WHO YA GONNA CALL" 29 NIGHTS OF GHOSTBUSTERS, MONSTERS & MORE - A 2019 HHN/SFR/RPR TR

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 7TH



Another fabulous sleep behind us, we awoke feeling good and not jetlagged which is always a good thing. Jetlag is weird as you just can`t do anything until it passes.....and it hits like a brick when you do get it. Not fun......but we did feel refreshed......although to be honest we had no real firm plans today at all.

I sent Kyle a message asking if he wanted to chat today, but he was busy and said tomorrow would be good, so that's what we would do......so, we got showered and dressed and headed over to RP for breakfast and we knew Kayla, the Concierge manager was in today and she`d be up to see us. We only met her last September but we got on like a house on fire....she is so like the lady who was our best friend in many ways, similar mannerisms and outlook which is refreshing to see, and she is so funny!!! We like her a lot.

We do enjoy the walk over from one hotel to the other...….it only takes less than 10 minutes and walking through the ballroom and convention areas mean we don't have to walk outside.....it`s cool!!!

We did enjoy breakfast, some little pastries, croissants and mini muffins.....and I had a few little pieces of the continental meats......nice. We chatted to the staff and then Kayla came in and it was so good to see her...….and before we knew it, we had spent forever chatting and the morning disappeared. But, we had a lovely time catching up on everything......as I said we had no plans at all today...….


The snacks were being laid out now......every day between 12 and 3pm you can help yourself to some very nice little snacks......

It`s fairly quiet around this time of day......most folks are in the parks of course, but you do get people who are having a pool day and they will pop up and get some snacks then. The snacks are all prepacked and so much nicer than they used to be.




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We decide to head out and go into Citywalk for lunch......we love Margaritaville and always enjoy sitting at the bar there......the staff are always lovely and you do get a good banter with them most of the time.....

We do get a seat at the bar today, it`s not too busy, but boy is it hot!!I had said we should walk......big mistake!!! It hit 98F today.....not sure what it was at midday, but it felt like we were walking into the sun!!!









But, this is why we come to Florida...…well, one of the many reasons.....but we love the heat as anyone who has read these reports before will know......but jeez....the next few days would test that love deeply!!! As my vivid red face shows in most pictures!!!





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I order my usual Blackberry Margarita which is gorgeous.....strong and plenty of flavour........and Tom orders a Mango Margarita......which looks ever so pretty.....




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Tom was going to enjoy this drink...…..he was drinking alcohol this lunchtime as he wasn't driving anywhere today, we were staying onsite the whole day which is slightly unusual for us......but early days. We do enjoy a day like this at times.

Now this is a picture of a man who is going to enjoy his drink...... ::yes::




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We eventually decided what we were going to order for lunch after much chatter to our lovely bar lady today...…..Tom rather predictably went for his favourite sandwich here....the Club sandwich and it came with fries separately which he could easily have done without......




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I opted for the blackened grouper sandwich, which was very nice. I never really eat the bun as it`s too much especially at lunch, but did enjoy the sweet potato fries.





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Bars are great places for chatting to others who sit there, much friendlier than tables, and today we did get to chat to some lovely folks who struck up a conversation with us. The accent usually starts that off with most people...….and not for the first time this trip did someone ask if I was Australian...…..I can have a strange mix of accents on occasion......I do believe if I visited Australia, within 10 minutes I`d sound just like one!!! But, we had two lovely couples either side of us who all chatted, so it was a very nice and social lunch.

We came out and it was boiling hot...….we did get a couple of pictures before retreating back home where we had arranged to meet someone for the afternoon.





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We did plan to go to Big Fire at one point, but after listening to friends who`s opinion we trust, we decided not to bother. It does look a nice place and many have lovely meals, but we were happy to pass.




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Our afternoon passed so quickly and it was lovely. We sat in Jake`s for a while and I had strawberry lemonade, which is lovely from there......Jake`s is a fabulous spot to meet folks for food, drinks or chatter.

We later wandered over to the lounge for an hour or so and had a catch up there with a few folks too. Then we headed back to Citywalk on the boat and had a wander around for a little while......and after a quick visit to the bathroom I came back out to a lady talking to Tom.....he had the biggest smile on his face, which he usually does anyway, but this lady had called his name and said she loved his wife`s trip reports......she was Canadian and her name was Marcia Grace......she said she`d love a picture but she said she looked dreadful (she didn't she looked fine) but she felt untidy.....I think we all know that feeling after a day in the parks......but she was very nice and I said I`d say hello to her in this report.....so hello to Marcia Grace...…..she then caught up with her family who were patiently waiting for her to finish her chat with relative strangers....lol....it was so nice to chat to her though.

