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Old 17 Aug 19, 08:55 AM  
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#USAnumber3- Helen&Andy Nov 18 - Day 8 - Islands of Adventure, a Dibb meet & 2 x Studios

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Day 8 - Islands of Adventure, a Dibb meet and 2 x Studios

After our massively lazy day yesterday, it felt good to be up and at ‘em again this morning. I know it was only a couple of days since our previous Universal visit, but we wanted to do Universal on weekdays. A weekend in Disney isn’t perceptibly busier than a week day these days, whereas you can really tell the difference at Universal when you don’t have express passes.



By 08:30 we were at the park, via the wonders of Uber – we had no stand-out comedy Uber drivers on this trip unfortunately. I always feel a bit sad on our last Universal visit of the trip. We always visit twice, and the second visit is usually later in the holiday so today felt as though it had come around all too soon.



Not to mention it was the final time we’d be using our annual passes as they expired the following week. The thought of paying full ticket price for two days next time doesn’t fill us with glee.





First up for us today was Islands of Adventure. I always think of this as a half day park as there isn’t much there that we truly love, but this morning I was getting really excited at the prospect of riding the Forbidden Journey again. This has a sentimental place in my heart as not only was it the first “big” ride I ever got the nerve to go on, it was the first one that Andy and I did on our honeymoon back in 2010. That was thanks to Virgin offering us the chance to attend a soft opening of Hogsmeade – awesome. Wish I’d done a trip report on that one.





There was no queue at all, and even the locker area was blissfully quiet. I appreciate that this trip report is far less ranty than previous ones – maybe I’ve blown myself out on all the niggly things that peeve me. Or maybe we were just lucky, and it was a quieter day.



Anyway. Forbidden Journey is still ace. Sure, a lot of the non-screen bits around the Dementors and the Whomping Willow look like a Blue Peter project these days but the queue and the Quidditch sections are ageing well and it’s still really immersive. I love it. So much that I dragged Andy round again as it was a walk-on and we didn’t even have to retrieve our stuff and put it in a new locker.



I would have happily gone a third time but sadly, Andy didn’t enjoy it as much as I did, proclaiming that it made him feel “sickly” and he had to go and sit down for a bit, thus putting Forbidden Journey firmly in the same bin as Flight of Passage for him. Strange, as he can ride stuff like Star Tours with no issue, and FJ had never impacted him before, but there we have it.



Poor Andy.



He perked up soon enough though and we had a little wander around the shops, not really wanting to buy anything but enjoying the fact that it wasn’t as rammed as the last time we were there.























I have no idea what I was taking a photo of here, but I can guarantee it wasn’t meant to be of myself!



Just look at these gorgeous blue skies. Have I mentioned how hot it was on this trip? Haha. Strange though as calendar-wise it was only a week or so prior to our trip in November 2017, where we barely broke a sweat at all (and it was much more pleasant).





We got straight on to the Hogwarts Express….













….and headed for Escape From Gringotts as we wanted to ride that again before the queues built up.



In fact, this was also a walk on, so I didn’t take any photos of the queue at all (other trip reports are available), only really stopping to take a few snaps of us pratting about in the very final section of the queue before you’re loaded in.









Despite Bellatrix and he-who-shall-not-be named’s best efforts, we escaped like champs and had a little wander around Diagon Alley.











Not sure who this chap is or why he is in my photo…or why he is waiting for the barber shop to open…







Feeling hungry, we decided to repeat a section of day 5, and went to Starbucks. I love this area of the park, not least because we stayed at the Empire hotel in NYC for my 30th birthday. I clearly have a “thing” about wanting to go on holiday over a significant birthday. Not quite planning where we’ll head for my 50th yet though, give me time.



Universal doesn’t have great breakfast options outside of City Walk so I went for a bacon and gouda roll. I’d had one of these in Epcot last year and really enjoyed it – it looks like nothing at all but is actually really tasty; I think it’s the bread that is nice.





I also got another heinously calorific peppermint mocha iced coffee as it was pretty tasty, and we retreated to the nearby seating area which was blissfully deserted yet again.



Andy had bought a hazelnut decaff latte…and managed to take one sip before promptly dropping it on the floor, luckily missing both of us.



