Trip Report Hot, wet, sunny, and too much time in Chilis; a June 2013 Trip Report

Hi folks!
This is my first ever full trip report so I hope you all enjoy it.
We’ve had a fabulous 2 weeks in sunny, slightly rainy, but mostly hot Orlando. We’ve had a lot of new experiences during our trip, more probably for hubster, and most for my parents.
If you would like to read my pre trip report, it’s here:

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/its-got-so-bad-theres-even-a-jar-involved-june-2013-ptr.862626/

So we’re not ones to completely focus on Disney on a holiday, but we’ve certainly done more Disney than anything else this trip. I wanted to make sure I got in as much as possible so my planning started at 380 days out, including booking reservations on Christmas and Boxing day, and plenty of scouring the forum for ideas. Sad to say I haven’t been able to fulfill them all (Push you little minx, you alluded me once again!) but have still had plenty of new experiences.

We’ve had a 2 week stay at the Enclave Suites on Carrier Drive which is just off International Drive. Oh boy do I wish we had driven this trip. $12 per person to get to and from the World. No room tax though, but still. And because of all the rain we’ve had, it would have been just swell to have had a dry pair of shoes and clothes waiting in a car on more than one occasion.

I also took 3030 photos on this trip! I said I wanted to take more, but wow, I wasn't expecting to finish with 3030. This isn't including the ones took on James' phone either! Wowza.

Incase you haven’t read my PTR, the cast is as follows:

Me, Clare. 24 years young, dental nurse and Disney nut!

DH, James, 33 years young, dental technician, prefers white knuckle rides to Disney, but is still happy to participate in the goings on in the World.

My Mom, Yvonne, 61 years young, accounts clerk, likes Disney but not so much the heat.
And finally, My Dad, Clive, 63 years young, warehouse man, goes wherever the two women want him to go!



Coming up, Day 0: Longest work day EVER and driving down to London baby!

 

[pumpkin7]

Day 0.
Before we could start the first stage of our trip, we all, except mom, had to endure the longest day at work EVER. It draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagged like anything. Infact, I must have been Disney daydreaming as I don’t remember much of it. Mom had been at home finishing the packing, dropping our cats off at the catery for their 2 week holiday, and making sandwiches for the trip.
Before we could catch our plane, we had an overnight stay in London. We were travelling from Gatwick to Orlando International, but we live in Birmingham, so hurray for a 3 hour drive! Me and Dad would be sharing the driving. So come 5.30, I drove home at some speed, got changed, packed up the car and before we knew it, we were on our way!

We stopped at the Services for some dinner around 7.30. I had a BLT sandwich and some Pom Bears.

I’d got the tunes going to get everyone in a Disney mood!

Me and Dad swapped after we had eaten dinner, and I got to sit in the back with Mom.

Here’s James looking most discruntled that he isn’t driving.


After a few hours driving we arrived at our overnight hotel, Cumberland Hotel in London.

Included in the price of the room was storage for the car for 2 weeks, a full English breakfast and transport to the airport. The room was very nice, newly refurbished. The shower tried to kill me as it was a super small cubicle, I got stuck behind the door and then the water got mega hot. I thought I was going to burn! But I managed to get the door open in time. Phew! After that exciting episode, we went down to the local pub for a drink before getting and early night.

Next up: Day 1: Travel Day!

 

[pumpkin7]

Day 1: Travel day!
So we were up bright and early for our full English breakfast.
After breakfast we were driven to the airport and dropped off at Terminal 2 to catch our plane!
Our bags (I love my animal bag!) :

James and I looking rather tired but excited!


After we were through security (which I was body scanned because I left my belt on AND had my bag confiscated because my laptop was in it ... ) we had a look around at all the ‘British’ paraphernalia. All I can say is OH DEAR ME. For some reason they think it still acceptable to sell the Olympic Games merch over a year after the event. Look at it all!

