Florida

[Nicky]

For my 21st birthday, me and my Dad went to Florida for 12 nights just before Easter. We went on a package deal with Virgin (less hassle).Day 1 - 7th AprilFlew out from Manchester on a brand new plane. Shame it was 2 hours delayed because of technical difficulties. That was all we get told. "This flight will now leave at 1pm because of technical difficulties." Then we got listen to them announce the boarding from the flight to Las Vegas instead. So instead I abused the free 30 min wifi at the departure gateI've flown with Virgin before but this was a much more modern plane with nifty new cup holders so you didn't have to use the whole tableI watched Morning Glory and King's Speech before my attention waned and I just flicked through Due Date, Despicable Me (seen already) and 30 Rock (spited by the pilot switching off the entertainment system with 5 minutes to go.It was 8pm before we finally landed and got through Orlando airport. I seem to have neglected to take photos of our hotel so this will have to do:We unfortunately had to go to the welcome meeting to get our invitation to the early entry for Harry Potter land the next day so it was a quick tea at Pizza Hut (portion sizes are ridiculous) before an early night.Day 2 - 8th AprilAfter a free continental breakfast, we started our adventure to the House of Blues, Downtown Disney. In hindsight we could have just walked but we didn't know how close it actually was. First was the 8am shuttle to the Transportation and Ticket Centre. Once there we grabbed our 14 day passes before trying to get a bus to DD. Unfortunately Disney are crafty because you don't have to pay to park at DD so they make it really awkward to get from and to the parks so you don't try and avoid paying. We were carless so we just got caught up in the system. It was a walk to the Polynesian resort where we could catch a bus to DD. A long walk from Marketplace to House of Blues. After picking up the stupid paper invitation we decided upon going to Hollywood Studios via Old Key West.Fingerprint taken, we were finally allowed into the park. This is where I got really excited because it was the first park we had been to. I knew what I wanted to do so we headed over to Sunset Boulevard. Fastpass for ToT gained it was over to Rock n Roller. Really should have got the FP for this but we had already made our decision so it was the standby queue.The queue wasn't bad the first time through so we decided to do it again. That was a bad idea as it was being really badly batched. They just were letting loads of FP through without letting them wait even for five minutes so the standby queue crawled its way through. Really enjoyed it, haven't been on the one at Paris. I still get freaked out by launches, especially when they count down. The second time it failed to launch so we just got blasted with music without going anywhere. I expected it to be a lot rougher than it was. It was then time for our ToT fastpass. ToT was having some cosmetic work done on the outside but it was still open. A lot of people thought the crane was just part of the theming so where really confused when it started moving.I really enjoyed ToT. When it was only a seatbelt, I just thought that it wouldn't really be that forceful but I was surprised by how much you felt yourself raise up. The staff really do get into their roles, managing to creep quite a few people out. We saw the chicken lift a few times which was funny because it's a modern stainless steel lift. It looks really out of place when the doors open and its revealed. Considering it has a weird loading pattern, they really do fill it up as best they can and it never felt like you were waiting for long.As we walked out and debated getting another FP for it, a random passerby gave us his saying that he didn't want them any more. So we went back on it straight away, luckily the cast member at the entrance had changed so it wasn't too suspicious.Apart from Rock n Roller and ToT, I really wanted to go on Toy Story Midway Mania. Unfortunately this has the biggest queues and the FP run out really quickly. It seems to suffer as being one of only a few rides that have FP that the whole family can enjoy so that's where everyone uses there FP quota there.Much disgust at the 90 minute queue we decided to find something else. It seems that no matter what park I am at there seems to be downtime period of the day where you just spend loads of time wandering around without actually achieving anything. We walked round in a complete circle trying to find somewhere to eat before deciding just to go on the Backlot tour. It wasted some time and it did involve a sit down. However before we watched some random volunteers get soaking wet filming some "special effects"It does seem a bit random the whole thing and it is rather short without much being seen. It used to be longer but got chopped into by the car stunt show and when they opened Streets of America for public foot traffic.I somehow managed to drag my Dad to Beauty and the Beast after lunch. It was soon becoming clear that you either ate burgers/hot dogs/chicken nuggets or you brought your own food. The food options were rather poor and some more variety would have been better.Now B&B was completely on ffw so you only got a few songs and didn't see the yellow dress until the very end which was kind of disappointing.Muppets was next on the list after Benin had recommended it. Found it really amusing to watch with some good 3D effects and a mixture of stuff actually happening in the auditorium. It was helped by being the first 3D show of the holiday so the fatigue and predictability hadn't completely set in. The hardest task of the day was getting a picture of Miss Piggy on the fountain with her facing the right way.Having done everything we wanted to, it was time to brave the Toy Story queue. It was advertising a 70 minute queue. The amount of effort and attention to detail that has gone into the queue made it not so bad to queue in. At a basic level its a set of cattle pens, but there is so much to look at on both the floor, walls and ceiling. Small injokes too.Even when the queue was so themed, it did get a tad depressing. All the adults in the queue seemed to have this glazed expression on their faces. Woody's roundup on repeat wasn't helping.The extra bit of queue at the top of the stairs nearly killed me.Considering the fact that there are a lot of cars on the track, it seems to take forever to get loaded up. It stops in a few places (with extra non-scoring rounds if you are stuck there for more than 30 seconds), especially at the end where it majorly stacks up.Considering the queue and slow loading, I really liked it. That may have been because it was a shooting game that I was actually good at. It was enough to keep the adults entertained yet simple enough for smaller kids to score some points too. The gun adjusts with the lap bar so that it is close enough for each individual guest. I managed to beat my dad which may have also changed my opinion of it.By the time we came off Toy Story, we had to head back to the entrance for our free shuttle back to the hotel. While they were a good idea, they did get a bit busy and for some parks there was only one drop off and one pick up a day. It meant you were limited to leaving the park an hour or more before it closed when it was getting quieter.I didn't quite realise how long this post was so if you got to the end of it well done. Only another 11 days to go.