We sat in the shade for a while, catching up on social media and were pleased to see a video come in from the cattery who were looking after our beloved mogs. Apparently they wouldn’t stay still long enough for a photo to be taken but apparently all the people who work there were completely in love with our cats and how funny and interactive they are. Proud. Good to know they were doing OK, this was their first time in a cattery, and two weeks was a long old time for a first stint.





After this, we were undecided on what to do next, so had a bit of a wander.





Unexpectedly bumping into Doc Brown along the way...









Now that Andy had got his sea legs back after the Forbidden Journey incident, I thought it was a great idea to try the Twirl & Hurl ride, which we had always bypassed previously. A new first!



The signs in the ride queue made me hoot.





This is a nice enough ride, akin to Dumbo or the Magic Carpets in Magic Kingdom etc, albeit a little faster. The views of the park are pretty cool.









Andy was having the best time ever…





After this, we decided to give The Simpsons another go…









Which, affirmed that this doesn’t sit well with me any more. Weirdly, Andy, poor sickly thing, felt alright after it this time.



Next up was Men In Black, which was a walk-on…and Andy was sufficiently recovered to hit the red button, therefore obliterating my paltry score, bah… I swear my gun wasn’t working properly.



We carried on walking round the park…













And I marvelled at the fact that someone would wear furry slides (arf) a) out of the house and b) to a theme park where it was about 35c.



It was now 13:00 and Andy and I had a date! I had arranged to meet up with April, better known on the Dibb as GopherLass, and her son, better known on the Dibb as Poot. It wasn’t a completely out of the blue meet; April had arranged a lovely afternoon tea for some of us a few months previously, and we had realised that our holiday dates clashed, so started comparing schedules to see if a little meet was possible. April and Poot had flown in a day or so previously, and were staying at Portofino Bay at Universal prior to moving to the Yacht Club the day before we were due to go home. Therefore, meeting at Universal made much more sense.

Via the magic of iMessage, we found each other on the walkway by the Universal globe, apparently only after Poot had pointed at several passers-by, irrespective of age, shape or race, to ask whether they were me. I hope I didn’t disappoint!

Introductions were made (Andy is well used to me meeting up with random people from various internet groups - steady now) and we had a discussion about where to go for lunch. We deliberately hadn’t made reservations in case the meet-up failed, so April quickly hatched a plan that we would get the boat over to Portofino Bay and have some lunch at the quick service there. Sounded great to us, especially as we had never visited any of the Universal hotels and relished the idea of having a poke around.



The boat ride was glorious, taking 5-10 minutes. There was a path to walk it, but it was so hot that it was lovely to be on a boat.





We pulled into Portofino Bay and it was simply beautiful. We’ve never been to the original, but we have watched enough travel shows to know it was a pretty good replica of the real thing, and we were suitably impressed. Look!





It’s just like a piazza in Italy, and looked so pretty with the sun hitting it. It was super quiet, on account of it being the middle of the day, but I bet it is amazing in the evening. It felt like a really grown-up resort.



April steered us towards Sal’s Market Deli which is just in the centre of the piazza area. It’s a really nice little place with a fantastic menu of sandwiches, pizza, salad and pastas. The place was pretty charming, with little booths to sit in, and a grab and go area too. You pay and take a ticket and they bring the food over to you. So far, I was pretty impressed as the menu was great, it wasn’t as expensive as Disney, and it had a nice vibe.



Andy and Poot each ordered pizzas, which were huge!



April and I had salads – no pic of hers but I had the chicken Caesar and I swear I could have chomped on this for days and not hit the bottom of it. I am very much of the Joey Tribbiani school of food sharing (i.e. I don’t) but I do think we had sufficient grub for eight people rather than four.





We ate, and ate, and ate, and generally set the world to rights. Conversation with April is just as easy as you’d imagine it to be, for those of you who have read her marvellous trip reports, and I can confirm that Poot was utterly charming too. We had a really lovely lunch together. I’m ravenous as I am writing this and could really polish off any of that food right now!



