A disney fan goes to US/IOA and has a blast! tons of pics. Updated 3/11

[mickeysgirl17]

Welcome to my first US/IOA trip report! I'm so excited to start.:yay:

This trip report will consist of our 1 day trip to US and IOA. We had 1 day/2 park tickets. We went for DH's birthday. This was DD4's, my brother's and my 1st trip there and DH's 3rd trip. We also did the Ringling brothers and Barnum bailey circus (my brother skipped out on the circus but did everything else), visited Old town and did the medieval times dinner show. I won't go too much into depth with those but I'll share my pics and small reviews for those who are interested. We did the circus on Friday, Jan. 18th here where I live in Jacksonville. We did US/IOA on Saturday, Jan. 19th and we did Old town and the dinner show on Sunday, Jan 20th.

Let me start off by saying I have NEVER been a Universal Stuidos or IOA fan. :sad2: I have always been close minded about it and didn't think I would like it at all because of the thrill rides which I don't care for. I am more for theme, DH is for thrills thus I kept avoiding US/IOA and kept going back to Disney. Well, it was DH's birthday weekend and I figured It would be nice to surprise him with tickets!;) I barely know anything about US or IOA so I pretty much went without any prior knowledge. :scared1: ( I basically studied the unofficial guide and browsed the boards the night before). I did not like this as I always go to Disney prepared well in advance. I just decided to do this trip at the last minute so I didn't have time to really plan this trip out.:sad2:

Just so you could put faces to the people in my TR, I'll share some pics of us.

This is me: Huge disney fan, the planner, organizer, and the one who made this trip happen!
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/100_2989.jpg

Here is DH: the clown of all of us, the one who tries to make everyone laugh but also has a short temper and likes to get his way.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/disney%202006/mexico.jpg

DD4: The princess, loves rides, loves characters and is sometimes too smart for her age. :cutie:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4214.jpg

Bro: My 21 year old brother. He loves to tell everyone that he's not scared of anything, but as we see in this trip and the previous trip to disney, that it is far from true.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4379.jpg

Here is one more picture of the all the tickets we purchased for this birthday weekend laid out on my dining table.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/circus/100_4009.jpg

I'll stop for now. Coming up..............A mini review and a bunch of pictures from the ringling bros. circus. Thanks for reading!

[angela3676]

Great start! :thumbsup2 I’m a Disney ::MickeyMo fan but I’m also a US/IOA fan "eventhough" I don't like thrill rides either, uhmm, strange isn't it, but I alway have a good time. Love the pictures, can’t wait to read more. :surfweb:

[mickeysgirl17]

Thanks. I'll be posting more soon!

[phamton]

I'm looking forward to reading future installments.

[damo]

Keep it coming!

[BrownDalmatian]

Great report so far! Love the pics! :)

[disney's daughter]

Love the beginning...Keep it coming...I, too, am a great Disney Lover...:love: And...we are all going to Universal next month! Ten out of twelve of us have never been before....:cool1:

[mickeysgirl17]

OK. So I promised some pictures from the Ringling bros. and barnum bailey circus and I'll get to those soon. First I just wanted to share how I got the tickets and gave them to DH.

It's very very hard to surprise DH.:confused3 First of all, he always gets himself whatever he wants unless its something big - for example, he wants a motorcycle and that would be considered something big so he can't just go out and get it, but if he wants something a little more affordable, he gets it right away therefore making it very difficult for someone to get a him a birthday gift or christmas gift that he would like since he probably already got it for himself.:sad2: Well, I was one of those people having a very hard time deciding what to get him for his birthday. :scared1: Over the past few years, he's always mentioned he wanted to go to medieval times but we've never made it so I made sure that was one of the first gifts I got for him....but I still needed something to do during the day since the dinner show was at night. That's when I came up with the Universal studios/IOA passes, but I knew it would take more than a few hours to tour so instead of getting the passes for the same day as the dinner show, I got them for the day before and Prayed that our jobs would let us both have off for the weekend.:confused:
After getting tickets to the dinner show and the parks, everyone kept telling me I should have got him circus tickets, because he most likely would figure out the dinner show and universal tickets but he would be totally surprised about the circus, so I decided to go with all 3 and just have a long birthday weekend. I didn't even know the circus would be in my area until I saw the commercial on TV and it looked really cool!!! :thumbsup2
So I ordered the circus tickets online at ticketmaster just a few days before we were scheduled to go and paid extra cash to get them mailed on time. Our jobs all agreed to give us the weekend off and we were set.

