Notices
Walt Disney World and Florida Trip Reports Trip Reports and Videos

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old 14 Oct 16, 03:02 PM  
Link to this Post
#1
juliab
Imagineer
 
juliab's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 07
Location: Yorkshire

juliab's Reviews
Restaurant Reviews: 16

theDIBB Guidebook
Guidebook Photos: 78
:) Another Dose of Disney Dreams August 2016 - Day 3 - Universal Studios, Pool time & Margaritaville

INDEX


Sunday 7th August

The room was lovely and quiet and the beds were super comfy. We didn’t hear anything, not even sure if anyone was in the room next to us. Of course with the little seating area situated on the other side it meant we only had the one neighbour. I still woke early though, 3.30, but I went back to sleep for a couple more hours before getting up and making a few notes. I sat in the lovely shower lol so not to disturb anyone, it was the ideal spot!

We had a rough plan of what we wanted to do this morning in Universal Studios, the main objective was to ride Escape from Gringotts. It had just opened on our last visit but the queues were really ridiculous so we never got to ride it.

It was around 6am when I started to hear some movement from the bedroom, first Scott then the boys, lastly Poppy. The first thing Poppy asked was “are we going to go in the pool today?” I said yes we’ll try to but I can’t control the weather!

Had our breakfast in the room, I find this to be the quickest way to get some food for the all of us. Kids had a bowl of Lucky Charms with some strawberries and grapes, I had my trusty Weetabix with some raisins. Scott and I had a coffee and the kids some milk. Washed and changed next then suntan lotions applied we were ready for our early morning visit to the park.




View from our room

Caught the boat to Universal Studios, there is a path which you can walk round, it connects to the path at Royal Pacific. It wasn’t a particularly long walk but we wanted to be in the park nice and early and it was already 7.30. Just a few people waiting for the boat, we were quickly through security and on our way



Quick stop to get the obligatory photo!



It was busy at the entrance, once through it didn’t seem as bad and we showed our room tickets so we could continue walking on through.

Followed the crowds round to Diagon Alley, it looked reasonably quiet once we arrived there. We had to use the lockers, I had the bag for the camera and Scott had the park bag. I thought I'd get a bit flustered as we’d not had the need for lockers before but actually it was quite straight forward. We easily located a locker each, job done and we joined the line for the ride.

Looked amazing as we walked in, once again the attention to detail was incredible








Now Poppy isn’t keen on Roller Coasters, she loves the seven dwarves mine train and that’s about her limit. Having never been on this ride we just had the reviews online to go by as to how intense this ride was and by all accounts it was fairly tame with just a short drop at the beginning. We’d explained this to Poppy numerous times and each occasion Poppy replied saying you couldn’t wait to go on it. This all changed the further we got down the line, Poppy kept asking about the drop, how scary was it? How long did it last? How dark was it and so on.

It didn’t help that the line stopped just after we’d come out of the lift, we were there some time. Next thing I knew Poppy was crying, I felt awful, like one of those mums who push’s their kids to do everything. We continued trying to reassure her, I thought if she’s still in a state when we get to the front I’ll ask for us to go through an alternative exit or something!

Not sure if it was because she could see the ride vehicle, but as we approached the start of the ride she stopped crying and seemed a bit better. We all got into the vehicle I held her hand and told her to close her eyes if she felt scared, moments later we were off. Well Poppy absolutely loved it, the drop didn’t bother her too much, after that Poppy was saying “wow this is brilliant!” I was so Proud of Poppy for giving it a go. We all agreed that the ride was awesome!
Opted for a more placid attraction next, Ollivanders. Poppy wanted a wand like Jamie so she could perform the spells so as the shop was quiet we decided to come here first.

A group must’ve just entered in, we would be the next group in though. Not long after we were led into the room, there was a family next to us who were extremely excited, I’m sure they’d just come out of another room? The boy within that group got picked for the wand choosing, it really is a sweet show and the wand master was wonderful.




Show over we entered into the main shop where Poppy went on to chose her own wand. With a little help from her brother!






