so far....

been here a week now....so here it is so far....

flew with british airways, first time, very impressed, good food, good movies and good service although we were half an hour late taking off because the fire alarm went off in the terminal and they lost one of our passengers.....
landing was a bit rough though, worst i have ever had including the emergency landing i was on!!! pilot blamed it on "a bit of wind"....cos you get a lot of wind in florida.....

had to go shopping the first day because none of us (group of 11 people - no kids all adults) had brought any clothes with us. Festival Bay was first stop and a lot of shops here have closed down since i was here last (2 years ago). Ron Jon's is the only reason to visit here i think! then we went the new Prime Outlets (old Belz) and it's lovely now. It's a lot like Premium Outlets, where as you are outside walking around rather than in a big mall. All of the shops have good sales and there's a wide variety of shops as well. A definite improvement on the old Belz!!

Florida Mall was the next day's plan, spent all day there, JC Penny have a really good sale on, the whole store is on sale with most of it being buy one item get 2nd for $1....spent a fortune in there.

Saturday went to Universal. Quite quiet....no queues really except for simpsons which had a 90 minute wait. we didn't wait.....got flex tickets so we will go back one morning and just do that ride....plus prob mummy again because it is quite a brilliant ride that one!! Cunning plan.....put the people who haven't been on jaws before on the left hand side of the boat...they got soaked. The Earthquake ride has changed it's name to Disaster. Still have the underground bit at the end but now you spend quite a while making a movie which they show you on the screens of the underground while you are travelling back. a very funny and enjoyable ride, i was annoyed at first because Earthquake was a really good show but the new one is definitely better. i still haven't forgiven them for getting rid of king kong though....
had to do ET again just so we could make up some daft names for ourselves and here him say them at the end....they didn't know how to spell archibold though, nor do i to be honest.....
a new show there is "fear factor", they get people in the park to volunteer to compete against each other. it's a brilliant show. don't miss that one! don't compete though unless you are very physically fit and don't mind dead fish stuff being thrown at you. you do get to wear spandex though....
afterwards got a meal deal thingie where you get a cinema ticket and a meal in a restaurant for $25. a good deal i think. ate in nascar cafe, felt a bit rushed in there...here's your food, quick eat and get out!!! then went to see iron man, brilliant film. the cinema though was absolutely freezing....take a jumper if you are going there!! i spent the entire film trying to use my camera case to stay warm. my sister however fell asleep and missed most of the film.

sunday we went to see Duran Duran!! all the way to america to see an english band!! They were playing in the UFC arena which is pretty new by the look of it. It's on a university campus which we drove around in the day to pick up the tickets. drove down the road where they had all the fraternity houses, it's just like the films!! have all their letters written up on them.....they must have thought i was mental taking pictures of them!! Brilliant concert, didn't realise they were so popular in america!

Today we have been shopping again....for a change!!! we are stacking our shoe boxes up against the wall and so far we have bought between us....32 pairs of shoes....i feel an excess luggage charge on the way!!

now i should probably go to bed because it's gone midnight and we are planning wet and wild tomorrow. although at the moment the lights are on and off because we have thunderstorms...really good ones!!! so if that is happening tomorrow i guess we can't go to a waterpark!

Sounds like you're haing a great time.

We too could not understand why Universal got rid the King Kong ride, it was brilliant.

what a great start.....enjoying this already.....looking forward to shopping at prime......thanks for the report so far.....looking forward to the next part!![clap]

Great trip report Annette, we also love to shop. I can't wait to hear your final total for shoes [msnwink]

Good start, waiting for next one and of couse pictures if poss

wow thats some pile of shoes :D
thank you for yor report , i can see you love the shopping , some real good bargains to be had
enjoy the rest of your trip , look forward to reading some more
sharon

http://www.orlando-guide.info/forums...2453_shoes.JPG

shoes so far!!!

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by annette_tr9
had to go shopping the first day because none of us (group of 11 people - no kids all adults) had brought any clothes with us. [/quote]

Sounds like my sort of trip :D

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by annette_tr9


http://www.orlando-guide.info/forums...2453_shoes.JPG

shoes so far!!!
[/quote]

WOW Annette, that pile of shoes is coming along nicely [msnwink]

Will be trying to catch up with the shoe collection when we arrive in Florida tomorrow, and looking forward to all the new shops since our visit in February as they were springing up everywhere.

