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Florida 2014: Day 26, Homecoming. COMPLETED
- Thread starter Jordanovichy
- Start date
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Re: Florida 2014: Day 18, Islands of Adventure
Ran out of time, we had the booking at Hard Rock Cafe and after that we were knackered. We knew we'd be going back so decided to call it a night.
Ran out of time, we had the booking at Hard Rock Cafe and after that we were knackered. We knew we'd be going back so decided to call it a night.
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Re: Florida 2014: Day 17, Fun Spot USA & Old Town
I hoped someone would appreciate them
Radaxian said:
I hoped someone would appreciate them
ThomVD
Giga Poster
Re: Florida 2014: Day 18, Islands of Adventure
Your report makes me want to grab my books and read them all over again. The HP part of Universal definitely looks like the standout area. I have mixed feelings about the rest of IoA. Some areas look great, others don't really look like my kind of theming (the flume is undoubtly well themed but I personally find Splash Mountain or Chiapas much more 'my style'). I'm sure when I see it all in person it will impress me anyway .
Your report makes me want to grab my books and read them all over again. The HP part of Universal definitely looks like the standout area. I have mixed feelings about the rest of IoA. Some areas look great, others don't really look like my kind of theming (the flume is undoubtly well themed but I personally find Splash Mountain or Chiapas much more 'my style'). I'm sure when I see it all in person it will impress me anyway
.
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Re: Florida 2014: Day 18, Islands of Adventure
Yeah it 100% is the standout area, 100%. But I might just be saying that because I am slightly bias as I adore the Harry Potter series. As for the rest of the park, as I'm sure you gathered from my report, it's just **** stunning. The overall theming rivals Disney...and in some cases, dare I say it, beats it. The only reason Magic Kingdom is my favourite park overall, is because you can really feel the Disney 'magic' there, that is what gives it the edge over IoA.
I love Splash Mountain in a different way to what I love Ripsaw Falls. Splash Mountain is a much more serious ride with a detailed story and I love it for that, especially with the catchy tune. But Ripsaw Falls is doesn't take itself seriously, that's why I love it, it's a good laugh and is so cartoony, and for that reason it probably edges as my favourite log flume. It's fab fab fab. As for Chiapas...I'll get back to you on that one after I've ridden it in early April
ThomVD said:Your report makes me want to grab my books and read them all over again. The HP part of Universal definitely looks like the standout area. I have mixed feelings about the rest of IoA. Some areas look great, others don't really look like my kind of theming (the flume is undoubtly well themed but I personally find Splash Mountain or Chiapas much more 'my style'). I'm sure when I see it all in person it will impress me anyway
Yeah it 100% is the standout area, 100%. But I might just be saying that because I am slightly bias as I adore the Harry Potter series. As for the rest of the park, as I'm sure you gathered from my report, it's just **** stunning. The overall theming rivals Disney...and in some cases, dare I say it, beats it. The only reason Magic Kingdom is my favourite park overall, is because you can really feel the Disney 'magic' there, that is what gives it the edge over IoA.
I love Splash Mountain in a different way to what I love Ripsaw Falls. Splash Mountain is a much more serious ride with a detailed story and I love it for that, especially with the catchy tune. But Ripsaw Falls is doesn't take itself seriously, that's why I love it, it's a good laugh and is so cartoony, and for that reason it probably edges as my favourite log flume. It's fab fab fab. As for Chiapas...I'll get back to you on that one after I've ridden it in early April
Martyn B
CF Legend
Re: Florida 2014: Day 18, Islands of Adventure
With rides like Spiderman and Forbidden Journey, IoA really is an amazing park.
I hadn't even seen any of the Potter films, yet Forbidden Journey just blew me away!
I wasn't too impressed with Hulk if I'm honest, it had that old school intense rattle that some B&Ms suffer with it.
And there's no way that Fear fall towers are 185ft, they're tiny!
With rides like Spiderman and Forbidden Journey, IoA really is an amazing park.
I hadn't even seen any of the Potter films, yet Forbidden Journey just blew me away!
I wasn't too impressed with Hulk if I'm honest, it had that old school intense rattle that some B&Ms suffer with it.
And there's no way that Fear fall towers are 185ft, they're tiny!
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Re: Florida 2014: Day 18, Islands of Adventure
Well, even though Gavin has started his report and it will clearly overshadow mine I shall continue
Tuesday 5th August: Day 19, Hollywood Studios
A slightly relaxing day in store today, a trip to the shopping mall before spending the evening at Hollywood Studios. There was a slight kerfuffle early on, a lizard had got into the house, it was huge and we tried to capture it. Daniel donned lizard catching attire.
And Milo was deployed to try and trap it...
We didn't find it but oh well. We drove to the mall and had lunch as soon as we arrived. I went to the Japanese place and had teriyaki chicken. It was really tasty.
My sister had contacted me and said she wanted a pair of the cheap (in comparison to UK prices) Vans for school so that was my port of call. After that we just minced around doing not very much. I did buy an Angry Birds case for my iPad for just $5. Yay.
Once done we headed to Theme Park Connection, a place that sells old theme park merchandise but specialises in Disney merch.
Although I've never seen it, they produce a magazine every month and publish videos on YouTube occasionally about all things theme park. This is their studio.
They sold cheap Disney pins so I bought a few as well as some other stuff. It was quite fun there, but a little dull. I'm glad we went though.
On the way to Hollywood Studios, we stopped at iHOP for some food.
I had a small main, a pulled pork sandwich, to mean I could have plenty of pancakes. Yay.
The pancakes were beautiful.
We then decided to head off to Hollywood Studios to spend the evening there.
Because, when we last visited, Voyage of the Little Mermaid had spited us, we headed over to that first.
We entered a room themed to the inside of a pirate boat. Apologies for the blurry photo, but it gives you an idea of what it was like.
This is where there was a pre-show. It featured snippets of the Little Mermaid shows/films, but as I've never seen it I was a little lost. You then file into a theatre 'under the sea'.
A gorgeous girl played Aerial with a shell bra and fiery red hair. She was stunning. There are also puppets of the yellow fish (sorry, I don't know anyone's name, only Aerial. The characters sing 'Under the Sea', a song I do know actually, and Ursula (I think that's her name) come on, a huge, 12ft tall puppet, quite impressive really. All the time lasers are shining different images onto the sides of the theatre. The screens on stage also show more snippets of the film. The music, the singing, the puppets, the effects, all made a great show. I imagine I'd have enjoyed it even more if I was familiar with Little Mermaid.
Next we headed over to the Studio Backlot Tour.
It has now closed (or is about to be) which is a shame as I quite enjoyed it...but I can see after the first time it would become predictable and less impressive. But anyway...
As I'm sure you know it is simply a tour 'behind the scenes' of various sets at Hollywood Studios, detailing how things are filmed in the films we know and love. First we learn how water effects are produced and filmed with big explosions and water jets and plenty of water.
It was quite cool. The water was blasted from air cannons to symbolise gunshots in water. Next we boarded a tram to take us on a driven tour. You pass several old vehicles used in Disney films of old and you pass the costume and design studios.
I loved how the doors worked on these, the whole side lifted up and in to let you get in, then came down. It was fab. Little things please little minds.
A model plane from Planes, never seen it, but if it is anything like Cars, it'll be ****
A Hollywood Studios icon, The Earfel Tower.
The tour continued until we arrived in an old mining site. This was my favourite part.
It was hard to get a good photo to show the whole area in one go because it was quite close. There are a couple of explosions when suddenly a ridiculous amount of water cascades down the back of the site and all over the cliff you are parked under.
Look at it all
It really was spectacular. There was just so much. Really enjoyed this part.
The tour continued. You pass the set for Light's Camera Action and they explain how those stunts are done. I would like to have seen that show first but that is coming up in the next part.
If you look at this photo just right you'll realise the back is actually an image made to look like a proper street...who am I kidding, it's **** obvious.
And the tour finally came to an end. It was quite good to be honest, but, like I said, I wouldn't enjoy it as much a second time now I know what was coming up.
Next we headed over to Tower of Terror to use our fast pass. We only just made it in time.
Once again I loved it. I could ride this all day. Such a brilliant ride. Probably my 2nd favourite non-coaster experience in Florida, after Spiderman...but it is a very close second!
Next we headed to Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Featuring Aerosmith as it is next door and as we had a fast pass. Yay cred.
I didn't do any research into the ride, I like to be surprised, all I knew was it played music (Aerosmith amazingly) and that it was indoors so I was quite surprised when I saw it launched out of the ride station. There is a small pre-show featuring the members of Aerosmith introducing the ride.
Once again, apologies for the quality, I only took the one and it isn't tooooo bad.
Have some photos of the ride station.
I really rather enjoyed it. A little rough at the start but the music does work well, but it is hard to hear it, not because it is quite, but because it just sounds like an uber **** recording of the song. I was quite surprised when it went upside down, I just didn't realise that happened...I suppose the over-the-shoulder restraints should have given it away haha #S**tGoon
It was getting dark now and it was nearly time for Fantasmic, but we soon found out there was already standing room only so we decided to bail and go back and see the 22:30 showing. We headed over to the Backlot Cafe for some food, they have unlimited coke, I was feeling hot and bothered and thirsty so made good use of it. I had some spicy chicken nuggets, they were beautiful.
As it was next door, Star Tours had to happen...twice as there was no queue. <3
I can't remember anything of the first ride, I haven't made any notes on it either. But the second go was the most enjoyable ride I'd had on it. We 'crashed' into the snow and it felt and looked so brilliant and realistic. I recognised the extracts from the films here too from Lego Star Wars obviously. I need to watch the films. I love this ride though. I took a 3D glasses selfie.
We headed back across the park, pausing to watch the Frozen Summer Fun fireworks.
They were set off in time to Let It Go and it really was a spectacular show.
We then joined the queue for Fantasmic. It is a show based on Fantasia, sadly I have never seen it, but I really need to get round to doing so. We took our seats nearer the back and suddenly Mickey Mouse appeared to a rapturous applause.
