Buses, Bars and Bargains. January 2020. Day 5, both WWOHP in 2 hours (solo), I Drive bar crawl.

[roxie2001]

Index

Wednesday 15th

We woke at about 7, the plan today was for me to go Islands of Adventure early and alone so I could enjoy Harry Potter and Matt would leave a little later, ride what he wanted and meet me at midday.
Opening time was 9am so I left Matt relaxing and popped to breakfast by myself.

I left the hotel just after 8 and walked to surfside for the bus. I arrived at 8.30 ish and joined the queue. They were already letting guests in, even non residents. As usual I picked the queue that has someone having a problem getting in but I was in the park well before 9. An advantage of being solo is that I could speed March to WWOHP although I didn’t go completely mad and run like others, I actually caught up with one of the runners and ended up behind them in the queue.
Universal have this system well organised and CMs pointed the way to Hagrids and Hogwarts.
I joined the queue for Hagrids.

It was busy but moving quickly.
We got to the lockers and here I really had an advantage by only having a bumbag. It went under my top but CMs were letting people on with them but checking the size. I bypassed a lot of the queue including the runners.
I took these on the way.

The inside area of the queue is quite small and dark and I wouldn’t want to wait in there for too long if the ride was down.
Anyway it took about 20/30 minutes until I reached the front. As I was solo I had a single rider with me, I asked about a single rider queue and was told it’s sometimes open.
I asked my traveller if he had a preference and he didn’t so I took the motorbike.
Well, what can I say that hasn’t been said, it was brilliant and easily the best coaster I have been on.
I exited and a large queue was already forming.
I went to Forbidden Forest and went to the single riders queue. As I walked in a CM said welcome to Lockers, the ride which cracked me up.
I missed all the theming and waited a couple of minutes before I joined a family of 3.
I forgot how twisty this ride is, plus I was worrying about my flip flops (should have took them off) I did enjoy it but came off feeling a little sick so didn’t have another ride.
I walked to the Hogwarts Express and walked on here.

I messaged Matt to say I could meet him earlier as I was storming on.
I went into Hogsmeade and Olivanders door was open so I joined the few people already in.

It’s a nice little show but also a money maker as I’m sure everyone wants their wand if they are chosen.
Next stop was Escape to Gringotts, again I used the single rider queue and missed the theming and lift. I ended up at the top of the stairs next to another rider and we both got in the next ride.
I appreciated this more than my last ride as I didn’t have to worry about Matt and snakes.
I didn’t look around as I had done that already so I went back to the Express and waited for the next train. A girl next to me was trying to shove me out the way but I held my ground and was first on.
I’m glad I had the chance to do the return journey but I still wouldnt pay the extra for hopper tickets just to ride this.
I had messaged Matt to meet me at the exit, the time was just before 11.
He had spent his time mainly in the Spiderman area riding Hulk and Dr Doom, he went on as a single rider and got a lot of rides in, The CMs recognised him in the end.
I told him how brilliant Hagids was and he would be ok on there. The wait was 75 minutes, I said it was worth it or to try single rider but he wasn’t interested so we rode Kong instead which was a 5 minute wait. We both enjoyed this and how it is done.
We were hungry now so we took the bus to Surfside and then the trolley to Taco Bell at outlets. I’m happy to report a Taco Bell opened up near our hotel a day before we came home so can use that next time.
We had our usual mix of dollar wraps.

Then it was back to the hotel for an hour around the pool before hitting I Drive.
Our first stop was Buffalo Wild Wings for happy hour, Monday to Friday 3-6 and 10-midnight
This includes food and drink so Matt got a $5 pitcher of Miller Light and I had a sangria for €5. It was the nicest one I’ve had, and I have tried a lot!

I then got a barcardi and Diet Coke for $3.

We walked to Bar Louie next. The bar here was huge. Their happy hour is Monday to Friday, 4-7 We got here about 6.45 so ordered 2 drinks each, I haven’t got the receipt but I think the beers was $3.50 and the martinis $5. I had a Rat Pack, Bombay Sapphire, Grey Goose and Vermouth, this was so strong and a cherry Bombay, bombay sapphire, hibiscus tea, black cherry purée and lemon juice. It’s was really sweet so the balanced each other out.

We looked at the menu which looked good and on Tuesday have a $5 burger offer all day.
We the headed over to Icon Park to one of the pop up bars outside.
Matt had beer and I had 241 slush type vodka cocktails. Price was $13

The weather was lovely and the music was good, the only down side was that you couldn’t take alcohol outside the bar area so I had a little dance near the bar.
We did pop into Tin Roof for the bathroom, still dirty but the band playing sounded good.
We got the trolley back to our stop and the plan was to try OShucks for a drink and karaoke. Unfortunately this was packed and we were getting hungry so we gave it a miss and went back to Buffalo Wild Wings for some happy hour snacks.
I had a barcardi and Diet Coke and Matt had a large beer.
We started with nachos

$3
Then ordered mini con dogs $3 and chips and dip $2

And onion rings (we ordered these at the same time but they forgot) $3

They were lovely but so greasy.
We walked back to the hotel, I was moaning that my dress was tight.

[Melbatb]

What a fab day! Single rider is certainly the way to go!


And what bargain drinks on the happy hours! I hope your head wasn’t too bad the next day

[mick]

Another great day sounds like you both did loads of rides during the morning

Joan

[Floridafour]

Love Buffalo Wild Wings 🙂
Great day 👍
Thanks for posting

[16offtodisney!]

Fab day! Taco bell opened up near Enclave Suites?..

[roxie2001]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

What a fab day! Single rider is certainly the way to go!


And what bargain drinks on the happy hours! I hope your head wasn’t too bad the next day

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It was great just walking on rides, it made the holiday so much better.
My head was fine, the greasy onion rings must have soaked up the alcohol lol

[roxie2001]

Originally Posted by mick

Another great day sounds like you both did loads of rides during the morning

Joan

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Thank you, we re not really all day theme park people so nice to be able to get a lot done in the morning.

[roxie2001]

Originally Posted by Floridafour

Love Buffalo Wild Wings 🙂
Great day 👍
Thanks for posting

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Thank you.
The servers recognised us in the end at Buffalo Wild Wings, we loved sitting outside watching all the road rage.

[roxie2001]

Originally Posted by 16offtodisney!

Fab day! Taco bell opened up near Enclave Suites?..

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Yes, it was just being finished when we were there and opened up a couple of days before we left, we didn’t get a chance to try it but next time.
It’s near the I Hop

[duchy]

Looking forward to that in September ... we actually have TB ten minutes drive from home but it’s not the same lol
Chillis tends to be our go to from the Enclave.
Enjoyed the bar crawl, we were very unimpressed with the bar in the Enclave but it had only just opened so maybe it is better now.