Trip Report The Griswolds go to Orlando!! Live trip report...or something like it. Pictures on page 11 !!

Alright, I'm to give it a go at doing a live trip report. This way it will be easier for me to remember what we do. Hold fast folks, I might not be able to add photos until we get back but I'll try.

As some of you know, we had a 7 hour flight delay yesterday which nixed any chance of park time but we muddled through it. We ended up getting our APs via guest services at CityWalk which was convenient.

Day One: Universal.

Diagon Alley.......Holy crap. This place is amazing. The details are to top notch and there's no denying what they've done here. The ladies did Gringott's and they loved it. The train crossing into the other park was awesome. The only let down was Cat in the Hat. I must have missed the memo but it has almost no spinning now.

So, right now we're waiting on the girls to finish the Hulk and then it's chow time at Mel's. More to come!
 
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draybook

draybook

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I did it.....I finally snapped a little. Justin and I are standing here in the Toy Story line and these "foreigners" kept bumping into me. So after about the 14th time I turned around and simply stated in a mildly loud voice, "don't touch me". I must have been louder than I thought because everyone looked. Whoops, my bad.

The line was stated as being 40 minutes and it's probably more like 50-60. We've been in it for close to 40 already and we're just now passing Mr. Potato Head.
 
draybook

draybook

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Today was the Animal Kingdom. The ladies did Everest while Justin and I rode Dinosaur a few times. We absolutely love that ride. We've done the Safari a couple of times and now we're about to watch the bird show for the first time ever. Lunch was at Pizzafari and dinner will be at RFC at DtD tonight at 9:45.

The rain made it a little cooler out here, thank goodness. The only animal that was not out was the lion, those lazy rascals.

More to come later.
 
draybook

draybook

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MotherofaPrincessLover said:
Your trip sounds awesome so far (minus the hiccups). I can't wait until I get to go to Uni to see Harry Potter. Probably won't be for awhile...
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Diagon Alley is amazing. I don't do roller coasters and I'm not a huge Harry Potter fan, so I'm not biased. However, this expansion blows away New Fantasyland, in my opinion.
 
draybook

draybook

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We had a great day at AK and finished it off with 4 straight rides of Dinosaur without having to get off. Thanks to the awesome crew there! We're at Target getting some essentials before we go back to POFQ to swim and then a 9:45 ADR at Rainforest Cafe. Good night folks!
 
draybook

draybook

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Magic Kingdom day today. Did I miss the memo about the monorails not working? Seriously, it's a few minutes shy of 9 am and we're having to wait on this ferry with about 800 other people.....

I'm getting to the point where I hate going to the MK. I think we're going to try taking the bus to the MK tomorrow because quite honestly this is ing me off.
 
draybook

draybook

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Not too bad of a day so far. We started with the Haunted Mansion followed by Pirates. It has been pretty busy today, given that it is off season, with Small World being at 20 minutes.

Right now we're having dinner at BoG and MAN I love this steak....
 
draybook

draybook

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I think I owe some folks on here a small apology. I've always talked about preferring driving to the MK. Well, after dealing with the monorail being down and the slow ferries, we decided to give the bus a go. We waited a little over 10 minutes for a bus and the drive took about 14 minutes.

That's less than 30 minutes......are you kidding me? Not to mention being dropped off up front and being in the ac. We'll see how the return trip goes after the MNSSHP, but I think we're sold on taking the bus to the MK from now on.

We started with some Haunted Mansion, and then the ladies headed to their Splash FPs while we went to Buzz. Did two rides and Justin topped out both time. We have a good system down now where we get him maxed by the second room and then I try to max out.

Just waiting on the gals so they can ride the Mine Train and then it's lunch time followed
by meeting Anna and Elsa. More to come later!
 
DisneyGigi

DisneyGigi

Well-Known Member
draybook said:
Magic Kingdom day today. Did I miss the memo about the monorails not working? Seriously, it's a few minutes shy of 9 am and we're having to wait on this ferry with about 800 other people.....

