Zen And The Art Of PTR Maintenance. Sept 2016 PTR. 16/4 Trip Report Anyone??

[BibbitybobityLu]

The One Where We Go To The Dark Side: Universal Studios

As promised I though I would do a little Trip(ish) reporting! So when we last left 2012 DM had nearly drowned during her Dolphin swim...


Sorry DM!

So after all the fun (and near drownings) at Discovery Cove we didn't really have any plans for the next day so we decided to venture to the Dark Side...



Just an FYI the had no cookies...

Neither of us had ever been to Universal before so we were kind of excited to check out what it was all about. We got park to park tickets so we could just mooch around. I actually have some photos of this day! I know!
*WARNING!* These photos were taken by me. Caution is advised!





I am always super awkward in photos. I never used to be as a kid, I was a total show off as a child but as I got older I got much more self-conscious in photos. Only in photos mind you and I getting better So apologise for all the weird faces you will see me pull and again I don't look (quite) that awful in real life! (Its worse! )

So thats us outside the entrance! Super cool huh?



And in front of the giant globe (and a bush) But I digress....

So we got to Universal just after in opened (would have been there soon if it wasn't for SatNav woman ) and after walking for miles from the car park we finally arrived! We started off in Universal first...I know cause I was there



Then I proceeded to get DM to pose with Universal stuff. Like this star on the side-walk! And a random dude on a bench!
She wasn't that into it!


Can you tell??



Can I just say that I LOVE I Love Lucy! It is hila funny!

That can only mean one thing. It's time to get our ride on! So where to start?? How about E.T?
Well thats what we did. Yeah. No. Just no. Not a good start. DM has never seen E.T. for one (I keep trying! She keeps refusing!) so she was hella confused! Plus it is kind of a weird ride . Did not like.
This was going on while we were meandering around.



I had NO CLUE at the time what this was! I'm totally kicking myself now because I LOVE Despicable Me! We didn't even go on the ride...or buy any merch
Sad times man. Sad sad times.
So after our E.T. fail we decided to try out Men In Black. Which was fun but too
spinney for DM (and some poor guy who up chucked his guts on the way out ) we preferred Buzz to this.

We decided to check out one of the "show" type attractions and see what Twister Ride It Out was all about. Why is this still here? It is such a weak attraction! Maybe its time to let the Twister just take this away!
We were on a roll with bad attractions so why not complete the hat trick (I think that might mean three but lets pretend it means four!) and go on Disaster! What it really, really was. Oh Christopher Walken

Oh I forgot WORST ride of all: The Simpsons Ride. Or as I like to call it A Study In Motion Sickness: Your Gonna Blow Chunks! This was just not good for DM she was a little green around the gills after this one I dont suffer from motion sickness normally but holey barf-a-roma Batman I felt it too!

I feel like I'm giving Universal a rough ride laughing but there were some-things I like! Honest! We ventured back in time to see a Mummy (I wish Back to the Future was still there ) and i really enjoyed it. But It was SHORT...luckily there wasn't any lines but I can imagine getting peeved waiting ages for this.
Now my all time favourite Universal ride (and actually makes it into my top rides list!) has to be Rip-rocket Roller-coaster. I LOVED this! DM not as much... So I made use of that single rider line and went round and round and round...until I got hunger and as we all know food comes first

Lunchtime!! I don't remember where we ate (I think I was that diner one?) but they had chicken nuggets and fries so I was golden

After we finshed stuffing our faces we decided to move right along and hit up something more fast paced. I mean that is why you come to the Dark side right?
And venture into Islands of Adventure.

It was time to Hulk it up! Now this is much more like it! We did this four times in a row (no queues AT ALL this day. Sweet!)

Now I don't really like drop rides, other than ToT, so I decided I was going to be really brave and go on Dr Doom's Free Fall (sounds terrifying right?) So I gave my bag to DM, told that if I died I loved her and headed hands shaking to the queue. Here I just freaked myself the whole way out waiting thinking that I just was not going to be able to do it. Just no way. But then it was my turn. I sat myself in the chair and strapped myself in (as tight as I possibly could ) and then up we went. I could see DM below and I was petrified. Then we dropped...all of about two inches That was literally it. The rest of the way down it just kind of bounced. Seriously it felt like a baby bounce only much, much softer. Well. All that bravery for NOTHING Oh well. It least I tried! There was this kid sat next to me who summed it up perfectly "That's it? The hotel elevator is worse than that! Are you punkin me?" I wish I was kid. I wish I was.

