Our Christmas Disneymoon 20th December-30th December 2011

sam_disney · Jan 13, 2012

enchanted_belle said:
Ahhh T-Rex! I'll make sure to get a picture of Fred and Bob (which one's which??) when I'm down - we're eating there the first night! I'm jealous of the sleigh ride, I've always wanted to do one... there just isn't enough time in a 4 day trip when your travel partner's never been to WDW!

And the Stitch picture is the CUTEST thing I've ever seen... especially when you're making the faces!

This one is fred

lol!! I loved T-rex great food! xx

I love the stitch picture too... the lady was like grab this present and look surprised.. we had no idea what it was going to be! lol x

Next day (23rd December 2011)- we went off site and headed to Universal Studios...

sam_disney · Jan 14, 2012

We woke very early on the Friday 23rd Dec- as we were on our way to Universal Studios. Marty our taxi guy was picking us up at 8am, so we grabbed breakfast in our room.

So here we are walking up to universal..

I love the walk up to the parks at Universal! It was another beautiful, hot day... and we made the most of it by being there so early..

Here we are with the famous globe..

I was sooo excited to visit Universal! I hadnt been to universal in about 4 years so iI was excited to see what was different.

On our way towards to big gates, we saw one of the big floats used in the macy's parade...

This was another reason for our visit.. I really wanted to see the Macy's parade down there and Grinchmas at islands...

sam_disney · Jan 14, 2012

When we walked up, we realised the park wasn;t even open yet, so we had to hang around waiting for it to open.

It opened 15 minutes early, so we made our way first to...

We had been told to go there and get the Universal equivalent for celebration badges,.. while I waited for James I took a picture of this tree- I thought It was quite interesting..

and then James appeared with...

We walked right towards Terminator but they had blocked the rode and therefore double backed and walked past Shrek....

I personally think the Shrek ride needs replacing.. it is old now and doesn't make much sense, since there has been 4 films now. I wish they had never got rid of the hitchcock ride... it was brilliant and such a great tribute to the genius that is Alfred Hitchcock!
Anyway... I feel I will moan this way throughout but I dont mean to! I just wish the Universal I went to back in 1998! It seemed so much better back then.. anyway! Enough of my moaning..

We then went up to look at the new rollercoaster...

I nearly went on it, but James hates rollercoasters and decided I wanted to spend time with him.. while it was quiet.. so we carried on...

We came acorss this holiday village that hadn't opened yet... the park was sooo quiet...

So we decided to take advantage of the quietness by taking lots of pictures...

sam_disney · Jan 14, 2012

It was about 9:00am now and the park was officially open but most rides didnt open till 10:00am, so we just enjoyed walked around taking in all the sights- without the crowds... it was brilliant!

This shows you how quiet it was... (there's a picture later of more crowds joining us)

Another picture of Macy's balloon used in their parades...

One of my favourite christmas movies is Miracle on 34th Street so I had to get a picture with the Macy's...

sam_disney · Jan 14, 2012

So we kept wandering taking pictures and enjoying the morning.. it is one of my highlights from the trip!

The next picture is because i love the film Thoroughly Modern Millie - starring Julie Andrews and the hotel is from this film...

Here's James with the garfield balloon.... they are sooo big!

We then saw the Back to the Future car and train.. we love them movies so we had to go and grab a picture! I used to love the ride too!! I hadnt done the simpsons ride at this point..

sam_disney · Jan 14, 2012

We carried on and I saw these stairs and wanted to have a Carrie Bradshaw moment...

Then we saw scooby!!

We walked up to Disaster and the staff member told us it would open around 10ish.. but that Men in Black and The Simpsons was already open..

So we headed toward the Amity Village to get to Men in Black...

'Mickey Mouse' · Jan 14, 2012

That's GREAT.

sam_disney · Jan 14, 2012

I went a bit snappy happy in Amity Village because I knew Jaws was going to close in January... sooo sad..! I got some great pictures as it was such a beautiful day.

Here are the pictures I got of the now deceased Jaws area of Universal...

'Mickey Mouse' · Jan 14, 2012

sam_disney said:
I went a bit snappy happy in Amity Village because I knew Jaws was going to close in January... sooo sad..! I got some great pictures as it was such a beautiful day.

Here are the pictures I got of the now deceased Jaws area of Universal...

Why would they get rid of Jaws? That was one of my favorite movies. It even terrified Donald at the time, and he doesn't get scared very easily.

sam_disney · Jan 14, 2012

Here he is.. the famous Shark itself...

I am very saddened that they have decided to close Jaws...
It was such a fantastic ride! I remember riding it back in 1998 and being utterly terrified!! Jaws is such an iconic movie and deserved to be left alone. I hope whatever they are replacing it with- is worthy!
I miss Back to the Future, Hitchcock, Kong, Hannah Barbera and now I miss Jaws!!

So for one last time..

Jaws wasn't open at that time.. so we decided to move along and go there later for our final Jaws ride...

So we walked towards...

We got to Men IN Black..

We locked our stuff in the free lockers provided and we went straight inside the room and there were 6 others with us- we went in to the lift and straight on to the ride...

We walked the entire queue with no wait at all and got on our car with 2 other people...

We looked across at the car in the other line, the one you shoot at and it was empty! It was sooo brilliant to have the ride basically all to ourselves!

