So in about 12 hours, I’ll be leaving for the airport for yet another trip to Universal. Laster year, when I started my trip report, I mentioned the five canceled trips over two years. Well, since that time I have gone on 5 trips. I did December 2022 (4 days), January 2023 (3 days) February 2023 (3 Days) May 2023 (2 days) and September 2023 (2 days around a MNSSHP).
Now I’m back for 3 more days. I have 3 more months on my 15month AP deal, and I’m hoping to go 3 more times. This trip is me and my SIL, and we’ll be at Portofino Bay hotel for 2 nights.
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I’m here until next Saturday 12/09/23!!
Please wave or say Hello if you see me!
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Currently waiting for boarding at the airport. I don’t think I forgot anything urgent at home but we’ll see.
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Enjoy. We are booked for 3 nights at portofino bay next April for our first Universal trip. Any feedback you have on construction and impact on garden view room would be much appreciated. Have fun
Hope you made it into MCO with no drama! The weather is pretty nice today!
We got in yesterday no issues. We did USO yesterday and just got back to the hotel from VB. We’ll be doing IOA later today
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I’m on my way to Jollywood tonight. Tomorrow is my birthday so once I wake up I’ll be in the parks most of the day to celebrate! Hope to bump into y’all!
We landed at MCO and got our luggage with no issues.
I got a new drivers license, and I added my travel buddy to the car rental, so I thought I needed to go to the counter. I didn’t, so that wasted some time.
I was also trying to get a Visitor Toll Pass, but the app doesn’t like my credentials. I had to make a new one and accidentally did it for just one day. Given that hassle of it, I think I’d rather pay $10 to use the car rental’s transponder.
We got to Portofino just before 2:00 pm and checked in right away. We got our room keys, and when I said “Spider-Man again” they offered me choice of new cards. I got a choice of room card. I picked the Jurassic Park Velocicoaster. They also let me keep the original one.
Our room was available, so we decided to go grocery shopping so once we were done at the parks we could go to our room.
Our room was 1570, far enough out that we couldn’t really see the dry side of the bay. I liked the previous room we had better.
We left for the parks around 4:40. Very short line to get in. We did Villain Con. Like @darkmite2, I am not a fan of this ride. Then we went to Mummy, my all time favorite ride.
Then we did the Gringotts Queue Photo Op at Shutterbuttons. If you are going to pay for the photo, get the photo done at shutterbuttons. According to the people who print the photo, the quality of the photo at shutterbuttons is much better than the one in the queue.
Then we did Escape from Gringotts. We did MIB next. The ride stopped for us near the end. As an apology we each got a one time use Express Pass. As it wasn’t good for Hagrid’s, I decided to keep it for a future trip. (Or give it away.) Then we did Kodos and Kong. I got a few pictures of the park. We got to the concert at 6:50. We stayed for a few minutes, but with the rain, and not really enjoying the concert, we decided to go shopping.
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I got a few chocolate frogs for the kids of some people I know.
I had planned to buy some spell medallions for kids of a coworker. However, they are running a deal that I decided was too good to pass up. If you are buying a map and all the coins for the map, its only $35. I couldn’t find a Feparo at the store, so I was allowed to pick up two of another coin, and I would put in my own, or attempt to change it out at the store in city walk.
We went to the store in City Walk, but it was way too busy to try and get the medallion changed out.
We waited for the boat to our hotel, and got back to our hotel by about 8:30 for dinner.
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Volcano Bay Day!
The next morning we had a lazy early morning. We had decided to do Volcano Bay. We got to the boats around 9:00. The bus came around 9:10 or so. Then it went to HRH and on to Volcano bay. We got the tap styles right around 9:25. I added the TapuTapu to my photo pass. That was a fail. I didn’t capture any on ride photos for us.
We got a family size locker.
We first headed to the Aqua Coaster. No wait the first time. When we got off the first time, we were able to wait on the platform to ride again. For the third time, we had to go around the queue again. Then we did the ika Moana. After that I was a bit nauseous, so I went back to the locker for my water.
Then I did Oh No. As I was getting into the slide, I swallowed some water, and that made me nauseous again. We wandered around the Volcano, and did Maku and Puihi raft rides. Then we did the TeAwa and went around 4 times I think. We did the lazy river, and the aqua coaster for the fourth time. Then we did the wave pool. We got in just as the waves were starting, so got the full ten minutes. Then we got our clothes from the locker, and went back to the hotel for lunch.
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Sounds like your VB day was full of ebbs and flows! Sorry you didn’t feel well at times!
Have you gotten the medallion swapped out? Let me know if I can help in ANY way! I can even get it for you & shipped.
(I get free postage at work! They let us mail anything as long as we don’t try to open an etsy store or something to abuse it)
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Yes. I got it swapped Monday afternoon. The store was much quieter than and I got the other map I needed.
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