Very Long Trip Review!

This is my first trip review so be gentle with me. It was my DH (42), DS (9), DS (6) and myself (39) driving to Orlando from Middle Georgia. We were suppose to leave a week later than we did but saw the crowd levels were lighter this week so we changed our reservations without telling the kids.

DAY 1: We put the kids to bed early Friday night and told them we were going to leave early the next morning to go shopping. We packed everything in the car after they were in bed. We got up at 5 am and started driving. The weather was terrible. Pouring rain and windy. We drove all morning telling them it was a couple more hours. I read books about Universal and Orlando to them most of the way down. There was a small rodeo in our town that night and my youngest one had a ticket and really wanted to get back from our ';shopping'; trip in time to go. Early in the afternoon we got word from the grandparents the rodeo had been cancelled due to the weather. He was so disappointed . We finally got off the turnpike and started seeing signs for everything they knew we were suppose to do ';next week'; on our vacation. They still didn%26#39;t catch on. So we drove on to our hotel - Buena Vista Suites. We only stayed here one night because we weren%26#39;t able to get that Saturday night at The Fountains (which is where we stayed for the rest of the week) when we changed our reservation dates.

So we go inside and check into our room. They boys were just looking at everything not really knowing what was going on. When we got back outside to the car the little one asked why we were there. When they realized we had tricked them they went crazy. They were SO excited!!!

I had bought several tickets from Maple Leaf Tickets online. We had Pirates Dinner show tickets but after reading such negative reviews I emailed them and asked if we could exchange them for something else. They said it wouldn%26#39;t be a problem. So after checking into BVS we drove to Maple Leaf ticket office. We decided on La Nouba tickets. DH and I have been to a couple of shows in Las Vegas and thought this would be worth the price difference in the Pirates Dinner show tickets. Let me just say that Alex was a great help. Needless to say they didn%26#39;t have to exchange the tickets but Alex even called and made our reservations at La Nouba!!! I can%26#39;t say enough about how accommodating they were.

After leaving there, we went back to International Drive and ate dinner at Uno%26#39;s pizza. We bought the Kids Eat Free cards ($17.95 each) and used them here with no problem. Dinner was great. I had some kind of frozen drink with pina colada and raspberry mixed. It was very good. After dinner we played putt-putt at Pirates Cove. The kids really enjoyed this and I made a hole in one! After that we went to buy ponchos because the weather was looking nasty. We stopped for ice cream then back to BVS. We went down to the pool for a minute just to relax before showering and going to bed.

Day 2: This was suppose to be the first real day of our vacation since we had so much to do the day before. We got up early, about 7 am , went downstairs for breakfast which was included in the price of the room. Breakfast was good - buffet style with cooked to order eggs, pancakes, sausage, grits, hash browns, toast, cereal, milk, juices and pastries.

We were suppose to go to Wet N Wild today but it was storming! I couldn%26#39;t believe how bad the weather was. Our parents called and said there were tornados at home. We checked out of BVS and headed over to The Fountains resort. But it was still to early to check in so we were homeless in the storm for the next few hours. We decided to drive over to Cape Canaveral so the boys could see the cruise ships. DH and I cruise a lot but the boys haven%26#39;t been with us on one yet. By the time we got there the rain had eased off and was just a little cloudy. We saw a Disney ship and Carnivals Sensation. Then we went to Cocoa beach and played for awhile. We went back to Orlando and went to CityWalk for dinner. There was a cheerleading competition this week and I think every one of them was in Nascar Caf茅 where we ate. It was very loud and crowded. We are big Nascar fans so we wanted to eat there to see some of the race. Lunch was good, we used the Kids Eat Free cards here. Buy this time they had paid for themselves.

We then went to The Fountains got checked in and unpacked and went to the grocery store to get groceries for the week. The room was really nice. Two bedrooms, two baths, living room, full kitchen , washer/dryer, dishwasher, screened balcony,3 TV%26#39;s, DVD player, anything you may need. It was very homey, a great place to stay with a family. I felt like we didn%26#39;t get to enjoy it as much as we should because we were away from the resort so much.