Fast forward 3 days later: I get the circus tickets from the UPS guy and DH is sitting right there in the living room when they are delivered. He wanted to know what was in the package and I told him he'd have to wait and see tomorrow for his birthday. Now, I don't know if I mentioned this yet, but DH is very immature and childish at times and he didn't want to wait until tomorrow so he decided it would be fun to start tickling me and wrestling me to hand him over the package which I refused to do.:rotfl: I hung on for dear life and believe me, it wasn't easy because I'm very ticklish but I wouldn't have it so I passed the envelope over to my 4 year old and told her to run and hide it somewhere in the house while I hold daddy down.popcorn::
Luckily, my DD hid it and told me where it was later and DH never got it until his birthday.:woohoo:

So, his birthday comes along and he had to go to work, but of course, not before asking me if he could have his gifts. I told him No, and that he had to wait until after he got out of work to get them. By now, he's figured out that I've gotten him tickets to Universal and he was almost sure of the dinner show but he had no idea about the circus. When he got home from work, I presented him with the tickets and he was happy that I was actually able to get him things he didn't already have. :yay:

The next day was circus day!!! It started around 7:30, but we were allowed to get there early for the preshow. We left our house around 5:30. Even though it wasn't that far from home, we ALWAYS get lost even though we have a GPS navigation system in the car!:laughing: Go figure :confused3
We got there around 6:30 because, yes, we did get lost and entered the arena after waiting on a long line. DH bought DD a coloring book, a huge lollipop, and a red glowing clown nose which cost $12 total.
Finally, we made it inside and it looked like the place was already packed. They were doing a preshow so we were allowed to go down and watch the preshow acts so we did. Here is a pic of DD with the goodies:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/circus/100_4055.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/circus/100_4092.jpg

One of the acts (a bunch of young asian guys in tights doing some gymnastics and then juggling)
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/circus/100_4049.jpg

and clown and his assistnat juggling around a teenager chosen from the audience
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/circus/100_4028.jpg

coming up.......the rest of the circus pics and what we thought of it.

[mickeysgirl17]

Anyone with me?

[angela3676]

Present! :teacher:

[mickeysgirl17]

Oh good. I thought everyone gave up!

[CPanther95]

Nope, still checking in periodically.

[mickeysgirl17]

Thanks. Update coming up later on today!

[fairfax]

Great TR! I'm looking forward to more. I love Disney and Universal equally, they are both wonderful experiences.

[ky07]

Great TR

[damo]

Keep on writing! Great so far.

[mickeysgirl17]

Ok. So after the preshow thingy, we all got into our seats and I think our seats had a lot to do with what I thought of the show. If you guys ever go see one of their shows, please take my advice and get good seats towards the bottom. ;) Our seats were towards the back- row U. I wasn't trying to be cheap with the tickets when I bought them. Its just that I purchased them late because I wasn't sure if my brother was going to attend and if he did, I wanted to make sure he got to sit with us. When he finally found out from work that he couldn't have off, I got the tickets and row U was the next best available seats.
The arena was really big and the clowns, perfomers, animals looked far away and our pictures weren't the best. I'm not saying I didn't like the show, I just think it would be better if we got closer seats to the action. Anyway, as promised, here are some more pics of the circus:

So, this was the opening act where all the performers got on stage and sang a song. You can get an idea of how far back our seats were.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/circus/100_4070.jpg

This was the best part of the whole show. A bunch of motorcyclists got into this ball thing which wasn't that big and they kept racing around in there. We all thought they would crash into eachother, but of course they didn't. I was on the edge of my seat. It was AMAZING. They were incredible. :worship: At one point, there were about 8 guys in there on their motorcycles and they were going very fast.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/circus/100_4087.jpg

Here is DH and DD enjoying the show and the lollipop:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/circus/100_4097.jpg

The tigers:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/circus/100_4107.jpg

The elephants. They did some pretty cool tricks:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/circus/100_4128.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/circus/100_4150.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/circus/100_4132.jpg


I don't think I would pay to see the show again. Maybe if I had better seats, I would have liked it more. The best part was the motorcycle acts in the ball thingy. I wonder if there's a show that just does cool motorcycle acts. It's wierd though. I'm not into motorcycles at all. :confused3
The singing was kind of borring as were some of the acts. I guess I'm just used to the high quality of disney entertainment. :sad2: I'm spoiled. What can I say?princess:
My DD also looked very bored and I thought the circus would keep her attention especially since Cirque du soleil in Downtown Disney kept her full attention for 90 minutes with no intermission, but this didn't do it. DH said he liked it, but wasn't crazy about it. :scared1: Not good.....this is part of your birthday present. Oh well, I guess he'll probably like US and IOA, and the dinner show better. I hope!

Well, I guess I'll leave it at that. Coming up.............Universal studios!:woohoo:

[mickeysgirl17]

Ok. So on to US/IOA...........

I woke up around 5:45. Thank goodness I was able to get some sleep. The only problem is that on normal weekdays, I don't get up until 10am so I wasn't used to this early business. See, my DD starts school August 2008, so up until this point, its been okay with us for her to go to bed a little later than a normal 4 year old's bedtime and let her sleep in every morning because that's what we prefer, but of course, this morning, we weren't sleeping in so it was tough for us to all get up and get started.
I woke up first and I immediately realized that it was pouring outside. Not good! :scared1: In August, we went to the Pirate and Princess Party in Disney and it rained all night. In fact, it wasn't just rain. It was a horrible storm with thunder, lighting and even reports of tornadoes in the area. :scared1: We had a really bad time and I was hoping for nice weather today plus I really don't like when we drive in the rain on the highway. My only luck would be that it was just raining where I live (in Jacksonville) and that the weather would be okay in Orlando so what did I do?
I ran to my computer where I looked up the weather for the Disney area. This is what it said:

Today-
cloudy, 40 % chance of rain

Sunday-
Partly cloudy, chance of rain

OH NO! Not sure about where everyone else lives, but where I live, 40% is a pretty good chance of rain and usually means it will rain. So, now I had to make a decision. Our tickets were good for any day but DH has to work on the weekdays so we could only use them today or tomorrow. If we used them today, we'd have the whole day, but if we used them tomorrow, we only had 9am to 5:30 to do both parks and I'm a first timer but it probably wouldn't be raining tomorrow.
I woke up DH and asked him what we should do and without hesitation said, "We're going now".
Ok.
So, we packed up the car with our bags and stroller and took off. Here is a pic of the bag I used to carry around with me in the park. DD likes scooby doo and I thought it would be cute to bring this one:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4536.jpg
and here is a pic of what it looked like outside:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4155.jpg
We left the house at 6:30 hoping to get there at opening, but the rain slowed us down and by the time we parked the car, and walked to Universal, it was almost 9:30.
The first problem we encountered was that we couldn't even find the parking lot. We ended up in the employee parking lot and had to ask for directions to the actual guest parking lot. It turns out we weren't too far and had just made a wrong turn. :sad2:
We finally parked and by now, it was just a misty rain, but it was a bit cold.
We made our way towards Universal by walking through citywalk and I was able to get some pics.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4162.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4163.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4164.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4165.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4166.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4167.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4161.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4168.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4171.jpg

I also noticed that crowds were very manageable. Maybe the rain is helping us in a way!
We went inside and I grabbed a guidemap. Even with the map, we had some trouble finding our way around :confused: so it may help to study the map ahead of time.
As we were deciding what to do first, I noticed that we were being one of those families who stand around and block the way for everyone else to get by as we were looking at the map. So, I told everyone to move over to the side. (This would never have happened at Disney!)
As we were trying to decide, DH spotted Scooby and Shaggy and we went over for a visit.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4175.jpg

I'm not sure who this guy is (anyone know?) but he was directing traffic and then he bent down and gave DD a kiss while she was in her stroller.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4180.jpg

We saw this (the Jimmy Neutron ride) and decided to skip it since DD would have to sit with me in the stationary seats and DH doesn't like simulators much anyway so I just took a pic:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4182.jpg

I then remembered someone on the boards saying that we could meet spongebob in the store outside of Jimmy Neutron so we went in, and found the spongebob meet and greet area, but.............No spongebob!
Spongebob is DD's very favorite show on TV so I knew it was a MUST for her to meet him. We asked the lady at the cash register if she knew when he would be back and she told us he would be back in a few minutes and that we could line up now.
Yayyyyyyyy!!! :yay: There was no line so we got in first. As we waited, we took a pic by the background.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4184.jpg

Then the one and only spongebob came out! DD was so happy to meet him. :worship:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4186.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4187.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4187-1.jpg

DD was in heaven and as you can see, she was still wearing the clown nose in the pics which I couldn't make her take off since the night before. Oh well.

Coming up next:
Shrek 4D, The mummy, and our lunch costs WHAT?:scared1:

[angela3676]

Great update. Lovin the report, keep it comin. I'll have to remember where to meet Spongebob for our next trip.

[ChrisFL]

I'm not sure who this guy is (anyone know?) but he was directing traffic and then he bent down and gave DD a kiss while she was in her stroller.

It looks like Bullwinkle

[Our2Girls&Disney]

I am enjoying your TR. I would agree with your comments about the circus. Last year a supplier of mine bought my family tickets for the circus in Boston. It was really good, plus the kids enjoyed going into the city for the day. This year he gave me tickets to the circus in Manchster NH and what a let down. Boston was so much better. The rink was huge in Boston and in Manchester it was very small. Sure we had better seats in Manchester, but the show stunk. I agree, the best part was the motorcycles in the metal ball (but they did that last year). Anyway, on to more exciting things, Universal.

[CPanther95]

Unless you were joking about not knowing, I believe that is a picture of Bullwinkle kissing your daughter in her stroller.

I could be wrong, but either way, I now feel old. :)

[mickeysgirl17]

Thanks you guys. I'm glad to know people are still reading.

and ChrisFL and Cpanther95, thanks for letting me know which character it was. (By the way, I wasn't joking. lol.)

[phamton]

I remember reading about the horrible experience you had at the Pirate and Princesss party. I sure hope that the weather wasn't as bad for your visit to Universal.

[mickeysgirl17]

I remember reading about the horrible experience you had at the Pirate and Princesss party. I sure hope that the weather wasn't as bad for your visit to Universal.