Hermione wand

Went outside where Jamie tried to perform a spell with no luck. The CM looked at his wand and informed us that it needed “repairing” so we popped back into the shop for the overhaul of the wand! A little while after they were both happily casting spells.









Jamie showing Poppy the ropes!

Soon led us down Knockturn Alley, which I think is a little scary lol but so brilliantly themed.


There’s plenty of spells to perform here and the area was still really quiet with only a handful of people walking round. I wouldn’t like to come in here later in the day I can imagine it gets really busy.




We had a wander round Borgin and Burkes which is full of some very sinister looking items!








Back outside the shop to carry out some more spells!





Continued below

Edited at 03:20 PM.
juliab is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 14 Oct 16, 03:06 PM  
Link to this Post
#2
juliab
Thread Starter
Imagineer
 
juliab's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 07
Location: Yorkshire

juliab's Reviews
Restaurant Reviews: 16

theDIBB Guidebook
Guidebook Photos: 78
Continued

Back outside into the daylight we could see that the place was getting really busy, time for us to make an exit from here.




But before we did Hayden had to have a cup of his favourite


Poppy and Jamie had a different idea though, they wanted an ice cream. We’d not tried these the last time we visited and we’d heard really good things about the place so it would’ve been a shame not to sample them?






It was little too early in the morning for me to be munching away on an ice cream, so neither Scott or myself got on. I had a little taste of Jamie’s, can’t remember the flavour, and oh my word it was heavenly, a very close second to those delicious ice creams in Jersey.

We eventually made our way out of this incredible place to explore more of Universal.






Next ride was Men in Black, no line at all which was good. It’s not one of my favourites because of all the spinning it does, but I’d took some travel sickness tablets first thing so I didn’t feel too bad.

We bought a cup from one of the food carts, the Coke Freestyle one. There’s absolutely loads of different flavours to choose from, every time we went we tried a new one. Walked round to the Simpson’s ride next, there was a bit of a wait but nothing too long. This is a brilliant ride full of plenty of laughs, we all really enjoyed it.




The boys and I had a look in Kwik-E-Mart whilst Scott took Poppy on Twirl n Hurl!






Continued walking round and ended up in the Holly wood area, the sky was starting to get a bit darker, looked like rain might come at any point.


Bumped into hello Kitty outside her shop!


We saw Bart was doing a meet and greet and there was only a couple of people waiting so we went on over and stood in line. They told everyone that if it started to rain they’d have to send Bart inside. We were ok though and the kids managed to meet one of their idols!






We were so lucky because moments after taking this photo it started to rain, only lightly to start with but they closed the character meet after us. Decided to go into Terminator 2 3D, we’d never seen this so wasn’t sure what to expect? I was positive I’d read that it was suitable for all ages so thought that Poppy would be ok, saw plenty of other kids Poppy’s age and younger coming in. Also saw lots of people coming in really wet, must’ve been pouring down by that stage so we were glad to be out of it.

Well we were pleasantly surprised with the show, Jamie especially loved it, well we all found it to be quite entertaining and I loved how it came into live action. So thankful for the rained otherwise we might not have come in here otherwise.


It was lunch time by now and we were all starting to feel a little peckish. Luckily the rain had stopped by the time we’d gone back outside. Scott suggested we went to the Monster Café, another new place for us to try.

The restaurant wasn’t far away, we took a look inside before ordering to see if there was enough seating, there was plenty so we ordered some lunch.

It was more or less the usual theme park food cuisine, burgers, hot dogs, pizza, chicken and pasta. Nothing spectacular but it was hot and fairly tasty and we didn’t have to wait to find a table to sit down.


Scott and Poppy both had a hotdog and fries


Both Jamie and Poppy had burgers


I had the salad


Once we’d finished lunch we took a quick look at some rides and saw that the queue waiting times were really long. We decided to go back to the hotel for a swim - the weather was looking really good at that point.