Sandra

ok next part!!!

haven't really been doing much special though....

went to wet n wild, they have a new slide called brain wash which is absolutely brilliant, it's worth going just to go on that. you get four people in one ring but (here's the downside) you have to carry that up the slope and it's REALLY HEAVY....we managed it twice before i nearly passed out....that's enough exercise for this year!!
anyway, the slide is all enclosed and you go off in the dark then hit a REALLY steep drop where you actually leave the bottom of the slide for what seems like minutes....then you are right up the other side nearly vertical.....brilliant.
queues were quite long, well i thought they were, in the afternoon we were waiting for 30 minutes on some slides. had to all get out of the water at 1 o clock for quite a tremendous thunder and lightening storm...lightening is really loud here!! then we got back home and because all the men didn't listen to us women they were sunburnt....all had a bit of a laugh at them, should have listened to us.

next day off they go to busch gardens, i had a day in the villa because i have been there 7 times already and fancied a day around the pool - with suncream. when they got home the men were covered in big pus filled blisters on their sunburn and they were in A LOT of pain. spent that evening keeping them cool with lots of wet face cloths and me keeping on at them to drink loads of water. they couldn't sleep that night and the next day we had to cancel our plans because they couldn't get any clothes on over them. so listen to us women!! and wear suncream!! men!!!!

http://www.orlando-guide.info/forums...33358_john.JPG

the day after the injury day....after a lot of aloe vera and us reminding the men that they should have listened to us (they won't hear the end of that one).....we decided we might not have enough shoes and needed to shop more. so we visited winter garden. if you haven't been shopping here before you must go, brilliant shopping area, we only stopped to have a quick browse and ended up there all day. more shoes added to pile....

and today guess what we did.....yep shopping!!! we had a dvd shopping today and now look what happened:

http://www.orlando-guide.info/forums...0_DSCF2136.JPG

we are planning on going to sleuths dinner show tomorrow may go aquatica in the daytime depending on how the men's shoulders are, we have been trying to stay out of the sun for the last few days!!

Oh how silly getting that sunburnt, I'm surprised they haven't got sunstroke which is much more serious. It really does ruin a few days, especially after dark when it always hurts the most, and is so preventable. If it persists, go to a pharmacy in any supermarket or Walgreens or CVS and ask for something for it.

If you like having a laugh, then I think you'll enjoy Sleuths, which is very entertaining and the food's not that bad either but don't have the pasta - rib is heaps better and worth the extra!

yes we went to walgreens to get stuff, they were very good in there. i expect they get it all the time!!

we have the choice of chicken, steak or lasagne at sleuths.....do you think the lasagne is going to be as bad as the pasta?!?!?

free wine anyway....doesn't really matter what food there is to be honest!

apparently it's "cornish hen", there best not be any cornish jokes because all 11 of us are cornish.....

Lasagne is pasta...

Cornish hen doesn't mean it comes from Cornwall it means fed on corn (or so we were told by the Americans sitting at our table in Sleuths and I think they were telling us the truth)!

I'd go for the steak if I were you, it was very nice.

loved the second part, shame the fellas got burnt.....even mine dont listen......looking forward to the next part....:D

ok next bit!!!

went to sleuths dinner show and it was really good, very funny. lots of british humour in it and the wine was good!! usually when it's free beer and wine it's horrible. food wasn't the best, my chicken was lovely but the steak was really fatty. i got the tickets cheap from ebay anyway so it was worth what i paid for them!!

day after we went to planet hollywood for tea, had to wait 20 minutes for a table which i didn't think was too bad. food was really good but i did feel like we were rushed a bit. afterwards walked around downtown disney shops and marketplace. it was REALLY busy, i guess because there were people here for the bank holiday weekend.

yesterday went to islands of adventure and surprisingly it wasn't busy at all!! longest we had to wait in a queue was for spiderman which was 25 minutes. 20 minutes for hulk and we went on dueling dragons first and didn't queue at all for that. had a good look at the sectioned off part where they are building harry potter. the steel framework for the castle is half up now and the castle is going to be massive!!! can't wait for that.

just as we went into the park though jordan was sick and had to be taken to the docs with a really high temperature. turns out he has an ear infection and was given antibiotics. now he isn't allowed to swim or go on any more rides for our last week!! that cost $300!!!! we take the nhs for granted i think. should be able to get it back on insurance when we get back though.

we finished every ride by 4 o clock so went to the cinema to see "forgetting sarah marshall" which was hilarious. then onto hard rock cafe for tea. hard rock has a much better atmosphere that planet hollywood. they had everyone up standing on their chairs dancing to YMCA. the food was much better and a little cheaper.

having a bit of a rest today, my feet are killing me!! so i think i will go swimming in a minute then lie in the sun (with suncream). the men's blisters are all popped now and they are scabby and peely!! might try a greek restaurant tonight on international drive.....
tomorrow we are planning to do all 4 disney parks in one day so i have to recharge today!! we have been so many times we are only going to go on our fav rides.....going to be a long day though!

Well I am sure you have got lots of shoes to change to give your feet a rest!!![msnwink]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by ravtino
Well I am sure you have got lots of shoes to change to give your feet a rest!!![msnwink]
[/quote]

Hee hee :D

Oh wow, you sound like you're having an amazing time. Apart from the blisters and ear infection that is! lol

I really enjoy reading everyones trip reports. I really must start replying more lol.