What on earth this is meant to be completely escapes me. I apologise to the world for this one:


And very british OREOS....
Anyway, we got through all the rubbish duty free stuff and found ourselves on the departures board. Ooo look, there we are at the bottom!

 

[pumpkin7]

After finding some headphones for James, we decided to go and get a drink from one of the restaurants that overlooks the runway, and we spotted our plane.

Here’s James looking overjoyed.

I just ordered a glass of juice, and James had a cup of tea.


After that, we uneventfully boarded our plane, and we were on our 8 hour, 40 minute flight to sunny Orlando!



We were flying with Virgin Atlantic, which made James happy because all the drinks are on the house. Plenty of beer flowing and the like. We all had monitors in the back of the seat. Disappointingly then had NO DISNEY FILMS ON AT ALL. Not even on the kids channel. They had Disney Channel programs but I’m a little too old for that. So I watched The Hobbit, Django Unchained, and a Top Gear Special on James Bond cars.

My inflight meal was awful. I ordered the Tikka Masala. Tell me, does anyone know what colour a Tikka Masala should be??

Not that colour! Moms was a beautiful yellowy orange colour. Mine looked like dog food. Didn’t taste much better either. James had bangers and mash and I wish I had of too.
Half way there!

Finally after 8 hours and 40 minutes we arrived in Orlando! HURAAAAAAYYY!!
Here’s James looking a bit groggy


After checking in with the Virgin Atlantic desk, we went outside to wait for our bus to come and take us to our Hotel. But look what I spotted!

 

[pumpkin7]

After about a 5 minute wait, our Disney Magical Express arrived!

Well, it did have this in the window


We arrived at our hotel about 30 minutes later. It was a super miserable day in sunny Orlando. It had been raining from when we got on the coach. Still, we checked into the Enclave Suites. James and I had room 1414, and Mom and Dad had 1408. We had asked for refurbished rooms, but didn’t get them.

It wasn’t the best hotel we’ve ever stayed in, but not the worst either. The bed was creaky, and the aircon made one hell of a noise, but we would only be sleeping in there really so we didn’t mind. Though it made us yearn after a Disney Resort Hotel!


We had a decent view out over to Wet n Wild and could see the Universal Islands of Adventure beacon and fireworks. I was a bit disappointed that we weren’t facing Disney as last trip we could look out over the balcony and watch the Epcot fireworks.

As we’d been awake for about 14 hours, and we were hungry, we decided to go and have dinner at Chilies Restaurant on I-Drive. It was literally 2 minutes walk and they have 2 for 1 budweisers so it kept the men happy. I didn’t take any photos as we were feeling groggy, but I had the ribs which were very scrummy. After we had eaten we decided to get an early night as it was about 2am our time and we were super sleepy.


Next up, Day 2 Rest day? What’s a rest day?

 

[pumpkin7]

Day 2.

So next morning as our body clocks were all over the place, we were both awake by 6am. James wanted to go down to check out the gym, so I got up and started to unpack. I was relieved to see it wasn’t raining but as I was up so early, I got to watch the sunrise.

The original plan for today was to just have a relax by the pool, but we had itchy themepark feet so decided to spend the morning round the pool, and then the afternoon at Universal Studios.






Now my Mom doesn’t like water. She doesn’t swim, she doesn’t like being splashed. So, we were all very surprised when she actually got in the pool!

By 10.30 we’d had enough so went up to the room to get ready for our first theme park. I have to be honest, I was gutted it wasn’t a Disney Park, but the shuttle to get there was $12, and we were all a bit jet lagged and I didn’t want to waste a grotty day on Disney. So we got the free shuttle to Universal instead.
Hello Citywalk!

 

[pumpkin7]

I hadn’t really bothered researching much about Universal. I like the parks, but I’m not as passionate about them. So I didn’t really know what to expect. Upon arrival. The crowds were quite minimal. After doing a bit of dancing to a band that were playing Johnny Be Goode and dancing around to the Back the Future theme, we stumbled upon Terminator 3D. 10 minute wait! Score. So straight in we went.