After that anti-climate we decided to explore that park abit more. I have never read a Dr Seuss book in my life nor have I ever seen any of the film versions so we kinda skipped that part! Sorry Dr Seuss fans! Nothing personal!
I really wanted to go on the Jurassic Park rides, but alas, they were all closed.
This lead us to Harry Potter. Okay this might actually get me killed or at least un-friended...but I am not a Harry Potter fan
Never read the books or seen the films so I had NO idea what anything was But my friend had asked me to get her something from the merch as long as it wasn't Slitherinth(??). Seriously no clue. Now obviously this is where all the crowds had been hiding. We didn't ride the Forbidden Journey, a. because I had no clue what it was and b. the queue literally a mile long
No thanks. So what do you do in Harry Potter land? You hit up Duelling Dragons of course. This was cool but just a standard roller-coaster really isn't it? We did both side and I honestly couldn't tell a difference! Is there one? Who knows!

I dont know if I have mentioned this yet but holy wow it was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cold the whole of this trip. I am mean cooooolllllllllllddddddddddd! And I'm Brrrritish (see what I did there??) So by this point we were done with Universal it was cold and we had seen everything we needed to seen. So off we trekked back the miles and miles to the car!

In summary I don;t think we are Universal people
If you could pick up Rip Rock It and put it in Disney I would be a happy camper. You might have noticed Universal doesn't feature on our PTR plans. Yeah we ain't going!
I'll just stay in the bubble







​

 

[BibbitybobityLu]

The One With The Pink Hotel: St Pete's Beach

Hey there party people its Monday. Its May the four. Its May the Fourth Be With You. Its a Bank Holiday. Its time to PARTY!!!!


Anyone?


No??

Or we could do some tripping? (No magic brownie tripping though...)

Yeah!! Lets do that!

So I am still waiting to here back from Virgin...I love been patient. I'm really good at it.



Really good.

So to keep myself (sort of) sane lets go back in time to 2012 and do some more trip(ish) reporting!


Another reason we didn't stay at Disney for the first week of our trip was because we decided to detour to St Pete's Beach for a couple of days. When I was a kid we used to go there every couple of years and we stayed at the Tradewinds. So as this was kind of a retro time we thought why not? So we checked out of the lovely Marriott Grande Lakes (paying our room service bill ) and off we went with American SatNav lady as our guide (we basically ignored her and followed the road signs...)
I can't remember (surprise!) how long it took, I think about two hours(?), so lets just say that after a certain period of time we arrived in St Pete's Beach! I don't know if anyone is familiar with St Pete's Beach but there is a hotel called the Don CeSar, its a big pink hotel that I remember pointing to as a kid and know we were nearly there! I wish I had stayed there So of course I took pictures of it!



And then it was on to the Tradewinds!



DM was very excited to be at the beach. Sadly though it was still really cold. Sad, sad times. We spoke to some locals who all said how it was unseasonably cold. Of course. Just our luck Oh well!
There is a restaurant called the Flying Bridge which DM loved when she stayed before.



As I said she was excited!



And I was pulling weird faces!!