Our dinner choice tonight was Vivo. And I am quite late to the enjoyment of Vivo.....at first I wasn`t sure of the menu, so put off going for a long time, but.....we love it now...….and like a lot of places we prefer to sit at the bar....also saves a wait for tables!!!!


The sun was still hot, but it was just about to set as we went in.....and this position catches the sun beautifully in the evening towards the front of the restaurant.

Germany is a cool guy......he has been at this bar for a while, and is just the nicest guy....he`s ideal for this job as he is so friendly. We opted for two glasses of white wine tonight...….sorry for the slightly blurry picture.....




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The wine was nice, a good stiff chardonnay...….we again perused the menu....although rather predictably I ordered the one dish I know I love...…chicken piccatta with roast potatoes instead of pasta which I find too filling.....and Tom ordered the pork chop...…...




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The chicken is incredibly succulent and the lemon is sharp without being overpowering, and the potatoes are very buttery!!!!




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Tom`s chop is 12oz with the bone in, and was cooked perfectly. It came with a pear chutney and potatoes...….he loved this dish!!!




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Sitting at the bar again, we have fun chatting......we had a second glass of wine, then a couple came and sat down beside us who didn't look particularly happy, they looked as though they were arguing when they came in...…we overheard her say to him as they sat down "are we getting anywhere now" he rather loudly replied "does annoyed count" oh dear!!!! At that point we said goodnight to Germany and paid the check......I hoped they made up!!

We do love Citywalk at night, and had a good old wander around, into the Fossil store and a few others. We did think we would get some ice cream but, we didn't feel like it.





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The boat was busy as IOA had closed so a lot of folks were heading home now.....but at that time the boats were regular and we didn`t wait long for one though. We heard the family in front of us ask the Capt if they could ride the boat as they weren`t hotel guests, he told them absolutely.....but during HHN after 11/11.30pm they had to have a room key to use the boats.

We knew this of course, but we weren`t exactly sure of the time frame before the room key rule applied. They just wanted to look around the hotel.


A few minutes later we were home and we went straight to Strong Water.

It wasn`t too busy for a Saturday night, and the couple who play every weekend were on, they are excellent......we sat at a table tonight and planned to have one drink and leave.....




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And of course chatting passed a longer time which is always lovely......and then we decided we wanted dessert......so they had a special on tonight. It was a passion fruit cheesecake......well, that was hard to turn down.




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It was delicious. Very creamy and fruity at the same time, and ideal to share as it was incredibly rich. But, just the right amount to share.

We sat a long time chatting and had some water, before we set off up to our room.

It was around 11.30 now and we had planned to get to bed earlier.....lol.....but we`d had a nice evening. And although we hadn't done much today at all, it had been lovely.


Tomorrow was a visit to St Augustine, a Dismeet and HHN...…..
I accidentally hit reply instead of like so I dragged your whole post in here :hyper:

Enjoying your first and second days! I love hearing about HHN from you. I bet the Ghostbusters house was awesome, who ya gonna call, haha!

Food looks lovely and so good as usual!

I love your heat sentiments! You always looks very nice in pictures, red face or not!
 
I accidentally hit reply instead of like so I dragged your whole post in here :hyper:

Enjoying your first and second days! I love hearing about HHN from you. I bet the Ghostbusters house was awesome, who ya gonna call, haha!

Food looks lovely and so good as usual!

I love your heat sentiments! You always looks very nice in pictures, red face or not!

Lol......I’ve done that many times!!

Yes, Ghostbusters was fun.....and it got so much better as the weeks went on......it may not have been scary but it was fun!

We did enjoy most of our meals, think we only had two duds.

I’ll take your compliment......lol......that red face gets worse!!! 😊
 
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 8TH



We were in no rush to get up today, but we still managed to get up far too early....as usual!! I did go through to the sitting room and watch the beautiful sunrise over RP this morning while Tom snoozed a little longer.......I did try to capture it on camera, but somehow it just doesn`t translate onto pictures.

Our usual shower and then got dressed and we sent Kyle a message to say we were ready to chat before we set off......he was checking his email so he called us straight away on Facetime.......always lovely to see him and he was quite happy. We chatted for ages and shared a few stories of our travel and what he`d been up to since three days ago!!!! He was heading out, so we arranged to chat soon and said our goodbyes.


Straight over to RP for breakfast and we didn`t sit long today, we ate and enjoyed some coffee for Tom and water for me. I`m finding coffee doesn`t agree with me very well now, so it`s not often I have any. Water works just fine for me. We then walked back over to Sapphire and got the car to head to St Augustine.

