Cyrano - the adventure begins

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Great report so far - just subscribing

 

[Cyrano]

We went to IOA around 7.30am. All guests seemed to be getting into the park. Though later the Team Members wanted to see Room keys, early entry passes or Virgin Holiday vouchers that all allowed you into WWoHP 1 hour early. We were sent through Seus Landing.
I presume the other guests were sent the other way to queue.
The queue for Ollivanders was ridiculious probably 1 hour already at this time in the morning. The queuie for butterbeer was about 50 strong

The wait for Forbidden Journey was 20 minutes so we all went on it. Soom cool attractions but I know Harry Potter fans will be looking forward to this but we enjoyed the walk through but would not queue the hours that later guests would have to do.

By the way it was rainiing almost all morning which put a dampner on things.

Morgan and I stayed and rode the final part of Forbidden Journey. It is well done but will not suit those that do not like extreme coasters/simulators.

BTW large and tall guests are often asked to try out the chairs as there are height and size restrictions.

For the rest of the day we hopped between IOA and USF. I think we did MIB a total of 12 times Got to love FOTL.
Robyn tried the Simpsons ride, but safe to say she will not be back on it

After supper we went back to USF for a little bit and then a final dip in the HRH pool.

Checking out tomorrow so we will probably do early entry so that DS and try Forbidden Journey and then ride MIB, The Mummy and The Simpsons a dozen times before heading back to the Hawthorn Suites

 

[disneyholic family]

Hi Reid,

I'm in detroit now (visiting family and power shopping).

Just went to the local lenscrafters yesterday to order prescription sunglasses.

unfortunately, the pair i chose require 11 days handling, so i'm hoping they'll be back in time before i leave for home!!

 

[Dimplenose]

What a busy day - FOTL is a great perk but it does make you try and cram everything in (especially if you just stay at a Universal hotel for just one night - as we did.)

I loved the Simpsons ride, last summer, but was really queezy with motion sickness on it.

 

[Pegasus928]

Glad to hear the FOTL passes are working out for you.
I agree, as one of the guests who will be able to 'take or leave' WWoHP I wouldn't be able to wait for hours to get in the attractions. Hopefully by the time we go again the hype would have calmed down a bit

 

[Cyrano]

Today we check out of HRH

They have a promotion that if you check out of your room early you are entered into a drawn for a free night. We are hoping for our numbers come up before we leave

After a quick breakfast we loaded up the car with our bags. Then it was on to the water taxi to Citywalk and onwards to IOA.
DD, DS and myself strode onwards to WWoHP. The line for Olivanders was probably 2 hours by the time we passed it. Forbidden Journey which was our target was 15 minute After we did the walkthrough and then the ride we hooked up with DW and DD.

We then did the remaining rides in IOA and moved on to USF.

All to soon we were heading back on the boat to HRH to pick up the car.

After supper we headed into Disney Quest as it was raining. So did everyone else


We were

Hi Reid,

I'm in detroit now (visiting family and power shopping).

Just went to the local lenscrafters yesterday to order prescription sunglasses.

unfortunately, the pair i chose require 11 days handling, so i'm hoping they'll be back in time before i leave for home!!

Hope you get your glasses

 

[tennisfan]

Just catching up with this. Sounds like you are having a great time Reid, shame about you losing your glasses.

Enjoy the rest of your trip

 

[Cyrano]

Woken up in the early hours the morning to a shreek from the bathroom. DW went to the bathroom and had water drop on her from the vent in the ceiling.
We complained to the front desk, but had visions of the dishwasher episode since the front desk manager did not seem overly concerned.

After breakfast decided to alert Virgin Holidays to the problem to see if they could put some urgency in making sure Hawthorn Suites fixed the problem or relocated us ... again

This wasted most of the morning and to be honest the Virgin reps were more interested in guest booking tickets

Given that it was the 4th July you guesed it we headed to the sales. Florida Mall was the first stop and then onwards to both Prime and Premium Outlets.

