Home for the Holidays-Wizards-Grinches and Sparkles. 14 nights @Royal Pacific Resort, Nov/Dec 2021

[schumigirl]

Carole: I love how you two find other things to do outside of Universal.
I confess that once we are there, we stay and don't wander.
My husband hates to drive in Florida, so if we do venture off we use a cab, yes, a CAB, just like you! So you are not alone on using cabs, LOL. But we mostly stay put and haven't seen or experienced half the things you have! We'll have to remedy that.

I had to laugh at your comment about joggers. I always say the same thing, and I know that I can't do it. We have people (young people) who actually jog when it is minus zero!!! Can't imagine it as they are breathing in freezing air!
Today it is -24 with wind chill at about -40 Brr. Wish I was in Florida now

Oh thank you, we do love to roam and try new places, which we didn`t roam as much this time as it just felt as if we had only arrived when we were leaving and that`s the first time that has happened.....but we did put focus on seeing folks we wanted to over doing things.

Thing is, it`s so tempting to just stay put as you described, everything is there for you to do and I can`t say I blame you, but yes, maybe next time you will get around a little.......I thoroughly recommend it. And yes, what is wrong with cabs anymore......lol......

I cannot imagine walking in those temps never mind jog!!! It`s crazy, and you have seriously cold temps that I often wonder how anyone can go outside ever.....yes, I can imagine you wish you were in Florida.....wouldn`t it be lovely.

 

[angryduck71]

I had a crazy week and got behind here. Will comment more in a bit, but had to give you Scooby in a Santa hat from Davy’s tree (since he is sadly not in the parade):

 

[schumigirl]

I had a crazy week and got behind here. Will comment more in a bit, but had to give you Scooby in a Santa hat from Davy’s tree (since he is sadly not in the parade):

View attachment 636905

That is cute Alice......we only have a couple of Scooby Christmas decorations and they are quite small.

Plenty of Grinch decorations in both Universal Christmas stores, but none of Scooby and co.

 

[schumigirl]

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 30TH

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Another beautiful day lay ahead for us.....we were being completely spoiled with this stunning weather and we appreciated every moment of it.

Yesterday we had decided to go to St Augustine today, one of our most favourite places in Florida. Gorgeous place and anyone who says America has no history should visit here, there is history aplenty to keep anyone busy who is interested in the history of the USA.

It was last minute really as most of our plans are, but we still contacted Jaxdad to see if he could meet us as we had said we would let him know if we were going to be visiting the next day. It had been two years since we had last met him and did look forward to saying hello again, but unfortunately he couldn`t change his plans at such short notice to meet up which was a shame. But, we would have hated if we hadn`t contacted him and he could have made it, we`d have been so disappointed. But, we would hopefully meet in May when we have much more time and can plan a day that suits us both.

So, we were up early as usual and enjoyed our breakfast before getting into the car for our roughly two hour drive it woud take to get there and we were looking forward to seeing the new areas of the I-4 that they had seemingly been working on for so many years and to see if it had made a difference.

Well it`s just as busy as ever and maybe folks that travel beside Orlando itself may think it`s better, but we were still travelling at around 10mph for a lot of that area. It does look impressive though.

This white elephant always impresses me as I believe it still lays more or less empty after being built several years ago, but they have built some new buildings around it which is good to see. Although I believe this one is a parking garage! Not very exciting.

It is mostly a dull journey with long endless roads but we do pass this huge expanse of water which a friend who lives close told us it was Lake Monroe and part of the St John`s River. First time I saw it I got my bearings wrong and thought, heck that sea is close!! Obviously not so far inland.......but it is very pretty.

There are some very, er, unique places along the way and some stores that sell a weird mix of objects.....this one below I was trying to capture a full size Stormtrooper with a Father Christmas outfit complete with hat with jingle bells on!! Odd to say the least beside the other statues you could buy.

I`m sure this place could have some of the best BBQ around, but without a recommendation from someone I knew well, not somewhere we`d stop.

That bus stop and telegraph pole annoyed me every time.........wrong place to put them in front of their main sign on the way in.

We know this place so well, but we are a bit lazy and park in a little car park that does rip of anyone who parks there......but it`s convenient for us so we don`t bother looking anywhere else.

