Trip Report Our first WDW trip, not so scary in Disney but so scary in Universal

Hi all,

a day later than promised, but here is our TR from out October 2014 trip to WDW and Universal. It will be a long TR I guess, we have tons of pictures! So please be patient, it probably will take quit some time to finish this TR! This week we still have holidays so not that many time to work on this TR, but from next week I will post as many posts as possible during work time

If you are interested in the PTR: here it is

The overall thought of this trip is marvelous, wonderfull, magical, scary, beautifull! I guess a lot of you want to know the comparison with DLP. My first opinion is that although the parks in USA are older than DLP I am sure that the parks in USA are better!! The cast members are more gentle, easier to talk to! The look of the park is cleaner than in DLP, all the buildings are in a much better shape than in DLP. Off course we are in DLP 4/5 times a ytear, so everything feels 'normal' and WDW was a first timer (yeah I was there 25 years ago, but the only thing I remember from that trip are the pictures (sorry not digital). So when you visit WDW for the first time everything looks better than DLP.

The best thing about WDW in comparison to DLP is the magic band system in WDW. It really worked out very good! We also had the Memory Maker, so beside our tons of pictures we also have 100+ memory pics taken by cast members.

So in short words the days:
Friday October 17th: flight, was ok, not that much turbulence
Saturday October 18th: Magic Kingdom, was great, special, magical
Sunday October 19th (daytime): Universal, Island of Adventure, was also great, Harry Potter was marvelous
Sunday October 19th (nighttime): Universal, Universal Studios, Halloween Horror Night, absolute a thrill!
Monday October 20th: Epcot, not really our thing, Test Track was great, The Wine and Food thing was not our thing
Monday October 20th: Downtown Disney, hard to find a parking lot, and a lot of structure going on, some great shops, but overall not really our thing
Tuesday October 21th: Universal Studios, great day!
Wednesday October 22nd: Hollywood Studios, a more that great day, Fantasmic was a more that special end of the day
Wednesday October 22nd: Premium Outlets, not that great, much shops that were not our thing
Thursday October 23rd (daytime): Animal Kingdom, good, not great! Some great rides, for the rest nothing more than a zoo
Thursday October 23rd (nighttime): Magic Kingdom, Not So Scary Halloween, a more than great night!!
Friday October 24th: flight home, was ok, a lot of turbulence

So this was the trip in a nutshell!

Much, much, much more to come!!

p.s. It was the first time, but absolutely not the last!!!!

 

[Longers]

Just caught up again now I am at home. Loving the pictures. I did finally get a picture of the dragon breathing fire in Diagon Alley. He breathes every 10 mins so if you miss one there isn't too long to wait. One for you Oct 2015 list!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

OMG - Loooooooooooooooove the pics of Diagon Alley!

 

[FlaggNL]

The Gringotts ride was also down a lot the day I went to Universal. When we finally got close to boarding the ride, it broke down again and we had to wait about 30 more minutes.

Wow, We hear that a lot about that ride. On the otherhand the ride is worth waiting for!!

Glad you had a great time can't wait to read more!!

Thanks, and there is much more to come

My favorite movie as a teen! Loved it and still do. We actually got my son (well, Santa did ) the three movie DVD set for Christmas last year. Now he's a fan! So this is my favorite picture today!

I totally agree! That three movies are legendary!! Great to see that your son is a fan now also Guess what your next favorite is

All of the Universal pictures are beautiful, it really shows the details that was put in this section of Harry Potter. Since my family hasn't been yet I would like to say thanks for sharing. Now my family really can't wait to go next summer and see Diagon Alley. Following along.

Thanks for the compliment! When your family is there it is absolutely a have to do!

Love how thorough your report is! You remind me of my dad in disney hahaha

Whaha your dad.... makes me feel quite old

Still following along and enjoying the trip report. We have not been to Universal in a couple of years. Last time there was a couple of weeks before Christmas and we loved the Grinch and the parade too. Having grown up with Seuss books we both enjoy Seuss Land.
I am a fan of older U2 stuff, especially Rattle and Hum.

