Travel: USA - Florida/Orlando
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Trip Review (Part 3 - Disney’s Hollywood Studios)
3. Disney’s Hollywood Studios was set up after Universal Studios set up shop in Orlando. It is suppose to be a movie based themepark so there are many live performances and shows here.
We made used of our early park entry privileges here because we wanted to catch the popular ride Toy Story Mania which is a recent addition and so is new to us. This ride is very popular but has a slow load factor so queues can go up to 60 minutes or more. So going there during extra magic hours for on site guests helped us take this ride 3 times each with minimal wait. This was really fun, similar to buzz light year in MK, but instead of shooting aliens, you are playing fun fair games like throwing balls, hoops etc. very cool.
The other headliners in HS are Hollywood Tower of Terror which simulates a 13 storey fall. I did that previously and have no guts to do it again. DH did this with DS2 who is a thrill seeker. The other headliner is rock and roller coaster, a fast and smooth coaster ride with Aerosmith. We did this a few times too, but without DD of course. We use child swap.
DD enjoyed the stage shows here. Particularly, Beauty and the Beast stage show, a compressed live performance of the movie and the Voyage of Little Mermaid stage show. The Indiana Jones stunt show was also good. We brought DD to the Disney Junior puppet show, but she didn’t like It. Said it was for small kids. Other interesting rides/ shows are Muppet 3D, Star Tours, a Star Wars ride. There is the Great Movie Ride featuring movies over the years. DH thought it was boring. Other stuff we skipped were art of Disney animation, the backstage tour etc. These we did previously and didn’t like. Thought the backstage ride was pretty waste of time. There is also a Light Motor Action car stunt show which is good.
We had lunch at the Italian restaurant, Mama Melrose on the Fantasmic package. It gave us reserved settings at the HS nighttime laser show, Fantasmic. Besides Fantasmic, during this year end season, HS has an Osbourne Family light up in the New York section of the park at night. Very pretty and worth seeing.
This is our longest and most tiring day with no mid day break. DD fell asleep on the bus back to the hotel.
(To be continued…) -
Wow thank you.
Waiting for part 4 anxiously.
Dnls u could publish a book on yr Orlando experience! -
Trip Review (Part 4 - Animal Kingdom)
4. The 4th park at WDW is Animal Kingdom which is also the smallest. While some people don’t really like it, it is one of our favorites.
We started our day at Animal Kingdom with a pre- park opening breakfast at Tusker House. The characters we met here are Donald, Daisy, Goofy and Mickey, all in Safari wear. We had picked up our car by then and so drove to Animal Kingdom rather than take the Disney bus. The breakfast was the usual Disney breakfast buffet with a delicious jungle juice which is an orange, passion fruit mix. Tusker House is situated quite far inside AK in Africa. The walk in was again nice and peaceful and provided great photo op opportunity. The next best thing is that Tusker House is right next to Kilimanjaro Safari ride, the popular safari ride in AK. Again we were able to finish BF before park open and were the first to get o the Kilimanjaro ride. The best thing about riding this early is that the animals are most active in the cool morning and this time, we were able to spot the Big fives and many more animals very few meters. It was great. We love the ride.
After Kilimanjaro, we went for the next big thing, Expedition Everest, in Asia. Did this 3 times with no wait. Next we headed for Dinoland where we rode Dinosaur, Triceratops spin and primeval whirl. Dinosaur is quite scary, and DD set out like for Expedition Everest, as well as primeval whirl. Primeval whirl can cause motion sickness. We don’t really like it. triceratops spin is the typical spook and hub ride.
After that, we headed back to Asia to ride Kali River Rapid and got bottom half of our jeans wet since we had ponchos on. Did this twice. If did it once would have been ok. Lunch was counter service at Yak and Yeti for some semblance of Chinese food.
