Wednesday morning we headed to Typhoon Lagoon for Magic Hour. We were able to do most of the water rides before it was open to the general public. Our first ride was Gangplank Falls.

Angela and I went on one raft. We had bought a Panasonic Lumix camera awhile back for this trip. It is waterproof to 40 ft and shock-proof from 6.5 ft.

Susan , Gillian and Claudia coming down Gangplank Falls.

The only problem is that you have to do a lot of work to get your raft up to the top.

The girls in one of the many photo ops.

Crusher Gusher.

Typhoon Lagoon has 6 ft waves every few minutes. You hear the sound  of the wave and then people screaming.

Claudia in her element.

Angela and Gillian being engulfed by the wave, they are the two facing the camera.

Claudia  going under.

Angela and Gillian before the wave.

The girls getting ready to go under.

Claudia and Angela.

Angela relaxing.

We started out in Castaway Creek on foot because all the inner tubes were taken. Here are Angela and Claudia going under one of the waterfalls.

Eventually we got a couple of tubes.

We went around 1.5 times.

This is the traffic we had to navigate in Castaway Creek.

The wave pool from a different view.

The girls just before we left.

A great day at Typhoon Lagoon. We had a dinner reservation at Sci-Fi Dine In Theatre Restaurant at Hollywood Studios.

We had a character dinner reservation at The Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom. As you can see we have been getting the standard afternoon thunder showers. Most of the time we have been able to get back to our cabin before they start. As we headed out to dinner, it  was still lightly raining.

The Crystal Palace is a buffet restaurant. We all had our fill, as before the chef came out and took us through the line to tell the girls what they should avoid, mainly the breads and baked desserts. The soft ice cream was okay and he had fresh baked brownies that they could eat as well. They combine the peanut/nut free and gluten free desserts together.

This is a Winnie The Pooh character dinner. The first up was Piglet.

The girls with Piglet, he seems taller than in the movies.

Gillian and Piglet.

Next came Eyeore.

Gillian is talking with Eyeore.

Every so often during the dinner, the characters will parade through the restaurant with small kids close behind.

The girls with Tigger.

Finally Pooh came by and each of the girls gave him a big hug.

Where do you think Pooh looks out to see where he is going, his nose? It was funny watching Eyeore signing autograph books, he had it up in the air pressed right against his face.

After having dessert, Claudia went back for some more peel’n’eat shrimp.

When we came out of the restaurant, the castle was lit up.

Main Street at night.

We were heading over to Epcot for extended Magic Hours, but first we stopped and watched the Electrical Parade.

We didn’t get to see this last time, it was pretty neat.

Captain Hook and Peter Pan.

Pete’s Dragon.

Waiting for our monorail train to take us to Epcot. We never took the monorail last time, so this was the girls first ride. We transferred at the Transportation and Ticket Centre.

We were able to ride Spaceship Earth, Test Track and Mission Space before we called it a night after a long day. Tomorrow it is off to Typhoon Lagoon and Hollywood Studios.

Tuesday was a busy day, given the uncertainty of Hurricane Irene’s path on Tuesday morning, we decided to start at Animal Kingdom. We had a character dinner at Magic Kingdom and then Epcot had late Magic Hours. Starting at the Tree of Life.

Heading for Everest Expedition in Asia.

Wait time was less than the 30 minutes posted.

Some of the cool things in the Everest area.

We fastpassed the Kali River Rapids. We headed over to the It’s Tough To Be A Bug show.

The girls looking pretty dry.

Heading up the hill.

We managed to stay relatively dry on this ride.

Some of the other people on our raft didn’t fare as well.

It was off to Dino Land to the Dinosaur ride.

Gillian said we had a picture last time in this car, I’ll have to dig it up when I get back.

Some Kermit’s hanging around.

Mt Everest in the background.

We took in the Lion King show in Camp Mickey and Minnie.

It was a really good show, if they had it last time, we didn’t see  it.

Angela and Claudia hanging out at a misting station.

The Lion King show spits you out in the character greeting area. Here are the girls meeting Chip and Dale. Just as we got to the front of the line, they had to leave for a few minutes to check their acorns. Given the temperatures there are probably a bunch of them sitting in a room somewhere with their heads off just waiting to spell each other off.

The girls with Chip and Dale.

Meeting Donald Duck.

Last time we came, Goofy was the first character the girls met at Animal Kingdom.

The Tanabe’s with Goofy.

Monday started with a change in hotels, we started our week in Disney, we are staying at the Fort Wilderness Resort in one of the cabins. It is more spacious than the Port Orleans where we stayed last time. It can sleep six, there is a bedroom with a double bed and two bunk beds, and in the main room there is a murphy bed. The bedroom has it’s own television which is good for the girls.

