Travel: USA - Florida/Orlando
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Trip Review (Part 10 - Universal Studios)
We hopped over to Universal studios just as it opened at 9am after spending almost an hour at WWoHP. Went anti-clockwise round the park. Started with ET ride, then went on to Simpsons twice and MIB 3 times. We love the MIB ride. It is a family favorite, similar to buzz light year in Disney where you ride in a vehicle and here you shoot aliens. But we think it is better than buzz. We like Disaster, an interesting attraction where it simulates the filming of a train collision scene in a movie. Revenge of the mummies here is better then the one in Singapore. Twister simulates a tornado scene. Despicable me is a simulator ride. The roller coaster here is Rip Ride Rock it. It has a vertical ascend. Pretty cool and very scary. They take a video of you in the ride besides the usual photo. My son said I look absolutely terrified in the ride. You get to choose the music you hear during the ride too. This is really a new generation roller coaster. The Termination 2 attraction is quite fun too. It is 3D show but there are real human characters moving in and out of the show. Done quite seamlessly. We skipped the kiddie rides as DD was not interested. She felt she was too old for the Barney show too so we did not see it.
As usual we were done by afternoon as the park is now crowded and also because we had express passes. We went back o nap before going back to the park again for our reserved dinner at Lombards and the Universal Cinematic Spectacular. We were able to do that because Hard Rock was only 10 mins walk from Universal Studios.
For our dinner package at Lombards, we has a choice of apps, entree and non-alcoholic drinks. 3 of us chose the fisherman’s basket of scallop, fish and shrimps, DH has the seafood pasta. DD had her kids pasta too. Apps we had lobster bisque, salad and buffalo wings. It was too much food. After dinner, we were shown to the outdoor patio for our buffet dessert and coffee, while we waited for the show. It was very comfortable and we had a perfect view. It was a show showing clips of the different movies made by Universal in its last 100 years. This year Universal celebrates it’s 100th anniversary. The screen is actually a waterfall. Effect is very good. There are fireworks accompanying the show too. DS thought it was fantastic and very enjoyable. It was a great way to end the evening.
(To be continued …) -
Trip Review (Part 11 and Final - dinner show and other meals)
Sleuths Mystery Dinner
We did the Sleuth Mystery Dinner. It is a dinner with a who dunnit show and guests get to question the suspects and guess who is the murderer. We saw the Squire’s Inn.
We started dinner with a salad. For the main course, I had the Cornish hen, while my husband and 2 boys paid the $3 extra each for the prime rib. Our 6yo girl had the kid’s meal of Mac and cheese and chicken fingers. If she had wanted, they could have chosen from the adult menu too. The food was delicious. The guys especially loved their prime rib which was done medium rare. In fact rare for beef to be so done so nicely in such dinner shows. For dessert we had a choice of chocolate cake, key lime pie and strawberry shortcake. Service was also good.
The show has a simple plot and was easy to understand. Even our 6yo was able to follow and participated in our discussion on who the murder is. The actors were quite funny. All in all a good dinner with good entertainment. Well worth the price.
Texas de Brazil
This is a brazilian style steak house. There was a buffet spread of apps, consisting mainly salad, soup, cold cuts and even sushi. My advise is not to eat much of these and save your stomach for the meats.
They came round pretty quickly with the meats and slice the meat onto your plate. There were different type of sausages, lamp chops, house special steak (our family’s favorite), filet mignon wrapped with bacon, etc etc. They came round so fast and the were so many to choose from! We filled up pretty quickly and simply did not have room for dessert after that.
We enjoyed our meal and the steak was really good. However, it does not really work out for us price wise because we are small eaters and the bill came to $300 (inc tips). This place works better for people who have huge appetite.
International House of Pancakes (IHOP)
This is a chain of 24hour pancake outlet. They sell non pancakes too. Menu is typical American diner. Price is reasonable and every time we visit US, we come here for breakfast at least once. We went for the usual staple of pancakes, eggs and sausages/bacon for breakfast. You get to choose many syrup flavored for your pancakes which can be flavored too or plain buttermilk. This is a can’t go wrong breakfast place in my opinion.
This final instalment completes my review of our Orlando trip. Hope I have not bore all of you with my long winded write-ups. Hope they will help anyone planning their Orlando trip next year! Cheers! -
DNLS, THANK YOU THANK YOU for so unselfishly sharing the details of your trip.
at which age between 5-10 will it most suitable for the child to visit Orlando and be able to enjoy the rides? -
GLORYmum:
Hi Glorymum, you are most welcome.DNLS, THANK YOU THANK YOU for so unselfishly sharing the details of your trip.
at which age between 5-10 will it most suitable for the child to visit Orlando and be able to enjoy the rides?
My DD is six now. She is tall for her age and thus could ride all the rides. The problem is that she is a scaredy cat and doesn't dare to go on coasters. When we went previously, my DS2 was 8 and he went all the huge coaster rides. So really, it depends on the height and personality of the child. There is a lot of walking, really really a lot, so it is very tiring and we solve that problem by resting and napping is most afternoons. This allowed us to enjoy lots of night shows and activities. Otherwise you get burnt out after a few days and it really ruin the vacation, or you end up skipping lots of things which is a pity since you have travelled so far for the vacation.
One more think I realize about different age kids is that your experience is also different. We did to do the kiddy rides and princess stuff previously with our boys as they are older. This time, we split up sometimes for the boys to do their stuff and for DD to do the kiddy and girly stuff. For example, we did not do Seuss Landing at IOA previously, but I did it with DD this time, it was pretty fun too. Also, when the kids are younger, they have a certain innocence and enjoy very simple things. They still believe in the magic of disney. It is wonderful when I see my DD's face light up in joy or shyness when she wears her princess costumes and is addressed as princess by the cast members and characters. The genuineness of her joy when she speaks to the face characters and they hug her. Such things can only be experienced with younger kids. So for me in particular, even though this is our second trip, I had a very different experience myself too.