Someone is happy with the newer car.......

Directly opposite the car park is the Governor`s House which is now partly museum, although we`ve never gone inside, but it is a very lovely building although most of the buildings here are beautiful.

I will say, the first time we visited St Augustine, we were struck by a few homeless people around on the main tourist street. There were only one or two, but this time we noticed a lot more are living on the main St George St and there`s no doubt they are homeless. However, apart from tearing at your heartstrings seeing anyone live like that, they are not threatening in any way and don`t actively beg from folks passing, but it`s not nice to see, especially in such a beautiful area.

I can recommend the Pizza from Pizza Time, they claim to be 2nd best in America, well, I`m not sure about that claim, but they are gorgeous from here.......we had enjoyed some pizza from here a couple of times and for us they are among the best we had tasted outside of NYC, where we don`t doubt we had tasted the best pizza ever!!

Although it wasn`t quite lunchtime yet, we had planned to eat in this place, The Prohibition KItchen where we had met Jaxdad last time, but of course....they were closed on Tuesday`s! Typical.

I was just glad to see they hadn`t completely closed as we noticed there were a few places here that hadn`t reopened through the pandemic.

Now we knew where we were having lunch!

There are so many little nooks and crannies around this street, you can wander in and out with little places that are full of treasure trove stores, and some that are a little odd including a SteamPunk store which I never quite got to be honest......how they stay in business I`ll never know though as they always seem to be empty.

This gorgeous little park is one of the areas blighted by some homeless folks laying outside the entrances, it was a shame as we saw some folks think twice about going in because of them.

This building below was always a vibrant eatery on every other visit we had enjoyed, but there was a sign up saying they had closed up for good which is such a shame. We had never eaten in there but it did look good and very popular.

We did at this point share a cup of ice cream, but we didn`t get a picture as it was demolished very quickly.....and very nice it was too. But, it filled a hole till lunchtime as we didn`t want to eat too much.

I missed this picture being taken as I was apparently chatting to someone who had spoken to me, I can`t quite remember but I must have been......but.....I`d surely have noticed the Dole Whip being served the right way......unlike the one I hadn`t really enjoyed from Schwab`s, but I missed it and will make sure I have one next visit for sure......if i had known it was here we wouldn`t have eaten the earlier ice cream.

There are so many gorgeous buildings here and they have kept the Spanish theme beautifully throughout for the most part, and even if you wander off the main street and go behind them you find there are even more lovely areas to see. We didn`t wander as far as we did the last visit, but even off St George St we found a little area we hadn`t seen before.

The waterwheel is part of the building that serves very nice food by all accounts.....but not somewhere we`d be trying today. But, there are so many little areas that are cute and I can imagine they`d be very busy peak season or even in the evenings this time of year.

It was certainly much quieter than we had experienced on previous visits.

We wandered along to the fort area and spent some time just looking around before heading back towards the area we would be having lunch.

It is so beautiful and so warm today again, we could have wandered round for much longer, but I was getting hungry now, as is usual!!! Which is why we shared the ice cream not so long ago......it wouldn`t be the first time I had been "hangry" and Tom avoids it happening at all costs.........

Yes, I have had to utter these words on more than one occasion in the past.........glad he is so forgiving........

The bridge had been up to let several boats through that had very large masts, and it is intersting watching it for a little time, but the whole water area is gorgeous and it was so lovely just strolling along and taking in the sights, sounds and the very clean and fresh aroma that was around us.

I would like to have been here at night to see all the lights they have on their display around the whole town, but we weren`t going to be staying for that, however you could see even during the day it would be spectacular. Every house and building had made a massive effort....maybe next time we`d come at night to see it.

Now, we really did need to go get some food.....and the place we were going was right across the road from us.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

One of these days I will visit St. Augustine-looks beautiful!

 

[keishashadow]

Your pictures of the park decorations are so crisp & clear! Same with ST Augustine.

but she did say everyone was the same but Brits were getting a worse deal in general which isn`t a surprise.

Shamefully, another twist to the occasional stick it to the tourists gambit.

