OrlandoBelle - Live From Orlando ! Part 3 - first visit to the parks

[Orlandobelle]

Thursday 12 April
Manage to stay in bed til 6-45, grab a quick breakfast before heading out to Universal.
The storm has caused a bit of damage to the pool screening so I ring the Manco.
Plan was to go to IOA and ride Spidey but when we saw the crowds we decided to to to the Studios instead. In the Park before 9-30 and the kids chose Jimmy Neutron whilst I get my Preferred Pass sorted. This took almost half an hour as firstly they put the wrong names on the wrong ticket (my mam only had a Power Pass) then when I got them switched they only gave me a 1 year pass instead of the 2 year one!
Off to MiB where we ride twice with no wait. Scores are not very good, although our car won both times and I did manage to beat my hubby (tee-hee).
The girls decide they're not to scared to ride Jaws so we all ride together for the first time



We have lunch at Mel’s Diner - disappointing - and leave the Park before 1. Back to the Villa (via Walmart for a couple of underwater cameras) and the girls are in the pool by 3.
Decide on The Outback for dinner but when we get there it’s heaving so resort to our old faithful - Fridays. Only a 10 minute wait to be seated and the food is as consistent as ever. Ribs, steaks, chicken & shrimp plus a couple of beers (not for me - I’m driving) and we leave several lbs heavier & $120 lighter.
Back at the Villa we watch our first episode of Deal or No Deal of this trip and I manage to stay awake til 10pm!
Weather sunny - 88 degrees.

Friday 13th April
Still sticking to the plan so far we head out for Animal Kingdom (minus mam & dad).
Park up in Dinosaur 32 just after 9 and at last Annabelle gets to ride her first parking lot tram. It’s very busy again but we already have our tickets and head straight off to Everest. I join the single rider line but the ride breaks down and we head off to get a fastpass for Kali River Rapids. . Steve takes Rachelle into It’s Tough to be a Bug and Annabelle & I go to meet Lilo & Stitch. Our fast pass window is open already so we grab fast passes for the Safari before heading back to Kali - the temperature is rising already so we’re happy to get a soaking!
Everest is working again so Steve & I ride in turn via the single rider line. Last time I rode front row - this time I get back row. Awesome ride J
Timings work out again so we get fast passes for Kali again (first time we’ve managed to get Rachelle on a ride with a drop for years!) before saving Little Red from those persistent poachers.
We’ve just about dried out now so it must be time to get wet again! Off to Kali and we get even wetter this time. It’s now 2pm & time for lunch - Flame Tree BBQ for us apart from a first McDonalds for Rachelle. We head out hot & tired through the throngs of people. It is so busy everywhere this week but we managed to get through the rides we wanted to do.
We spend the rest of the day by the pool & eat in (steak & salad). The Manco maintenance guy turns up to fix the pool screen & put down some ant bait and we have a chat about the Villa. We’ve been finding more & more minor faults/defects and he confirms that they are having issues getting the owner to spend money on maintenance. It’s a shame as it’s a lovely villa in a fantastic location. It could just use a bit of TLC - Steve is itching to get his screwdriver out and we‘ve already been around replacing light bulbs & fixing the hob for example.
Tomorrow we’re off to the Florida Mall for some serious retail therapy!
Weather hot & sunny 88 degrees.

[voddygirl]

A good couple of park days weather sounds great

[scottfeltham]

enjoying your trip reports
scott

[carys]

Sounds great !

[Jools]

Oops I must have missed this one earlier. 2 good days in the parks

[Guest]

Sounds like you're having fun!

[Guest]

88 degrees thats what we like to hear, keep these trippies coming, its getting us ready for our trip this saturday

[princess-pink]

Great couple of days - i like the mix of parks and villa pool sounds relaxing

[ambersmom]

sounds like your having a great time,

[bowcutt]

loving the trip reports - sounds like you are having fun