Hello Goodbye,

Goodbye Disney Wonder, Hello Universal Orlando

We woke up to an empty room, only left with the hand luggage and realized that it was time to say goodbye to the Disney Wonder. We were supposed to have breakfast at Parrot Cay, but Michele had told us to come to Beach Blanket and say goodbye to him too! So, after getting ready we went to hand out the tip-envelopes and said goodbye to our fellow Tagrel Cruisers before we headed up to the Beach Blanket Buffet.

We picked up our breakfast fare, found a table and had our breakfast. Michele came over to talk to us for a while and then it was time to get going. Mary Ellen and Joe wanted to catch an early bus to WDW and Tom and I wanted to try and check into the Royal Pacific Resort early.

When we went back to the room we met a few more Disney Characters and had some fun watching them before we went down to our room to pick up the rest of our luggage and head off the ship. We disembarked, luckily found a porter who helped with the luggage and went through customs. Once we were at our car we loaded everything into the trunk and off we went.

It was really hard to leave the Disney Wonder, but knowing that we would see her again the following summer made it a little more bearable. The drive to Orlando took about an hour and we arrived at the Royal Pacific Resort shortly after 10am. We tried to pre check-in, but luckily they had a room available. Unfortunately I did not realize that this room was below the reception level. The room was clean and comfortable but dark because of the foliage of the trees. But this room was available at the moment and it was only for 4 nights so we decided to keep it. Once we had all our luggage delivered to our room we drove to the shopping center to pick up some supplies. At around 12 noon we were back at the room and decided that it would be best to have lunch right now since we had signed up for a Wishes Dessert Party at the Magic Kingdom. We took the boat down to the Universal Citywalk and walked right into Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Company.

We took the boat down to the Universal Citywalk and walked right into Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Company.Tom decided on a beer for his drink and I had my favourite Strawberry Speckled Lemonade. Since we had had an early breakfast we were both hungry and decided to share a starter. We shared the Cajun Shrimp, sautéed in a hot and spicy Cajun Butter Sauce. Served with Garlic Bread for dippin'. We really enjoy this every time we get the chance to order it. Tom had Mama Blue's Southern Charmed Fried Shrimp with hot and crispy Fries and Cocktail Sauce for dippin' and I got my all time favourite the Dumb Luck Coconut Shrimp, served with Cajun Marmalade and Fries. We really enjoyed our lunch but were too stuffed to get some desserts. We then checked out the shops on Citywalk before we headed to the Universal Studios Orlando.

Thanks to the Universal Express that comes with staying at a Universal Orlando resort we were able to do the Jimmy Neutron Ride, Twister, the Mummy (twice) and the Simpson’s ride with very little wait at all before we found out that the “Rip Ride Rock It Coaster had a soft opening. We got in line, a 50 minute line!

Since it was a soft opening there was no Universal Express access, but we were hopeful, it would not be 50 minutes.The line moved VERY slowly, but from some angles we could watch the loading zone and the ride vehicles. Unfortunately the wait was over an hour, but at least we got to try it. It was a really fun experience and we really hope to be able to do it again when we do Universal again. After the ride we went back to the resort at around 5.30 pm.

After a short rest we drove to the Magic Kingdom to get a taste of their Wishes Dessert Party. There were still lots of guests at the park, so there was no chance in the time left to ride any of the mayor rides, but we were able to get on the Peoplemover, which was doing soft openings. When we finally decided to get in line for the Wishes Dessert Party we were stunned that the line wrapped ALL around to the entrance of Tomorrowland!

CMs were slowly walking the line, ticking off names and handing out wristbands.At 9pm sharp the started letting people in and it was around 9.15 until it was our turn to enter. A Cast Member showed us the area where our table was supposed to be but we could not find our name anywhere, so we went back to ask one more time. Turns out that the Cast Member had shown us to the wrong area and we had been assigned a front row table right in front of the castle. All the tables had a name tag, so it was easy to recognize in the end.We got two glasses of lemonade and then went to get some desserts. There were plenty of desserts to have.

We loaded our plates and went back to the table to indulge in the sweet offerings.  Since the portions were small we were able to sample A LOT of their desserts. A little before 10pm everyone walked up to the railing to watch Wishes.It was great to see the fireworks from this vantage point, even though the fireworks were a little to the right of the castle and not right behind it. It had begun to drizzle a little, so TinkerBell did not fly, but it was a stunning performance none the less.

After the fireworks the Cast Member encouraged guests to “finish” the desserts that were still offered and stay a little longer at the tables, but we were too full and joined the crowds that were leaving the park.We got on the Monorail and even hit the first tram out to the parking lot. Once we had located our car we drove to the Royal Pacific Resort and hit our beds. We were really tired and the only thing we were still able to do was watch a little TV before we finally fell asleep.