Trip Report **COMPLETE** 'Tried the grey stuff it's delicious... don't believe us ask the dishes!!!

Welcome to our first trip report! I've loved reading through lots of fantastic trip reports on here, the pictures and stories got me very excited for my recent trip to Orlando so I figured it would be the perfect opportunity for me to write my very own. First a little background information, I’m Karen (25) from Dublin in Ireland and had my first trip to Orlando at the age of 9 and have since been hooked! I've been a grand total of 6 times including the most recent trip (not nearly enough!). Myself and my sister Rachel (20) read tonnes of trip reports, drooled over all over the Disney treats, researched the magic band system like crazy and planned the out the holiday in advance. Our trip involved 3 completely different types of accommodation, we stayed in a villa in Kissimmee for the first 6 days, Art of Animation at Disney World for 2 nights and finally the Quality Inn Suites on International Drive (at the junction of Sand Lake road).

A relative of ours had booked the house as part of a round the world trip so our accommodation there was free, he won’t feature much in our trip report but when he does we will refer to him as Grumpy. My boyfriend, who shall be known as Sleepy for the duration of our TR, also joined us on the trip for 10days.


Introducing the cast!

Me (left) and Rachel - both from Ireland

Sleepy (my boyfriend) - from the UK, had visited Disney once as a kid but has very vague memories

& Grumpy - our uncle

 

[dancingtodisney]

Next up was my favourite ride.....

***FUN FACT*** so while I was in Tokyo I of course went to Disneyland! They have a Tower of Terror there too, I've also been to Disneyland Paris and been on the one there. There is of course a ToT in California as well and all of them EXCEPT the one in Japan are based on the television show The Twilight Zone

The one in Tokyo however has a completely different background story all together! The hotel is called 'Hotel Hightower' There was this really weird doll thing that is apparently cursed and this explorer guy who I also owns Hotel Hightower and likes collecting artifacts finds it and brings it home! He is warned that it's cursed but ignores the warnings, he then has this massive party and brags about finding the crazy looking doll thing. After the party he enters the elevator and when it's almost at the top the doll thing comes to life, the elevator is struck by lightning and well the next but is pretty similar, elevator plunges to the ground and at the bottom the explorer guy is no where to be found.... The hotel is abandoned and becomes really creepy looking! Now you have to remember that this was all in Japanese so I was really confused as I was expecting the same story as Paris and Florida which by the way I much prefer....

Anyway... back to our Florida adventures!

Creepy book...

(random side note if you ever want to create paper that looks like this so you can create a treasure map or something you just get normal paper and a wet teabag and rub it all over, when it dries it looks all old and creepy and you can tear the edges to make it look more worn)

RIDE PHOTO

Straight across to Rockin' Rollercoaster next, this ride photo is really funny, check out Sleepy doing the classic 'look at the state of this clown' pose and then the random dude in our car scrunching his eyes closed and doing his best hamster storing food impression.

Last ride of the day (and Sleepy's last Disney ride of the trip) was Star Tours

Sorry guys my photos are terrible of this one

It looks pretty smart since the refurb

 

[dancingtodisney]

We ventured back to AoA and collected our bags, we were moving to International Drive now, all of my relatives that I met earlier in the trip were now on a cruise so we had their two big suites to ourselves.

For dinner we went to an old favourite of ours...

The food here is great, the portion sizes and massive and it's really good value...

Then of course there is this...

We had to get ours to takeaway cause we were so full!

Off to bed to rest, Sleepy was heading home tomorrow and we were off to Universal Studios...

 

[mrdrift]

This is a great trip report with very good photos. Can't wait to read the rest of this report and see all the wonderful photos.

 

[dancingtodisney]

This is a great trip report with very good photos. Can't wait to read the rest of this report and see all the wonderful photos.

Aw Thank You!!

I'm going to try get some more done tonight! I'm so glad I bought the camera I've got some lovely photos to remind me of our magical trip! The photopass plus was brilliant too

 

[dancingtodisney]

Day 10 - Universal & Bye Bye Sleepy

We were now staying the the Quality Inn Suites on International Drive and let me tell you it was a MASSIVE downgrade from Disney and the Villa BUT it was free so can't complain!

