The "Double Double-Dip" 17 Day Florida Vacation - 1,233 Pictures Report

[bubba's mom]

Great trip report Barb
Can't wait to hear more

I bet you can't...I haven't even gotten to the day I met youse yet!

Yay! Another awesome installment, Barb! THANK YOU!!!

PS - I was trying to figure out which movie "Hitchcock" was, but when you said Will Smith was in it, I knew you meant "Hancock"...

-Melissa

Thanks for pointing that out...DH read it (proofreads) and who knows how many others, yet they either didn't notice or just didn't point it out? I actually kept calling it 'Hitchcock' the rest of the day and time we were there....for some reason "Hancock" doesn't stick on the blonde brain!

Your reports are definitely in my "Top Ten"! Informative, fun, and with great pics!

Thanks for keeping us all entertained!

Maria

You are welcome. My DH knows I take pix of everything he actually suggests things for me to take pix of and helps me report back to the DISers. ....he's They are a wonderful memory for us, yet, hopefully informative to others. I try to remember to take pictures and report on things I was wondering about ...or things I don't see mentioned too often on the DIS.

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

we would go that often too....IF DH had more vacation time AND flying weren't so freakin expensive!

... with me working for hubby, we have a bit more flexibility when we go, so are able to schedule our trips for when the seat sales are. The only one we usually aren't flexible with is our October trip.

ah..don't worry...next cruise is already in the works

We've got our first cruise booked for January 2009 ... a 3 day with DCL

 

[bubba's mom]

We've got our first cruise booked for January 2009 ... a 3 day with DCL

Yay!! You will have a GREAT time!



Then, you'll wish it was a longer cruise .....

 

[ky07]

I bet you can't...I haven't even gotten to the day I met youse yet!



Thanks for pointing that out...DH read it (proofreads) and who knows how many others, yet they either didn't notice or just didn't point it out? I actually kept calling it 'Hitchcock' the rest of the day and time we were there....for some reason "Hancock" doesn't stick on the blonde brain!




You are welcome. My DH knows I take pix of everything he actually suggests things for me to take pix of and helps me report back to the DISers. ....he's They are a wonderful memory for us, yet, hopefully informative to others. I try to remember to take pictures and report on things I was wondering about ...or things I don't see mentioned too often on the DIS.

Hope it is good and not wish I could get away from these guys just kidding DW can't wait to see you all agian and same goes for me

 

[bubba's mom]

Day 10 thru 13 - Saturday, July 5 - Tuesday, July 8, 2008


Okay, this is going to be the most boring (for you) installment yet. This will cover the rest of the week we spent at my FIL's house. This is the time when we kick back, swim, eat and just relax. We aren't sightseeing or running anywhere shopping (except to the grocery store for more food!)...this is our truly 'relaxing' part of our vacation.


Here are some hilights to give you an idea of what we do:

Close up of Bubba:

Getting ready for cannonball competition:

Learning to dive:

The resident lizard out for a stroll:

Goofing around underwater:

Had to put this pic in....check out Bubba's face!

Bubba on my laptop:

That is really all we do. Get up. Eat breakfast. Clean up. Swim. Eat lunch. Swim. Eat dinner. Swim or hang out rest of the evening. My DH also spends a lot of time with his Dad while we are there...mostly fixing or helping him with his computer, but we have plenty of time to watch a ballgame on tv or another show....

Boring report day for you all...but, tomorrow we head back to Universal....

 

[Zoiebear]

Report, looking forward to more as usual
S

 

[RVGal]

Sometimes the "boring" days are the bestest vacation days.

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

no new installment???

 

[bubba's mom]

no new installment???

i'm sorry...i haven't forgotten...i just loaded the pix to my photobucket to insert into the report.... I AM working on it....sorry so slow

 

[rpbert1]

You cannot rush the Master Trippie reporter [or should that be mistress]

 

[bubba's mom]

You cannot rush the Master Trippie reporter [or should that be mistress]

speakin' of....where's yours? Did I miss it?

I saw you and the family were hitting the beach next year...I thought DW was going to talk you into a 4 night cruise instead

 

[rpbert1]

Your reports ,put mine to shame , Read last years ,would be basically the same as this years, park sometimes pool rest of the time with a bit of shopping, Oh and our meet, which we thoroughly enjoyed.
Lily reckons you are not really Barb,its just an alias to hide your identity , you`re really Darryl Hanna
would love the cruise, but Only time Lily was on a boat was to England and was extremely sick, so i would need to do some coaxing to get her on one

 

[bubba's mom]

Your reports ,put mine to shame , Read last years ,would be basically the same as this years, park sometimes pool rest of the time with a bit of shopping, Oh and our meet, which we thoroughly enjoyed.
Lily reckons you are not really Barb,its just an alias to hide your identity , you`re really Darryl Hanna
would love the cruise, but Only time Lily was on a boat was to England and was extremely sick, so i would need to do some coaxing to get her on one

I already read your last year's trippie....at least throw some new pix up there ..humor me

I've gotten Claudia Schiffer too i don't see it tho?