I'll give a brief description then chuck in some photos. There was a mountain in the centre of the stage surrounded by a lake. There was a 'backdrop' which was basically a large fountain of water on which snippets of the film are projected onto. The mountain was constantly covered in exceptionally costumed people including many differently dressed Mickey Mouses, and a massive snake. The pyrotechnics were exceptional. Many fireworks, at one point the whole lake was on fire too, despite being at the back of the theatre you could really feel the heat too.
At the end a steamboat, driven by the original Mickey, Steamboat Willie drove along the lake carrying many many disney characters. Mary Poppins and Bert, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Beauty and the Beast, Goofy, Pinocchio, Mr. Smee, Donald Duck, Stitch. I could go on, it was quite spectacular. I loved it. There was a grand finale with even more water effects, fire, pyrotechnics with Sorcerer Mickey appearing at the top of the mountain and normal Mickey at the bottom. It was so fab. I loved every moment of the show. You can't really compare it to Wishes but these were by far the best two shows I saw at Disney World. Now have several photos.
So...much...fire
Sadly, it was then time to leave Hollywood Studios...but it's ok, we'd be back again tomorrow! We thought we'd avoid the crowds of everyone leaving by doing some shopping along Hollywood Boulevard before leaving. We didn't get back to the villa until after midnight so it was straight to bed.
Once again, thank you very much for reading, I do hope you enjoyed it, the end of this report is finally in sight you'll be glad to hear! Day 20 soon, a return to Hollywood Studios....but for the last time.
Well, even though Gavin has started his report and it will clearly overshadow mine I shall continue
Tuesday 5th August: Day 19, Hollywood Studios
A slightly relaxing day in store today, a trip to the shopping mall before spending the evening at Hollywood Studios. There was a slight kerfuffle early on, a lizard had got into the house, it was huge and we tried to capture it. Daniel donned lizard catching attire.
And Milo was deployed to try and trap it...
We didn't find it but oh well. We drove to the mall and had lunch as soon as we arrived. I went to the Japanese place and had teriyaki chicken. It was really tasty.
My sister had contacted me and said she wanted a pair of the cheap (in comparison to UK prices) Vans for school so that was my port of call. After that we just minced around doing not very much. I did buy an Angry Birds case for my iPad for just $5. Yay.
Once done we headed to Theme Park Connection, a place that sells old theme park merchandise but specialises in Disney merch.
Although I've never seen it, they produce a magazine every month and publish videos on YouTube occasionally about all things theme park. This is their studio.
They sold cheap Disney pins so I bought a few as well as some other stuff. It was quite fun there, but a little dull. I'm glad we went though.
On the way to Hollywood Studios, we stopped at iHOP for some food.
I had a small main, a pulled pork sandwich, to mean I could have plenty of pancakes. Yay.
The pancakes were beautiful.
We then decided to head off to Hollywood Studios to spend the evening there.
Because, when we last visited, Voyage of the Little Mermaid had spited us, we headed over to that first.
We entered a room themed to the inside of a pirate boat. Apologies for the blurry photo, but it gives you an idea of what it was like.
This is where there was a pre-show. It featured snippets of the Little Mermaid shows/films, but as I've never seen it I was a little lost. You then file into a theatre 'under the sea'.
A gorgeous girl played Aerial with a shell bra and fiery red hair. She was stunning. There are also puppets of the yellow fish (sorry, I don't know anyone's name, only Aerial. The characters sing 'Under the Sea', a song I do know actually, and Ursula (I think that's her name) come on, a huge, 12ft tall puppet, quite impressive really. All the time lasers are shining different images onto the sides of the theatre. The screens on stage also show more snippets of the film. The music, the singing, the puppets, the effects, all made a great show. I imagine I'd have enjoyed it even more if I was familiar with Little Mermaid.
Next we headed over to the Studio Backlot Tour.
It has now closed (or is about to be) which is a shame as I quite enjoyed it...but I can see after the first time it would become predictable and less impressive. But anyway...
As I'm sure you know it is simply a tour 'behind the scenes' of various sets at Hollywood Studios, detailing how things are filmed in the films we know and love. First we learn how water effects are produced and filmed with big explosions and water jets and plenty of water.
It was quite cool. The water was blasted from air cannons to symbolise gunshots in water. Next we boarded a tram to take us on a driven tour. You pass several old vehicles used in Disney films of old and you pass the costume and design studios.
I loved how the doors worked on these, the whole side lifted up and in to let you get in, then came down. It was fab. Little things please little minds.
A model plane from Planes, never seen it, but if it is anything like Cars, it'll be ****
A Hollywood Studios icon, The Earfel Tower.
The tour continued until we arrived in an old mining site. This was my favourite part.
It was hard to get a good photo to show the whole area in one go because it was quite close. There are a couple of explosions when suddenly a ridiculous amount of water cascades down the back of the site and all over the cliff you are parked under.
Look at it all
It really was spectacular. There was just so much. Really enjoyed this part.
The tour continued. You pass the set for Light's Camera Action and they explain how those stunts are done. I would like to have seen that show first but that is coming up in the next part.
If you look at this photo just right you'll realise the back is actually an image made to look like a proper street...who am I kidding, it's **** obvious.
And the tour finally came to an end. It was quite good to be honest, but, like I said, I wouldn't enjoy it as much a second time now I know what was coming up.
Next we headed over to Tower of Terror to use our fast pass. We only just made it in time.
Once again I loved it. I could ride this all day. Such a brilliant ride. Probably my 2nd favourite non-coaster experience in Florida, after Spiderman...but it is a very close second!
Next we headed to Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Featuring Aerosmith as it is next door and as we had a fast pass. Yay cred.
I didn't do any research into the ride, I like to be surprised, all I knew was it played music (Aerosmith amazingly) and that it was indoors so I was quite surprised when I saw it launched out of the ride station. There is a small pre-show featuring the members of Aerosmith introducing the ride.
Once again, apologies for the quality, I only took the one and it isn't tooooo bad.
Have some photos of the ride station.
I really rather enjoyed it. A little rough at the start but the music does work well, but it is hard to hear it, not because it is quite, but because it just sounds like an uber **** recording of the song. I was quite surprised when it went upside down, I just didn't realise that happened...I suppose the over-the-shoulder restraints should have given it away haha #S**tGoon
It was getting dark now and it was nearly time for Fantasmic, but we soon found out there was already standing room only so we decided to bail and go back and see the 22:30 showing. We headed over to the Backlot Cafe for some food, they have unlimited coke, I was feeling hot and bothered and thirsty so made good use of it. I had some spicy chicken nuggets, they were beautiful.
As it was next door, Star Tours had to happen...twice as there was no queue. <3
I can't remember anything of the first ride, I haven't made any notes on it either. But the second go was the most enjoyable ride I'd had on it. We 'crashed' into the snow and it felt and looked so brilliant and realistic. I recognised the extracts from the films here too from Lego Star Wars obviously. I need to watch the films. I love this ride though. I took a 3D glasses selfie.
We headed back across the park, pausing to watch the Frozen Summer Fun fireworks.
They were set off in time to Let It Go and it really was a spectacular show.
We then joined the queue for Fantasmic. It is a show based on Fantasia, sadly I have never seen it, but I really need to get round to doing so. We took our seats nearer the back and suddenly Mickey Mouse appeared to a rapturous applause.
I'll give a brief description then chuck in some photos. There was a mountain in the centre of the stage surrounded by a lake. There was a 'backdrop' which was basically a large fountain of water on which snippets of the film are projected onto. The mountain was constantly covered in exceptionally costumed people including many differently dressed Mickey Mouses, and a massive snake. The pyrotechnics were exceptional. Many fireworks, at one point the whole lake was on fire too, despite being at the back of the theatre you could really feel the heat too.
At the end a steamboat, driven by the original Mickey, Steamboat Willie drove along the lake carrying many many disney characters. Mary Poppins and Bert, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Beauty and the Beast, Goofy, Pinocchio, Mr. Smee, Donald Duck, Stitch. I could go on, it was quite spectacular. I loved it. There was a grand finale with even more water effects, fire, pyrotechnics with Sorcerer Mickey appearing at the top of the mountain and normal Mickey at the bottom. It was so fab. I loved every moment of the show. You can't really compare it to Wishes but these were by far the best two shows I saw at Disney World. Now have several photos.
So...much...fire
Sadly, it was then time to leave Hollywood Studios...but it's ok, we'd be back again tomorrow! We thought we'd avoid the crowds of everyone leaving by doing some shopping along Hollywood Boulevard before leaving. We didn't get back to the villa until after midnight so it was straight to bed.
Once again, thank you very much for reading, I do hope you enjoyed it, the end of this report is finally in sight you'll be glad to hear! Day 20 soon, a return to Hollywood Studios....but for the last time.
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Re: Florida 2014: Day 19, Hollywood Studios
^Yeah, I've never seen it if I'm honest, but apparently the magazine isn't as good as the show. I might have to watch some of their videos. It was a cool place to go, I bought some cheap merchandise from years gone by. They have a MASSIVE collection of theme park maps for sale too. I bought a map from EPCOT 1992 but I wish I had bought more to be honest.
^Yeah, I've never seen it if I'm honest, but apparently the magazine isn't as good as the show. I might have to watch some of their videos. It was a cool place to go, I bought some cheap merchandise from years gone by. They have a MASSIVE collection of theme park maps for sale too. I bought a map from EPCOT 1992 but I wish I had bought more to be honest.
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Re: Florida 2014: Day 19, Hollywood Studios
Onwards.
Wednesday 6th August: Day 20, Hollywood Studios...again
Despite having spent the evening before at Hollywood Studios, we decided to head back and spend the day there today. We had planned to arrive for opening but given we hadn't gotten back to the villa until gone midnight that just wasn't happening. Instead we arrived around 11.
We headed straight to Midway Mania.
I got 135,000 which I was really happy with, I beat the others at least
I really enjoy this ride, I quite like how you shoot actually, I know the fact it is fixed to the car is annoying but it was fun enough.
On the way out I took a selfie
We stopped for a snack. I had a fab Mickey Mouse pretzel. So tasty.
And then, I decided to have another, but a jalapeño one. I was expecting it to be slightly spicier than it was so I was a little disappointed.
Sarah and Angela headed over to the Frozen sing-a-long, I was tempted because yannow, Frozen, but we headed over to Lights, Motors, Action! instead.
