Cruising with a Toddler. Our Photo Intense Trip Recap of the 9-7-13 Carnival Dream

[TeknikDC2]

 

Kiera decided to get a Turkey Wrap from Lisa's Tea House while I decided to get a Krusty Burger. I mean I can't come all the way to Springfield and Not try a Krusty Burger. This is the only place on earth to try one. After you get your food there are TM's that will direct you to an open table. But Kiera had already gone ahead and found us a table in the Krusty Burger section of the restuarant. Kiera said that the wrap was actually really good for being pre-packaged. I really liked the Krusty Burger too. In typical Krusty the Clown fashion the burger doesn't have real cheese on it. Instead its the liquid cheese like you put on nachos. I thought this was a great idea and could honestly say this was the best of many burgers that i've had around Universal property. It also came with Curly Fries that were pretty good. Take your time and look around if your a Simpsons fan as the restaurant has two cool murels in it as well. FFB is a hit for Universal and is doing well. Its amazing where another park down the street (caugh Disney caugh) is trying to cut costs with food related items Universal comes and introduces a Unique experiance with specific details down to the tissue paper. They really hit it out the park here and this will be a must eat at place each visit we make in the coming years.

 

[TeknikDC2]

As we exited the restaurant after eating I noticed right outside of Springfield that Doc Brown was out meeting guests in front of the Delorean and Time Train from Back to the Future. I'm a huge fan of the films so I had to go see Doc. This actor was much better then the one I meet last year and seriously sounded just like the real Doc. Sorry for the cloudiness in the next few photos though. While eating Daniel got ahold of the camera and got a finger print on the lens that I didn't realize until later.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

It was now time for more rides. So we walked back into Springfield to continue north into the park. We stopped for some photos ops cause I mean who doesn't want a photo with Duffman (Oh Yeah!!!!). Entering the Krustyland area of Springfield we passed the festive environment of the carnival games and Kudos and Kang and finally arrived at where we were going. The Simpsons Ride.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

As we walked over the the Stroller parking we noticed the sky was starting to get very dark. Fearing that it may start raining at any moment we quickly pulled out one of the ponchos and got the stroller covered up. Then we entered the ride which only had a 10 minute wait posted. As we walked thru we noticed that the TM's were sending people to the upper levels of the ride to wait. This is normally fine as the upper levels will give a better ride experiance. The downside to this though is the upper ramps are not covered so if it started raining we would be stuck in the rain. But lucky for us they kept us on the lower level that is covered. I'm guessing the lower level might be the only one with a Child swap room.

 

 

I've talked about the Simpsons Ride for years and have always been a fan for it. Well except for one reason. That it replaced my favorite Simulator ride of all time. Back to the Future the Ride. I don't know what it is about BTTF but to this day I still miss the ride and find the Simpsons doesn't quite live up to it. Last year the Simpsons also got knocked down a notch on my favorite simulator list as I thought the New Star Tours over at Disney blows it out of the water. Still the Simpsons is a Must Do attraction if your one who can handle Simulators. Because out of every ride on the property this thing is likely to make you more sick then anything else. So check it out if your up for the ride. Because it is still a very good one. I didn't find out until after the trip but supposedly theres still a Back to the Future reference in the child swap area. Where I spent much time while Kiera rode the ride. If doing child swap just keep in mind that this ride does seem to take longer then most rides.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

When we exited the ride we were pretty surprised to find that no rain had fallen while we were inside. With how dark the sky's had got we thought for sure it would be raining when we finished. We loaded Daniel into the stroller and then started to head towards Men in Black. We made a quick stop though at a snack stand to refill our Popcorn bucket. It was while we were filling the bucket that the sky opened up and the rain started to come down. And boy did it come down. It went from nothing to a major downpoar in a matter of seconds. The snack stand had a overhang where we were able to take cover while Kiera pulled out the Umbrella then we needed to decide what to do next as whatever we decided we would need to go out in the downpoar to get there. We could have continued over to Men in Black but we did that the previous night. Or we could continue on to Disaster which is a long attraction that would get us out of the rain for awhile.

 

 

To get to Disaster though we would pass thru the former Amity area where the Wizarding World of Harry Potter expansion is currently being constructed. I would have liked to have spent more time looking around at the construction but with how the rain was coming down and Kiera already being far ahead of me I had to rush thru the area at this time. In less then a year this expansion will be open. That waterfront wall is already finished and just awaiting additonal theming. The buildings you see under construction along the waterfront will consist of London inspired buildings and is the Non Magic portion of the land. Among these London facades will be the Leaky Caldren which as those who follow Harry Potter know is the entrance to Diagon Alley. And such it will be in this land as behind the wall of London facades is the huge Diagon Alley section of the expansion. Theres unfotunatly not any photos of the construction of that though as the London buildings block out everything behind it.