Thereafter headed for the Festival of the Lion King show. They have changed it a little somehow and it is diff from the one in HK Disney. the one in HK Disney was same as what we same here 5 yrs ago. DD met Pocahontas today. The other good rides which we went to was It’s Tough to be a Bug, a 4D show inside the AK icon, the Tree of Life. This show has also been updated and is now better than 5 yrs ago with better effects.
We skipped the bird show and walk through zoological stuff since we get l see lots of animals in our SG zoo already. We watched the parade and left AK around 4pm, and went back to our hotel to rest.
That night we went to the counter service restaurant at Contemporary resort for dinner. The boys ooh the monorail and we took the car o see who is faster. We got there faster because of the loop the monorail took, but they got back faster. They have sushi there which delighted the kids. The Mahi fish sandwich was good too.
(To be continued…) -
Dnls_mum:
:thankyou: for the information.
I have done both Sin-New York - Orlando and recently also Sin- Houston -Orlando.BBEwee:
Can someone advise me which is the best way to Orlando from Singapore?
1)SIN-Houston-Orlando
2)SIN-New York -Orlando
3) SIN-LA-Orlando
Did the direct Sin to NY then Orlando. This is the best since it is the shortest route with 18 hour direct to NY. But I think the direct flight no more now, SQ just announce canceling it. So now go NY still have to transit Frankfurt.
Sin to Houston need to transit Moscow. So now whether go,via Houston or NY all need a stop either in Moscow or Frankfurt. No diff. We chose Houston because we travel during winter and weather in NY is more uncertain and could affect flight schedules and punctuality.
To me Sin-La or SF is out because they seems to be the longest, and more importantly, LA or SF to Orlando is much longer than from NY or Houston to Orlando. That means more time on a US airline, which cannot compare to SQ in terms of inflight service. I'd rather minimize my flight time on a US carrier.
With all this ,I can easily plan my flight to Orlando.DH is so worry about the kids unable to take the long flight there.
I guess will choose Houston too,I prefer to fly in Dec too. -
For our Orlando Trip last Dec …we took the route
SIN-SFO-MCO (Orlando).
I hate cold weather so I avoided New York.
I did a review that NY airport is old and not so friendly , an during winter …planes might be delay…
SFO airport reviews stated it is new , big and friendly…and of course the weather is warmer…
From SFO , I took domestic flight to MCO(Orlando) -6 hours …so not too bad… -
We did both the sin-Houston-Orlando as well as the sin-new York route too.If your kids are not used to long hours flight, sin-Houston route could be v fatigue for them. The new York route is more merciful in my opinion for younger children.
If you travel early part of dec, I think weather in new York would not be too bad. -
iluvjr2:
Did you do the direct NY or the stopover in Frankfurt? The direct NY is definitely great but still got meh? If stopover in Frankfurt, than no diff from Houston right, or is it still better?We did both the sin-Houston-Orlando as well as the sin-new York route too.If your kids are not used to long hours flight, sin-Houston route could be v fatigue for them. The new York route is more merciful in my opinion for younger children.
If you travel early part of dec, I think weather in new York would not be too bad.
Both Houston and NY to Orlando about 2 hours so much more bearable on a US carrier with no inflight service. Anything more, really cannot tahan for DH and I...too spoiled by SQ ...hehehe -
Dnls_mum:
Thanks Dnls_mum, for all the wonderful sharing. Makes me want to start planning for next year's year end hols. haha
Did you do the direct NY or the stopover in Frankfurt? The direct NY is definitely great but still got meh? If stopover in Frankfurt, than no diff from Houston right, or is it still better?iluvjr2:
We did both the sin-Houston-Orlando as well as the sin-new York route too.If your kids are not used to long hours flight, sin-Houston route could be v fatigue for them. The new York route is more merciful in my opinion for younger children.
If you travel early part of dec, I think weather in new York would not be too bad.