And so began the ritual of photographing 3D glasses.

As per usual, this was entertaining but looking tired. One of the demonstration robots shooting gallery papers didn’t come down so he was comically shooting at nothing. But it was good fun and got us out the heat for a bit.
We continued down the street to our next stop. As you can tell, no planning went into this, we just went on what ever we came to next. Horror Makeup Show. Now this thing hasn’t changed, like, ever. It’s been the same since I first saw it in 1997, I swear.

I think it needs some kind of overhaul. The gag knife joke is getting a bit old.
Anyway, we carried on, heading towards the Simpson ride. I took some pics on the way.



Then, we saw this monstrosity.

James cottoned on straight away that it was the Transformers ride. Now, I didn’t think it was open, so it was a very pleasant suprise that it was!


This building is so impressive. It’s very well themed, and Optimus Prime is so awesome.


Unfortunately the queue time was not so awesome. 95 minutes. But I later found out it was only it’s second or third day of running so I guess that’s not bad! Well, neither Mom or Dad wanted to wait so we decided to come back later.

 

[pumpkin7]

Down the street we went. Ma and Pa were starting to feel a bit peckish, so they stopped for a turkey leg.


THEY DIDN’T LIKE IT. Omg. They ate about half of it, then threw it away. I had a Ben and Jerries Mint icecream. I didn’t get a picture for some reason but it was yummy.
Mom and Dad really love Men in Black so we decided to head there next. Now, as much as we love them, it took aaages to get to Men In Black. They had to keep stopping for stuff, and we just weren’t used to the pace. So we all decided after Men in Black we would go our separate ways and meet up later on.
On our way to Men In Black we saw the construction for HP2. Looks massive!


I like these signs which are giving a nod to the old rides, but I heard more than one person say ‘A Back to the Future ride? That’s going to be awesome!’ and another said at the Jaws poster ‘I wonder if that’s what they are building here? I’ll have to come back for that!’ Oh dear.


I also saw the new spinner they are building out the front of The Simpson Ride. It’s about time they had a spinner! I was just bummed it ruined the view. But it’s quite obvious that Universal are upping their game big time.




We arrived at Men In Black! The queue was at 30 minutes, but we didn’t mind doing the single riders so that’s what we did. There was a family trying to get into the Express queue without Express passes. They didn’t speak English so when the staff member opened the exit for them, and they suddenly realised that they had been sent the wrong way, they were straight back up to where we were standing attempting to moan at the staff member. They eventually left feeling discruntled but it was quite funny to watch.
After we rode, James wanted a hat. I said he should wait until we got to Disney but he was having none of it and ended up with this beauty:


After MIB we decided to say goodbye to my rents and headed towards the Simpsons. It had a 30 minute wait. We don’t mind waiting 30 minutes so we joined the queue just as Doc Browns Simpsons nod was showing. I love that they do that with old rides. I know most people probably don’t get it but it’s nice for those who do.


I like these posters too.



And we got to go upstairs. I’ve never been up the ramps before!

 

[pumpkin7]

Great ride as per usual but I thought the projection was quite dirty and could do with a digital upgrade. They’d added a load of new buildings outside since we last visited so we had a look around them.





I am so glad I got to see the DeLorian.


And the train of course.


Minions!


Next, we were itching to get onto Transformers. We headed for the single riders line as the queue was still at 95 minutes. We probably waited for about 15 minutes. Much better!





The ride is really good. It’s like Spiderman on steroids, so if you like Spiderman, you’ll love this. It’s crystal clear screens are beautiful and the story is very interesting. Although they were really paranoid about their 3D glasses. There was a staff member telling you to put them in a bin, a staff member taking them off you to put them in the bin, and another 2 at both sets of doors to make sure you didn’t take them out of the building.

