Orlando 2019 - Parks and a Party

Today started earlier for Hubby than the rest of us. He got up and walked over to the Studios to hit early entry and try out the new ride and Star Wars land. He got there by 8 and rode it 5 times before coming back a bit after 9 am and meeting up with us.

We all took the bus to the Magic Kingdom

We focused on rides with Fastpasses to start. Rode a couple of things and then decided on lunch at Columbia Harbor House. Mobile Ordering is amazing if we haven't said it. Soo much less stress and bother than the wait in-line method.
After lunch we split up for a few rides/shows then met up again for three rides, ending with a fastpass on Seven Dwarfs mine train. At this time we decided to take a break from the park.


About halfway to the buses, the rain came.... we found the closest shelter and broke out our rain gear. Even with the gear on, we got pretty wet getting to the bus shelter.

Thankful for a dryer back in the room!

Had a great couple of hours of mellow rest in the room before we headed back out to the Magic Kingdom for the Halloween Party, Mickey's Not So Scary Party to be specific.
We haven't done this event before. Entering the park all the cast had changed into different outfits. Cute, very colorful outfits for the party.
We all got treat bags and a starter handful of candy... oh, you get candy at this event. They hand out candy at set locations and a few surprise locations too.
We jumped on the people movers to start, hoping to get a feel for what was going on in Tomorrowland, etc.
Having our bearings, we set out to ride more rides and enjoy the lighter crowds.
Earlier in the week, we were not sure if this event was going to happen. But Dorian doesn't seem like it will be the threat to our location that it once seemed like.
The other side of that is that the crowds seem to be thinning out. I think people who drove in are leaving early.

Our time at the party was fun. We hit a lot of rides with very short wait or no wait at all. On Big Thunder, it said it was a 10-minute wait, but it was really just however long it took you to walk through the line - so we rode that twice. In fact, we got to ride several things twice.
I also got to do a photo pass I have been wanting to try and we got to see the beginning of the Halloween parade.

Personally, I am not a big fan of Halloween, but I like animals and I have been impressed by the horse that starts this parade, so getting to see the headless horseman ride the parade route was neat. So the horse navigates the route with his rider who can't see and has one hand holding a pumpkin.... very cool horse.

The young man and I gave up on the fun around 10 and headed back to the bus to the resort. Hubby and our young lady stayed another hour-ish before coming back as well.
Overall it was great to have such small crowds. Not sure we would do it again, as the price is a bit high for what you get but glad we tried it.

Orlando 2019 - Move to the Boardwalk

Today marks the halfway point of the trip!

My feet might be the only part of me willing to believe that ;)

Today we move on property to Disney's Boardwalk.
We have a 1 bedroom DVC unit with a kitchen, washer, etc.
It will be smaller than the unit we had at Orange Lake, but way closer to the action!

Check out is at 10, but Check-in isn't until 4. Even so, we decided to check in early. Our logic was partially storm based. Dorian has been on the minds of locals, at least, for the better part of the week. People might be checking out early to get home, or checking-in last minute because they had to evacuate. We wanted to have our stuff at the resort and the check-in process complete as early as possible.
Granted we can check in on our phones, but again, I wanted to talk to someone and get a read on the level of storm prep, etc.
Well, despite a line at check-in, our room was already available! The staff said the resort would take care of us if the storm came and not to worry.
So by 11, we were in our room settling in and prepping to go to the parks!

Our 1-bedroom Villa.... before we lived in it. 

The Animal Kingdom was the plan. We moved our fast passes around a bit to give ourselves time at the resort, and took the bus from the resort.
We went on Navi River first and then did a mobile order for lunch at Pizzafari. Still loving mobile ordering.

Floating Islands of Pandora

After lunch, half the group ran over to Everest and we all met up after for snacks - Mickey bar and Corn... odd combo, but it was an either/or situation... no one had both. Then we rode the train up to Rafiki's Planet Watch.

Roasted corn and the first Mickey bar of the trip! 

This area has changed a bit since last time I was here. they are now using the bulk of the space for an animation experience. It was full, so I assume it's well-received. it was a bit of a let down for us since we weren't going to do that - they don't have much other space before a few small displays. But we go to ride the train and that is important.
After we hit the safari.

We enjoyed seeing Kevin walking around the park

At this point, our young man and I decided to take a break and head back to the hotel. Now that we are on property we can do that. So hubby and the young lady stayed back to ride the big rides... Flight of Passage, Everest (again), and Kali River Rapids.