Day 3: Got up early and had breakfast in the room. Went to check out the package deals they offer on timeshares for The Fountains. It seemed like a good deal but just not for us. Like I said we like to cruise a lot and I don%26#39;t want to feel tied down to this. Maybe in the future we may consider it more. After this we went to Universal Studios. We got there and Scooby and Shaggy were out. So we took pictures with them. Then Madagascar, Woody Woodpecker, Shrek and Donkey. The kids loved this. We went to Finnegan%26#39;s for lunch. I had the fish and chips (delish), DH had hot wings, both kids had chicken strips of course. We left there and went on the Mummy. It was awesome. Just wish I wasn%26#39;t so full from lunch. Then we went on Twister, Woody%26#39;s Coaster, Jaws, Simpsons, Shrek, Jimmy Neutron. My hubby absolutely loved the Simpson ride. As did I. The crowd was very light. We didn%26#39;t have to wait very long for any ride. Maybe 15 minutes if that. We stayed until the park closed. We didn鈥檛 have enough time to do everything that day. But we had planned on doing each park twice. We went back to the room and had a light dinner, changed and went to the pool until it closed. There are 2 waterslides at the pool. The boys had a big time on these. For being the size they are we thought they were pretty fun too. Came back to the room and soaked in the Jacuzzi tub in our room. Went to bed and slept like a baby.

Day 4: Had breakfast in the room then went to Islands of Adventure. We got there about the time the gate opened. It had been raining earlier but had stopped by the time we got inside. We went straight to The Hulk because there wasn%26#39;t many people there yet. We did the baby swap. I went in line while DH stayed with the boys. I waited about 15 minutes before getting on. I was in the second row outside. The take off is quite thrilling! After we swapped and DH was done with this ride we went back to Storm Force Accelatron. This was mostly for the kids but we all enjoyed it. Then we did Spiderman. The only other ride in this area is Doctor Dooms Fearfall. We didn%26#39;t ride it because the kids weren%26#39;t tall enough and there was a really long line. It wasn%26#39;t worth the wait for just DH and I to ride it. After that, off to Seuss Landing! This place is incredible. I could live there. Everything is so cute. Right out of my childhood books. We all rode the Caro-Seuss-el, The Cat in the Hat and One Fish Two Fish. I think that was the kids favorite. We got in line for the Trolley train ride and made it about half way up when they announced the rides were closed due to inclimate weather conditions. So we left and walked over to Poseidon%26#39;s Fury but it was a while before the next show so we went to Mythos for lunch. This was one of the best meals I had while in Orlando. I had the Blueberry/Pine Nut/ Blue cheese encrusted pork. Hubby had chicken sandwich, kids had pizza and 鈥?you guessed it!!!CHICKEN STRIPS!! The kids had the rice Crispy sushi and we had a couple of the shots for desert. Everything was very good! Next we headed over to Jurassic Park. By the time we got to the Discovery Center it was thundering and lightening. So we got a table and a couple of churros and sat down to wait it out. It started storming and pouring rain. Everyone was leaving. After about 1/2 an hour it cleared up a little so we walked over to Toon Lagoon and let the boys play in the water. They were soaked but having a really good time. They started opening rides and we jumped right on to Dudley Do Rights Ripsaw Falls. No wait at all! Then went straight to Bilge-Rat Barges, again no wait but right when we got to the front it started raining again. They let us on anyway. So we rode it in the pouring rain. I was surprised they didn%26#39;t close it again but the lightening was over so I guess it was safe. After that we went over to JP%26#39;s River Adventure. No wait! They weren%26#39;t even filling the rafts full. I wanted to ride again but DH wanted to move on. We checked the Pteradon Flyers but there was over an hour wait鈥 don鈥檛 understand that. So we went over to Dueling Dragons and did the baby swap again. I went first and went on Fire. I was in the second row/ outside. Walked straight on. No wait at all. When I got back I stayed with the kids while DH rode. While he was gone the attendant came over and asked if I was waiting to ride. I told him I already had and was waiting for DH. He said I could ride again if I wanted. So I said sure. When DH got back the guy put me right on to the front of the train! We rode 3 times back to back to back with no waiting! By then it was the end of the day so we started heading back to the front to go out. We let the boys play on the way out. Even though the rain slowed us down a bit it turned out to be good for us because everyone left and we rode what we wanted without any lines. We were suppose to eat at Bob Marley%26#39;s tonight but we were still full from lunch so we just had a sandwich in the room and let the boys play in the Jacuzzi.