Now this part of the trip is a prime example of why you should NEVER visit places you loved years before (Disney is of course and exception). The whole place just felt...different. It was a little bit sad. We still enjoyed ourselves don't get me wrong it just wasn't...right...somehow.
We grabbed lunch at the Flying Bridge which was ok. Nothing special. Again sad times. And off we went to explore! Now the one thing I was super happy they still had was the giant chess set outside, I LOVED that thing as a kid! So much fun. We got sorted in our room (which was tiny) and ventured out into St Pete's. We went somewhere really exciting you guys....Public's! This is going to sound so sad but I love Public's. Its just some much more fun then UK supermarkets. The fruit section has ice in it!
Now I'm going tell you a story about what I total odd ball I was as a child. Hey, now I can hear you shouting "you are still one now!", lets have less of that thank you! So for some weird reason I have always been obsessed with eating ice. I just love crunching away on ice all the time. Even when it winter in the UK I still always have to have ice in my drink (I think warm water is gross ) so of course as an ice obsessed kid I decided that that ice in the fruit section looked really good so I eat some! I know! I know! My Nana, who used to come with us, FREAKED out she thought I was going to die of some horrific ice disease! I didn't of course! Lucky you! Also around this time I was going through my eating glass phase. Yes you read that right I went through a phase of biting into my drinking glasses! I did it is a Disney restaurant once! I am such a werido!
So after we got back from our really exciting trip to the supermarket we headed back to the room. DM really wanted to walk along the beach and try and catch some (no existent) rays to top up our (fake) tans. Do any of you guys get a spray tan before you go on holiday?
Down you the beach we went. We grabbed a lounger and sat for an hour or two before we thought we might freeze to death which meant one thing: cocktails!!

After a couple (okay four) of cocktails we decided to head back to the room. DM was still under the weather with her cold so she wanted a lie down. I watched Full House on the TV while she napped! I know, we are a couple of wild things!

I just found some old photos of us at Disney when I was a kiddo so for your viewing pleasure is a throwback pic of DM and I.


See I always pulled weird faces!!






I could have been a child model!

That is DB. I can post this as he no longer looks like this so its fine! Plus he'll never know!
​

 

[Glittercat]

I'm so glad to not be the only one to make faces at cameras since kidhood! Love your pics especially the two of your mum and you for last trip! Eager to see more of your memories and plans! Our dates have changed because of lovebug season and a daughter terrified of said bugs- I find 'em pretty shiver worthy creepy as well. Will you be going back to the beach this time?

 

[BibbitybobityLu]

I'm so glad to not be the only one to make faces at cameras since kidhood! Love your pics especially the two of your mum and you for last trip! Eager to see more of your memories and plans! Our dates have changed because of lovebug season and a daughter terrified of said bugs- I find 'em pretty shiver worthy creepy as well. Will you be going back to the beach this time?

I have been making weird faces at cameras since birth!
Its nice to know I'm not alone! Maybe I will grow out of it...but probably not!
You are so sweet (and maybe slightly blind! I look my best when blurry! )
I am not a fan of bugs AT ALL so I can totally relate
When are you planning for?
We aren't planning to go to St Pete's again this time. But I am trying to convince DM to do a short trip to Miami ...she's resisting though!
Darn it! ​

 

[Glittercat]

It actually looks like we'll be going July 2016 - and I turn 41 on the 23rd of that month! So did not mean to make this a birthday trip, though the more I think about it the more fun it sounds!

Does your DM prefer to stay on the property? not want to rent a car? or some other reason?

 

[BibbitybobityLu]

It actually looks like we'll be going July 2016 - and I turn 41 on the 23rd of that month! So did not mean to make this a birthday trip, though the more I think about it the more fun it sounds!

Does your DM prefer to stay on the property? not want to rent a car? or some other reason?

Oh birthdays at Disney are so much fun!
(For you know...July! )
I'm a summer baby too and when I was a kiddo I was lucky that we tended to be in Disney at the time My DB was always soooo jealous cause his is in May so we never when for his! Sucks to be him!
We are actually renting a car for the last part of our trip when we hit OKW so we can get to Discovery Cove and Busch Gardens. She does prefer to stay on property (don't we all!) But she isn't a fan of Miami. I don't know why she's an odd ball that lady! Maybe that's where I get it from! But I'm working on it!!​

 

[Glittercat]

Oh birthdays at Disney are so much fun!
(For you know...July! )
I'm a summer baby too and when I was a kiddo I was lucky that we tended to be in Disney at the time My DB was always soooo jealous cause his is in May so we never when for his! Sucks to be him!
We are actually renting a car for the last part of our trip when we hit OKW so we can get to Discovery Cove and Busch Gardens. She does prefer to stay on property (don't we all!) But she isn't a fan of Miami. I don't know why she's an odd ball that lady! Maybe that's where I get it from! But I'm working on it!!​

Wish we were going to be there at the same time, would be so fun to meet you! I have a funny feeling we would quite get along.

