BigShadowtinytree
TS Member
I’ll include a few details before diving in, it’s taken me a few days to get started on this little collection of trip reports as our trip so far has been so full on and I’ve been too tired at the end of each day to write it.
Trip duration: 2 weeks during the summer holidays
Accommodation: Universal’s Endless Summer Resort, Dockside Inn and Suites
Group of: 6, 4 adults - me, my other half, his parents and 2 children
Parks we are visiting in no particular order:
• Islands of Adventure
• Universal Studios
• Volcano Bay
• Magic Kingdom
• Epcot
• Disney’s Hollywood Studios
• Animal Kingdom
• Typhoon Lagoon
• Sea World
• Busch Gardens Tampa
Day 1 - 27th July, Travel Day and quick trip to IOA
Our direct flight to Melbourne airport was at 10.50am so we had an early start and got to the airport at around half 7. We were flying from Birmingham which fortunately is only down the road from home. Everything went pretty smoothly, we were flying on a Tui Dreamliner which I’ve not been on before. It was certainly a step up from our usual flights with Ryan Air. It took off slightly later at around 11.30am but I don’t think I’ve ever been on a flight that has taken off at the exact time it was meant to so that wasn’t an issue.
It was my first long haul flight and I was a bit worried about how I’d cope but it was fine and the kids did really well too. Unfortunately there were a few issues with the onboard entertainment, it was very temperamental when it came to trying to watch shows or films, which was a bit annoying but we had brought other means of entertaining ourselves, so wasn’t the end of the world. The games seemed to work fine and although they were very basic, one cool feature was that you could play multiplayer games such as the bowling and poker with other passengers on the flight, a nice way to kill an hour or so anyway.
After nearly 9 hours in the air we finally landed at Melbourne at around 3.15pm Florida time. Luggage collection and then getting through immigration went relatively smoothly, we were on our coach transfer to the hotel in just under an hour. It took around 90 minutes to get to our hotel, we were lucky enough to be the first drop off so that was nice.
The Dockside Inn and Suites is a very nice hotel I must say. It’s a pretty new hotel along with Surfside and although it’s their more budget offering it doesn’t necessarily feel like it. It features 2 swimming pools, a canteen area, a Universal gift shop and Starbucks in the lobby, I’m pretty sure it has a gym somewhere too although I’ve got no intention of checking that out! It’s all very clean and modern from what I’ve seen so far.
We are staying in what they call a ‘2 bedroom suite’ although I wouldn’t say it’s any bigger than a normal hotel room although I guess it does have a few extra features that a bog standard room might not have. It has one double bed in its own bedroom with a tv, and two doubles in the ‘main’ room also with a tv. As well as a microwave, fridge, sink and a set of table and chairs, a safe of course, not forgetting the bathroom it suits us as a group of 6 just fine.
After we got settled in the room, my partners parents took our two excited kids down to pool 1. Despite being totally exhausted from a long day of travelling, my partner and I decided to hop on the shuttle bus down to the Universal parks, specifically Islands of Adventure to ride Velocicoaster, a coaster that we’ve both been looking forward to.
It was a 75 minute advertised queue time, and this was pretty accurate by our reckoning, this also included about 15minutes where the ride broke down so we might have been on in even less time without that minor hiccup. But wow was it worth it. What a fantastic coaster it is. We were seated in row 9 and it did not disappoint. The second half of the ride is absolutely nuts. Pretty sure it’s my new number 1 coaster at present. When we got off there was around 10minutes until park close, so naturally in our tired, delirious state we went round for another go, lucky for us the exit spits you out right at the entrance to the ride so it wasn’t far to walk. The queue went a lot faster this time, and we hit the jackpot by being seated in the back row. This ride was even better, it’s a really insane ride and the lap bars really give a sense of freedom. Operations were brilliant too, they were throwing those trains out at lightening speed, the queue was frequently moving and they were putting our frequent reminders over the tannoy to remind people to keep up with the queue in front of them. Great stuff. After our two rides the park was of course closed but we left feeling satisfied with our two rides on one of our most anticipated coasters of this trip. We stumbled through the park, through the utter craziness that is City Walk, found our shuttle bus back to the hotel, jumped in the shower and collapsed into bed before a long day at Magic Kingdom tomorrow, report for that to follow. Thanks for reading.