I am a fan of the older U2 material as well, but have to say that off course the new material also is quite right Rattle and Hum is one of the greatest And about Universal, you should absolutely go the next time you visit Florida

Just caught up again now I am at home. Loving the pictures. I did finally get a picture of the dragon breathing fire in Diagon Alley. He breathes every 10 mins so if you miss one there isn't too long to wait. One for you Oct 2015 list!

Ohw that is for sure of for Oct 15 Thanks for sticking in with us

OMG - Loooooooooooooooove the pics of Diagon Alley!

Thanks! Hope you like the rest as well

 

[FlaggNL]

Here we go with the last 3 posts of our day in Universal.

This was taken while waiting for the rest of the family riding the ET ride

Then it was time for the Universal parade. And have to be honest they have a lot to learn from Disney! The parade is OK, but cannot compete with the parades in Disney! The minion part is OK, the rest is in our opinion kinda childish!

Hope you still can enjoy the pictures!

 

[FlaggNL]

More pictures from the Universal Parade:

 

[FlaggNL]

The final post of our second and last day in Universal.

First the final pics of the Universal Parade.

A squirrel that wants to go shopping

Then his nephew in the garden

This is the end of our Uiversal pics. Two great parks! Harry Potter is more than magnificent! For the rest nice to be in, soms great rides, but mostly simulators!

I forgot to tell you about Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket. Off course we saw the youtube movies before we went to Florida. And I was sure about one thing. That's a ride I would never ever do! But Sacha thought different. She absolutely wanted to do that ride. And nobody from our group wanted to join her. So I thought... well.... let's do it.... And have to be honest it's the baddest and scariest ride I ever did in my life!! When going strauight up it felt like I was sliding out of the chair. For me it felt like I would be the 1st person that felt out of this ride. I sceamed the whole ride.... half the ride my eyes were close.... And Sacha was laughing as much as she could! But hej, I did it! But for once, I will never ever go in that chair again

That's it for today! Next posts will be about our day in HS!

Feel free to comment

To be continued...........

 

[mrdrift]

Thanks for sharing Universal with all of us. I agree that there are to many ride simulators in the parks. Rip Ride Rockets is family favorite besides the Hulk. Glad you tried it at least once. Thats what I always tell me kids, try it once and if you don't like it you don't have to do it ever again. Great job. Following along.

 

[FlaggNL]

Thanks for sharing Universal with all of us. I agree that there are to many ride simulators in the parks. Rip Ride Rockets is family favorite besides the Hulk. Glad you tried it at least once. Thats what I always tell me kids, try it once and if you don't like it you don't have to do it ever again. Great job. Following along.

Thanks, as I told, I know it's a Disney lovers site here but sometimes it is great to share other parks also

 

[FlaggNL]

As you can see in the countdown we already planned to go back to Florida in October 2015. At least that was the plan, and yes it still is. But we have to decide quick. It seems that the flight we intended to take in October is already completely booked (economy class, there are some options for extra comfort but it is more thanm € 300 pp extra) The option we have now is not to fly to Orlando but have the flight Amsterdam-Miami and the same flight back. It means we at least lost a day in Orlando. The time of arrival in Miami is quite late so the best option is to stay in a hotel in Miami on Friday and then drive to Orlando on Saturday. On the day of return we have to leave Orlando early in the morning for the drive to Miami since the plane is leaving 16.20. So my best guess is that we are going to go for that option.

But enough of the plans Let's continue the trip report

 

[FlaggNL]

Here we go again Next stop during our Florida trip was DHS! For all of us a first timer! Off course DLP also have a Studios part but to be honest it's quite small and misses an own identity. It feels almost like a bunch of attractions and ride put together just for no reason. There are big plans for the (near) future in Paris, and the latest addition Ratatouille is marvelous (see my other TR for pictures). But DHS in Florida is much much bigger and feels like a park with an own identity!

When we went to Epcot we parked at MK and then took the Monorail to Epcot. For DHS we just parked at the parking lot of DHS.

When we parked the car we already saw the landmark of HTT. It looks different from DLP, but will come back on that later!