[Fred]

Well, you're older than me. I totally did not know this.And epic report, looking forward to more! I presume there's more...

[Phill Pritchard]

Nice report, looking forward to reading the rest. We went to Florida last year and it was my first time. We only did the Disney and Universal parks but had such a great time. Seeing your photos and reading your report brings back a lot of memories. Thanks!

[AdamY]

Can never have too many Florida trip reports Glad to see you had a good time! You've taught me something too, for all the things I noticed in TSMM I never saw the 'Canada $50' thing before! Also, totally agree on the hotel shuttles being a pain. Most of the time we just got them out in the morning if they were going where we wanted, then just got a taxi back.Looking forward to the rest of your trip!

[Deleted Users]

Very nice trip report Nicky! I always wondered how TSMM dealt with crowds. Not so well by the sound of things I love how the ToT seatbelts give slightly during the drop. It's good that the exterior is getting some needed TLC as well.

[Nicky]

I did all the Disney parks, universal, seaworld and busch gardens.TSMM really struggles with queues. We saw the queue go over 100 minutes the next time we were there. Islands of Adventure is next.

[Tom]

TSMM in Disney's California Adventure has no FP. It only gets queues of about 50 minutes max when I've been! But no idea about queues around this time!

[AdamY]

I've always found TSMM to have a massive queue. It's just so popular I suppose. The FPs are always gone within the first few hours of the morning though, you really have to be quick to get one.

[Benin]

Well, you're older than me. I totally did not know this.

Eh? No she ain't... Stop being confusing and silly Peter :rolleyes:Good report so far... But lack of Cadbury bear saddens me...

[Fred]

Well, I found out from herself that this is an epicly early 21st birthday present. Soooo. Yeah, she's younger than me. It's all ok now.Where's some more Nicky?!?!?! I need to reaadd.

