Allie's Exhausting, Crazy, Super Fun October Trip Report

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Allie's picture
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Yeah, we went to the other park on Tuesday and between both parks we decided that on our next trip we would probably use the extra days for hotel/DTD days rather then spend the extra time and money to go to Universal. It does have a lot of fun elements and I feel guilty complaining about it because I know that we're lucky to get a vacation like this at all, but there was nothing there in comparison to Disney that would really draw us back. I don't regret having the one-time experience there this trip, though!

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The butterbeer looked good! Have you tried any of the at home recipes yet?

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The Cookie Crumbler wrote:
The butterbeer looked good! Have you tried any of the at home recipes yet?

No we haven't, but I'll definitely have to give them a shot! I liked it way more then I expected to. I know popular opinion is that the frozen is best, but Jon and I both perferred the straight up butterbeer biggrin

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Day 2 Cont.

Back on the bus I could tell Jon was really wiped out. He slept the whole bus ride to Sea World and then back to the hotels. We dropped off people at Pop Century and POR first and it was cool to get to see a couple of different resorts, even if it was only the outside. When we got back to CBR I had planned on using the extra time to go to the pool, but I practically had to drag Jon off the bus and into the room so we stayed in for a nap instead. I slept for about an hour and then took a shower which was exactly what I needed. I felt totally refreshed and Jon said he felt a lot better after sleeping for a bit, too.

At about 7:00pm we caught a bus over to MK. It was really hard to pull up to MK and see the castle and all the familiar landmarks and not be able to go inside.A MNSSHP was just starting so there were tons of people in costumes. We saw lots of Toy Story families (Woody, Buzz, Jesse, Bo Peep, etc.) and a couple of guys were dressed up like they were in the middle of turning into the donkeys in Pinnochio! They were really funny, but most of the people around us didn't get it.

We jumped onto the monorail and admired the Contemporary and view of the GF on the way to the Poly.

DARK Picture of the Contemporary

When we arrived at the Poly we were about an hour early for our dinner reservation for 8:45pm, so we wandered around the gift shop for a bit and then went outside. Man, is the Poly beautiful! It's so romantic and luxurious without being overdone. I can tell why you love it, MrHub and Scrappy! It definitely has been put on the top of our list for dream resorts someday in the future. We wandered around, hand in hand, and checked out the pool and walked out onto the beach where they had Hercules playing on a projector with Cinderella's castle off in the distance. Wow.

DARK Picture of the Polynesian Lobby

DARK Picture of Hercules on the beach

At about 8:15pm we were both starving so we decided to go check in and see if they were able to get us in early. They seated us almost immediately and we gobbled down two portions of the delicious bread and butter they brought out.

A Lapu Lapu was sounding like too much for me, so I settled on a Mai Tai instead which was delicious. Jon ordered us potstickers to start and then we split the chef's special of lamb chops for dinner. They were perfectly cooked and so tender, and I apologize for not taking a picture of them until they were half eaten!

Despite admiring all the delicious looking desserts they paraded us in front of on the way in, we both were pretty full after dinner and had to skip them....too much bread, I guess Sad

We took the monorail back to MK and were just in time for them starting HalloWishes as we were heading to the bus stop. Neither Jon or I are big fireworks people, but we both stopped and watched in awe. We were back in our happy place. I'm getting emotional just thinking about how spectacular they were and how much they brought us back to the reality of how lucky we were to be at the happiest place on earth. We caught the bus home and collapsed into bed to rest up for our next amazing day in the World.

Up Next: A new appreciation for Animal Kingdom, our first experience at Boma, and previewing new Fantasyland!

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Im glad you like the Poly Allie! We do love the Poly, thats our happy place. You have to take the boat from the Poly to the MK next time. Thats a great ride too.

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Day 3

We woke up bright and early this morning in order to make EMH at Animal Kingdom at 8am because Jon had heard you could catch more of the animals on the safari right away in the morning before it got too hot in the middle of the day. Since this was one of the things Jon had been looking forward to most, we headed straight to Kilimanjaro which already listed a 20 min wait, but it was more like 10 min. I remembered not seeing much on this ride last time I was at WDW, but maybe Jon's source was right because we saw a ton of animals mere feet from our truck! Sorry for the fogginess of some of these pictures, it was really humid that morning.

