My Picture Review of the 10-10-10 Legend sailing and our Mega Vacation

[Manero]

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading ALL 3 reviews today! Thanks so much for your great reviews!

[bbt7244]

Thanks for the great review. We will be on the Legend in March and can't wait :)

[ABurris0411]

What a great review! One small correction...the baseball stadium you passed was Legends Field. It is the Spring Training headquarters for the New York Yankees. If you look at some of your earlier pictures when you were leaving the port, you actually got a picture of Tropicana Field (the big white dome) where the Tampa Bay Rays play.

[tandemcruzr]

Thanks for a great review. We'll be on the Legend in January -- our third time.

[oncruisecontrol]

Excellent review. I'm pretty sure I've read at least one of your previous reviews before. Well done; nice photos.

[donaldsc]

Hello everyone. As I kept you updated with my "pretrip" report it is now time to give you a full recap of our Mega Vacation that included the 10-10-10 sailing on the Carnival Legend as well as 4 days at the Universal Resort in Orlando. If you have read any of my past reviews (click the links in my signature if you haven't) this recap will follow a similar outline. It will be very detailed and very picture filled from all of our activities. Because of such it will take a very long time to write it all and put it all together however rest assured the trip report will get completed.

 

The planning for this vacation started less then a month after we returned from our cruise on the Glory last year. A coworker and good friend of ours told us they were considering taking a cruise for there 5th wedding anniversary and asked if we wanted to join them. Of course we said yes as we wouldn't turn down the oppertunity to cruise again. Valisa and her husband picked the route they wanted to do and the planning proceeded from there. They are divers and as such they chose the Western Itenerary specifically for diving locations. As the months went past we the Legend out of Tampa was chosen as our ship of choice due to its close proximity to Orlando. We are all huge Harry Potter fans and with the Wizarding World just opening at Islands of Adventure at the Universal Orlando Resort we added the extra days prior to our cruise to go experiance it. We even had 2 additional people join us in Orlando for the Harry Potter experiance. Kyles sister Emily and his friend Mike. With everything set it was time to vacation.

 

(from left to right:) Me (Jeff), My wife Kiera, Mike, Kyle, Valisa, and Emily

 

With the introduction out of the way lets move on to Day 1 of a 13 Day vacation.

 

The first picture is just a wee bit underexposed. Didn't you notice that?

 

DON

[DQUIN5340]

 

After riding the Hipogriff We decided it was time to try out Butterbeer. The lines for the carts were pretty long but a secret not many people know is that the Hogs Head Pub also sells it. There is typically a line in there as well but its not near as long as the carts outside on the street. The Hogs Head Pub is pretty cools and just as detailed as everywhere else. Watch the Hog on the wall as he will occasionally move and snort. Also listen for a maid by there stairs cleaning up upstairs. For those of you who drink Alcohol there was also a specific brew of beer made spicfically for the wizarding world that you can buy here. I don't drink so I couldn't tell you how it taists though. Kiera and I decided we didn't want one yet so while everyone else waited in line we walked around the rest of the Three Broomsticks which is attached.

 

Last June, before the grand opening, we were staying at Royal Pacific and we were allowed in Wizarding world for 3 hours. It was truly amazing. I also fell in love with Butterbeer. I have a receipe for Homemade Butterbeer. I made it for Thanksgiving and everyone loved it. It really does taste like what they serve at the park. Let me know if you would like the receipe and I will post it.

Diane

[TeknikDC2]

What a great review! One small correction...the baseball stadium you passed was Legends Field. It is the Spring Training headquarters for the New York Yankees. If you look at some of your earlier pictures when you were leaving the port, you actually got a picture of Tropicana Field (the big white dome) where the Tampa Bay Rays play.

 

Thank you for clearing that up. With how dark it was we just assumed thats where they played. I'll go back and look at those other photos now.

 

The first picture is just a wee bit underexposed. Didn't you notice that?

 

DON

 

Yes I did. Unfortunatly it was pretty much the only photo I had of just all 6 of us in a photo so that was the best one to use to introduce everyone. It didn't help that it was pretty dark and the guy who took the photo didn't move any closer to us then the about 20 feet he was away.

 

Last June, before the grand opening, we were staying at Royal Pacific and we were allowed in Wizarding world for 3 hours. It was truly amazing. I also fell in love with Butterbeer. I have a receipe for Homemade Butterbeer. I made it for Thanksgiving and everyone loved it. It really does taste like what they serve at the park. Let me know if you would like the receipe and I will post it.

