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

[TeknikDC2]

As we made our way thru the halls towards the baggage pickup there were no other people in sight. But things would soon take a turn for the worse. It started when we walked up to the elevator and one of the Cruise Terminal agents snapped at us. Kieras phone was sitting in the cup holder of the stroller. She wasn't on it, She wasn't holding it, It was just sitting there. The Agent saw this and litterally yelled at us "You Cannot be using a phone in the terminal. It needs to be put away Immidiatly". Ok we understand that but we were not on the phone Whatsoever. It was just sitting there. Then that same agent proceeded to bark at us when we started to get on the elevator because there were people in Wheelchairs coming too. The elevator was large. There was plenty of room for all of us and If you can't see the stroller we kind of need to use it as well.

 

Things got worse when the Elevator opened up into the warehouse type area where we would pick up our luggage as it was a complete madhouse in here. It was loud, there were people everywhere, and there really wasn't much organazation to it at all. It was a significantly worse set up then the other terminal in Port Canaveral. In the other terminal you went thru customs and then picked up your luggage on a turn table afterwards. Here though you picked up all your luggage first that was just sitting out in zones and then you waited in line to go thru customs with all your stuff. We found our bags and then got in what seemed to be the never ending line to go thru customs. In total from the time we walked off the ship until we were thru Customs it took over an hour. This was the worst Debarking process we have ever experianced. Which says alot as we have raved about how great the process was the 2 other times we debarked at the other terminal in Port Canaveral.

 

 

We were now running much later then we anticipated. I even think Carnival realized how slow debarkation was going as I think they called all the remaining zones at once so they could start boarding the guests for the next cruise. And it wasn't over yet for us. We had to now make our way to the Rental Car Shuttle pick up area which was probably the furthest you could get from the terminal. There were of course many people waiting for the different shuttles but we were once again waiting for the Alamo shuttle to take us back to get a rental car. As the shuttle we needed was pulling up one of the port workers directed us where to line up for the shuttle. We were the 3rd people in line waiting when the shuttle pulled up and stopped. But as the Shuttles door opened a huge group of people came around the backside of the bus and tried to push there way on in front of those of us waiting in the line. Once again people were careless as we struggled trying to get on with a Toddler with all of our luggage all while I was also trying to fold up the stroller. Once again People are so rude and disrespectful that I couldn't believe nobody would see us struggling and wait for us to take care of our child and stuff before pushing us out of the way. We were able to get on the shuttle though although I was pretty much the last one on.

 

 

Thankfully after the eternity it took to be debarked from the Dream, the Madhouse it was to get thru customs, and the inconsiderate people we had to deal with at the Rental Car Shuttle this would be our last issues of the entire trip. After the short trip back to the Rental Car agency we unloaded the shuttle and retrieved our bags. While Kiera and Daniel waited outside with our bags I went inside and got the Rental Car. Although the rental was booked thru Alamo, this Alamo location opperates thru Enterprise so they just assigned me a car instead of being able to pick my own like at the larger airport locations. The agent then took me to retrieve our Car Seat that we kept there to be stored during our cruise and then she took us to the car. The car was a 2012 Cheverolet Malibu. It wasn't as nice as our Ford Fusion before our crusie but it would do.

 

 

The car had just been returned itself so they didn't have time to refill it so we were told to return the car empty as well as we would have to put gas in it anyways. We got the car loaded up, stopped and put some gas in it, and then we were on our way back to Orlando. With how long it took to get off the ship and to the Rental Car spot it was after noon now which was much later then I anticipated. So we decided against going into Coco Beach and instead hoped on the road to go to Orlando. The drive was pretty mellow. We though Daniel would fall asleep as he was still tired from waking up early but he never did. Don't forget to keep your quarters out as we would once again have the many toll booths to path thru to get back to Orlando.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

After the short 45 minute drive we were in Orlando. We couldn't check into our hotel until after 3pm though so we decided to head back to Universal Orlando Resort to kill the time until we could go check in. First though we decided to grab a quick lunch from Wendy's since we were now pretty hungry again. We then made our way to the resort by going down Turkey Lake Road which took us to the backside of Islands of Adventure and right past the construction of Universals new Value Hotel called the Cabana Bay which will be opening up this spring. The hotel is massive and I look forward to possibly be staying here when we return in 2014.

 

 

We soon pulled into the parking garages where we sat and ate our lunch before going into the parks. Once we were done we made the walk that we have made many times on this trip. We made a stop though in the rotanda though before continuing to Citywalk. Kiera needed to use the restroom so while we waited I decided to ask the stroller station of they had a lost and found as I figured I would once again enquire about our left behind Butterbeer Mugs. They directed us to guest relations in Citywalk as thats where they send there Lost and Found items from the Garage.