There is a kitchen, good for our breakfasts in the morning and snacking at night. Mousekeeping even does the dishes.

There is a lot of room and we can park our car outside the cabin.

The car will stay parked for most of the week, we went out Monday night to get some groceries. We will be taking the Disney buses to the parks, except for the Magic Kingdom. There is a boat that goes between Fort Wilderness and the Magic Kingdom.

The Contemporary Hotel.

Our first glimpse of Space Mountain, our first ride. Even though it is only the girls second trip, everything is tradition to Angela. Since we rode Space Mountain first the last time we came, we had to ride it again.

Walking down Main Street.

Compared to Hogwarts, Cinderella’s castle seemed small.

Near the Buzz Lightyear ride.

Mickey and Minnie.

Angela and Claudia went on the Mad Tea Cup Party ride.

They are working on a new addition to Fantasyland and it will be ready in 2012.

As always the Peter Pan’s Flight was busy, we didn’t go on it, wait time was over an hour.

We did go on It’s A Small World.

It was on to Frontierland.

We Fastpassed Big Thunder Mountain and went to watch the Country Bear Jamboree.

I’m not sure if anything has change since they opened this show.

It was back to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I have some video that I’ll post when I get some time.

After that was the afternoon parade. Disney sure likes their parades.

Goofy.

Mickey on his float.

Captain Hook.

At the end of the parade this guy rolls up the rope that is strung between the posts, another guys picks up the posts.

Another favourite is the Haunted Mansion.

The girls in line.

Susan waiting for the girls on Aladdin’s Carpet Ride.

Our last ride of the day was Pirates of the Caribbean. When we came out it was starting to thunder. We managed to avoid the rain in the afternoon.

We walked through the gift shops on the way out, as you can see the threat of thunderstorms wasn’t really deterring anyone. We were able to get back to our cabin before the rain came down heavy.

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After a couple of busy days at Universal Orlando, I updated Day 4 and 5 of our Roadtrip. Today was a day of shopping and relaxing, we headed to the Premium Outlets of Orlando. It was pretty busy, especially the parking lots. Back at the pool we had to fight for some pool deck space.

The girls were taking pictures in the pool.

Gillian taking her own picture.

Angela jumping in.

Claudia jumping in.

These little things were running around the pool deck.

The girls having a good time!

After a swim and some dinner we headed back to the Islands of Adventure to see the Hogwarts castle at night.  Just as our first day led us through Suess Landing, we got to see it lit up at night.

Through the Lost Continent.

Hogwarts at night.

The wand cart outside of Hogwarts. Claudia bought a Hermione wand.

Walking through Toon Lagoon.

Still hot enough to get some relief from the misters.

As we were waiting at the stop light, Gillian asked if I took a picture of this sign, I said no and pulled out my camera. We had an excellent time at Universal Orlando and glad we made the decision to visit.

On Saturday we headed to Universal Studios. The park opened at 9:00 AM, and we were there bright and early.

Early on there were very few people.

The first stop was the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. You start out going straight up on the left side and then down the right side. Only Angela and I were brave enough to give it a try. The line up was only about 10 minutes.

Some of the Universal Studio skyline.

The Rip Ride Rockit comes out of the one building.

Heading towards the San Francisco/Amity area.

The girls in JAWS.

Heading to Krustyland and the Simpsons Ride.

Woody Woodpecker’s Kid Zone.

We rode the E.T. Adventure ride.

Susan and the girls rode the Woody Woodpecker’s Nuthouse Coaster.

Heading into Curious George Goes to Town area.

SpongeBob and the Tanabe’s. Angela just walked by and pointed out that Claudia and Susan are holding their hands in the same way.

SpongeBob Potato Head parts.

Claudia and Angela with big SpongeBob’s.

Hanging with Woody Woodpecker.

This is taken at one of those signs that indicate it is a good photo opportunity.

We were making our second go round of Universal Studios and headed for the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, this time Gillian and Claudia were ready to give it a try. The wait time was 30 minutes, about ten minutes into line, they came over the PA saying they were experiencing delays. We decided to go to the Revenge of the Mummy ride and then come back later. They were running empty cars around the track.

There is a camera in each car filming the riders. It is pretty funny to watch, if you’re willing to shell out $$ you can purchase your video on DVD.

While the girls rode on the Revenge of the Mummy roller coaster, Susan and I took in some of the Blues Brothers show.

Earlier in the day we took in the Twister…Ride It Out attraction.