Neat! Discovery Cove and the Gardens sound like fun at least! Well, you could ask her to go down to Key West. It is beautiful and people were friendly when I visited (20? years ago), also lovely beaches. I'm pretty sure she would not to drive down that far, but it might make Miami more appealing as far as distance. lol.

How fun to spend your birthday at DISNEY! Oh my gosh I never ever thought I would get to spend one there! I tried to get there for the kids birthdays (Jan.) last time, but we all decided to go before Christmas instead.

 

[BibbitybobityLu]

Wish we were going to be there at the same time, would be so fun to meet you! I have a funny feeling we would quite get along.

Neat! Discovery Cove and the Gardens sound like fun at least! Well, you could ask her to go down to Key West. It is beautiful and people were friendly when I visited (20? years ago), also lovely beaches. I'm pretty sure she would not to drive down that far, but it might make Miami more appealing as far as distance. lol.

How fun to spend your birthday at DISNEY! Oh my gosh I never ever thought I would get to spend one there! I tried to get there for the kids birthdays (Jan.) last time, but we all decided to go before Christmas instead.

Awww I know it would have been super fun to have met you too! But that just means we need to plan more trips and hopefully they might coincide! You are still my planning buddy though! Junember planning buddies if you will
I have been to the Keys once but it was during a hurricane Not great!
I have to say the Christmas is the best time to visit! I love the holiday decor and the Gingerbread houses! It's too perfect! ​

 

[Glittercat]

It is possible that my daughter @flibberjibit and I were maybe talking about going back for her 17th birthday in January. We have a few years yet to plan that one thank goodness! So bad... one Disney trip just make you want MOAR!!!

 

[BibbitybobityLu]

It is possible that my daughter @flibberjibit and I were maybe talking about going back for her 17th birthday in January. We have a few years yet to plan that one thank goodness! So bad... one Disney trip just make you want MOAR!!!

Its too addictive! We were meant to actually be in Disney NOW but this was the trip we cancelled and I keep looking on MDE at all the wait times and going "we could be on such and such right now!" (My DBF has since told me to shut up! More polite than that he's not all bad! Just a non Disney fan. He's taking me to Italy for my BDAY in August so I can't really complain! )
And September 2016 is soooooooooooooooooooooooo far away
I keep suggesting we could go for a really quick trip before then but.......so far nothing
​

 

[Glittercat]

Its too addictive! We were meant to actually be in Disney NOW but this was the trip we cancelled and I keep looking on MDE at all the wait times and going "we could be on such and such right now!" (My DBF has since told me to shut up! More polite than that he's not all bad! Just a non Disney fan. He's taking me to Italy for my BDAY in August so I can't really complain! )
And September 2016 is soooooooooooooooooooooooo far away
I keep suggesting we could go for a really quick trip before then but.......so far nothing
​

ITALY! Please please include it in your trip report! That sounds delightful and just think of the art, architecture, and foooood!!!

 

[BibbitybobityLu]

Disney Bucket List



And I just did!

So Virgin called today
But......ummmm....they don't have all my dates yet Boo!
They are going to have to get back to me...again.
Urgghhhhh.




But the good news is that they do have some of the dates so (with everything going cool beanz with the rest of the trip) we are going to be in WDW:

13th September to 11th October 2016!!!




It's all a little bit exciting!

Plus in other exciting news DBF surprised me today with tickets to Italy for my BDAY in August!!



So not that he will ever read this DBF
I now have to save up as we are going to be in Milan....hello new Designer Shoes

So after that interlude lets get back to Disney relates goodness. I thought I would steal some ideas for other PTR's I've lurked on and to a Disney Bucket list (which I will probably have to edit as I remember things or see other things other people do! So keep doing fun stuff I haven't done so I can steal it!! )

Bucket List:

1. See the Welcome Show. I have never ever seen this. To be honest before the DIS I'm not sure I even knew it existed. I'm not that much of a morning person....but I am going to see it at least once. If not this trip then the next...or at the very least the one after that....