All I knew was that it was a stunt show, I didn't know what I was in for really. Like the other shows I had seen at Hollywood Studios it is basically a load of stunts and then an explanation of how they would be filmed in the movies. It started off with a car chase and cars reversing really fast with some jumps, it was really good.
They were dancing all over the place it was really impressive. They went onto explain how they are performed.
Next bikes were introduced, as were guns, plus a stuntman...as well as the cars from before. There was a lot going on at once, it was quite a spectacle.
Lightning McQueen, from Cars, also arrived.
He didn't really do much, only driving fast and a couple of handbrake turns.
The finalé was quite impressive actually. I particularly liked how this car drove on two wheels.
And then...FIRE! Woooo, fire.
The lake was on fire too.
Then this casually happened.
And the final part consisted of fire and fireworks...oh and a stunt jump. It was fab.
It was a really really good show, enjoyed the stunt and pyrotechnics...but I wouldn't rush back to see it again straight away. Once you know what's going to happen it kind of takes the fun away.
We then headed over to the Beauty and the Beast show. It is one of my favourite Disney films and I really like the soundtrack so was looking forward to it. I hadn't watched it in a while so I was slightly rusty when trying to sing along, but alas, I enjoyed myself. It was a decent enough show but I wouldn't bother with it again.
I love the costumes
Awwwwwwwww
By now it was boiling, like really really stifling, being in the sun was actually painful. I appear not to have taken very few photos from now on so I'll make it brief. Well, briefer than usual
It was time for our fast pass on Tower of Terror so we headed over to that. Brilliant once again. Absolutely amazing ride. We headed over to look at Rock 'n' Roller Coaster but we weren't willing to wait 90 minutes so went single rider. Due to a fluke Dan and I managed to sit together anyway. Have an ORP.
I enjoyed it more than yesterday. I think the fact I knew the song they played...although, I can't remember what that was now...8 months later.
It was getting dark now so we headed over to Star Tours for our final fast pass of the day. It was great. The best ride I'd had on it so far. Had the snow scene I really enjoyed yesterday, a decent chase which culminated in Darth Vader appearing, you defeat him and head back to the home land, (is that Tatooine?) where there are loads of characters greeting and congratulating you. It's so good.
We then had another walk around the Walt Disney: One Man's Dream attraction because I really enjoy it, I find it fascinating.
The only thing I find disappointing is, in the movie, when Walt Disney himself speaks the audio quality is really hard to understand, but I really enjoy the overall experience nonetheless. We rode the Great Movie Ride again, had to queue for over half an hour. I enjoy this but would get more out of it if I had some more film-watching experience.
We finished the day over at Tower of Terror whilst Sarah, Angela and Mr. Stephen watched the Frozen fireworks. We had another ride on Star Tours first, not as good as the previous ride, and then headed over to Tower of Terror. Bought some pretzels on the way.
But as the queue was small we spent the rest of the evening riding Tower of Terror 4 times...including the last ride of the day.
On our first go we got to see the fireworks whilst Let it go was blaring out, that was quite fantastic, being 200ft in the air falling and rising whilst seeing that. For some reason, Peep wouldn't let me count LoG show points though
I love how each cycle is different so you don't know what's coming next. Love it love it love it.
Have an ORP
The park was no closed and people were leaving. It was time to say a very very fond farewell to Hollywood Studios. I really really like this park, I prefer Magic Kingdom and EPCOT but I still really really like it here.
Thank you very much for reading once again. Day 21 up soon, not an exciting update, no theme park, just relaxing.
Onwards.
Wednesday 6th August: Day 20, Hollywood Studios...again
Despite having spent the evening before at Hollywood Studios, we decided to head back and spend the day there today. We had planned to arrive for opening but given we hadn't gotten back to the villa until gone midnight that just wasn't happening. Instead we arrived around 11.
We headed straight to Midway Mania.
I got 135,000 which I was really happy with, I beat the others at least
I really enjoy this ride, I quite like how you shoot actually, I know the fact it is fixed to the car is annoying but it was fun enough. On the way out I took a selfie
We stopped for a snack. I had a fab Mickey Mouse pretzel. So tasty.
And then, I decided to have another, but a jalapeño one. I was expecting it to be slightly spicier than it was so I was a little disappointed.
Sarah and Angela headed over to the Frozen sing-a-long, I was tempted because yannow, Frozen, but we headed over to Lights, Motors, Action! instead.
All I knew was that it was a stunt show, I didn't know what I was in for really. Like the other shows I had seen at Hollywood Studios it is basically a load of stunts and then an explanation of how they would be filmed in the movies. It started off with a car chase and cars reversing really fast with some jumps, it was really good.
They were dancing all over the place it was really impressive. They went onto explain how they are performed.
There are two red cars...which makes sense, as one is a normal car to do all the forward driving, the second car has the body reversed and a hidden driver so when it looks like it is reversing really fast it is still driving forward normally. It tricked me!
Next bikes were introduced, as were guns, plus a stuntman...as well as the cars from before. There was a lot going on at once, it was quite a spectacle.
Lightning McQueen, from Cars, also arrived.
He didn't really do much, only driving fast and a couple of handbrake turns.
The finalé was quite impressive actually. I particularly liked how this car drove on two wheels.
And then...FIRE! Woooo, fire.
The lake was on fire too.
Then this casually happened.
And the final part consisted of fire and fireworks...oh and a stunt jump. It was fab.
It was a really really good show, enjoyed the stunt and pyrotechnics...but I wouldn't rush back to see it again straight away. Once you know what's going to happen it kind of takes the fun away.
We then headed over to the Beauty and the Beast show. It is one of my favourite Disney films and I really like the soundtrack so was looking forward to it. I hadn't watched it in a while so I was slightly rusty when trying to sing along, but alas, I enjoyed myself. It was a decent enough show but I wouldn't bother with it again.
I love the costumes
Awwwwwwwww
By now it was boiling, like really really stifling, being in the sun was actually painful. I appear not to have taken very few photos from now on so I'll make it brief. Well, briefer than usual
It was time for our fast pass on Tower of Terror so we headed over to that. Brilliant once again. Absolutely amazing ride. We headed over to look at Rock 'n' Roller Coaster but we weren't willing to wait 90 minutes so went single rider. Due to a fluke Dan and I managed to sit together anyway. Have an ORP.
I enjoyed it more than yesterday. I think the fact I knew the song they played...although, I can't remember what that was now...8 months later.
It was getting dark now so we headed over to Star Tours for our final fast pass of the day. It was great. The best ride I'd had on it so far. Had the snow scene I really enjoyed yesterday, a decent chase which culminated in Darth Vader appearing, you defeat him and head back to the home land, (is that Tatooine?) where there are loads of characters greeting and congratulating you. It's so good.
We then had another walk around the Walt Disney: One Man's Dream attraction because I really enjoy it, I find it fascinating.
The only thing I find disappointing is, in the movie, when Walt Disney himself speaks the audio quality is really hard to understand, but I really enjoy the overall experience nonetheless. We rode the Great Movie Ride again, had to queue for over half an hour. I enjoy this but would get more out of it if I had some more film-watching experience.
We finished the day over at Tower of Terror whilst Sarah, Angela and Mr. Stephen watched the Frozen fireworks. We had another ride on Star Tours first, not as good as the previous ride, and then headed over to Tower of Terror. Bought some pretzels on the way.
But as the queue was small we spent the rest of the evening riding Tower of Terror 4 times...including the last ride of the day.
On our first go we got to see the fireworks whilst Let it go was blaring out, that was quite fantastic, being 200ft in the air falling and rising whilst seeing that. For some reason, Peep wouldn't let me count LoG show points though
I love how each cycle is different so you don't know what's coming next. Love it love it love it.
Have an ORP
The park was no closed and people were leaving. It was time to say a very very fond farewell to Hollywood Studios. I really really like this park, I prefer Magic Kingdom and EPCOT but I still really really like it here.
Thank you very much for reading once again. Day 21 up soon, not an exciting update, no theme park, just relaxing.
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Re: Florida 2014: Day 20, Hollywood Studios...again
This will be a quick one...I promise
Thursday 7th August: Day 21, Florida Mall
A 'much' needed rest day. I woke up boiling at 9.30, well before the others so I wrote up some of this trip report. Once the others were up I went out for a swim. Eventually Dan joined me and we played beach ball 'cause we're cool kids. Then it happened. I managed to dislocate my shoulder. Thankfully, as my dead limb came crashing down to the waters surface, the whack popped it back in but **** **** **** me did it hurt, and was painful for the rest of the day.
We headed out to the Florida Mall after lunch. We stopped off at a shop just outside for Sarah and Angela to looks round, the rest of us stayed in the car when a massive thunderstorm struck.
People were running out of the shops carrying boxes on their heads in a hopeless attempt to stay dry.
These were floating away on the flood water. It was all very exciting.
We then headed to the Florida Mall. There's a range of shops you get in the UK, plus an M&M's world which was quite fun.
But I didn't buy anything, wayyyyy too expensive.
We moved on to find somewhere for dinner, we wanted to go to the nearby Cheesecake Factory.
But it was rammed, with a 90 minute queue so we bailed. The shopping centre it was in looked stunning though.
We went to Sweet Tomatoes instead. It made a nice change from the usual grease and chips I've had most days until now.
The soup was beautiful.
And that's it for day 21. Thank you very much for reading, day 22 soon, Universal Studios.
This will be a quick one...I promise
Thursday 7th August: Day 21, Florida Mall
A 'much' needed rest day. I woke up boiling at 9.30, well before the others so I wrote up some of this trip report. Once the others were up I went out for a swim. Eventually Dan joined me and we played beach ball 'cause we're cool kids. Then it happened. I managed to dislocate my shoulder. Thankfully, as my dead limb came crashing down to the waters surface, the whack popped it back in but **** **** **** me did it hurt, and was painful for the rest of the day.
We headed out to the Florida Mall after lunch. We stopped off at a shop just outside for Sarah and Angela to looks round, the rest of us stayed in the car when a massive thunderstorm struck.
People were running out of the shops carrying boxes on their heads in a hopeless attempt to stay dry.
