Day Five
The day started bright and early and we were at Islands of Adventure with Levi and Carolyn by 9am! Coda had told me how much better it was supposed to be than Universal Studios, so I was excited. Not to mention The Wizarding World of Harry Potter! I’m not ashamed to say I’m a HUGE Potter fan! So our IoA day began…
Once we were inside the gates, Coda insisted that we see Poseidon’s Fury. He said it was his favorite attraction at the park, and so we went. On the way there, I got my first glimpse of Seuss Landing! So cute! I loved the theming!
So we kept walking until we came upon the Lost Continent.
It was at this point that I began to actually like Universal, at least a little. It was also at this point that my suspicions were confirmed – I am a theming junkie. Oh well. Disney will do that to a person. We made it through the queue to Poseidon’s Fury and were wrangled in to see the show. Wow! What an experience! The water tunnel alone was reason enough to stand in line! I loved it! Next up was the place I had been dying to see…
Why, yes! That is a huge crowd! This was definitely where all the people were. The rest of the park was pretty sparse. We walked through Honeydukes and checked out some chocolate frogs and such, but everyone was dying for coasters! Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling well.
You see, the morning had started pretty rough for me. I was in the bathroom getting ready to put my face on (
) and I was suddenly hit with the most intense abdominal pain I have every experienced! It quite literally put me on the floor. I lay there and honestly didn’t know if I would be able to move, let alone go to IoA. I managed to drag myself into the bed and stayed there as the sharp, intense pain continued to take my breath away. Coda was still asleep through all this, by the way. And then, as quickly as it started, the pain went away. I waited for awhile to see if it was really gone, but it was. I got up and though my stomach didn’t hurt, I was nauseous and dizzy, and I stayed that way for most of the day. So, that is why I wasn’t up for a roller coaster.
Now that you’ve heard my sob story, let’s get back to the fun! I told the others to go ahead and do Dueling Dragons (or whatever) and I took the backpack, setting off in search of this beauty:
I am ashamed (again) to say that my favorite drink of the trip was most definitely Butterbeer. Lefou, you have nothing on Potter. I roamed around and marveled at my amazing cup of magic and took some pictures of the best themed area of Uni.
The only thing I didn’t like about this area was that you couldn’t go into most of the buildings! Whose idea was that? And the line to get into Ollivander’s was absurd! Needless to say, I did not purchase a wand.
When they met back up with me, the butterbeer was definitely long gone. I had every intention of sharing, but they took forever and it was yum. Basically I’m a bad person. Oh well. Next we made our way to Jurassic Park.
We had lunch reservations at Mythos, but we were getting hungry, so we got some chicken nuggets to split (they were nothing special) Then Levi told me that we should do the Jurassic Park River Adventure. “It’s just like Jungle Cruise,” he said. “You won’t get wet at all!” he said! LIES! While the ride was epic, it was NOT Jungle Cruise, and I DID get wet! Luckily, I was feeling a little better so it wasn’t a huge deal. He apologized profusely before we headed over to the Hulk coaster.
I told them I was feeling much better and would do the coaster with them, but I honestly didn’t feel that much better as much as I didn’t want to be a party pooper. So we did the Hulk and I got off of it not only dizzy, but with a headache too. But what do you do?
By now it was time for lunch at Mythos!
We checked in and at about that time Coda got a call from Reuben. Did I mention he was supposed to meet us at 9am? Obviously that didn’t happen. He drug in about the same time we were seated – 1:30ish – but he wasn’t on our reservation and decided to meet us afterwards.
I had the pad thai:
It was delicious! I am actually pretty impressed with the quality of the food, though this meal didn’t outdo Disney like the one from the day before had!
During our meal, an employee came over and gave us this:
Only one button to split between the two of us… It’s the thought that counts, right? While I did enjoy Mythos, I was a little underwhelmed. I booked it based on the fact that it has steadily been rated the best theme park restaurant in the world (or something to that effect). It really was not that impressive and I had expected it to blow anything at the World out of the water! Still a good meal, nonetheless.