 

[TeknikDC2]

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

Is T-3d still there? Or did Transformers replace it?

[TeknikDC2]

Exiting the London construction you will enter a small area of the park themed to San Fransisco and might be the next area of change in the park. This is also where Disaster is located. I say it might be changed soon because there are strong rumors going around that Disaster will be closing soon and the King, Old banana breath himself will be returning. Yes if rumors are to be true then King Kong will be returning and replacing Disaster. If that happens I can only imagine that San Fransisco will be rethemed and obsorbed into the New York section of the park right next to it. As for what Kong will be like? I imagine it will be similar to the Kong 360 portion of the tram tour in Hollywood although with a new film putting the action in New York instead of Skull Island. But only time will tell.

 

 

Until that time we will continue to experiance Disaster with what might be out final ride on it if it closes to become Kong soon. The rain was still poring down and it was somewhat of a relief to get to Disaster. Just watch out for the rails in the street as they become very slick when wet. The wait time posted for Disaster was 20 minutes but it would get us out of the rain for a while so we could deal with it. This was another ride that Daniel would be able to do but he had fallen asleep. but we had nearly 30 minutes worth of pre-shows to go thru before the actual ride portion.

 

 

We ended up only waiting 1 group before we were taken into the building from the covered que. The line was long but each group takes hundreds of people at a time. We were amung the last in the building before they cut off the line though. Disaster is unique in that its a mix of a show and ride. Its a decent attraction that can be pretty funny based on the cast picked. You are supposedly touring a movie studio when all the actors quit so they need people to fill in. They will pick people from the audience to fill those rolls as you move thru the pre-shows and then actually watch the "filming" take place. The ride concludes with what use to be the Earthquake ride. Yes its pretty much the same thing as whats on the tram tour in Hollywood as well.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

Daniel woke up from his nap right as we were boarding the ride vehicle as he wouldn't have been able to ride if he wasn't awake. The ride does move and shake much more then the tram tour in hollywood but it seems to be that the ride is getting dated quickly. I also prefer the "actual earthquake happening" then the where filming you for a movie story of the attraction. Although the film trailer you watch as you reverse back to the station is great especially with all the actor footage cut in to it. Disaster is a fun attraction if it has a low wait or you need to get out of the rain for awhile like we did. But its not one I consider a Must Do. It will be interesting to see if Kong changes that. None the less maybe you should take a ride on it as its existance may soon be gone.

 

 

It takes over a half hour to go thru the Disaster attraction so by the time we finished we happy to find the rain had let up. It hadn't completly stopped but it was now more of a sprinkle then an all out downpoar. Before leaving San Fransisco we had to stop and get photos with Jaws as this has become a tradition for us in each Universal Park we have gone to.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

We had rode pretty much every ride in the park now except for E.T. so we decided to head back to Kidzone to do it. As we walked thru New York and past Transformers for the first time this trip the park actually felt packed. It was obvious that the crowds for Rock the Universe tonight were starting to show up as the walkways were more crowded and although Transformers only had a 30 minute wait posted a portion of the outdoor que was in use so I imagine the wait was closer to 50 minutes.

 

[TeknikDC2]

Having made our way thru the crowds we eventually made it back over to Kidzone which was much less crowded the the other areas of the park and we were happy to find E.T. only posting a 10 minute wait. And unlike earlier in the day when the ride broke down it was less then 10 minutes as there was no wait inside the building.

 

 

E.T. is a ride that Universal needs more of. Not only is it basically the last remaining original ride in the park but its one thats close to a traditional dark ride that most families can experiance together. The interior forest que is incredibly detailed and themed and honestly I wish they could figure out a way to make the whole que this way. The ride is simple as you escape the nasa scientists trying to capture E.T. and then fly to the Green Planet to save it with E.T.'s healing touch. The Green Planet is weird and the Animatronics in the earth scenes seem to be incredibly dated but this is a ride that I consider a Must do. Mostly for nistolgic reasons though i'm sure. I just hope this ride gets a good update soon instead of being replaced like the Hollywood and Japan versions were. Its a good little ride that just needs a little love.