We headed back to the hotel around 4pm since we wanted to make sure our faulted had been fixed.

Jason our duty manager did not make it on to my Christmas Card list when I asked what had happen with our morning complain and he stated; as he did with the dishwasher fiasco, that he did not know anyway. Well in my sutle Scots way I told him to find out. He has to be the most miserable, useless piece of space to ever work in a hotel

Needless to say a phone call to Virgin Holidays was required. We are trying not to let this affect us but we a totally unimpressed with Virgin Holidays and Hawthorn Suites at this time.

Tonights supper was a Pizza Hut takeaway pizza which we took back to the room. Everyone was impressed with this

We headed off to EPCOT with the plan of seeing the 4th July Illuminations. The park was very busy and I also blew the timing. I thought the fireworks were 9pm but for the 4th July it changed to 10pm.

We wandered around WorldShow Case going on the Mexico ride . Sadly Maelstrom had a 40 minute wait. We spent a good time in Japan.

Realising that Robyn would not last the evening we left the park around 8.40pm

 

[Ware Bears]

Just catching up with your report.

Oh dear, you're not having much luck with your hotel. Hope you don't let it impact on your holiday too much.

Shame you missed the 4th July IllumiNations as I gather it's a special one? Hope you manage to catch the normal one another night.

 

[brummymummy]

It sounds like your having a fab time! Its a shame about the hotel though I hope you get it sorted!

How much were your glasses if you dont mind me asking? Were they cheaper than here?

Sarah x

 

[Cyrano]

Just catching up with your report.

Oh dear, you're not having much luck with your hotel. Hope you don't let it impact on your holiday too much.

Shame you missed the 4th July IllumiNations as I gather it's a special one? Hope you manage to catch the normal one another night.

Thanks Elaine. It has been annoying but we are still having a great time I just don't suffer fools and liers

How much were your glasses if you dont mind me asking? Were they cheaper than here?

Sarah x

I got mine in the sale reduce to $150. These were just straight distance glasses while the pair I lost were vari-focals. If I could have managed without them I would have waiting until we were home

Today we were up around 7.30am and down for breakfast at 8.

Since the MK was closed early yesterday for 4th July celebrations I thought this was a good park to visit today.
There was a reasonable crowd when we arrived at 9.30am.

But with Splash Mountain showing a wait of 5 mins it looked like our strategy was a good one

I did Spalsh Mountain with Morgan and Jack while Diane queued for Tinkerbell and fairies in Toon Town.
I then picked up FP for Big Thunder Mountain.

We then met the others in Toon Town, DD was on a quest for characters so she picked up Alice and White Rabbit, followed by the 2 Ugly Sisters and Lady Tremaine beside Spinning Tea Cups. Morgan, Jack and myself bagged Goofy's Barnstormer and also FP for Space Mountain. SM and TTA were both in rehab for our visit last year so I was set to fix this

We had a quick go on Buzz before we all headed over to BTM so the three of us could use our FP's.

We split up again as Robyn has a fear of the drops on POTC Robyn and I did Jungle Cruise while Diane and the others did POTC.

Sadly we lucked out on Ariel as the queue was enormous.

Lunch was in Cosmic rays. The fixin's bar is enjoyed by us all

TTA and Carosuel of Progress was gentle enough to ready our stomachs for Space Mountain. We all enjoyed this. It is definitely less of a thrill ride than DLP's version and although dark I think the WDW version was a better hit with the troops.

Thereafter we did a bit of shopping and went back to Toon Town so that both DD's could do the Princesses.

The time was about 3pm and as we had done well we took the WDW train back to Main St Station and let the park.

I went swimming with everyone while DW visited the laundry.

In the evening we did a bit of shopping at Premium Outlets before calling it a night.