Wow. I can't believe you remembered that! Thank Goodness it wasn't as bad for most of the day and we did get to do everything without being soaked! It did get a little worse at night but you have to keep reading to find out about it!;)

[mickeysgirl17]

When I left off, we were heading towards shrek 4D. Well, when we arrived, the line looked very long. We debated on whether we should get express passes, but we were on a budget and crowds didn't look too bad especially with the misty rain so we opted to forget them and we would just buy them later on if necessary.
We got on line and DH was hesitant because he didn't want to wait too long and I assured him that this wasn't a ride, and that it was a show so when they opened the doors, most of the line would dissappear into the theater.
In the end, we only had to wait through one performance and then it was our turn. :)
I wasn't sure what to expect since I had never seen this before and I didn't know if it would be too much for DD. She does really well with phillharmagic in Magic Kingdom:thumbsup2 , but she did really bad with tough to be a bug in Animal Kingdom:scared1: , so I didn't know how this compared, but I was hoping for the best.
We finally made it into the preshow which I thought was a bit long and I don't do well in the middle of a crowd (I start to have anxiety:eek: ) and I was a little uncomfortable, but thankfully I made it and we were shown our way into the theater.
We all thought the show was great! :banana: Even DD did really well with the moving seats. DH and I thought she would be scared, but it turned out well.
From here, we decided to go see Twister, but it was shut down. :sad2:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4190.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4193.jpg

Then we were walking towards mummy and I spotted this so I took a pic:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4189.jpg

We saw the really cool NY Street sets which was awesome to me because I'm from NYC and it reminded me of back home :sad1: I miss it so much!
Anyway, here are some pics. This one has DH's head in the way.....
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4194.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4200.jpg

We finally reached the Mummy. DH wanted to ride this and my Bro went with him. I had no intention of riding this because I don't like dark or scary rides much and I was going to stay with DD anyway.
DH and Bro went into the ride while DD and I stood outside waiting. I met this nice lady who was also waiting for her husband and she was explaining that it seemed really deserted today in the park.
I told her this was my first time there and I wouldn't know since I don't know how it usually is..............so I guess it crowds were lower than usual which was great to hear!
A few minutes later, I saw Bro looking for me so I went up to him and asked where DH was?
He told me he was just getting on the ride. I was confused.:confused3
"Why aren't you on the ride with him?"
"Because we went on the single riders line and we couldn't sit together"
I told my Bro he was a big chicken:laughing: and that's what single rider lines are for, but he said he didn't want to ride alone so he left.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4196.jpg

DH finally came out and we proceeded to the San fransisco/Amity area. He said he really liked the ride and thought I would probably like it too, but we decided to move on.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4201.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4202.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4203.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4205.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4206.jpg

Everyone wanted to do Jaws, even DD although I don't think she knew what it was so we got into line. We had to wait about 30 minutes and we finally got into the boat.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4207.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4208.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4209.jpg

[mickeysgirl17]

Before actually departing, I tried to explain to DD that the shark looked very real and very scary but he was fake. She told me she understood, but once we were actually going through it, she was terrified. :scared1: She didn't want to look at all and kept her eyes closed shut the whole time while I held her and kept telling her it was fake.
I really don't recommend this to anyone under age 6 or 7 because the shark looks real. We also got pretty wet which I didn't like since we were already sort of wet and uncomfortable.
Next, we went to eat some lunch because we were starving and because we felt DD needed a break after being terrified of Jaws.
We opted to go back the way we came to this burger place. I'm not sure what it was called, but it was in the Jaws area and was by the water.
DH loves burgers so this was a perfect choice for him.
The 4 of us each got a burger and a small portion of fries and 1 small drink each. The lady at the register told us our total and I about passed out in shock! :sick:
Even at Disney, we are able to eat at a counter service for around $30 total including drinks.
Our total at Universal was $44 and change!!! :mad: I didn't believe it so I stood there and added up the prices myself but it was true. I couldn't believe that a simple burger could cost $8. It was just plain ridiculous.
We found a table and ate every single bite because I didn't want any of it to be thrown out for that price.
I should have taken pics, but I was too mad to remember. Sorry.
After lunch, Dh and Bro thought it would be funny to start feeding the birds outside. In the end, the birds kept coming back for more and people were literally afraid to walk by because there was so many birds and they kept getting too close. I told them to stop their immaturity and that we should spend our time doing better things, but they thought it was fun.
If this is what would make DH happy, I should have just brought him to the park and saved the $200 I spent on Universal tickets!popcorn::
When I finally got them to realize how immature they looked, we went to Men In Black. DD was too short for this so I stayed outside again (you'll see this happen all day) while DH and Bro went in to ride.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4210.jpg

They said they really liked it and it reminded them of Buzz in MK.
DD kept asking when it would be her turn to do kid rides, so since we were close by, we went to Woody's kidzone.

Stay tuned for our big surprise!

[Our2Girls&Disney]

Your bro cracked me up with the single rider thing. :rotfl2:

Ok, I made note of lunches, bring in sandwiches, check.

Keep going, I need more.

[lindalinda]

I like your report! I had just noticed that they raised the price of the meal deal to 25$ and I was waffling on whether to get it for the boys (teenagers) but looking at your lunch prices has made it clear that thats a good deal!

[tlinus]

enjoying your report.....keep up the good work!! :thumbsup2

[RockinDisney]

I like your report, I laughed at your Brother, but only becasue I could see mine being the same way;)
Can't wait to read the rest

[mickeysgirl17]

Thanks you guys.

LindaLinda- yes, I would do the meal plan. We didn't even eat dinner there either because lunch was too expensive. We ate at PizzaHut after we left the park and only spent $15.