Even the lions felt really close to us (though they had the moat between us and them, of course) and the lionesses were really playful and wrestling with each other while the male lion lay on a rock by us and showed off.

I really dislike zoos or anything resembling a zoo and I actually really enjoyed myself on the safari and, as to be expected, Jon loved it. He couldn't stop talking about the safari the whole day.

When we got off it was about 8:45am. Because we had seen everyone else beeline for EE at rope drop, we hoped we would luck out and most of the people would be done by the time we got there. Luck was with us today, and on our way over to Asia we saw a TON of people walking away from Asia towards Africa. We got to EE which had a 10 min wait time posted and we literally walked right on the coaster that was waiting there for us and got the second to the back row.

Jon and I were both REALLY excited for this ride since it wasn't around yet the last time either us had been there. It did NOT let us down! We decided that this was our favorite coaster in all of WDW! I had missed the Yeti at the end (which is weird because it was apparently right in my face since I was on the right side) and since the wait had been short we decided to press our luck and try going on again. Another walk on, another second to the back row seating. Another awesome ride and this time I got to see the Yeti!

We got off and turned right around and went one more time, this time waiting for the second coaster so that we could get front row and see the awesome view at the end of the tracks. We both agreed that the view was better in the front but the ride was definitely better in the back.

By now it was after 9am and the park was open to all guests so it was getting a little more crowded and Yeti was starting to get a line so we decided to move on to Dinoland. For some reason we got it in our head that going on Primeval Whirl would be a good idea. The sign posted a 10 min wait time, but when we got through the queue there was literally no one in line, all the cars were going out empty. We were blasted back in time and rode through the Primeval Whirl (which we did NOT enjoy!) and when we got back to the entrance/exit the cast members asked if we wanted to go again since there was still no one in line. With a polite but definite, "No thank you!" we got off with our heads pounding and our stomachs a little queasier then when we had gotten on. We took a ride on TriceraTop Spin as a cool down, but not before I snapped a picture of a game that I thought was way funnier then it probably actually is.

Feeling better, we checked out the gift shop, rode Dinosaur, and checked out the Boneyard play area.

We backtracked a bit and headed over to catch the first Finding Nemo show of the day. Both Jon and I were really excited about this because we knew it was written by some of the writers of Avenue Q, a show Jon and I both love, but we were a little nervous about how it would blend with a Disney theme. We were some of the first people in the theater and got seats right down by the stage.

Well we had nothing to be concerned about because we were both blown away! I was in tears almost the entire 45 min show because it was so well done, so colorful, so fun, so touching, and just SO GOOD! Honestly, if I had a magical Disney airplane that could take me back to Disney right now for only one attraction or show, I think I might pick Finding Nemo. I loved it that much! I also drove Jon a little crazy singing "Deep Blue World" for the entire rest of the trip. I need to look into if they have the soundtrack available...

We were getting pretty hungry so we headed over to our Yak & Yeti reservations a little early. The whole place was empty so they had no problem getting us in. Hands down, Yak & Yeti was my favorite place we ate at all trip, thank you to all that recommended it! The atmosphere was so cool, our server was fantastic, and the food was out of this world. I started with a Yak Attack which even DH liked and he's not a big drinker, then we split the lettuce wraps and Kobe Beef Burger which was probably the best burger I've ever had in my life. I'm drooling just thinking about it. Ok, so I change my answer, magical Disney Plane. Please take me to Finding Nemo followed by lunch at Yak & Yeti.

After lunch we were just in time to catch the Flights of Wonder show. I was a little apprehensive about this since I've been terrified of birds ever since a traumatizing incident when I was 9 where a peacock chased me around a bench at the Denver zoo. The show was really cute though and I enjoyed it a lot up until this guy flew inches over Jon and I's head right after this picture was taken.

I cowered behind Jon and let him catch the brunt of it; he swears one of the wings actually brushed his head but I refuse to let myself believe that or I will never go back to this show!

When the show was done, we took a stroll through the Maharajah Jungle Trek where we saw a tiger doing her business...

...and I just about had a panic attack walking through the bird area, which we only found out after the fact that there was a path around it that I could have taken. Ah well, it made me stronger!

After Maharajah we took the Wildlife Express Train back to Rafiki's Planet Watch area which we walked through in about 10 min and then caught the train back. Neither of us were that into this area and could definitely skip it next time since it was the only section of the park that really felt like a zoo to me (recall from earlier that I hate zoos) and petting zoos are definitely not my thing. Maybe we'll go back when we bring our future kids someday.