And right about now more than anything in the world, I wished Kyle was with us

have the same sort of bittersweet thots/memories when traveling.

I much prefer the way Keisha described it......especially with the addition of rum!!!

Lol, just not spiced, doesn’t meld well

We opted to share between us the mussels and the Antipasto

Never dined there, as quite picky when it comes to Italian cuisine. Are the mussels served in tomato sauce?

 

[schumigirl]

One of these days I will visit St. Augustine-looks beautiful!

It is a stunning place, so beautiful and so many places to visit when you are there. There are distilleries and wax museums and the oldest school in America for starters.....I think we could easily spend a week there and not get bored, and that`s before we visit their beaches.

Gorgeous place.

 

[schumigirl]

Your pictures of the park decorations are so crisp & clear! Same with ST Augustine.

Shamefully, another twist to the occasional stick it to the tourists gambit.

have the same sort of bittersweet thots/memories when traveling.

Lol, just not spiced, doesn’t meld well

Never dined there, as quite picky when it comes to Italian cuisine. Are the mussels served in tomato sauce?

I did like his pictures this trip, he does a good job!

Yes, not looking forward to start searching for May`s prices, never mind a month in September......eek!!!

No, I agree spiced rum has limited talents outside cocktails.....one of my brothers loves it straight.....never got the appeal myself, although we always seem to have a bottle around.

The mussels were in a tomato sauce, I prefer a cream and garlic sauce to be honest, but they were very nicely cooked.

To be honest, most places in America we have been disappointed in any attempt at Italian food.....one of the reasons we hated Bice/Mamma Della`s at PB as it tasted like Olive Garden processed Italian, not authentic at all. I`m not the biggest Italian food fan in the first place, but Vivo is just ok.

Tom has had the thick pork chop which was lovely, but not what you would call Italian.......I do like their chicken piccata, but again, there are nicer alternatives in places like the Cheesecake Factory. We like it, but not somewhere I`d recommend for Italian food fans.

Yes, adults or not, we do still miss them don`t we, don`t mind admitting to that feeling .....

 

[angryduck71]

I finally caught up!

So much I want to comment on... let's see if I can remember.

First, that young boy who took your picture by the Christmas tree did a fabulous job. Yay kid!
Second, Tom's smile. <3
Third, you look FABULOUS and I especially love the last dress you posted. So cute!
Fourth, when the heck will Kyle finally get to ride the greatest coaster ever? (Ok, those are your words -- and many others -- I still remember wanting to hurl.)
Fifth, that young lady posing.... BAWAHAHAHAHAHA.

Love this report. LOVE IT!!! <3

 

[schumigirl]

I finally caught up!

So much I want to comment on... let's see if I can remember.

First, that young boy who took your picture by the Christmas tree did a fabulous job. Yay kid!
Second, Tom's smile. <3
Third, you look FABULOUS and I especially love the last dress you posted. So cute!
Fourth, when the heck will Kyle finally get to ride the greatest coaster ever? (Ok, those are your words -- and many others -- I still remember wanting to hurl.)
Fifth, that young lady posing.... BAWAHAHAHAHAHA.

Love this report. LOVE IT!!! <3

The white dress?? And thank you for the compliment......I appreciate that!

I think Kyle will come with us next Christmas trip....he has a lot going on this year and has some lovely vacations already sorted, but he has a lot of vacation time so I think he`ll come back with us then, especially if I ask nicely lol.

One of my best friends is over the moon as her 31 year old son is going with them to Orlando in April, first he`s been for a few years......I think it`s wonderful when adult kids still want to spend time on vacations with us. The USA is the only place apparently it`s acceptable to still travel with parents at any age........heck I loved my trips when I took my mum to NY.

Oh the poser girl was hilarious!!! Not at the time though, ever felt so uncomfortable you just want to disappear!!!

Glad you`re enjoying this one too.......