 

[TeknikDC2]

In Citywalk though we found the guest relations area of Citywalk was closed behind construction walls. We were able to find an employee though who directed us to the temporary Guest relations booth. We once again inquired about the lost and found and were now directed to check with the Lost and Found desk inside Universal Studios Florida. Guest Relations in Citywalk only holds on to the Lost items from the parking garage for 2 days before sending them to the main location in the park.

 

 

Its a good thing thats the park we were planning on heading to first today anyways. We decided since we wouldn't be in the park too long today that we could try doing some of the things we hadn't done yet prior to the cruise like seeing characters and also the parade. At the parks enterance all of the Rock the Universe decore was down and Halloween Horror Nights decor had gone up. HHN was less then a week away from starting at this point and all it did was make me sad that we wouldn't get to experiance it again dispite being so close to it starting.

 

 

Inside the park we first made our way to Guest Services to again check the lost and found. However the Lost and Found isn't in the Guest Services area. Its at the Ticket center located across the plaza area. Finally we found where we needed to be but our little hopes of finding the mugs were soon gone as we were not only told they don't have them but they would have never recieved them anyways. Since the mugs weren't cleaned out once they were retrieved they would have been thrown away immediatly as do to health reasons they can't keep uncleaned cups in the lost and found. So learn from our mistakes and don't leave your butterbeer mugs behind.

 

 

Since we were on the hunt for charcters we walked into the Hollywood section of the park where you can find many of the Characters. However at this time of day were were only able to find Scooby Doo and Shaggy. The Simpsons RV was out but there were no Simpsons around.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

At the end of the street the Sponge Bob street party was going on. They do these street party meet and greets many times thruout the day with the different Parade floats. Basically the bring the float out and the characters and have a little show and meet and greet afterwards. We decided to skip it though at this time. Where there was once a stage for Rock the Universe there was now an errey looking Barn set up for Halloween Horror Nights. This barn has something to do with The Walking Dead but i'm not sure what since I don't watch the show.

 

[TeknikDC2]

Since there weren't any characters out in Hollywood we decided to walk back to Despicable Me to see if any different Minions then the one we saw earlier in the trip were out today. As we made our way there we walked past the Transformers Meet and Greet area where Optimus Prime was out. I wanted to stop but they had already closed the line off as he was getting ready to go back inside.

 

 

We were soon at Despicable Me where we made our way thru the exit shop to the Dance Floor where you can meet the Minions. Since the ride was in motion there really wasn't anyone in the dance party area so there was no wait to see the Minion. Who unfortunatly though was the same one we saw earlier. Still we were here and Daniel seemed to be liking him more today so we got our photo with him anyways.

 

 

After our photo with this Minion though they stopped the line behind us and said that Minion was going to take a break now but a different Minion was coming out to take his place. Since we now had a chance to see a different Minion we figured we'd wait and get a photo with that one as well. We had to wait a few minutes longer this time though as although we were the first in the meet and greet line with the ride about to exit the Minion has to be free for the dance party before they continue on with Meeting with guests.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

We exited Minion Mayhem and walked back towards the Kidzone to see if we could find more characters. We stumbled upon the Shrek and Donkey meet and greet while we were walking so we decided to stop here as well. Daniel has never seen a Shrek Movie before but he seemed to like them. Especially Donkey as he interacts live with guests. Its pretty cute and funny.

 

 

Bumblebee was out meeting again at the Transformers Meet and Greet but since we had already seen him we continued on to Kidzone. I thought I read in the map guide that there were meet and greets that take place in Kidzone. I even thought I remembered there being some back here on one of our past visits as well. But when we got to Kidzone there were no characters to be seen.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

Well other then one. And thats Spongebob and you can meet him at his new store of Spongebob Storepants. We got there barely too late though as Spongebob went on a break. It would be ten minutes until he would return so we just waited it out. Soon though we were allowed in and Meet with Spongebob who ironically enough is another character who Daniel has never watched on TV before but he really seemed to like him. Afterwards we continued to check out the rest of the store which is themed really well.

 

[TeknikDC2]

There was one place left in Kidzone that we decided to check out that we had never been to before. Plus it would give Daniel a chance to get down to play and let loose after being crammed in the stroller most of the day. The attraction is called "A Day in the Park with Barney". And yep I am referring to everybodys favorite Purple Dinosaur.

 

 

There is two parts of the attraction. An actual show that features the Dinosaurs from the show and a indoor play area. Thankfully you can go in the play area without watching the show. We think that this play area turned out to be Daniels favorite of all the places on the property.