[Nicky]

Where's some more Nicky?!?!?! I need to reaadd.

It will be coming later today. I am limiting myself to once a day. I do have exams to revise for :rolleyes:Oh and Benin I can do a small Cadbury bear one too but the photos kinda dried up after a week.

[Nicky]

For BeninA trip to Florida by Cadbury BearSeems I am just around to be carried in a rucksack but there were a few occasions where I saw the light of day.The flight was delayed so I stole Nicky's laptop while she had gone for a walk.I didn't get much chance to check FB before it was back in the rucksack. The next time I saw light as somewhere over this really big bit of sea. I didn't really think much of what Nicky was watching. It was a lot of swearing for no reason.Gotta check up on my safety, I wouldn't make it if I stayed in the rucksack.Coronation Chicken sandwich YUCKHad to wash it down with the little pot of sealed water you get. They haven't seemed to have heard of bottles.I finally got a seat to myself for a few minutes. I think the seatbelt was a bit loose though.Next thing I knew it was the next day and I was in a rather hot place. Nicky hadn't told me that you couldn't actually catch a bus to Downtown Disney It seemed I got forgotten about so the next time I found myself sat in the Three Broomsticks. I got left with orange juice with bits. Would have preferred the porridge instead.I wondered where I would find myself next...

[Tom]

Didn't know this was the entrance to HS! Didn't think they actually did anything but a name change from MGM Studios to Hollywood studios!This gives an insight into the new entrance To Disney California Adventure (Previously Disney's California Adventure )

[Nicky]