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

I fell so far behind but I’m now all caught up and I am loving your report. Your photos are fabulous. I love that you venture outside the parks to other places. I’m crossing my fingers you get all you’ve bought home . I love how you have captured the feel of the parade and if I ever get to Universal at Christmas I will be searching out that spot to stand in. Sad that so many more people are homeless ( it seems the same the world over) and that so many businesses have closed. Hoping 2022 brings better times for all.
Looking forward to the next installment of your trip

 

[schumigirl]

I fell so far behind but I’m now all caught up and I am loving your report. Your photos are fabulous. I love that you venture outside the parks to other places. I’m crossing my fingers you get all you’ve bought home . I love how you have captured the feel of the parade and if I ever get to Universal at Christmas I will be searching out that spot to stand in. Sad that so many more people are homeless ( it seems the same the world over) and that so many businesses have closed. Hoping 2022 brings better times for all.
Looking forward to the next installment of your trip

Glad you`re all caught up!

Happy you like the pictures, as always I take very little credit as Tom takes most of them and he does such a good job thankfully.

For me, that`s the best position for seeing everything in the parade and you get to be right beside the tree for pictures afterwards.

Yes, homelessness is a massive issue everywhere, not sure there is an easy answer.

More coming soon.........

 

[schumigirl]

​

Yes, I had reached that point of being hungry now.....

Harry`s Seafood Bar was somewhere we had eaten before and we had really enjoyed it, so when the Prohibition place was closed, this was our immediate choice instead.

You can eat outside here, but we much prefer indoor eating, pandemic or not, we just prefer it, usually it`s just too hot for us outside to be sitting.

You are immediately welcomed and asked the usual indoor/outdoor and we are taken to the little room at the front where we had eaten before.

It is a very cosy little room with maybe 5 tables so it doesn`t feel cramped in any way and you were never too close to other diners before either. We do like it here and we had a lovely waitress who reminded us of bernadette from Big Bang Theory, she was adorable.

Being right beside the window was lovely, as you do get a nice view of the waterway over the other side of the road, and having the sun stream in on us was just nice.

The do have a lovely menu, predominantly seafood, and although we didn`t want anything too heavy we were going to choose from the main meals rather than sandwiches as they were huge.

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Bad lighting for mine with the light behind me.....

We both got pink lemonades and I ordered the blackened mahi mahi with a blue crab crust and it came with a lemon cream sauce which was completely and utterly delicious.

Tom`s dish, which we weirdly don`t have a picture of was blackened redfish with the same crust but a different sauce as he isn`t keen on lemon flavoured dishes.

They were a real treat and we barely touched the fries to be honest as the fish was so delicious, but what we had was beautiful.

We didn`t want dessert so we paid and headed back out into the beautiful sunshine, although it was odd not seeing everything green and lush as it usually is, but it was almost December and grass does go brown this time of year. We did look forward to coming back in May when everything would be back to being green and prettier again.

We headed down for a wander round the outdoor area of the Lightner Museum and passed the Casa Monica hotel, which if we ever stay overnight, we will be staying here. We know several folks who have and all have raved about how lovely it is.

The Lightner museum is nother stunning building and not a bad place to have City Hall offices too which seems a bit odd to have dull offices in such a gorgeous building, might be nice for outdoor lunches though........

It used to be the Alcazar Hotel till 1947 when the owner Otto Lightner gave the building to the City although it didn`t become City Hall offices till the early 1970`s, they jsut had so much free space in there so it made sense.

Talking to one of the security officers he said they were now looking to relocate City Hall, or seeing if it was financially feasable to do so. Interesting thoughts as to where they could go.

The Museum doesn`t depend so much on City support as it used to as they revamped areas and rent it out for weddings and corporate events, so it could stand on it`s own. Very beautiful buildings.

But, not as stunning as Flagler College over the other side of the street......

It genuinely is one of the most stunning buildings we had seen here, and again, we didn`t explore so much today, there are a lot of areas to see in there and could pass a few hours easily.

We didn`t spend a whole lot longer there today, so we headed back to Orlando and managed to take a wrong turn even with GPS! Or rather missed our turn to Orlando.....still not sure how we managed it.......so, a 7 mile detour wasn`t too much trouble.

The drive home was a lot faster than going up, until we got the Orlando City area....and my goodness there are some terrible drivers out there.......like, really bad drivers who have no idea of distances and any kind of idea there are other folks on the road with them........we love driving in the USA but other drivers can ruin that experience for sure.

