The cheeky not so bargain trip! Part 3

This morning we didn’t set an alarm but were still awake relatively early. We checked out and dropped our bags with bell services and walked across to IOA.

 

We actually arrived at 9am – just as the masses were let into WWoHP! We followed the crowd – as we were planning on taking a few more photos and riding the other rides.

 

The line for Forbidden Journey was already 75 minutes when we got there...! We took a quick spin on Dragon Challenge and Flight if the Hippogriff before heading away from the crowds.

 

 

We stopped to get a quick drink and Rob had a cookie as well before we went to Poseidon Adventure. This was quite fun – we especially liked the water tunnel that you walk through!

We took another ride on Hulk – which still hurt my head and somewhere along the way I met Woody the woodpecker!

We were pretty much done with IOA (and I know loads of people will say we missed out a whole bunch of stuff!) so we wandered across towards Universal Studios. We stopped to get lunch at Hard Rock Cafe which was a nice break from the heat.

Into US and I was determined to meet Bumblebee – we got there and Optimus was just starting his set so I waited nearby having checked that Bumblebee was next. About 5 minutes before his scheduled arrival they closed the line for Optimus so I started the line for Bumblebee :)

 

He arrived and I finally got my picture with him (in front of him..!)

We didn’t really feel like revisiting any of the other rides so we went back to the Doubletree (quickly popping back to collect our stuff from RPR).

I was a bit tired so took a nap for an hour or two and then we went back to the Harley Davidson shop to buy Rob his jacket and gloves. It was around $485 for his choices which was excellent value compared to over here!

 

Our plan for this evening was to ride Rip Ride Rockit at night....well you know what they say about plans! We took a quick go on MIB and then discovered that RRR was broken...! We waited until about 8.45 and it was showing no signs of restarting so we went to watch the nighttime show.

The show was ok but not a patch on Disney...! We hadn’t had dinner so grabbed a quick McDonalds on the way back to the hotel.

The cheeky not so bargain trip! Part 2

Day 3 – 20^th June

Today we were checking in to the Royal Pacific Resort for 1 night so we walked across from the Doubletree to get our express passes.

The room was already ready at around 9am so we popped up to the room and then took the Water taxi back to citywalk.

 

We decided to start with Universal Studios. Now it has been several years since we last visited (think we were here in 2009) and despite many people saying that Universal is better than Disney I was still sceptical.

We started off at Rip Ride Rockit which was a great ride – I chose KC and the Sunshine band whilst Rob went with NERD or something.

 

We then wandered across to Transformers which is a good ride (we had already experienced it in California).

I was determined to meet Bumblebee on this trip so we went to check out the meet ‘n’ greet but it was the turn of Optimus Prime. We did stop to see him and then decided to come back to see Bumblebee later.

Next ride was The Simpsons which was ok but not really exciting. We quickly followed it with Men In Black which was quite fun – although as usual Rob got a higher score than me :(

 

 

We took a little wander around and then used our passes to skip the ridiculous line for Despicable Me – although it still took us around 20 minutes.

We then popped back across to Disaster – not much changes here! Lunch was then had at Mels Diner (I think!) – I had a chicken burger thing and Rob had a burger and I had a ‘milkshake’ which was more like soft serve icecream.

At this point we decided to head across to Islands of Adventure. We started off with the Hulk which was a fun ride but hurt my head a little!

 

 

We then had a quick (very short) ride on Doctor Doom’s Fearfall – which we expected to be like Tower of Terror but it only had one drop and then it was pretty much over!

Up next was Spiderman which was an odd experience as about halfway around the effects stopped working – no sound or film showing but the ride kept on going around. We got to the end and the team members were unconcerned – no offer to re-ride or anything!

 

We decided to not bother trying again so we moved onto attempt Ripsaw Falls. We paid for a locker and headed into the line only to find that the ride had just broken down :(

We decided to leave our stuff in the locker and take a ride on Jurassic Park before collecting our things and headed into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

The line for Forbidden Journey was posted as 30 minutes so we decided to give it a try. We actually waited a few minutes longer but it was a reasonable wait :) The ride was good – a nice mix and a good length of time.

We took a few photos and then decided we were done for the day (it was around 5pm).

 

 

 

 

So we started our walk back to the Doubletree to get an overnight bag. We got back to citywalk and there was a mega rain storm, we waited it out and then continued across.

 

 

We drove back across quickly with our bag and then took the car back to the Doubletree (I didn’t want to pay parking to both places).

We got a bit more exercise walking back across to the Royal Pacific. We got showered and went to citywalk for dinner – we chose an Italian place – Vivo. Rob had pizza and I had a pasta dish and then we had dessert which I think was cheesecake for me and I’ve forgotten Rob’s!

Back to the hotel to sleep :)

The cheeky not so bargain trip! Part 1

So, if you've read my pre-trip report you'll know the back story about the bargain trip that spiralled a little bit out of control ;)

This was our 4th trip since September and this time we were on our own :)

Day 1 – 18^th June

Travel day! I had to go into work in the morning as I had some meetings and also needed to give some information to my colleague who was covering my work whilst I was away. I managed to leave at 12.15ish and headed home.

My car was super dirty so we took it to get cleaned and went to get some lunch. Car wasn’t ready so we walked home and packed our stuff and got the rest of the house sorted before popping back to get the car and then put it in the garage.

Last job was to sort out the fish food for the week then headed off to airport. We had something to eat at Fleet services then continued to Gatwick. We were parking the car in the long stay car park and then we took the bus to terminal.

We walked across to the Hilton and checked in where we were upgraded to the executive floor (as gold members this happens most times – well worth the credit card for the points and free upgrades).

 

 

As we had arrived before 9 we popped into the lounge for drinks and snacks before bed :)

Day 2 – 19^th June

We had an early start this morning and headed across to terminal to check in at around 7am. We got into the terminal and found a massive line – luckily the premium line was much shorter and we were quickly checked in. Security was fairly quick so we headed to Frankie and Benny’s for breakfast.

 

We had a quick wander then off to our gate, not long to wait and we boarded and we were on our way. I slept for several hours on and off whilst Rob watched movies on his iPad. His entertainment system didn’t work and the cabin crew did offer to move us – but it meant about 3 other people playing musical chairs so we stayed where we were.

Surprisingly two hot meals were provided (breakfast and dinner) – we skipped breakfast as we had already eaten before the flight.

The flight went reasonably quickly and we landed early but had to wait for a gate for ages. Finally we got off and through immigration quickly we got the bags and collected our car. We prefer Orlando airport though as we didn’t like having to walk outside to get the car...!

We checked in to the Doubletree and got our yummy cookie before taking a drive to to the Harley Davidson shop to look at jackets – Rob had bought a new bike a few weeks ago and had been planning a bit of shopping :)

He tried a few on but wasn’t quite sure and so he decided to think it over. We decided to have our traditional first night dinner at Earl of Sandwich :)

Whilst at Downtown Disney we took a quick look in the Harley store but discovered that it was more expensive and they don’t offer an annual pass discount! Back to the hotel for a rest and time for bed.

The bargain trip is not a bargain!

We have now decided to upgrade our flights to premium economy for an extra £300...!

I have also booked tickets to Universal Studios for £212 (I did get a 5% discount) but I also decided that we needed to stay onsite for 1 night to get the unlimited express passes as I think it will be really busy due to the Diagon Alley media event which concludes on our first day at the parks (and will probably make it mega busy) - at least this way we can minimise the lines!

Annoyingly I also waited for some unknown reason to book airport parking and it ended up costing £93 :(

Still we are all ready to go now!