Disney Debbie turns into IOA Debbie!! Day 1 - first half

[Disney Debbie]

First Morning – Sunday May 20th

Got to Hard Rock Hotel about 8:50 and “pre” checked in. Got our room key card for FOTL and hit IOA by 9:20. DD was the only one of us who’d been to IOA before and she wanted to go to …. Seuss Landing first!! She’s 15 – but still a kid at heart like her mama! Rode Cat In The Cat – very cute. Looked around and then crossed back over to Super Hero Island and rode Hulk. It was a great, great ride and I loved it – but it made me and DD feel sick. She got over it quickly – I didn’t! We had cokes and sat around for a while and then went to Spiderman. I was sooo looking forward to this one – but about halfway through I started feeling bad again – and for the first time in my life – I got sick on a ride! Luckily I was on the end and no one knew until it was over! There was a very nice “character” I really don’t know who when we got off that let us go in the employee break room and clean up in their bathroom. I guess I’ve just gotten too old! I love these rides, but they don’t love me! What little I registered of Spidey was really awesome and DH loved it. I think I would have been okay on it if I hadn’t already felt bad from the Hulk. So we walked quickly through Toon Lagoon and went to Jurassic Park and ate at Thunder Falls Terrace. Had really good rotisserie chicken and watched the drop off for the JP River Adventure. Felt much better by this time and so DH and I did the River Adventure – DD doesn’t like water drops and didn’t want to get wet!! It was a cute ride and we got pretty damp on our top halves! Walked briefly through the Triceratops Encounter – very good for little kids, didn’t really do much for us! – Although from the questions I heard an adult ask I wondered if they thought it was real! Then went on to The Lost Continent and saw The Eighth Voyage of Sindbad – it was a very good show. Lots of good stunts, but funny too. Actually got DD to sit in the Splash Zone – but it wasn’t toooooo wet! The actors were all very good and had their timing down well. After the show we went to Mythos and had desserts. It is a beautiful restaurant! We all were very pleased with our choices. I had the crème brulee, DH the taste of chocolate and DD a pastry stuffed with cheesecake and sprinkled with cinnamon and ice cream on the side. Went back to Seuss Landing and walked through the If I Ran The Zoo interactive area – it was cute but kind of hot even in May! They did have lots of water to play in though. Then went back to Super Hero Island and rode Doctor Doom’s Fearfall. It’s bark is worse then it’s bite. It was really kind of pleasant to me! By then it was 3:00 so we went to hotel to check in.

Plusses
FOTL – absolutely awesome! We waited in line only to buy our passes – other then that we just flashed our cards and walked right up. It was soooooo great. I don’t think I can stand in a line again after that. I especially loved going up to the line attendant and they’d start to point to the regular line and you’d show your card and they would be “Ohhhh, please go THIS way” like you were a star or something. I ate it up!

Thanks to these boards!! – we got the Florida Lotto deal! We got a 2 day park hopper for the price of a one day ticket simply by buying a Fame, Fortune and Adventure ticket for each of us and as usual getting a losing ticket! And then we gave them that along with our GA ID. This is for FL, GA and AL residents only through 6/30/01. That saved us about $110.

This park is beautiful. You really have to see it to appreciate how every area is themed so perfectly and how absolutely gorgeous it is. Port of Entry is just enchanting and really gets you jazzed for what’s to come!

Minuses
The only minus I have is that hardly any of the food or beverage places were open before 12:00! The places at Port of Entry were open, but we went past several ice cream and snack places that weren’t open and several fast food places and restaurants. The Sneetches ride was never open, I didn’t notice until later that it’s not listed on the map so I guess it’s never open? But they should list that at the front along with Poseidon’s Fury.

To be continued - I've got to go to bed!!..........

 

[h20jag]

Hi IOA Deb!
Glad you liked IOA, sorry Hulk & Spidey teamed up on you though!
Hey, we ate at Thunder Falls Terrace Sunday about 11:15 or so. They had just opened up. Wanted to sit over by the window to watch JPRA splashdowns, but DD picked a table elsewhere.
I might would've recognized ya'll from your signature picture (especially if you had that happy looking rodent with ya'll!).
Thanks for posting & we'll stay tuned!
Jim

 

[Sherrilatte]

It was sooo great to get a trip report so soon while the details are still fresh in your mind.. ..It seems like everything is wonderful except with your temporary bout of motion sickness. Believe me Deb, it has nothing to do with your age. I'm sure you've had quite a blast off within the last 24 hours of your trip and coupled with what I've heard of the Hulk, it is quite understandable. There has been plenty of threads regarding that topic! It seems like your DD is also have a wonderful time too. Its good for us as parents to stand back and watch our teens just be the kids that they are after all the hard work in school, with homework, sports, peer pressure, etc. To me, that's going to be the highlight of my trip. And I'm sure it tops yours too. There will also be a teen in our party (13), so I am already trying to gear up for this trip! Btw, Mythos sounds marvelous and I made my reservations today. I want that creme brulee NOW!!!
Also, it does seem strange that the food and drink counters are not opening at the same time the park does. Maybe we had better plan on eating breakfast before we enter. At any rate, keep'em coming (trip reports) whenever you get the chance (I know your on vacation) and thanks for allowing us to enjoy your vacationing experience also. I will hold my questions 'til you return. Maybe...

 

[Disney Debbie]

Hey Sherilatte - thanks for the kind comments about my age!!

We are home - we just went for a long weekend. We live 4 hours from Ocala where my folks live and then it's another hour and fifteen to Orlando - so it's not a bad weekend thing! We stayed Sunday & Monday night at Hard Rock and returned last night. Feel free to ask away!

I'm going to try and finish up trip reports tonight.

 

[Riverview]

Welcome back! I can't wait to hear about the HRH. You really have me looking forward to our trip in July.
Riverview

 

[Robinrs]

Great report, Debbie.

Boy can I relate to the queasiness. I can NEVER have anything in my stomach before going to the parks. I've always been in awe of people who can do that!

Thanks for the wonderful info on the Lottery tickets. I was so afraid that I did the wrong thing by not ordering my tickets ahead of time, but you convinced me it'll be okay. What a saving!

Going to part 2!

 

[Disney Debbie]

Jim - I bet I heard you even if I didn't look! We were there right when it opened and I sat by the window waiting for DH and DD to bring the food. I vaguely remember someone walking over my way and someone else saying - she's over here - Was that you??!!

Isn't that funny how close we were!

Robin - I can't thank the folks on these boards enough for that Lotto tip! It doesn't say it anywhere on the lotto ticket itself - so if you didn't see the ads or read it here you would never know just from buying the ticket!

 

[nhrenee]

Thanks for the great report! It sounds like you had a great time (except for SM of course, uggh,sorry to hear that happened to you).
Did you happen to see Spiderman himself? That would've helped to take your mind off your stomach afterwards!!

 

[Jane E.]

You are so brave!! I absolutely refused to go on Hulk when we were there. I bet Hulk made you sick and not Spiderman. Thanks for the reports!

 

[Disney Debbie]

nhrenee - There was some sort of character as we walked off the ride - but I don't think it was spiderman! I don't know who he was but he was supposed to be a bad guy - but he was quite nice!

Jane - it was definitely the Hulk that made me sick! I think if I'd tried Spiderman first or later on I would have been okay. It was just a bad combo for me!