We did the Pangini walk next. Let me pause here to say that ever since I told Jon about DeVine when we got to the park in the morning, he had become obsessed with finding her. Right inside the entrance to the trail there was a cast member standing by herself not doing anything. I think that she was there to answer questions, but Jon convinced she was there because DeVine was nearby so we spent about 10 min scouring the bushes for her. We did not see DeVine and, to Jon's great dismay, never would see her on this trip.

In Pangini we were lucky enough to get there just as they were letting the female gorillas out and the baby gorilla along with them (sorry, I didn't get a good picture of the baby). The cast member working the area told us all about the bachelor side of the gorilla area and how they get the most worked up at this time of the day because they knew the females were being let out. She said they can often getting really aggressive at this time, but all three bachelor gorillas marched out, found a spot, and just hardcore creeped on the family side of the exhibit where the females were.

They were so human like that it was hard for me to realize that it wasn't just some dudes in gorilla suits walking around.
Our camera battery was starting to get low, so we wrapped up our day at AK by going to It's Tough to Be a Bug and catching Festival of the Lion King before getting a bus back to CBR to get our spare battery for our the rest of our night.

Up Next: Dinner at Boma, MK EMH, and New Fantasyland!

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What a great report.. All the pics make us want to go back. Ty for posting and taking the time to upload the pics. awesome

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Smile love your Mickey shirt too! mickey

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Thanks so much for sharing the information about the Mears bus to Universal. I've always been curious how to stay at Disney on Disney property and get to Universal. I'm curious about price and time restraints (althought they sounded pretty lexible when you wanted to escape the Madenss and get back to the Magic). I enjoy the other side of Univseral -- the one with Twister and the ET ride...LOL I can't remember the name...and I'm interested in looking into taking a day trip over there.....any links or additional information you could send my way would be greatly appreciated. biggrin

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nikkirugby13 wrote:
Thanks so much for sharing the information about the Mears bus to Universal. I've always been curious how to stay at Disney on Disney property and get to Universal. I'm curious about price and time restraints (althought they sounded pretty lexible when you wanted to escape the Madenss and get back to the Magic). I enjoy the other side of Univseral -- the one with Twister and the ET ride...LOL I can't remember the name...and I'm interested in looking into taking a day trip over there.....any links or additional information you could send my way would be greatly appreciated. biggrin

Universal Studios Florida is the other park and we went to that the day after Animal Kingdom. Mears I thought was a great service for the price, it was $19 a piece round trip...so $28 each day we went. For CBR the pickup time was 35 min after the hour and you could pick what time you wanted. So we just called Mears the night before and told them we wanted to be picked up at 7:35am (we opted for 8:35am the next day) and then their pickups at Universal were 15 min after the hour starting at 3:15pm. They just asked that you called at least an hour and a half before you wanted to get picked up so that they could schedule how many shuttles or buses they should send at a time. Super easy!

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Magic Mirror wrote:
Smile love your Mickey shirt too! mickey

Thanks! I actually got it on clearance at Urban Outfitters....score!

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Allie wrote:
nikkirugby13 wrote:
Thanks so much for sharing the information about the Mears bus to Universal. I've always been curious how to stay at Disney on Disney property and get to Universal. I'm curious about price and time restraints (althought they sounded pretty lexible when you wanted to escape the Madenss and get back to the Magic). I enjoy the other side of Univseral -- the one with Twister and the ET ride...LOL I can't remember the name...and I'm interested in looking into taking a day trip over there.....any links or additional information you could send my way would be greatly appreciated. biggrin

Universal Studios Florida is the other park and we went to that the day after Animal Kingdom. Mears I thought was a great service for the price, it was $19 a piece round trip...so $28 each day we went. For CBR the pickup time was 35 min after the hour and you could pick what time you wanted. So we just called Mears the night before and told them we wanted to be picked up at 7:35am (we opted for 8:35am the next day) and then their pickups at Universal were 15 min after the hour starting at 3:15pm. They just asked that you called at least an hour and a half before you wanted to get picked up so that they could schedule how many shuttles or buses they should send at a time. Super easy!

Thank you Thank you Thank you!! Great info. Much appreciated! muchlove

Keep this report coming. Loving all the pics!! biggrin

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Allie, we had the lettuce wraps and the Kobi Burger also when we ate there, it's great! Great trip report too!

