Trip Report We are venturing outside our comfort zones and hoping the reward is worth it!! April 11 -23, 2021

Hello! I am, again, going to attempt to do a semi livish trip report and then fill in the details when I return. Like Rapunzel, when we made these plans, I definitely was taking a leap a faith! I, like all of us, have had a long year. We are DVC members and it was time to use the points. It is that simple. I can't tell you how thrilled I am now!

The cast remains the same! Den (my husband), Deighton(me), Hunter (16), Camden (9), and Brinley (5 and starts kindergarten in the fall). Some of us are a lot taller and some of us wider...

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We fly Southwest out of Pittsburgh early Sunday morning and land in Orlando around 10:15am.( I feel like I struck gold with 2 nonstop flights!) Then we head to the home where animals belong, a one bedroom villa at Animal Kingdom Lodge until April 19th. Then we move to Cabana Bay Beach Resort until the 23rd. Universal is a whole new world for us. Any advice for the entire length of stay is welcome!

I will be posting our plans soon! Thanks for reading! Another big thank you to those of you who posted, happy, positive thoughts and reports during these crazy times. It definitely kept time moving forward and hope alive. It keeps me smiling and tearing up to see your children growing up on this platform! Happy Thursday everyone!!
 
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littleroo

littleroo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Against sage advice, we are eating here. So far everything is good here. It is just salty. I love to cook and do not use a lot of salt so we are hyper sensitive to it!
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Yummy Brussel sprouts!
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Decent French onion soup!
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Chocolate wings which are oddly tasty!

Second drink is served!
 
littleroo

littleroo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
ShookieJones said:
I LOVE This ride. My kids think it can be kinda creepy, but it's nostalgic for an old dude like me and I just LOVE that drop at the end!
Following along!
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I love the theme, too! My 16 year old actually watched some shows on Boomerang and cracked up the whole time!!
 
littleroo

littleroo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
And the memories that last a life time! The reason for our adventure to CityWalk today!
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Do not miss the milkshakes!! They are incredible!! I wish I had room for one! Cam is having the chocolate brownie and Brin is having the cookie milkshakes. The cups are souvenirs. Great more to clean and stuff in the suitcase!!
 
ShookieJones

ShookieJones

We need time for things to happen.
littleroo said:
And the memories that last a life time! The reason for our adventure to CityWalk today!View attachment 551244View attachment 551245View attachment 551246Do not miss the milkshakes!! They are incredible!! I wish I had room for one! Cam is having the chocolate brownie and Brin is having the cookie milkshakes. The cups are souvenirs. Great more to clean and stuff in the suitcase!!
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Those look so good! Can't wait to dive in.
**PRO TIP**: Those souvenir cups do not play well with hot liquids.
I poured a hot coffee in there, turned to get some cubes out of the fridge to turn it into an ice coffee, and much to my chagrin it turned my souvenir into an unusable cup.

In retrospect I probably should have:
1. Put cubes in first
2. NOT used something that contained something cold for something piping hot.
 
littleroo

littleroo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
ShookieJones said:
Those look so good! Can't wait to dive in.
**PRO TIP**: Those souvenir cups do not play well with hot liquids.
I poured a hot coffee in there, turned to get some cubes out of the fridge to turn it into an ice coffee, and much to my chagrin it turned my souvenir into an unusable cup.

In retrospect I probably should have:
1. Put cubes in first
2. NOT used something that contained something cold for something piping hot.
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We "accidentally " just left them there!!🤣
 
ShookieJones

ShookieJones

We need time for things to happen.
littleroo said:
Den is thrilled with his burger! I had a bite! It is cooked at a perfect mdrare! It is super tasty and not salty!View attachment 551241View attachment 551242My short ribs are ok. Not the best or worstView attachment 551243I don't know about grits. I think being from NY i just don't get them!🤣
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I am VERY happy your experience was different than ours.

With that being said, getting our meal comped and a nice review from you STILL won't get us through those doors for ANYTHING but those DEE-LICOUS milkshakes!
 
littleroo

littleroo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
ShookieJones said:
I am VERY happy your experience was different than ours.

With that being said, getting our meal comped and a nice review from you STILL won't get us through those doors for ANYTHING but those DEE-LICOUS milkshakes!
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I completely agree with you. We had a very rough experience at Margaritaville last night! I know other people will go and have a marvelous time but it is off of our list! Maybe I will post about in a bit.
Our reservation was for 11:30 at The Emporium so we were among the first people seated and I think that was an advantage!!
 
Songbird76

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
EngineerMom said:
OK so I get HORRIBLY motion sick. I get sick on airplanes if there is lots of bumps. I get sick on boats......it's why I didn't do coasters for years and now I just don't do them and at my age that isn't going to change.

