theDIBB

theDIBB (https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/index.php)
-   Walt Disney World and Florida Trip Reports (https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=56)
-   -   Mardi Gras Madness - A week at Universal - Feb 2020 - Day 1 - Feet don't fail me now! (https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1163121)

Rescuer 2 Mar 20 12:19 AM

Mardi Gras Madness - A week at Universal - Feb 2020 - Day 1 - Feet don't fail me now!
 
Mardi Gras Madness - A week at Universal - Feb 2020 - Day 1 - Feet don't fail me now! 09.02.20

Index is here

I rudely awakened by myself at 4.45am, the other 2 were still fast asleep with ds actually needing to be woken up around 7. Shame as he missed the beautiful sunrise.



The beds at Aventura are really comfy, I hate a soft bed and these ones are nice and firm, so absolutely perfect for me. The shower is great as well, loads of space and really powerful. I was feeling very refreshed and raring to go by the time I was finished getting ready.

We walked across the road to Sapphire Falls, it takes about 2 minutes. We had all taken hoodies, I was the only one who started off the day wearing one. We all had shorts on and the weather was lovely. I think it was to be a high of 24 today.

I love Sapphire Falls, such a lovely resort and it smells amazing.


The last time Ds and I stayed at Aventura we kept walking past Amatista Cookhouse and thinking it looked really good so this time it was on my list. We were fairly hungry so thought a decent breakfast before hitting the parks would be good.


They do either a buffet at $25 per person or an al a carte menu. We didn’t think we would do a good job on the buffet so decided just to order of the menu.

We were seated quickly and our server was absolutely lovely.


DS was fascinated by the little bottles of tabasco, it's the little things:pgig:


Ds had orange juice and Caribbean french toast with coconut and pineapple. It was sweet but absolutely gorgeous.


Dh had orange juice and buttermilk chicken and waffles. These too were amazing.


I had coffee and buttermilk pancakes. These were lovely. I also had a side of bacon.


The food and service were great and the portions were fairly sizeable, ds and I didn’t finish.

I thought the price was good for the portion size and quality.



The Boat from Sapphire Falls to the parks wasn’t overly busy considering it would get us there for park opening at 9am.



Unfortunately, we chose the wrong turnstile and wasn’t as quick as it should have been, for some reason my finger always has issues at IOA but not Universal.

We headed straight for Marvel and the Hulk showed 10 mins but was actually walk on. I couldn’t believe ds picked this as his first ride, summer was the first time he was happy to ride it for the whole holiday but even then, it was after a few other rides. Changed days indeed!


After Hulk first thing DH was feeling a little queasy so he had a wee seat while DS and I went on Doom, again this was shown as 10 minutes but it wasn’t even 5. I used to absolutely hate this ride but have grown to love it over the last few trips.

Important stuff next, reactivating the freestyle mug, our cup truly has seen better days with hardly any picture left but it’s a good few years old now but still works so that is all that matters. With an annual pass it is less than $10 so a great deal for us.


I’d read that you could pick up your annual pass buttons and special Mardi Gras magnets in IOA in Toon Lagoon. We stopped off at the shop to collect them, the button is a bit weird looking with the crawling baby with a crown on. It’s meant to represent good luck, finding a baby in your King Cake, there are no babies in the King Cake at Universal though.


We carried on with our circle of the park, next up was Kong! I’m always reluctant to enter this line when it has any sort of decent wait as it seems to stall, I’m even reluctant with the Express pass line. Anyway, it was showing 10 minutes but it was essentially walk on. We’ve never been through the standard line before and I know that they can have scare actors in there. I was practically peeing my pants for the whole walk, with the other 2 taking the mickey out me and questioning my need to attend a Halloween Horror Night. It must have been too quiet and there were no scare actors anywhere to be seen.

The sunshine was glorious so we refilled the mug and spent a wee bit time watching Jurassic Park and taking pictures on the bridge over to Hogsmeade.



Next, we encountered our first line that was above our cut off wait time. Forbidden Journey, this was showing a 40-minute wait at 10.50am, no thanks. Hogsmede was the busiest bit of the park.


We carried on round to Seuss Landings, I love this land, it just totally makes you smile, it’s so bright and colourful and I love the stories. It’s great for photos so we got a drink and met Thing 1 and Thing 2, every time we passed through here this trip there was always a range of characters out.



Ds and I decided to ride the carousel, don’t judge me, as we’d never done that before and there was no line, a total kiddie ride but fun just the same.