Kali River Rapids! 

We all met back in the room for dinner, which we grabbed from the boardwalk pizza place and booths.

Not sure what the weather is going to do... we have our ponchos! 

After dinner we walked to Epcot (staying on property is great!), stopping for Ice Cream along the way.
Once in the park, we were able to weave in and out of the crowds to get over to the Mexico pavilion. We had time for one ride before fireworks, so we headed straight to it.

Then we checked-in for our Illuminations fast passes. With 15 minutes to spare we had time to find a good spot and rest.

while we were waiting a small rain shower blew thru. We are getting used to the afternoon showers each day. We saw a couple of showers today actually. I find that as soon as I commit to putting my poncho on, it pretty much stops. True story.
The rain passed and Illuminations went off without a hitch. It was fun to see it one last time. They are ending its 20-year run this summer. We also look forward to seeing what they do next.

Walking back to the hotel isn't as fun as walking to the park, probably because now we are tired and our feet all hurt, but it's time for bed, so Goodnight.

Orlando 2019 - Relax and enjoy the resort

A much needed lazy day!

Today is our first day off, at least until later tonight. 

We are enjoying our two-bedroom unit at the Orange Lake Resort and we are taking advantage of the full kitchen and the resort's pool area.

Wonderful Lazy River

The morning was lazy but we still got to the pool around 10. They have a significant lazy river, and we floated around for the better part of two hours, before breaking for lunch in the room. 

Ah, There is something to be said for being able to have a homemade meal or two. Soo good.

Can we take a moment to talk about Dorian? Come on, that guy is the worst... no, seriously we are keenly aware of the current category 4 Hurricane churning its way towards us. We are less than halfway throughout the trip and at this point are expecting to see Dorian to some degree in a few days. When and how much of him will be left we don't know yet. But we filled up the good ole rental car yesterday, and we stocked up on water and some non-perishable food as well, just in case. We will be in another timeshare starting tomorrow and should be there through whatever storm we get.
My current favorite comment about Dorian is that waiting for a hurricane is like being stalked by a turtle.

After lunch we lazed! A lot. Tried not to get sucked into looking are weather forecasts, as it's our relaxing day, but again, it's hard not to think about that turtle stalking us ;)

Glad we stayed here - the River was delightful

Once things settled a bit, Hubby and the kids returned to the lazy river for a bit. I wandered out and watched in a comfy lounge chair until the weather turned rainy. We are getting pretty familiar with the mad dash to cover... so we did it again, back to the room.

We all dried off and got dressed for the evening. After dinner, we decided to head into the Studios park and see Star Wars land. We didn't ride Smugglers Run but enjoyed walking around Batuu. We got on Midway Mania and tried the new Lighting McQueen Racing Academy. Hubby rode Tower of Terror and the kids and I had a bit of Ice Cream. All in all, we got a lot done in a little bit of time.

Entering the Studios after dark 

Walking into Star Wars Land... also known as Galaxy's Edge... also known as Batuu

The Millennium Falcon!!

Holding her thermal detonator... I mean Sprite bottle 

These ships look soo cool lit up at night! 

Are these the droids we are looking for? 

Orlando 2019 - Epcot!

Walking into Epcot! 

Truth be told, Epcot is my favorite park.
Today we started our day with rope drop and an early ride on Soarin'.
We had reservations for a character breakfast at the Garden Grill inside the Land Pavilion so riding Soarin' first made good sense. We also popped onto Living with the Land and it was time to eat when we got off.

We have breakfasted here once before and at that time decided it was a good fit. So we tried it again. And again the food worked really well for our group. But it is clear we are outgrowing the Character Meal experience. The young lady and I still did pictures and had fun with it. She and Mickey even shared a laugh when he colluded with her to sneak up on me from behind. The mouse gave me a kiss on the cheek and it startled me soo much I yelped... loudly! They both laughed, to funny.

Hmm. this reminds me of something...

Hey Mickey! 

After breakfast, we worked our way around the rest of Future World. We liked the update to Mission Space: Green. And by the time we got to our Test Track fast pass the weather was starting to turn. Apparently, Test Track shuts down in bad weather and they were making announcements to warn people in line that it could happen at any minute. We stayed the course and got through before the water started to fall. In fact, we made it to the Mexico pavilion before the rain started.

After the ride, we waited a bit in the pavilion before venturing out. But it wasn't long before everyone was back outside walking around.  We worked our way around World Showcase and even picked up a few items to try from the Food and Wine Festival booths. So far, we like the Indian food booth and the Japan booth. Another day we might try more.