Sadly, lunch was over all too quickly and April and Poot had places to be. I asked Andy if he wanted to have more of a nose around the hotel (I would have liked to check out reception and the pool just to see whether it is somewhere we’d consider staying in the future) but he said no and that he was keen to get back to the park to crack on with the day. So, goodbyes were said, and we waved April and Poot off back to their room. I haven’t been on the Dibb in so long that I don’t actually know whether April has done a trip report from this holiday – she had said it wasn’t in the works unfortunately – shame as I love her previous ones.







Andy and I decided against walking back to the parks, and instead had a very pleasant and quiet 20 minutes or so waiting for the boat again. This was the life!



Universal definitely feels less…stressful than Disney at the moment. I know it has a zillionth of the footprint and therefore is clearly easier to get around, but it really impressed us this trip as we were so lucky with crowd levels, and the food and hotels etc were great.



I don’t know if Andy could ever be persuaded to do an on-site stay at Universal (the expense of it is just eye-watering, especially if you’ve already paid for a room and a fortnight on site at Disney) but for a properly organised split stay or a couple of days on site there if you were in a villa, yes, I can definitely see the appeal.



Continued below...

Edited at 10:15 AM.
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Old 17 Aug 19, 08:56 AM  
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Back into the park and we were delighted to see that Minion Mayhem only had a 25 minute wait. What was this sorcery? That’s the second time in two trips that we’ve hit Minions in the middle of the day and it has had a sub-30 min wait. Hurrah!









After this, we decided we were pretty much done with the Studios park – we’d spent the lion’s share of our Universal days there, so it was time to head over to Islands of Adventure again and see what was what.



We bounced straight out of the main exit, wandering past the Toothsome Emporium (which looks terrifying) and re-entered Islands of Adventure at about 4pm.







We stood and watched Hulk for a bit, before deciding that we were too wussy yet AGAIN...





...and so headed over to more familiar territory; Spiderman.





This was a walk-on, and we both really enjoyed it. It’s just a fun ride – as long as you don’t have teenagers wittering on in the same car as you – and far less puzzling than Transformers.



After this, we realised it was time to leave the park. When I was doing our fast passes, today was the only day I managed to get a slot for Toy Story Midway Mania and I had left the fast pass in there just in case. A quick chat between us and we realised we’d more or less done all we wanted to do in Universal now - for some reason Andy wasn’t excited about the prospect of another turn on Forbidden Journey, neither of us wanted to get wet on Jurassic Park or the Barges, and Kong had been a bit of a let-down last year, so we weren’t fussed about doing that to the detriment of Toy Story Midway Mania.





So, we left the park and hailed an Uber to take us straight to Hollywood Studios. By this time we were fairly fatigued and very sweaty but we knew this was going to be the only opportunity we got to ride one of our perennial faves this year, so we were OK about it.



Our fast pass was 17:25-18:25 so we thought we had plenty of time. HA! No.
The traffic was really bad, I guess as we were hitting the road at peak traffic time and so it took us about 30 minutes to get near to DHS. That would have been bad enough but for some reason the main car entrance (which we’ve never been through before…and turns out wouldn’t today either) was all blocked off. We didn’t know where to go, so the Uber driver asked a cast member who was directing traffic, and we did a u-turn. Back to the main road and along parallel to the park. Then the driver missed the tiny little diversion sign, so we had to go back the other way. Back into the main entrance, u-turn again and then managed to come off the road at the diversion this time…

All the while Andy and I are in the back of the car thinking a) this is ridiculous b) good material for the trip report, and c) are we going to make our fast pass or not?! We’d have been gutted if we had left Universal and didn’t even get to ride the ride that we left for. The driver was equally as confused too, he said Disney usually send push messages to Uber if a road is closed or something, and he had had no such alert.

Eventually, after we had been in the car for well over an hour, and waved all over the place by various cast members all saying different things, the Uber managed to drop us off in one of the old bus stops, which had apparently become an impromptu drop-off/pick-up points. Not one of the nearby bus stops though – oh no, the furthest one from the park. We had eight minutes to get from this point to Toy Story Midway Mania and we were already knackered from a day at Universal. GAhhh.

We floored it from the drop-off all the way to the park, through the turnstiles and across the hub, turning right for Toy Story Land.