We had tried on several visits to align our plans with @JaxDad to meet up, but we hadn`t quite managed it....we nearly did last trip, but this time we had made definite arrangements to meet up today. We were looking forward to that today.


We popped an address in the Satnav...just in case, it`s us after all, folks who could get lost in a parking lot!!! And we headed off.

Once you clear central Orlando traffic is not so bad, but those narrow lanes and sheer volume of traffic all of whom want to ramrod their way through the lane we were in, it`s a bit better.....but through that particular part of the I-4, it is crazy time!!!!




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We love driving here, I`ve said that many times on here, but I`m always glad to get past this area in particular....no matter how fast you go, there are thirty five thousand drivers who are going faster. And we aren't shy retiring drivers in any way, we can drive like the best of them. :car:




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Tom and I both hold advanced driver certificates, so we are confident, but not stupid. We see a lot of stupid around today ::yes::

The drive is uneventful and surprisingly quick :blush: ....there aren`t a lot of speed cops around on this journey is all I`ll say :rolleyes1 Long straight roads in dry and clear conditions....perfect for driving. It was my turn to drive today, so Tom had drawn the short straw to drive home......so I could have a glass of wine if I felt like it.....although in this heat maybe not.




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We park in our usual spot. It`s a little car park right beside St George St, I think they change the cost on what mood they wake up in...today it was $20 for however long you wanted. I`m sure it would be cheaper elsewhere, but today especially, it was convenient.

Getting out the car we were blasted by the heat.....although we hadn't planned to do that much today, we both decided we would do even less of it got any warmer.....it did.

The main street is so pretty. You do have Ben & Jery`s but for the most part, the place is filled with unique and individual stores. There are some tourist tat stores, they are everywhere but most are nicer than that.





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There are a few little indoor shopping areas and again, unique little stores.....and I was drawn to this guy as I had a picture of me as an 8 year old beside something similar....only I looked terrified back then....they can be quite scary for little kids......now of course, they`re silly.....




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St Augustine is full of amazing history and everywhere you turn there is usually a plaque on a building telling you something you didn`t know and this was the same all over the city. We had been fascinated by it`s history on previous visits, having no idea of what had gone on here in the past.





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This place below we had previously enjoyed pizza and it was delicious...it claims to have the best pizza in America...….not sure about that, but it was lovely. It`s called Pizza Time if you ever decide to give it a try.





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We checked out where we were meeting Jaxdad so we knew exactly where it was, we thought that's where it was so it was easy to find right on the main street here. Prohibition Kitchen was a large place, so we`d be able to get a table to have a drink and chat later.





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St Augustine does love it`s Pirate paraphernalia...….you`ll find pirate things everywhere.....




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There are some lovely areas just a few steps from the main areas, and very unique little places to have drinks or coffee.....if it hadn't been as hot as it was we would have sat down and enjoyed a beverage here, but the sun was baking and even with the slight sea breeze that gently swathed us every now again, it didn't help. We were baking.





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We did wander to the front, close to the water, but we soon retreated to the shadier side of the road where there is a little park area and a bit of shade with the trees...….




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Finally a picture to show Tom was actually with me today!!!!




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We were both a little hungry now, so headed back to St George St where we thought we`d try somewhere different for lunch, but when we saw the menu, we changed our mind. And we ended up where we had eaten a couple of times before, The Florida Cracker Café.

This place is lovely, fairly small and friendly, I believe it`s family run and it shows......we were very early for lunch so we got a table straight away, but you can have a wait here for a table to free up on some days.





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We ordered a fanta and a pink lemonade before Tom decided have the catch of the day sandwich which today was tilapia, and I went for the crab cakes......

Tom`s sandwich was perfect, fish was beautifully cooked and blackened, and it was a good serving.

My crab cakes look as though they were overdone and our waiter did ask if I wanted them redone, but they were fine. I did wonder if they were going to be crisp, which I wouldn't have liked, but they were delicious. And the fries here are beautiful, very crisp and fresh.




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We enjoyed lunch here again. It felt a bargain of a meal for around $40 or so before tip. We declined dessert as we thought we may have that in the next place we were going.

It is lovely wandering around the town....there are so many interesting things to look at and see. And you can easily pass your time here for a day or more. Today we didn't do any of the things tourists might do as it was just to hot...…terrible thing to complain about!!!





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We went into the place we were meeting and they took us to a table upstairs and we hoped Jaxdad would see us...…obviously he knew what we looked like...….:thumbsup2 but we had no clue what he looked like.

The table we had overlooked the whole place, so we thought we`d be visible enough......