Enjoy the rest of your stay. I'm so jealous! I'm off to bed now it's late. Although I bet you're just sitting down for some Greek food now! lol

Just catching up, didn't realise you were updating under this heading

still sounds great!!!! sorry to hear little uns got an ear infection hope it clears up before flying back.....
looking forward to the next bit, thanks :D

Excellent trip report, I am really enjoying reading it and looking forward to the next installment[8D]

well, had our disney day, did the entire of disney in one day and didn't take as long as we thought it would. started in hollywood studios (i still keep calling it MGM!!)...straight to the right, get fast pass for tower of terror and then onto aerosmith then back to tower of terror, by the time we had finished that there was already a 30 minute queue. did the great movie ride, remembered why we didn't bother last time.....how old is that ride now!? watched the stunt show which was very good then went on the new toy story ride which was absolutely brilliant. worth going into that park just for that ride. then drove over to animal kingdom to go on the new ride everest. looked a bit like a runaway train while we were queuing but when we got on it, much faster and you go backwards too, the track behind you changes so you don't know what's about to happen!
came home for a swim to cool off then went back to epcot to see the fireworks in the evening....disney done in one day....

friday went to aquatica which was a lot smaller than i expected!! got there at 9 o clock when the park opened and within half an hour we were queuing over 30 minutes for a slide. luckily got them all done as soon as we got there and then when it got busy went into the wave pools and the lazy rivers. highlight of aquatica is the rapid river. you wear a float vest and it's like a lazy river only you are going loads faster. if you go in it wear a float vest because you go around quicker then. you do keep bashing into people though because you don't have much control over where you are going....you have to put a lot of energy into getting off as well!! the dolphin tubes were rubbish, queued for ages for that and if you blink you will miss the clear part of the tube where you can see the dolphins, plus they will probably be hiding behind a rock anyway. there is a viewing window you can see them off the slide though. there are signs up that you can't take food or drink into the park, we didn't take any anyway but other people with us had packed a lunch and had to leave it in their car. left there at about 12 o clock, had done everything once and didn't want to queue for ages in the boiling heat for a slide!! the men did learn their lesson though and they all wore t shirts this time!!! so no sunburn on this trip.

in the evening went to bahama breeze for tea on international drive. when we got there they told us there was a 2 hour wait for a table!! luckily someone already waiting left and the restaurant gave us their slot so we only waited half an hour. the food in there was lovely. we had lots of cocktails too and the prices are very reasonable. definately recommend this one!!

on the way home popped into premium outlets, quiet there at 10 at night and got around in an hour before everyone closed. added to the shoe box pile again!

today there is a shuttle launch at kennedy so we are thinking of driving down there to watch that....dunno yet. i have seen one before and it's probably going to be very busy down there....

only three full days left now (boooooooooooo) so they will be spent doing last minute shopping then packing, repacking, weighing cases etc etc. plus we must the most of our pool in the last three days and relax so that we don't go home completely knackered!

lovely..... so look forward to reading other peoples trip reports, feels like we're with them!!!
am loving this and dont want it to end......:D enjoy your last few days.... and thanks:D[clap]

I'm loving reading your trip reports! I can feel your excitement and joy through your words. I so wish I was there. Look forward to your next update. Make the most of our last few days. :)

i have just seen the shuttle launch!!! you can see it from our villa!!! tuned into nasa tv and took the laptop out by the pool and watched it from both angles!!! woooooooooooooooo

brillaint, we're hoping to see a launch in august when we go to florida!!

Get the little one some EARPLANES in the newsagents in the airport when you fly back [or walgreens beforehand] otherwise you could have a nasty pressurised earache on the plane.

I take it you're back now? We want to see your lovely pics! :D

yes got back home yesterday, knackered!!

spent our last three days just relaxing, packing, repacking, packing again, trying to get each case under the weight limit. me and my husband had a total of 18 stone of luggage!! oops!!! someone else took one case back for us though so no additional charges!!

flight back was a bit rough, took some sleeping tablets though and slept all the way through it!!

i shall sort some photos out to put up on the forums!!

18 stone, is that all? Pah![msnoo] lol My god woman did you bring a theme park back with you??? lol

I didn't realise you could that much back without a charge. Bang goes my shopping budget then, I'm going to go nuts! lol

Can't wait to see your pics. I've been having withdrawal symptoms after looking at every thread on the photo forum a few days ago! lol

Just come home from two weks in Mexico and have loved your trip report. My daughter has an ear infection every time we go to florida for some reason. I take antibiotics with mw now every time I go away but Lucy didnt need them this time. Ear Planes are a must for the way home. Lucy never flys without them now and they really help as she used to cry on the flights as she was in so much pain. Enjoy your last few days.

Loved your trip reports, you all must enjoy shopping:D Looking forward to seeing some photos, mind you the speed you did some of the parks I wonder if you had time, LOL[high5]

Thanks for the trip reports Annette I loved reading them. Fantastic collection of shoe boxes [msnwink]I love the shoes in Florida!

Great report glad you had a great time [msnsmile2]
Kim