Trip Report Triskaidekaphobic Trip Report (live)

Hello All! Well, here it is our 13th trip report. I really have no actual fear of the number 13. In fact, I'm pretty certain that my 13th actual trip to the World was the first with my now 13 year old daughter, so 13 is sounding pretty good. And, we're hoping that this trip is pretty good as well.

For those who have not travelled along with us the past 12 times, we are a crew of 3 who all have a fairly unhealthy Disney obsession. Here we are on one of our few non-Disney related vacations:

My wife and I are both high school teachers (she teaches English and drama and I teach instrumental music), who happen to be at rival high schools in the same district and our daughter will be starting high school at another rival in the same district this fall. If you look through some of our past trip reports, you will find we have had quite a few amazing experiences at WDW and certainly more than a couple less than amazing experiences as well. This is also the first time in over a decade that we have been away from the World for over 12 months. It's been quite a long 16 months!

Once we get to Florida, I will try to put up a daily blog post with details of the day and some pictures. But that is still a week away. Up next...the Pre-Trip portion of the report which means (of course) far too much planning.

 

[brifraz]

Hey, friends! We are here. Universal Studios live updating!

Let's start with a few notes from the drive. For those of you not familiar with the infinite joys of route I95 down the East Coast of the USA, please take note of my infinite sarcasm in the first half of this sentence. Actually the drive was pretty good. We got out on time and only hit three rough spots of traffic. We lost about 30 minutes during the dreaded south of DC section. But, the real issues were 15 miles north of the South Carolina/Georgia line, where the construction area resulted in 2 miles travelled in 30 minutes AND the car that lost it's boat trailer just before the I4 exit. That one was about 5 miles in 30 minutes.

But there was one great highlight. Finding the Huske Hardware House restaurant in Fayetteville. Great little brewpub with some very good beers and solid (that's a compliment, just not a huge glowing review) food as well. Our daughter really liked the food, we were partial to the beverages!

Once we arrived at our Best Western (here's the review...it's a Best Western) we grabbed a quick bite to eat and then walked over to Universal. We bought Annual Passes to Uni this year (knowing that we will be back early next Summer for a few days) and didn't want to waste the $20 on parking for the first day, so walk we did! Made it to the gate around 7:40am and finally were into Hogsmeade ready for rides at 8:05am.

We started with a family ride on Forbidden Journey (the Hogwarts ride) and then, with the lines still low, the girls rode it a second time. Then we all rode the Dueling Dragons (or whatever it is called now) and once again, the girls then rode it a second time. By this point, it was a bit past regular park opening, so we hopped on the Hogwarts Express and made our way over to London. Once there, we stopped into Diagon Alley for our daughter to have some 'wanding' fun and also to see the Ollivander's show. Some time during this, I made 'reservations' for the Jimmy Fallon ride at 10:20am. For those who might be heading to Universal and haven't experienced this...you make ride time reservations on your phone via the Universal Orlando app. After that we went back to Diagon Alley for early lunch at the Leaky Cauldron.
With a little energy in us from food, we headed to Men in Black to defend the world against Aliens. The listed wait was 40 minutes, so we did the single rider line and walked right on (and were seated together) - it was weird, but the standby line was being held! At this point, it was getting close to noon and we were pretty tired, so we started to head out...but, wait! The girls had never ridden the E.T. ride before. I don't know about any of you, but I find the end of that ride (on E.T.'s home planet) to be just about the most alarming and disturbing thing I've experienced. And it didn't fail to have the same impact on the girls! Exhausted and a little unsettled we headed back across the road to our hotel hoping a room would be ready. Which it was! Excellent. Showers and naps all around.

Refreshed and certainly with a lot more energy, we headed back into the fray at about 4pm. Our plan was to get an early dinner and after quite a bit of discussion and debate during the planning of this trip, had finally decided on the Toothsome Chocolate Emporium (the name of which is really twice that long, but anyway...you know what I'm talking about). What a great choice it was! Drinks were great, food was excellent, atmosphere was enjoyable and Madison (our waitress) was exceptional. We just may be back there again tomorrow!

From the top left (clockwise), that's the Country French Toast, the Berries and Cream Crepe, the Baked Brie appetizer (with beers), and the steak sandwich. All were really excellent and definitely got us ready for the evening of touring.