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Sorry for the delay....busy weekend! I also forgot to mention on our AK day that we did Kali River Rapids after lunch before the Flights of Wonder show so we got in just about everything we wanted to do at that park! Here's the rest of day 3...

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Day 3 Cont.

After we left Animal Kingdom we did some bus hopping. We took a bus back to CBR to get our extra battery for our camera since the one we had was running low, grabbed a bus to DHS, and then waited for a bus there to take us to AKL. When we finally pulled up to AKL, DH was in awe. I had been there once before when I was at WDW with my dance team, but I had forgotten how great it is! Another "must do" hotel added to our list.

We wandered around the resort for a bit before checking in for our 5:45pm Boma reservation. We were seated after about 10 min and started the feast!

Everything was delicious and we experienced a lot of new things. The meat station, the couscous, and the hummus station were my favorite. Both us made a vow to try at least a bite of everything, and after a very long meal and several trips up to the buffet, we met our goal. Our tummies were very full and satisfied and then our server brought us out a special dessert for our anniversary, so we of course had to try all of that as well! Luckily all of the components were small!

All in all, we really enjoyed Boma and were very happy with our meal and experience there, but I don't think we'll add it to our "must go back to" list. I know...blasphemy! It was delicious, but we liked Yak and Yeti better.

We were in a food coma and were super tired, but I was itching to get to MK so we caught a bus and headed to the castle for EMH. I loved, loved, LOVED all the Halloween decorations!

Once inside, the sidewalks were extremely crowded as people got ready for the Main Street Electrical Parade, so we made a sharp left and headed into Adventureland. We explored the Swiss Family Treehouse and took a rest in the Enchanted Tiki Room.

We decided to save Aladdin's Magic Carpets for another day (little did we know that the ride would be closed for the rest of our trip...dangit!) and instead caught a couple minutes of the parade...

...then turned back around and rode Jungle Cruise. I have never ridden this at night at DH had never ridden it at all, and we both had a lot of fun. The rest of the people in the boat didn't really seem into the ride, but I thought our skipper was hilarious and was laughing loudly at the back of the boat by myself. Ah, well. Pirates of the Caribbean was next and we rode with only one other family in our boat, or any of the boats around us.

We skipped past Frontierland for now since Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain both had pretty long waits (it shows you how spoiled we had been with lines when a 25 min wait looked to long!) and headed to my absolute favorite ride...Haunted Mansion! Neither of us had ever experienced the new-ish interactive queue before so we spent a good 20 min playing around in that. When we finally got up to the Mansion, we and one other couple were the only ones in the stretching room. It made it even creepier! We rode through and got stuck at the very end of the ride where Madame Leota wishes you goodbye and urges you to bring your death certificate next time if you want to stick around. We were only stuck for a few minutes though before we got moving again.

Next we made our way into Fantasyland and rode It's a Small World for Jon's first time. DH hated it and I was reminded of why this is not a must do every trip. We skipped past PP's Flight for now since the line was half an hour long and tried out Mickey's PhillarMagic which we both LOVED! Definitely my favorite 3-D ride of the trip and was saw a lot of 3-D. When we got off, we wandered over to the construction area of New Fantasyland and were admiring the designs posted on the side of the barriers. A custodian came over and congratulated us on our anniversary after seeing our buttons and started chatting with us about New Fantasyland. A few minutes into the conversation he casually mentioned, "Oh yeah, they have it open tonight for a dress rehearsal. If you guys are staying at a Disney resort you can check it out if you want." Um....heck yes! We were so glad we had talked to this guy because we would have kept walking past without giving a second thought to check and see if anything was open!

Next Up: New Fantasyland Spoilers!

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Day 3 Cont.

SPOILER ALERT! I'm going to post a bunch of pictures and whatnot from New Fantasyland so if you want to be surprised, skip over!

I'm also going to warn you right now that a lot of these pictures are of really poor quality since it was really dark and we didn't want to use our flash on any of the rides...plus it was getting late so our photography skills declined with our sleepiness.

We practically ran over to the New Fantasyland entrance where they checked our room key and ushered us on. First I wanted to check out the Be Our Guest restaurant, but the guy outside told us that they were closed at the moment and would be letting people tour the inside in about 30 min. Storytime with Belle was right next door, so we walked over to that and walked directly into Maurice's house.