Day 3 - 9th AprilThanks to Virgin this involved a rather early wake up. We got an invitation to...ERT at Harry Potter!! So a taxi was taken at quarter past six in the morning...no shuttle buses at that time in the morning. It also meant we got to Universal before the sun had even come up.So it was just us and a bunch of other jet lagged British. We had our fingerprint taken again to get our Orlando Flexiticket plus. I seriously got sick of having my fingerprint used every time we entered a park, used a locker (Universal) and then we had all of them taken at immigration.We were all standing and waiting around to be taken down to Harry Potter when another group turned up. Hello ACE!They got ERT on Hulk...We got something a lot better but first we had to wander through a deserted Seuss Landing. It was very...bright, definitely practice for Nickelodeon LandBut finally we got to what we were waiting for. I was like a child in a sweet shop. I was just amazed. It was good to be able to walk around without getting mowed down by strollers and tourists. First up was breakfast in the Three Broomsticks. Went slightly mad and also they had bottles of water so me and my Dad acquired 4 bottles for the rest of the day.It's the third day and it is about time that my dad appears...with a very flattering photo of himIt was so close but it wasn't open yetOnce we had eaten breakfast and acquired a lot of water it was off back onto the main street. I was shocked that you couldn't even go to the toilet without having Moaning Myrtle talking to you. It was just the attention to detail in the whole thing. This carried on with the castle itself. We noticed a rush of people come past us and realised that they had let the hotel guests in. So we joined the stream and got to the top of Hogsmeade and saw the castle from the proper angle. Woah!! (photo from later on in the day)The ride wasn't exactly open yet but they were letting people into the queue. Having negotiated the locker system and discovering that our bag fit into the locker with about a mm to spare, we started moving through the queue. We laughed at how long it was and the fact we were walking straight through it. Stupid thing to do because we experienced it later on in the day.Me and dark rides don't go together that well so the first time round it was with my eyes shut. Literally as soon as the scary stuff kept happening all the way to the end. Really had to work on that for the rest of the day/holiday. When we got off, we decided to use the poorly (I.e. no existent really) signed single rider queue. Walked straight past everyone to the front of the queue. The only downside is you miss out on a good part of the castle by using the queue. Once me and dad had reunited and reclaimed our bag, we did the shameful ride of the day. It was a squeeze but me and my Dad just fit into Flight of the Hippogryff together so it was a quick ride round on that. Time for random photos just to break up the text since I kinda got a bit neglectful with taking photos. My excuse? I was walking around with my jaw on the floor...oh and spending money.Next it was the one thing that is bad when there are no queues, you spend a lot of time walking through empty queue lines. It is the only time that you just wish for cattle pens that could be cut off. Especially when you have to do the queue twice so that you get both sides of Dragon's challenge. After spending too much money in Dervish and Bangs and tackling the challenge of writing a postcard when you have to stick three huge stamps on it and leave the Hogsmeade post mark visible, it was getting really busy so we decided to head out into the other areas of the park. Hulk was first, it only said a five minute queue so we joined it. 40 minutes later and after a lot of spiraling we made it to the top. As much as I should like Hulk, I found it horrible. That inversion at the top of the tunnel just made me shudder. We really should have gone on it again but the queue was just too long. It was a Saturday.We started heading over for Popeye but first stopped at Dr Doom. There was A/C, so much A/C I started shivering at one point. Also we discovered the delights of having different rooms but each with a cattle pen so you finally get out of one room and you see another cattle pen. Shot towers always scare me but there was just something a bit meh about it. The theme was odd, having only known Dr Doom from the Fantastic Four movies, so it took a while of getting used to.Now...I had heard stories about Popeye but you never quite imagine how wet you actually get. I was expecting Valhalla on a bad day. I might as well have just got into the shower in my clothes it was that bad. I was spited by the lift hill stopping with me right under one of the water jets. It was horrible the first time you got wet but after that it was amusing because you couldn't get any wet. The law of karma appeared a few times, and people got their just desserts for laughing at others. It was also the shortest queue of the day which was really appreciated.The best thing to do was to go for Dudley Do Right's. Just a shame it was a 70 minute queue so I dripped my way through it. I only stopped just as I got onto the ride. They fully load it which is never a good idea for keeping dry. insert photo here just waiting for FB to like meI was now soaking again so another trip on Popeye's was due. This time it was really evil to one person who got everything thrown at her. I'm not saying that I didn't get wet again but it just get hurtling at her. A/C became the bane of my life again while getting lunch. I was just so cold in there. I ordered a slaw dog and discovered two things. Coleslaw is a bit funky in the US and cheese sauce is just odd. My Dad was happy that he could get a simple sandwich.While we ate our lunch outside I saw this and couldn't resist (you can also kinda tell how wet I was)Drinks were the only thing we went large on. It was just nice to have something really cold rather than slightly lukewarm which is what we got from anything in our rucksack.We seemed to get stuck at that side of the park for a while and doubled back on ourselves to go on Spiderman, another ride where I spent a good portion of it with my eyes shut but I was getting better at keeping them open. We decided to complete the circle and go back through to Jurassic park. We joined the queue for the river adventure while I looked up at Pternadon flyers and was sad because I couldn't go on it. The queue for river was meant to be an hour but they weirdly opened the express line and put people from the normal queue into it. Didn't ask questions, just did as we were told. Now I would have enjoyed this better if a girl hadn't been hysterical next to me. She seemed to think she was going to die or something so decided that I didn't need my ear drum any more.After doing everything we wanted to do, we made our way back to a rather busy Wizarding World. We joined the queue for Forbidden Journey and got to experience the fun of going all the way through the queue. The one thing that is its saving grace is that because the ride never stops the queue never stops. I say this, it only stops when someone decides to take a photo and can't quite work out how to get a good picture with their camera. The misters they use in the queue are immense. They just really force the water at you which is a nice when the sun is up and you aren't under the cover of the greenhouses.We came out eventually, having had my eyes open all the way round, to see the Triwizard show just starting. I know people struggle to catch it because it doesn't have any set times. So I finally got my camera out and took loads of photos.She really enjoyed her jobDurmstrangBeauxbatonsOnce they had finished parading around, I grabbed a frozen butterbeer (with a souvenir mug aka spent more money) and me and my Dad headed back out of the park to grab the shuttle back to our hotel.*is worn out*

[Ryan]

Reading this has made me ridiculously excited for the summer now, brilliant TR!