 

 

The play area is all indoors which I have to admit was very nice to be able to get out of the sun and into and air conditioned location for a bit to relax while Daniel played. Theres a bunch of different activites kids can do to slides and other play ground equipment to play on. Theres water and sand and even some other learning activities. And the place is pretty large as well. I was actually pretty surprised by how big it was.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

Daniel was in heaven and he played and played and played for a while until it was time for us to go and continue on with the park. He was not happy to leave though. Dispite not being a fan of Barney you would never really guess this play was linked to him without the suttle touches here and there. As I said this was probably Daniels favorite play area in the parks and one we will diffenitly return to in future trips. Well that is for however long this dated franchise has left anyways.

 

 

The park looked a little different from when we were here a week earlier do to many more Halloween Horror Nights related decor being added around the park. But that wasn't the only thing changing. The New Springfield area of the park was also still getting additions here and there. In the week we'd been on the cruise some Yellow lines were finally painted down Fast Food Blvd. There was also some stars painted on the ground as you entered the Krustyland section from both directions. But probably the most notible change was that Chief Wiggems Police car was missing. I knew it was fenced off before so I hoped it wasn't removed for good do to people climbing on it. It later returned a few weeks later with a paint job more accurate to how it is on the show though.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

As we walked thru Springfield and past the new Kang and Kudos Twirl and Hurl Spinner ride we noticed that the ride was practically a walk on so we figured we would go on it again and see if Daniel would do better on rides this time around then he did a week prior.

 

Edited January 3, 2014 by TeknikDC2

[TeknikDC2]

With the very short wait we had for the ride this gave us once again a glance across the lagoon to the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Diagon Alley expansion. Although there were suttle changes all over the park and contsturction of the Harry Potter expansion was evident there really didn't seem to be too many changes to the facades in the time that we were away.

 

 

We finally boarded the ride (which was missing two of the ride vehicles) I decided to take Daniel with me this time and Kiera rode alone. The last time we had him on this and other spinner rides he was fine if we stayed down low but would start to freak out if we went high. Well today I was happy to see that he did much, much better then he did before. He actually even seemed to enjoy it a little with still a hint of fear.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

After our little spin on the Twirl and Hurl we were done with Springfield and continued on towards Men in Black and Diagon Alley.

 

 

 

 

 

And thats all for today. This is winding down quickly with only 2 days left to recap. There will be 2 more updates to this day so stay tuned for them soon. Thanks for following along and I appreciate your support. Thanks again.

 

 

 

 

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[slord12]

Enjoying this very much, love the Dream!! Thanks for taking the time to do this.

[jenseib]

I always hate the last day of the cruise. I hate packing and having to go home. It's so sad. We ar thinking of doing a 3 night on the Disney Magic in Marc and it just seems so short, but that is all my husband can get away for, so it will just have to do.

 

I am loving the Universal updates too. So neat to see all the changes since I was there last.

[TeknikDC2]

Day 11, Part 2: Universal Orlando Resort

 

When we got to the Men in Black building we considered riding it but the wait seemed abnormally long at the time so we decided to just pass it by figuring that we would probably get back to it later. We then also passed by the Fear Factor Live theater which was closed as it was being prepped for Halloween Horror Nights.

 

 

That then brought us to the backside of the Wizarding World Diagon Alley expansion. From the backside of the expansion you get a small glimpse at the buildings that are actually a part of the Diagon Alley are behind the London Facades. You will also be able to see the huge show building that will house the Gringots Bank attraction. I imagine that this type of view

is only avalible during construction and it will be blocked somehow once the area opens.

 

 

After passing the last remaining building from the old Jaws and Amity days (a restroom) we were back on the waterfront. On the fence blocking guests from the construction there are a bunch of former and current attraction posters. These are for a an agumented reality app for smartphones that Universal created called Screen play. When you download the app and take photos with the pictures they supposedly come alive and make for neat images. However I was never able to get the app to work correctly.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

Continuing along the waterfront we took our time admiring the construction of the new expansion. When we passed thru a week earlier it was poring rain so we moved by quickly. I can't wait to see all of this done when we return this summer and experiance the expansion first hand.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

Exiting the Wizarding World expansion we were once again in the Small San Fransisco section of the park. We didn't stop here though today as we just passed thru to get to New York. Right between where the New York section starts and the San Fransisco Area ends (where the Beetlejuice show is located) you can see the best view of the Hogwarts Express tracks overhead. And now that the attraction is actually testing you may see the train pass by every now and then.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

New York is still one of the most well themed sections in the entire resort. Theres so much to see and so many details hidden in the amazing facades. Since our visit a week earlier many more Halloween Horror Nights props had been set up here as well including a tank and other army vehicles.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

But that didn't matter to us since we wouldn't be in town when HHN would start. Right now we were heading to our next ride. Revenge of the Mummy. We entered the Single Riders line and with practically no wait Kiera and Daniel went to the Child Swap room while I boarded one of the vehicles. The ride was amazing as always and one that gets many rides on our visits to the park.

