Day 3 - Disney’s Animal Kingdom

So today we had the thrill of doing something for the first time!  The day was all about visiting the brand new incredible ride “Flight of Passage” in the land of Pandora at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It is the reason we changed hotel rooms from Universal to Disney. You see Disney patrons had early admission to Animal Kingdom today. Early admission was at 7 am and the general public wasn’t allowed in until 8 am. 

And in heeding the advice of all my friends (thank you Gail and Susan) they warned me of the lengthy standby lines to get on this ride if you didn’t have fast passes or arrive early in the morning.   I tried getting fast passes for this ride about 50 days in advance and they were already sold out. So the friends were right, it was the star of the show at Animal Kingdom - and there are some pretty stellar rides there too ( African Savannah and Expedition Everest are family favourites in addition to Dinosaur)!

In getting up at 5:15 am again (remember this is like 3 am our time and this is our third day in a row getting up at this hour), we ate breakfast in the room, checked out of the hotel and left our luggage with luggage services.  We drove ourselves to Animal Kingdom knowing the shuttles would get us there later (since we got lost driving in the dark and the mist and the lack of a GPS for this drive that may not have been the case). We arrived at the gates st 6:40 and followed the crowds of people walking to the land of Pandora, the new section of park based on the James Cameron movie named Avatar. J wanted to stop and ask for directions and I told him there was no need - that EVERYBODY in the park would be walking directly to this ride. And I was right - everybody was walking towards the Flight of Passage ride. We arrived at the end of the line about 7:05 am - and by 8:30 we had finished the ride. The fact that we arrived in the dark with mist hanging in the air added to the mystery and beauty of the vegetation surrounding the ride! The actual thrilling part of the ride where should are sitting in fancy bicycles and looking out over the land of Pandora, much like Disneyland’s Soarin’.  By the time we walked off the ride, the standby line was 270 minutes long. That would have been more than 4 hours in line for us had we been arriving with the rest of the non Disney hotel guests about that time.   So we were very glad for the early start and the experience!

Of course we enjoyed the African Savannah (J & L) Expedition Everest (not J, he gets too motion sick on that ride), and Dinosaur a couple of times.  The boys rode Kali River Rapids when Expedition Everest broke down as they were in line using their fast passes, so Disney gave them another fast pass loaded on their Mickey wristbands that work as room keys, fast passes and charging machines!

We ate lunch at Flame tree Barbeque sitting overlooking the water.  By 1:30 the park was really busy and we had seen what we really wanted to so we returned to Port Orleans French Quarter to retrieve luggage and hit the road for Fort Lauderdale. By the book Orlando to Ft Lauderdale is 3 hours. Add in traffic and toll roads and that drive became 4 hours without any pit stops. 

Once at the Hampton Hotel North Airport we moved all our luggage into the room and happily walked across the street to Winn Dixie for the usual road trip supper of going to a grocery store to buy exactly what you want to eat for supper. Healthy,  not too expensive and interactive to shop for - we enjoyed our shopping expedition!  With a microwave and fridge we were all set to enjoy supper!  Good thing we brought our own cutlery from home!

Must go to bed and sleep as long as necessary tomorrow morning!

Day 2 - Universal Studios

The alarm at 5:15 am was rather startling considering that felt like 3:15 am our time. Hmm , two days in a row with a 3 am alarm!!  But we were on a mission. We knew that our hotel room key at Cabana Bay allowed us early admission into Universal’s two parks at 7 am this morning.  And that meant getting up, eating hot oatmeal in our room (because the restaurant didn’t open till 6 am - maybe 7 am, I am not sure), checking out of our room, leaving luggage with luggage services and catching a 6:15 am shuttle to the parks. 