[Pickles]

It's made me want to go back so much now! I see you have the same thing with me on spiderman, I kept my eyes open for about 3 seconds.

[Sheepie]

I'm loving all of your daily trip reports so far Nicky, please keep posting them whenever you get the time. It's getting me so stoked for my trip this summer. Glad to see that you enjoyed yourself anyhow.

[AdamY]

Great report Nicky! You're making me miss it though :PIOA seems to have treated you much the same way it did me... Absolute soaking on BRB, the Wizarding World of Money Extraction, etc etc! High five for buying the Butterbeer mug though!

[Nicky]

I am trying to do them as often as I can but I have so much material to revise for my exams that my brain is kinda mush by the time I get round to looking at TPM

[Benin]

I WANT MORE CADBURY BEAR!

[Fred]

Mate, keep what you do in your private life and any following innuendos to the correct topics, kthx.

[Mark9]

It's amazing how your reactions to Harry Potter are so different to mine. You saw an amazingly themed castle and I saw a beautiful castle with a huge white shed nailed on the back that would make Nemesis Inferno blush...

[Nicky]

Day 4 - 10th AprilFirst task of the day was to go and collect our new baby for a week. The rental car lady didn't need to list all the cars once she had mentioned this one. Photo taken at the end of the dayWe then headed off for Epcot and discovered the fun of navigating around the Disney site and how the roads all intertwine with each other. Having paid the $14 car parking fee, we parked in Discover. Useful tip was to take a photo of the sign where you had parked so at least you could check your camera if you forgot at the end of the day. By the end of the week having the car, all the car parking spaces starting blurring into one.Today's car parking was Discover!At the same time at Epcot it was their Flower and Garden festival so there were loads of plant sculptures of characters and items from Disney movies. Toy Story was as soon as you went in.Even the Pixar ball...I didn't actually realise how big the golf ball was until I was stood looking up at it. Token photo of me in front of it.Having spotted these when we were at Magic Kingdom, I found a Cast member walking around with the cart for them. Collected the badge for my first visit and wore it for the rest of the holiday when at Disney. It was fun looking at other people's badges to see their reason for celebrating with a trip to Disney World.We decided to get the ridey things all over and done with first thing in the morning. It was Test Track first using the single rider queue. If you could time it right the single rider queues were great, it was just when other people decided to use them that they got a bit too long to queue for. I had started the day with wet hair having had a shower and one ride of Test Track and it was dry. Definitely didn't need to take a hair dryer on holiday with me. Just get launched at 65mph in warm weather round the outside track. I didn't really know what I was expecting with Test Track so it was quite cool. As always it felt contrived with giving it a plot line but it was good way to show how cars do get tested. We had got a fast track on Test Track so we headed over for Soarin'. It was an hour queue which was annoying but at least it was air conditioned. The queue line interaction was good but by the end of it your arms just ached. Couldn't really see the concept working in the UK, but Americans really got into it. We got to the front eventually and ended up on the 2nd row. While it was unnerving when the "cars" moved up into the air, you quickly forgot you were that far up. There didn't seem to be any continuity to it or story which did annoy me. Would have felt better if they tried to blend it together rather than quick cuts between them. It seemed like you felt more like you were interacting with the scenery if you were in the 3rd row. Dangling feet were distracting.It was at this point that we realised that we had planned to go to IHOP for pancakes after picking up the car. So a quick rush over to TT again to use our fast pass. We decided that we would hit up Mission Space and then head out for pancakes. Probably should have done the orange side but was wary of the fact we hadn't really had anything to eat that morning. I am glad I'm not claustrophobic as that wouldn't have been great when it moved in front of you. I was the navigator I think but only once managed to press my button in time before it overrode it instead. I did like the optional sick bags.Sat nav out and worked out where the nearest IHOP was I.e. right next to our hotel, we headed out of Disney World. I had already looked at the menu online before going out to Florida. Cinnastack pancakes it was. Just a shame that I couldn't eat them even if I had had no breakfast. 