We had a slow start to our morning, Sleepy was feeling especially Sleepy today and refused to get up out of bed. Me and Rachel went down for the complimentary breakfast which was not the best without him and then we finally were on our way to Universal. We weren't sent to the roof to park this time thank god! When we got to the gates I think it was close to 10am but luckily it was a quite enough day so we hopped straight onto the Hulk, no front row seats this time (THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU SLEEP IN) but I wasn't bothered. We rode twice, once in the middle and once at the back, the back was BUMPY!

We walked around towards Toon Lagoon..

MINION

Then is was time for a major posing session... check it out...

He looks really drunk in this one as he's squinting lots lol

Still thinking...

We rode Ripsaw Falls and got SOAKED...

It was really bright out!

More posing!

 

[dancingtodisney]

Seen as we were already wet...

In the queue... well there isn't really a queue

On board our boat...

I love when the music plays as this big gate opens... always gives me a funny feeling in my tummy

Friendly Dinosaur

Still friendly despite his appearance

This is so much fun... going on a boat ride amongst all these friendly dinosaurs... I mean what could possible go wrong????

Uh Oh... that doesn't look right

I don't think we're supposed to go in here...

Maybe the guy who was wearing that vest just took it off cause it's such a nice day?????

And maybe when taking off his shirt he also knocked his glasses off and then his boat crashed into that wall and now he's just off on the phone to AA but for boats and he'll be back real soon and probably tell us how to turn this boat around cause that sign back there said we'd weren't supposed to be here and I for one am not sure how to stop this boat going forward cause there is no steering wheel or nothing

 

[dancingtodisney]

This box doesn't look very safe, it's moving and it says 'live rapture' why on earth would you keep a live rapture in such a fragile looking box and suspended in the air like some sort of booby trap... well I'm sure as hell going 'stand clear' just like the box says

Aw crap the boat is headed straight underneath...

PHEW that was close that thing nearly fell on my head...

I closed my eyes for the rest of it but I'm pretty sure from the noises I heard there were some really big dinosaurs trying to eat me... Somehow though I just went down this big waterfall and was able to leave the boat with all my limbs still intact.. I was pretty wet hough but that's a small price to pay in all fairness....

 

[mrdrift]

Love the step by step report from Jurassic Park. When we go to that park my daughter want to ride as many times as possible until I finally say enough of this ride. All the poses from Sleepy is making me laugh , keep them coming.

 

[dancingtodisney]

Love the step by step report from Jurassic Park. When we go to that park my daughter want to ride as many times as possible until I finally say enough of this ride. All the poses from Sleepy is making me laugh , keep them coming.

I've definitely lost count of the amount times I've been on Jurrassic Park, it's such a fun ride!

 

[dancingtodisney]

Finally getting around to adding some more to this! I was on holiday in Spain sunning myself but now it's back to reality!

 

[dancingtodisney]

Next we decided to venture into the Jurrasic Park Discovery Centre.

We were greeted by this guy as we came in

This place was pretty interesting!

THE SIZE OF THIS EGG

This guy doesn't look very friendly

Rachel tried out this interactive part that moved this guys head about the place, looks to me like he was playing hide and seek with the scary dude above.

We heard some commotion from the other side of the room...

Looks like we were about to be joined by a baby Dino!

This professor guy gave us the low down on the eggs

It's a girl!

We stayed until the talk finished, it was something different and really quite interesting if you are at all into hearing about dinosaurs!

 

[dancingtodisney]

We continued around towards the Harry Potter area, stopped for the odd photo along the way

Entrance to Jurassic Park area from the far side.... I don't know this dude

Coming in to my favourite area... random people posing in front of the landscape

HOGWARTS

Of course we just had to ride! This time we got to really take in the queue area as there was a slight waiting time. There was some commotion at the top as these girls in the single rider queue didn't go to their allocated seat and instead sat beside each other which split a family with young kids but they were told to move....

I can't wait to come back when the train between parks is up and running

Gosh I'm so lucky to have such a big strong man in my life!

The Lost Continent really is just that... Lost... it doesn't really offer anything and I never really remember it even exists...