Diane

 

Yes I would love that receipe. Me and Kyle and Mike have actually been expiramenting with different reciepes we come across for butterbeer so i'd love to give yours a try. Thanks so much.

 

Anyways it saddens me to say but i'm writting up the final installment of this review as I speak so it will be posted shortly. Thanks again everyone.

[TeknikDC2]

Day 13: Travel Home

 

The Alarm went off at 6am. An alarm that all of us had been dreading that we would have to hear. Not only was it early in the morning but that alarm also chimed in as a reminder that our vacation was for the most part over. In less then 10 hours we would be home again after being gone for almost 2 weeks. We all dragged our feet getting out of bed. No one ever wants there vacation to end. However we still had a plane we had to catch and a rental car that had to be returned by 7:30am.

 

With our bags packed the night before we were able to quickly get the rest of our items packed and check out so we could be on our way to the airport. Kiera and I had a flight leaving at 9am and Kyle and Valisas flight was leaving at 9:45am. As I said the van had to be back by 7:30am so we wanted to have plenty of time to spare. Outside the ground was damp and wet. We soon had the van loaded and were on our way. We first had to get gas though which was fine until we couldn't figure out how to get back onto a freeway. The GPS on my phone was quickly put to use though and before you knew it we arrived at that familiar location as this was now the 4th time this trip we had been there. The Tampa International Airport.

 

Once again Kiera and I would be flying on Southwest and Kyle and Valisa were flying on American Airlines. Since we Kiera and I could each take 2 checked bags for free we took Kyle and Valisas bags for them so they wouldn't have to pay any bag fees. Kiera and I however now had an extra bag that we didn't originally come with (go back to Day 5 to read more about that) but luckily Kyle and Valisa could take one more carry on bag with them so they took our bag as a carry on and we took theres as checked bags lol.

 

After waiting in the long Southwest check in line we had our boarding passes and were on our way to the terminals. This was where we said goodbye to Kyle and Valisa for the first time in nearly 2 weeks as there flight was in a different terminal then ours. We soon boarded the tram and was quickly in the Southwest terminal where we now had another long line to stand in for the security check point. Although the line was long we got thru the checkpoint fairly quickly. They did however make Kiera go thru one of the full body image scanners though. Something they seemed to be making all the Females do. Funny enough Valisa sent us a text shortly after saying that our bag they took as a carry on had to be checked by security. I guess they don't see too many inflatable matresses going thru carry on that often.

 

Once thru the security checkpoint we had just over an hour until our flight left. We now had two things to do. Find a postcard for Tampa. Which we found right away at a merchandise stand. And get something to eat. The Tampa airport seemed very bare compared to other airports i've been in. Not only was there not many places to eat but there wasn't many places to buy random odds and ends ether. We eventually found a Quiznos subs and decided that would do fine for breakfast.

 

Although there seems to be laking many shops and eateries in the Tampa Airport it sure is pretty. I loved the openness and design of the terminal. Its actually a very pretty airport to be in.

 

 

As we sat waiting our flight to Denver (where our layover would be) soon arrived. Thanks to checking in for our flight the previous day while still aboard the Legend on my phone we had a decent spot in line and was able to grab somewhat decent seats next to a window.

 

[DQUIN5340]

Butterbeer

 

1 cup light or dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons of water

6 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

3/4 cup heavy cream, divided

1/2 teaspoon rum extract

Four 12-oz bottles of cream soda

 

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the brown sugar and water. Bring to a gentle boil and cook stirring often, until the mixture read 240 degrees on a candy thermometer. Stir in butter, salt, vinegar, and 1/4 cup heavy cream. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

 

Once the mixture has cooled, stir in the rum extract.

 

In a medium bowl, combine 2 tablespoon of the brown sugar mixture and remaining 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Use an electric mixer to beat until just thickened, but not completely whipped, about 2 to 3 minutes.

To serve, divide the brown sugar mixture between 4 tall glasses, (about 1/4 cup for each glass). Add 1/4 cup of cream soda to each glass, then stir to combine. Fill each glass nearly to the top with additional cream soda, then spoon the whipped topping over each.

 

Please let me know if you enjoy this.

Dian

[TeknikDC2]

Once on the plane reality sunk in. We were really going home. What a vacation we have had. It was really sad to think it was pretty much over. While being taxied out to the runway we could see the stadium where the buc's play and also saw the city of Tampa off in the distance for the last time. We really enjoyed our flight staff as in the safety speal they have to give they used alot of humor, our favorite line being "Our estimated time tell arrival in Denver is TO LONG". Before we knew it we were up in the air an we said farewell to the beautiful tropics of the Florida coastline.