Both Houston and NY to Orlando about 2 hours so much more bearable on a US carrier with no inflight service. Anything more, really cannot than...too spoiled by SQ ...hehehe
Just wondering, will it help to break the journey mid-way? In other words, if one takes the SIN-NY-Orlando route, does it make sense to disembark at NY, spend a few days day to tour the city and then take the domestic flight to Orlando?
Likewise with the SIN-Houston-Orlando route. Stay a few days at Houston and then depart for Orlando.
What do u think?
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Dnls_mum:
Did you do the direct NY or the stopover in Frankfurt? The direct NY is definitely great but still got meh? If stopover in Frankfurt, than no diff from Houston right, or is it still better?iluvjr2:
We did both the sin-Houston-Orlando as well as the sin-new York route too.If your kids are not used to long hours flight, sin-Houston route could be v fatigue for them. The new York route is more merciful in my opinion for younger children.
If you travel early part of dec, I think weather in new York would not be too bad.
Both Houston and NY to Orlando about 2 hours so much more bearable on a US carrier with no inflight service. Anything more, really cannot tahan for DH and I...too spoiled by SQ ...hehehe
It is definitely shorter even it is via Frankfrut. Total flying + transit time for Houston is 23.5hours plus minus. For NY route, it's only 21hours there about. This year we did sin - Houston & new York - sin so was v clear of the flying time. Moreover, NY has more connecting flights to Orlando. -
Trip Review (Part 5 - Disney’s minor attractions and Downtown Disney)
Disney has several minor attractions. We did Blizzard Beach, Disney Quest and Wintersummerland mini golf on this trip.
1. Blizzard Beach - this iis a water park, and still as good as we remember. Problem is we went the first day we were there as DH felt that swimming is best way to get rid of jet lag. Unfortunately, it turned out to be really cold that day as the sunny sun suddenly disappeared and the dark clouds came in. We still enjoyed Teamboat springs, the group ride in a circular raft down a curvy slope. Probably also because we had not accustomed ourselves to the weather yet, so we left the park in the early afternoon, and went next door for mini golf.
2. Wintersummerland is a mini golf course next to Blizzard beach. It has 2 18 hole courses, a summer course and a winter course. The story is that of Santa being marooned here or something like that. We did the winter course and it was really fun. Not too difficult for my 6yo DD too.
3. Disney Quest is an indoor 5 storey building housing arcade games. The good stuff here are the pirates ride where your group enter a ship, one person steer the ship and the rest short the target, all wearing 3D glasses. It is good fun for the whole family. The Aladdin magic carpet ride where players wear a helmet and it simulates you flying around is fun too. Other worth mentioning is a space ride and a buzz light year ride and off course a jungle cruise where you row your boat through a simulated course. The rest of the games are the usual arcade driving shooting etc. you can try the art of Disney animation here and learn to draw Disney characters if you did try it at Hollywood studios. A good fun for half a day or so.
Downtown Disney is a shopping and eating place besides housing Disney Quest and La Nouba, the cirque de solei act. The largest Disney store is at downtown. There is also a Lego store, Goofy’s Candy store etc
We had several meals here.
1. Wolfgang Puck Express - a counter service but after you place your order, food is served to us in proper plates and cutleries. Menu is more varied than the usual counter service at Disney. Breakfast is good with breakfast pizzas, Belgium walfers, crispy corn flake French toast etc. Dinner also has pizaa, pasta, pot roast, and my daughter’s favorite chicken noodle soup.
2. Earl of Sandwich - a relatively cheap ( by Disney’s standard) place for sandwiches. They serve pretty good quality hot sandwiches here.
3. TRex - this is a sit down restaurant with a dinosaur theme. They have 4 rooms with different deco, a forest room, cave, ice cave and ocean. We sat in the forest room with animatronic dinosaurs around. Very half an hour do so, there is a simulated meteorite shower and each room will show diff effects. The dinosaurs in the forest goes into a frenzy and there are flickering lights. The ice cave changes color etc. Food here is typical American, and is pretty good and portions are extremely huge. We had good fun eating here.
(To be continued…)
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