 

[pumpkin7]

We stepped outside to see:

Optimus Prime!
And then standing right opposite doing meet and greets was Bumblebee!
He was pretty neat, but I was a bit freaked out by his face so I didn’t want to go over, so we got a sneaky shot. (Which has now disappeared!!)
Just round the corner, Donkey and Shrek were meeting and greeting too. Again, I didn’t want to talk to Donkey so I just took a picture of someone else lol.

We headed over to Despicable Me as it was something new but the wait was 105 minutes. As we didn’t know what the ride was, we decided to skip it for now.

After that, we headed towards another new one, Rip Ride Rock It. I can’t help but think that they got the idea for this from Aerosmith Rock n Roller Coaster and just plussed it. I like the fact that you go upside down but don’t have an over shoulder harness.

Here’s a nice picture of my trusty Theme Park Trainers! I bought these during our trip in 2008 after my Sketchers tore my feet to pieces and they’ve been fantastic.


We were getting kind of warm at this point so went to get a drink. I had a raspberry slush and James had a beer.

 

[pumpkin7]

While we were cooling off, the Blues Brothers drove past.

And then Bumblebee

We decided to head over to the Mummy. Score! 20 minute wait. So while James finished off his beer, we watched the Blues Brothers.

After the Mummy, which was the same as always, awesome, we met up with Ma and Pa again, and as it was starting to rain, we decided to go and grab a bite to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. James and I ate here last trip and it was pretty yummy so we decided to go back!



I ordered the BBQ pulled pork burger. I enjoyed it, but it did get a bit sickly towards the end. The chips were super nice.

James had this burger but he can’t remember what it was called.

Once we’d finished the rain had stopped so we went back into the park.

 

[pumpkin7]

I think I’d do well as a royal!



We had a wonder around and decided to head over to ET. James has never ridden as he hadn’t watched ET since he was little as it upset him. He watched it a few months ago, and I told him that this ride was kind of cheesy so he wouldn’t have a problem.

You can tell by his face that he isn’t looking forward to it!

It was as cheesy as I remember, although I don’t remember ET saying your name at the end. There’s no way he would have time to say everyones names though surely? We heard ours said though!
We had a wonder round after that. It had gone very dark, a you can probably tell from the pictures. We had an obligatory picture with Jaws.

Dad wanted to ride the Mummy and my Mom said she would ride too. Now she doesn’t like roller coasters, so I’d showed her the ride through in light and dark, and she said she would be fine as it didn’t go upside down.


Sooo she hated every second of it. I felt bad for getting her to go on it but she insisted she wanted to go on. Safe to say she wouldn’t go on much else after that so we called it a day. We were all pretty tired from jet lag so we went back to the hotel and hit the hay.

Up next Day 3: Finally back to the World!

 

[Raven66]

I'm enjoying your trip report and pictures. Can't wait to read the rest of it!

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

Great TR!!!! So far so good... Seems like you guys had a great first couple of days of your trip!!! Pics are great, too

 

[foreverbelle]

Oh how fabulous of a report thus far! I am loving it. You guys are such a cute couple by the way.

I love this picture of you and the crown, yes you would fit in with the royals splendidly.

Can't wait to read more.

 

[experiment624]

Wait, that's all for now? I was enjoying it so much. I feel like I just watched cliff hanger at the end of season finale on a TV show and I have to wait a year for the next season. Great article looking forward to reading more.

 

[pumpkin7]

Wait, that's all for now? I was enjoying it so much. I feel like I just watched cliff hanger at the end of season finale on a TV show and I have to wait a year for the next season. Great article looking forward to reading more.

Aww I'm sorry! I thought I'd overdone it yesterday with all that. Don't worry, the next part is ready for uploading as soon as I get home!

I'm glad you're all enjoying it. The best part is coming up; Walt Disney World!

 

[Zman-ks]

Great pics!

 

[jkl2000]

Great TR so far (enjoyed the PTR too!). Nice to see some of universal too.
I think my favorite part so far is the Magical Express with the little sign SAYING it's the Magical Express. LOL.

 

[Minx]

Really enjoying your TR, can't wait for the next instalment!