 

 

We now had a long an boring flight ahead of us to Denver. To fill the time Kiera listened to music on her Iphone and tried to get some sleep while I pulled out the netbook to work on some of our photos and decide which ones to show our parents. You may have thought I posted alot in this thread but I took nearly 2,400 photos total for the whole trip. It took quite a bit of time deciding which ones were "show" worthy lol.

 

[TeknikDC2]

The view outside wasn't all that wonderful after the ocean was no longer in view. We were somewhere over the Midwest so it was very flat and pretty ugly lol. Thats why I was kinda suprised when they said we were starting our decent into the Denver airport. The scenery stayed pretty ugly all the way until we pretty much landed. I didn't realize the Denver airport was so far from the mountains.

 

 

Although we had a 45 minute layover in Denver we never actually had to switch planes since ours would be continuing on to Salt Lake City. This was so nice compared to last year when we flew on American Airlines. They actually made us get off the plane (even though we had a continuing flight) when we stopped in Chicago. We could stay on the plane with Southwest and because theres no reserved seating we moved up a few rows towards the front for some better seats.

 

It wasn't long until the plane was full again and we were being taxied out to the runway. One final take off and we would be home. Just a short 1 1/2 hour flight and the vacation would officially be over. Upon takeoff we flew pretty close to the actual downtown area of Denver. Unfortunatly it was pretty cloudy though so you can barely make the city out in the photos. Before long we were above the first clouds we had seen the whole flight. We were really hoping SLC wasn't in the same state as it was when we left it. Cold and Rainy.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

Almost as quickly as we reached our cruising altitude we started our decent into Salt Lake City. The crowd cover soon broke and we found ourselves looking over Utah Lake. about 20 Miles South of SLC. We were nearly home. Although we were sad it was a warm feeling to think we would soon be back on home soil and be able to sleep in our own bed this night and see our families. Before we knew it the plane touched down and we were officially home.

 

 

After getting of the plane and walking into the Salt Lake Airport it made us realize just how small Salt Lake is. This was the only airport where we had to walk down the ramp coming off the plane instead of up a ramp lol. We made our way to baggage claim to not only pick up our luggage but to also grab Kyle and Valisas luggage. We had a scare for a minute when all of our luggage came out pretty quickly except for Valisas bag. Thank goodness it ended up popping out of the shoot as one of the last bags.

 

And now we waited. Just as Kyle and Valisas flight left 45 minutes after ours they wouldn't be arriving until 45 minutes after us as well. We quickly found some seats and started to wait. A couple people seeing all the luggage we had (and i'm sure assuming it was ALL ours) offered us there handcarts to use. But we were fine sitting where we were. To our suprise though Kyle and Valisas flight got in about 15 mintues early. Just about the perfect time as my sister then called and said she was just arriving at the airport to pick us up. With Kyle and Valisa we all walked outside to the pick-up curb to wait for our rides. My sister soon arrived and after loading up the car we said goodbye to Kyle and Valisa for good this time. The vacation was finally over. It was time for reality to restart. Now we were only left with memories of one of the best vacations anyone could ever hope to go on.

 

-THE END.

[TeknikDC2]

It Makes me sad that the "review" portion of this trip report is over. Like I really feel like my vacation just ended all over again lol. But anyways I just wanted to give another big thanks to those of you who have followed this thread not just from the beginning but for anyone who came across it and have followed it since. You guys are all awesome and I think you from the bottom of my heart. Its your support that helps keep me motivated to continue taking on the task of putting together a trip recap this large. A big thanks especially goes out to all of you who commented and asked questions and help contribute to the recap. As always if you would like to continue to contribute to this thread please do so and please feel free to ask any questions you might have. THANK YOU EVERYONE ON THE CRUISE CRITIC MESSAGE FORUMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

If anyone would like to read my past vacation recaps (Both Cruise and Land) please feel free to read them at the links below.

 

Honeymoon Mexican Riviera Cruise on the Carnival Pride:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showt...691&highlight=

 

California Christmas 2008 Trip to Disneyland, Universal, Knotts, and Vegas:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2071198

 

Eastern Caribbean Cruise on the Carnival Glory:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1079191

 

Memorial Day Weekend 2010 in Las Vegas:

http://micechat.com/forums/other-theme-parks-destinations/138624-vegas.html

 

So the question now is what do I do now that the Vacation and the Trip Recap is finished? Well first off as i've said in the recap there is some "bonus" content i'm going to add to the thread.