2. The Kiss Goodnight. Now this I am sure I didn't know about until I started lurking on trip reports and I was slightly confused at first I thought it was so weird tradition where CM's kiss you as you left (just in case you don't know what it is either...its not this )

3. Meet Gaston. This should have been in my "Must Dos" for Magic Kingdom but like a moron I forgot. So I'm putting it here! I have a special place in my heart for Gaston and if I'm honest I think Belle made the wrong choice. Straight up. Boy is HOT!

4. Ride the Mine Train. Its new and shining so I really want to ride it!

5. Eat at Beaches and Cream. Ice cream. Ice.Cream. Do I need to say more?

6. Drink around WS. I've only been legal to drink in Disney once and as I mentioned in the first post in this PTR I was not feeling to hot so get sloshed wasn't something I could face.

7. Visit every resort. Just cause! They are all so pretty!

8. Have a Disney Wedding (are you listening DBF?? ) if not then I would settle for Italy or Hawaii!

9. Take my (non existent) kids to Disney. This one is for the future. Way in the future!

10. Ride every ride in Disney at least once.

11. Stay in one of the Poly Bungalows. (After I win the lottery of course)

12. Have a DIS met with all you lovely people!

13. Get some ride photos! And more photos in general!


So that's it for now. I hope I did this Bucket List thing right? If not then I'm sorry! We will just have to call it Lu's Babbling Again List!



What do you guys have on your Disney Bucket Lists?

(Anything I can steal? )

Stay tuned for more fun time ramblings!
​

 

[BibbitybobityLu]

The One With Bad Boat Driving and Swans: St Pete's Beach Part 2

Okay I really want to get into my actually Disney part of our 2012 trip so I am gonna blast through the rest of our St Pete's stay.

We didn't actually have any plans for this part of our trip, it was just supposed to be a relaxing pre Disney stay so what do you do if you don't have any plans? If you said get a manicure GET OUT OF MY HEAD! Cause that's what we did! After that we decided to walk along the beach.

I was pretty quite the whole time we were here (I think that was because the weather sucked! It was actually warmer at home in England )
This walk along the beach was our daily trek, we walked along to the Don CeSar and back again. The beach was really pebbly and I prefer my beach sandy!



(There is the lovely Pink Hotel in the distance!)



And our hotel.



I swear I was having a good time! I just hadn't had any cocktails yet!

After our lovely (and painful!) walk on the beach we thought we would do something we loved to do when we stayed here when I was a kid. If you were thinking eat...well we did that too but that wasn't what I meant!

They have this like canal type rivery thing that runs around the hotel at the Tradewinds like this:



No I don't know these people. But they seem friendly so lets all wave back .

Anyway we used to love doing this when I was a kid so we thought why not? Turns out these things are REALLY hard to drive without...you know...crashing. And crash we did. Alot. We even managed to get marooned on one of the grass banks and a boy from another boy actually got onto the bank and pushed us off! Thanks dude! DM and I pretty much sucked driving these! But I was hysterical and we saw some cute swans!



After our river cruise rotfl we headed out to dinner. This was the only thing we really wanted to do during our stay, that being eat at the Hurricane. We loved eating here on our trips, I remember having my seven birthday party here and thinking (at the time) that it was the coolest thing ever that the waiter got me to help him seat some diners and give out menus. Of course now it just seems like child labour!


(That is it on the right. My photography skills strike again! )

The Hurricane is in Pass-A-Grille which I thought was just what the called the part of town where all the restaurants were. Apparently not!

Now this was one of my favourite meals the whole trip. I got a hot dog! I know how classy am I? DM got blackened grouper and loved it. My hot dog was actually cheaper than my drink! I am cheap date If I could just live on hot dogs, pizza and ice cream I would be okay with that.

We got back to the hotel and cocktails may have been involved...







On our last night there was this huge banging sound outside our room. Of course DM being the nervous and parinoid person she is thought the someone was blowing up the hotel...they weren't. It was fireworks!
The next morning we checked out and took one last stroll on the beach.


(I think I was trying to be arty! )

And then it was time to hit the road....we were finally going to DISNEY!!!!

​

 

[BibbitybobityLu]

Okay you guys its time......