 

 

We were now done with the rides we wanted to do but we still continued further back into the Kidzone area to get to the Curious George goes to town play area. This was another area we figured Daniel would love. The outdoor potion is water play area though so kids will get very wet playing outside. We had come prepared for this with Daniels Swimming Suit but with the rain he never got a chance to play in it. With the rain starting to pick up again we made our way to the indoor Ball factory portion of the play area to get out of the rain. And this was probably Daniels favorite part of the Studios.

 

[TeknikDC2]

We ended up spending a lot of time playing in the Ball Factory before leaving. Inside there are hundreds of small foam balls that you can load into guns and cannons and shot at other people. They are soft and don't hurt and was fun for kids and adults. Theres also some slides and other playground pieces that Daniel just loved but he too liked to pick up the balls and throw them or load them in the different contraptions located inside. Check out the Ball factory for some good old fashion fun.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

When we finished to in the Ball Factory the rain had once again become a downpoar. It was nearing 6pm meaning that the Studios would soon be closing for Rock the Universe so we started to make our way towards the exit. We made a quickstop though at the Transformers meet and greet as surprisingly there was no wait to Meet Bumblebee.

 

 

If we though New York was packed it was nowhere near as bad as Production Central was right now with people trying to leave the park and even more people entering the park for Rock the Universe. Instead of trying to push thru the crowds the main exit we went to the alternate exit thats down the street in front of Despicable Me. This exit puts you in front of the Blue Man Group theater.

 

 

For those that were a 90's kid like me may recognize the Blue Man Group building. This was the former Nickelodeon Studios. This was a huge part of my childhood and i'm so glad my parents brought us to Florida as a child and I got to tour Nickelodeon Studios before it was closed. It still saddens me to this day that its no longer used by Nick and is so bland without all the Nick decor and the removal of the Slim Fountain. So many good memories.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

With the rain downpoaring and the Stuidos now closed to Day guests you would think we would call our time in the parks done. But we were having Butterbeer cravings and Islands of Adventure was still open for another hour until 7pm. So we made our way across Citywalk and entered the Islands. With the rain coming down hard this was probably the quickest we ever walked thru the park to get back to the Wizarding World. I didn't even stop to take any photos.

 

We b-lined it strait to the Hogs Head where we would get our frozen Butterbeers. It would also get us out of the rain. The drinks were great as usual although we started to notice that the Butterbeers from the Hogshead seemed to be more watered down then those from the Three Broomsticks or the Carts outside. Although it was nice being out of the rain the A/C was turned on inside the Three Broomsticks and with out wet clothes we were freezing.

 

 

So we went back outside and across the street to the covered Owlry to finish our drinks. I had never seen the Wizarding World so empty before. I guess with the rain so many people had just left the park for the day. And anyone left was taking cover in the Owlry with us. While relaxing in the Wizarding World I walked up the Dragons Challenge exit to under a bridge to make a phone call to my work. The day before vacation I interviewed for a transfer to another store (I work in the Grocery industry) and while on vacation I found out that I got it. So had to call my work to inform them and put in a 3 weeks notice.

 

[TeknikDC2]

After the phone call we made one last stop in at Honeydukes to get some Candy and other treats for the cruise. They sell many of the different treats and candy found in the Harry Potter books and our most favorite treat over the years have become Peppermint Toads. We grabbed a box of those as well as a Caldron Cake and then we would be finished. Zonkos is also attached to Honeydukes inside and you can walk freely amung both spaces and use ether shops registers to check out no matter what your buying. Zonkos is a joke shop and has a bunch of gag type products found in the books.

 

[TeknikDC2]

We finished all we wanted to do in the Wizarding World and with Islands now closed too we once again quickly walked thru the downpoar of rain back into Citywalk and onto our car. At least when we made it to the moving walkways we would be covered from the rain the rest of the walk. Just like the Studios were getting when we left Citywalk was also very packed with people showing up for Rock the Universe. It would be a cold and wet night for all of them as the rain didn't seem like it would be letting up any time soon.

 

 

We got the car packed back up and then it was time to head back to the hotel. I post the photo of our car below though cause if you look on the ground near the rear bumper you will see our empty Butterbeer mugs sitting on the ground. This is where the mugs would stay as we drove off. I thought Kiera put them in the car. Kiera thought I put them in the trunk. We didn't realize until we got to the hotel that we left them behind. Since we stayed so close to the parks we drove back to the parking garage and told the TM that we left some stuff in the garage. We were directed to speak to a security member that was parked a little ways ahead. So we drove forward to speak to him. He told us the South Garage was closed for the night and no cars could get in to it. So we went to the north garage where I dropped Kiera off who ran down and over to South Garage while I exited the North Garage and went to the Guest Pick Up area to wait for Kiera. Although only about 20 minutes total time had passed Kiera came back empty handed. Ether Security picked them up and hopefully they'd be in the lost and found, or someone got themselves some free gifts from the park. Kiera felt sick about leaving them but I told her it would be alright. We didn't get a discount for refills anyways anymore. Still though it did suck to loose something we've had since our first Wizarding World visit.

