Trip Report A Very Merry and very expensive 50th Birthday Celebration

Who: Brian and I
When: November 12-19
Where: Pop Century and Cabana Bay
Why: My 50th Birthday

Hello again everyone! My husband and I were able to make it back to Orlando again this year to celebrate my 50th birthday. I have to be honest I was not looking forward to turning 50 this year so a figured spending some time in the sun at 2 of my favourite places would help make it a lot more magical .



Our flight left at 2pm and we had a connection to catch in Ottawa. Due to the weather our flight from our home to Ottawa came in a bit late so it was a race to get to customs. When we got there they would not let us through because our luggage had not been transferred yet. I think I've mentioned before that I have really bad anxiety so I had a panic attack in the airport. It was embarrassing but I cannot control it and it can be quite scary. I was shaking and couldn't catch my breathe and trying hard to keep it together. Luckily for me Brian was able to get someone to help us with the luggage situation and they finally let us on the plane. The airline ended up holding the plane for all of the passengers that were running late so thank goodness for small miracles.

The good news is when we were at the airport in our hometown I saw someone who knows me from my job and she works for the airline we flew with so she had our tickets upgraded to 1st class on both flights! What a wonderful surprise that was for both of us.

Sunset

Menu for 1st class


We played it safe and we both got the cheese and fruit tray and I got a margarita because I really needed it .


We arrived in Orlando at 7:20pm and this is the next picture we took almost 2 hours later...


We quickly checked in, dropped off our luggage and hopped on a bus to Disney Springs to get a late dinner at Polite Pig.


After a delicious meal we did a little shopping until 11pm and then it was time to head back to Pop to unpack and get some sleep.
We really wanted these 2 decorations but they definitely would not fit in our luggage .

 

[Beastly74]

Friday, Nov 15th.

We slept in until a little after 9am and then it was time to get ready and finish packing everything up for our move to Cabana Bay at Universal. Before we left I remembered that I had forgotten to take pictures of our room. Sorry about the messy bed.


I didn't take a picture of the tub area but it was in need of an update/refresh and I think I read that they are going to start renovations at Pop next year.

On our way to drop of our stuff with luggage service (which has been moved to the back - last year I am sure we dropped our luggage off in the front) we ran into Goofy .

A nice surprise!

We headed to DS for lunch at Polite Pig again.

This trip we tried the quick service dining plan and this restaurant is the best value for your money and it is always good food and service (at least in our opinion). I don't think we will get the plan next time because unless you get alcohol with your meal I don't think you are saving anything.

We didn't spend a lot of time in DS because I wanted to get to Cabana Bay before 2pm so we caught the bus back to Pop and got a cab to Universal (for the rest of the trip Brian got the Uber app and we used them because it was much cheaper). The next pictures I have is of our room at the hotel (we were on a strict schedule because we had somewhere important to be for 3pm).



The room was fine but it was not as updated as our room last year and it seemed a bit smaller. It was also only on the 2nd floor in a different building so our view was not nearly as great either. However if I zoomed in a lot we could say we had a theme park view .


Our actual close-up view was a parking lot but at least there was a palm tree right outside the window .

 

[Beastly74]

I was very glad that Cabana Bay had our room ready for us early so that we could head to CityWalk for 3pm.
Picture of a cool light fixture near the elevators.


We caught the bus and were on our way to pick-up tickets for the Orlando Informer meet-up. We had done it last year and had an amazing time so we were excited for another fun-filled 2 nights. Brian's friend was coming again this year too so we were meeting him a little later.

Pointing the way


Once we got our tickets for the event they directed us to an area where they served free snacks and drinks. Last year everyone got $15 gift cards and we all agreed that we preferred that because we could choose what we wanted (which in our case was coffee ). We grabbed a can of pop (soda) and a couple snacks and then made our way back to CityWalk for Starbucks.


At about 4:30 we headed over towards Islands of Adventure to take some pictures and waited to be able to enter at 5pm.
Brian likes to poke fun at my height so he kept telling me I was almost too short to ride The Hulk .



We were allowed to enter about 10 minutes early and we were on our way .


For the event you can pick your tickets up at 3pm but you cannot enter the parks until 5pm. Also the party does not start until after the park officially closes which for this night was 7pm. This means that it is quite busy between 5-7 but that is okay we just enjoyed walking around for the 1st couple of hours.

 

[fractal]

Happy 50th!

35,000 + steps! that's almost 20 miles. Impressive!

 

[Beastly74]

Happy 50th!

35,000 + steps! that's almost 20 miles. Impressive!

