Last of the Express - Day 5 - 14.04.19

[Rescuer]

Last of the Express - Day 5 - 14.04.19

Index

So you would think that with this being our last day of express pass that we’d be on the go early. Nope. We didn’t wake up until 8.45am, we obviously needed the sleep.

We had a very slow start getting ourselves organised to move again. The weather looked windy and cloudy but at this point no rain was forecast.

Once we were packed up we took our luggage to bell services and asked if they could move it across to Aventura. This was no problem and they said it would be there by 4pm.

The reception was busy and we took a few photos of this lovely hotel.

We set off on our walk to Aventura via the convention centres again and it felt much less of a journey this morning.

Sapphire falls is a stunning resort and has a very distinctive lovely ocean smell I. The lobby. I’d like to try staying there at some point.

Out the front door of Sapphire Falls and there is a walking path to Aventura which takes minutes.

Our first impressions of Aventura were great, very clean and minimal.

The guy at check in was very nice and offered us an upgrade to a skyline room - floors 10-16 for $30 per night I declined. He said if we wanted a room now we could have one on the second floor, I said we were happy to wait and if possible could we have a higher floor. He said they’d text when the room was ready, they didn’t.

We were as always starving at this point so we headed to Starbucks for a drink and a snack.

Ds had a bacon cheese and egg sandwich thing that was really good with a strawberry frappacinno. He found himself a wee seat alone to watch the Liverpool game and proceeded to WhatsApp with Dh who was watching at home.

Df and I had the ham and Swiss panini. They were really good, df felt there was slightly too much ham, they were very filling.

We had refreshers. I had the mango and dragonfruit, I really liked it. Df had the very berry one and enjoyed it.

Good value for what we had. The food court was quiet, bright and spotless. A good first impression of Aventura.

We decided to walk back over to Sapphire Falls to get the boat. We were heading to Universal as I was still to conquer my fear, Rip Ride Rocket. Full disclosure the roller coaster bit doesn’t frighten me it’s the straight up climb at the start that I have issues with. Anyway when we checked wait times in the boat it said it was down and I did breath a sigh of relief.

Once we were in though it was working again. Bah! I knew I just needed to get it over and done with. So we stowed the stuff in the lockers and headed through the metal detectors. I asked a team member if there was somewhere ds could wait and indeed there was a family room up at the ride. Ds was mumbling to himself at this point and when we stopped and asked what he was on about he said ‘you needed to tell them there was 3 people riding.’ We both stared at him blankly and then it clicked he wanted to ride this. Df and I were shocked as by this point we’d pretty much written off any hope of him doing any of the really big rides. He was adamant he was going to did and then text his dad his picture to shock him too!

I kept waiting on him to change his mind but true to his word on he went, selecting the devil went down to Georgia as his song choice and singing his little heart out all the way around. I was terrified and had I will survive as my music and never a truer word has been sung as the first line of that song at that time.

The climb wasn’t as bad as I thought and ds well... he loved it! We bought the video!

So with the adrenaline running we decided to head to IOA to see if he’d do Doom and Hulk.

Just as we left via the secret entrance the sky got really dark and we managed to make it Hard Rock just as the heavens opened. We were stuck there for about 15 minutes.

There was more rain forecast but we managed to get over to IOA and into Croissant Moon Bakery before it came on again. So snacks it was.

I had the raspberry crumb cake, df had the Brookie and ds had the white chocolate and macadamia nut cookie which was about the size of his head. I like the bakery it’s good for a reasonably priced snack.

[Rescuer]

Part 2

The rain was now just a slight drizzle so Hulk was down but ds was still feeling brave so we headed to Dr Doom, this time it was 3 to ride again and he really enjoyed it. He’s done this before twice but back to back on our holiday last year at the start but he wouldn’t go on again.

We walked round to Hulk and all lockers were showing as full which was odd. After a few minutes a team member came along and reset them, they must have closed the lockers to stop anyone else getting in line when it was off for the rain.

So far so good we were in the line. I was stil a little apprehensive of how ds would find the Hulk as it is pretty intense. We got all the way to the front and... on he got!
He loved it and couldn’t believe he’d waited so long to do it. He loved it so much that we went right back on again for another ride!