These were floating away on the flood water. It was all very exciting.
We then headed to the Florida Mall. There's a range of shops you get in the UK, plus an M&M's world which was quite fun.
But I didn't buy anything, wayyyyy too expensive.
We moved on to find somewhere for dinner, we wanted to go to the nearby Cheesecake Factory.
But it was rammed, with a 90 minute queue so we bailed. The shopping centre it was in looked stunning though.
We went to Sweet Tomatoes instead. It made a nice change from the usual grease and chips I've had most days until now.
The soup was beautiful.
And that's it for day 21. Thank you very much for reading, day 22 soon, Universal Studios.
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Re: Florida 2014: Day 21, Florida Mall
Right, I'm at work for the next four days which gives me perfect opportunity to get this finished off before I go to Germany on Friday. Here we go then.
Friday 8th August: Day 22, Universal Studios
Another very early start awaited, we were out of the house by 7.30 and on our way to Universal Studios. We had a vague plan, do some stuff that we had missed on our last visit at Universal Studios, then catch the Hogwarts' Express over to Islands of Adventure, grab a butter beer, come back and do whatever.
We soon arrived.
We were going to queue for the Despicable Me ride but as it is basically the first thing you get to, that was where everyone else had flocked to and the queue was 90 minutes. **** that. Instead we went and rode Transformers 3D.
It is similar to Spiderman, but just not as good, no fire for one thing. However, I did feel the car interacted with the 3D effects more in Transformers than it did with Spiderman, but overall, Spiderman has more going for it. The queue is full of various screens and switches you can play around with to pass the time.
Next we headed over to Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, a ride I had really been looking forward to riding. I had to take a selfie.
We queued an age, 90 minutes, and was **** boiling too. The operations were awful, they were leaving 4 or 5 empty seats on each train, some of which were next to each other.
I quite liked how the ride doesn't actually stop while you get on...you'd think that'd actually speed up operations! Have some generic HRRR photos.
This train wasn't so bad as it only had one empty seat
Eventually we reached the station.
Anyway, the ride. As soon as you sit down you have to select what song you want to listen to, I chose Born to be Wild. I was going to choose We Won't get Fooled Again but as that was a hidden song I knew I'd **** it up and have to listen to a song I'd never heard of before :lol: . I'm not going to lie, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit left me rather underwhelmed. It is a very good coaster, some airtime, plenty of speed, lots of coasting around, it's good fun, but I was just expecting better. It was very smooth. It does still rank at 17th for me, because it was a great coaster, I think I was just expecting more.
Once done we headed over to the Monster Café where the Maycock parents were sat waiting. I had chilli cheese fries for a snack which weren't all that great. We then decided to head over to Kings' Cross to catch the Hogwarts' Express.
Kings' Cross is exceptionally well themed. It really is just like the real thing. I was only at the actual Kings' Cross yesterday, and I'd forgotten just how realistic this looks in comparison until I saw my pictures.
They had a times screen with different places in the UK, Foxton is quite close to where my parent's live.
You walk through quite a hefty queueing area to get to Platform 9 & 3/4.
The use mirrors to make it seem as if you're passing through the wall just like the students do when trying to get onto the platform.
It's difficult to see here, maybe I took a better one on a later date, we shall see!
But we were greeted with quite a sight on Platform 9 & 3/4.
The Hogwarts' Express!
The train is stunning, I couldn't wait to clamber aboard...but before that, selfie time!
Soon we were on board. The inside of the carriages was just like old steam train carriages I've ridden in before, really well themed, immersive, stunning.
So, the ride. To my left I had the 'window', you have London to start, move through the suburbs, eventually onto the countryside where a storm develops and dementors appear. To my right I had the carriage 'sliding' door, the old lady with the trolly saying 'anything from the trolly dears?' passes by as a silhouette, as do Harry, Ron and Hermione (once again with different voices which is SO annoying!) and Neville's frog, Trevor. When the dementors appear outside they also appear as a silhouette on the carriage doors, it frosts up, before you hear Lupin shout 'expecto patronum' and a bright flash of light forms to send the dementor away. It is so so well done. I loved it.
To finish, when you arrive at Hogsmeade station, there is Hagrid standing on the station beaming. This is the best photo I could manage of the window...
But you get the idea. I went to the front of the train to get some photos.
In Hogsmeade we simply had a Butterbeer before making our way back over to Universal Studios, this time, catching the train at Hogsmeade.
I was expecting the same sequence of events on the train this time round but no, it was different, and for me, better. It starts with Hagrid waving goodbye, then the main three look into the carriage and realise it's full, Ron rudely points out 'it looks like a bunch of 1st years'. How rude! You get a beautiful leaving view of Hogwarts, then owls swoop past and there was Buckbeak. Then the centaurs in the Forbidden Forest pass you, Fred and George set off some fireworks advertising Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. You then reach Malfoy Manor with Voldemort casting some spell outside. You reach suburban London and pass over the M25 (which for some reason isn't a traffic jam which it usually is), in London you see the Knight Bus racing around and finally a smiling Mad-Eye Moody (as ludicrous as it sounds, yes he was smiling) is waiting to greet you at Kings' Cross. I liked this way more as it seemed to have more Harry Potter content and references which I just loved.
We looked at the train timetables as we left Kings' Cross and noticed a place called St. Noets, this should, of course, be St. Neots. We let a member of staff know, purely because it was a small mistake that they could easily rectify.
We then headed over to Revenge of the Mummy.
I was expecting good things as I had been told good things. The queue line was cool, lots of mummy and Egyptian artefacts. It was dark and gloomy too.
There were some interactive things too. We queued for around half an hour. When it came to boarding we sat back row. There wasn't a great amount of coasting to start, just some things jumping out but then you really pick up pace, hurtling though things, over things, around things, under things, there was screaming, and moving things, and bangs and crashes, some fire. Loved it. We arrived back at the ride exit (which was in a strangely hot room) when suddenly the sound of smashed glass rang through my ears and a mummy was sticking through the ride op's cabin! Suddenly, the whole roof caught fire, it was intense. I loved every **** second of this ride. Just outstanding, it thoroughly deserves it's number 9 place on my top 10. Amazing.
We then headed over to Men In Black: Alien Attack. This time I came stone dead last. I really like how you don't have to aim at targets, just as long as you hit the monsters. Having said that, Midway Mania is still my favourite shooter.
Have a couple of photos to break this up a little.
We headed over to the Simpsons area and rode the Simpsons' Ride. We only queued 15 minutes. Another fantastic simulator I could ride all day long. I really enjoy this. It's just good fun. We went into Moe's next for a Flamin' Moe.
They use dry ice to make them fizz violently and steam. They were alright but very expensive for their size and not very refreshing. Dan, Sarah and I then headed over to the Twirl'n'Hurl ride nearby.
I thought it was awful. I like how you could control how you go up and down, but it was generally just dull and nauseating. Tedious!
We headed over to Woody's Nuthouse Coaster next, my last cred at Universal Studios and my penultimate of the trip.
From what I remember it had a similar layout to Flight of the Hippogriff, but as it isn't themed to Harry Potter, unlike FotH's queue, this was only 5 minutes. It's ok, but at the end of the day it's just a +1.
We went back to find the Maycock parents and decided to call it a day. On the way out we went into the Terminator 2 3D theatre. There was a cool pre show which set the scene about a company basically wanting to take over the world...but secretly. The show features live actors as well as a decent screenplay. The 3D effects were actually some of the best I've seen, things really flew out of the screen and Mr. Stephen commented that he saw me jump a few times haha. There was plenty of smoke as well as indoor fireworks. There was also rain.
It really was time to call it a day then. I took an obligatory selfie.
We had decided to go to TGIFriday's on the way home but it was getting late, already 7pm, so we decided to go to the NASCAR Grille instead. I had a lovely piece of chicken.
It came with some green stuff called vegetables. Christ knows what that is.
We then headed home with a stop off at Walmart for some groceries. Didn't do much else that evening.
Thank you very much for reading once again. Day 23 at EPCOT for the last time will be up soon...very soon actually.
Right, I'm at work for the next four days which gives me perfect opportunity to get this finished off before I go to Germany on Friday. Here we go then.
Friday 8th August: Day 22, Universal Studios
Another very early start awaited, we were out of the house by 7.30 and on our way to Universal Studios. We had a vague plan, do some stuff that we had missed on our last visit at Universal Studios, then catch the Hogwarts' Express over to Islands of Adventure, grab a butter beer, come back and do whatever.
We soon arrived.
We were going to queue for the Despicable Me ride but as it is basically the first thing you get to, that was where everyone else had flocked to and the queue was 90 minutes. **** that. Instead we went and rode Transformers 3D.
It is similar to Spiderman, but just not as good, no fire for one thing. However, I did feel the car interacted with the 3D effects more in Transformers than it did with Spiderman, but overall, Spiderman has more going for it. The queue is full of various screens and switches you can play around with to pass the time.
Next we headed over to Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, a ride I had really been looking forward to riding. I had to take a selfie.
We queued an age, 90 minutes, and was **** boiling too. The operations were awful, they were leaving 4 or 5 empty seats on each train, some of which were next to each other.
I quite liked how the ride doesn't actually stop while you get on...you'd think that'd actually speed up operations! Have some generic HRRR photos.
This train wasn't so bad as it only had one empty seat
Eventually we reached the station.
Anyway, the ride. As soon as you sit down you have to select what song you want to listen to, I chose Born to be Wild. I was going to choose We Won't get Fooled Again but as that was a hidden song I knew I'd **** it up and have to listen to a song I'd never heard of before :lol: . I'm not going to lie, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit left me rather underwhelmed. It is a very good coaster, some airtime, plenty of speed, lots of coasting around, it's good fun, but I was just expecting better. It was very smooth. It does still rank at 17th for me, because it was a great coaster, I think I was just expecting more.
Once done we headed over to the Monster Café where the Maycock parents were sat waiting. I had chilli cheese fries for a snack which weren't all that great. We then decided to head over to Kings' Cross to catch the Hogwarts' Express.
Kings' Cross is exceptionally well themed. It really is just like the real thing. I was only at the actual Kings' Cross yesterday, and I'd forgotten just how realistic this looks in comparison until I saw my pictures.