The big difference with DLP is that in Paris you pass the gates, find a shop on the left and right and then you already walk inside a studio with shops and restaurants. In DHS you have a entire street when walking in!

Just like all other Disney parks in and around WDW we used the Memory Maker as much as possible. In the final posts for DHS I will post the Memory Maker pictures......

 

[FlaggNL]

As always in this report I post 3 messages a day, so here is part 2 of today

Ria works for PostNL, the major Dutch postal company. So we had to take a picture of the US Mail box

First thing, after some Memory Maker pictures was getting some food And for today we decided it had to be sweet and tasty

So here is our 'breakfast' of that day

 

[FlaggNL]

Here we go with the final post of today Still from DHS, and there is much more to come from DHS

Don't know if Hess is a real company but the billboard is great

Then it was time for HTT! Me and Sacha did it again DLP also have a version of the great ride. The buidling looks different and the ride is different. Of course the falls are the same, but the experience is quite different While waiting Ria took some pictures from HHT.

In the top right corner you can find us

Then we walked by RRC but the waiting lines were too long at that time. During the rest of our trip we forgot about it, so in the end we didn't ride this one. Another have to do in October '15

That's it for today. Have to work some more

To be continued............

 

[fractal]

Great report and pics Flagg! I'm enjoying the comparisons to DLP.

 

[FlaggNL]

No updates today! Too busy with work! Will be back tomorrow!

 

[acrab3t]

Enjoying your TR! Your photos are fantastic!

 

[TTiiMM]

Ditto all the other comments. Enjoying your report and pics.

 

[FlaggNL]

Great report and pics Flagg! I'm enjoying the comparisons to DLP.

Thanks! It's great to make the comparisons. On the other hand you have to remind that DLP is almost every year in red figures when looking at the financials. A few months ago WD Company invested about a billion $ so for the near future they say that there will be plans reveiled about the future of DLP!

All caught up. Love reading how WDW looks through the eyes of someone with a DLP background.

Thanks! Off course we have the DLP background because we go there for years and WDW was a first timer so everything is marvelous and great! So a lot of comparisons are in favor of WDW. Don't know what we will think after a couple visits to WDW in the future

Enjoying your TR! Your photos are fantastic!

Thanks, will pass the compliment to Ria and the camera

Ditto all the other comments. Enjoying your report and pics.

Thanks, much more to come

 

[FlaggNL]

Before going on with this TR some tiney news with a major impact! We decided to cancel our trip for October 2015. The flight we wanted is fully booked. We could change the arrival city to Miami and ride to Orlando but that will increase the amount we need for the trip. The heart says let's go to USA and the mind says wait for a year and book for 2016. So that's what we are going to do. No WDW trip in 2015 for us. Off course sad news, but on the otherhand we have more time to enjoy the pre-feelings for a 2016 trip

 

[FlaggNL]

So here we are again with our day in DHS

A picture I saw a couple of times in TR's..... off course I had to be Sully

And again some delicious cupcakes

Frozen is huge in the USA, but also in Europe In DLP you can also meet Anna and Elsa! And as in the USA the cue is long By the way, also like the addition of Frozen in Once upon a time!

After watching a show with the cowboy, the cook and the singer they went away. Suddenly we found them in car.. Don't know if they liked it, but to take the picture

 

[FlaggNL]

Then it was time for Star Wars. One of our bucket list

In DLP we have an X-Figther, but the At-At in DHS is sooo much great!

After the 3D-ride we went for the shop. The ride itself is great but somehow we expected more. In DLP we off course also have Star Tours, but in it's original way. The word is that in 2015/2016 the DLP version will be updated just as the one in USA. The thing is they only updated the movie, where I was expecting also updates in the waiting area and to the vehicle. And that's still the same. Also when you make a comparison with DLP we expected the area much bigger than in Paris, but that's not the case, not at all! But it was great to see the movie in 3D. And the shop was OK, but there we also expected more choice and more tees. Guess you have to be there during a SW weekend

After Star Tours it was time for the Muppets!

After the Muppets it was hurry up for Beauty and the Beast! A great show!!