Back home and we did feel we wanted a little down time, but we had received an email and it had been on the news channels in the UK that on going home we needed to have an Antigen test within 2 days of landing......that was fine, we had them all ordered before we left as we needed the code to add to our Passenger Locator Info.......we were pleased it had been so easy to do that.

The tests would be on posted to us on the day we arrived home and then all we had to do was do them and send them off....easy peasy.

Now, it had changed.......we now needed the more expensive PCR tests and had to isolate when we got back.......wonderful.

I looked on the website of the company we had used and they had a notice saying they were working on upgrades and would be in touch and today they had updated it so we could change the tests and pay the difference which was around $80 more and we were sorted.

That was easy to be honest, just annoying they changed the rules so quickly, it was just stressful worrying it had all been done correctly. We didn`t know then, more changes would be announced!

The frustrating thing is, the free tests we get from the NHS are fine for every day use, but miraculously for travel.....they`re not good enough, so you have to pay these firms who are all offering them. And of course there`s nothing cynical about that money maker going on.......

Tom had a quick snooze once I was done on the ipad, so I headed up to the lounge where he did join me after not too long.

I was having wine but as Tom was driving to go out for dinner, he was on coffee or sprite.

The lounge was nice tonight, and we finally were introduced to the 3rd new supervisor we hadn`t met yet......I always laugh when someone says, oh I`ve heard so much about you two......lol......she said it was in a good way of course.......

We also had an issue with our room heating today so while we were up here they were fixing it, one of the guys we do keep in touch with out with our trips Samuel, came up to say he had set us aside a room in case they couldn`t fix the heating, but as it turns out they did manage to fix it, so no need to move. And it was always nice to see Samuel too.

SCSabresfan, Todd came over to say hello again too. We had met briefly a few years ago, can`t quite remember when, but he was back again with his wife Candice, so it was lovely to have a meet up again in the lounge with them, and they were here for a few days yet as I think last time they were just leaving when they said hello.

And it is always nice to meet someone you know from online and have chatted with, well, there are exceptions of course, but Todd and Candice were very nice and we hoped we`d chat some more before they left.

Tonight we were going to Longhorn over in LBV for dinner, last time we had gone Kyle was with us and they had 3 attempts to cook Tom`s steak properly, but usually they were very good so we wanted to go back to this one again. I tell everyone and their grandma who will listen to avoid like the plague the Longhorn on I Drive....it is dreadful. But, we like this one in LBV.

We get seated immediately and we are glad we came back here tonight.

I order their special cocktail that is served in a similar glass to the Lobsterita at Red Lobster......it`s a strawberry margarita, long pour.......Tom has lemonade.......he doesn`t mind not drinking at all when we go out for dinner, thank goodness.......and it is very nice I have to say.

Dinner is an easy choice here........

As always we try to not eat too much of the bread they offer you at the beginning......it is very nice but so filling.

I opt for the salad and go for caesar tonight as a change...

Flo`s filet is always my choice of steak here, and tonight I opt for baked sweet potato which everyone thinks is odd as I detest regular baked potatoes......not sure why, I just never liked them. But, sweet potatoes, I eat anyway they come......and with the brown sugar, butter and cinammon.......lush!!

Tom has the T-Bone which is larger than it looks, and he opted for a second side of mac n cheese instead of a salad.......

Both steaks were cooked beautifully as requested and taste so nice, yes, we were glad we came back here tonight.

No dessert from here....usually we all share the Chocolate Stampede......I eat some of the ice cream and they share the chocolate cakes, but it`s too much for just us and we fancy dessert elsewhere tonight.

Headed back to the car and headed home where we had been lucky in the parking lot and more or less got the same space every time right beside the barriers. It can be a slightly longer walk if you are down the far side of the lot. And still so warm, as we walked up we saw there were clear skies everywhere and mentioned again how much Kyle would love these skies for stargazing. Very beautiful.

Tonight we walked straight over to Strong Water Bar........we were looking forward to a cocktail and dessert and some good chatter.