They had a times screen with different places in the UK, Foxton is quite close to where my parent's live.
You walk through quite a hefty queueing area to get to Platform 9 & 3/4.
The use mirrors to make it seem as if you're passing through the wall just like the students do when trying to get onto the platform.
It's difficult to see here, maybe I took a better one on a later date, we shall see!
But we were greeted with quite a sight on Platform 9 & 3/4.
The Hogwarts' Express!
The train is stunning, I couldn't wait to clamber aboard...but before that, selfie time!
Soon we were on board. The inside of the carriages was just like old steam train carriages I've ridden in before, really well themed, immersive, stunning.
So, the ride. To my left I had the 'window', you have London to start, move through the suburbs, eventually onto the countryside where a storm develops and dementors appear. To my right I had the carriage 'sliding' door, the old lady with the trolly saying 'anything from the trolly dears?' passes by as a silhouette, as do Harry, Ron and Hermione (once again with different voices which is SO annoying!) and Neville's frog, Trevor. When the dementors appear outside they also appear as a silhouette on the carriage doors, it frosts up, before you hear Lupin shout 'expecto patronum' and a bright flash of light forms to send the dementor away. It is so so well done. I loved it.
To finish, when you arrive at Hogsmeade station, there is Hagrid standing on the station beaming. This is the best photo I could manage of the window...
But you get the idea. I went to the front of the train to get some photos.
In Hogsmeade we simply had a Butterbeer before making our way back over to Universal Studios, this time, catching the train at Hogsmeade.
I was expecting the same sequence of events on the train this time round but no, it was different, and for me, better. It starts with Hagrid waving goodbye, then the main three look into the carriage and realise it's full, Ron rudely points out 'it looks like a bunch of 1st years'. How rude! You get a beautiful leaving view of Hogwarts, then owls swoop past and there was Buckbeak. Then the centaurs in the Forbidden Forest pass you, Fred and George set off some fireworks advertising Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. You then reach Malfoy Manor with Voldemort casting some spell outside. You reach suburban London and pass over the M25 (which for some reason isn't a traffic jam which it usually is), in London you see the Knight Bus racing around and finally a smiling Mad-Eye Moody (as ludicrous as it sounds, yes he was smiling) is waiting to greet you at Kings' Cross. I liked this way more as it seemed to have more Harry Potter content and references which I just loved.
We looked at the train timetables as we left Kings' Cross and noticed a place called St. Noets, this should, of course, be St. Neots. We let a member of staff know, purely because it was a small mistake that they could easily rectify.
We then headed over to Revenge of the Mummy.
I was expecting good things as I had been told good things. The queue line was cool, lots of mummy and Egyptian artefacts. It was dark and gloomy too.
There were some interactive things too. We queued for around half an hour. When it came to boarding we sat back row. There wasn't a great amount of coasting to start, just some things jumping out but then you really pick up pace, hurtling though things, over things, around things, under things, there was screaming, and moving things, and bangs and crashes, some fire. Loved it. We arrived back at the ride exit (which was in a strangely hot room) when suddenly the sound of smashed glass rang through my ears and a mummy was sticking through the ride op's cabin! Suddenly, the whole roof caught fire, it was intense. I loved every **** second of this ride. Just outstanding, it thoroughly deserves it's number 9 place on my top 10. Amazing.
We then headed over to Men In Black: Alien Attack. This time I came stone dead last. I really like how you don't have to aim at targets, just as long as you hit the monsters. Having said that, Midway Mania is still my favourite shooter.
Have a couple of photos to break this up a little.
We headed over to the Simpsons area and rode the Simpsons' Ride. We only queued 15 minutes. Another fantastic simulator I could ride all day long. I really enjoy this. It's just good fun. We went into Moe's next for a Flamin' Moe.
They use dry ice to make them fizz violently and steam. They were alright but very expensive for their size and not very refreshing. Dan, Sarah and I then headed over to the Twirl'n'Hurl ride nearby.
I thought it was awful. I like how you could control how you go up and down, but it was generally just dull and nauseating. Tedious!
We headed over to Woody's Nuthouse Coaster next, my last cred at Universal Studios and my penultimate of the trip.
From what I remember it had a similar layout to Flight of the Hippogriff, but as it isn't themed to Harry Potter, unlike FotH's queue, this was only 5 minutes. It's ok, but at the end of the day it's just a +1.
We went back to find the Maycock parents and decided to call it a day. On the way out we went into the Terminator 2 3D theatre. There was a cool pre show which set the scene about a company basically wanting to take over the world...but secretly. The show features live actors as well as a decent screenplay. The 3D effects were actually some of the best I've seen, things really flew out of the screen and Mr. Stephen commented that he saw me jump a few times haha. There was plenty of smoke as well as indoor fireworks. There was also rain.
It really was time to call it a day then. I took an obligatory selfie.
We had decided to go to TGIFriday's on the way home but it was getting late, already 7pm, so we decided to go to the NASCAR Grille instead. I had a lovely piece of chicken.
It came with some green stuff called vegetables. Christ knows what that is.
We then headed home with a stop off at Walmart for some groceries. Didn't do much else that evening.
Thank you very much for reading once again. Day 23 at EPCOT for the last time will be up soon...very soon actually.
Re: Florida 2014: Day 22, Universal Studios
Hang on, you made it sound like you nearly missed out on T2:3D? It's clearly the best 3D attraction ever made.
Also the Simpsons simulator is dreadful and needs to go in the bin. Unfortunately they're getting rid of Men in Black instead.
Hang on, you made it sound like you nearly missed out on T2:3D? It's clearly the best 3D attraction ever made.
Also the Simpsons simulator is dreadful and needs to go in the bin. Unfortunately they're getting rid of Men in Black instead.
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Re: Florida 2014: Day 22, Universal Studios
They're getting rid of Men in Black?? What is this?
Hmmm now that I think of this, that does ring a bell. Two of Daniel's favourite things, MiB: Alien Attack and Maelstrom, going. I think the moral here is 'only like the **** things', you really liked the Twirl 'n' Hurl didn't you Dan? (Just say yes so they can replace it with something more worthwhile...like a Big Apple ).
They're getting rid of Men in Black?? What is this?
Hmmm now that I think of this, that does ring a bell. Two of Daniel's favourite things, MiB: Alien Attack and Maelstrom, going. I think the moral here is 'only like the **** things', you really liked the Twirl 'n' Hurl didn't you Dan? (Just say yes so they can replace it with something more worthwhile...like a Big Apple
).
ATTACKHAMMER
Strata Poster
Re: Florida 2014: Day 22, Universal Studios
I did really like Twirl 'n' Hurl! Universal getting rid of stuff makes me sad... :cry:
Jordanovichy said:They're getting rid of Men in Black?? What is this?
Hmmm now that I think of this, that does ring a bell. Two of Daniel's favourite things, MiB: Alien Attack and Maelstrom, going. I think the moral here is 'only like the **** things', you really liked the Twirl 'n' Hurl didn't you Dan? (Just say yes so they can replace it with something more worthwhile...like a Big Apple
I did really like Twirl 'n' Hurl! Universal getting rid of stuff makes me sad... :cry:
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Re: Florida 2014: Day 22, Universal Studios
Three days to go...
Saturday 9th August: Day 23, EPCOT
I was gutted today would be our last day at EPCOT. I love it here. We were up at 8, breakfasted by 8.30 and out by 9. Yay for efficiency. Once there we caught the parking tram to the entrance. I took a quick selfie before heading over to The Land.
We had a fast pass booked for Soarin' so that's where we headed first.
I knew this would be the last time we'd ride it so I was sad because I adore Soarin'. Unfortunately we sat bottom which doesn't give as good views, but is still excellent all the same.
You're welcome, thank you for having me <3
Somehow time had slipped away from us and it was already gone 11 so we decided an early lunch was in order. I had the thai shrimp curry which I'd had twice before, it's just delicious.
On leaving The Land I took a sad selfie with the Soarin' sign, one of my highlights of Florida 14.
Next our fast pass for Mission Space was ready so we headed back across the park to ride that.
As usual, Dan and I went to the orange side. I was navigator again, the two old women in our compartment didn't bother pressing their buttons so when it was their turn red lights flashed and the over head speakers shouted at them. It was good to see what happens if you don't do what you should! I love this ride though, another ride I shall sorely miss.
Across the path was Universe of Energy which was narrated by Ellen Degeneres.
Even though we knew it'd take a burdenous 45 minutes, we decided to ride anyway. It was ok, but I wouldn't so it again. You're basically in Ellen's mind (who knew she thought of me of all people) whilst she (and therefore you) learn about the world of energy, how it all started in the Big Bang, then randomly it gets related to dinosaurs and the whole theatre seating moves through some dinosaur animatronics. You then see more of Ellen and that's really it. It was alright, interesting enough, but I wouldn't ride it again.
It was now nearly time for our third and final fast pass of the day on Maelstrom so we headed over to Norway in World Showcase.
I do like Maelstrom, I just find it slightly bland. It was quite sad knowing that no matter if we come back next year, in 3 years or in 10 years, we'd never ride Maelstrom again given it's Frozen retheme.
We then met up with some of the Maycock's friends and wandered around World Showcase with them. We got caught in America and had to wait in the shop for the heavy rain to stop.
Mr. Stephen treated us to some shaved ice after. Whilst simple, I love these and they really cool you down on a hot day.
We walked the whole way round World Showcase without really going in anywhere. We stopped in France momentarily as it had started raining again. In the UK we said goodbye to the friends of Maycock and went our separate ways. We went over to Captain EO which was a 3D thing with Michael Jackson as Captain EO.
I'd love to give you some opinions but I fell asleep...I suppose that's an opinion in itself. I do remember some flashing lights and dancing. Meh. Who says I don't give detailed reports?
Yay for fountain.
We then rode Journey into Imagination with Figment which everyone raves about but I find pretty lacklustre. It just doesn't really do much but I did appreciate the room with everything upside down. I didn't really remember that from last time. We headed to the shop. I got some shot glasses for Peter for Rach's birthday because I'm lovely like that (I won't mention that one smashed on the way home...but yeah).