DISNEY TIME!!!


(This isn't my photo as it is too good and I took our sign photo on my now very dead phone!)

So finally after arriving October 30th we reached the bubble Novemeber 6th ! I know. It was there the whole time and this is the first time we set foot (or car wheel) on Disney soil for so so long! I was nearly jumping out of my seat!!
We finally got to our home for the next few days:



I was so happy to be here and I was actually going to remember it this time!
We checked in and got our Keys to the World cards (pre Magic Band days...) and we signed them....on each others cards! Thanks DM! This did cause some confusion during our stay!
And we went off to check out our room 4102.


I forgot not to throw all my junk down before I took these...sorry









Can I just say how much I loved this décor? I know that alot of people don't like CR because its not "themed" but hello its called the Contemporary Resort! What are you expecting?

Our View:






Now in this photo you can just see the roof of Wilderness Lodge. Now this was one of my dumb moments I was CONVINCED that this was the Poly! I know. But I kept telling DM that is was the Poly and how cool it was we could see it from our window. Which it would have been...if that was it!!

And this was our view outside our door:




I loved that we could see the Monorail so well on our floor. The only slight downside to our room location was that we were pretty much opposite Chef Mickey's...that place is LOUD.
But I didn't mind really. I wear headphones when I sleep so I didn't hear anything!

We checked out our room, DM unpacked and I opened my suitcase on the couch and I was done!

By this point we were both ready to get going and explore the parks...but where to start???

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Answer next time!

Dun Dun Dun! Cliff Hanger!





​

 

[BibbitybobityLu]

So.....this just happened!!!!!





Sorry for the but I just had to share with all you wonder DIS friends that DBF is now DF!!

He proposed!

I'm ENGAGED!!

How did that happen?! ​

 

[KathyM2]

OMG looks like I came over here just at the perfect time!!! Congrats!!! How amazing!!! Looking forward to following along here with you wherever it takes you!!

 

[BibbitybobityLu]

OMG looks like I came over here just at the perfect time!!! Congrats!!! How amazing!!! Looking forward to following along here with you wherever it takes you!!

it was completely unexpected (for him too! ) Thanks so much for joining in! It's so nice you stopped by!

 

[Glittercat]

So.....this just happened!!!!!

View attachment 94955



Sorry for the but I just had to share with all you wonder DIS friends that DBF is now DF!!

He proposed!

I'm ENGAGED!!

How did that happen?! ​

CONGRATULATIONS!!! So happy for you both! Now he's going to have to become a Disney fan!

 

[BibbitybobityLu]

Okay I know that I told you all before that I won't be posting any photos of DBF who is now DF (that is crazy!) but I found a loop hole!! Sneaky!

*EDIT*

Apparently it does count!


Oh well!
You will just have to use you imaginations again!
(I really love my ring so I won't rock the boat! )

I'll get one of him from our "official" engagement trip in August. He said that will be okay!



He doesn't have a choice about that one!

We have known each other since we were knee high to a grasshopper but we didn't actually start dating until we left school and started at Uni.

Now this was out of the blue for both of us as DF had planned to propose in Italy...in August!
But during a heated debate (on the British General Election of all things) he blurted out that I was just too ridiculous and he guessed he would just have to marry me! Err..what??

I thought he was just being a noodle until he disappeared into the study and reappeared with a ring box! He got down on one knee and said
"You are the strangest, craziest person I have ever met and even though you drive me nuts I want to spend the rest of my life being crazy with you."

You guys it was the most romantic thing anybody has ever said to me!

So I said no.

Just kidding!

But as this all happened first thing this morning...whilst still in my PJs...we are going to do a re-propsal in Italy for actually photos cause lets be honest no one wants to see photos of me make up free in my PJs!

Sorry for the again but I just wanted to share our oh so romantic moment!

I promise next post will be back to the scheduled Disney madness

​

 

[BibbitybobityLu]

CONGRATULATIONS!!! So happy for you both! Now he's going to have to become a Disney fan!

OMG Thank you so much buddy! Alas he is still resisting but I have told him that he needs to convert and FAST because it's gonna have to be a Disney Wedding