For my boys, this is their second trip and while my DS1 seems outgrowing it already, he was really taken in by WWoHP. DS2 still enjoyed his coasters tremendously. To me, I am very happy we have many sit down meals planned. Around the Themeparks it is always going around and doing things. No meaningful interaction with the kids. Each day when we sit down for our meal, we either discuss what we want to do (at breakfast) or what we had done at (lunch or dinner) and discuss likes and dislikes.
Have fun planning and feel free to pop any questions here! -
Hi dnls thanks for reply.
When we were at ocean park legoland n theme parks in GC we usually start fr park open till close and drain out by evening. We try to Cover as much as we can at each park.
Do u manage to cover mostly all the rides in 6 hours ? -
GLORYmum:
Yes, you can do that at GC. We did that too. But not in Orlando. The parks are much bigger in Orlando. They are generally more spread out within the parks so more walking. Here's the amount of time we spent:Hi dnls thanks for reply.
When we were at ocean park legoland n theme parks in GC we usually start fr park open till close and drain out by evening. We try to Cover as much as we can at each park.
Do u manage to cover mostly all the rides in 6 hours ?
1. Magic Kingdom : day 1 - 8am (bf)- 2pm, back at 4pm for Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique. Left at 6.45pm for dinner
Day 2 - 8am (bf)- 2pm.
Night 1- 6.30 pm. left after dessert party and fireworks at 8.30pm
Night 2- 7 pm dinner then left
Spent most time at MK because of DD and it is the most crowded park with most things for younger kids.
2. Epcot : Day 1 - 9am - 3plus. Return for dinner around 7.30pm. Left after illumination at 10pm
Day 2 - 9am - 3plus
3. Hollywood Studios - 8am (early entry)- 7.30pm. Flat out
4. animal Kingdom - 8am (bf) to 4pm
5. Legoland - 10.15am - 4plus
6. iOA - 8am (WWoHP) - 3plus
Went back on second day for one hour during early entry just to do WWOHP again.
7. US - 9am - 3plus
8. Seaworld - 11am to 6plus ( had an early dinner inside Seaworld)
9. Discovery Cove - 8.30 am - 5pm. This is a relaxing swimming day.
We did IOA and US pretty quickly because on early entry and express pass.
All in all generally spend 1/2 to 3/4 days in the parks each day, choosing to return again rather than go all out. It conserve our energy. Exception was HS, becos of the Fantasmic show and yet, there wasn't enough things to do to justify 2 days there. -
Do u then need to buy two days tickets to return on the second day?
My elder one is crazy about roller coaster rides, which park for the most or more thrilling rides ? -
GLORYmum:
Disney has a Magic Your Way Base ticket. You can buy one day to 10 days in the ticket and visit any one disney park on each day. The more days, the cheaper on a per day basis. You only can visit one park per day. If you want to visit more than one park per day, you add a park hopper option. We did not do that as I thought it was more expensive to add park hopper then to increase another park day. Furthermore, the Disney parks are quite spread out and it is difficult to go from park to park unless you have a car. If I do go back to rest and return, I return to the same park.Do u then need to buy two days tickets to return on the second day?
My elder one is crazy about roller coaster rides, which park for the most or more thrilling rides ?
The 2 Universal Parks have the most exciting rides including coasters. So does Seaworld. seaworld itself has 3. The Disney parks like MK has 3 mid way coasters, HS, 1 exciting coaster and 1 terrifying free fall ride, Animal Kingdom 1 exciting coaster, Epcot, no coaster but has high spend test track and space simulation. Not all the exciting rides are roller coasters as we know roller coasters to be. The rides are more sophisticated these days. The most exciting and longest coaster is rip ride rock it at Universal Studios. No express pass for this ride. It is also the newest coaster in Orlando. It is the latest new generation coaster. kraken in seaworld isn't big deal. No where near Rip ride Rock it or as fun as Manta. Manta in seaworld is much better and is newer than Kraken. For old time coaster, hulk at IOA is still an all time favorite as it is a very smooth ride. Even Rip RideRock it is not as smooth. DS found Dragon in IOA not as good as it was 5 years ago after its transformation to Harry Potter theme. He said Battlestar Galactical in Singapore more scary than Dragon at IOA now. -
Thank you. Need to print everything and highlight then formulate my itinerary for next year.
Is the weather best to go in June or nov ? -
GLORYmum:
June in Orlando is hot and humid like Singapore. Weather in Nov is cool I the 20s generally or high 10s. We went 27 Nov to 13 Dec. Most times we are in short sleeve tshirts. It gets hot some afternoons. It is cool in the morning and after sunset. So early morning may need a light jacket depending on your cold tolerance and in the evenings, a light jacket most days, except one or 2 days where you may need something warmer. The weather forecast is pretty accurate and should help you decide on your attire each day.Thank you. Need to print everything and highlight then formulate my itinerary for next year.
Is the weather best to go in June or nov ?
Personally I think cool weather is better for themeparks. More enjoyable and comfortable. Also, Nov is low season and so crowds are generally pretty low. Just need to make sure you avoid the run up to Thanksgiving and the weekend of it. It is the probably second highest season in Orlando, after Christmas week. Anything before thanksgiving or after thanksgiving but before Christmas is good crowd wise. June would of course be warmer for the water parks. If you go in June make sure you go before the official US summer break.
Have fun planning!
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