[mickeysgirl17]

So we walked into Woody's kidzone right after Men In Black. I think by now I have a general idea of the park layout so I don't think we're missing anything because apparently we were going around in a circle from land to land according to the map which was good.
We knew we HAD to do E.T. because not only was I really looking forward to it, but DH has a nickname and its E.T.
Don't ask me why. His family always called him that so I just went along with it. I have no idea why they think he is alien from outer space :confused3 or wait a minute......maybe I do. I guess he can be kinda wierd or alien like now and then like when he just throws all his clothes on the floor instead of putting them in the hamper which is about a foot away from where he threw the clothes on the floor! That's wierd isn't it? :rotfl2:
Well, moving on...............popcorn::
So we found E.T. and we realized right away that the line was extremely long. The wait said 20 minutes. But do you think this is 20 minutes?
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4212.jpg
Actually, you can't tell from the picture, but there was a lot more people than what it looks like.
We decided to line up anyway. While waiting, I took this pic.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4211.jpg
After winding around and around in the queue area, we finally made it inside where we had to give our name. Then it looked like another line, but thank goodness it wasn't. We boarded our "bikes" right away and took off. First of all, I just wanted to mention how AMAZING I thought the themeing was in the forest area on the way to board the ride. It was really really cool. :thumbsup2
The ride itself was awesome. I loved the scene where your "flying" over the city and your passing by the moon. It was just magical and I can't believe I'm saying this, but its better than similar rides in Disney. Oh my........did I really just say that? :scared1:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4213.jpg

After E.T. we found this playground area which DD thought was so much fun.
Unfortuately, some stuff was closed because it was wet from the rain.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4215.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4217.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4219.jpg

Mommy, you have to get on this with me!!!!!
NO!
DH: Do you want to make your DD upset?

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4220.jpg

The sun was peeking out and it got really warm so we went into the water park area. I had no intention of any of us getting wet, so we were just gonna browse through.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4223.jpg

Now, I did notice the big bucket of water at the top:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4225.jpg
Can you see it on the left top?
Well, from my little bit of research, I knew it contained lots and lots of water that dropped down onto the street below or anyone standing under it for that matter every so often.
Being the little evil person I am, I got this crazy idea. :idea: I pulled DH over to side and explained about the big bucket of water and told him we should try to get Bro to stand under that bucket! DH agreed of course and since poor Bro had no idea, he went right under it. I know.......I'm bad.
Anyway, we thought it wasn't working because we had him stand there for a while but nothing happened so DD wanted to take a tour of the play area and building inside. All of us went up the stairs and we started to walk around. We ended up right below the bucket but in a covered area where we found a bunch of ropes and things to pull to make water squirt out and stuff. As we're standing there, I hear this bell ringing type of thing and I'm thinking to myself, I wonder if that's the warning about the bucket falling over and spilling the water, but we're covered right under this big awning thing, so its okay? I think. I start to panic that we may get a little damp anyway so I start to tell DH that maybe we should leave this area just incase the water gets us a little damp and I really didn't want to get wet. Of course, being the alien that he is :rotfl: he ignores me and that's when we're hit with the big surprise!
The big bucket pours over and under the awning and all, we get drenched. :eek: and I mean drenched!
We might as well have gone swimming in all our clothes and everything because we got really really wet. So, my tip: Don't think your safe anywhere in the water area!
And.............I guess that's what they mean when they say "What goes around comes around" but it never went around anyway when we put my Bro under the bucket.:confused3
See that little balcony thing under the bucket (white gate)? Well, that's where we were standing and even though it doesn't look like in the picture, that area gets poured on!

We found this building near the kids area and decided to go inside to see what it was about. Inside, they had these things that would shoot small balls out to hit targets and get points. This looked like a lot of fun and everyone really loved it. We spent at least 20 minutes in there!

You can see DD's wet hair in this pic:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4228.jpg

You would load the balls in this thing:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4226.jpg

and this was the target:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4227.jpg

After a while, we started shooting the balls at people down below (there was 2 levels) and they would shoot back. DD also was able to run around since there was only 1 exit and she loved collecting as many balls as she could carry and shoot the targets.........and people.
I recommend making a stop here if you can.

Coming up.................Woody's coaster, the purple dinosaur and we meet the simpsons! All of them!

[ChrisFL]

Yes, the E.T. ride is a classic and is often overlooked, but is still one of the best themed attractions at Universal and compares very well with Disney rides.

Great trip report so far.

[mickeysgirl17]

I agree. Unfortunately the line was ridiculous. If it wasn't, I would have gone on again and again.

[JawsCPA]

Enjoying your trip report. Love the pictures.

:)

[Metro West]

Great pictures and report...keep it coming! :worship:

[mickeysgirl17]

Thanks everyone. More coming soon.............

[mickeysgirl17]

Ok. So after the whole E.T. my DH is an alien thing, I thought I would post this pic to prove that he is an green alien. See his green face? lol. :rotfl:

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/100_4556.jpg

Actually, my DH breaks out often so he has this green cream thing he wears overnight and I saw him wearing it a few nights ago which reminded me of the alien thing I posted in the previous post, so I snapped a pic when he wasn't paying attention and thought it would be funny to post.