3 buttermilk pancakes maybe rather than 4 may have meant I could have eaten them all. Dad had a more "traditional" pancake thing with sausages but the stuff on the menu was weird combinations of savoury and sweet. When we got back to Epcot we just decided to wander around until we spotted things that we wanted to do. We were lured into the pavillions since they were air conditioned. It was there that I spotted a sign for something that definitely tempted my fancy. Never thought I'd go all the way to Epcot and end up riding on a Segway.All you had to do was sign a waiver (of course) and then wait your turn. It was a small course with going forwards and then making a 360 turn and come back on yourself. The woman kept telling me that I should relax. I had a death grip on those handlebars and kept going a bit too fast when I was doing it. It's really sensitive and I can see myself being pretty scared if there wasn't someone in front of me to make sure I don't go too fast. Next up was Nemo: Haunted Mansion for very little kids. Orange shells = doombuggies.It was cool how it interacted with an actual aquarium. It showed Nemo and Dory on the glass of a proper aquarium. It was also nice just to have a sit down and be taken around. My feet were starting to really ache by this point and the thought of World Showcase wasn't making them happy.Disney were really pushing a Kim Possible mission thing to do to keep the kids more interested as they wandered around the World Showcase. I managed to make my Dad join in with me, even though it was embarrassing at some points. We collected our mission time and location.Annoyingly this was in the middle of the circle so we decided to just make our way slowly to it picking up another mission on the way round. All you had to do with this was collect stickers. Nice and easy...well once you found the right place to go to.Passing through places such as Norway, Mexico and China. Some places had their own rides...Complete with embarrassing outfits. Me and my Dad decided that while we went on Maelstrom, we didn't need to watch a film telling us about modern Norway so we made a quick exit across the whole auditorium. :)Interspersed between the countries were more flower characters.We finally made it to Italy and picked up our Kimmunicator aka a Verizon phone.You had to follow the tasks it gave, and go to certain points in a nearby country. We ended up with Japan. It was cool at first when you made windchimes move just by pressing a button on the phone. You got to make windchimes move, created smoke in a flower display and turn a fountain on and off. It culminated in going into a shop and making an evil Bebe appear on top of a shelf. By this point my feet just wanted to give up so we only did one mission but there was definitely loads more missions that you could do if you had the energy that I seemed to lack and maybe feet that decided to like you. Finally found Beauty and the Beast in ParisBeing in Paris meant that we were finally close to the whole reason we went around the world...A very pale imitation of a pub. I showed off my superior knowledge of the UK in a shop and was rewarded with stickers. We also decided to get our tea from the fish and chip shop, being served by a lad from Salford. By this point, I just wanted to go back to the hotel so we walked back towards the front area of Epcot. On the way I got distracted by Captain EO. This was odd...Michael Jackson and 3D...quirky but very very odd.Just loads of things thrown together. It was definitely like The Wiz film starring MJ. They resurrected the film when he died and then had a spare 3D auditorium to use. Very WTF and people seemed more entertained by the fountains outside of the place which I did not spend quite a while trying to take a photo where you could see the water moving...not at all...It was with this task accomplished we decided to head back to the car, being very lazy and using the parking transport trams instead of just walking the short distance instead. Sorry it's taken me a while to get the next day up. Urgh exams....

[Nicky]

It's amazing how your reactions to Harry Potter are so different to mine. You saw an amazingly themed castle and I saw a beautiful castle with a huge white shed nailed on the back that would make Nemesis Inferno blush...

It helped that the direction we came at it, it was very difficult to see the white shed at the back. Discovered that later on in the day but then at least it is more hidden than Valhalla's big shed.

[Benin]

Captain EO is probably better than Honey I Shrunk the Audience...Epcot is such a mission... But a cool park regardless...