My August 08 Trip Report

As i've always enjoyed reading everybodys trip reports i decided to have a go at one of my own. Our family consists of Me(34) DH(37) DD(13) DD(6). This was our third family trip to WDW. Ok here goes........

Friday 15th August
Arrived at Dublin Airport at 6.30am, checked in & went to get some breakfast. Whilst waiting to pay for our food i accidentally knocked my cup of coffee all over myself, whoops. Caught our first flight to JFK and about halfway through it i remembered that i had brought a spare set of clothes for each of us in our hand luggage. Couldn't believe i had spent hours stinking of coffee when i had spare clothes, oh well. Landed at JFk, spent a couple of hours there then caught our flight ot Orlando. Unfortunately about halfway through this flight DD(6) got sick but once i had got her cleaned up and changed into her spare clothes she was fine. So we landed at Orlando and went to reclaim our baggage. We waited & waited watching everybody else collect their cases until eventually we had to face up to the fact that ours weren't there. Went off to the American Airlines desk and reported them missing. The very nice man working there assured us that they would have them by the next day and deliver them to our hotel. We headed out and caught a taxi to our hotel The Doubletree Castle on International Drive. When we arrived there we were feeling very tired & i suppose not very happy as our missing cases made it feel like not a great start to our trip. Even the chocolate chip doubletree cookies they give you when you check in couldnt cheer us up much.

 

[lisak09]

Our hotel room:

The pool(this picture was taking during Tropical Storm Fay, hence the wet ground and lack of people in the pool)

Exterior:

And the girls with "The Castle Creature"!!! which was in the lobby:

 

[lisak09]

Saturday 16th August
We woke up feeling a lot better & happier because after all suitcases or no suitcases we were here in Orlando!!!!!! Yay!!!

So once we were all washed & dressed we headed across the road to Friendlys for breakfast. Afterwards we went into the supermarket to buy toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant etc. Then into the souvenir shop to buy some t-shirts just in case the cases didnt arrive today.

The original plan for today had been to go to Wet n Wild but with no swimwear we decided to leave that to another day and head to Seaworld instead.

We had just gone through the gates when the rain came down. We waited it out in a gift shop and when it stopped headed off to see Blue Horizons the dolphin show. We all enjoyed this show a lot, as well as the dolphins this show has acrobats & exotic birds. A must see. Afterwards DH & DD(13) decided to go on Journey to Atlantis. When they came out it started raining again so we ran to see the Penguins. After that we went to see Believe, then shark encounter. DD then went on Kraken on his own as none of us were brave enough for it! We also saw the Clyde & Seamore which is absolutely hilarious. Lunch was turkey legs(yum) followed by muffins. Checked out shark encounter, sky tower & the girls did some shopping before we headed back to the hotel. A very good day.

 

[lisak09]

Thats them in the back row

 

[minnie2000]

Great report so far! The hotel looks really nice.

 

[WickedQueen22]

Cant wait to here about the luggage... happened to me once. I feel for you.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

Oh boy - Clyde and Seymour are STILL taking Pirate Island................

Nice report - hope you soon get re-united with your luggage.

Keep it coming

 

[RogueHabit]

Cant wait to here about the luggage... happened to me once. I feel for you.

Yes, I'm curious about that to.

We're doing a 2 leg journey with US Airways next month. hope we don't have the same problem.

 

[lisak09]

Yes, I'm curious about that to.

We're doing a 2 leg journey with US Airways next month. hope we don't have the same problem.

The luggage was waiting in our hotel for us when we got back from Seaworld on Saturday 16th. Should have mentioned that at the end of my last post but i forgot, blame the jet lag. I think the problem was because our first flight was Delta & our second was American Airlines. On the way home both flights were American Airlines and there were no problems with our luggage. If both your flights over are with the same airline it should be ok i would think. At least thats what i'm thinking i could be wrong.

 

[lisak09]

Oh boy - Clyde and Seymour are STILL taking Pirate Island................

Nice report - hope you soon get re-united with your luggage.

Keep it coming

You don't like Clyde & Seamore We loved it this year & last year. But i will admit the show was exactly the same as last year, still laughed my head off though:lol:

 

[lisak09]

Sunday 17th August
Since our luggage was delivered to the hotel the night before we were good to go to Wet n Wild today. After breakfast in Friendlys we caught the i-ride there. DH & DD(13) headed off to do all the slides & me & DD(6) hung around the kiddies section(for hours it felt like!!!). She has been taking swimming lessons but is still a little nervous of the water. After ages splashing around & going down the smallest slide(over & over) she got braver and tried some of the bigger ones. She was loving them and having a great time when suddenly the life guards started clearing the kids section. Apparrently something was in the water. One of the life guards had a net and was scooping something out, i caught a glimpse of the "something" crawling back out of the net. Not sure what they were, maybe cockroaches, yuck. Headed over to DH & DD(13) who were in the wave pool, got in them with them for a while. Then decided we'd had enough and it was time to head back to the hotel.
There are no pictures as we didn't bring the camera with us( i couldn't risk anyone getting a photo of me in a swimsuit!!!)