Which finds us back at Universal and heading to Terminator 2:3D. I had forgotten all the live action in this show, but had not forgotten all the cheesy 3D effects. Still enjoyable, though! Then over to Springfield to ride with the Simpsons. Enjoyable, but that one does a bit of a number on my stomach every time. So, we headed back to Harry Potter-land for the relaxation of the Hogwarts Express ride back to Hogsmeade. We took a relatively casual walk through Hogsmeade and Jurassic Park so that we could ride Kongfrontation (wait...it's not that anymore? they changed it?). Well, Kong: Skull Island was well done (amazing Kong animatronic at the end) but not a favorite of our daughter and certainly not something I need to do again. We exited right at 9pm, so things were closing down. Which meant we were heading back to the room and now...this posting as the girls fall asleep. See you tomorrow!

 

[brifraz]

It's 6:30am and we are getting ready to head out for today's fun. By the way... a couple of (perhaps marginally) fun and interesting notes from yesterday.

We walked approximately 9 miles total and we covered every single path of both Universal parks throughout the day.

We bought the Universal Quick Service Dining Plan at lunch for my lunch. One nice thing about it, is that you can buy it at any restaurant. So, as we stood at the Leaky Cauldron, we realized that my $14 fish and chips and almost $5 drink would make the meal plan worthwhile. The plan is $23. Today we will use the snack and other drink credit - which will likely total about $9 combined. Should mean we saved $5 (which in theme park terms = half a beer or another snack somewhere along the line).

We didn't see them, but at the Toothsome Chocolate Emporium, one of our neighbors was also there. Yup, drive over 900 miles and there's somebody who lives less than half a mile from our house.

Off we go for more fun today!

 

[MeffysMom]

Good morning from Universal Studios!

 

[brifraz]

And...first people on Gringott's.

And it was just us and another family of three on the actual ride. They were using Express so weren't in line with us. Now the girls are riding for a second time. This time actually with other people!

 

[amjt660]

Loving the pics and the commentary

You accomplished a lot on day 1!

Max

 

[brifraz]

It's mid-afternoon, which means R&R time at the hotel. And posting time!!

As you saw, we were the first into Gringott's. And speaking of Express Pass (were we?), today was the official first day that it could be used on the Potter rides. And...they were having some issues. Nothing bad, per se, but the usual bugs of new line management (having the Express line ropes between the regular line and the lockers) and getting the balance right between Express Pass and standby. So, that second ride for the girls had a bit of a wait, which really wasn't all that necessary. Hopefully they get things rolling more smoothly quickly. I chatted with one of the employees helping with line management and she said that the volume of people using Express before regular opening was quite a bit more than they expected!

Having saved Gringott's twice, it was over to Rip Ride Rockit for the girls. But on the way out, we stopped at the Ministry of Magic phone for our daughter to call...which meant a little help with the rotary phone! (for my fellow musician friends, please note the reflection in the glass is for the record shop and it appears that Louis Armstrong is hiding in @MeffysMom's hair)

Anyway, Rip Ride Rockit is a bit much for a guy who meets well over half the things on all the warning signs, but the girls love it and it was just about 9:10, which meant almost no line and by about 9:20 we were heading to do Jimmy Fallon again. This time, we would took a few minutes enjoying the pre-ride area, which has some touch screen games and lots of Tonight Show clips playing.

Then we headed back to Diagon Alley to enjoy an ice cream with our 'snack' credit from yesterday's meal plan. One scoop of Strawberry/Peanut Butter and one scoop of Sticky Toffee Pudding. Quite delicious!

And, as we enjoyed the ice cream in Diagon Alley, it appears that some kind of magic must have happened...

...or maybe I'm just always a little off-centered. Refreshed, we took the Hogwarts Express as a means to get to the other park, where we took a quick walk to the Comic Book area to ride the Hulk coaster and Spiderman. For Hulk, the line was up around an hour, so we did single rider. Somehow, I ended up in the front row...but, the family I was with was a lot of fun and my stomach wasn't too full, so no worries! The Spiderman line was also about an hour and it really isn't one of our favorites, so we just headed to lunch at the Three Broomsticks.