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Once we were seated we realised we had walked past Jaxdad who was with his son and his girlfriend having lunch...….he came up to say hello and said he`d be back up when they had finished eating......that was ideal.

We ordered a glass of wine for me, lemonade for Tom and one of their Key Lime Pies which we had heard were lovely.....and it was!!!

It was unlike any other key lime pie we`d had as it has toasted meringue on top, but it was delicious.




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After we had finished dessert, Jaxdad and his family came up and we got to meet his son and girlfriend...….what a lovely family. The kids were heading off to do something so after a chat they set off and we sat down and had a couple of drinks and chatted away a couple of hours...and again, time passed so quickly!!!!

I`m really not sure where the time went...…..we talked about anything and everything and we were so glad we had managed to meet up today. It had been like we had known each other for years, and a lot of fun. It`s always nice to meet up with someone who you have only ever spoke to online. We have been so lucky with meeting up with Dis folks, and have made some life long friends that way.


If we hadn`t been doing HHN tonight, we would have sat longer, but it was now around 3pm-ish......so by the time we got back, setting off now would be ideal.

But, of course we had to take some pictures...….Tom did well here with the sun directly in his eyes.…...lol...….




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We sadly said our goodbye`s and know we will meet up again at some point when we visit if it`s possible. But, we had enjoyed a lovely time meeting up.....

Walking back to the car park was hot. There is a tourist information box where they sell water, we popped in to buy a couple of bottles where the lady informed us it was 98F but felt like 104!!!!! No wonder we were hot. She explained since the hurricane they had been experiencing higher than normal temperatures, being beside the sea it can get a little cooler.....but not right now.

When we switched the car on the temp showed 105F. But soon went down to an average of 95F. We were so glad of A/C.


And thankfully an uneventful journey back home.


Coming up.....another HHN.
 
Wow! I’m in a @schumigirl trip report!

It was an absolute pleasure meeting and chatting with you guys. It did feel like we’ve known each other forever, and the time did pass so quickly! I look forward to meeting up with you again!

Yes, that was a very hot day! The good thing was that the heat (and it being the first day of football season) kept the crowds away. I enjoyed walking a quiet St. George Street, staying mostly in the shade and the air conditioned shops. I visited the Castillo, killing some time while the kids were at Ripley’s, and that was brutally hot out on top. Great views though.

Again, it was wonderful to meet with you guys! I will see you again soon, in St. Augustine or maybe Orlando. Oh, and I’m taking the kids to KSC after Christmas and have been reading your previous trip report! Thanks!
 
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Curled up on couch with a nice, hot cuppa tea. The perfect way to catch up here you are off to a great start as usual! Can’t go wrong with Pirates or mango margaritas in my book :)

Have you tried Five Guys Burgers? Prefer it leaps & bounds over Johnny Rockets hype.

How many nights did you eventually wind up visiting HHN this year? First time ever we skipped one of our available nights this year. Between the heat & crowds, decided to push easy button that day

Kept hoping the plastic surgery scare zone would get it together, never really did, a shame as it had an interesting premise and more than a few talented scare actors :confused3
 
The Anarch-Cade zone (can`t call it a scare zone) escaped us completely this year......it didn`t seem to fit in to any theme or seem to do anything really.......they did have a lovely light illusion when it got dark.

Same, it wasn't quite what I thought either. It looked nice at night, but I wasn't a big fan.

maybe going in with low expectations helped.....but we loved this house!!!

Me too!

Zombieland Double Tap was the next zone........again.....zombies do nothing for me...….seen it all before,

Same :rotfl:

The Vanity Ball zone was another mis matched zone.....but there were some cool little shows in here. The premise of this zone is plastic surgery gone wrong due to insane surgeons and so on......it was quite well done, in some ways......but it just seemed odd...and didn't really know what it was doing there...

I think the problem with Vanity Ball is it was trying to do two different things. I think it did one of them well, but the plastic surgery part did seem mismatched with the rest.

The Tres Leches cake.......oh my!!!!

Ooo that looks delicious!
 


Wow! I’m in a @schumigirl trip report!

It was an absolute pleasure meeting and chatting with you guys. It did feel like we’ve known each other forever, and the time did pass so quickly! I look forward to meeting up with you again!

Yes, that was a very hot day! The good thing was that the heat (and it being the first day of football season) kept the crowds away. I enjoyed walking a quiet St. George Street, staying mostly in the shade and the air conditioned shops. I visited the Castillo, killing some time while the kids were at Ripley’s, and that was brutally hot out on top. Great views though.

Again, it was wonderful to meet with you guys! I will see you again soon, in St. Augustine or maybe Orlando. Oh, and I’m taking the kids to KSC after Christmas and have been reading your previous trip report! Thanks!

