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Old 3 Aug 19, 11:17 AM  
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Starmum22
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Mobile Not long back - highs and lows

Arrived back last Tuesday after an amazing 3 weeks and had intended to write a trip report but I really won’t have time so I’m doing highs and lows instead.

Highs

Travel day
The best travel day we’ve ever had. Fantastic flight with no delays, quickly through immigration (Alamo desk took longer!) plus we didn’t get lost going to the villa! We arrived at our lovely villa in great time and even managed a trip to Walmart and a dip in the pool before we all collapsed into bed, exhausted!

Going for 3 weeks
This was by far the most relaxed, chilled Florida holiday we’ve had so far. We had loads of time to do everything we wanted while still managing to be relaxed and not rushing about with loads of early mornings. We had a few pool days and overall it felt like a holiday instead of a ‘military operation’ to quote my hubby. (He said this after our first trip!)

Hard Rock Hotel
We always stay here one night for the Express passes and just when I thought I couldn’t love the hotel any more, we got a complimentary upgrade to club level. We were definitely treated like ‘Rock royalty’
with access to a lounge with free food and drink! Dh was majorly suspicious at first and didn’t want to partake, thinking they were going to add it to our bill! He soon relaxed and got into the swing of things! It was a fantastic experience. Plus the Express passes meant we got to do almost everything we wanted.

Discovery Cove
This was our first time here and it won’t be the last. An absolutely amazing, beautiful park. We were so relaxed, it didn’t feel like a park at all! We did the dolphin swim which was everything we thought it would be. The photos are very expensive though! The food was a lot better than expected and the boys loved the fact they could help themselves to drinks and snacks all day! A fantastic experience and a major highlight of the holiday.

Volcano Bay
Another first for us as it was still under construction on our last trip. This is now our favourite water park! The virtual line meant we felt we didn’t wait for anything and the fearless river -wow! A fantastic day was had by all. And no arguing! (No mean feat with three teenagers!)

Fireworks
Despite this being our third trip, we have never managed to be in any park for fireworks! So this time, dd and I left the boys and dh in the villa and we were to MK for Happily Ever After and I’m so glad we did. Spectacular and don’t mind admitting there were tears in my eyes.

Lows

Rude/ignorant people
As well as the usual line cutting, we seemed to see an awful lot more people just being completely ignorant of the fact there are other people in the park besides them! People spraying deodorant and applying sun cream in the lines, not thinking the rules apply to them (stopping mid row in the theatre attractions, not taking photographs, etc.). The fireworks, although a high, could easily have been a low due to the family in front of us who felt the need to hold up two phones to record the whole show!

Fastpass/Express pass
Not always! We found the lines this time were not always the fastest moving. Also, sometimes these lines were longer than the standby lines!

Biblical rain
Rain stopped play most days! I know it’s thunderstorm season, but from previous trips we knew the rain would soon stop and the sun would reappear. Not this time! When the rain came, it came hard and didn’t stop! Sometimes 30 minutes, sometimes it would be on all night. We got caught in a thunderstorm one night that felt like we were going through a car wash with someone jumping up to take our photo every 2 minutes! It was scary, the storm was right on top of us. Not a pleasant journey, especially with me screaming every time I heard thunder or saw lightning!

Last night meal
We decided we’d like to return to Chilis as we’d all enjoyed it earlier in the holiday. Not impressed at all. My dh ordered a beer and waited 15 minutes in it, then ordered a steak for his entree and waited 25 minutes! We’d all nearly finished ours before the steak eventually arrived. I’m not one for complaining but felt I had to on this occasion. The manager was very apologetic and took the steak and the beer off our bill.

All in all, it was a fantastic holiday. Before we went, dh said he didn’t want to return for at least 10 years. Then we found out dd was pregnant so I said we were returning in 5 years with the wee one. While out there, however, I suggested to dh we could come back before then, just our two selves! So we’ll be returning in 2022 with no children! I’ve managed to get dh to love Florida as much as I do! Although I did have to say we wouldn’t do Disney on our next trip so dd and u have a cheeky weekend to DLP planned so we can get our Disney fix!
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Old 3 Aug 19, 11:19 AM  
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Old 3 Aug 19, 11:27 AM  
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Moorlandman
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Great report. Completely agree about the express lines - they can be a busy as the standard lines. I think Universal over sell these passes
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Old 3 Aug 19, 11:37 AM  
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GALE88
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Sounds like a fab trip overall. Thanks for sharing, I love reading highs and lows.

I'm a bit worried about the FP and Express lines not being as short as might be expected, it's been mentioned several times recently. Hope we don't have to queue too much when we go. Did you still manage to get everything done that you wanted to?
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Old 3 Aug 19, 01:11 PM  
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Starmum22
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Originally Posted by GALE88 View Post
Sounds like a fab trip overall. Thanks for sharing, I love reading highs and lows.

I'm a bit worried about the FP and Express lines not being as short as might be expected, it's been mentioned several times recently. Hope we don't have to queue too much when we go. Did you still manage to get everything done that you wanted to?
We got most things done we wanted to. Didn’t do the new Hagrid ride as wait was 180 mins and it’s not included in the Express passes. We did have to wait longer than expected for a few things!
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Old 3 Aug 19, 01:12 PM  
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Originally Posted by Moorlandman View Post
Great report. Completely agree about the express lines - they can be a busy as the standard lines. I think Universal over sell these passes
The worst was Escape from Gringotts, thought I was in a never ending line. Didn’t time it but was easily 45 mins in the Express line with standby showing 90 mins.
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Old 3 Aug 19, 02:25 PM  
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Express just means quicker than the standby line, with lots in Express the standby would increase and therefore it becomes about a third of the time.
There could have been an issue which caused a delay
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Old 3 Aug 19, 05:06 PM  
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Loopylooloo
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I always love to read a highs and lows, thanks for sharing and it sounds like you had a great time!
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Old 3 Aug 19, 06:06 PM  
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Em4owen
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Sounds like you had a lovely time. Unforunately other people's behaviour is one that's out of your control. I'm glad we're doing 3 weeks for our trip. Hopefully it's as relaxing as yours!
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Old 3 Aug 19, 06:11 PM  
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Great report! I’ve been there for some bad storms too - they can be scary
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