Thankfully Midway Mania is the first ride you come to but we were way out of our fast pass window, were busy preparing our sob story about the diversion for whatever cast member was on duty, as had limited hope that it would turn green….but we tapped, it did….and we were in!



And breathe. I did wonder several times whether we should have just stayed kicking about in Universal. It’s not a relaxing holiday when you’re relying on so many factors to get you around transport-wise.











The exit from the ride is looooong. It’s nicely done, with the theming of being shrunk to a toy in Andy’s back yard (arf) but clearly designed to disperse people and stop them being spat straight back into the park. Oh, and after all that, I don’t even have a photo of who won, which makes me think that clearly, it wasn’t me this time.











As we came out of Toy Story Land, I saw a photographer so asked her to take our photo. She said she’d finished up for the day and was only waiting there to meet a friend, and was a bit off with us. Oh. She did, however, grudgingly offer to take a photo of us on my phone but as you can see, it’s not really that magical a pic, and the whole interaction was just a bit awkward.



We looked to see what other fast passes were available but compared to the relative quiet of Universal, DHS was, well, far from tranquil. The only fast pass we could get was for the next showing of the Little Mermaid theatre show, and for want of anything else, booked it. This left us with about 20 minutes, so we got a couple of waters from a stand, and I used a snack credit on some popcorn as it felt like a long time since my (mega) salad at lunch and I was starting to get peckish.



I debated spending $25 (plus tax!) on the limited edition Alien popcorn bucket but reasoned that I can barely manage to drag myself around half the time, let alone worry about lugging an awkwardly shaped piece of plastic around with me too. Never thought I’d have anything in common with Kanye West but there you go.





We sat on a wall by what was Starring Rolls (RIP) and drank the water and munched the popcorn. Then, hilariously, this push message popped up on MDE. Too little too late, my friends. I think we must have hit the entrance just as the permanent diversion was being put in place.



The show was about to start, so in we went. It was lovely and cool and dark in there, and we had our annual discussion about whether Ariel was miming or not. Anyone know? Answers on a postcard please.













I had my usual blub, and then we were outside again.





It was 20:00 and once again we decided we just didn’t have the stamina to hang about for the fireworks. A much better plan was hatched, which was that we would head on over to the Boardwalk and finally visit the Abracada-bar, or ESPN, both of which had thus far eluded us on this trip. Luckily, people were pouring into the park for the fireworks and it felt OK to be going against the traffic, so we managed to exit the park fairly quickly and headed to the boat dock. I do love DHS at night when it is all lit up, especially during the holiday season – everything is just so pretty and atmospheric.



According to my photos, we were on a boat 11 minutes later, which wasn’t bad going at all. We decided to disembark at the Swan and walk over from there. Regular readers will know we had our honeymoon at the Swan so that area is really nostalgic for us. However, apparently there was no time to take many photos or reminisce – you can clearly see that Andy had a bit of a pace on.









The Boardwalk was really busy, and people were spilling out of all the bars, so Andy decided that he wasn’t really up for a drink, plus it’s impossible to overstate how sticky and in need of a shower we were (mainly me, to be fair) so a discussion was obviously had about just going back.



However, I was clearly in need of something alcoholic as I was lured towards Boardwalk Joe’s, like a fish on a hook, and after queuing for rather a long time thanks to a lady who was oblivious to the queue behind her, put in an order for a margarita. And then, joy of joys, I spied that they had the dodo of snacks on sale here, the famed jalapeno pretzel. I was IN. Oh yes.



It was a relatively slow walk back round to the Beach Club, with me trying not to slop margarita everywhere (no lids) and also clutch a pretzel which I was determined not to eat til we were back in the room – I dislike eating and walking simultaneously. At some point apparently, we acquired a rice krispie head treat – Andy must have popped into the Marketplace for a snack.



Let me tell you, that margarita and the pretzel were much needed this evening and went down a treat. The pretzel was kind of like the stuffed crust you get on a pizza, with lovely gooey mozzarella and just the tiniest hint of chilli. Divine. And the margarita packed a punch and with a lovely lime flavour. I was a very happy camper indeed.

