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Old 7 Jan 17, 05:56 PM  
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sha9
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Join Date: Sep 08

sha9's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 5
Restaurant Reviews: 1
3 weeks is not enough! Disney & Universal Sept 2016 – day 18 - US & IoA, check in to BLT, MK

Today was the day we checked out of RPR and into BLT. We decided to spend most of the day at Universal so we could just check in to BLT and into our room straightway. We woke about 8ish and took our time getting ready and getting all packed up. We had a breakfast of caramel pecabons and coffee. We called Bell Services around 10am to collect our bags. We had 8 bags at this point so tipped the guy $10. He was very chatty and asked us if we’d enjoyed our stay, where we were moving on to and our favourite rides. He had some chat about Volcano Bay and told us Universal were building another hotel. He also told us the animatronic head in the Kong ride cost $8 million! He was there for ages!
We left the room about 10 minutes later and headed for US. We had a list of rides we wanted to do – The Mummy, Gringotts, MiB, Jurassic Park, Kong and Spider-man.
We went to The Mummy first but it was down so continued on to MiB. There was only a 5 minute wait posted but we used our passes anyway since it was our last day with them!



After that we doubled back to DA and rode Gringotts single rider. It was only a 10 minute wait but we were happy to skip the preshow.
By now The Mummy was back up so we went on that. Again a 5 minute wait but we used our passes.
We were done in US by then so used the Hogwarts Express to go to IoA as we’d only had a chance to do it the other way. It was posted as a 10 minute wait and we just missed a train but it wasn’t long to wait. I still love the detail of this!





When we arrived in Hogsmeade it was lunch time so we decided to try Mythos for lunch.

The dining report for today is here.

This was nice and better than the quick service options in Universal but I’m not sure we’d rush back. Not ruling it out though.
I wanted to get some cash out for using at Disney so went to the nearby ATM. $6 charge! I gave that a miss and decided we’d wait until we got to BLT!
We rode JP next and got pretty wet before heading to Kong. It was 30 minutes standby but we only waited about 5. The 3D on this is great but it’s so short I wouldn’t wait much longer.



We continued on to Spider-man and then that was us done for rides.



Dr Doom looking casual.

We wanted to get a couple of Cinnabon minibons for breakfast the next day but they didn’t have any so we got a caramel pecabon and some donut holes to share. We had a last look in the big shop for some final Universal purchases and then headed back to RPR to collect our luggage (another $10) and move to BLT.
When we arrived at the Contemporary we took a wrong turn and ended up driving past. We thought for some reason there’s be another entrance for BLT. We managed to turn but then couldn’t get in from that direction so had to find somewhere to turn again! We eventually got in and pulled up at the entrance for Bell Services to collect our luggage costing us another $10!
Check in was easy as I’d done online check in beforehand. We were given a room on the 11th floor and had an amazing view of MK! We couldn’t believe it. We had booked a theme park view room but I don’t think we realised just how good it would be. We had a theme park view room in the Grand Floridian a couple of years before but it’s so far away you don’t see anything. This was just fantastic!










The studio itself was lovely but much smaller than what we’ve been used to at OKW. The layout is different though and the kitchen area is better. When the sofa bed is down there’s hardly any room and there’s nowhere for the cushions to go. Ideal for a couple though.
We called Bell Services for our luggage costing us another $10. So far we’d spent $40 that day alone on tipping for luggage but it was so worth it since we had Mum & Dads bags with us. We had a slight blip with the room safe as we couldn’t get it to work. It was electronic and wouldn’t lock. A quick call to guest services and it was sorted relatively quickly. Unfortunately it meant we missed our first MK FP but it was only the Little Mermaid so we weren’t too bothered.
We walked to MK from BLT which took us around 10 minutes.




It certainly can’t be beaten for location! We made it in time for our 7DMT FP and managed to ride it before the heavens opened. Afterwards we went to check in to Be Our Guest for our dinner ADR. We arrived early but they let us inside as it was raining. Unfortunately they were running 25-30 minutes late and let everyone in to the waiting area which wasn’t big enough for us all. Nowhere to sit and very cramped and uncomfortable. We were seated about 25 minutes after checking in which wasn’t bad as it was our ADR time. The food was nice enough but I really grudged spending $100 when we’d previously had our Disney food free!






Our plan after dinner was to go back to the room to watch Wishes from the balcony but the Main St Electrical Parade was on and getting out of MK was horrendous. I’ve never been in such an uncomfortable (and slightly scary) situation. There were people stopped along Main St to watch the parade so no room to get past. People were shoving and getting angry but there was no movement. There were no CMs policing it and no one ensuring there was space on the path for people to pass. We had to just wait for the parade to finish and then we were moving against a tide of people going back into the park. It was awful and it’s put me off ever being in MK at that time of night again.
Eventually we got out and half ran back to BLT so we could enjoy the fireworks. We had wanted to go via the monorail so we could go to the shop in the Contemporary but I expect we’d have been at least an hour doing that. We got back in time for Wishes and were able to relax and enjoy it. I have to say, I’m sure it’s different if you’re in the park but I got a bit bored after a while. I like fireworks ok but I can only watch them for so long. I’m not overly bothered about missing out on them since I’m never putting myself through being in MK during Wishes ever.
Once the fireworks were over we popped over to the CR to go to the shop. We used the walkway on the 5th floor which didn’t take long. Afterwards we went to bed with a coffee and some donut holes and watched the second episode of Designated Survivor.
__________________
Lisa



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