DAY 5: Today we slept in just a little. We left our room around 8:30 am and went to one of those McDonalds Bistro%26#39;s to have breakfast. We used the kids eat free card again. But there was only 2 choices for the kids and the girl didn%26#39;t understand how the card works. She didn%26#39;t speak English very well at all and she tried to keep our card. I had to ask her to give it back twice and she kept saying ';Only need one card'; and stapled the card to the receipt and put it in the register. She finally gave it back but looked confused. The food wasn%26#39;t very good. I know it%26#39;s fast food. But I think regular McDonalds food is better. After breakfast we went to Wet N Wild. We got there right when they opened and rented a locker. We rode everything in there except the Disco thing. We didn%26#39;t have to wait much at all. The Bubba Tub was probably our favorite. It was pretty fun. Our youngest talks very country. So it was funny hearing him talk about the Bubba Tub. Everywhere we went when he talked people asked where we were from and laughed at him. Later in the afternoon we let him play at the little kids area for an hour or so. They had smaller water slides, a small wave pool, a tiny lazy river and other stuff just for smaller kids. He really enjoyed playing there more than the stuff he did with us. We left around 3:30 because we had priority seating at Margaritaville at 7:15. As soon as we walked out of the gate it started raining. Perfect timing!

We got to CityWalk early and just walked around for awhile then went to change our dining time to an earlier seating. It took about 30 minutes for us to get a table so we just had a drink while we waited. I had a Havanas Bananas which is always my favorite drink there with the exception of a margarita! The food here was great. We had the seafood dip and jerk wings for appetizers. Then I had the crab cakes, DH had jerk salmon, kids had popcorn shrimp and CHICKEN ';FANGERS';. I swear he is going to turn into a chicken fanger. We had a really good time here. We%26#39;ve been to several other Margaritavilles%26#39; and this one is one of our favorites. After this we just walked around and looked at everything. We got back about 11:00. We were all tired.

DAY 6: Today we were suppose to go back to Universal Studios. When I woke up it looked like a pretty day. There had been so much rain this week and this looked like the first day it wasn%26#39;t going to rain so we decided to stay at the hotel and go to the pool. We got dressed and went to IHOP for breakfast and took the kids for some shopping for souvenirs. We went back to the room and changed for the pool. We played all day there. The slides were fun and there is a lot of other areas for the kids to play. They have several activities in which the staff play with the kids. The boys enjoyed doing the treasure hunt in the pool. They also had ice cream from the pools grill/bar. It started to cloud late in the afternoon so we went in to get ready for the night. We had La Nouba reservations at 6:00 and Rainforest Caf茅 at 8:15. We enjoyed the show very much. I have to say I didn%26#39;t think it was as good as the Las Vegas shows though. Before I say anything negative I will say that Cirque Du Soliel is phenomenal. I just didn%26#39;t think this was their best show. There were several times when they messed up or were out of sync or just out of character. I%26#39;ve never seen this in their other shows. This didn%26#39;t stop me from enjoying it. I wanted to take the little girls home with me. They were so amazing - best part of the show! After the show we made the what-seemed-like ten mile hike back to Rainforest Caf茅.

I had read the food here wasn%26#39;t the best. I think we enjoyed this the least of everywhere we ate (except McDonald%26#39;s Bistro). It was extremely over priced. Come on, $13 for a hamburger? We got cheese sticks for appetizer. They were cold in the middle. Not even slightly melted. The 9 y/o got popcorn shrimp which weren%26#39;t fully cooked. They were ';gummy'; and cold in the middle. The little one had chicken fangers again. And even he didn%26#39;t eat them. DH and I split one of there combo platters. It was ok. Nothing special but it was $28. There were 4 shrimp, a small piece of skirt steak and about a 1/4 of a slab of ribs. Not some where I would go again. I don%26#39;t mind paying a higher price for a good meal, but I want it to at least be a good meal. The kids were not as impressed by the atmosphere as we were. So I feel like this was a waste. The place was crazy busy and packed, maybe that%26#39;s the reason for the poor quality of food. I have a friend who took her family there several years ago and they loved it. So hopefully our experience was not common for most. After dinner we walked around DTD and just browsed in some of the stores. I went into Basin and ended up buying a couple of tubs of bath salts and a couple of the Mickey bath bombs. That store smells amazing!

Because there had been so much rain and we decided to stay an extra day. We called down to the front desk to see if we could extend our stay for one more night. After some time they found us a room in the same building but on a different floor. So on Saturday we would have to pack up and check out by 10am then check back in after 4 pm and move into a new room. So we decided it would be worth it. And there was a plus, they were only charging $99 for the extra night!