 

 

Our original plans for tonight were to go out to Downtown Disney and maybe do some more swimming. But with the rain still coming down hard we pretty much spent the rest of the night in the hotel. We spent more time today in the rain then we wanted to and didn't feel like going out in it again. So we watched some movies on TV and got all the bags repacked and together so they would be ready for check out in the morning when we would head to Port Canaveral for our cruise.

 

 

We did leave the hotel for a little while though as we went to try and find something to eat for Dinner. This seemed to be a joke as once again it seemed like we couldn't find any decent fast food locations on International Drive. We finally found a Subway which sounded good especially since they were doing any footlong for $5 but I walked in only to find they were out of all there bread but flatbread. So the search continued. Knowing Sand Lake Drive had many fast food places we headed down that way and a few miles down the road we found another Subway and this one had everything in stock. We got out sandwiches and then went back to the hotel for the rest of the night to eat them.

 

What we hoped would be an easy bedtime process turned into a huge ordeal. So far this whole trip Daniel had been having issues with Drinking. He didn't want to drink anything and was getting dehidrated. Tonight it was so bad that when he started to throw a tantrum that he actually threw up. We were worried and didn't know what to do. We debated taking him to the hospital as dehidration was not something we wanted to deal with going in to a cruise. After finally getting him calmed down and asleep I decided to give him a blessing and see how he was doing in the morning. We were nervous as we went to bed. Dehydration and sickness from a child is not something any parent wants to deal with. Especially the night before a cruise.

 

 

 

 

Alright that concludes Day 3. You all know what that means. Day 4 is the next update which is when the Cruise portion of our vacation would begin. So stay tuned as it will be coming very soon. Thanks again to all of you stopping to read my report or checking out the pictures. Please feel free to comment or ask any questions and I will answer them as soon as I can. Thanks for all of the support. The cruise starts next.

 

 

 

 

 

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[mountainbreeze]

YAY! You are back with another review :) The last one I read from you, you said you guys were expecting. Good to see you back and with an adorable little boy!

Great review and pics, as usual.............can't wait for more!

[bmckim]

I am really looking forward to the Cruising with a Toddler portion of your review! :)

[Mrs.C05]

Oh no! I hope Daniel starts to drink something! Ethan was the opposite on the cruise. He drank everything, but hardly ate real food. Too much going on to look at, see and do....looking forward to the rest of your review.

[TeknikDC2]

I am so happy to see another one of your reviews and that you're little guy joined you on this cruise. :) He is so adorable and you are a beautiful family.

 

I've loved your past reviews and am subscribed and looking forward to more. In addition to the details, I really enjoy your beautiful pictures. I have to tell you, I just finished a review of our cruise on Valor this past May and I had a feeling that reviews took time, but wow, I didn't realize just how much time. I have loved reading reviews of all the itineraries and ships in the past, but now I have a greater appreciation of all the work and time that go into them. Thank you for again sharing and so glad that your little guy is now an official cruiser.

 

Thank you. I pretty much suck at posting on others reviews but yours is one that i've been following as well and its been great. Yes reviews (especially photo filled ones) take a lot of time to put together that I don't think many people understand. A typical update for me takes around 2 hours to complete so I'm sure I will have nearly 30-40 hours into this thing by the time its finished. Its a lot of work but I for one enjoy doing them as I have done so for each and every one of vacations since we got married. Its really fun to relive those vacation memories and look back on them again.

 

YAY! You are back with another review :) The last one I read from you, you said you guys were expecting. Good to see you back and with an adorable little boy!

Great review and pics, as usual.............can't wait for more!

 

Thank you. Once again your review is another that i've been following dispite not saying anything. We loved having Daniel with us and couldn't imagine leaving the little guy home on future cruises ether.

 

Oh no! I hope Daniel starts to drink something! Ethan was the opposite on the cruise. He drank everything, but hardly ate real food. Too much going on to look at, see and do....looking forward to the rest of your review.

 

Yeah that night was rough but thank goodness he did start doing better about drinking that next morning as I will talk about in my next update. He doesn't really eat much ether and that didn't change on the ship ether. Thank you for sharing your review as well as I love seeing others experiances and advice for those of us traveling with toddlers too.