But not without a quick layover in Suess Landing! Time to let our inner children out to play and ride Cat in the Hat (can it get any more like Winnie the Pooh in Magic Kingdom?), One Fish Two Fish (Dumbo with more water), and the Suess High in the Sky Trolley (like the Tomorrowland Transport Authority, but with rhyming and Sneeches)

At the Three Broomsticks, we took quick stock of our plans and did another single purchase of the dining plan. And used it to get the chicken and ribs combo platter and a drink. Plus, we used the last drink credit from yesterday's plan. Not a huge meal, but enough for the three of us to get filled up. For those keeping score...we spent $46 on two individual meal plans. And we have used that for a total $47.50 worth of food and drinks. And we still have a snack (likely butterbeer) and a drink (likely who cares) left to go. So, we will end up saving in the vicinity of $10 by using the plans - but still eating the way we normally would. Woo-hoo!

Full (enough) of food, it was time to get wet. It was also time for some lines. Off to Jurassic Park, where (after a 20 minute wait), we took a nice gentle boat ride through the dino enclosures...but, wait - we somehow were diverted into the Raptor area and then the T-Rex came after us and...everyone got wet. And then it was time for Popeye's Bilge Rat Barges for a full soaking. This line took about 40 minutes (there was some issue as nobody moved from either Express or regular line for 20 of those minutes). And the ride delivered as expected - a thorough soaking for all involved. To be honest, I think it goes a bit overboard with the soaking - there really is no luck involved as between the squirting guns and waterfall, even those who missed the big drops and waves were getting fully drenched.

So, we squished our way out of the park, happy in the knowledge that we have now done every experience we hoped to do (and the ones we like have been done twice!) with the single exception of Minion Mayhem, which we will hit tomorrow morning.

 

[brifraz]

And...the second day at Universal is complete. It's 11pm and we are pretty tired, so this will be just a quick update with some pictures from the evening for you. At about 4pm, we headed back over to Universal to get dinner - a return visit to Toothsome Chocolate...etc. Tonight was a 30 minute wait (it is Saturday after all), but then well worth the wait. Tonight we did appetizers (four cheese flatbread, fried zucchini, spinach artichoke eggrolls) and desserts (4 chocolate bread pudding and strawberry cheesecake milkshake) plus some of their signature drinks (is it bad that I can't remember the names of those??). And, for the second night in a row we were treated wonderfully by Madison, our waitress. If you go...ask for her!

Right about the time we finished eating (about 7pm), the rain let up, so into the parks we went! First off, the girls decided to go ahead and do the Spiderman ride. I didn't think it was a great idea right after food, so I hung out waiting for them. They loved it and only really had to wait about 5 minutes for it. Then we hoofed it back to Hogsmeade and our daughter did some magic wand work at a few windows and then the girls decided that 15 minutes wasn't too much wait for another Forbidden Journey at Hogwarts - turned out there was no wait at all and they were out within 15 minutes total. And, since two quick rides wasn't enough, they hit the Dragon Challenge one last time as well. What did I do during all this? Explored around Hogsmeade and enjoyed the 'secret' deck behind the Three Broomsticks.

Then we caught the Hogwarts Express for our third visit to Diagon Alley on the day which meant the girls would do their third ride on Gringott's for the day as well. I watched a couple of the shows in Diagon Alley while they waited and rode (Celestina Warbeck and The Tales of Beetle the Bard). It was nice to get to see the shows, but neither was really all that IMHO. When the girls were done (about 9:10pm) our daughter had her frozen butterbeer (last snack credit) while we enjoyed the Dragon Scale brew (lager or ale or just not all that exciting). From there, we pretty much just headed out of the park. Although, we did get picked for a survey upon exit, which is always a good time!

@MeffysMom got a great picture of the Gringott's dragon in the sunset which is well worth sharing. Tomorrow morning, we will head over to do Minion Mayhem during the Early Admission, but will then head to Disney! So, I leave you tonight (and we leave the majority of the Universal visit) with that picture:

 

[blreinsel]

Great picture!!!

 

[MeffysMom]

Last Universal morning! We're heading to Walt Disney World later this morning.