Angela and Claudia trying on SpongeBob hats.

The Lucy – A Tribute display was interesting. A model of the set for the I Love Lucy show, it explains how they built four permanent sets for the filming in front of the live audience.

We came across Curious George, earlier in the day we saw him with the man in the Big Yellow Hat.

Woody Woodpecker.

It was a great day at Universal Studios. We finished early and headed back to the hotel for some swimming in the outdoor pool.

The weather today was good and there was no rain in the afternoon.

Heading back to the parking lot.

When we came back to the room, there was a road runner balloon animal.

Friday was our first full day in Florida and it was off to Universal Orlando and the Islands of Adventure. I had cashed in some of my Aeroplan points for 2-day passes for all of us. We are staying at a Comfort Suites just across the road from Universal Orlando, we were up early and at the park for opening.

Our first stop was The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, in order to get there we had to go through Suess Landing and The Lost Continent.

The Hogwarts Castle. Wait time for the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride was 30 minutes. The line for the ride winds through the classrooms and corridors of Hogwarts.

Waiting to get into the actual castle.

A different view of the castle.

The girls just before entering Hogwarts for the first time.

The portraits were talking back and forth to each other.

Dumbledore in his office.

Harry, Ron and Hermione giving us instructions.

Angela with some of the snow that fell from above.

We all enjoyed the ride and would be back to ride it again.

On to the rest of the park, starting with Jurassic Park.

The next ride was the Jurassic Park River Adventure. The last drop gets you a little wet.

Susan and Claudia on the Pteranodon Flyers. You had to have a child less than 56” in order to ride it.

Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls. The girls and I went on this one, I managed to come out relatively dry. I wasn’t as fortunate on Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges.

Here we come.

And there we go.

From there it was on to Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges. Here we are looking relatively dry.

Here comes the water.

Me laughing at them.

Me getting soaked and them laughing at me.

Looking down Toon Lagoon.

Next stop was Marvel Super Hero Island. This is The Incredible Hulk Coaster. Susan took a pass on this one.

The Doctor Doom’s Fearfall, only Angela and I went on this one, it shoots you up 150 feet into the air and then drops you back down.

The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man was really good. It was a 3-D high tech thrill ride taking you through the streets.

Just like Disney, almost all of the rides exit you into a gift shop.

Having skipped through Suess Landing in the morning it was back to the beginning. You can also see the start of the thunderstorm cloud formation.

We rode our couches through The Cat In The Hat ride as it took us through the Cat In The Hat story.

We ate at the Green Eggs and Ham Cafe.

Back to the Lost Continent.

The girls in front of Poseidon’s Fury.

We ended back in Hogsmeade for another go round and some souvenir shopping.

Inside one of the jam packed stores, it didn’t help that around this time the thunder shower came so people were looking for a dry spot. The girls and I went on the Dragon Challenge and as we got to the front the rain started, so we rode in the rain. Earlier in the morning it wasn’t operating.

Some of the broomsticks.

Waiting in line for some Butterbeer.

The rain stopped briefly, long enough for us to get to the castle and ride Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey again.

Angela and her butterbeer moustache.

Claudia’s moustache.

Gillian drinking from our Butterbeer mug.

The girls with the train station conductor.

The girls went on Jurassic Park River Adventure for a second time, here they are coming into the splash zone. They are in the second row behind the guy in green.

Duck!

Angela looking pretty happy, Gillian wiping away some water.

Claudia bundled up, not sure it helped.

Since they were a little wet, Angela and Gillian went on Rip Saw Falls again.

Angela waving, Gillian behind her.

The girls looking pretty dry.

Since they weren’t wet enough, they decided to go on Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge Rat Barges again.

Starting out, again Claudia all bundled up.

Getting ready to go down the first drop.

There they go.

We caught up with them again.

Under another shooting water spot.

Me and Popeye.

Heading back through Toon Lagoon.

Otto from Beetle Bailey.

Angela and Snert.

The girls trying to catch Little Nemo.

Not sure which one is saying this.

The girls following Billy from Family Circus.

It was a great day at Universal’s Islands of Adventure. The weather was good, hot and humid, but relief could be found either waiting in line, in the misting stations or in the many air-conditioned gift shops. Just walking past their open doors felt good. We even managed to dodge the afternoon thunder shower for the most part.

Outside the two parks is an area called City Walk. They have all kinds of restaurants, bars and shops, even an AMC movie theatre.

The girls riding the wave outside the Billabong shop.

It was back to the hotel for a swim and a soak in the hot tub. As you can see it was a little crowded around the pool.

A perfect end to the day.