Great views all around World Showcase! 

We saw the CircleVision in China and the movie in France, followed by a sweet treat from France. Then it was time to leave. Leaving only one attraction left unridden, but we know we will be back for it.

Side note: We are in hurricane season and Dorian, the impending storm is on everyone's mind. These little rain bursts we have been getting are typical Florida weather, But the upcoming storm will be more. I overheard a half dozen conversations about it the last day or so.
On the way home, we made a few stops. Filling up on gas as well as picking up some more water and food for the storm/weekend.

Our evening consisted of dinner in the room, planning for storm contingencies, and getting off our feet.

Orlando 2019 - Magic Kingdom and more

Last night was rough.
But we all slept and that was good.

Walking towards the Castle... great clouds today! 

We were up and to TTC to catch a monorail to the Magic Kingdom by 10:40 am. The young lady is sporting two-finger splints today, she says she isn't in any pain, which is awesome and she had a great attitude, although she is hiding that hand in photos.

posing at the famous Purple Wall... seriously, it has a following! 

This morning was funny as 2 of the 3 fast passes we set, broke down before we got to them, which landed us with 2 extra fast passes (Nice). Then the first two rides we got in line for both stopped temporarily while we were in line.  Crazy.
But we were able to get on everything in the end. In no small part to hubby's mad skills with what we now affectionately call "the FastPass game".

We rode rides, had an easy lunch at Pinocchio's (thank you mobile ordering), and rode more rides!
The rain popped in to remind us it could mid-afternoon and we enjoyed the updated version of Hall of the Presidents while the rain did its thing.
We got through a lot of rides and decided mid-afternoon to head over to the Animal Kingdom, so we took the monorail back to TTC and drove our rental car to AK for a few hours.

We got on the Safari and then found some iced drinks before hitting Pandora. The theming is really good. We are really late to the story of Avatar, we just saw the movie last month, so we now understand a bit more what the land is all about.
After the river ride, the young man and I headed to the car and the adventurous ones rode Flight of Passage before joining us.

We ordered dinner from Panera online and stopped by to pick it up before going home.
Tomorrow Epcot!

Orlando 2019 - Moving offsite

Two resorts, three parks, and more rain

We have arrived! 

Breakfast today: Disney's Hollywood Studios Early Morning Magic event.
We heard about this several months ago and decided to get tickets - it's a sperate ticketed event that lets you have access to Toy Story land before that park opens, plus you get breakfast.

We arrived before our 7:50 am ticket time, and were let right in. We followed the crowd but realized people were going to breakfast first. We ended up going in and getting some small items to eat on the way to Toy Story Land.

First time in Toy Story Land

We got in line for Slinky Dog Dash and had less than a 15 min wait - not typical for this ride. After, we did the Alien Saucers and Midway Mania. Then we couldn't help ourselves and hit Slinky Dog twice more before committing to breakfast.

Slinky Dog Dash... a new favorite! 

Plus, the park was about to open to the general public so our short lines were almost gone.
A comment about the breakfast options for this event.... the menu seemed to be catered to Millennials or hipster foodies. We like a variety of food, but when it comes to breakfast we tend to be more traditional. Chicken and Mickey waffles with Sweet potato tater tots, or Avocado toast with oven-baked egg- were not really what we had been expecting. We don't eat pork so the other options were not going to work for us. However, they had a nice assortment of bread and fruit.
And overall we are very glad we got tickets for the event.

At this point, we left Hollywood Studios to get back to our hotel at Universal. Today we check out and we have about 90 mins before check out time.
When we got back to the car our young man asked where his bag was... uh oh.  With the crowds of people trying to get into the park and the timeline we were on, the decision was made that hubby would go back by himself to try and find the missing bag. It was left at breakfast and turned in. Lucky for us Hubby talked to the cast member who had handled the bag and she was able to get it for him.  Despite the missing bag, we got back to the hotel with plenty of time to get packed up and check out.
And the rest of the day we planned to spend at Universal parks.  Last chance to ride things at Universal so go now!

Great view of Portofino Bay plaza

Hubby finally got to go on Hulk and we all got a little snack. The kids and I hit the Seuss Island rides again and we met hubby after.
We grabbed a second ride on the Hippogriff and then the adventurous half of us went for the last ride on Jurassic Park while the young man and I found some food. Lunch today is snack as you go... and he found something that looked good, so it worked well.