When he asked why I took a pic of him, I explained it and he was like "You better not post that picture of me!" :mad:
Of course, I had to anyway though! :rotfl2:

[mickeysgirl17]

After the really cool ball shooting place, we decided to get in line for Woody's nuthouse coaster. DD does really well with the barnstormer in MK, so this should be a piece of cake for her. I normally don't do coasters, but I like kiddie one's and the barnstormer or Big thunder Mountain at Disney is perfect for me. Of course, that doesn't mean that I don't scream.
We got on line which was about a 15 minute wait. At this point, I noticed my DD kept trying to hold her pants up and I asked what she was doing and she told me her pants were too big and she had to hold them or they would fall.
I knew this would happen.
She didn't appear to have been holding them earlier though. :confused3
Of course, this is DH"s fault. :mad:
That morning I had gotten her dressed and DH got up and told me he didn't like her outfit so I told him to dress her himself since I was too busy getting ready for the trip. I passed by her room when he was dressing her and I saw him holding up a pair of her pants that I knew were a little big so I told him "Don't put those on her" and he didn't listen of course. When I saw them on her in the morning, they looked fine so I thought she probably just gained some weight............but obviously that wasn't the case because now we were standing online for the coaster and poor DD was too scared to let her pants go. I so badly wanted to say "I told you so".
So, we found this strap that I usually keep on another one of my purses in my bag and DH just used it as a belt for her and it worked! :banana:
Anyway, here are some pics of the coaster before we got on:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4222.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4221.jpg

The whole time, my Bro kept saying that it looked too high and it looked a little fast and scary. I'm pretty sure he was just joking though.
I told him to stop being a big baby and just keep moving along the line.
We finally got on. Bro and DH got on one and DD and I got on infront of them. Dh told me to hold on to DD which I did of course. I was holding on to her really tight the whole way and I was screaming my head off but it was fun. DD just kept laughing at me and didn't scream once.
Behind me, I could hear Dh making fun of me telling bro about how scared I was since I was screaming. He thinks he's so cool. :cool2:

Since we were in the area, and Barney was going to start soon, we headed over to the theater to line up. There were only a few families there. We sat down while waiting and Bro decided he needed a cigarrette break. He told us he was going to find a water fountain because he was thirsty, but we really knew where he was really going.
Once he left, we realized that there was a water fountain right next to us but Bro had already left. He was gone about 15 minutes and then the pre show started so we had to go in. DH said that he was a grown man and he will find us when he get's back.
We had to stand in the preshow area and we watched this wierd man talk and get the kids hyped up for the show.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4235.jpg

The whole time, I kept seeing more and more people come into the open preshow area, but no Bro. :confused3 I figured he was probably just waiting outside and just didn't care if he missed the show or not because it was Barney and its for kids anyway.
They let us in the main theater area. Once everyone was seated, they started the show. I did notice how odd it was that the theater was dark for a bit longer than usual especially with so many toddlers and babies around. :scared1:
Once it started though, it was a lot of fun especially for DD. Most of the songs were the popular ones they do on tv that most of the kids knew and could sing along with. Baby Bop and BJ also made an appearance. It even snowed, and bubbles came down from the sky!!

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4247.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4258.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4261.jpg

When the show was over, DD grabbed a piece of coffetti paper and we went outside to get Bro and move on to the next attraction. We went outside and guess what?
No Bro in sight! :scared1:
Where oh where could he be?........................and how on earth are we going to find him?

[MyKidsMom1820]

I am lovin your TR! your DD is so adorable! Thanks for sharing all your pics.

[damo]

Mystery of the missing Bro. Hmmm. Don't keep us in suspense too long.

[keishashadow]

Ok. So after the whole E.T. my DH is an alien thing, I thought I would post this pic to prove that he is an green alien. See his green face? lol. :rotfl:

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/100_4556.jpg

Actually, my DH breaks out often so he has this green cream thing he wears overnight and I saw him wearing it a few nights ago which reminded me of the alien thing I posted in the previous post, so I snapped a pic when he wasn't paying attention and thought it would be funny to post.

When he asked why I took a pic of him, I explained it and he was like "You better not post that picture of me!" :mad:
Of course, I had to anyway though! :rotfl2:
:rotfl:
hee, hee! just one more time - jik it's not now part of the internet - forever lol:rotfl2:

great TR! glad to finally see pics of barney show:rolleyes1

[RockinDisney]

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

[EverythingDisney]

I need more !!!!! GREAT trip report !!
Keep it coming !!

[mickeysgirl17]

I'm so happy you guys are enjoying it. Thanks to all for reading. More coming up very soon!

