theDIBB - Disney with the Dufflers - Day 10 - Islands of Adventure and Bubba Gump

Here you go!

Pre-Trip Report

Day 0 - The Day Before

Day 1 - Travel Day and Arrival at CBR

Day 2 - Magic Kingdom

Day 3 - Typhoon Lagoon and Bahama Breeze

Day 4 - Epcot and Via Napoli

Day 5 - Pool morning, Downtown Disney and California Grill

Day 6 - Universal Studios

Day 7 - Drinks around the world and Le Cellier

Day 8 - Hollywood Studios and the Hollywood Brown Derby

Day 9 - Girls/Boys Day, Downtown Disney and Raglan Road

Day 10 - Islands of Adventure and Bubba Gump

Now I don’t know what it was but I woke up this morning and I did NOT feel right. I felt sure it wasn’t food poisoning because we’d all eaten so well and quite a few people had had the same as me but from the second I woke up this morning, I did not feel good. We’d had a lovely day the day before and I felt terrible this day for demanding an early start off everybody. I felt bad on myself as I felt so shocking. Consequently, this day isn't quite as photo heavy!

As we wanted to fill up for IOA as we were eating off plan, Neil and I decided to have a big breakfast. At the time when I ordered, I was hungry. I ordered the Steak and Cheese Quesadilla at Old Port Royale, but when I sat down to eat it, I could have been sick. I had about two bites and I couldn’t eat anymore. My stomach started to gripe intensely. :cry:

I gulped down some water and I felt a bit better.

Today, I couldn’t be poorly. It was literally one of my favourite days EVER for rides. Gripey stomach was not what you needed on a Coaster heavy day with an early start.

Anyway, we arrived at IOA for about 9am and headed straight for Harry Potter. Everyone was in complete awe of Hogsmeade, as they had been for Diagon Alley. I think this area of the Wizarding World will always have a special place in my heart. I just remember how I had just been completely bowled over when we had gone through it in 2011. It was genuinely so magical.

I seemed to have played it right again for Harry Potter. We walked onto the ride. We had a funny moment in using the lockers when I told everyone to quite literally give me everything they had on them before riding.

Phone. Keys. Glasses. Sunglasses. Yes, your hat, Megan. Everything. I remembered nearly losing my sunglasses the last time we’d been on Forbidden Journey from that horizontal back flip you do when avoiding the Whomping Willow.

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey still remains, to this day, my favourite ride in Florida. Bold statement but worth it. The technology is simply staggering and everyone was just bowled over by it. You don’t know whether you’re flying, inside, outside or what. It’s just so clever. If they manage to create something half as good with Gringotts, I’ll be happy!

However, the excitement of Harry Potter was just a little too much for some. Sam and Mark emerged off the ride feeling sick and dizzy (it does throw you about a lot) and although I didn’t tell anyone at the time, I too felt absolutely shocking after coming off Harry Potter. And because I didn’t want to miss my chance to ride, rather stupidly headed for Dragon Challenge with Katie, Jonathan, Neil, Martin and Oliver.

In the queue for Dragon Challenge, I felt so ill, I genuinely thought I was going to have to turn around and not ride. My stomach was griping and I felt physically sick. I whispered to Neil that I was feeling pretty horrendous but I just took deep breaths and held my tummy. I must have hidden it pretty well because no one said anything to me. I didn’t want anyone else’s enjoyment of the ride to be changed because of me.

Ironically, by the time we arrived at boarding (ride was a walk on both times we went on it) I was absolutely fine. I was fine on the actual ride. We went on twice to ride both dragons.

No problem at all.

When we emerged off Dragon Challenge, Sam and Mark were still feeling a bit whoozy so we headed round to Marvel Super Hero Island and us braver riders went to do the Hulk.

Yet again, in the queue for Hulk, my stomach started griping. It wasn’t as bad as it had been in the queue for DC but I still didn’t feel great.

But then yet again, by the time we got on to ride, I was absolutely fine. I enjoyed the Hulk just as much as I ever had. Possibly more so given Neil was screaming round it next to me. It really is a first class Coaster.

When we came off the Hulk, we headed for Spiderman. The queue was 45 minutes and this was probably the most we queued for the whole holiday (although it felt like longer for the Little Mermaid Ride) but luckily in the queue for Spiderman, there’s more to look at and more to do. We were all really impressed with Spiderman’s HD update and there was quite a prolonged debate after coming off the ride as to whether it was better than Transformers or not.