I talked to her about the cruise...she seemed rather interested. They have the stabilizers on the ship to keep it from rockin Also, the caribbean waters aren't rough at all...during the time you visit the states, the waters are calm. Like I told her, Bubba didn't even feel like he was on a boat! Think about it...maybe just a 3 nighter to give it a try.... The *sea* just may make the difference

 

[rpbert1]

Was at her , a few minutes ago, but reckons with her luck we would run into a Hurricane . She would die if she was sick for 3 days [she does not do sick very well]
Claudia Schiffer,nah, your much better than her

 

[bubba's mom]

Was at her , a few minutes ago, but reckons with her luck we would run into a Hurricane . She would die if she was sick for 3 days [she does not do sick very well]
Claudia Schiffer,nah, your much better than her

hurricanes are not likely in july...possible, but PEAK hurricane season is Aug. 20-Oct 2nd. Besides, if there were a hurricane, the ship would sail a different way and avoid it....they don't go near it

 

[bubba's mom]

Day 14 - Wednesday, July 9, 2008

A little different day at Dad's today. After breakfast we packed up in preparation of heading back to Universal after lunch.

We ate lunch and were ready to go about 1pm.

We gave hugs and said our goodbyes and we left Dad's and stopped by the grocery store to pick up a few things (for breakfast and drinks) and we also stopped by the dollar store so I could purchase a couple ponchos (since I had forgotten our other ones at home)!

We stopped at our two stops, and by 1:30 we were on our way back to Universal.

It was a nice day and about a 1.5 hour ride there. (You can see Dudley from the road.)

We drove up to the Portofino Bay Hotel and we were greeted and they helped unload our car. I headed to check-in. At check-in today, Bubba was given a gift...Magna Doodle.

When we checked in, we were told that our king bedroom was ready on our suite, but not the parlor this time. (If you remember, when we were here a couple weeks ago, the parlor was ready before the bedroom.) We decided to have Mom & Bubba head to our room with the luggage and DH & I would go to the Holiday Inn Universal (around the corner & across the street) to return our rental car to the Budget counter. We told them we would meet up with them in our room and then head over to the park.

We drove to the Holiday Inn on Kirkman Rd. It's directly across the street from the DoubleTree Hotel(on left) and there is a TGIFridays next to it on the corner. Just as we were pulling into a parking spot, the hotel called to inform me that our parlor was ready now.

We had no trouble parking the car and signing the return papers at the Budget counter inside the hotel. DH & I then decided to walk back to the Portofino. It wasn't a long walk...maybe 10 minutes at the most. And, on the walk back, I just had to take some pictures.

The Hillside Pool at the end of the East Wing. Bice & Thirsty Fish from across the bay (East Wing).

It was just after 3:30 when we got back to the room. As we arrived, our welcome gift and Bubba's rollaway arrived...what timing! I told the gentleman exactly where I wanted the bed...so, I didn't have to rearrange the furniture myself this time! We received one welcome gift this time...which, we all ate right away I took a few quick pictures, and then we noticed the boat was coming, so we decided to grab the boat to the Studios. This was the boat dock viewed from our room. Bubba was taking pictures en route from the boat.

We had the Portofino Suite again...same setup as the one we had before (see beginning of trip report for pix), only a bay view instead of a pool view this time. View 1. View 2. View 3.

Let me make a note about rooms here. You know the West Wing rooms start with "3". You know the second number is the floor you are on. The last two numbers are your room number. Our bedroom room number was 3333 and the parlor was 3335.... I decided to take note of the room numbers. All the rooms are numbered the same way, just the second number would differ for whatever floor you are on.

For instance, on the third floor, the rooms on the bay view are odd numbered 3331 thru 3371 and the rooms with the pool view are even numbered 3330 thru 3370. Here is a picture of the floor plan from the back of our door and here is a picture of the room numbers at the beginning of the hall. I checked the other floors, and they ARE numbered the same. What I can't tell you is what rooms are suites, deluxes or standards...unless we stayed in them, I don't know. (My BIL did stay a few doors down from us in a standard room #3339 ... had bay view.)

Anyhow, back to the story.....We headed for the Simpsons Ride (of course) and the Express line was waaaay backed up. After not standing there long, we heard an announcement saying the ride was working at 'limited capacity'. Since we've done this (lots) and knew we'd be coming back, we decided not to wait around...decided to hit Men In Black. Twice. (This was pretty busy also, but we were guessing it's because Simpsons was running at limited capacity. Didn't matter though...MIB is ALWAYS fun!)

Map of 'Krustyland'. Explanation of attractions at 'Krustyland'.