It was boiling hot!! You did well going out there, you didn’t even look as though you were overly warm in the picture.......we did wonder why it was so quiet that day, now we know!

Oh I look forward to hearing about your day at KSC, it is truly spectacular out there! And yes, we will meet up again in May if we can align a date, we will definitely be visiting St Augustine.


I have the same picture with my daughter from a few years ago...
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Your daughter did it SO much better than I did.....lol......nice picture!!!
 
Curled up on couch with a nice, hot cuppa tea. The perfect way to catch up here you are off to a great start as usual! Can’t go wrong with Pirates or mango margaritas in my book :)

Have you tried Five Guys Burgers? Prefer it leaps & bounds over Johnny Rockets hype.

How many nights did you eventually wind up visiting HHN this year? First time ever we skipped one of our available nights this year. Between the heat & crowds, decided to push easy button that day

Kept hoping the plastic surgery scare zone would get it together, never really did, a shame as it had an interesting premise and more than a few talented scare actors :confused3

Pirates and Margaritas......perfect!!! We’ll never go back to Johnny Rockets......and yes, we do like 5 Guys....although I do prefer Beth’s Burgers now to them.......

I think we went either 10 or 11 nights, one or two were very short visits though......the heat was a massive factor in shorter visits a couple of nights. That scare zone could have been fabulous and yes, there were some very talented SA there........

Did you ever tell us what your favourite houses were??
 
Same, it wasn't quite what I thought either. It looked nice at night, but I wasn't a big fan.



Me too!



Same :rotfl:



I think the problem with Vanity Ball is it was trying to do two different things. I think it did one of them well, but the plastic surgery part did seem mismatched with the rest.



Ooo that looks delicious!

We do agree on a lot!!! That zone beside Shrek was a waste of time......I haven’t met anyone who thinks it fitted in anywhere!

It was a mismatched zone.....I thought they were dentists at first!!!! The guy with the blue dress on the catwalk was very funny.......he stood out for me as one of the best.......

Oh the Tres Leche cake is divine!!!! You’d like it I think....... :thumbsup2
 
We do agree on a lot!!! That zone beside Shrek was a waste of time......I haven’t met anyone who thinks it fitted in anywhere!

We do! I agree about Zombieland too.

It was a mismatched zone.....I thought they were dentists at first!!!! The guy with the blue dress on the catwalk was very funny.......he stood out for me as one of the best.......

Yeah, it really was. The catwalk show was the best part, but the plastic surgery part didn't really fit in with that and seemed to be an afterthought when I thought that was the main part. Some of the zones seemed really different from how they were described beforehand.
 
We do! I agree about Zombieland too.



Yeah, it really was. The catwalk show was the best part, but the plastic surgery part didn't really fit in with that and seemed to be an afterthought when I thought that was the main part. Some of the zones seemed really different from how they were described beforehand.

Absolutely!

Weird thing is, most folks have the same opinion.......I do wonder how they got the Scare Zones so wrong this year.....well, some of them.......Rob Zombies was surprisingly (for us) fun!!
 
Once we got home it still felt as hot as it had earlier in the day, and we noticed that a lot, that it didn't seem to be cooling down at night yet.....that did help when it cooled a little, especially for HHN. but, for now we would deal with it. Not a bad thing to deal with!!!

We got back into the room and to be honest after drinking what seemed like a gallon of water, we both had a snooze. It had been so hot today, and despite us thinking we are used to this heat in September, it did hit us a little more this year.....didn't stop us doing anything, but maybe we did things a little slower.

But, after a snooze and shower, although the shower part seemed a little redundant after being back in the heat for 5 minutes!! But, we felt much fresher.......


We did get the boat to the parks tonight, and there was a huge line. It`s not unusual to see large lines at Sapphire for boats, I think the fact Aventura and Cabana Bay are so close and can walk to use the boats does add to the traffic, but they are allowed to use them so not much to say there.

We get on the second boat and for once we get a boat Captain that doesn`t sing or dance.......booooo.....we like the fun Captains!!!


I honestly don`t remember what time we went in tonight, it was still early compared to most entering the park......I do prefer it in the dark, no question, it is much more atmospheric....but, we do like seeing SA in the light for better pictures.......although the Viking Zone had so much fog pouring from the machines at times we couldn`t see much at times.

When we headed in the park we again used the Hotel Guest entrance, although there wasn`t really a line for the regular gate. But, we do want to keep using the service that is offered as a perk so they will see that it is being used and keep having it offered. It can make a huge difference when it`s busier.


Tonight we are doing the houses at the back of the park.......we were especially looking forward to seeing the Classic Monster house and Graveyard Games.........and unfortunately these were the houses that had the ten mile hike to get to them.......