Thank you! It was the best way to spend my 50th and I am so thankful that we were able to make it happen.
I was surprised our feet did not hurt the next day, I did have some swelling at the end of the night so the top of my left foot was rubbing against my shoe but I just switched sandals the next day and I was fine the rest of the week .

 

[Beastly74]

We started off in Seuss Landing and decided to do the Trolley Train ride. It was the first Universal ride we did on our first trip in 2011.
We walked around and took pictures before going on the ride.



I was almost short enough to stand under the arch .





The wait time said 20 minutes but we waited closer to 30. The wait times definitely got a lot higher when all of the Orlando Informer attendees arrived. I couldn't help thinking that it would be a bit frustrating for day guests who were wondering why the waits were so long close to park closing. We had a few people stop and ask us what the braclets were for when we were walking around.
A cute ride and the views are beautiful.




We had still not heard from Brian's friend so we continued on our way.

 

[meggo819]

Once we got our tickets for the event they directed us to an area where they served free snacks and drinks.

We went to the meetup this night too (I may get around to writing a report)! We never even checked out the snack area.

 

[Beastly74]

We went to the meetup this night too (I may get around to writing a report)! We never even checked out the snack area.

I hope you decide to write a trip report. I would love to hear about your adventures at the event.
The snack area was okay but we would rather get the gift certificate.

 

[Beastly74]

We continued to make our way back to Hogsmeade.
I hope they add something to this area. It is such a cool theme.




We had still not heard anything from Brian's friend, Mike, so since Hogwarts Castle was only a 20 minute wait we hopped in line. I like this ride but unfortunately I have to close my eyes for a lot of it which is strange because I can handle the bigger rollercoasters fine.



We finally got in touch with Mike so we arranged to meet up with him outside Cafe 4 to get some food. A few of the restaurants were opening up at 7 for food (included in price of tickets) and the rest only opened at 8pm.

Brian and Mike got pizza and I got a salad and a tiny cheesecake.


After our starter meal we went for an exhilarating ride on The Hulk.

Then Brian and Mike decided to do Fear Fall but I opted out.

Next up was Velocicoaster. What a rush!

 

[Beastly74]

Just thought I would share a funny moment in my crazy life - I work with children ages 15 months-2 years and tonight was our Christmas concert. We did Santa and his reindeer theme and the children were all attached to a rope (used for walks). Well one of the kids saw his dad in the audience and tried to run to him, ended up doing a faceplant and almost took out the rest of the team . When I took him back to his parents dad said he got it all on video and it was hilarious and he would show me tomorrow . Never a dull moment. I'm exhausted lol.

We headed back to Hogsmeade for 2nd dinner at Broomsticks. We all got the fish and chips and 2 different types of butterbeer and Brian and I shared an apple pie.


Hagrid's was only a 25 minute wait which was the longest wait any of the rides had for the event.


After our thrilling ride we took the train over to Diagon Alley.





I don't have a picture but we tried some strawberry and peanut butter at Florean Fortescue's ice-cream parlour then we took a ride on Escape from Gringotts.



We stopped to grab another butterbeer before heading to our next destination.

 

[Beastly74]

We stopped at Louie's Italian restaurant. Yes, we were eating again .


Then we went on Minion Blast. I had no idea what I was shooting .


Once our stomachs settled we did Rip Ride Rockit. The back of my head was hurting after that and I realized on all of the rollercoasters I was pushing my head as hard as I could into the back of the seats to try and keep it still.


We took the walking trail back over to Islands of Adventure (it was close to the Minions ride and we came out in Seuss Landing). Sorry no pictures of it. We made our way back to Hogsmeade to visit Hogwart's Castle again.






We ended our amazing time with dessert at Cinnabon and happily waddled back to the buses excited to do it again the next night.


I just wanted to add that there will be more Disney World days coming up in the trip so please stay tuned .

Almost forgot to post total steps for the day were 23,682 and we started later.

 

[Tiki Traveler]

We went to the meetup this night too (I may get around to writing a report)! We never even checked out the snack area.

@meggo819

Always enjoy a trip report!

@Beastly74 You are brave to ride all those rides - not sure I could ride Velicoraptor and I love all things dinosaur!

 

[Beastly74]

@meggo819

Always enjoy a trip report!

@Beastly74 You are brave to ride all those rides - not sure I could ride Velicoraptor and I love all things dinosaur!

It is a very intense ride and I don't think I could ride it twice in the same night. On my first trip in 2011 I was too scared to ride any rollercoasters until I tried Dragon Challenge/Dueling Dragons (a ride that no longer exists) at the end of the night I loved it so much that we went on it 3 times in a row and then I got really brave and tried the Hulk. I felt dizzy after that but was completely hooked .