[bellebud]

i'm enjoying your report! thanks for all the pics too - your dd is adorable! we're going to universal for the first time next month, and staying at Royal Pacific Resort.... how did you like it there? I picked it because we're staying conceirge, and it was the most affordable one to do that. it seems closest to the parks too, which seems great.

waiting for more...popcorn::

[mickeysgirl17]

i'm enjoying your report! thanks for all the pics too - your dd is adorable! we're going to universal for the first time next month, and staying at Royal Pacific Resort.... how did you like it there? I picked it because we're staying conceirge, and it was the most affordable one to do that. it seems closest to the parks too, which seems great.

waiting for more...popcorn::

I didn't stay on property, but if you asking what I thought about the parks in general, I thought they were good.....but not great. I was trying to be as open minded as possible though but its hard after the experiences I've had with Disney. I'm just used to the theming and details of the disney parks and the cuddley characters. I also believe Disney has top notch guest service. I felt like Universal wasn't themed enough but I liked the look of Islands of Adventure. We'd probably return to finish stuff we didn't get to do, but I don't think we'd ever stay on property. I don't feel like they have many choices of resorts either.

[bellebud]

I didn't stay on property, but if you asking what I thought about the parks in general, I thought they were good.....but not great. I was trying to be as open minded as possible though but its hard after the experiences I've had with Disney. I'm just used to the theming and details of the disney parks and the cuddley characters. I also believe Disney has top notch guest service. I felt like Universal wasn't themed enough but I liked the look of Islands of Adventure. We'd probably return to finish stuff we didn't get to do, but I don't think we'd ever stay on property. I don't feel like they have many choices of resorts either.


oops... right - you stayed off site - I read a few reports last night and got confused (and tired). thanks for answering me! we're a disney family - have been about 10 times in the past 5 years, and dh was tired of it, so we're trying universal for 9 days, staying on-site, during easter vacation. I am excited to have a new experience, and i'm going to keep an open mind and not compare it to disney - i know it's not as *disney* as disney (lol).

we'll do seaworld one day, and a dinner show (medieval times maybe)... i'm still researching...

thanks again!

[mickeysgirl17]

oops... right - you stayed off site - I read a few reports last night and got confused (and tired). thanks for answering me! we're a disney family - have been about 10 times in the past 5 years, and dh was tired of it, so we're trying universal for 9 days, staying on-site, during easter vacation. I am excited to have a new experience, and i'm going to keep an open mind and not compare it to disney - i know it's not as *disney* as disney (lol).

we'll do seaworld one day, and a dinner show (medieval times maybe)... i'm still researching...

thanks again!

Medieval times was awesome! We did it too and loved it. I don't recommend it for very young kids though because my DD got bored pretty quickly. My DH was tired of Disney too and that's why I decided to go with US/IOA but if it was up to me, we would have been in Disney. It was his bday though so I had to make him happy!

[mickeysgirl17]

So when I left you guys, we were just exiting Barney and hoping to find Bro outside waiting for us after he said he was going to "get some water" aka smoke a cigarette......But before I go any further, I forgot to tell you guys about the cool little playground thay have right outside the Barney show. DD really loved this and I think anyone with small kids or toddlers might enjoy this place. Here is DD having fun:

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4233.jpg


http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4234.jpg

The only thing I suggest being careful for is that it has more than 1 exit/entrance so I think your kids could get out if they wanted too. It's important to keep an eye on them at all times in this place!

Back to the Bro situation: When we actually got outside after Barney, we didn't see him and I looked at DH and DH looked at me and we were hoping that he was just standing around somewhere around. We walked around that little garden area - the queue area for the Barney show, and we didn't see him so DH told me to back into that Barney playground and see if he was waiting for us in there while he looked around with DD outside.

I go look inside the Barney playground and.............not there!
This is not good..............

I go back outside and realize that DH hasn't found him either. Dh and I start to wonder where in the world he could have dissappeared to.:confused3

popcorn:: popcorn:: popcorn::

We stand there for a minute and continue to search the crowds with our eyes, but nothing.
I start talking to DH......."Where could he be? Why would he leave the area? He knew we were in the Barney show, why would he go somewhere else?My brother's an idiot!!!!"
DH spots a employee and asks where a lost person might go and she told him she didn't really know, maybe to the entrance of the park.
Okay, so we got a employee that is clueless. Great.
I ask DH what we should do and he says we should start walking around and look for him and that he's a grown man so he should be smart enough to go the front entrance or the car.
I told DH we were talking about Bro here and he probably would get lost and never be able to find our car amongst all those cars in the parking area.
DH said that it was his birthday and that if Bro walked off and didn't care to stay and wait for us, then we would just go to IOA after Terminator 3D and hope that Bro is at the car later on at the end of the day.
At this point, I could not believe this was happening and that we actually lost someone in a theme park full of thousands of people and no way of finding him in these crowds.
We made our way over towards Terminator when we spotted:

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4283.jpg

Yes, its Marilyn Monroe! How cool is that?

So, despite my being a little worried about where Bro was, DH told me to take a pic with her so I did:

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4284.jpg

Then DD wanted her coat off so DH sat with her on a bunch while putting her coat around her waist and asked me to walk over to Terminator 2: 3D and find out when the next show was.

As I walked toward it, I saw the next show was about to start in less than 5 minutes! I was about to turn back around towards DH and DD when I spotted......BRO!!!!!!!
I couldn't believe I found him in such a huge place as Universal Studios with throngs of people around. It was crazy!
He told us he left the Barney area because he thought the Barney show was already over and thought that we left him and took off to another attraction so he went to the front of the park to wait for us.
I was so mad at him!!!!!!!!!!:mad:
Finally, we got back to DH and as they were discussing how Bro got lost, I interrupted and told DH that Terminator was about to start and he should try to get in, so he and Bro ran for the entrance and made it just in time.
I wanted to see this show, but I knew it would be too intense for DD so I let them watch it while I stayed outside with her.