 

[brifraz]

Hey kids! We are at Disney World. And quite happy about it. Let's recap the morning and afternoon and, be forewarned...quite a few pictures coming your way here. That universal morning picture from my wife this morning - that was about 7:30am, which gave us the opportunity to get into the Early Admission and be... the first people on Minion Mayhem! Two mornings in a row as the first on the rides.

And that was it. All we did at Universal. Got in, did the thing, and got out. It was quite fun and pretty humorous to be leaving the parks and heading to the parking garages at 8:15am. Definitely felt like salmon swimming upstream! We were back at Best Western by 8:30am and packing everything up to leave. Which got us to the Polynesian Resort a little before 10am and (yes, score!!) into our room a little after 10am. This was great as it allowed us to relax for a minute or two before heading to brunch. And the view was definitely worth it!

Then it was time to head to the Contemporary for brunch at the California Grill. It's a little bit pricey, but once you figure in all that we ate, it suddenly becomes a bit reasonable. Heck, the unlimited mimosas alone might have paid for the entire bill! And we were treated great by our waiter, Kamal.

After brunch, we had enough time to go back to the Poly and unpack the car and get changed for park touring. Did I mention how happy we were that we got our room early?? Our first FP+ at Magic Kingdom was going to end at 2:05pm, so we monorailed over, activated our Annual Passes, picked up our Tables In Wonderland card, and activated our Disney Visa Rewards card. And then, it was time for some Adventureland and Frontierland touring! Starting with a ride on the Jungle Cruise with Skipper Meg - a good time as always. Next up was a visit to the Tiki room for a show (and air conditioning!). Then our next FP+ was up, so a ride on Big Thunder Mountain was in order. @MeffysMom has a new iPhone, so she is having some fun with the camera (which resulted in that awesome picture of the dragon, but also things like this).

After Big Thunder, we did Pirates of the Caribbean in regular Standby. It was about a 35 minute wait, which meant the moment we got out, our final FP+ was ready for Splash Mountain. So, off we went to get just a bit soaked and cooled off from the heat (low 90s today). After that, it was time to head back to the room to relax a bit. And, well...that's now! We're planning to have some food from Trader Sam's and then watch the fireworks from our room. But then, we are going to go over to Animal Kingdom for some night touring! See you soon.

 

[brifraz]

Back in the room, patiently waiting to watch the fireworks from our front porch. Hoping that the thunderstorms in the area don't have any impact on things. But, I had a few pictures from Trader Sam's Grog Grotto that I felt were worth sharing. I had the dark and stormy and @MeffysMom had a Hippopotamaitai to go with our dumplings and lettuce wraps, while our daughter got the Schweitzer Falls (non-alcoholic, but with every garnish and more straws than anyone could ever need). As always, a great time was had by all. If you enjoy having fun and a maybe an adult beverage or two, we highly encourage it. Skipper Seth was very enthusiastic tonight.

 

[brifraz]

Quick update tonight because it is very late and I am very tired! We enjoyed the fireworks from our patio, although none of those pictures really turned out. Very curious about the new show in person, but that's for much later in the trip. Definitely looked like some cool lighting effects were involved. As soon as it was over, we hopped in the car and headed to Animal Kingdom.

This afternoon, right after we finished Splash Mountain, @MeffysMom had managed to score some night Safari FP+, so we headed there first of all. Well... not directly. We had to at least walk through some of Pandora on the way to Africa. Very cool. The lighting effects and sound effects are quite otherworldly. Can't wait to do the rides and experience it in the daylight as well. But it was safari time, now! It was our first night safari and we did get to see the lions and the giraffes in action, but sadly the hyenas were not out and about. Still fun to experience it at night for a change. It was about 10:30pm at this point, which meant the second show of Rivers of Light - which we avoided to get onto Everest with no wait!

Then we meandered through the rest of the park on our way back to Pandora for some more exploring. It was after 11pm when we were back there and the lines were still pretty outrageous - 75 minutes for the boat ride and 150 minutes for the flight of the banshee. So, we just walked around a bit more and then headed out. Still amazingly cool. The first picture is the floating mountains with the moon behind them and the second is some of the flora. Tomorrow morning will come far too soon, so good night!

 

[coachwnh]

You guys are off to a great start. Nice to see you back.