We then entered the back room of Maurice's house with a large magical mirror that began glowing, showed some animated images, and then transformed into a door into the castle. It was really cool and really well done.

The passageway into the castle led us into a small room with the Wardrobe and a cast member who explained to us that we were going to surprise Belle with a retelling of her story and how she had come to the castle. The cast member opened the wardrobe and took out cardboard cutouts of a ton of the different characters and began assigning them to guests. After all the characters were assigned, he asked any kids that didn't have a part that wanted to have one to raise their hand and gave them spoons, plates, etc. The Wardrobe was really well animated and Jon and I were both really impressed at the technology in it, but the cast member you could tell had not run this attraction much yet as he stumbled over most of the story and instructions. That's ok, though...it was a dress rehearsal!

After all the characters were passed out, we entered the library for storytime where Lumiere was waiting for us on the mantle. Another really cool effect!

Belle came in and storytime began. They had cast members help the kids get to where they need to be and telling them what to do and say which was a great idea because it let the kids in on the action while still moving the story along. At the end, Belle danced with the kid playing the Beast and then took a photopass picture with each individual kid while a cast member announced their name and title (ex. Belle, this is Madame Lisa or Sir Charlie, etc.)

We, along with everyone around us, left beaming. We were really glad we went when we did, too, because there was already an insanely long line when we left while we had walked right on. We were very happy to have had the experience now because I'm sure that's the shortest we'll ever see that line for the rest of our life since it is such a magical experience and there is really no way to move guests through quickly unless they alter some things.

After Storytime we went over to Gaston's Tavern where we walked right up to the counter and ordered our first Lefou's Brew. It was very similar to a Butterbeer at WWOHP with the consistency and the foam on top, but it was VERY sweet and neither of us cared for it too much.

With our Lefou's Brew in tow, we walked right onto the Voyage of the Little Mermaid ride and hopped in a seashell. The queue seemed to have some interactive elements, but we were too excited about the ride to stop and examine it too much. A cast member I was talking to at the Dumbo ride would later describe this ride as "the Winnie the Pooh ride on crack" which I thought was a pretty good description. It was a lot like Winnie the Pooh or PP's Flight but with some improved technology. I loved it, but I'm pretty biased since Little Mermaid is my favorite movie. Again, I apologize for the really poor quality of pictures but we didn't want to use our flash.

After the ride, Ariel's Grotto had just opened so we jumped in line to meet Ariel! We waited for about 15 min, most of this the line wasn't moving so I'm not sure they were letting anyone in yet, but as you can see below I was way too excited to care!

The Ariel was so sweet and sat and chatted with us for a good 5 min or so. We wandered back towards the entrance of New Fantasyland to check out BOG but we had just missed them closing down for the night. Dangit, again! Oh, well. Something new to see next time we come back.

We went over to Storybook Circus where Dumbo had no wait. We loved the new circus tent waiting area and the jungle gym area where you can take a buzzer so your kids can play while you wait in line was so cool! We walked right on to Dumbo and then rode Great Goofini's Barnstormer which I don't even remember riding because I was so exhausted at this point. We cut through Tomorrowland and headed back to CBR for the night.

Next Up: Universal Studios Florida and Hoop Dee Doo Revue!

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Another GREAT installment!

Don't you love it when that Disney Magic stuff just happens and you get to do something you didn't expect to do.

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Thank you! Yes, it was a very magical night. I was going to call EMH quits soon because I was so tired but then when we had that lucky encounter that led us into New Fantasyland I was filled with adrenaline for the next few hours!

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SQUIRREL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quote:
All in all, we really enjoyed Boma and were very happy with our meal and experience there, but I don't think we'll add it to our "must go back to" list. I know...blasphemy! It was delicious, but we liked Yak and Yeti better.

Naw... I think your right. I think Boma is something everyone needs to experience. But an every year kinda of thing... im good... lol

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Reading everyone's trip reports is getting me even more excited about my own.

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me too JoAnn! We are going SOON. I was just thinking tonight that 3 weeks from now, I will be walking around one of the parks.....Smile GREAT trip report, Allie. Your pics are just awesome.

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Allie super trip report and great pics. The pictures in the Voyage of the Little Mermaid were great. I can't wait until I am there....next October!!!!