We walked the opposite way tonight and passed through Vanity Ball.....there were hardly any SA roaming around tonight, I guess we must have been unlucky as there were usually plenty......timing is everything here for sure. But, we headed in to the Viking zone......


This was decent, and there were some excellent (as always) SA in here.....not too many scares again I have to say, but one did come through the fog and appear in front of me as I looked up from my handbag...….I did jump a lot!!!





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These displays are all covered up during the day, so you see nothing gory for the daytime guests...….they are pretty gruesome at times so I can see why they do cover up some of them.





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I know this picture isn't the clearest but I do like it with the sunset in the background.....





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Just after this picture was taken the SA leaned down and hissed loud in my ear.....it did make me jump!!! So, I was at two scares by now...….





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This SA lady below was incredible. We saw her several times over the event. You can tell the difference from when it was other SA`s playing the character, she was quite distinctive......and incredibly creepy in her stance.....she stood up at the fence a lot when she wasn't attending to her victim......and we did like to watch her interactions with guests.





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Although we quite liked this zone, we did miss the Halloween pumpkin decorations in the trees......that was always so pretty.....and it was missed this year. I hope whatever zone they put in here next year, they go back to the gorgeous pumpkins in the trees.

Now we went round to the two houses we were looking forward to.....and short waits for the regular line......although with the walks in these houses, it`s still longer than they should be. Yes, I hate these walks...….and then Tom suggested.......yep....he actually suggested......why don't we do the regular line for Monsters first, then do them again with EP as the line is short.....




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Had he just met me!!!!!

We`ve paid for this EP I`m going to darn well use it!!!




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The lines weren't too bad to be honest, and it took us around 10 minutes to get to the Monster house, and boy was that line a hot line......I had a fan with me and was using it constantly.

Everybody was the same.......we got chatting to couple of Canadian girls who were here for opening night and were going home tomorrow...she asked if she could borrow my fan for a few minutes.....of course she could....everyone was boiling tonight, and they had done the SA Dining Experience and were furious they had. I told them we had done it previously and certainly wouldn't do it again. They had similar complaints to ours with cold and non replenished food, lack of SA and being told they could go do houses before the park opened???? It does feel very canteen like in Monsters Café.....but I hadn`t met anyone who had been impressed with it yet.....OK was the best comment I`d heard to describe it. But, we did chat to them all the way round to the house and it made the walk seem a little less.


I always think these hooded gowns are a little creepy on their own!!!




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We got to the EP being scanned at Monsters House, and mine wouldn't scan!!! I usually just have it scanned through the plastic, but it seemed the way this ticket had been printed, the bar code was slightly off the card, it was fine, but it was just easier for me to bring it out at every house now, it scanned perfectly that way.




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This house was excellent. It was everything that was good and classic about Universal Studios. This was what I associate with Universal, all those scary movies as a child that weren`t really scary at all. But, such good memories of watching them.

Talking to a TM manager we know that night, we mentioned we would have loved to have had T2 replaced by a permanent Classic Universal Monsters show installed there instead the Bourne show that would be announced imminently, he agreed but said we`d be surprised by how good the so far unannounced show would be....of course he still wouldn`t "officially" confirm it was Bourne.


But, the house was incredible. I already couldn`t wait to go back another night, despite the walk!!! We did get a good few scares and the line was going slow enough we could enjoy some of the detail involved. We really don`t want to do the day tours where you see the houses with lights on....I know they are fabulous and many love them, but we don`t want to see that.

Next up was Graveyard Games.


I didn`t know what to think about this one going in.......but it blew my socks off. It was creepy, scary and so well executed with design and SA performances that were off the scale!!!! This was already our favourite house so far.....although a close run thing with Monsters.

And tonight I had missed a scare that would freak me out another night massively!!!!

It was excessively hot now......it was still in the high 80`s and it felt like it too. Even Tom looked red in the face now!!


We bought some water........what a mistake.

They have changed the bottles of water they sell in the parks. It`s now called Niagara and is disgusting. It has a weird metallic taste and we took a sip each and put it in the trash!!! We always buy bottles of water in the parks, during the day and for HHN we`d rather do that than carry around bottles with us. But, it would be the gatorade style drinks we`d stick to now when we bought a drink.

Once we stopped again to enjoy one of those red or blue drinks, we wandered round to the houses behind MiB. And we did want to do Blood Pit first.


This one had a little walk, not too long but with us feeling the heat now, we did think this may be our last tonight......yep, it was that bad for us. Although I have to say.......when you look around, locals don`t seem to sweat much at all. I did ask one lady how she looked so good......she whispered, it`s all make up darling.......lol.......ok then!!!