Caught the boat back to our resort

Couldn’t believe it started raining whilst we were on the boat, Poppy kept going on about wanting to swim in the new pool! Told her we’ll have to see. The pool was shut as I suspected but the rain had stopped, gave me time to take a few more pics of this gorgeous place.

Continued below
juliab is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 14 Oct 16, 03:16 PM  
Link to this Post
#3
juliab
Thread Starter
Imagineer
 
juliab's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 07
Location: Yorkshire

juliab's Reviews
Restaurant Reviews: 16

theDIBB Guidebook
Guidebook Photos: 78
Continued




Love the colour of the sofa


Full service restaurant








Played some pool and table tennis in the games area whilst we were waiting for the pool to reopen.






The life guards came over to say that the pool had reopened, there was nobody much happier than Poppy for hearing that particular news! We quickly changed, picked up some towels then found a few nice sun loungers round the pool and settled down to have a relaxed time.







Fire pit

All the time while we were swimming we could hear the rhythmic sounds of a steel drum. They were playing all my favourite Bob Marley classic’s, this guy was an absolute star and he totally made my afternoon. Honestly if I shut my eyes I could’ve welled believe I was in Barbados or the likes of!


Cool guy

The kids made good use of the slide and managed to ride it loads of times, it was lovely and quiet in the pool.









Ended up having a chilled and pleasant couple of hours down here and only left because we was wanting to have dinner down on Citywalk.




Once showered and changed we made our way back down to the jetty to wait for a boat. We’d decided to eat at Margaritaville, always sounded appetising when I read peoples trip reports so we thought we’d give this place a try.






When we arrived the hostess asked where we preferred to eat, outside on the porch or inside. Thought it would be nicer to eat outside, we were seated near to the guitarist but far enough away so we could still each other talk.

The kids played with the string? Kept them happy enough while we were waiting






I ordered the Margarita flight which was very good, Scott had a couple of beers.


We didn’t have to wait long for our food either – it was promptly brought out to our table.


Jamie had the kid’s fish and chips



Poppy chose the kid’s chicken strips and fries


Scott’s Beach Taco’s


Hayden’s Crab Cake Sandwich


My grilled Chicken Sandwich

The food was good and plentiful, we enjoyed our meal here. Didn’t bother with any desserts as they’d seen the sign for Menchie’s and said they wanted to visit there. Can’t remember what the bill was but I remember it being quite reasonable.

Walked just a little before we arrived at Menchie’s – Poppy had seen this place on a Youtube video and was desperate for a visit herself.

It was nice and quiet inside just a couple of other families getting some of the frozen yogurt.


There’s loads of toppings to choose from – the tubs are weighed so you pay by weight. I noted that the 3 tubs came to $15, great value as Hayden had a right tub full!




Caught the boat back to the resort it was around 8.30 now and was starting to go dark. As we walked down the corridor we could see there was a screen set up next to the pool. Of course Poppy asked if we could go swimming. We got changed well Scott Jamie and Poppy did as Hayden sai he didn’t want to swim he just wanted to watch the film. I sat with Hayden – took my notebook down and we sat back, relaxed and watch the movie which was Spongebob.


Enjoying the slide again



It started raining at one point, only lightly, we just sat it out. I was ok then suddenly I felt shattered, think it had something to do with the sitting down and doing nothing. Dragged to kids out of the pool just before 10pm – Poppy would’ve stayed in all night if she could. Quick shower for the kids before all of us went to bed.