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Really like the "Circle of Trust" shirt? The graphic has significant meaning to a few of us here on the site because it shows a SQUIRREL!!!!!!!!

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BuffaloBill wrote:
Where did your DH get the "Circle of Trust" shirt? The graphic has significant meaning to a few of us here on the site.

clapping

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LOVE LOVE LOVE the trip report!!! And all the fantastic pictures!! EEEEeeeee, it's like being back there all over again!

You 2 make a cute couple Smile

THANK YOU SO MUCH for taking the time to post all this!!

yay yay yay yay

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Loving the trip report so far and the pics rock...Can't wait to read and see more

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Thanks again for all the positive comments Smile It's fun reliving the trip and lets me escape from the dreary October days here in Minnesota yuck

Bill - I ordered it offline a couple of years ago, don't remember the site. It's perfect for DH because he always jokes that one of his biggest fears is that a squirrel will think he is a tree and run up him! laugh

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Allie, how cool you got to tour the new Fantasyland expansion. I loved seeing the pictures and reading all about it (I don't need to be surprised when I finally see it for myself). Looking forward to what's next.

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Day 4

We had stayed up so late the night before that we decided to push back our Mears pickup time to 8:35am this day and arrived at Universal Studios Florida about 10 min after park opening at 9am.

The new Despicable Me ride had a 15 min wait and across the street Shrek 4-D had a 10 min wait so we decided to start with Shrek. Bad choice. We absolutely despised this ride. We waited in line to get into a cramped room where the Universal employee gave us a whole story about how we were going into the next room to be tortured because Lord Farquaad was back. The setup took another 5 min, then we went into the theater where not only did the seats jerk you around like crazy, but the story had nothing to do with being tortured! It was really weird and inconsistent.

We went back out and saw Despicable me was up to 25 min and figured that maybe it would go back down later in the day as the park cleared out (spoiler alert: we never saw this ride back under a 40 min wait so we never ended up riding it Sad ) so we skipped it and went over on the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster. Jon was really nervous about this one, but we both loved it! The non-inverted loop was really cool without making you sick or giving you a headache like some of the other Universal rides can do. Jon picked "Pump It" by the Black Eyed Peas as his song and I rocked out to Evanescence's "Bring Me to Life". I wanted to go on again, but Jon wanted a break.

Twister was the next ride down the street so we walked right onto that and both really enjoyed the effects, though we were in front so we got sprayed a bit with water and the handrail made both of our hands smell really funky so we had to go find a sink to wash off in after it was done. The Blues Brother's show was just about to start down the block in New York, so we jammed out to them for a bit before heading into the Revenge of the Mummy ride.

The posted wait time was 10 min but we waited more like 20 or 25 min. I remember liking the ride, but I honestly don't remember anything specific about it. When we got off, we were getting hungry so we went out to the City Walk for lunch at Margaritaville.

When we went in the place was practically empty so we figured that this would be perfect because we'd make the Hollywood Horror Make-Up show that started in an hour and 20 min. Famous last words. Our service was terrible, it took 40 min to get our food and after our server brought me my first drink at the beginning of the meal, we didn't see him again for another 1/2 an hour when our food finally came and we asked for the bill right away. At least the margaritas were good.

We showed up the Make-Up show 10 min late so we decided to kill time at the Lucy Tribute until the Terminator show across the street started. I adored Lucille Ball and I make Jon watch all my I Love Lucy DVDs with me all the time, so I was really excited for this part. It had some fun memorabilia and facts, but it was really small and we were done with it after about 5 minutes.

The Terminator 3-D show was what Jon was looking forward to most and he came off feeling kind of "meh" about it. The effects were fun and we liked the live action actors being added to it, but I think we were both kind of sick of 3-D shows by this point.

We decided to save the Horror Make-Up Show for on our way out and cut to the back of the park to catch the Beetlejuice Graveyard Revue show. This one was pretty fun and was a nice way to sit down and chill for a bit.

When we came out we decided to try the Disaster! Ride which posted a 25 min wait which actually turned into about a 40 min wait. As we waited in line, we discussed what we thought to be the biggest problem with Universal: they don't know how to move guests through quickly. About half of the rides had a pre-show that would take 5 min or so to get through, but then the employees were really slow and laid back about getting the next set of guests into the pre-show. I don't know if that makes sense, but in short, there was no urgency to get people moving through. It was really frustrating. Jon got picked to be one of the villains in the show, though, so it made it kind of worth the wait.