We finished the day with Spaceship Earth, a fab ride.
Dan has the honour of sitting with me. It is really interesting, informative and is narrated by Dame Judi Dench, what more could you ask for? Have some photos.
And that was that. It was time to leave EPCOT :/. I took a couple of selfies (both happy and sad) before leaving.
I also had my photograph taken properly.
I really was sad to leave EPCOT. I love it so much here, it's beautiful, plenty to do and World Showcase is **** ing fantastic.
We stopped off for dinner at Sweet Tomatoes. It does make a nice change to have something healthier for once over here. I know it doesn't look particularly appetising but it was delicious.
Thank you very much for reading once again. Day 24 at Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios up soon, the penultimate day of theme parking!
Three days to go...
Saturday 9th August: Day 23, EPCOT
I was gutted today would be our last day at EPCOT. I love it here. We were up at 8, breakfasted by 8.30 and out by 9. Yay for efficiency. Once there we caught the parking tram to the entrance. I took a quick selfie before heading over to The Land.
We had a fast pass booked for Soarin' so that's where we headed first.
I knew this would be the last time we'd ride it so I was sad because I adore Soarin'. Unfortunately we sat bottom which doesn't give as good views, but is still excellent all the same.
You're welcome, thank you for having me <3
Somehow time had slipped away from us and it was already gone 11 so we decided an early lunch was in order. I had the thai shrimp curry which I'd had twice before, it's just delicious.
On leaving The Land I took a sad selfie with the Soarin' sign, one of my highlights of Florida 14.
Next our fast pass for Mission Space was ready so we headed back across the park to ride that.
As usual, Dan and I went to the orange side. I was navigator again, the two old women in our compartment didn't bother pressing their buttons so when it was their turn red lights flashed and the over head speakers shouted at them. It was good to see what happens if you don't do what you should! I love this ride though, another ride I shall sorely miss.
Across the path was Universe of Energy which was narrated by Ellen Degeneres.
Even though we knew it'd take a burdenous 45 minutes, we decided to ride anyway. It was ok, but I wouldn't so it again. You're basically in Ellen's mind (who knew she thought of me of all people) whilst she (and therefore you) learn about the world of energy, how it all started in the Big Bang, then randomly it gets related to dinosaurs and the whole theatre seating moves through some dinosaur animatronics. You then see more of Ellen and that's really it. It was alright, interesting enough, but I wouldn't ride it again.
It was now nearly time for our third and final fast pass of the day on Maelstrom so we headed over to Norway in World Showcase.
I do like Maelstrom, I just find it slightly bland. It was quite sad knowing that no matter if we come back next year, in 3 years or in 10 years, we'd never ride Maelstrom again given it's Frozen retheme.
We then met up with some of the Maycock's friends and wandered around World Showcase with them. We got caught in America and had to wait in the shop for the heavy rain to stop.
Mr. Stephen treated us to some shaved ice after. Whilst simple, I love these and they really cool you down on a hot day.
We walked the whole way round World Showcase without really going in anywhere. We stopped in France momentarily as it had started raining again. In the UK we said goodbye to the friends of Maycock and went our separate ways. We went over to Captain EO which was a 3D thing with Michael Jackson as Captain EO.
I'd love to give you some opinions but I fell asleep...I suppose that's an opinion in itself. I do remember some flashing lights and dancing. Meh. Who says I don't give detailed reports?
Yay for fountain.
We then rode Journey into Imagination with Figment which everyone raves about but I find pretty lacklustre. It just doesn't really do much but I did appreciate the room with everything upside down. I didn't really remember that from last time. We headed to the shop. I got some shot glasses for Peter for Rach's birthday because I'm lovely like that (I won't mention that one smashed on the way home...but yeah).
We finished the day with Spaceship Earth, a fab ride.
Dan has the honour of sitting with me. It is really interesting, informative and is narrated by Dame Judi Dench, what more could you ask for? Have some photos.
And that was that. It was time to leave EPCOT :/. I took a couple of selfies (both happy and sad) before leaving.
I also had my photograph taken properly.
I really was sad to leave EPCOT. I love it so much here, it's beautiful, plenty to do and World Showcase is **** ing fantastic.
We stopped off for dinner at Sweet Tomatoes. It does make a nice change to have something healthier for once over here. I know it doesn't look particularly appetising but it was delicious.
Thank you very much for reading once again. Day 24 at Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios up soon, the penultimate day of theme parking!
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Re: Florida 2014: Day 23, EPCOT
Penultimate day of theme parking then.
Sunday 10th August: Day 24, Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure
It kind of hit with a hammer that today was the penultimate day of theme parking, just tomorrow at Magic Kingdom, and then an afternoon at an airport stood between me and home. And yes, you can also all breathe a sigh of relief that this is nearly over. But anyway.
We arrived at Islands of Adventure at around 10am, we went straight over to Hulk.
We queued for around 20 minutes and sat in the penultimate row. I have to say I really really enjoyed this ride on Hulk. It seemed much more intense and fun at the same time, it certainly jumped a few more places in my rankings. All it needs is a more forceful launch then I'd be happy.
Next we all queued for Spiderman.
We had to queue for half an hour but Spiderman is worth it <3
These croissants don't look particularly appetising
You already know my opinions of Spiderman, basically I love it so much, that's all there is to say here.
Dan and I rode Dr. Doom's Fear Fall next. We queued for twenty minutes.
It didn't do a countdown this time and just launched. Scary stuff! It had a slightly better cycle than the last time, it certainly seemed to go on longer and the drop-down seemed to be a little more forceful, I was certainly out of my seat for longer.
Next I had a turkey leg. I was buzzing to have one of these after spending over 3 weeks watching people eat them in the other parks over here. It was **** beautiful.
Satisfied
I went to the loo and Dan thought it'd be hilarious to take a selfie on my camera. It's your funeral!
Peep will be happy with my next piece of news. We went and rode......
I really like the 'Suess Landing' area of the park, it'd so bright and colourful and fun. This is why I love Islands of Adventure. Each area is themed so precisely and fantastically, the attention to detail is absolute. It's just amazing.
Anyway, The Cat In The Hat. Ahhh it's good fun! I like all the poems around the walls you can read out in the queue line and then the ride itself is really good fun too, bobbing around, spinning through the rooms. For some reason the ride kept pausing which meant you couldn't keep up with the plot (I use the word 'plot' in the weakest possible sense) which was a bit of a shame.
We then headed over to Hogsmeade and rode Dragon Challenge: Hungarian Horntail, the superior side I might add.
So much fun. I took a selfie with the train conductor. He doesn't look too impressed to be honest.
We then caught the Hogwarts' Express over to Diagon Alley in Universal Studios to finish off the things in that park. Once again, I loved the journey from Hogsmeade to Diagon Alley, it is just brilliant.
We went to watch the show 'Beetlejuice'. Modern pop music sung by 'scary' creatures like Dracula and Frankenstein. It was actually really good. I knew most of the music like Fancy by Iggy Azalea and What Does the Fox Say. Thoroughly enjoyable.
Now is it just me or does Dracula...
Look uncannily like Alex Mills from the ninth series of The Apprentice...
I think it's scary! But anyway, yeah, I really enjoyed it.
Next we went over to the ET Experience.
I had no idea what to expect so when I was clambering onto a bicycle I was rather surprised.
As always, there was a pre show which had Stephen Spielburg introduce the ride. The ride itself is excellent. I used to watch ET all the time when I was a kid and this, with the music and the scenes brought it all back. It was beautiful, flying over the city at night. Such a fantastic idea executed brilliantly.
Then Sarah, Angela and Mr. Stephen went off to watch some show leaving Dan and I to head over to Revenge of the Mummy. We only queued for 15 minutes. So worth it. It is just so so soooo good. Fire. Mummies. More fire. Booby traps. Even more fire. Screaming. Yet more fire. And a decent coaster to go throughout it all. Oh, and some fire. Adore it!
When we came out it was pouring down. We eventually went off to find the others though but soon split again so Dan and I could catch the Hogwarts' Express to go back to Islands of Adventure and ride Forbidden Journey. At Kings Cross, like I mentioned last time they had the mirrors arranged to make it look like you're passing through the wall. I took a much better picture to show it.
Back in Hogsmeade there was a different Hogwarts' Express 'driver' so I took a selfie with him too (purely for the League of Goons points). Slightly creepier than his predecessors.
We made our way over to the castle for Forbidden Journey.
Annoyingly, we had to wait 70 minutes as the ride broke down whilst we were queuing, but knowing how amazing it was, we stuck with it. It's just really really good, like seriously, amazing. So much Harry Potter!
And that is basically it. We met up with the Maycocks once again and made our way towards the exit. I nearly wasted more money on Harry Potter stuff, but I was getting a little low on cash so decided against it.
I took some sad selfies on the way out.
It was sad to be leaving this amazing amazing resort, but one day I'm sure I'll be back!
We went to the buffet Mexican place for tea. It was delicious as ever.
Much delicious
Once back we went into the pool for a bit, but then, as we'd be at Magic Kingdom until as-near-as-makes-no-difference midnight tomorrow, I had to start packing. My case was already weighing 23kg and I hadn't finished yet!
Thank you very much for reading once again, nearly there! Day 25, our final full day, at Magic Kingdom will be up soon (i.e. tomorrow).
Penultimate day of theme parking then.
Sunday 10th August: Day 24, Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure
It kind of hit with a hammer that today was the penultimate day of theme parking, just tomorrow at Magic Kingdom, and then an afternoon at an airport stood between me and home. And yes, you can also all breathe a sigh of relief that this is nearly over. But anyway.
We arrived at Islands of Adventure at around 10am, we went straight over to Hulk.
We queued for around 20 minutes and sat in the penultimate row. I have to say I really really enjoyed this ride on Hulk. It seemed much more intense and fun at the same time, it certainly jumped a few more places in my rankings. All it needs is a more forceful launch then I'd be happy.
Next we all queued for Spiderman.
We had to queue for half an hour but Spiderman is worth it <3
These croissants don't look particularly appetising
You already know my opinions of Spiderman, basically I love it so much, that's all there is to say here.