Next, the midday sun was really really stifling us all. Because of all the rain we’d had the previous day, it surprisingly wasn’t forecast to rain this day and was one of the rare days when we didn’t get one drop of rainfall. So we had to make our own fun to get wet.

Popeye and Bluto was the ride of choice. This was a really fun ride because it was one of those extremely rare occasions when we could all ride together. And because the rafts are circular, everyone could see everyone else enjoying the ride. Quite a few even highlighted this was one of the most fun moments of the holiday because we were all together. I would like to say that some got wetter than others. Perhaps Sam and Jonathan?

But as you can see from this photo, we all succumbed to the showers of Toon Lagoon.

We had a look over at Dudley Do-Right’s which is actually one of Martin’s favourite rides, but unfortunately, the queue was a ridiculous 70 minutes. So we decided to leave it and come back for it. Still not ready to get dry, we headed for Jurassic Park.

Oliver had actually never been on Jurassic Park because of his fear of dinosaurs so this was a first for him and for Megan. I was actually quite disappointed with Jurassic this time. It seemed so much shorter than it had been before. Maybe I’m just too used to the ride because I’ve been on the one in Hollywood so many times? Nonetheless, we got very wet AGAIN which we were all grateful for. The dip is always so much bigger than I remember as well PHEW.

I’ve also written in my notes that the woman who was seating us all in the raft just clearly couldn’t count. We were seated as a 5, 5 and a 1. So poor Uncle Mark was on his own on the back row!

Following Jurassic, the Dufflers, Mum, Martin and OB and Katie and Jonathan went for some lunch while Neil and I went in search of ice cream. Even though I’d barely eaten all day, I still wasn’t ready for some lunch. We really enjoyed our Dippin’ Dots though! After this, everyone separated. The Dufflers and Katie and Jonathan were heading back to CBR to eat and we had planned to meet Mum, Martin and OB for tea at Bubba Gump. (I apologise as my notes run out here so the rest of this is from memory! )

So Neil and I went off on our own with Katie and Jonathan for a time and did Doctor Doom’s Fear Fall and single rider Hulk.

Unfortunately, after this, we’d planned to meet everyone by Dudley Do-Right’s to try and do that ride again but the queue was still 60 minutes. While there was the single rider option, Neil rightly pointed out that half the fun of water rides is going on and getting wet with your family. There’s no point if you can’t do that. So we decided to leave it.

Then Katie and Jonathan went back with the Dufflers and Neil and I headed for Hogsmeade to chill out for a bit.

Hogs Head Beers

And the obligatory selfie

This was when I realised that I was actually quite hungry and so managed to have a packet of Cheese and Onion crisps. Thank god for British delicacies in Hogsmeade, eh? Haha!

Then we met Mum, Martin and OB round by the front of the park and we said goodbye to IOA. I felt much better by this point, replenished by my Cheese and Onion crisps. We headed out onto Citywalk and stopped by the mobile Bubba Gump bar for a chill out drink.

I love this picture of the boys.

Neil had his first Margarita and we got to keep this glass. Score!

After our drink, we headed for Bubba Gump. We had an absolutely fabulous waiter here and really enjoyed our meal. I absolutely cleaned up on the Forrest Gump trivia quiz. The waiter was impressed till I confessed I taught Film for a living. I just wish I’d taken more pictures of us all but I grabbed some of the food.

Unfortunately, by this time, the dreaded griping stomach cramps came back to haunt me. This wasn’t helped by the fact that I definitely ordered the wrong thing. I went for the Seafood Linguine (top picture). The waiter, on ordering, warned me that it was spicy. But I just thought it would have a little tang. I was wrong. This was far far too spicy for me. They must have put five zillion chillies in it because the spice was overpowering and I couldn’t taste anything else about the dish. This, in combination with my griping stomach just didn’t bode well. I really felt shocking.

We had a little wander around the gift shop (fabulous merchandise here! ) and then headed back home to CBR. Despite feeling unwell, this day still had my favourite ride. It will take an absolute belter of a ride to take over from Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey for me. :D

Day 11 - Animal Kingdom and Teppan Edo is here