It was nearing 6:00, which meant we were starting to get hungry for dinner. Not wanting to walk back to CityWalk, we decided to look for something nearby. We checked out the menu at Lombard's and decided to give it a shot (a friend said it was very good). For some unknown reason, it closed at 4:30 that day? Not happy, we came up with a Plan B....stopped at Richter's Burgers for dinner.

Richter's 2. The entrance to Richter's. It was not crowded, we ordered right away. We got burgers, Mom had chicken. We loaded the condiments on our burgers at the condiment station and found a seat. This was not a good decision to eat here. The burgers were edible, but not good. They reminded me of a frozen, non-beef piece of meat.

I'm not sure what it was, but it wasn't beef.

By the time we had finished, it was around 6:30. We checked the park map and realized that the Beetlejuice show was starting in 10-15 minutes. We cleaned up and left to make that show. Ended up in the front row. Show 1, Show 2, Show 3, Show 4, Show 5 and Show 6.

After the Beetlejuice show, we decided to see if the line for Simpsons was any shorter. Simpsons 2. It was, so we decided to give it a whirl. View from the Simpsons queue. Sign before you enter. We were on the top floor, so there was no 'tv'...just the empty ticket booth. Apu's concession stand.

After Simpsons, the vote was for ET. Along the way, we stopped for ice cream (& water) at International Food & Film Festival. Nothin' like havin' an ice cream while "heely-ing" through the Studios.

I took a picture of the stage outside of ET. This is where Woody, Shaggy, Scooby and Curious George do their 'show'. You cannot miss this stage...you walk right by it on your way to ET.

After a festive ride on ET, we decided to head to Terminator since we hadn't done it yet. We decided to take the shortcut through Garden of Allyah from Woody Woodpecker Zone ...it's not a big shortcut, but nice little walk.

We got to Terminator and it was a 15 minute wait. We decided to wait since it was around 8:45pm. Let me say this about the Terminator attraction that I noticed this trip...if you are hot and sweaty, THIS is the attraction you want to be in. This attraction is freezing, ice-cold inside. Every time! It's a great show, and we enjoy it, but brrrrrr......

After Terminator, we decided to hit Shrek since the line wasn't too long. By the time we were finished with Shrek, the 360 Show was under way. We had seen it last year, and didn't have any desire to see it again...especially from the middle of the show. Knowing we wouldn't have a good view anyway (we were on the wrong side of the lagoon), we decided to head back to the hotel.

Mom decided to wait for the boat, and DH, Bubba & I walked (via shortcut thru HRH parking lot)...don'tcha know? We beat her

While we were waiting for Mom back at the boat dock at the hotel, Bubba tried to take some pictures of the hotel lit up at night. I didn't blame him....it's absolutely beautiful! His pictures didn't come out real well because he didn't have a tripod. So, we told him since it was almost 10:30pm, he can turn in and DH & I would go out and take some pictures for him.

Since he was tired, he was all for it.

It was all but 11pm after getting him ready for bed & tucked in. DH & I grabbed our tripod and headed back outside to take some night shots.

Front of hotel. Valet parking. Walking in the front doors to hotel. Where you pull up to the front doors. The lobby & check-in. Lobby 2. Lobby 3. Lobby 4. Lobby 5. Looking up in the lobby. The lobby to Central Piazza. The Central Piazza 1. Central Piazza 2. The bar in the lobby. This hallwayleads to restrooms and gift shops.

We strolled around the entire resort (outside and inside) taking pictures for almost 2 hours before heading to bed ourselves.

Beside the front door and random outside pictures:

BICE/Thirsty Fish, the Beach Pool, West Wing 1, West Wing 2, West Wing 3 and West Wing 4.

The (zoomed) view of the Hard Rock Hotel from across the bay.

Hotel: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.


Let me also note something else I noticed in the parks today. I have never heard so many people complain about the heat! I was so tired of hearing it! OMG!! People! It's FLORIDA. In JULY! It's HOT!! If you can't stand the heat, don't come to Florida in July

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Another great installment!!! Can't wait for our trip ... only 24 more days!!!

I have never heard so many people complain about the heat! I was so tired of hearing it! OMG!! People! It's FLORIDA. In JULY! It's HOT!! If you can't stand the heat, don't come to Florida in July

... but then I'm just as bad in October ....

 

[bubba's mom]

... but then I'm just as bad in October ....

yeah...but the heat in October is no where as intense as July....that's probably one reason people go in Oct...heat isn't as bad. Sure, it's still 'hot'..but not that 'melting hot' people complain about

 

[circelli]

Loving the TR!!!
Keep it coming!!!

 

[RVGal]

I have a question. The Magna Doodle that Bubba got. Is the pen attached? I was thinking something like that would make a lightweight, easy to carry timekiller. I just don't want to be picking up the pen every 5 minutes or, worse yet, deal with the meltdown if the pen gets lost.