I'm getting to the point where I hate going to the MK. I think we're going to try taking the bus to the MK tomorrow because quite honestly this is ing me off.
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Enjoying your report. Glad you guys are having a good time even with the problems that came up. I totally agree with you about the monorail. Waiting on that ferry of the morning was such a hot long wait. Were they not running them after the MNSSHP either when you went? They did when we went to the first party or I may have just melted where I stood..lol Did you do the BoG fp? They had to give us a rose because our magicbands would not scan there for some reason but if they had it would have tracked us by them, no rose needed. Hope the rest of the trip is great, will be checking back for updates.
 
draybook

draybook

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DisneyShe said:
Enjoying your report. Glad you guys are having a good time even with the problems that came up. I totally agree with you about the monorail. Waiting on that ferry of the morning was such a hot long wait. Were they not running them after the MNSSHP either when you went? They did when we went to the first party or I may have just melted where I stood..lol Did you do the BoG fp? They had to give us a rose because our magicbands would not scan there for some reason but if they had it would have tracked us by them, no rose needed. Hope the rest of the trip is great, will be checking back for updates.
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No monorails running last Tuesday and we had to wait on the second ferry. We did have fps for BoG and it went pretty well. I definitely prefer dinner over lunch there.
 
LucyK

LucyK

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Great TR!

Can you answer me a few questions about RPR? Did you rent a mini-fridge? If so, how much was it? Which tower is your room in and how long till you get to the walkaway to Citywalk?
 
draybook

draybook

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LucyK said:
Great TR!

Can you answer me a few questions about RPR? Did you rent a mini-fridge? If so, how much was it? Which tower is your room in and how long till you get to the walkaway to Citywalk?
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We didn't rent a fridge but from what the material said it's $15 per night per fridge and microwave. We just filled up the sink with ice and set the jug of milk in the ice.

We were in tower 2, fifth floor, room 2513. From our door to Citywalk was about a 7 minute walk at a medium pace. Make sure you make time for swimming, the pool Iis awesome but it closes at 10 pm.
 
draybook

draybook

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Today was much better. Still hotter than all get out but the low crowds made up for it. Most rides were 20 minutes or less. We were
shocked at how low the crowds were for the MNSSHP on a Sunday. We've only done them on Fridays and Tuesdays before so it was quite the treat.

We even got our picture with the evil queen in hag form, Gaston, and Jack and Sally. Also, did I mention that we cut our travel time in half by using the bus? So with that I bid you farewell for the night, folks.
 
PolynesianPrincess

PolynesianPrincess

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I agree with you on getting to MK. Seems like they're trying to make it impossible for anyone with a car to get there in a resonable amount of time! Even if you wait 20 mins for a bus, you're still dropped off right in front. You can't beat it! (Well, you can by staying at one of the MK resorts but for those of us like me who can't always afford it, the buses situation is pretty decent)
 
draybook

draybook

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Over here at the Studios today. Still blazing hot, even by September standards. The only thing I have a problem with is the unavailability of Toy Story FPs. We rode it once this morning with our FP selection and then nothing. With the prior system we could have got FPs, rode standby and then got another set before they ran out and then rode at night via low standby.

But we had a quick early lunch at Pizza Planet and now we're waiting on the Animation class. This is one of our favorite things to do here. Stay tuned, kids!
 
draybook

draybook

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I forgot to mention that I peeked at the bounce back offer and there was no mention of Free Dining. I had heard one of the front desk ladies say to a guest that POFQ wasn't going to be included next year but if that was the case then the brochure would have had the resorts excluded.......So take that for what it's worth.
 
Tuvalu

Tuvalu

Premium Member
draybook said:
I forgot to mention that I peeked at the bounce back offer and there was no mention of Free Dining. I had heard one of the front desk ladies say to a guest that POFQ wasn't going to be included next year but if that was the case then the brochure would have had the resorts excluded.......So take that for what it's worth.
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We are here now (staying at WL) and the free dining bounce back offer (8/28 -10/2 2015) says most nights at select resorts, no specific resorts mentioned. So you could call and ask which resorts the offer applies to.
 
draybook

draybook

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Tuvalu said:
We are here now (staying at WL) and the free dining bounce back offer (8/28 -10/2 2015) says most nights at select resorts, no specific resorts mentioned. So you could call and ask which resorts the offer applies to.
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That's odd, but thanks for the heads up!
 

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