Buses, Bars and Bargains. January 2020. Day 1. A quiet IOA/Universal, Alehouse, Tony Roma’s

[roxie2001]

Index

Saturday 11th January

I woke at 4.30 but managed to doze until 5.30.
I unpacked everything, we had a wardrobe each and plenty of drawer space which was good.
We decided just to pop into IOA today as we thought it would be busy at the weekend.
With the room we had a continental breakfast included. It was ok, I liked the cereal but Matt had dry toast. The red fruit was so good.

We walked along I Drive. It was already a beautiful day.

Surfside hotel

For some reason we thought it was Kirkman we had to take so turned left and walked along the little cycle lane and then along the highway along a sort of pathway. Obviously we were crazy doing this and I was moaning at Matt, but it wasn’t busy and we made it to a walkway pretty quickly. Never again though. We found the bridge to Universal but it was closed so we had to cross the road. There was a pedestrian light but we didn’t see that until half way across, so another dice with death running across. We can laugh about it now but at the time I was stressed.
As we walked towards the park we saw Portfino Hotel

so we headed that way and took the boat in, this was lovely.

I did really enjoy this.
We walked to IOA and it wasn’t too busy at the turnstiles but it was now past opening time.
Hulk was showing 5 minutes and I was feeling brave so we headed there.

I had a bum bag which I can normally keep on the rides but the CM had a wand and discovered it under my top so we had to put that and Matts phone in a locker but we returned to the same point in the queue straight after. You use your ticket barcode for the lockers now.
It was a walk on which was good as I might have chickened out.
I loved the first bit when you shoot off but I was holding down on my bar so tight my chest hurt when I came off. I also screamed I’m going to die and in the end I just prayed for it to end!
Matt loved it. He then went on Dr Doom while I went to the bathroom.
I saw a CM with a sign to meet Spider-Man so we went there as Matts nephew loves him.
No one was waiting so I went first, he asked me if Matt was my sidekick and said he needed to work on his arms. The he said he liked my bumbag and was it full of spidy gadgets. It was a great interaction and we got these photos.

Next up was Spider-Man the ride which was posting 5 minutes. We walked on but it went down as we got to the front so it was about a 10 minute wait in the end. We both enjoyed this.
We walked to Hogwarts

Matt didn’t fancy the 2 hour wait for Hagrids (I didn’t think that was too bad) so we took the Express to Hogsmeade.

This was a walk on and it was good but I wouldn’t pay for a hopper ticket just to ride it.
We didn’t bother going into Hogsmeade but I loved the Knight bus although I couldn’t think of anything to say on the spot.

Men in Black was showing 45 minutes so we decided to ride The Simpson’s which was about 10 minutes with the pre show.
We both enjoyed this.

We decided we had done enough considering this was just to get our bearings so headed to the exit.
We saw Beetlejuice and this is a favourite movie of mine.

Someone offered to take a photo of us.

We headed to the exit and didn’t really know the way back to the actual walkway and I told Matt I was not walking along the highway again. In the end we went to the entrance and asked a guard who was very helpful and pointed it out.
When we got near the buses a lovely English guy overheard us talking about walking and asked if we were headed to I Drive and to hop on the Surfside bus, this was great for us and ended up helping us a lot.
They don’t check for room ID so I don’t think they care. I felt bad at first but considering how much tickets are I didn’t lose any sleep about taking a nearly empty bus on a short journey.
Before we went I brought an I ride trolley pass, BOGOF for us so we got off at Surfside and walked through the parking lot to the I trolley stop. It wasn't too long before one came along but they were very hit or miss during the holiday.
We fancied a drink so took it to the Alehouse so Matt could also watch football.
We ordered a beer and sangria.

And then a chicken Philly sandwich to share and another round of drinks.

The sandwich was delicious and the total was €28.11

We went to the Walgreens next door for beers for Matt, luckily I had the passports on me as they ID everyone. Then back to the hotel for some sunbathing.
The hotel has 2 pools and we went to the quiet one for a couple of hours. I purchased a refillable mug for £15.99 and added some rum.
It was so nice to relax after a fairly busy morning.
We then got ready and had a drink in Wild Bills opposite the hotel.

I had a shandy and Matt a beer, Miller light. It was just over $6 as they had an offer on all month on a couple of beers.

We discussed where to eat and decided on Tony Roma’s, Matt had
a BOGOF coupon.
I had to pop back to the hotel to change my shoes first though.
We walked there, it was a fair distance but not too bad.

I couldn’t decide on a drink so I had a wine and water, Matt had beer.

We both went for not your moms chicken and it was so good.

The total was $31.52, we left $40.

On the way home Matt fancied an ice cream so we stopped at Burger King. I asked for an original shake and ice cream cone. I got an Oreo shake and no ice cream so I re ordered the cone, it was about $6 for both.
Matt said the ice cream gave him brain freeze so he shoved it in my shake.

Straight to bed when we got back.
We walked 10 miles today!
The bed was really comfortable and we both slept well.

[mick]

A busy but good day with lots of walking

Joan

[Melbatb]

What a busy day with some great food and drinks! Glad you had time to relax too!

[roxie2001]

Originally Posted by mick

A busy but good day with lots of walking

Joan

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I was shattered! We needed the afternoons by the pool to rest.

[roxie2001]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

What a busy day with some great food and drinks! Glad you had time to relax too!

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It was a busy first day, but wanted to take advantage of the lovely weather as well.

[Tinkermom]

Lots of walking, hope you weren’t too tired. Those first days full of the joys of Orlando can come back to haunt us ☺️

[Holiday time]

Sounds like a good day. I had sweaty palms when you described crossing the freeway. Enjoy your holiday!

[roxie2001]

Originally Posted by Tinkermom

Lots of walking, hope you weren’t too tired. Those first days full of the joys of Orlando can come back to haunt us ☺️

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I walk a lot with my job but i really ached after this holiday.

[roxie2001]

Originally Posted by Holiday time

Sounds like a good day. I had sweaty palms when you described crossing the freeway. Enjoy your holiday!

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Thank you.
Luckily it wasnt busy at that time and we got halfway and had to decide to carry on or go back. Matt could see the hotels in the distance so we speed walked towards them.

[Floridafour]

Great 1st day. We haven’t been to Tony Roma’s for years but it looks good 👍