chose Ginny Weasley’s and DD6 chose Harry Potter’s.

So it was back on the boat to the Royal Pacific, pick up the stored suitcase from the baggage area, back in the car and back to our spacious Staybridge Suites.

 

[Travel Mum]

Friday 14 October – Shopping and pack up

I’ll just post this tonight as well as it will be quick and there are no photos from today.

This was our last chance to shop so we went up to the Mall of Milennia and then back down to the Premium Outlets Lake Buena Visa because I wanted to buy some boots from Ecco. Of course some more shopping was done too.

We had to go back to the hotel and get stuck into our major packing job. We needed to first of all pack all our new goodies and we also had to organise bags into those that we would open on the cruise and those that we would not need to open on the cruise. This was a major job I can tell you and, even though all the suitcases were now full and extenders open, we had to buy an extra bag that night.

That evening the extended family came over and we went next door to a pizza place for dinner. We made our plans for meeting up the next day for our drive to Cape Canaveral and then it was into bed for our last night in Orlando.

Section 3 of our 3-part trip was about to begin.

 

[OziJo]

Love, love, love the WWoHP photos. We can't wait. My girls are older than yours but I tell you they are excited for HP. Your TR makes me wish we were staying onsite at Universal to get that 8am start. I'm just hoping that in Jan it won't be as crowded as at other times of the year.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I'm glad you enjoyed WWoHP, it really is pretty amazing to see. Loving all of your updates and pics.