Our plan was to get the Hogwarts Express back to Universal as df had not done this. We wandered through Jurassic Park, raptor encounter was to busy again. We took photos at the Jurassic Park Jeep with the automated photo but they never appeared on my account.

Hogwarts Express was showing a 45 min wait but we walked straight in and were on the next train.

Gringotts was showing a 90 minute wait but Touring Plans was predicting 54 minutes. I’m sure they only count the wait until to you get into the first room before the lift. The ride took us 40 mins all in. It was a little disappointing though that they were again not doing the photos in the express pass line.

Again we were keen not to end up with a universal quick service dinner and we didn’t want to leave the parks. So we chose Lombards. Df wasn’t sure about this when we first looked at places as she doesn’t eat fish. With a closer look at the menu though it looked ok for her.

They said it would be about a 20 minute wait for a table but we didn’t wait that long.

We decided to try the cheese curds here to start. They were lovely but a smaller portion than last night, not as small as the photo though as we ate some first.

Also had rolls and butter, just basic but nice enough.

For drinks I had the frozen pina colada, no alcohol, df had the strawberry milkshake and ds had the banana milkshake. These were all delicious.

Df had the grilled chicken Cesar salad. She loved this.

I had the blackened salmon Cesar salad. This was so good.

Ds had the fish and fries, the kids menu didn’t really have anything he wanted. Strangely no kids fish and chips. He didn’t finish it but really enjoyed it.

Our server was really nice and this was a lovely break from the humidity today and a busy park. Even after leaving a tip we didn’t think it was too bad a cost each.

Ds and I are not fast and the furious fans but df likes the movies so we fave the ride a go. I think I liked it better than the first time I rode it. I might give the movies a go and it might grow on me. Df liked it.

Ds was now firmly in the thrill ride zone so we did the Mummy front row!

As we walked past Transformers we checked who would be out next and it was Bumblebee, the one ds was desperate to get a photo with.

Followed by rip ride twice once in the back row and once in the front row. The back is really rough.

We nipped out the secret entrance again.

We headed back to IOA where we did dr doom just as it was starting to dark. Next up the hulk again twice. The express pass was a pain and we kept getting stuck, I got the impression they were trying to clear the standard line a bit as it was getting close to closing time. Ds loved this in the dark and was even posing for the ride photos now ! Night and day!

We caught the Boat back to Sapphire Falls and walked across to Aventura to check in and collect our luggage. We were given a skyline room on the 14th floor at no extra cost and had a lovely view across to Volcano Bay.

Our luggage had arrived safely too.

When we arrived back at Aventura we were craving something sweet so we nipped to Starbucks and got a lemon iced pound cake, a coffee cake and a banana nut bread. They were all nice and served their purpose and were less than $10.

The room was lovely as ds was in his element that there was an iPad to control everything.

[Goldia]

Oh my goodness. I've lost track of how many times you ended up doing the hulk, rip ride, mummy! Wow! He did really well and actually enjoyed it. I'm in total agreement about the climb being the worst part of RRR. I was wondering if the rain in the morning would be enough of a delay for the nerves to kick in and I sort of thought he was going to change his mind by the time you got to hulk but he didn't. That's it now. He'll be all set for this summer, it seems like the fear is gone. I feel a bit sad for dad that he missed all the fun though, I bet that was a shock photo to get on his phone.

[Rescuer]

Originally Posted by Goldia

Oh my goodness. I've lost track of how many times you ended up doing the hulk, rip ride, mummy! Wow! He did really well and actually enjoyed it. I'm in total agreement about the climb being the worst part of RRR. I was wondering if the rain in the morning would be enough of a delay for the nerves to kick in and I sort of thought he was going to change his mind by the time you got to hulk but he didn't. That's it now. He'll be all set for this summer, it seems like the fear is gone. I feel a bit sad for dad that he missed all the fun though, I bet that was a shock photo to get on his phone.