After lunch we went back to HP world (which is what I’m calling it now) for more butterbeer! I had raved about it since I’d had mine and Coda wanted to try it for himself!
That’s him with the green backpack. Yes, I did let him wait in line by himself. I already told you I’m a terrible person! Of course he loved it! And of course, I drank half of it! Because I wasn’t feeling well I decided to just do a walk through of the castle while everyone else went on the Forbidden Journey. The castle was excellent! I love that they let you just walk through and chicken out at the last second!
Amazing holograms made it feel like the characters were really there!
While everyone else rode, I walked around the park. One thing I noticed was that there was absolutely no transition between themes. At Magic Kingdom, for example, I’ve noticed that I never can really tell at exactly what point Fantasyland becomes Tomorrowland. That is not the case at IoA, which I’m sure you know. It was also at this point that I finally got a call from Reuben wanting to meet up. So we met near the front of the park and everyone else arrived right at the same time. They were all raving about how amazing the ride was! Coda insisted that I would absolutely love it! He swore that there was barely any simulation (only two or three seconds at a time) and that I definitely wouldn’t get sick! Never mind that I get motion sickness very easily on simulators as well as boats. So, again not wanting to be a party pooper, I agreed to go on. I mean, he did swear that it “wasn’t really a simulator”.
Carolyn offered to take Cy so that Reuben could go on the ride with Coda, Levi, and me, and we got in the 40-minute line. I did enjoy seeing the rest of the castle. For those of you who haven’t been, if anyone tells you it isn’t a simulator and you won’t get motion sickness, punch them square in the throat. The ENTIRE ride is a combination of simulations and flip flopping around with dragons and trees jumping at you. Even if I hadn’t already been feeling like crap after a near-death experience (I’m dramatic, sue me) I would have been sick. I spent the entire ride with my eyes closed, breathing and trying not to puke. I made it through without hurling, but when we got off, I think Coda could tell how ed I was. He jumped off and started going on about, “see, wasn’t that awesome?! Aren’t you glad you did it now?!” Well, no, I wasn’t glad, but I couldn’t say that because I was so queasy I was scared to open my mouth! We looked at the picture and everyone else looked like they were having a blast. I looked like I was about to give birth. I was not a happy camper. And I felt worse than I had all day.
At that point it was time to go. Coda and I had plans for the evening and I felt like a sack of crap. Reuben got pretty bent out of shape, not grasping that the rest of us had been there since 9 in the morning, and opted to stay for awhile to get his money’s worth. Did I mention that he got in for free? He got a free pass because he’s a marine, and when he got there he picked Cy up and told them he was 2. So yes, they got in for free. Before we left, Carolyn, being the saint that she truly is, offered to watch Cy the next day so Rueben could join Coda and Levi for their guys’ day out.
With plans made for the next day, the four of us got in the car and headed back to the resorts (we dropped them off at ASM first). Levi and Carolyn planned to see La Nouba and Coda and I had exciting plans of our own!
We got back to the hotel just before 6pm and passed out til 7! We had special plans at 8:30! We decided to grab a quick dinner at the Contempo Café, but I don’t even remember what I had. We jumped the launch to Fort Wilderness and checked in for our special Christmas sleigh ride!
It was so much fun! It was super romantic with a blanket for ambiance. There was absolutely no need for a blanket on such a warm December night! The horse leading the sleigh was much slower than some others we saw which made for a much more enjoyable ride! Too bad most of my pictures didn’t turn out very well, but here’s one of some of the lights we saw:
There are some very dedicated people out there! We learned that there are two different families that have lived there for more than three years! I remember someone asking about that awhile back. It was a really awesome experience and I highly recommend it!
After our sleigh ride, we took the boat back to the contemporary and made time to practice our wedding waltz before we hit the hay!
Up next: guys’ day out and my day (mostly) alone!