Next up Cat in the Hat, I absolutely used to adore this when it used to spin loads and loads, its just got a wee emotional attachment as I know the story word for word. Don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t wait in line for these rides but when they are walk on why not? Ds and Dh are also fans of the little fountain in this area so they always stop off here. You throw in your spare change which goes to Give Kids the World and if you manage to throw it in the mouths of the creatures water sprays out and soaks you. Or in this case today, it just missed some poor guy who was sitting on wall minding his own business!

I’d been reading a lot on facebook about how Green Eggs and Ham was open and that the tots were really good. We settled for pizza tots. These were great. We even got a wee character photo too so I was happy as Larry, although if he’d offered me green eggs and ham I wouldn’t have been eating them.


We headed down to my favourite spot for a 5-minute escape from everyone to decide what we wanted to do next and to enjoy the view.


I had been keeping an eye on touring plans most of the day and was hoping to find a wait time that we were happy with for Hagrids and they were advising that lines would reduce to 60 minutes, the lowest of the day very shortly so we about turned and headed for Hogsmeade.

The wait time was showing as 75 minutes which is too long for me but we trusted touring plans and went for it. The wait time was just under 50 minutes which were more than happy with. I rode in the sidecar this time as in the summer ds and I had ridden the motorbikes so thought it was only fair to give dh a turn. It was still great; this truly is a fantastic ride.



Time was hurtling on and we had to pick up our wristbands for the floats that evening. I’d entered our details for 5 nights of our trip to ride the Mardi Gras floats through the annual passholder signup page. We were absolutely over the moon when we were chosen for the first night of our trip. Well I say we, at that point I think Dh wasn’t that bothered but he got into the spirit of it all quickly enough.

We thought about catching the Hogwarts Express but it was a 20-minute wait and we couldn’t be bothered waiting so we just walked across. It was nice entering the park and seeing the big Mardi Gras sign, a first for us.

Rescuer 2 Mar 20 12:19 AM

Part 2

This was the bit of our trip I was most excited about.Really easy to pick up our bands and a sheet that advised us what we needed to do later. We decided to have a wee look around the Mardi Gras stuff to get us in the mood. I thought the theming in the courtyard was lovely and the Mardi Gras tribute store was a nice touch with photo opportunities.



It was 2.30pm now and we decided rather than squeezing in any rides that we would go for food and then head back to the hotel to change before checking in for the parade. Ds just wanted a snack but we thought it would be a good idea to have something a little more substantial so we decided on NBC for a range of starters and a drink.

We stuck with some starters to share. The cheese bites, we all love these so much, the chicken and bacon flatbread and the calamari. All were good and it was just the right amount of food. Ds has a Fanta, Dh had a McKenzie’s black cherry cider and I had a grapefruit beer. Perfect choice for lunch.



We nipped into Voodoo Doughnuts before catching the boat back to Sapphire Falls. It was fairly busy but didn’t take too long and no outside line. I ended up getting 6 doughnuts. 2 apple fritters which are my absolute favourite that we had the following day for breakfast, an apple cannolo - this was ok but not fantastic, the voodoo doll – which are nice enough although this one didn’t look as pretty as normal, a glazed old fashioned - I really like these and the Mardi Gras which I didn’t really like, I wasn’t a fan of the filling, it was weird.



A quick rest and a quick change and we were back on the boat heading to ride the floats, I was beyond excited. We got checked in at Animal Actors and signed lots of forms. Once inside they gave us some very fetching bright orange tabards to wear as we were to be riding the Treasure Map float. They had a photographer taking a photo of you as well before you headed to sit with all the others who were riding the same float.



We all got a safety instruction chat and introduced to the bead captains who would be looking after you on the float, then we all strolled through the park to head backstage. You are not allowed to take pictures when you are there.

We were all given set spots to stand on the float and given more instructions about throwing the beads. The people who were with us on the top of the float had all done it before and they were all lovely and chatty. Our bead captain, Zack was great and asked Ds if he would like to press the button to launch one of the confetti shots, he loved that he got to do this.



Our float was in the middle which led to more excitement building before you even got through the gates and back on to the parade route. The route was fairly busy with people all waving for beads, we did our best and it was great when people caught them and looked so happy. The parade lasted for 30 minutes but it felt like it was over in no time. It is amazing that Universal let you be part of this for no extra cost. If you are there for Mardi Gras this is an absolute must do experience.



We were shattered afterwards but headed to the French Quarter to pick up a Mardi Gras lanyard, the annual pass one was great value at $60 for 15 items. First up we went to the food around the world tent, it was Trinidad and Tobago for the first 2 weeks.