 

 

Well the next updates photos just finished loading so Hopefully I will have another update done in the next day or two. Unfortunatly I jumped into this review sooner then I should have as I am still writing a review of our Charleston and Myrtle Beach trip from this past May on another site. I really need to get that review finished (only 1 update left there) and then I can push full speed ahead on this one. So word of advice. Finish up previous reviews before starting another one. Its seriously pretty tough to write two of them at once.

 

Anyways thanks for being patient and I will have the next one posted soon. Oh and yes the next one will FOR SURE include the Carnival Dream.

[belles]

Love your choice of airlines!!! :)

[Cruising Bonnie]

Please tell me where to find your Myrtle Beach and Charleston reviews, as I have small grandchildren coming to visit. Enjoying your review, thanks.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[wrigley80]

Still loving your review and I can't wait to see the cruise portion....

 

By the way what was your rental car???

[TeknikDC2]

Love your choice of airlines!!! :)

 

haha thanks. As I said before we are very big fans of Southwest and can't recommend them enough. Yeah the planes are smaller and don't have super fancy features but were ok with that. We'd rather have the cheaper fare and free bags. Plus there customer service is great and we've had some very fun flight crews. Hince why there rapids reward visa is the only credit card we hold.

 

Please tell me where to find your Myrtle Beach and Charleston reviews, as I have small grandchildren coming to visit. Enjoying your review, thanks.

 

No problem. Its over on the Disboards. Heres the link. I should be finishing it up for good tomorrow (ran out of time tonight):

 

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3158514

 

Still loving your review and I can't wait to see the cruise portion....

 

By the way what was your rental car???

 

Thanks. I'm really excited to start on the cruise portion. The car was a brand new 2013 Ford Fusion. I'm not typically a Ford fan but I was very impressed with that car. I really didn't want to give it back lol.

[TeknikDC2]

Day 4: Embarkation

 

Finally the day our Cruise would begin was upon us. We had much to do still before heading out to Cape Canaveral and not much time to do it. So Kiera and I were up early so that we could finish getting ready and things packed and then I hauled all of the bags down to the car. Last night was a tough night with Daniel as he was getting very Dehydrated but thankfully he was doing much better this morning. He drank and ate fine and seemed to be fine. We would be watching him very closely.

 

By 9:45am the car was packed and we were checking out of the hotel. The hotel check out took much longer then it shoud have though. They only had one person working the desk and there seemed to be an issue with a large tour group that was in town for Rock the Universe. So there was a big line of us waiting to check out while the only person working handled it. Honestly though this ended up being the only issue we had with the hotel. We did really enjoy our stay here. The rooms were nice and clean as well as the pool and lobby areas. This is hotel we would stay at again and we especially loved being so close to Universal.

 

Our first stop this morning was by the Wal-Mart again. There were still some odds and ends we forgot to get a couple nights earlier that we needed for the cruise. While there we also figured we would let Daniel pick out a couple of new Sippy Cups in hopes that if he got to pick the cups then maybe it would help him drink more. We had brought his favorite Sippy Cups with us but we think he was missing the ones he didin't like. He picked out 2 cups and he did start drinking better from today on. We also got him some juice boxes that he seemed to like alot.

 

It was almost 10:30 by the time we were done at Wal-Mart. Most people by now were probably heading out to Port Canaveral to get on the ship. But not us. Our boarding pass said not to show up until 12:30pm so since we had our Annual Passes and Free Parking to Universal we decided to head back to the parks for a little bit and grab some more Butterbeer. As we were leaving Wal-Mart we made a call to Universals Lost and Found in hopes that our Butterbeer mugs got turned in but unfortunatly they didn't. The Wal-Mart is just down the street from Universal and we were soon passing Universals New Cabana Bay Hotel that is currently under Construction and will open next spring. This new hotel will be Universals First Value hotel. Unfortunatly unlike the others though it will not give the Unlimited Express pass to guests. It also won't have the water taxi service. But if the rates are cheaper and it still grants early access to the parks then it might be a place we consider staying next year when the Wizarding World expansion opens.

 

 

A little after 11 we were entering Citywalk and heading Strait for Islands of Adventure. There wouldn't be much time as I hoped to be pretty much in and out. I wanted to be on the road heading to Port Canaveral by 12:30 so we really only had about 1 1/2 hours to spend in the park. Diffenitly enought time to grab some Butterbeer and squeeze in a ride or 2.