Dan and I rode Dr. Doom's Fear Fall next. We queued for twenty minutes.
It didn't do a countdown this time and just launched. Scary stuff! It had a slightly better cycle than the last time, it certainly seemed to go on longer and the drop-down seemed to be a little more forceful, I was certainly out of my seat for longer.
Next I had a turkey leg. I was buzzing to have one of these after spending over 3 weeks watching people eat them in the other parks over here. It was **** beautiful.
Satisfied
I went to the loo and Dan thought it'd be hilarious to take a selfie on my camera. It's your funeral!
Peep will be happy with my next piece of news. We went and rode......
I really like the 'Suess Landing' area of the park, it'd so bright and colourful and fun. This is why I love Islands of Adventure. Each area is themed so precisely and fantastically, the attention to detail is absolute. It's just amazing.
Anyway, The Cat In The Hat. Ahhh it's good fun! I like all the poems around the walls you can read out in the queue line and then the ride itself is really good fun too, bobbing around, spinning through the rooms. For some reason the ride kept pausing which meant you couldn't keep up with the plot (I use the word 'plot' in the weakest possible sense) which was a bit of a shame.
We then headed over to Hogsmeade and rode Dragon Challenge: Hungarian Horntail, the superior side I might add.
So much fun. I took a selfie with the train conductor. He doesn't look too impressed to be honest.
We then caught the Hogwarts' Express over to Diagon Alley in Universal Studios to finish off the things in that park. Once again, I loved the journey from Hogsmeade to Diagon Alley, it is just brilliant.
We went to watch the show 'Beetlejuice'. Modern pop music sung by 'scary' creatures like Dracula and Frankenstein. It was actually really good. I knew most of the music like Fancy by Iggy Azalea and What Does the Fox Say. Thoroughly enjoyable.
Now is it just me or does Dracula...
Look uncannily like Alex Mills from the ninth series of The Apprentice...
I think it's scary! But anyway, yeah, I really enjoyed it.
Next we went over to the ET Experience.
I had no idea what to expect so when I was clambering onto a bicycle I was rather surprised.
As always, there was a pre show which had Stephen Spielburg introduce the ride. The ride itself is excellent. I used to watch ET all the time when I was a kid and this, with the music and the scenes brought it all back. It was beautiful, flying over the city at night. Such a fantastic idea executed brilliantly.
Then Sarah, Angela and Mr. Stephen went off to watch some show leaving Dan and I to head over to Revenge of the Mummy. We only queued for 15 minutes. So worth it. It is just so so soooo good. Fire. Mummies. More fire. Booby traps. Even more fire. Screaming. Yet more fire. And a decent coaster to go throughout it all. Oh, and some fire. Adore it!
When we came out it was pouring down. We eventually went off to find the others though but soon split again so Dan and I could catch the Hogwarts' Express to go back to Islands of Adventure and ride Forbidden Journey. At Kings Cross, like I mentioned last time they had the mirrors arranged to make it look like you're passing through the wall. I took a much better picture to show it.
Back in Hogsmeade there was a different Hogwarts' Express 'driver' so I took a selfie with him too (purely for the League of Goons points). Slightly creepier than his predecessors.
We made our way over to the castle for Forbidden Journey.
Annoyingly, we had to wait 70 minutes as the ride broke down whilst we were queuing, but knowing how amazing it was, we stuck with it. It's just really really good, like seriously, amazing. So much Harry Potter!
And that is basically it. We met up with the Maycocks once again and made our way towards the exit. I nearly wasted more money on Harry Potter stuff, but I was getting a little low on cash so decided against it.
I took some sad selfies on the way out.
It was sad to be leaving this amazing amazing resort, but one day I'm sure I'll be back!
We went to the buffet Mexican place for tea. It was delicious as ever.
Much delicious
Once back we went into the pool for a bit, but then, as we'd be at Magic Kingdom until as-near-as-makes-no-difference midnight tomorrow, I had to start packing.
My case was already weighing 23kg and I hadn't finished yet!Thank you very much for reading once again, nearly there! Day 25, our final full day, at Magic Kingdom will be up soon (i.e. tomorrow).
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Re: Florida 2014: Day 24, Universal and Islands of Adventure
The final day of theme parking, this trip report will be finished today...hopefully.
Monday 11th August: Day 25, Magic Kingdom WDW
I made no notes from this day as we didn't get back until stupid o'clock and the next day we were packing and flying home so it'll literally be from memory.
We had a small lie in first thing before getting up and packing some more things. We had lunch in the villa to finish up some of the food.
But before long we made our way over to Magic Kingdom for a final day of Disney magic and theme parking in Florida.
We boarded the monorail and made our way over to the entrance.
Neither of us appeared too amused that it would be our last day here.
Thank you!
And we entered Main Street and were once again greeted by the beauty of the castle.
We first of all stopped to have some photos in front of the castle taken.
We had a fast pass on Space Mountain to use so we headed straight over to that.
I was over the moon that I finally had managed to get a decent, non-blurry photo of the rides trains!
We rode Omega and it was absolutely brilliant. The best ride I'd had on the coaster(s), it felt so relentless and out of control. I remember feeling concerned that my camera/wallet/phone wouldn't stay in the little pouch at the front but they all remained with me. Such a good ride, thoroughly enjoyed it!
It had been closed for refurbishment the whole time we had been there but Peoplemover was now open!
It's basically a monorail that takes you around, giving you a bird's eye view of Tomorrowland. Just as we arrived at the front of the queue, it broke down. Ugh. We had to wait twenty or so minutes for it to start up again but it eventually did.
It's good fun and gives some good views, but I can't quite see what all the fuss is about, it just doesn't 'do' anything. I did quite like how, when the ride goes into different ride stations the tunnel was themed to that ride. (Looking through my photos now I have no decent ones to show this, and I'm going to go against my rule of no blur, but this one is in the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin tunnel and is themed as such.
The ride did give good view of the castle and Spedona Speedway too.
We could just see the parade going on whilst we were on the Peoplemover.
I'd like to do it again at night to be honest. I did enjoy it.
Next we headed over to Fantasyland to ride The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
Whilst in the queue the heavens OPENED. Thankfully we were under cover or we would have gotten soaked! I tried to pass this off for character points on League of Goons, but for some reason Peep wouldn't let me. #Spite
I loved how the cars were themed to honey pots, they looked brilliant.
The ride takes you through a story of the day a big storm hits the 100 acre woods (where they all live if you didn't realise). It features several animatronics and moving scenes. It is good, I can imagine kids loving it. I particularly enjoyed the Tigger bit with him bouncing up and down on his tail. Give it a go, it's good fun!
Because it's AMAZING, A Small World had to happen next.
I didn't take any photos inside the ride this time, I wanted to just enjoy it and take it all in. It is just such a fantastic ride. I suppose it helps that I grew up to the tune but all the animatronics and the bright lights make it fantastic!
By now it was time for our second fast pass, booked for Splash Mountain.
Another great ride. I have nothing to add that I haven't said before but I just really really enjoy it.
Haunted Mansion was next, we queued despite the 45 minute queue.
I really enjoyed this once again. Because we were queuing for longer than last time it meant I could really take in the interactivity in the queue line which sometimes worked, sometimes didn't. The ride itself is also great. I really like the attention to detail and the transparency of the ghosts. All works well. I really want to ride Hong Kong's equivalent after what Gavin has said about it.
Once done Dole whip happened. Beautiful things.
Then we went to the Enchanted Tiki Rooms. I had no idea what to expect and my gosh was I in for a treat. There were two birds who introduced us in the queue line.
There was also a momentary period of fire which made me happy.
As I'm sure you know it is a load of singing birds. I make it sound absolutely **** but it is really good and really entertaining. I certainly wasn't expecting it!
There were also singing flowers and at one point even the walls chipped in. There were a series of songs where more and more of these animatronics joined in with the singing. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
I believe Big Thunder Mountain Railroad happened next (I assume this was our last fast pass of the day? I can't remember. That'll teach me to leave it over 7.5 months before I bother writing up about it).
Another great ride, I will miss this, it was one of the biggest surprises of the trip.
I have a gap from photos so whether we did anything in between this and dinner I don't know, but I'm sure the two people reading won't mind me skipping to dinner.
We went to the Sonny Eclipse diner again. I had half a chicken, mash potato (ugh, why I ordered mash I really don't know) and veg.
I was browsing through Twitter and heard the devastating news that Robin Williams had died. I wouldn't say it had put a dampener on our evening, but with the steady rain that had seem to set in outside, things didn't feel quite as magical as they should have done on our last night in Florida. We had to change that!
What better way to cheer up than with a cred, and the last cred of the trip for me, Barnstormer!
Like I already mentioned, it was raining, so we were getting damp but there was a cred to be got!
Meh, it was alright, it was a kiddie cred after all. +1 and done. Nothing more needs to be said.
On the way back to find the Maycock parents we decided to ride the Flying Dumbos. Lit up at night they looks magnificent!
They looked much more impressive than the same sort of ride at Universal Studios, but overall I just enjoyed these more, probably because it was at night and I could see all the lights across the nearby part of the park and it just looked beautiful. I'm glad we rode.
We headed back over to Peoplemover because I had said I wanted to ride it at night.
I did enjoy it more at night, it gave some great views of the castle and Space Mountain lit up at night. The problem with movement...especially at night is most of my photos were a blur so I won't bother posting.
Time was now running short for us to get back over to the castle for Wishes so as soon as we arrived back at the ride station of Peoplemover we headed straight over to the front.
I didn't take any photos of the fireworks tonight. I just stood and watched in awe and amazement. It kind of hit me that this was it, flying home tomorrow, this was to be my last magical Disney experience, and that made me sad, but also happy because I'd had an amazing four weeks.
The show was spectacular as I expected. I stood and watched in silence for 20 minutes loving every second of the show.
But the story didn't end there.
As it was only 10.30 when the show finished, we still had another 90 minutes before the park shut so we went over and rode Peter Pan's Flight.
The ride started and as soon as we left the station we lifted up! We had started to fly, over London. It was great. Past Tower Bridge and Big Ben. We followed the second star on the right and went straight on until morning, and we were soon flying over Neverland. There were mermaids and boats and fish, as well as Captain Hook and Mr. Smee! We also came across the Lost Boys.