DAY 7: Got up early and had a small breakfast in the room. Went to Islands of Adventure as soon as they opened. Today we started at the back so we could try to ride everything we didn%26#39;t get to the other day and also ride the ones we wanted to ride again. We went straight to Dueling Dragons and did the baby swap. We went on Ice this time. I think I liked it better than Fire. We rode this twice each, again with absolutely no waiting. I couldn%26#39;t believe how lucky we had been. We walked back over to see Poseidon%26#39;s Fury but we just missed the next show. So we walked back to check on the Pteradon Flyers. On the way, Sinbad was out telling people to come see his next show at 1:00am. Which we planned to do. We stopped by the Mystic Fountain and threw in a couple of pennies then moved on. The Flyers have over an hour wait again! I%26#39;m so surprised you can walk right onto DD but can%26#39;t get on the Flyers w/o such a long wait. So we walked back to Poseidon because the next show was at 12:00. We got there at 11:40 and they had already closed the line. So we went to Mythos for lunch instead. Once again this meal was fantastic! Great value for the quality of food. After lunch, third time was a charm for Poseidon! We got in but I wasn%26#39;t impressed. I had seen pictures of the little hall where the water swirls around you. Well, I guess that wasn%26#39;t working because we just walked thru the tunnel black. No water, no lights. I hate we wasted so much time trying to see this. So we go over to Sinbad for the next show but we missed it while in Poseidon. We decided to just go back to Seuss Landing and let the kids do whatever they wanted. This time we rode the Trolley train. It was really cute. Then the boys and I rode One Fish, Two Fish. DH didn%26#39;t want to get wet yet so he sat out and took pics. Then we got on the Caro-Seuss-el and just as it was starting to move they stopped it and said it was torn up. We could wait or come back so we left. We went to Camp Jurassic and let the boys play. It was fun for us too. Then we went to Toon Lagoon and rode Bilge-Rat Barge, next Dudley%26#39;s Ripsaw falls (I think this was a family favorite), then the River Adventure again. After this we decided to just suck up the wait time - 60 minutes- for the Pteradon Flyers. It was a very fun ride. I wish it had been longer though. When we got off that we all played at Camp Jurassic again. Then we started walking back to the front and asked the boys if they wanted to ride one last ride before leaving and they said Storm Force Accelatron. So we did that then left the park. We had dinner at Bubba Gump%26#39;s this night. It was a pretty long wait but well worth it. The food was good and our waiter was great with the kids. Even though it was really busy in there he really took up a lot of time with us and never made us feel rushed. This turned out to be a really great day for us all. We went back to the room and packed up as much as we could and put it in the car so we wouldn%26#39;t have so much to do in the morning.

Day 8: Today (Saturday) is our last Universal Studios day. We got up early and finished packing then went to the office and checked out. They offered to store our luggage but it was easier to keep it in the car and just get out what we would need for the ride home the next day. They also told us to keep the pool cards so we could use the pool for the day even though we didn%26#39;t have a room until after 4. After checking out we headed to the park. We stopped on the way and got a couple of doughnuts from Dunkin%26#39;s - Kids Eat Free again. The traffic getting there was terrible. Cars were backed up at Aquatica when we came by. This was a bad sign of how things were at US. We pulled into the line to park and it was backed up鈥acked way up! So while waiting we decided to head to Cocoa Beach instead. The weather was beautiful and we had all of our swimwear and towels in our luggage in the car. So we drove down and bought all of us a wake board and went to the beach. We all played in the ocean but DH and I mostly laid out and watched the boys play. There were a lot of people on the beach. After a few hours I started feeling guilty about not going to US because our main reason for staying was to see the Mardi Gras parade. We go to New Orleans quite often and love the atmosphere and food there. So we ended up getting the kids out of the water and showered a little at one of the little outside showers by the beach. We changed back into our clothes in the car and drove back to Universal. It wasn%26#39;t as crowded now as it was in the morning. We went in and did Terminator 2, E.T., and Men in Black. We really wanted to do The Simpsons again but there wasn%26#39;t much time before the parade so we skipped it and went back to Finnegan%26#39;s. People were already lining the streets for the parade. We had another good meal here then went to find our spot for the parade. We met some very nice people where we were standing. The lady was very nice to the boys. She let them in front of her so they could see better and every bead or coin she caught she gave to them. I thought that was so nice! They really enjoyed the parade. I told my husband that I hope the boys liking Mardi Gras so much isn%26#39;t a sign of times to come! After the parade we got a funnel cake and Icees for the boys then went to the front to leave. They had been collecting the flattened pennies everywhere we went so they got a couple more before we left. We also bought a few last minute souvenirs in the gift shop. We got them ';Thingy 1 and Thingy 2'; (that%26#39;s what the little one calls them) shirts, pants and wigs for their Halloween costumes. I also got them one of the penny holder albums to put their pennies in. MC Hammer was in concert after the parade but we just stayed for a little of it and left because we still had to check into our new room and it was getting late. We walked around Citywalk for just a minute one last time then left. We checked into our new room very quickly and easily. This room had a different layout from our previous one but just as nice. Two br/ two bth. We took showers and went to bed.