Next up.. we looked in the MIB gift shop and because it was such a hot day we cooled off using the coke thingy...

Next up was our first encounter on the simpsons ride...

James double checked he was tall enough... lol

I actually really enjoyed the simpsons ride... brilliant! Great fun and think it was good how they used the old Back to the Future area! Although I still miss the iconic original ride!!

Next.. E.T!

sam_disney · Jan 14, 2012

We headed to E.T ( another ride I love!) I love how he says your name at the end. It is soo clever!

We then went and had a drink and a muffin from the bakery near to the betty boop shop. We enjoyed sitting in the sun, but we could see it was getting slightly busier, so we headed to...

James had never seen this before, so I thought he would enjoy it. The show hadn't changed at all really, since 1998. Just the introduction of newer movies, but its a very funny show!!

We then walked down to go back on ourselves over to the Disaster area...

While walking that way we caught the Christmas Blues Brothers show..

I really enjoyed it- I was standing around singng and dancing in the street and then...

It began to snow- awesome touch!

Anyway then we had a quick look through the holiday market that was now open..

It was now a little busier than earlier..

sam_disney · Jan 14, 2012

It was now time for Disaster!

I hadn't been on this ride since it was 'Earthquake' so I was interested to see the difference.

I really enjoyed the new update of it- good way of reimagining the ride!

Next we headed to Jaws for our last ever ride...

The ride was great as usual

I nearly went on it again but wanted to savour the moment. I am very sad to see it go!

Next we headed to..

I hadnt seen this for years and thought it was good last time I saw it... !

The show- was ok! Thats about it..! It hadnt changed in the slightest- which was rather disappointing after all this time! But hip and hop were awful!! Next.. it was time to head to Terminator!

sam_disney · Jan 14, 2012

On the way to Terminator we walked past..

Then we mooched around the rest of the holiday village where I tried on an elf hat... suits me I think lol

We went to Terminator and waited for the next show... I love this ride, its brilliant! Terminator is again such an iconic movie for me! I wouldn't ride this in 1998 when I was 11 because I was terrified the terminator would chase me or something lol

Anyway.. next it was time to get a place for the parade...

On our way walking to gain a good spot we were asked if we wanted to be in the parade but we declined. Our reasons being that we were only coming to islands and not studios again and really wanted to see the parade...

We found a great spot near to the Beetlejuice show..

Here we are waiting...

As we waited we saw this man... is this santa??? Like in the film.. I dont know.. but I found it a little odd..

Anyway.. on with the parade..

sam_disney · Jan 14, 2012

Here are some highlights from the macy's parade...

sam_disney · Jan 14, 2012

and a few more...

I loved the Macy's parade!!! It was very good and I am so glad we made the extra effort to go to Universal to see it!

Overall we had an excellent day at Universal

Anyway, after wards we headed to the Premium Outlets to have a look around the shops and then we headed to Golden Corral for dinner, we then went back to Port Orleans.. a long day but a great one!

Next up- Christmas Eve at Hollywood Studios...

Phineas fo Prez · Jan 15, 2012

I love T-REX!! Great atmosphere and decent food!! I have always wanted to try that desert but have always been too full to do so!! Did they have the chocolate fountain at Golden Corral? Love that thing!!!

Can't wait to hear more

enchanted_belle · Jan 15, 2012

Ooh yay! Christmas Eve is coming up! :sohappy:

I went to Universal and Islands for the first time last March... The coaster was pretty cool (mainly because you could pick your music and see Hogwarts), but I didn't like Simpsons. A bit on the rough side for me and my friends, we all had bad headaches after lol. I think we did Mummy like 5 times though!

foreverbelle · Jan 15, 2012

Ok so I am a little late, but how amazing does your honeymoon look! I am loving it. Thank you for sharing.

I am so glad you did the sleigh ride, I would love to do that one of these years and its great that you did. Looks so fun,

Finding Nemo is so classic. My sister cried her eyes out at the thing and to this day listens to that soundtrack. Hoping to take my son one of these days to see it.

And I love the shadow picture!

I didn't realize they closed Jaws, I have never been to Universal but have always thought that the ride to be one of their staples. Oh how times change I guess.

Looking forward to reading more!

Congrats on your marriage! May you and your hubby have many more years of happiness to come.

sam_disney · Jan 15, 2012

Phineas fo Prez said:
I love T-REX!! Great atmosphere and decent food!! I have always wanted to try that desert but have always been too full to do so!! Did they have the chocolate fountain at Golden Corral? Love that thing!!!

Can't wait to hear more

ooo try and save room and give it a go next time- well worth it! I dont really know why they don't do another smaller version of it?

Yes they had the choc fountain.. it was yummy!!

sam_disney · Jan 15, 2012

enchanted_belle said:
Ooh yay! Christmas Eve is coming up! :sohappy:

I went to Universal and Islands for the first time last March... The coaster was pretty cool (mainly because you could pick your music and see Hogwarts), but I didn't like Simpsons. A bit on the rough side for me and my friends, we all had bad headaches after lol. I think we did Mummy like 5 times though!

Ahh interesting... did you sit at the back of the car on the simpsons?

Our Christmas Disneymoon 20th December-30th December 2011

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