WORST ride for me at Universal was Simpsons. Worst ever, they had to stop it for me.
I don't do roller coasters AT ALL so I can't comment on Hippogriff or Hagrids. I am even too chicken to do Gringotts because it has a drop at the begining.
From Hubby - Hippogriff is Barnstormer. Hagrid is awesome but fast. We did universal 1st and he said all the coasters at Disney did not seem as fast as Hagrid which he did 3 times.

I am FINE on Forbidden Journey. No 3D glasses and I find the videos fine.
As an engineer I think Forbidden Journey is SO COOL in terms of the engineering. It is a dark ride (scared my son when he was young) and you get flipped onto your back but I don't get sick. I felt it a bit the 1st time because I didn't relax at all but now no issue at all. When we went for the 1st trip I wasn't going to do Forbidden Journey and others told me you will really miss out on the whole experience so I made myself and I have NO regrets.

Other rides. I am fine on Spiderman and Transformers. I am fine on Kong. I am OK on Minions (I feel it but think it is a fun ride be it a bit jarring). Jimmy Fallon doesn't actually bother me but some folks complain.
Hubby can't do Men in Black twice in a row because of the spinning (he doesn't do the tea cups). But he likes MIB and does it once.
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I agree about the simpsons...I kept my eyes closed through most of it and was still nauseated. It's pretty bad.
I don't think I got sick on Forbidden Journey at all...it just caught me by surprise and was pretty scary. It was hard to see a lot of the stuff in the ride through videos I watched.
I DID get sick on Jimmy Fallon, and on Minions...I had to keep my eyes closed through most of them.
I enjoyed Men in Black, but the spinning got to me...I wouldn't be able to do it back to back either.
I don't do coasters, but forced myself to go on Gringotts...it was pretty rough and I got knocked around, but it wasn't as bad for me as some of the simulator rides. One thing I forgot to mention in the beginning is that if anyone is afraid of stairs or elevators, this is not a good ride for them because the queue will be difficult. My son is terrified of elevators, and prefers stairs....except he hates the stairs that are open at the back so you can see down behind them, or that are open over the side so you can look down. We were lucky that it was just my daughter and I who went on it first, then I told my husband NOT to take our son on it. So if elevators/stairs scare other people, skip that one.
 
E

EngineerMom

Active Member
We have eaten at Margaritaville twice and thought it was OK.
This time we ate at Antojitos. The quality of the food was good. But the service was CRAZY.....sat down. Lookat at the menu and saw other tables around us get chips and salsa (not us so thought maybe we had to order it - NOPE) Ordered drinks and meal...chips & salsa came out while Hubby went to wash his hands. I went to wash my hands and came back and our meals were there and NO drinks. We were looking forward to relaxing with our drinks and chips and salsa then our meals. We had to eat as our food was going to get cold. Halfway through out meal when drinks showed up.
I would go back to Antojitos as that might have been a fluke and the food tasted good.
 
littleroo

littleroo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sorry for the delay folks but I have been chilling in the lazy river with a drink and having some great family time. It is a balmy 75 degrees and is a little chilly not in the sun! The kids are going to swim for another hour before the parks release the masses. Supposedly there is a big movie premiere tonight??? So I am glad we skipped the parks!

The pools were great today. Definitely did not feel over crowded at all! The kids are having a blast. We have talked to a lot of people today about Volcano Bay. I want to echo @ShookieJones and say everyone highly, highly recommends it! Next time! This one has a meer 24 hours left!!
 
ajrwdwgirl

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
littleroo said:
We are back at Cabana Bay and had, overall, a fantastic day! Spiderman closed early due to some issues so we never did it. Hulk was never in our plans so we pretty much covered everything twice and then some!

The park was very busy today and most wait times were an hour or more but I saw it as rest time. We have express passes left over and tried to give them away but the crowds were making a mass exodus so I finally gave up.

I have a lot of crazy stories that I have not included! For as many truly, kind, thoughtful people that we have met, we have also encountered some of the craziest things I have ever seen. Whether or not I report on them we will eventually see.

One day more! Our plan Universal Studios in the morning and then a pool afternoon. Den and I are sitting downstairs chilling together. Brin is already passed out. I will report on Margaritaville later or in the morning.
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Glad you are having fun! I hope volcano nachos are in your future at Margaritaville! And of course a margarita too!

Margarita Time GIF by GIPHY Studios Originals


Edit: I see you already went to Margaritaville. Hope the margarita was decent at least.
 
Sillysidewalker

Sillysidewalker

Well-Known Member
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