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I honestly don`t remember much of this house which is odd as we did it a few times. It took us around 10 minutes to get to the front of the house with EP...and it did look impressive from the outside......

Tom said we did enjoy it!!! I`ll take his word for it.......I know it was gory and quite dark but for the life of me, I can`t come up with a single stand out memory.........


Depths of Fear we gave it a pass tonight......that one didn`t appeal to us at all, but we did go round to Rob Zombie`s House of 1000 Corpses.....it showed a 45 minute wait for the regular line.

We actually walked straight on to this one without breaking stride once.




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I was unsure of this house as I don`t know any of Rob Zombie`s movies except for his remakes of the Classic Halloween movies......didn`t think a whole lot of them to be honest, but we had heard the premise of this movie was not nice at all and incredibly nasty. But, I have to say the house was very good!!! We had no plans to watch the movie beforehand, not our thing at all.

I had no clue of the theme of the movie by going through the house, it was just a regular gory HHN house......and I did get a couple of good scares in this house. We`d definitely do it again. But, there wasn`t a single person in the EP when we went in which was unusual. It was slightly different when we came out. There wasn`t a huge EP line, but at least there were some.


Yep, we had enjoyed this house despite our misgivings. And that`s why we always tell folks to try things for themselves, because one person`s opinion is always completely different from another......always try yourself.




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Next up is DA and more HHN.
 
We headed in to DA now.....I think we were done with houses tonight......the joy of being able to go so many nights, we can take it easy and enjoy a few houses at our leisure then go back and visit as we desire....we were glad of that over our stay.

DA at night is always beautiful......and it`s usually a little quieter during HHN....although one night last year it was so busy!!! Folks who haven't seen it or buy day tickets to Universal take advantage of it being open and you do see a few folks very excited to be in it for the first time, despite visiting for the houses. I`m glad it`s open though, as it is a little cooler and you can also go into KA which is always cool!!!!




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We head straight to the Hopping Pot where we share a lemonade, we drank it so quickly we never got a picture!!




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Yep, this is me trying to cool down with a fan while Tom snaps away......it was quiet here and was a little cooler.

A lovely TM came over to chat and mentioned that KA was cooler as I said I was boiling hot....bless her.....I said that`s where we were heading next......and looked forward to it!!!




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I love how this place looks at night, and even better when it was quiet like it is on nights like this.....




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We did like to see the Dragon breathe fire, along with everyone else who was in the area...…




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One poor girl obviously had no idea it did this as she looked confused when the rumbling started, and when it set off she ran away.....lol....much to the hilarity of her friends left standing.......it`s funny when it`s happening to someone else!!!




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It is a stunning view.



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We didn't do Gringotts despite there hardly being a soul around going into the ride. It would have been a complete walk on, but we just don't do the rides during HHN in general. Maybe we should have as a girl another night said they had a whole carriage to themselves.....nice.




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This one below isn`t the clearest picture either, but it shows just how empty the place is tonight......

Knockturn Alley is just my favourite area of DA. It just feels like you are really at the Darkside!!!





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Once we have sufficiently cooled down, we head back out into the heat of the night......and it is still as hot as it was earlier......although a little breeze had formed slightly. Which was gorgeous when it hit you.




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Heading out we hit the Hellbilly zone......this was I believe overall our favourite zone.....it felt quite alive and although the dancers were a little, well, not too sure how to describe them......but I guess if you know the Zombie movies they may not seem out of place.....but this zone rocked the night!!!!




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These two were fun...….I swear I never saw this girl blink once!!!




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There weren't as many things going on tonight here as there was in the coming nights, but it was still fun.....

And this was a popular picture over every night...…..





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We had spent enough time here tonight. I was now feeling the early rise this morning...….add in the heat and I was a little tired.

Tom however was still in the mood to take pictures.




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This zone we passed right through tonight, only turning to take an image of the illusion above us. It looked like sky but it was all lights, and to be honest it was the best thing about this zone. Sadly it never turned out well in any of the ones he took tonight.




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A quick bathroom visit and we headed out for food. We were now really hungry as we hadn`t eaten since lunchtime which was around midday, it was now around ten.......and although food at this time of night is usually light, we both felt as though we wanted something substantial.

So, we decided to go try NBC again.....this is a hit or a miss for us usually.....but I wanted to try the Annual Passholder special which wasn`t on the menu, it was a pulled pork burger with slaw and cornbread with fries, but I was leaving the fries off as it would be too much.

Tom is determined to master this occasional selfie.......he`s not too bad!!!