 

But the big answer is the same as i'm sure many of yours. Plan another cruise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thats right we already have another cruise planned and on the Horizon. We have already named it the Do-Over Cruise. Kiera and I will be sailing aboard the Carnival Dream on April 30th, 2011 to Belieze, Roatan, Cozumel, and Costa Maya. Everything just seemed to fall into place for this cruise. Between being able to go to the 3 ports we missed on the Legend and getting an extra port we havn't been to, Getting a killer rate on the room from our 20% discount and Future Cruise Certificate, and getting excellent upgrades from the sale Carnival just ran we couldn't say no. We were already planning on being back east as we will be visiting my parents in Charleston, South Carolina the 2nd week of May anyways so we figured we might as well make the best of it while we are back east. Unfortunatly we don't have anyone going with us on the trip at this time but we are hoping that will change soon. Anyways i'm so excited and getting ancy to start the planning process all over again. And you bet I will be posting another detailed trip recap of that sailing as well. :D

 

Thanks again everyone. You are all awesome.

[ABurris0411]

Thanks for taking the time to do this...I live through other people's vacations until I go on mine.

[flalady29]

Jeff what a great review :-) I think you need to look up the thread unique photos and post some of the ones you took on your last night on Carnival Legend. Again I thought all your pictures are great and the detail of the review also great. I had a small chukle when I seen the pictures in the Disney store at the mall I work for an inventory company in Orlando and did the inventory for that store just a couple months ago. I'm happy to hear you 2 have booked another cruise and on Carnival Dream no less, I will be sailing on her in March doing the Eastern I will be doing a review when I get back although I doubt as good as yours but i'll try....LoL if there is anything you and Kiera want me to find out about the ship or any pictures you want me to try and take please let me know either here or e-mail me cruzlady6 on the America server.

[Mrs.C05]

Wow, this was a great review!!! Did you use Priceline for your hotel room in Tampa? I'm thinking of using that for our cruise in Feb and driving down to FLL.

 

I can't believe you and Kiera already have another one planned! LOL! That's great! My husband and I have never bought the future cruise credit before and sounds like it's well worth it. Maybe we should've been doing that all along? :rolleyes:

[Captain Carnival]

This was one of the best "virtual" cruises that I have sailed on and would like to THANK YOU for sharing your cruise experiences with us.

 

Until we (all) sail again...... :D

[BabyJacks17]

This was one of the best "virtual" cruises that I have sailed on and would like to THANK YOU for sharing your cruise experiences with us. :D

 

PERFECTLY put! I agree! Thanks for allowing us to live vicariously through you reliving your cruise :) My favorite reviews are the ones that are detailed/picture intensive so it's like christmas came early this year for me! :p

[BarJen]

Wow! what an amazing adveture you guys had, thanks for sharing!

 

 

 

Barry

[TeknikDC2]

Wow its been awhile. I appologize for not coming back sooner but with the rush of the Holidays and working Retail (plus family coming into town for the holidays) things got kinda crazy for me.

 

I told you I would give a few bonus I items in this review so heres the first. My tips to maximize your day if you chose to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter wether before your cruise or as an excursion in Port Canaveral.

 

1. HHN stay and scream tickets can be bought at any ticket counter. Not just at guest services. In fact they can also be bought at IOA. This was great to find out so we could buy our HHN tickets prior to IOA opening its gates and saving us time later in the day.

 

2. Go to the wizarding world with a plan on what to do first in mind. Do the Forbidden Journey or Olivanders first thing. We chose to do Olivanders. The line was shortest we saw it all day. Plus in the morning hours the line is completley shaded. Thats a wait that would be miserable in the heat and sun. So my recommendation is to do Olivanders first.

 

3. If your an adult don't give up hope on being picked at Olivanders. I believe it to be completly random with kids not always the ones being picked. Infact an 18 year old in our group was picked for the experiance and we were the last group to enter the store and stood in the back of the shop.

 

4. Make sure you go thru the whole que for Forbidden Journey your first time on the ride. Take your time especially thru the Dungions, green house, and the hallway with the house points as shorter versions of the que bypass these parts. Be prepaired for it to be a near sprint to the ride once you re enter the castle from the greenhouses as the line moves very fast. Don't stress trying to take pictures of the line once in the portrait hall as you well have other, better oppertunities later.

 

5. Single rider line is the best option for rerides out there. We never waited longer then 15 minutes to ride in the Single riders line. You will miss the majority of the que being dumped out into the gryffindor common room but you will get many rides in this way.

 

6. If you want to see the rest of the line again ask one of the attendants to take a castle tour. You will view a different portrait room and then continue on to dumbledors office. Take your time and get as many photos as you'd like while taking the castle tour.