We got a table tonight and one of the staff Britney was on a night off came over and sat with us for a while. She is so lovely and we`ve known her a few years now too. There was a surprise birthday party over in Orchids for one of the team, so they were meeting here first before wandering over. It was lovely being able to sit and chat as she wasn`t working and then a few ex members of staff were there too....Mike who used to be the supervisor and one of the bar staff Josiah came over to say a big hello....it was lovely seeing them tonight, so we managed a good catch up with them too.

They did invite us to come over, but we didn`t like to as it was all staff, I`m sure it would have been fine, but we thanked them and said to wish the birthday boy a very happy birthday.

Tonight for dessert we had the coconut flan. Usually anything with the word flan puts me right off, but this was delicious, I was glad we got one each instead of sharing!!

Fernando and Chef Carlos all came out to chat which is always lovely to see them and we seemed to chat the night away, but again, before too long we were yawning and decided to head back home.....and again, I wished we were staying here instead of having to face the long 10 minute walk home.....it`s really not that bad and very quick, but it`s the thought when you`re tired.

And we were tired......so much so I almost fell asleep brushing my teeth!! That`s being too tired.........

 

[disneyseniors]

We also love St. Augustine. We visited Florida when we first got married in the late 60's early 70's. It was before kids, so just the two of us honeymooners, LOL.
We drove the entire East Coast to Miami. Our favorite stop was St. Augustine. We loved the vibe there; it was so beautiful. We visited the fort too. I think the very first Sea World was close to there, right on the ocean, and we visited that too.
This was Before WDW! The Florida area was undeveloped and wild in places. We visited Silver Springs and rode their glass bottom boats and saw huge fish in the River. Mostly we wandered around and stopped where we wanted. We ended up in Miami, but immediately left. We were casually dressed and anywhere we ate people were dressed up wearing their furs in. the. summer!!!!
We crossed over to the Atlantic side in a wild rural area under Lake Okeechobee. We went back home to Ohio after coming up the Gulf side. We prefer to this day the Atlantic side.
I am so glad we got to see Florida without WDW, Uni, Sea World, and all the other tourist attractions that are there now. Don't get me wrong, I love those places, but it was great to see an undeveloped Florida. And yes, I am that old, LOL

 

[schumigirl]

We also love St. Augustine. We visited Florida when we first got married in the late 60's early 70's. It was before kids, so just the two of us honeymooners, LOL.
We drove the entire East Coast to Miami. Our favorite stop was St. Augustine. We loved the vibe there; it was so beautiful. We visited the fort too. I think the very first Sea World was close to there, right on the ocean, and we visited that too.
This was Before WDW! The Florida area was undeveloped and wild in places. We visited Silver Springs and rode their glass bottom boats and saw huge fish in the River. Mostly we wandered around and stopped where we wanted. We ended up in Miami, but immediately left. We were casually dressed and anywhere we ate people were dressed up wearing their furs in. the. summer!!!!
We crossed over to the Atlantic side in a wild rural area under Lake Okeechobee. We went back home to Ohio after coming up the Gulf side. We prefer to this day the Atlantic side.
I am so glad we got to see Florida without WDW, Uni, Sea World, and all the other tourist attractions that are there now. Don't get me wrong, I love those places, but it was great to see an undeveloped Florida. And yes, I am that old, LOL

Wow....that must have been quite something to see back then. And what a tour you took!! How long did it take you? That sounds like one heck of a journey and to do all those things before tourism as it is known today really took off, must have been wonderful.

Goodness it does sound amazing and I can visualise what it must have been like in places like Miami which was certainly purported to be a glamorous city and in the 40`s to the 60`s going by movies I can imagine the fur coat glamour that was around. I love seeing the dinner dance clubs that were around then, I think I would have enjoyed that lifestyle back then........not sure about fur coats in the summer though......lol

Tom went to Miami in the very early 1980`s, Epcot was still being built, so it was only MK to visit then and he remembers miles of nothing much around when they went up to Orlando. Sadly the days before we took pictures of absolutely everything, but must have been fascinating to see.

We do like the Atlantic side too, the beaches are just as nice as the Gulf side and can be just as calm. We`ve visited New Smyrna Beach several times and have seen it as calm as any Gulf beach, beautiful.