 

[minnie2000]

Sunday 17th August
Since our luggage was delivered to the hotel the night before we were good to go to Wet n Wild today. After breakfast in Friendlys we caught the i-ride there. DH & DD(13) headed off to do all the slides & me & DD(6) hung around the kiddies section(for hours it felt like!!!). She has been taking swimming lessons but is still a little nervous of the water. After ages splashing around & going down the smallest slide(over & over) she got braver and tried some of the bigger ones. She was loving them and having a great time when suddenly the life guards started clearing the kids section. Apparrently something was in the water. One of the life guards had a net and was scooping something out, i caught a glimpse of the "something" crawling back out of the net. Not sure what they were, maybe cockroaches, yuck. Headed over to DH & DD(13) who were in the wave pool, got in them with them for a while. Then decided we'd had enough and it was time to head back to the hotel.
There are no pictures as we didn't bring the camera with us( i couldn't risk anyone getting a photo of me in a swimsuit!!!)

That sounds just like me!!!:lol:

 

[lisak09]

Monday 18th August
Universal Studios today. We had only arrived there when DD(13) mentioned that she didn,t feel too well. Got her some water and she bought one of those water fan spray bottles & seemed happier. So we headed off to E.T. which was great. DD(6) enjoyed it a lot more this year as last time she was frightened of the trucks but i suppose she knew what to expect this time. Then it was The Simpsons, DD(6) loved this but the rest of us felt nauseous after it. Then it was Men in Black. I got the high score out of the four of us. We headed over to Jaws then but it was closed due to technical difficulties so decided to try it later. Went into disaster but once inside DD(13) started to feel unwell so her dad took her outside. Me & DD(6) enjoyed it, i especially liked they way they show you the video at the end. When we went out to the others DD(13) was feeling much better. Headed over to Shrek 4D, brilliant. Then DD(6) and i did Jimmy Neutron(didn't really want to as i didnt like it last year but she really wanted DH &DD(13) did The Mummy and then we headed back to Jaws. On the way there it started raining and DD(6) fell asleep in her stroller. So DH stayed with her while we me & DD (13) went on Jaws. When she woke we did Twister & Terminator. It was still raining and we were pretty much finished so we headed home.

 

[lisak09]

I put the last picture in as its one of my favouites from the entire trip. There is a seven year gap between my girls and they tend to fight a lot(I'm told this can happen with siblings regardless of age gaps). This was taken walking back to the hotel after having breakfast. They were ahead of us and we were gobsmacked to see them strolling along happily holding hands without being told to! I love this picture, i might frame it!

 

[KnK]

Loving the report! Looking forward to more!

 

[WildLodgeFan]

I put the last picture in as its one of my favouites from the entire trip. There is a seven year gap between my girls and they tend to fight a lot(I'm told this can happen with siblings regardless of age gaps). This was taken walking back to the hotel after having breakfast. They were ahead of us and we were gobsmacked to see them strolling along happily holding hands without being told to! I love this picture, i might frame it!

Aww, it is a great photo. We have about 5 1/2 years between our kids and though they get on one another's nerves at times, they seem to have quite a bond. For us though it's an older daughter and a younger son, so I think she really is a little bit of a second mom to him. BTW, enjoying your report!

 

[jiminy.cricket]

Aww!

 

[lisak09]

Monday 18th August
We had been planning on going to Aquatica but Tropical Storm Fay changed our plans! It was pouring rain and very very windy. Basically we just hung around the hotel room watching pay per view movies, Iron Man & Indiana Jones 4. By the evening cabin fever was setting in so we got a cab across the road to Tony Romas for dinner.

Tuesday 19th August
Still raining. Didn't fancy another movie day but didn't want to go too far either. So we caught the iride trolley up to Wonderworks on International Drive and killed a couple of hours there before heading next door to the Pointe Orlando Mall for some shopping.

 

[lisak09]

Wednesday 20th August
Still raining! But by now we we're getting fed up so we decided to head to Universal Islands of Adventure despite the weather. The rain wasn't too bad when we arrived. DH & DD(13) headed to the Hulk coaster and me & DD(6) headed to The Cat in the Hat. When we came out the others were waiting for us as the Hulk was having technical difficullties. So we did Cat in the Hat again followed by One Fish Two Fish, Carouseussel & High in the Sky Trolley then headed off to catch Poseidons Fury. Got in through the first couple of rooms then just as we were heading in to the big finale they sent us out an exit instead! More technical difficulties........
We carried on and as DH & DD(13) were going into Jurassic River Adventure DD(6) decided to go too. I tried to talk her out of this as i didn't think she'd like it but she insisted. I watched for them and when i saw their "boat" at the end they were in the back row and she was sobbing. She hated the drop at then end and scared on every other ride she got on the whole trip. She kept asking "Is there a drop?" and was really nervous the whole time. At this stage the rain was really heavy. So we got on Popeye and Blutos Bilge Rat Barges and got soaked even with the ponchos. Headed off for spiderman but oh no more technical difficulties!!!!! So DH decided to do the Hulk on his own as DD(13) had changed her mind about going on it and after that we headed back to the hotel.

 

[lisak09]

Another adorable picture of my girls