We were rewarded with a spot fourth in line at Universal Studios Florida by 6:35 am. They actually opened the gates shortly after 6:45 am. And so we were first in line to ride Despicable Me at 6:55 am!  We immediately headed to the World of Harry Potter and walked right up to ride the amazing Escape from Gringotts ride. That ride is a combination of technology with green screens and an old fashioned roller coaster so it doesn’t make me motion sick. After that we caught a train ride at King’s Cross Station to go to the other park “Islands of Adventure”. We caught the train ride by  by 7:45 - three major rides under our belt in the first hour when the park was just opening to the general public. By the time we left the parks about 1 pm we could see Escape from Gringotts had a 120 minute wait and Despicable Me was a 70 minute wait! 

One downside was waiting in line at Forbidden Journey at Hogsmeade - we waited in line for about 15 minutes when they announced they expected the delay to be significant so we left the lineup. That was shortly after 8 am in the morning so if you had just lined up for that ride first thing in the morning you would have felt you wasted your precious early morning riding time!  

We left the parks, feeling fulfilled but exhausted and headed over to Disney’s Port Orleans French Quarter to join J about 2:30 pm. J isn’t that big a Universal fan so he didn’t want to spend the money on a day pass. Once at the French Quarter we relaxed in the room for an hour. P stayed in the room but JG , J and I walked along the path along the river to the Riverside resort. JG was hoping to see an alligator but the most we could hope for was a few lizards!  It was a lovely walk!

We returned to the room and collected P for supper. You could take the boat transit to Disney Spings and that says “vacation” to take a boat rather than a bus for transit!  With a boat ride on both ends, supper ended up taking 4 hours. Dinner at Planet Hollywood was very well received. Dessert at Ghiradelli ( a banana split for the other three and a Starbucks Chai tea latte with soy for me!

Another early start tomorrow so I need to get to bed!  One minute re busy day before calmness and serenity will reign supreme!

Our Adventure Begins Christmas Day!

Christmas Day 2017 has arrived!  We have been planning this vacation for so long I cannot believe it has actually arrived!  So this may be the last year where our family of four has similar vacations so we thought it was a good one to celebrate. In the first half of 2018 our eldest, JG, will graduate from University with a degree in geology.  Our youngest, will graduate from high school and my husband, J, will retire from work so lots of changes on the horizon!  Hence why this vacation has been in the planning for a couple of years now!

The plan is to board a cruise ship in Fort Lauderdale, but to spend a few days in Orlando before that happens. In boarding the ship on the 28th, we counted backwards to work in a day at Universal and a day at Disney so that meant flying out Christmas Day!  We were able to have a fairly ordinary Christmas Eve eating a Ukrainian Christmas Eve dinner with great family friends and going to church. We were in bed by 10 pm but the alarm went off at 3 am!

So Christmas Day we ordered a taxi for 3:45 am and because we wanted a van to manage 4 grownups and all the associated luggage they were a little behind schedule. We were picked up and left the house at 4 am, arriving at the airport at 4:15.   Once we cleared security and customs (5 am) we had time to have everybody open their gifts of a new t-shirt and a small selection of chocolates!  Clearly the trip is the gift this Christmas!  We flew to Houston Airport, arriving a bit ahead of schedule at 11 am. With a four hour layover we each chose our preferred food for lunch. JG chose Mexican burrito ( Papacittos) I chose salmon, rice and green beans (Landry’s) and P and J chose smoked brisket and chicken. 

The flight to Orlando was uneventful and had us arriving at 6:15 pm. We picked up our luggage and Hertz rental car without incident. Hertz even gave us a Starbucks gift card as a gift!  Traffic proved to be quite busy even on Christmas Day!  JG, P and I are staying at Universals Cabana Bay to take advantage of early admission into Universal studios tomorrow morning at 7 am. J is enjoying the peace and solitude offered at Disney’s Port Orleans French Quarter. Dinner at The Hard Rock Cafe was memorable for the effort to get there as opposed to the turkey dinner I thought it offered. Pretty sure we were directed to the wrong restaurant!  We will all be reunited at the Disney hotel tomorrow night. 

Mom st get to bed!  What a wonderful start to the vacation!