Tomorrow is the first visit to Disney Hollywood Studios. The plan is to have an afternoon break before going back in for Fantasmic

 

[Ware Bears]

Great day

I love WDW's Space Mountain but wild horses couldn't drag me on DLRP's!

 

[2Tiggies]

Well in my sutle Scots way I told him to find out. He has to be the most miserable, useless piece of space to ever work in a hotel

I know what happened is not the least bit amusing, but you said that in such a way that I can picture it.

We wandered around WorldShow Case going on the Mexico ride .

Oh we LOVE that ride!

I hope you get all the little hiccups sorted out so you can get on with the fun stuff.

 

[Pegasus928]

Great report so far - apart from your issues with the hotel of course.

Enjoy HS - especially TSM if you manage to give that a go

 

[howlongtillsummer?]

Sorry to hear about your troubles and I hope they are not spoiling your enjoyment too much!

 

[Cyrano]

Sorry for the delay.

Today was our first visit to Disney Hollywood Studios and later to Fantasmic.

We were at the Studios for opening and as expected I joined the FP line for Toy Story which was as long as the Stand By line. Not sure this is the best strategy now, as with our return times of 11.00 this effectively ruled out getting RnR and ToT fast passes until later.

RnR wait was now at 40 mins so we defintely will have to leave Toy Story next time to do these rides.

We did the Little Mermaid show which DD liked as it was like Animagique in DLP. The story was somewhat shortened but enjoyable.

Afterwards we headed to the Animation Studio as the troops wanted to meet up with Lotso. I duely stood 2nd in line while everyone had a good play before Lotso's first call this morning.

DS then asked for The Great Movie Ride. We did not check the wait time which was our undoing as serveral tour parties were already in line. However as we had done the gangster last year everyone was happy that we have the western routine.

It was now time for Toy Story so off we went On exiting we picked up other fast passes for using tonight when we came back for Fantasmic.

We finsihed off with shopping before heading out for a Pizza Hut pizza for lunch.

In the afternoon we chilled by the hotel pool.

Back to DHS around 7.00pm we went to TS again. DW wiped the floor with all of us
We headed round to Fantasmic about 7.45pm but there was standing space only for the 9.00pm show. As there was no way everyone would last standing we called it a night.

We will just have to try another night.

I now can see why the Fantasmic Dinner packages are becoming more popular.

 

[wayneg]

I now can see why the Fantasmic Dinner packages are becoming more popular.

The dinner package was not something that interested us until they cut the shows. We usually arrived at Fantasmic around 30 mins to start never a problem before with a show every night, now almost impossible to get a seat so doing dinner package for 1st time in August.

 

[2Tiggies]

The dinner package was not something that interested us until they cut the shows. We usually arrived at Fantasmic around 30 mins to start never a problem before with a show every night, now almost impossible to get a seat so doing dinner package for 1st time in August.

Not practical for Reid, because his DD is still young, but on nights when there are 2 shows of Fantasmic the second show should be slightly easier to get into as the dinner packages only give priority seating for the first show. Hopefully you will get to see it next time Reid. So did you just forgo RnR and ToT?

 

[Cyrano]

Not practical for Reid, because his DD is still young, but on nights when there are 2 shows of Fantasmic the second show should be slightly easier to get into as the dinner packages only give priority seating for the first show. Hopefully you will get to see it next time Reid. So did you just forgo RnR and ToT?

I did wonder about the 2nd show but it looked like most had started to queue at 8.30pm when they closed the 1st show

Have still to do ToT and RnR.

 

[2Tiggies]

I did wonder about the 2nd show but it looked like most had started to queue at 8.30pm when they closed the 1st show

Have still to do ToT and RnR.

You know, as you so aptly made the point in your previous post, I am wondering if it is even worth the TSM hassle. It sort of throws everything else in the park out of the window. I think we might not head straight for it and rather do the other main attractions and then chance getting a FP with a late return time to keep for the end of the day so we can carry on touring the park. Let us know if you come up with a better solution.

Looking forward to your next update!