Trip duration: 2 weeks during the summer holidays
Accommodation: Universal’s Endless Summer Resort, Dockside Inn and Suites
Group of: 6, 4 adults - me, my other half, his parents and 2 children
Parks we are visiting in no particular order:
• Islands of Adventure
• Universal Studios
• Volcano Bay
• Magic Kingdom
• Epcot
• Disney’s Hollywood Studios
• Animal Kingdom
• Typhoon Lagoon
• Sea World
• Busch Gardens Tampa
Day 1 - 27th July, Travel Day and quick trip to IOA
Our direct flight to Melbourne airport was at 10.50am so we had an early start and got to the airport at around half 7. We were flying from Birmingham which fortunately is only down the road from home. Everything went pretty smoothly, we were flying on a Tui Dreamliner which I’ve not been on before. It was certainly a step up from our usual flights with Ryan Air. It took off slightly later at around 11.30am but I don’t think I’ve ever been on a flight that has taken off at the exact time it was meant to so that wasn’t an issue.
It was my first long haul flight and I was a bit worried about how I’d cope but it was fine and the kids did really well too. Unfortunately there were a few issues with the onboard entertainment, it was very temperamental when it came to trying to watch shows or films, which was a bit annoying but we had brought other means of entertaining ourselves, so wasn’t the end of the world. The games seemed to work fine and although they were very basic, one cool feature was that you could play multiplayer games such as the bowling and poker with other passengers on the flight, a nice way to kill an hour or so anyway.
After nearly 9 hours in the air we finally landed at Melbourne at around 3.15pm Florida time. Luggage collection and then getting through immigration went relatively smoothly, we were on our coach transfer to the hotel in just under an hour. It took around 90 minutes to get to our hotel, we were lucky enough to be the first drop off so that was nice.
The Dockside Inn and Suites is a very nice hotel I must say. It’s a pretty new hotel along with Surfside and although it’s their more budget offering it doesn’t necessarily feel like it. It features 2 swimming pools, a canteen area, a Universal gift shop and Starbucks in the lobby, I’m pretty sure it has a gym somewhere too although I’ve got no intention of checking that out! It’s all very clean and modern from what I’ve seen so far.
We are staying in what they call a ‘2 bedroom suite’ although I wouldn’t say it’s any bigger than a normal hotel room although I guess it does have a few extra features that a bog standard room might not have. It has one double bed in its own bedroom with a tv, and two doubles in the ‘main’ room also with a tv. As well as a microwave, fridge, sink and a set of table and chairs, a safe of course, not forgetting the bathroom it suits us as a group of 6 just fine.
After we got settled in the room, my partners parents took our two excited kids down to pool 1. Despite being totally exhausted from a long day of travelling, my partner and I decided to hop on the shuttle bus down to the Universal parks, specifically Islands of Adventure to ride Velocicoaster, a coaster that we’ve both been looking forward to.
It was a 75 minute advertised queue time, and this was pretty accurate by our reckoning, this also included about 15minutes where the ride broke down so we might have been on in even less time without that minor hiccup. But wow was it worth it. What a fantastic coaster it is. We were seated in row 9 and it did not disappoint. The second half of the ride is absolutely nuts. Pretty sure it’s my new number 1 coaster at present. When we got off there was around 10minutes until park close, so naturally in our tired, delirious state we went round for another go, lucky for us the exit spits you out right at the entrance to the ride so it wasn’t far to walk. The queue went a lot faster this time, and we hit the jackpot by being seated in the back row. This ride was even better, it’s a really insane ride and the lap bars really give a sense of freedom. Operations were brilliant too, they were throwing those trains out at lightening speed, the queue was frequently moving and they were putting our frequent reminders over the tannoy to remind people to keep up with the queue in front of them. Great stuff. After our two rides the park was of course closed but we left feeling satisfied with our two rides on one of our most anticipated coasters of this trip. We stumbled through the park, through the utter craziness that is City Walk, found our shuttle bus back to the hotel, jumped in the shower and collapsed into bed before a long day at Magic Kingdom tomorrow, report for that to follow. Thanks for reading.