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You could have knocked us down with a feather when he asked to go on Rip Ride. We had abandoned all hope of him doing any of the really big rides by that point.
I was so pleased for him though to muster up the courage and to actually enjoy it all.
Dh was gobsmacked, you’re right it was a bit of a shame that he wasn’t there but it was nice for ds to show him the photos and video and tell him all about it.
Like you I thought the rain would bring back the nerves before Hulk, he was obviously determined.
Now ds wants to renew the universal annual passes and book for next year again so he can do them yet again and try the SeaWorld and Busch gardens ones so it looks like another offsite/universal trip might be on the cards. Obviously Dh is feeling up for that as he doesn’t want to miss out on ds going on yet more rollercoasters.

[Cinderella]

Glad your son managed the hulk 👍

[dixonsontour]

Wow way to go DS. I've never braved rip ride either. He looks so happy.
Glad you like Aventura.

[collybird]

Well done DS for doing Rip Ride Rockit! I can’t believe it; he must have been so proud. I can’t believe your own nerves didn’t put him off. And then Hulk!? I am blown away. The ride photo is great he looks like he hates it, cannot believe he was brave enough to go right back on, and then he was confident enough to pose second time around. What a wee star, he is an absolute champ, you must be so proud. It is a real shame that DH wasn’t there to enjoy it with you.

Love your new room and the view, Universal’s hotels really look gorgeous. It's such a little thing but the all white beds in Disney without the runners just look so blah, Universal looks much more stylish.

[Rescuer]

Originally Posted by Cinderella

Glad your son managed the hulk 👍

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He was so happy he finally mustered up the courage.

Originally Posted by dixonsontour

Wow way to go DS. I've never braved rip ride either. He looks so happy.
Glad you like Aventura.

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I was nervous doing Rip Ride, he just walked on like there was nothing too it. He says Rip Ride or Hulk will be his first ride in the summer.

Aventura was lovely, it's a shame they don't do express or it would be my new favourite Universal hotel.

Originally Posted by collybird

Well done DS for doing Rip Ride Rockit! I can’t believe it; he must have been so proud. I can’t believe your own nerves didn’t put him off. And then Hulk!? I am blown away. The ride photo is great he looks like he hates it, cannot believe he was brave enough to go right back on, and then he was confident enough to pose second time around. What a wee star, he is an absolute champ, you must be so proud. It is a real shame that DH wasn’t there to enjoy it with you.

Love your new room and the view, Universal’s hotels really look gorgeous. It's such a little thing but the all white beds in Disney without the runners just look so blah, Universal looks much more stylish.

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Thanks. He was so pleased with himself, he spent his whole time at Universal last summer trying to decide if he wanted to do it so I was just happy for him that he finally tried it. The fact he loved it was an absolute bonus. He has talked about it constantly since he got back and seems to want to ride them all again, even more times this time.

All the Universal hotels we've stayed in so far have been nice. It's hard to believe Aventura is one of their value options.

[Animagus]

Your DS really got the thrill ride bug. Having Express is such a bonus when your kid loves a ride and wants to go on again. Our DD is quite the daredevil but won’t to the Mummy! I’m hoping she will next time, as DH and I both love it. She wanted to try RRR last visit but I was ill during our Universal stay and DH was not going to try that one.
Aventura looks really nice.
We ate at Lombards once and enjoyed it. I’d go back there again. Those salads look yummy.

I know what you mean about the lack of a photo opp in the Gringotts queue - really disappointing.

[Rescuer]

Originally Posted by Animagus

Your DS really got the thrill ride bug. Having Express is such a bonus when your kid loves a ride and wants to go on again. Our DD is quite the daredevil but won’t to the Mummy! I’m hoping she will next time, as DH and I both love it. She wanted to try RRR last visit but I was ill during our Universal stay and DH was not going to try that one.
Aventura looks really nice.
We ate at Lombards once and enjoyed it. I’d go back there again. Those salads look yummy.

I know what you mean about the lack of a photo opp in the Gringotts queue - really disappointing.

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Without express pass I don't know if he'd even have got on in the first place. Fingers crossed for the Mummy for you next year, I will say if ds can manage through all of the big ones you have hope as tbh I was not sure he'd do any of them.