 

[TeknikDC2]

When we were done with the mummy we decided to try to find some water to cool us down on this warm day. We walked down Delancey Street and past Transformers to get to the Monsters Cafe which I figured was likely the closest location that we could get some free water from. The line was long though and it took like 15 minutes of waiting just to get a couple cups of water. I didn't take any photos but the themeing in the Monsters Cafe is great and i'm sure it would be a fun place to grab a bite to eat. It wasn't until after I got our cups of water that we noticed the small stand out on the corner of the cafe also offered free water cups.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

While deciding what to do next we started to walk back towards Transformers. We had about 40 minutes to kill until the parade would start and that was the main thing we wanted to see in the park today. Daniel always got pretty excited to see the large Optimus Prime outside the attraction. He thought seeing the giant robot was really cool. Dispite that though Daniel was getting tired and awnery real fast and really needed a nap.

 

 

Instead of riding Transformers Kiera took Daniel to see if she could get him to fall asleep. So I hoped in the Single Riders line figuring it would be a very quick ride seeing how the the main line had a short wait as well. The times outside were all wrong though as this was the longest wait in a single riders line that I had the entire trip.

 

[TeknikDC2]

Eventually though I loaded into a vehicle and another ride on this amazing attraction began. Everything was going great as usual until we were about 3/4th's of the way thru the ride when our vehicle stopped. and then evetually all the sound and video screens turned off. We waited and waited and waited some more. This turned out to be the longest I had ever been stuck on a ride as we would be stopped for nearly 30 minutes. The ride was really broken down.

 

As we were sitting waiting for the ride to start again on of the guests sitting next to me upon seeing an emergincy exit sign in front of us made the comment "well at least if we have to be evacuated it will be a short walk to the exit". I then mentioned to her that it would actually be a long walk because we were on the 2nd level of the ride. She couldn't believe me. She was like "no way. How did we get up here". I explained that one of the scenes was an elevator and they just never noticed. She still didn't believe me. Soon enough though some attendants came and checked some things out on each vehicle. The vehicles then turned and defaulted to there forward (or for the 2nd floor backwards) position and we started to move again back to the station. We went thru the rest of the ride with no audio or video and then eventually got to the 2nd elevator. When we started going down the lady then turned to me again saying "wow we really we're on a 2nd level. How did you know that? Do you work here or something". haha I told her no i'm just a big theme park fan that followed the construction of the ride since it broke ground in Hollywood. At the exit of the ride we were all presented a single use Express pass that we could use again later for Transformers when it was fixed or any other ride in the resort that accepted express.

 

 

Finally out of the Transformers building I called Kiera to find where she was as the parade would be starting within 5 minutes. She was just on the street in New York and Daniel fell asleep shortly after we split up.

 

 

But that wouldn't last long as once the parade started he was wide awake. The parade is still something pretty new that Universal Does. It is really cute and the floats are very detailed but since Universal doesn't have the IP's like Disney does the parade is pretty short in length.

 

 

The first part to come by is the Despicable Me portion. Many Minions will come by as well as Gru and the Girls and then followed up with Gru's foe Vector.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

The 2nd segment is Spongebob and his friends. In addition to Spongebob you will also see Patrick and Squidward.

 

 

Next up is another Illumination film called Hop. This is an Easter movie but I'm sure Universal didn't have much choice but to throw it in as they didn't have many other options for kid movies or shows to put in the parade.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

The final portion of the parade is Dora the Explorer and her friends like Diego and Boots.

 

 

With all the floats out now on the big stretch of New York street they stop and do a show where the music changes and all the characters come off the floats and do a dance routene and mini show. Daniel really liked it and had a great time. We watched the Dora show stop and its kinda interesting that he seems to like Dora on tv now more since seeing the parade then he did before.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

Daniel really didn't get to see much of the Despicable Me characters though so knowing the route of the parade and knowing it would turn and go down the Hollywood section we hurried over to Mels Diner to see if we could catch the Despicable Me float again when it show stopped on Hollywood Blvd. As we passed by the Transformers Meet and Greet again the 3rd character that we hadn't seen yet was out. The Villan Megatron. He was easily the biggest and most detailed out of all of the characters.

 

 

We got to Mel's right as the Despicable Me float was pulling up and stopping for the show again. Sure enough Daniel loved seeing all the characters again and enjoyed the show. We were really glad that we brought him over to see the Despicable Me stuff. Its funny how much he loved and enjoyed seeing the characters from a far. yet up close he wasn't so sure about them.