I fear we were total mingers and didn’t even bother having a shower to wash off all the grime of the day. It was enough effort to clean my face and teeth. Exhausted, we passed out at about 10pm – hey, that’s our latest night yet, we’re definitely getting better!



I hope you join us for tomorrow’s instalment where we have a fab day at the Magic Kingdom but get stitched up by Hollywood Studios yet again...which can now be found here

Edited at 01:28 PM.
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Old 17 Aug 19, 10:42 AM  
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Ok I don’t think I knew that you got to a
Soft opening of Hogsmeade! How awesome is that!

Guaranteed that the photo you were trying to take was of the Sirius wanted poster. I know cos I always get the same result haha!

Such a lovely meet with April & Poot. The food looked so good too!

Oh man, stressful ride to DHS. Star Wars has a lot to answer for, bloody roadworks! Btw, I think you get a 15 minute grace period on fast passes

Wait? You cry at the little mermaid show? 😂

Ahhh the pics at the boardwalk make me miss it so much! I also don’t like to eat and walk! I somehow don’t enjoy it the same lol!

Fab and busy day! Next please! Xxx
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Old 17 Aug 19, 01:06 PM  
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I’m convinced that Ariel was miming when we saw the Little Mermaid show!
I’m sad to hear that April doesn’t have a trip report planned as they are so funny and charming. I always joke about wanting a son like Poot- smart, polite, and obsessed with pin trading
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Old 17 Aug 19, 01:59 PM  
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Originally Posted by Redrach1903 View Post
Ok I don’t think I knew that you got to a
Soft opening of Hogsmeade! How awesome is that!

Guaranteed that the photo you were trying to take was of the Sirius wanted poster. I know cos I always get the same result haha!

Such a lovely meet with April & Poot. The food looked so good too!

Oh man, stressful ride to DHS. Star Wars has a lot to answer for, bloody roadworks! Btw, I think you get a 15 minute grace period on fast passes

Wait? You cry at the little mermaid show? 😂

Ahhh the pics at the boardwalk make me miss it so much! I also don’t like to eat and walk! I somehow don’t enjoy it the same lol!

Fab and busy day! Next please! Xxx
Yeah, it was brilliant, we arrived at MCO and at the Virgin desk, we were given golden tickets for a soft opening the next morning. Wish every trip was like that!

Yes, the Sirius poster! I think you can just about make out the bottom of it.

I know...but we were already over the grace period!

And yes, I always have a little cry during the Little Mermaid show. I thought everybody did, but apparently not...!
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Old 17 Aug 19, 02:00 PM  
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Originally Posted by StorybookCircus View Post
I’m convinced that Ariel was miming when we saw the Little Mermaid show!
I’m sad to hear that April doesn’t have a trip report planned as they are so funny and charming. I always joke about wanting a son like Poot- smart, polite, and obsessed with pin trading
Andy thinks she's miming, I like to think she's singing but I know deep-down that she probably isn't.

I know - but I understand why - I always forget how much work these trip reports are so I don't blame her! And yes, Poot is a fantastic chap.
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Old 17 Aug 19, 09:56 PM  
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Ha! The Kanye West comment...very funny! I love the humour in your writing.
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Old 17 Aug 19, 11:01 PM  
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Another great day... you fit so much in very impressive!
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Old 18 Aug 19, 10:47 AM  
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Do you have a little cry at the Mermaid Show because of the dreadful intersection between Ariel and Eric as we always seem to get two actors who appear as if they cannot stand the sight of each other let alone dance together and then kiss?

Very helpful message from WDW just a couple of hours too late. Whenever a ride went down on our trip the multi purpose freebie FP message always seemed to pop up after we had trekked all the way over to the ride. Tsk.
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Old 19 Aug 19, 06:06 PM  
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Originally Posted by Gaston77 View Post
Ha! The Kanye West comment...very funny! I love the humour in your writing.
Ahahaha thanks - I'm glad someone picked up on that little joke!

Originally Posted by jools1302 View Post
Another great day... you fit so much in very impressive!
Thank you - at the time it felt this day was pretty tame for us considering we bailed out early but looking back on it, it was pretty full-on!
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