We left IOA and headed out towards Universal Studios.

 

[mrdrift]

Keep the great report coming, I just love the Harry Potter experience and even the butter beer. Once again some great photos and what would you do with out Sleepy !

 

[abzoo]

To go all the way back to your post about the mysterious animal in AK, it's a babirusa. They have tusks that curl inward as they grow so they have to find ways to file them down or else their brains will be impaled!

And hooray for October trips to look forward to! The last few days of my trip will be when yours begins!

 

[dancingtodisney]

Keep the great report coming, I just love the Harry Potter experience and even the butter beer. Once again some great photos and what would you do with out Sleepy !

I'm so excited to see the new part in Universal Studios when we come back this year! Yes Sleepy is quite the character alright! He's also coming along this year too so I'm sure we'll find even more photo opportunities!

 

[dancingtodisney]

To go all the way back to your post about the mysterious animal in AK, it's a babirusa. They have tusks that curl inward as they grow so they have to find ways to file them down or else their brains will be impaled!

And hooray for October trips to look forward to! The last few days of my trip will be when yours begins!

Oh wow! That's pretty crazy!

Ah great, I've never been in October or November before so it'll be a new experience, that and the fact that I'll be doing the half marathon

 

[dancingtodisney]

We took our time walking between the two parks, Universal and IOA had been eerily quiet on both of our visits, apart from the queue for the Minion ride pretty much everything was a walk on or 10min wait.

As we arrive the POLICE were crossing the main road, I think the Blue’s Brothers band that plays comes in driving the police car?

Looks like a guitar in the back seat

The band is really good and I’ve frequently enjoyed listening to them while having a wander around the park. They are positioned near The Mummy roller-coaster if I remember correctly! I think it’s down a side street just opposite the entrance to it. Anyhooooo back to our entrance to Universal… there was another group set up on the right hand side as you come in near to Shrek playing some fun music… I can’t remember what exactly but it got me in the holiday mood!

We hopped on a few rides, again pretty much walk ons! Rip Ride Rocket, The Mummy & MIB..

 

[dancingtodisney]

Then it was time to really explore the Simpoms area and what better way to start than with some characters!

Sleeping posing.... Who would've thought it?!

Group photo

This area is brilliant, I love it... I've never met anyone that doesn't like the Simpsons...

It's for you.....

Haven't you always wanted to go to the Kwik-E-Mart???

DUFF MAN

Following in Sleepy's footsteps with the poses today

*********Let me take a selfie***********

So Duff beer is an energy drink... I think it was pretty expensive like around $5 so we didn't buy one.. I think they may have had an alcoholic version in Moe's but I'm not sure, must check it out next time!

They also had a Flamming Moe's

Speaking of Moe's

It took me AGES to get this photo without people walking in or out!!

 

[dancingtodisney]

I have no idea why I am trying to do a teapot pose here.... I'm sure there was a logical reason for it!

Sleepy showing us how it's done

I'm starting to get the hang of it now

The crane in the background from the Harry Potter construction does take away from it a bit

Sleepy really wanted this photo so another long wait for a quiet period of no people going in or out! I had to snap this one quickly!

Mmmmmmmm donut

I like how they've kept a small area to remember what used to occupy The Simpsons area.... Sleepy tried to head back to the start of our trip so he didn't have to go home but it seems today was an 'off' day

 

[dancingtodisney]

We walked back around to towards Twister and spotted a Minion dance party along the way.

I have to say I was really disappointed that the 'minions' were just people in yellow and dungarees... I really wanted a picture with a 'real' minion... you know what I mean!

These guys were attached to the vehicle that moved about...

Close up of Gru

Look who else we bumped into

Then it was time for our final few rides with Sleepy... We got on Twister, Shrek and the Minion ride...

Our next stop was The Hard Rock Cafe....

The inside is pretty awesome although I've only ever been early in the day, I would like to go at night when there is more atmosphere...

Mmmmmmmmm food

Size of these nachos!

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3741/10166513265_c8f1a6b9b0_b.jpg

She preferred the Nachos from Yellow Dog Eats but these were pretty good... YDE is really really hard to beat!