 

[brifraz]

Lazy morning was most excellent. Breakfast at Ohana never fails to disappoint. It's certainly not a gourmet meal, but you get a lot of food and a lot of pog and fun with characters.

Then it was lazy time at the pool. A little swimming, a little reading, a little napping. All good. We got some lunch at the Oasis Grill, which is next to the quiet pool at Poly. Decent selection and some things a little different from the norm - we enjoyed the kulua pork sliders and the watermelon spinach salad. Now back in the room getting prepped for the long haul at Magic Kingdom!

 

[PacNWTigger]

Beautiful pics so far! I'm tagging along for your adventure too.

 

[brifraz]

Hello again, friends! We are here. If you don't recognize the view, we are in the VIP tour viewing area for tonight's fireworks. Guess I'd better back up a bit to explain how we ended up here, because it sure isn't by spending $600/hour for VIP touring!

We got into Magic Kingdom right around 3pm and headed up to the train station second floor for our usual camp out until fireworks. But for the 3:30 parade it was reserved for VIP tours. Meffysmom and I did Mine Train with our FP+ and then we waited for the parade to end to step up to the rail for the best spot. Well, we struck up a conversation with the CM (Kat) who was up there (VIP tour guide) and told her our plans. She didn't think it was very Disney for us to split up all afternoon, so she added us to the VIP list for the fireworks!

Which meant that now we could (through some quality FP+ manipulation) do Peter Pan, Carousel of Progress, and Buzz together. And the girls did Space Mountain without me. Which was great! Family time for the win. Thank you, Kat!

 

[littleroo]

That is wonderful! So happy for you three!! Happy 4th!

 

[fractal]

Enjoying your report! Have a great day today.

 

[brifraz]

Happy Fourth of July to all! It's a little before 8am and I'm letting the girls sleep in a bit. Today we move over to Old Key West before hitting Epcot for the 4th fireworks.

But first, last night! So, when I left you we had just sat down at a little after 7pm for the fireworks in the VIP section thanks to CM Kat. I don't want to get too far into personal feeling about the universe and the people in it, but suffice to say...sitting in that spot for a couple hours you realize very clearly that there are just a few types of people in the world - nice ones and total jerks. We felt pretty bad for CM Rudy (who is a former teacher and school administrator, so we knew exactly where he was coming from) who had the job of keeping the pathway around our side of the hub cleared. It's taped off. It's pretty clear. There are hundreds of CMs standing around waving light batons to remind you to keep moving, but poor Rudy had the job of actually clearing the people who wouldn't move. Not a fun job at all, but somehow he made it through the night and stayed in positive spirits. To the families just next to us and the group of CMs just behind us - you are great people and we had a blast talking to you! To the family who crammed in front of everyone around 8:15pm and then cursed up a storm when people got upset with you for pushing people out of the way - you are not so great people and I hope that somehow you find happiness one day (and ma'am, listen to your husband when he says 'maybe we should just find another spot' rather than cursing more - I doubt your 4 year old is learning a great life lesson here).

Enough of that! Fireworks!!! As many of you have followed our reports before, you know that I love to take fireworks pics with my Nikon and have even taken the tripod before and really worked on getting some perfect shots. Well, this year I didn't. At all. All of these awesome shots are courtesy @MeffysMom and her iPhone.

Bear in mind, that these are just a couple of pictures from a 10 minute plus show and that everything that was going on in front of us, was also happening behind us over the lagoon - yes, they mirror the show completely over the lagoon so more people can see it. After the fireworks, we stayed and chatted with people some more to wait for the projection show, Once Upon a Time. It is really amazing what they have done with that technology. Here's just one picture, but the show really was amazing!

It was just a little after 10pm and time to do some later night touring. First stop was It's a Small World - we had gotten FP+ after using up our other ones, so we didn't have to wait in the 20 minute line - yes, Small World still had a 20 minute wait after 10pm, that's 4th of July week for you. Then we kept a close eye on wait times and headed to Adventureland to ride the Magic Carpets (listed at 10 minute wait, but really about 3 minutes). Next it was over to the Jungle Cruise for the next to last boat to leave the dock - Skipper Alby (I think, couldn't see his nametag) had a different approach, but entertaining as ever. Now just a little past 11pm, we considered heading out, but then considered otherwise! Teacups time (maybe 5 minute wait). Well, not for me, but for the girls.