When we finally got off Disaster we tried to hit up a few more rides, but we both really wanted to see the Animal Actors on Location show that started in 30 minute and both Men in Black: Alien Attack and the Simpsons Ride that were on the way there had over 30 minute waits. The Animal Actors show was really cute, but I was disappointed we had to skip such big name attraction rides.

When the Animal Actors show was finished, we had 30 minutes before the Horror Make-Up Show which would be the last thing we could do for the day before our bus came at 5:15pm. I really wanted to take Jon on ET, but this had a 50 min wait. I have no idea what was going on with the wait times, the park was predicted to be really slow this day!

Despicable Me was only a bit down from the Horror Make-Up show, so we decided to check its wait time, but as I spoiled earlier, it too was a no go. On our way back we saw Marilyn Monroe and Lucille Ball impersonators and I really wanted a picture with Lucy, so we ran over to the line just in time for them to go inside. Dang our bad luck today! All our luck seemed to have stayed at Disney. With nothing to do that didn't require a lengthy wait, we killed time checking out the memorabilia in the lobby of the Horror Make-Up show until it started. Another cute show, but it was more of a comedy show then really demonstrating a ton of make-up.

I was getting quite crabby by this point and I apologized to Jon for the afternoon being a bust...we had only gotten two rides in and missed some of the biggest ones on his first (and probably last, to be honest) trip to Universal! I'm lucky to have such a chill husband, though, he told me he was really glad to have a slower day where we mostly did shows to regain some of his energy for when we were back at Disney tomorrow. That made me feel a lot better, though I was still disappointed we had missed out on so many of the attractions.

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Day 4, Cont.

Back at CBR we got cleaned up and then caught a bus over to MK to get a boat ride over to Fort Wilderness. The boat was really relaxing and we both enjoyed it, but my one complaint is that they didn't do a very good job at communicating where we were at each stop. Maybe if you knew the area really well or were staying at either Wilderness Lodge or Fort Wilderness it would have been easier, but it was really dark at this time of night and we had no idea where we should be getting off. Every time the boat stopped DH had to fight his way up to the front of the boat to ask if this is where we should be getting off for Hoop Dee Doo. Not a big deal, because we made it there and didn't get lost or anything, but they do such a good job communicating it on the bus and monorail so no one misses their stop, I thought it was odd that no announcement was made on where we were on the boat stops.

We were a bit early for the 8:30pm show once we got into the campgrounds, so Jon and I had fun exploring and checking out the gift shops. About 15 minutes before the doors opened we, along with several people around us that were waiting by the doors, realized we were supposed to be over in line to get checked in and get our picture taken. I thought this was a nice touch and didn't mind getting into a new line because, heck, the doors weren't open yet anyway and it's assigned seating so it doesn't really matter if we're first in line. The adults in the large family behind us were clearly quite intoxicated and not as happy about being told to get in line after they had already been sitting outside waiting. It was kind of funny to listen to them rant since I was outside of the situation, but I felt bad for their kids and the cast members that had to put up with them.
When the doors opened we were escorted inside to a small table for two down front close to the stage. I started in right away with the all-you-can-drink sangria and we devoured the salad and corn bread (yum, yum, yum!) since we hadn't eaten since our 11am lunch at Margaritaville.

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The ribs and chicken were decent, but the potatoes and corn were our favorite part, and of course the strawberry shortcake. We both loved the show, though I don't remember a whole lot of specifics (yay sangria!) but do remember having a great time (double yay sangria!). I do remember that we got asked to stand up and dance since we were there for our anniversary, and I remember playing the washboard at the end. Our Flora also screwed up on their improv song where they go around and sing about some of the guests and she just stopped singing and started giggling like crazy which was really funny and made the show feel really unscripted.

I had been to Hoop Dee Doo once before on my 7th birthday (I have a picture somewhere of me up on stage in my Alice in Wonderland dress) but don't remember much about it except the characters and that I liked the show a lot, and it did not disappoint. We both had a fantastic time (I might have had a little too much fun....I vaguely remember telling the guys that were directing people to the correct buses that I wanted to go back to the Magic Kingdom even though the park was closed and I didn't have park tickets for that day...) and I slept the whole bus ride back to CBR.

Up Next: Our luck returns at Hollywood Studios and our last day at Epcot's F&WF