Peter Pan and Captain Hook were fighting when we arrived but we managed to stop Wendy from jumping the plank. We finally landed back in the ride station. Thoroughly enjoyable! Good fun, I always liked Peter Pan and I haven't seen it for years so it brought back the memories of the film. Loved it.
We knew that the second Electrical Parade of the evening was about to start so we once again made our way down to the front of the castle which, as I was there, thought I'd take a selfie in front of.
And yes, I also took a sad selfie. I'm so cool.
Soon we could see the floats from the electrical parade begin their journey up Main Street. I'll just chuck in a load of photos and give opinions later.
I loved how he was breathing smoke, worked really well.
It was a really good show. I liked the music, 'Do Dooloo doodledoodle doodle' as nadroJ commented on a photo when I put them on Facebook. It was just a really nice way to finish off the day and, in a sense, the holiday. Really enjoyed it.
It was pushing midnight now so we headed over to the shops in Main Street to spend our last remaining $$$.
I bought a photo album but I still haven't sorted out photos to put in it yet. This annoys me. One day. It was pretty much 1am before we left. I had never been in a theme park so long that tomorrow arrived whilst still in the park, but I was loving being there all the same. The monorail had finished for the night long ago so our only option back was the Ferryboat which I was more than happy to catch.
We caught the Admiral Joe Fowler.
On the journey back we got some great views across the lake of the Magic Kingdom.
I loved Magic Kingdom, more than any park I have ever been to. I don't know what it is but it's just, for me, perfect. It's overwhelmingly detailed and beautiful, it has a fantastic array of highly and accurately themed, rides. There's childhood memories here for me from watching the films as a kid, and for what reason I can't see Magic Kingdom ever being toppled off my number one park...unless another Disney park is better
I hope you do!
We made our way back to the villa, it was gone 2am by the time we got into bed. Had to be up reasonably early to pack the remainder of our things and be out of the villa by 10am.
Thank you very much once again for reading. I'll finish this off with day 26, homecoming this afternoon I expect.
The final day of theme parking, this trip report will be finished today...hopefully.
Monday 11th August: Day 25, Magic Kingdom WDW
I made no notes from this day as we didn't get back until stupid o'clock and the next day we were packing and flying home so it'll literally be from memory.
We had a small lie in first thing before getting up and packing some more things. We had lunch in the villa to finish up some of the food.
But before long we made our way over to Magic Kingdom for a final day of Disney magic and theme parking in Florida.
We boarded the monorail and made our way over to the entrance.
Neither of us appeared too amused that it would be our last day here.
Thank you!
And we entered Main Street and were once again greeted by the beauty of the castle.
We first of all stopped to have some photos in front of the castle taken.
We had a fast pass on Space Mountain to use so we headed straight over to that.
I was over the moon that I finally had managed to get a decent, non-blurry photo of the rides trains!
We rode Omega and it was absolutely brilliant. The best ride I'd had on the coaster(s), it felt so relentless and out of control. I remember feeling concerned that my camera/wallet/phone wouldn't stay in the little pouch at the front but they all remained with me. Such a good ride, thoroughly enjoyed it!
It had been closed for refurbishment the whole time we had been there but Peoplemover was now open!
It's basically a monorail that takes you around, giving you a bird's eye view of Tomorrowland. Just as we arrived at the front of the queue, it broke down. Ugh. We had to wait twenty or so minutes for it to start up again but it eventually did.
It's good fun and gives some good views, but I can't quite see what all the fuss is about, it just doesn't 'do' anything. I did quite like how, when the ride goes into different ride stations the tunnel was themed to that ride. (Looking through my photos now I have no decent ones to show this, and I'm going to go against my rule of no blur, but this one is in the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin tunnel and is themed as such.
The ride did give good view of the castle and Spedona Speedway too.
We could just see the parade going on whilst we were on the Peoplemover.
I'd like to do it again at night to be honest. I did enjoy it.
Next we headed over to Fantasyland to ride The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
Whilst in the queue the heavens OPENED. Thankfully we were under cover or we would have gotten soaked! I tried to pass this off for character points on League of Goons, but for some reason Peep wouldn't let me. #Spite
I loved how the cars were themed to honey pots, they looked brilliant.
The ride takes you through a story of the day a big storm hits the 100 acre woods (where they all live if you didn't realise). It features several animatronics and moving scenes. It is good, I can imagine kids loving it. I particularly enjoyed the Tigger bit with him bouncing up and down on his tail. Give it a go, it's good fun!
Because it's AMAZING, A Small World had to happen next.
I didn't take any photos inside the ride this time, I wanted to just enjoy it and take it all in. It is just such a fantastic ride. I suppose it helps that I grew up to the tune but all the animatronics and the bright lights make it fantastic!
By now it was time for our second fast pass, booked for Splash Mountain.
Another great ride. I have nothing to add that I haven't said before but I just really really enjoy it.
Haunted Mansion was next, we queued despite the 45 minute queue.
I really enjoyed this once again. Because we were queuing for longer than last time it meant I could really take in the interactivity in the queue line which sometimes worked, sometimes didn't. The ride itself is also great. I really like the attention to detail and the transparency of the ghosts. All works well. I really want to ride Hong Kong's equivalent after what Gavin has said about it.
Once done Dole whip happened. Beautiful things.
Then we went to the Enchanted Tiki Rooms. I had no idea what to expect and my gosh was I in for a treat. There were two birds who introduced us in the queue line.
There was also a momentary period of fire which made me happy.
As I'm sure you know it is a load of singing birds. I make it sound absolutely **** but it is really good and really entertaining. I certainly wasn't expecting it!
There were also singing flowers and at one point even the walls chipped in. There were a series of songs where more and more of these animatronics joined in with the singing. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
I believe Big Thunder Mountain Railroad happened next (I assume this was our last fast pass of the day? I can't remember. That'll teach me to leave it over 7.5 months before I bother writing up about it).
Another great ride, I will miss this, it was one of the biggest surprises of the trip.
I have a gap from photos so whether we did anything in between this and dinner I don't know, but I'm sure the two people reading won't mind me skipping to dinner.
We went to the Sonny Eclipse diner again. I had half a chicken, mash potato (ugh, why I ordered mash I really don't know) and veg.
I was browsing through Twitter and heard the devastating news that Robin Williams had died. I wouldn't say it had put a dampener on our evening, but with the steady rain that had seem to set in outside, things didn't feel quite as magical as they should have done on our last night in Florida. We had to change that!
What better way to cheer up than with a cred, and the last cred of the trip for me, Barnstormer!
Like I already mentioned, it was raining, so we were getting damp but there was a cred to be got!
Meh, it was alright, it was a kiddie cred after all. +1 and done. Nothing more needs to be said.
On the way back to find the Maycock parents we decided to ride the Flying Dumbos. Lit up at night they looks magnificent!
They looked much more impressive than the same sort of ride at Universal Studios, but overall I just enjoyed these more, probably because it was at night and I could see all the lights across the nearby part of the park and it just looked beautiful. I'm glad we rode.
We headed back over to Peoplemover because I had said I wanted to ride it at night.
I did enjoy it more at night, it gave some great views of the castle and Space Mountain lit up at night. The problem with movement...especially at night is most of my photos were a blur so I won't bother posting.
Time was now running short for us to get back over to the castle for Wishes so as soon as we arrived back at the ride station of Peoplemover we headed straight over to the front.
I didn't take any photos of the fireworks tonight. I just stood and watched in awe and amazement. It kind of hit me that this was it, flying home tomorrow, this was to be my last magical Disney experience, and that made me sad, but also happy because I'd had an amazing four weeks.
The show was spectacular as I expected. I stood and watched in silence for 20 minutes loving every second of the show.
But the story didn't end there.
As it was only 10.30 when the show finished, we still had another 90 minutes before the park shut so we went over and rode Peter Pan's Flight.
The ride started and as soon as we left the station we lifted up! We had started to fly, over London. It was great. Past Tower Bridge and Big Ben. We followed the second star on the right and went straight on until morning, and we were soon flying over Neverland. There were mermaids and boats and fish, as well as Captain Hook and Mr. Smee! We also came across the Lost Boys.
Peter Pan and Captain Hook were fighting when we arrived but we managed to stop Wendy from jumping the plank. We finally landed back in the ride station. Thoroughly enjoyable! Good fun, I always liked Peter Pan and I haven't seen it for years so it brought back the memories of the film. Loved it.
We knew that the second Electrical Parade of the evening was about to start so we once again made our way down to the front of the castle which, as I was there, thought I'd take a selfie in front of.
And yes, I also took a sad selfie. I'm so cool.
Soon we could see the floats from the electrical parade begin their journey up Main Street. I'll just chuck in a load of photos and give opinions later.
I loved how he was breathing smoke, worked really well.
It was a really good show. I liked the music, 'Do Dooloo doodledoodle doodle' as nadroJ commented on a photo when I put them on Facebook
. It was just a really nice way to finish off the day and, in a sense, the holiday. Really enjoyed it.It was pushing midnight now so we headed over to the shops in Main Street to spend our last remaining $$$.
I bought a photo album but I still haven't sorted out photos to put in it yet. This annoys me. One day. It was pretty much 1am before we left. I had never been in a theme park so long that tomorrow arrived whilst still in the park, but I was loving being there all the same. The monorail had finished for the night long ago so our only option back was the Ferryboat which I was more than happy to catch.
We caught the Admiral Joe Fowler.
On the journey back we got some great views across the lake of the Magic Kingdom.
I loved Magic Kingdom, more than any park I have ever been to. I don't know what it is but it's just, for me, perfect. It's overwhelmingly detailed and beautiful, it has a fantastic array of highly and accurately themed, rides. There's childhood memories here for me from watching the films as a kid, and for what reason I can't see Magic Kingdom ever being toppled off my number one park...unless another Disney park is better
I hope you do!
We made our way back to the villa, it was gone 2am by the time we got into bed. Had to be up reasonably early to pack the remainder of our things and be out of the villa by 10am.
Thank you very much once again for reading. I'll finish this off with day 26, homecoming this afternoon I expect.