And following that we rode Winnie the Pooh (about 10 minute wait) and ended the night with Little Mermaid (no wait). I still don't understand why Little Mermaid doesn't get more love. Yes, those of us who followed every second of it's development were a little disappointed, but it is certainly on par (in terms of quality of experience) with Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan - no, it doesn't have the nostalgia and history factor of Pan, but how on earth Pooh has longer waits than Little Mermaid I just don't understand.

Wow, far too much commentary in this post! Must be lack of sleep. We were on the monorail by 12:30am and asleep by 1am for sure!

 

[susan lees]

Happy Fourth of July to all! It's a little before 8am and I'm letting the girls sleep in a bit. Today we move over to Old Key West before hitting Epcot for the 4th fireworks.

But first, last night! So, when I left you we had just sat down at a little after 7pm for the fireworks in the VIP section thanks to CM Kat. I don't want to get too far into personal feeling about the universe and the people in it, but suffice to say...sitting in that spot for a couple hours you realize very clearly that there are just a few types of people in the world - nice ones and total jerks. We felt pretty bad for CM Rudy (who is a former teacher and school administrator, so we knew exactly where he was coming from) who had the job of keeping the pathway around our side of the hub cleared. It's taped off. It's pretty clear. There are hundreds of CMs standing around waving light batons to remind you to keep moving, but poor Rudy had the job of actually clearing the people who wouldn't move. Not a fun job at all, but somehow he made it through the night and stayed in positive spirits. To the families just next to us and the group of CMs just behind us - you are great people and we had a blast talking to you! To the family who crammed in front of everyone around 8:15pm and then cursed up a storm when people got upset with you for pushing people out of the way - you are not so great people and I hope that somehow you find happiness one day (and ma'am, listen to your husband when he says 'maybe we should just find another spot' rather than cursing more - I doubt your 4 year old is learning a great life lesson here).

Enough of that! Fireworks!!! As many of you have followed our reports before, you know that I love to take fireworks pics with my Nikon and have even taken the tripod before and really worked on getting some perfect shots. Well, this year I didn't. At all. All of these awesome shots are courtesy @MeffysMom and her iPhone.
View attachment 213561 View attachment 213562 View attachment 213563 View attachment 213564

Bear in mind, that these are just a couple of pictures from a 10 minute plus show and that everything that was going on in front of us, was also happening behind us over the lagoon - yes, they mirror the show completely over the lagoon so more people can see it. After the fireworks, we stayed and chatted with people some more to wait for the projection show, Once Upon a Time. It is really amazing what they have done with that technology. Here's just one picture, but the show really was amazing!

View attachment 213565

It was just a little after 10pm and time to do some later night touring. First stop was It's a Small World - we had gotten FP+ after using up our other ones, so we didn't have to wait in the 20 minute line - yes, Small World still had a 20 minute wait after 10pm, that's 4th of July week for you. Then we kept a close eye on wait times and headed to Adventureland to ride the Magic Carpets (listed at 10 minute wait, but really about 3 minutes). Next it was over to the Jungle Cruise for the next to last boat to leave the dock - Skipper Alby (I think, couldn't see his nametag) had a different approach, but entertaining as ever. Now just a little past 11pm, we considered heading out, but then considered otherwise! Teacups time (maybe 5 minute wait). Well, not for me, but for the girls.
View attachment 213573
And following that we rode Winnie the Pooh (about 10 minute wait) and ended the night with Little Mermaid (no wait). I still don't understand why Little Mermaid doesn't get more love. Yes, those of us who followed every second of it's development were a little disappointed, but it is certainly on par (in terms of quality of experience) with Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan - no, it doesn't have the nostalgia and history factor of Pan, but how on earth Pooh has longer waits than Little Mermaid I just don't understand.

Wow, far too much commentary in this post! Must be lack of sleep. We were on the monorail by 12:30am and asleep by 1am for sure!

Fireworks time sure does bring out the worst in some people. We've just got back from a DLP trip and I appreciate its a smaller park but it was pretty much a free for all to view the show and everyone seemed in good spirits.
We've never done Epcot on 4th July so looking forward to your report. Happy 4th July