Again we popped on the train to the Studios park and re-road the Men In Black ride and ET.  Hubby and I shared a Beyond Burger at Mel's before we rode Minions on last time.
On the way out of the park, we hit the Today Cafe and shared a few goodies.

This wraps up our time at Universal. We headed off to check into the Orange Lake Resort an IHG property.

Bye Universal, It's been fun! 

This is a timeshare, but we paid cash for our stay. The unit is great - two bedrooms with a king and two queen beds. A full kitchen, full washer and dryer, two baths, and a living room. The price was good. We booked a unit at the building by the pool/lazy river.
Upon check-in, hubby got mild pressure to schedule a 90-minute timeshare presentation to join. He politely declined and we got settled into our unit.

The living room at Orange Lake 

dining area

bedroom

second bedroom 

We had our Owner's Locker delivered here, which Owner's Locker handled great. The resort was not nearly as sure about it. But despite that, Hubby found the locker and we were able to get into that too.

After a rest in the new room, we decided to try Disney Springs again and specifically try to get to Earl of Sandwich. Wanna guess how it went?  Not bad through dinner, but about halfway back to the car park area it started to pour again. Now we are used to the whole afternoon rain thing at this point, but this was another downpour. And despite carrying raincoats around with us all day in the parks, we didn't bring any to the Disney Springs.  We once again found ourselves sprinting from cover to cover and getting a wee bit wet along the way.

This was the sky, just before the rain......

this was my weather app when I took the picture of the sky (posted above) 

this is the young man and me after we found shelter from the downpour. 

Once back in the car we decided to head to Publix for some grocery items since we now have a kitchen... this is where things went bad.
Our brave young lady got her fingers caught in the car door. It wasn't good.
We freed her ring and middle finger and found our way to an urgent care clinic. (a few years back she broke her pinky finger and the state of her fingers looked a lot like that. Plus she was reacting very similarly, although that happened in a very different way).
The boys dropped us off at CentraCare and we got x-rays ... nothing broken!! Yay!!!
The boys spent the time doing that grocery shopping that we had to abandon earlier, and came back to pick us up.

Didn't think a pic of the fingers would be helpful to anyone.. but Thanks to CentraCare for taking good care of us. 

We got back to the room around 11 pm. We decided not to do rope drop the next day and pushed back all our FastPasses.

Our sweet young lady is ok, but a good night's sleep is needed by all.

Orlando 2019 - volcano bay and universal

We are up earlier today
It is really in prep for tomorrow, but we will get to that....tomorrow.

We ran down to the lounge for another quick breakfast. The options aren't bad, and this is working out pretty well. 

Our first order of business today is water slides! We are off to Universal Studios Volcano Bay park, which is huge and fairly new.

Volcano Bay entrance

Since we are staying on-site, we have early admission and get in an hour before the general public.

Two of the four of us really enjoy water slides. One of us is a huge lazy river fan and the holdout will tolerate it for a limited period of time. So we went forth! 

The park is beautifully themed. Crazy lush and very tropical.

soo much greenery

We found the lockers pretty easy to use and were in the "Fearless River" almost as soon as they opened it up. This one is far from lazy, you have to wear a life vest, then just let the current pull you through. Fun!! 

Our young man sat this out to play in the sand. After a lap, we decided to split up into our typical groups... the adventurous two and the young man and me. 

The brave among us hit a bunch of slides, while he and I did the typical lazy river and explored all the nooks and crannies of the park.

The volcano! 

After a few hours, we met up and decided to work our way back to the room. The brave took one more lap at the river and we met back in the room. 

After showers, we knew it was time for lunch and more park time.

Toothsome's for lunch

For lunch, we tried Toothsome's Chocolate Emporium. I know it doesn't sound like lunch, but the menu looked quite good and the steampunk-inspired decor was fun.

this bread was not sweet but it was delicious... if you come across the recipe, I want it! 

Almost ate it all!!!

We ate real food and split dessert. Then before we got too full, went into the Islands of Adventure to see more of the park. 

We made it through Seuss Island and the Lost continent  - when the rain decided to show up. Even with the waterworks, we made it to Hogsmeade. After exploring we took the train back to the Studios park to re-ride some favorites from yesterday.

At Citywalk, we got some random food to take back to the room for dinner. 

These days have been really fun, I expect we will return to Universal in trips in the future

back at the resort for the evening.... just a little wind. 

Every evening on the plaza, something like this happens. It was delightful