Day 9: Now as much fun as we have had I must say I am ready to go home. I really miss my babies (cats, dog, horses and rabbit) at home. We got up , showered and checked out one last time. We headed over to Downtown Disney for breakfast and to pick up a couple of gifts at Basin. We got there and shopped at World of Disney for a bit. The boys bought themselves a toy gun and a Lightning McQueen car. I got some things people had asked me to pick up for them and got my baby niece one of those Mickey ears antenna toppers for her car. It was the graduation %26#39;09 one with the tassel. Then we went to Earl of Sandwich for bacon and egg sandwiches. They were pretty good. Next we went to Basin and got several things in there. By this time it was almost 11:00am and we had about a 6-7 hour trip home. During the week, my mother in law called to say when she was at our house feeding the babies she found we didn%26#39;t have any water. So she had her husband come over to look at it. They think the water tank was hit by lightning during the storm. So when we get home DH has to work on that or find someone on a Sunday to come out to fix it. Arrrgg鈥?so we start driving, the trip went pretty fast as I was writing this review for most of the drive. Then about 2 hours from home the little one gets sick! Too much Easter candy I think. I don%26#39;t normally let them have much soda or candy. This week they%26#39;ve had most anything they wanted so I think his stomach just wasn%26#39;t used to it. We stopped and let him walk around a bit and then drove on. When we got to the nearest Wal Mart to our house we stopped to get a few things and he was feeling fine then. We got home and I unpacked while DH worked on the water pump and everything seems to be fine now.

We had a wonderful vacation and I want to thank all of you for the information I got from these boards. Our boys are relative foster kids who we are trying to adopt. We have had them for going on 2 years and they have never had a big vacation like this. So no matter what happens I%26#39;m so glad we could do this for them (and for us) and hopefully they will always remember what a great time we had.

If you have any questions let me know. I will do my best!

Very Long Trip Review!

What a Swell Trip Report, Well Done

Love all the details and really love that you all had such a great Holiday

The Kids will indeed remember this Trip forever, that%26#39;s the important part :)

Thanks so much for sharing your Holiday with us

Very Long Trip Review!

You all sound like you had an Awesome time..I cant do any of the big rides in Universal but i Just love Seuss%26#39;s Landing..The train ride is 1 of my favourites..I also love Popeyes Barge ride..I think it is the 1 water ride that you get competly soaked..

Good luck with the adoption.I really hope it all works out for you..Take care..caroline

what a wonderful trip report!! Thank you so much for sharing!

Shannon,

What an awesome report! I loved reading every minute of it!! I am so happy the boys were suprised! They will forever remember their first trip to Orlando!

Sounds like you were as busy as we were! I didn%26#39;t realize that we arrived in orlando the day before you came home! I saw the sign for the mc hammer concert and chuckled to myself! Old school for sure!!!

Thanks again for sharing your trip with us!

Tammy:)

Thanks for reading it and for your nice comments.

Caroline- we absolutely loved the water rides. I was surprised how soaked we all were!

Everyone was so great with helpful info which helped us get the most from our trip.

Hi Skittipeb, cant read this right now, so im posting just to have it in my forums so i can find it later. Thanks for the review :) Ill comment later.

That was a sneaky (but great!) surprise! It sounds like you had a great trip. Good luck with your adoption!

Wonderful report, and what a great surprise you pulled off!

Those tornadoes hit near me, too, that same day y%26#39;all got hit. No damage in my immediate area, but my daughter, near Murfreesboro, actually SAW the tornado that killed two people and destroyed so many houses. Glad to hear you only had water tank damage.

I%26#39;ve never been to Islands of Adventures, but your descriptions make me determined to see Suess Landing!

Wonderful TR! Always have read that Mythos was the best theme park restaurant but have yet to go.

Truly commend you for taking in your relative foster children. I%26#39;m sure it%26#39;s a systemic struggle but permanency for a child is worth fighting for. :)

Very nice vacations! i will have to try Mythos in islands of adventure, sounds delicious :)

If a party travels with no small children, would they still let you in the kids rides? Like Dr Seuss and stuff?

:)