 

[Beastly74]

I went Christmas shopping today and checked the Hallmark store to see if I could find something for Brian that said Dog Dad on it instead I found...

Look how tiny!

 

[Beastly74]

Saturday, Dec 16th

We slept in until 10am and were slow to get ready for the day because we did not get to bed until almost 2am. On our way to catch the bus to CityWalk we saw Scooby-Doo doing a meet-n-greet.


The plan was to explore CityWalk some more and get a light snack before the party (we had something for breakfast in the room - I just can't remember what it was).
On our way

This is what we ended up getting for a snack - all 3 of us each got Starbucks and a small fry .





We checked out the stores and spent some time looking around the Epic Universe preview center. The model of the theme park is amazing and you could interact with it using the app.






We are looking forward to exploring Epic Universe next Fall if we can afford to make it back to Orlando.

 

[erstwo]

Love that story about your class! Since no one was hurt - I bet it was just the most adorable thing!!

I too have NO CLUE what I’m shooting at in the Minions ride/ stand thing!!

You guys got a ton done in one night!

 

[Beastly74]

Love that story about your class! Since no one was hurt - I bet it was just the most adorable thing!!

I too have NO CLUE what I’m shooting at in the Minions ride/ stand thing!!

You guys got a ton done in one night!

It was quite funny once I realized he was okay .
The Minions shooting ride is definitely not going to be a must do for us.
We were very happy with the event again this year. I really hope we can make it again in 2025 but not if the exchange rate stays this high .

 

[Beastly74]

We took a few pictures as we wandered around,



Stopped to look around in the Chocolate Emporium.


And then it was time to collect our tickets for Orlando Informers and grab some snacks to hold us over until the event started. It was very well organized.



They had live music in the snack area too.


We hung around the snack area until 4pm and then Brian wanted to buy a long sleeved shirt because it was getting a little cooler so we did a little shopping (no pictures) while we waited to enter the park.

They let us in about 4:50 and we were on our way again.

 

[Beastly74]

Instead of going through Seuss Landing we went through the Marvel Area but kept walking because I wanted to to meet Blue, the velociraptor. It was as awkward as it sounds .





Her "handler" was hilarious though so it was a fun experience.

After this Mike wanted to ride Jurassic World but I decided not to, so I waited while they went on, and once they were done we thought it would be fun to try a ride we had never done before - the Popeye and Bluto's raft ride. It was a terrible, horrible, foolish idea but we laughed through the whole thing. We had no idea just how soaked we would get and every time we thought it was over along came another gush of water.
This picture does not accurately depict just how drenched we were.

Unfortunately for us they had shut off their dryers in Toon Lagoon so we had to walk back to the Jurassic area to use theirs but even after using it 3 times we were still soaked so we decided to tough it out and keep going.

Since we were close we visited Skull Island.


Then it was time to head over to Universal Studios because there were a couple new things we wanted to see (thankfully no more water rides). We took the Hogwart's train again but no picture.

 

[erstwo]

Well - at least you were in it together! If you have to get attacked by water cannons - better to have friends with you!

 

[Beastly74]

It was 8pm so the event was just starting (on Friday it started at 7pm and 8pm on Saturday but both nights we could get into the parks at 5pm). We were hungry so we decided to try a new restaurant for us - Cafe La Bamba. Most or all of the restaurants serve a modified/limited menu so our options were chicken, pork or vegan tacos and they had a dessert table as well. I think it was cheesecake but I cannot remember and we forgot to take a picture. Brian and Mike both tried the chicken and the pork and I got the vegan one with regular cheese and sour cream. We all loved our meals and will definitely eat here again.
We lined up to get in just before 8 but the line went fast. Rope dropping for food .

Looks messy but it was so good!


Once we were pleasantly full I wanted to go on a ride that has been around since the park opened but first we helped the Transformers.

I loved the queue of E.T. however it did not go on my must do list of rides.


Next it was time to visit the new DreamWorks area.

I have to confess we know nothing about the Trolls movies but Mike has 5 kids (yes 5) so he had to get his picture taken with Guy Diamond. (yup, I googled his name).

Po's Kung Fu training camp was closed so we will have to try and catch it before park closing next time.

When you step on the lily pads the frogs make a sound and I had read that you can make them say bud-weis-er. That amused us for a few minutes .

We enjoyed looking around but it is definitely smaller than I expected. Cute addition for kids.


We got this photo op that was just outside the DreamWorks area for one of Mike's kids.