We had the grilled pineapple which was really good, sweet with a little kick from the herbs and spices.
Grilled Pineapple Trini Chow – $4.29 – topped with kimchi seasoning and micro cilantro (plant-based)

We also had the Pholourie – $6.99 – fried spicy split-pea dough with turmeric, curry powder, and a tamarind chutney (plant-based). Nice

Ds wanted to try the filled coconut drink. Nobody really liked this.

We also had a twisted tater with Cajun seasoning - so so good. And a 9oz purple haze beer


It was only 7.30 but it felt like about midnight. We headed to the photo shop to get all the photographs of our float added on to our photo account. We have an annual photo thing for Universal which we bought last year, luckily at the time ours expired they were on a really good offer.

We took a few photos at the globe


Then headed to Breadbox for a delicious end of the night snack.




By 9pm we were on the boat shattered.

We grabbed a quick couple of drinks at Starbucks and I put my little Mardi Gras haul together, check out the cute little pin that someone on our float made and gave me. Starting to match my Mardi Gras nails. An absolutely amazing first day.



Tinkermom 2 Mar 20 10:54 AM

Black cherry cider is gorgeous!
Fantastic day and some great photos thank you for sharing 😊

Goldia 2 Mar 20 09:39 PM

I had no idea about the Mardi Gras Floats, it sounds like a great day and this just capped it all off. Doing Hulk as the first ride, brilliant, then you nearly peeing your pants walking through the kong line, I'm really chuckling. You were very gracious to give up the motorbike and sit in the side car on Hagrids. I cannot wait to ride it this summer.

What a fantastic start to your trip.

Rescuer 2 Mar 20 11:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tinkermom (Post 14314863)
Black cherry cider is gorgeous!
Fantastic day and some great photos thank you for sharing 😊

Thanks, Dh is a huge fan of that cider. Wow 52 days on your countdown, that will be here in no time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goldia (Post 14315855)
I had no idea about the Mardi Gras Floats, it sounds like a great day and this just capped it all off. Doing Hulk as the first ride, brilliant, then you nearly peeing your pants walking through the kong line, I'm really chuckling. You were very gracious to give up the motorbike and sit in the side car on Hagrids. I cannot wait to ride it this summer.

What a fantastic start to your trip.

Mardi Gras floats were absolutely the highlight of the trip for me. Next February for you?

I couldn't believe it when Ds suggested Hulk as first ride, wondering what he will be like in the summer with Seaworld and Busch Gardens.

Honestly, I'll be needing some Tena Lady for a Halloween Horror Trip:pgig:

You'll love Hagrids, turf the kids out the bikes though as they really are the best.

4fromsuffolk 2 Mar 20 11:48 PM

What a great day. Love your nails.

mick 3 Mar 20 10:44 AM

A fantastic day :spin glad you enjoyed your time on the float:d:

Joan :wave:

Goldia 3 Mar 20 09:14 PM

Don't even tempt me with February, I kept looking at flights for this Feb but didn't spot any that were cheap enough. Our GPS run out in August so there is no chance of a feb trip next year, may be the year after if we go to universal next summer and then upgrade again but that's some way off!

Rescuer 4 Mar 20 12:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4fromsuffolk (Post 14316129)
What a great day. Love your nails.

Thanks. I love fancy holiday nails.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mick (Post 14316396)
A fantastic day :spin glad you enjoyed your time on the float:d:

Joan :wave:

Thanks Joan, it was one the best Universal Studios nights we've ever had.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goldia (Post 14317262)
Don't even tempt me with February, I kept looking at flights for this Feb but didn't spot any that were cheap enough. Our GPS run out in August so there is no chance of a feb trip next year, may be the year after if we go to universal next summer and then upgrade again but that's some way off!

I think if you look early enough there will be super cheap February flights, not that I'm trying to encourage you ;)

Any Universal time this summer? You know if you renew you get 20% off and I think 3 months extra free.

Goldia 6 Mar 20 08:39 PM

Yes I have planned in a few universal days this summer. I've got to use the APs at least a couple of times. I'm also saving up my Clubcard vouchers for a night at RPR to get the express passes for 2 days.

You're so naughty to tempt me with the special offer and extra months when renewing :pgig: but my plan is to stay strong! We've already got a trip booked for October to Toronto and Niagara so we won't be back to Orlando until at least 2021 so no need for APs.


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 09:40 PM.

Powered by vBulletin - Copyright © 2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.