 

7. If your going strait to the single rider line for Forbidden Journey don't even bother going thru the main enterance. After walking thru the Hogwarts gates there is a split in the castle rock with a path that leads back into the rocks. Follow that path and there will be doors at the end. Walk thru those doors and your at the base of the stairs of the single rider line.

 

8. When getting Butterbeer go to the Hogshead to get it. There was almost never a line for it in there while the carts were lined up. Another option if you want regular butterbeer is getting it in the Three Broomsticks. Even this line moved much faster then the outside carts.

 

9. If any of you don't drink carbonated drinks then don't get the regular butterbeer. Although not much it is carbonated. However the frozen butterbeer is not carbonated and very good.

 

10. If you plan on getting multipule butterbeers by the refillable collectable mug. Refills for the frozen cost 4.25 and I think 3.25 for regular.

 

11. In addition to cheaper butterbeer refills you can also use the butterbeer mug to refil any drink in ether park for only .89 cents. Thats right. If you have your butterbeer mug in Universal Studios and want a coke they will fill the mug for .89 cents. Or if you want water they will fill the mug for free.

 

12. Tap water is free anywhere in both the parks. The best water was in the hogshead and you got a larger disposable cup of water.

 

13. Avoid the lockers as much as possible. We actually attached our butterbeer mug to the belt loops on our pants via a carabiner. We were able to ride on every ride with it attached this way. The only time they had a problem with it was on our 3rd ride on the Mummy. But we rode all the others just fine with it like this. Forbbiden Journey, Mummy, Hulk, Dragons Challenge, Men in Black, ect..... Also use a camera case that attaches to a belt a belt to keep your camera and other valubles in.

 

14. If you need a locker for larger access the lockers for forbidden journey thru felches. You won't have a long line to wait in.

 

15. Save your shopping tell the end of the day when the park closes. For the most part the WWOHP stays open an hour after the park closes for shopping. Use this time to find all the goods that you want to take home from the Wizarding World as the area is much less crowded and you can actually move freeley thruout the shops.

 

16. Honeydukes and Zonkos are connected. While there was a long line in Honeydukes to check out there was no line at the Zonkos side. You can use both lines no matter what items from which shop your buying. If you see a long line for Honeydukes take your chocolate frogs and every flavor beans to Zonkos for a quick check out.

 

17. The moaning mertil effect in the restroom is cool but cannot be heard well during the busy day. go in the restroom in the evening when the restrooms are rarely in use and you will hear her perfectly

 

18. Overall the WWOHP is very cool and even cooler at night. If at all possible make sure you can be in the world after dark for a truely magical experiance. also the area is very empty and you can really take in the detail.

 

Well thats all for now. If I can think of any more i'll post them up. Feel free to ask any other questions you might have. I hope to add a few more things here and there to help hold me over til our next cruise in April. Thanks.

[lovermonkey]

Thank you that was awesome. Going in April and I love your review. I need a subscribe button.

[Cindy Lou Bou]

I love the review over HP World. I went there on opening day on June 18th. It was total chaos. I had to stand in line for 10 hours until I reached the back where the HP part is. Then I had to stand 2 1/2 hours in Honeydukes just to check out. But the castle line was only an hour wait. Ollivanders was a 4 hour wait ._. I have a ton of pictures from that day. I'm going back after my cruise in Feb. Hopefully I will get more time to actually look at things. But sadly the actors will not be there again :(

[RenoNanaOz]

After our vase photos we tryed doing some Dip Kisses as well. Kiera and I became professionals with this on our last cruise lol. Kyle and Valisa still had some learning to do. However it was a box full of fail when both Kiera and Valisa tried to dip kiss myself and Kyle.

 

 

We made our way back to our cabins where everything was turned down for the evening and we had a new towel animal. Tonight it looked to be a dog and once again it was sporting Kieras sunglasses.

 

I am definitely enjoying your review, I read through one of your others as well. I absolutely love the the dip kiss, can't wait to try it on our cruise (in 19 days). I'll try to post our picture too!

[TeknikDC2]

I am definitely enjoying your review, I read through one of your others as well. I absolutely love the the dip kiss, can't wait to try it on our cruise (in 19 days). I'll try to post our picture too!

 

Thank you. I really hope the Dip Kiss worked out for you lol. Its become a favorite of Mine and Kieras ever since we learned to do it correctly on our Glory Cruise in 2009. On that trip we traveled with a friend thats a professional wedding photographer and so she taught us to do it and was able to capture this photo in St. Thomas of not only our favorite Dip Kiss shot but its also our favorite photo from all of our cruises so far.