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Oct. 2011, Anniversary and 1st trip to WDW

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Mon, 10/17/2011 - 16:42
malwillms
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Oct. 2011, Anniversary and 1st trip to WDW

Oct.1, 2011

After a full day of traveling and three different connections we arrived at the Orlando airport, got our baggage from baggage claim and proceeded to Mears transportation to get to our hotel. Two and a half hours later we were at our hotel. The driver had no idea where it was and we had to mapquest it and give him directions by this point after traveling since 3am that morning it was about 9pm and both John and I were hungrey and exhausted and just wanted to get to the hotel. Lesson learned make sure to rent a car or get a driver who know the area better.

Sunday Oct. 2, 2011
Universal Studios DAY 1
Here is my Husband John when we first got to the park. We ended up taking the hotel shuttle for almost every day but the day we had a character bfast at WDW on friday. It worked out pretty well as it was already paid for just tipping the driver. The times were mostly good also. We hopped on the shuttle at 9:40am and it would pick us up at 7:45 pm
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Now I love universal in california I believe mostly due to the backlot tour now having gone to this one. We had a good time however I agree with what you guys said one day would have been plently for both Universal parks. We were able to take our time and not have to rush with my pregnancy which was great. Frequent rest breaks was needed. We finished the whole park by about 4pm and were able to take our time to get some dinner at the NASCAR restaurant in citywalk and walk back to the shuttle. I do have to say the best part was we didn't wait longer then 15 mins for any ride.
Here are pics from Universal:


This is usually my fave part of the hollywood tour but I was just kind of dissapointed with all the space they used for this ride. I felt like it could have been done differently.

A nice lady offered to take our picture!

(Was not a big fan of this ride)
Despicable me ride or show coming next year

One of my husbands fave shows we lucked out as we got there it was just homer and marge and then when we were leaving we saw all four of them and there was no line hardly.

That pretty much wraps up the 1st day. I was so itching to get to Disney by this point. Love Universal but they really cannot compete with Disney.

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1st trip to Orlando, WDW and Universal

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Mon, 10/17/2011 - 17:06
malwillms
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Day 2-Disney Hollywood Studios
Monday October 3, 2011 our 2 year anniversary.

This would be my husbands attempt at taking a picture since the shuttle was full and I was squished in between people.

Of course we planned ahead and ate before we got there and were still starving so I made my hubby stop at Starring rolls cafe to try this delicious cinnamon roll. And it was yummy!

From the recommendations of this board I knew we had to hit the toy story ride first for fast passes:


We lucked out and the return time was only at about 1230-150 at 10:30 am. I was begging my husband to let me stand in line to get buzz and lightyear character pics but the line was so long so he promised we would come back. Funny thing about character pics is I told John the one things I wanted to do more then anything at the parks was wait in line and get those character pictures that no one ever wants to wait with me for. He was such a good sport and ended up waiting 45 mins for this picture with little kids continuing to run into his back side the whole time. What a good husband.


We lucked out when we got off the backlot tour that there was no line for monsters inc.


John and Flowered Mickey

no line at end of day

Us with Incredibles

Winnie the Pooh


Us with Mickey

Next we rode Star Tours my husbands favorite ride, I rode once thought it was entertaining and then my husband went back later in the day and rode it once more and got the darth vader episode which was exciting.



My ride was next: Tower of Terror so much better then the one in CA. We ended up riding twice once in early afternoon and once later on before we left and had no line.

Muppets Show Ride


John rode the rockin rollercoaster I sat this one out

We had the best meal of the trip at Hollywood Brown Derby Restaurant. It was by far amazing food. John order the filet Steak and I had the duck two ways. The duck and masked sweet potatoes were to die for. We also shared a fruit cobbler for dessert but I forgot to get the picture of it sorry. We also were able to check in early about 25 mins for our reservation by this point we were starving so that was exciting!

Steak

Duck

That pretty much concludes our day at Disney. To be continued

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1st trip to Orlando, WDW and Universal

Mon, 10/17/2011 - 17:33
JeffC
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YAY!!! What a great report! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the character pics, especially your hubby's action move! LOL! He should get mega-points for his enthusiasm clapping

Thanks so much for sharing! I can't believe you had to Mapquest for the Mears driver.... eek

Mon, 10/17/2011 - 21:54
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JoAnn C
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Great report so far. looking forward to reading the rest.

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Mon, 10/17/2011 - 22:19
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petriedish
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trip looks like so much fun so far! looking forward to the rest of your report!

your character pics are super adorable!

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Mon, 10/17/2011 - 23:01
Poppet
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Great pics! Thanks for sharing them and your report.

Tue, 10/18/2011 - 05:54
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WyckedPhoenix
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Yay!! Great pics and a fun report so far. Can't wait to read the rest. awesome

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*Jennifer Lynn* NDW #38

Check out my blog at Jennifer's Disney Adventures


Tue, 10/18/2011 - 12:49
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Kristen K.
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It looks like you had a fantastic trip!

Glad to hear you had a good time at the Brown Derby! I've wanted to go there but have recently heard mixed reviews Smile

Tue, 10/18/2011 - 14:47
malwillms
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Day 3: Universal Islands of Adventures
Tuesday Oct.4th

Ok, I would be lying if I didn't preface this by saying John and I are huge Harry Potter fans and part of the reason we did this trip now was we wanted to see the Harry Potter Island more then anything. Again Universal was ok, not a lot of rides but they did a great job with the Harry Potter Island it felt so real like you were in the "Harry Potter Universe". Now the longest wait we had was for the Harry Potter ride 45 mins we both enjoyed it the first time we rode we did through the ques and were throughly impressed with the talking pictures in the castle. I think that was my favorite part. The next two times we decided to do the single rider and the wait was literally 5 minutes. Score for us! We did come home with wands and several other fun props to have from this part of the park. Bear with me as there are a lot of pictures in this part of the review.(especially Harry ones)


John loved this rollercoaster and ending up riding it two times by himself Sad since I couldn't go on it. But he truly enjoyed it and said it was one of his favorites ever.


John in Front of Hulk Roller Coaster Entrance

Marvel Island Pics


Spiderman Ride, again not really impressed I pointed out to hubby after the ride I am starting to not like screen rides can they at least try to be a little more creative.

















We got the chance to eat at the three broomsticks and have frozen butterbeer it was just like a slushie very good but one was enough. The food was mediocre at best I had the ribs and chicken and John had the chicken. The atomsphere was great however. I do have to say one of my favorite parts of this island was the girls restroom where myrtle was talking just like in the movies it was a nice touch by Universal.

Tomorrow Wednesday Epcot.

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Tue, 10/18/2011 - 14:48
malwillms
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Kristen K. wrote:
It looks like you had a fantastic trip!

Glad to hear you had a good time at the Brown Derby! I've wanted to go there but have recently heard mixed reviews Smile

Kristen, It was so good I highly recommend it!

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1st trip to Orlando, WDW and Universal

Tue, 10/18/2011 - 21:49
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Jess
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Great trip report and love the character pics as well Smile

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