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We ordered a bottle of Chardonnay and I loved the chiller they sat it in tonight...….I don't have one like this at home. Mine are quite simple.

And water...…..lots of water…….our glasses were topped up numerous times.




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Tom`s ribs were beautiful.......sizzling hot and incredibly tender, the bbq sauce is zingy and tangy.......

I asked if they had the AP special, which they did, so I was looking forward to that...….




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Picture of the burger isn`t great, but it was piled high with pulled pork with plenty of sauce, bacon and with the extra sauce too and the slaw on top was lovely.......




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Both meals were delicious, I didn`t eat the bun or the extra coleslaw, and Tom only ate the ribs.....I did steal one or two of them.....so lovely. I decided if we came back here, I`d order them myself.

There was also a very good vibe in here tonight.......there were sports on that folks were watching....I have no clue what it was or who was playing......as you can guess, we aren`t sports fans generally!!!!


We eventually finished and paid the check......we had a good waitress tonight, she had been fun to chat to.

There was a Sapphire Boat waiting as we came down and got on with a few seconds to spare.......and we had a fun Captain.

Once we got moving he put on Rock the Boat again, and that boat did rock all the way home!!! Between that and YMCA which is always a class song to get everyone to join in with......some of the boat rides were so much fun!!!

Once we were home, it was straight in the shower again........and then we, despite the late hour, packed up a little as we were moving to our other home from home, RPR tomorrow.......


It was late, but I did spend some time looking out the window at the lights and views as it would be next year before we were back staying at Sapphire this year. Our Christmas trip will be completely at RP as it is a shorter than usual trip.

But, for tonight, we got into bed and enjoyed our last evening in this incredibly comfortable bed. We again, dropped off within seconds. We had enjoyed such a fabulous day again.


Tomorrow........RPR.
 
Nice selfie! I think Tom does quite well!
(Did he purposely get the Orlando police in the background, or was it accidental?)

Lol......he does alright!!

Oh it wasn’t on purpose we got the Officers in the picture.......we hadn’t even noticed them in there....till we uploaded the pictures.

Always nice to have Police Officers around........ ::yes::
 
Beth’s Burgers now to them.......
Not ringing a bell, local to area?

Ive always assumed that the first few nights of HHN would be disjointed, a dry run of sorts

This year earliest we’ve visited. To be charitable IMO many houses were still a work in progress as to timing & performance of scare actors.

i was getting close to writing the year off entirely
Glad I hung in there, things didn’t really pick up until middle of first week in oct. Finally, had a good run thru on classic monsters! Nightingales & the fish house also raised the bar dramatically. Tour guide surmised the changes were likely a direct result of an overwhelming wave of poor social media comments. Whatever it takes!
 
Lol......he does alright!!

Oh it wasn’t on purpose we got the Officers in the picture.......we hadn’t even noticed them in there....till we uploaded the pictures.

Always nice to have Police Officers around........ ::yes::

:thumbsup2 Definitely of all the places to be patrolling........Theme Park Detail !!!
 
Not ringing a bell, local to area?

Ive always assumed that the first few nights of HHN would be disjointed, a dry run of sorts

This year earliest we’ve visited. To be charitable IMO many houses were still a work in progress as to timing & performance of scare actors.

i was getting close to writing the year off entirely
Glad I hung in there, things didn’t really pick up until middle of first week in oct. Finally, had a good run thru on classic monsters! Nightingales & the fish house also raised the bar dramatically. Tour guide surmised the changes were likely a direct result of an overwhelming wave of poor social media comments. Whatever it takes!

Yes, Beth is a local girl. There is another location in Orlando, and she used to have a Downtown place too. Patty style burgers like 5 guys and Beth’s aren’t my favourite type of burgers, but those places are excellent......with Beth’s just tipping the lead slightly.....Tom got his picture with her this past trip.....she is a lovely woman. Her tag is “Proof a girl can beat 5 Guys” as she won awards over them. Amazing fries!!!

Yes, a lot of folks were commenting on lack of something this year......lots complained about the amount of kids and babies too according to one of the SA we know. The houses certainly got better as the trip went on, but that’s to be expected from the first few nights.

The fish house lol.......I didn’t like that one at all......from first to last I was disappointed. It just reminded me of the weird and pointless Alien so called scare zone a few years back........think they reused the costumes there.

We will go next year at the same time frame I think, but if the scares don’t get ramped up it’ll be our last year going to HHN. The houses were good for the most part, and worth going for, but everything else just lacked........and I hate that. And a few times we had kids in front of us in a house and the SA’s pulled it back a little......that’s not what we’re paying for......

But, grumpy head off......it was still excellent!!!
 

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