Enjoyed our first full day so much
juliab is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 14 Oct 16, 05:13 PM  
Link to this Post
#4
Cinderella
Imagineer
 
Cinderella's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 04
Thank goodness the rain went away👍
Cinderella is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 14 Oct 16, 06:23 PM  
Link to this Post
#5
mobeckwith
Imagineer
 
mobeckwith's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 06
lovely day,getting lots done but a bit of relaxing as well mo x
mobeckwith is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 14 Oct 16, 08:11 PM  
Link to this Post
#6
happy bunny
Imagineer
 
happy bunny's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 08

happy bunny's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 2
Restaurant Reviews: 1

theDIBB Guidebook
Guidebook Photos: 11
Sounded as though you had a lovely day, lots of park time, rides and Poppy got an overdose of swimming
Hope you all slept well with all that activity
__________________
happy bunny is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 14 Oct 16, 08:18 PM  
Link to this Post
#7
DisneyBride08
Apprentice Imagineer
 
DisneyBride08's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 11
What a lovely day, a nice mix of theme park and pool time. I really want to see the Harry Potter stuff. Keeping everything crossed that we can
__________________

1996 WDW Offsite / 2001 DLP HNY / 2002 WDW ASM / 2004 DLP NB / 2008 Our Wedding Trip WDW POFQ & GF / 2009 - WDW CSR / 2010 DLP with bump! NB / 2012 WDW AKL / 2013 DLP HC

Our 2017 return DCL / BC / Universal HRH Vlogs
DisneyBride08 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 14 Oct 16, 08:47 PM  
Link to this Post
#8
dixonsontour
VIP Dibber
 
dixonsontour's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 09

dixonsontour's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 2

theDIBB Guidebook
Guidebook Photos: 12
Great day, glad she got to go in the pool

Sapphire falls looks lovely
dixonsontour is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 14 Oct 16, 08:49 PM  
Link to this Post
#9
Loopylooloo
VIP Dibber
 
Loopylooloo's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 13
Loads of lovely photos! Looks like a really great day, your kids look so cute, glad your daughter enjoyed it after all! xx
__________________

Our trip reports -
1st trip to Florida - April 2014 - 'Are we nearly Bankrupt yet?!'
The Kuna Mahuna Croatia Holiday 2016
Bankrupt again Florida 2017
New York & RCL Anthem of Seas 2018
https://dibb.in/13476718
And now it’s time for Wine Wine Wine! Rome + Celebrity Cruise May 2022
https://dibb.in/15427816
Loopylooloo is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 14 Oct 16, 09:46 PM  
Link to this Post
#10
ely3857
Imagineer
 
ely3857's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 07
Mobile

String = Wikistiks?

Great first day. Does taking travel sickness pills help with the spinning rides? I suffer worse each year and need a hefty recovery time after a ride these days so I'd be willing to take a travel sickness tablet to help out if it worked!
__________________
With The Kids...
POFQ ~ Jan 2013. OKW ~ May 2014. POFQ & HRH ~ Aug 2017. Cabana Bay & POFQ ~ Aug 2018 ~ Villa 2021
ely3857 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 05:37 PM.


Powered by vBulletin - Copyright © 2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
DIBB Savings
AttractionTickets.com

Get £10 off each Disney Ticket with the code ATDIBB10

Get up to £50 off per room at Disney or Universal with the code DIBBHOTELS


theDIBB Blog
One of the the five worlds found in Epic Universe, How to Train Your Dragon... Read More »
Disney announced that a new nighttime show, “Disney Dreams That Soar,” will run nightly at... Read More »
Walt Disney World Resort guests can get ready to have a “glowing’’ good time when... Read More »


theDIBB Menu


Exchange Rates
US Dollar Rates
ASDA  $1.2366
CaxtonFX  $1.2324
Covent Garden FX  $1.2445
FAIRFX  $1.2350
John Lewis  $1.2380
M&S  $1.2178
Sainsburys  $1.2357
TESCO  $1.2364
Travelex  $1.2353
Updated: 16:30 28/03/2024
Euro Rates
ASDA  €1.1447
CaxtonFX  €1.1409
Covent Garden FX  €1.1511
FAIRFX  €1.1432
John Lewis  €1.1457
M&S  €1.1263
Sainsburys  €1.1440
TESCO  €1.1445
Travelex  €1.1435
Updated: 16:30 28/03/2024

DIBB Premium Membership
Did you know you can help support theDIBB with Premium Membership?

Check out this link for more information and benefits, such as...

"No adverts on theDIBB Forums"

Upgrade Now



X