But, yes, St Augustine is gorgeous....another one of these places we keep saying we`ll go and spend a couple of days there, but just never get around to it, especially as it is so easy to get to and back home in a day. It`s certainly somewhere we love to visit every trip if possible.

 

[SCSabresfan]

It was nice catching up with you and Tom again. I can't remember if it was our May 2019 or December 2019 trip when we ran into you in the club lounge for the first time. We would have enjoyed talking with you more but the timing never worked out. Either we were just running in for a quick bite to eat or you were already in the middle of a conversation with others. I am sure our paths will cross again. We always seem to be there at the same time it seems.

 

[schumigirl]

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 1ST
​

Well, we couldn`t quite believe it was December today. This trip although we didn`t see it at the time, was flying past and we hadn`t done half the things we had planned to......maybe a good thing as we were missing a lot of shopping we had discussed.......yes, in hindsight, that was a good thing!

But, we went to bed every night commenting on how wonderful it was just being there and woke every morning looking forward to whatever the day would bring. And today was one we had been looking forward to for a long time........although it did mean for the first time in many, many years......we would enter Disney Hotel Property.........

​

Yep, and it took a special couple for that to happen.......but that`s later in the day, first we were planning to head to IOA for some VC and Hagrids if the line wasn`t too long for that and then mooch around and see what else we fancied doing......

So, up for breakfast and we had a good chat with Allison who was now one of the Supervisors and breakfast was as always quite simple with maybe the addition of a doughnut.....and it was now large doughnuts they had on offer......jelly filled ones too that I discovered I do actually quite like!! Who knew.......

I also have to say this particular day is a complete picture fest.......we took more pictures today than any other day!!

I sometimes, only very occasionally speak before I think (I know hard to believe ) and it has gotten me into trouble at times, but you know when you just can`t help yourself.......thankfully the couple saw the funny side...

We got into the elevator and there was a youngish couple got in the floor below us.....and I don`t exaggerate, they were wearing head to foot Disney clothes.

I couldn`t stop myself......after a silence of a second or two....I said Did you get lost??? Then there was a silence as they processed my comment......and then burst out laughing as they acknowledged their outfit and realised the humour (well I thought it was funny) and did see the funny side of what was almost like a juxtaposition of the surroundings......Tom did tell them as they wandered off the TM would love them on the rides.......lol........and they would have some fun!!

We decided to walk this morning, but the pool was locked up as it didn`t open till 9am, so we wandered round as if we were going to the boat dock and turned right, we were glad as the line was a mile long! We`re happy to walk so we set off on the path not noticing a couple behind us.....we didn`t get very far when the woman yelled at us....the boats are back that way you`re going the wrong way.....I guess we don`t look like folks that walk a lot!!! I told her this was the walking path and kept going and it is a lovely walk, especially on a day like today where it was perfect....and getting even warmer every day that passed now which we were exceptionally happy about.

This is about half way to the security entrance from the hotel, roughly anyway, I never measured it for those like like accuracy......but it`s a beautiful spot regardless, and it was gorgeous this morning to be walking to the parks.

Looking down to the entrance it looked busy, but here it wasn`t so bad, it looked almost deserted, and I always forget to take a picture of the Lighthouse that is so synonymous with IOA, but we got one today.

We did see a woman at this point do something strange, but we never payed that much attention, as well, folks are there to have fun and she did look like she was having fun!

It never takes too long to get through the gates, and today was no different, although Tom`s fingerprints were accepted for once which was nice.

Everything is themed here as if you are taking a journey to some faraway place you`ll never reach of course, but the attention to detail is remarkable with mentions of other lands in IOA including Jurassic Park. And so many hidden details that I never tire of finding.

We were popping into GS this morning as we had some names we wanted to mention to them of TM in the parks who had gone above and beyond or were just deserving of a mention so far. It doesn`t take long and means a lot to the lovely folks that work in the parks.

And even the area around GS is well worth taking some time to notice as it is very well themed to go along with the POE design.

I had posted the Open Arms Hotel image on the picture of the day thread and several folks sent me a pm to ask where it was taken, they had never seen it, and there are hundreds of images like that around the parks that we don`t always notice.

All this was so gorgeous and we hadn`t even properly entered the park yet, it is completely stunning with the attention to detail and the colours, although on a day like this it made it even prettier.

I took most of the pictures around here and managed one of my husband who much prefers to be the other side of the camera, but I reminded him we did like to see him too when we look back over the trip pictures......

It doesn`t matter how many times we walk into POE, it truly mesmerises us and we are transfixed on just how pretty it is and the sounds too which of course are a little different right now with the Christmas songs on instead the usual easily recognisable sounds we are used to the rest of the year round.

The story of the picture below is simple, there has been an escape by one of the prisoners and they`ve left a message for the guards of "see ya".......quite funny as the keys are hanging below.

You can listen at the bottom of this area and hear the arguments going on above from those left there........the attention to detail I bang on about all the time is incredible and I do laugh when I read folks write that there are no detailed areas in Universal except for Potter.........yes, yes there are.

The colours are vivid throughout this area and we do take our time wandering today as we had just been told the Velocicoaster wasn`t running this morning......darn it.........

And another nod to Jurassic park mentioned on the sign for the dance studio that will teach you to dance the way they do in exotic foreign lands.....and again, you should listen while standing below, it is funny to hear what might be going on.

A quick look over the lagoon to the VC showed it was indeed down, although cars were running, they were empty and apparently they had no idea when it would be running again, of course that`s a standard answer as they will very rarely if ever give you a time in case it doesn`t happen.

But, we were now free to peruse the parks at a very leisurely pace....well not that different to whate we usually do as we never rush anywhere on our trips......there are just so many little things to see and do, park commando people we are most definitely not.

There really were some other folks around this morning, but it was quieter than we thought it would be and we did wonder if that meant everyone was at Hagrids. We had done it the other day, I had forgotten to write about it and had waited just over an hour which was a record for us. Wasn`t sure I`d wait that long again for it though.

We did go on CiTH and it is still the weirdest of rides ever, maybe only rivaled by the end part of ET for a mind expanding trip that does make you wonder the train of the thoughts of the creators.

It does spin a little, but nowhere near as much as it used to, and we walked completely on with no line at all which is always nice for any ride.

Dr Seuss was certainly more than a little out there.

And then you see something as cute as this and you can forgive him for the weirdness of CitH. Even today I`m not very familiar with his work other than what has been adapted to the big screen and through visiting this park, in the UK we weren`t brought up on Seuss. It was my cousins who came over from New York in 1977 that introduced me to his work, before that I had never heard of him or any of his work. So even though I have no childhood affection for his work, we do love this area and I`d never tell anyone to miss it out as it is pure fun and a little innocent.

We never did make into meet the Grinch, although we did see him wiggle his bum out of the door to those watching one day.....maybe that doesn`t count though.......we never really wanted to stand in line in the sunshine to do so. Although we did come across a few real life Grinches, so maybe that counts as part of the title........

On the way into the park this morning I mentioned we had seen a woman do something a little odd and we thought nothing more of it......however we would soon see it hadn`t just been a one and done incident.



More coming up.......

 

[schumigirl]

It was nice catching up with you and Tom again. I can't remember if it was our May 2019 or December 2019 trip when we ran into you in the club lounge for the first time. We would have enjoyed talking with you more but the timing never worked out. Either we were just running in for a quick bite to eat or you were already in the middle of a conversation with others. I am sure our paths will cross again. We always seem to be there at the same time it seems.

I believe it was May 2019 as Kyle wasn`t with us when we met you in the Club Lounge for the first time.

Yes, we were always kinda meeting on the run or as you say chatting to someone as you were heading off. Yes, it would have been nice to chat some more and yes, I`m sure we`ll run into each other again

 

[NancyLuvsMickey]

I'm late to the party but finally made it!!!

I'm loving your trip so far!!!! I can't believe it's already half over!!! Time really does fly when you're having fun!!!

As for the Grinches, unfortunately, they seem to be everywhere!!!! I hope you didn't run into them too often!!!

And so glad you were able to get rid of that Surburban and get a nice car!!!

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving, Christmas, Boxing Day and Happy New Year!!!

 

[Spike101]

.however we would soon see it hadn`t just been a one and done incident.

Consider me very intrigued!