In the meantime, we spotted the whole simpsons family outside so we got in line to meet them!

While waiting in line, I spotted this on the floor:

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4286.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4291.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4288.jpg

Afterwards, we just sat at a bench across from Terminator and waited.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4293.jpg

DD was so bored, she just played around in the street with her streamer

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4322.jpg

After terminator, we finally started to make our way over to IOA since it was already 3:30 and IOA was going to close at 7pm.

Coming up.....................What I thought of IOA and more Bro drama!:sad2:

[Our2Girls&Disney]

WOW, I can't believe you found him! That is a relief.

[mickeysgirl17]

Thanks our2girls&disney.

Anyone else still with me? Am I loosing you guys?

[bellebud]

still here - reading and enjoying! popcorn::

[disney's daughter]

Me too! :thumbsup2

[lynn71092]

Your DD is absolutely beautiful!!
Can I ask where you guys stood at? We're looking to go but I am not paying those overboard rates they have at the Universal resorts.:scared1:

[phamton]

I'm still reading. Your daughter looks so cute and tiny with the Simpsons.

I hope you set up a meeting point with your brother for the next time he decides to walk off. Maybe one of those children's harnesses would work. ;)

[estherhead]

Wow, great report. We've done an entire week at USO/IOA when our girls were babies & didn't care about riding things (Dh & I both are roller coaster lovers.) Now they are 6 & 8 & we have a baby and so are just camping out in the Disney part of Orlando but the second they are over 54" we are on our way to Universal! Your report made me want to go measure the eldest & see how tall she is. Ha!

[damo]

Your DD is absolutely beautiful!!
Can I ask where you guys stood at? We're looking to go but I am not paying those overboard rates they have at the Universal resorts.:scared1:

Lots of excellent deals to be had if you do a little research. End of April is $139/night at a deluxe hotel. That includes your unlimited express passes. Pretty darn good!

[mickeysgirl17]

Your DD is absolutely beautiful!!
Can I ask where you guys stood at? We're looking to go but I am not paying those overboard rates they have at the Universal resorts.:scared1:

We were gonna stay on Irlo Bronson Hwy at one of the small hotels like the Howard Johnson (only paid $50 last year plus got my $20 deposit back so only paid $30 for the night) or La Quinta inn, but DH decided to call his cousin who lives close to Disney and she told us to go sleep over in her house instead so we didn't have to pay anything! :thumbsup2

I'm sure if you do a little research, you'll find a good deal or just drive around in the area and you can probably find a good nightly rate with so many hotels in one small area.

[mickeysgirl17]

I'm still reading. Your daughter looks so cute and tiny with the Simpsons.

I hope you set up a meeting point with your brother for the next time he decides to walk off. Maybe one of those children's harnesses would work. ;)

:rotfl:

Keep reading.........more crazy bro stuff later on in the trip report!

[mickeysgirl17]

Sorry I've been gone for a while. My computer actually crashed and we had to get it fixed, but its better now, so I'll be updating really soon!

[mickeysgirl17]

I'm back!!!!

So, we left Universal Studios around 3:30 and finally headed over to Islands of Adventure. I really wasn't too excited about this park because I know it had a lot of thrill rides that I won't do. Plus, DD was too young for most of the thrill rides anyway. I felt like Universal was probably our best bet for the most fun, but I know DH would really love Islands of Adventure because he loves thrill rides. So, we made the long walk past citywalk and got to the entrance which is when I noticed this:

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4330.jpg

Can you see the crowds?!

Oh my. Not good. We didn't have much time in this park and I knew DH wanted to do a few things here so I was worried. Universal had no line whatsoever to get in and the park wasn't crowded much, but this looked pretty bad. In the end, it took us about 15 minutes just to get inside.

Right away, I noticed that this park was beautiful. I quickly changed my mind about probably not liking it much and decided that the theming was better than Universal.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4329.jpg

The look was sort of a spanish caribbean feel and I thought it was gorgeous.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4332.jpg

We soon got our map/guide and proceeded on our way.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4333.jpg

I loved that we passed under this bridge thingy that said "The Adventure begins"

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4331.jpg

The first obvious thing I noticed was the Hulk Coaster. Wow! I was in awe at that thing. Just amazing. Of course, I'm too chicken to get on it though! :scared1:

I couldn't believe people actually rode that thing including DH who rode it on Universal's Halloween Horror nights last year! (By the way, I will post some pics from HHN after this installment for those who are interested) It was so fast and the upside down turns made me cringe just watching.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4334.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4335.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4336.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4338.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4341.jpg

We made our way into Marvel Superhero Island which looked like we were inside a comic book. Pretty neat!

DH wanted to ride Spiderman but the wait was over an hour so we just decided we would try to come back later.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4340.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4343.jpg

We made our way to the water section and saw this ride:

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4344.jpg

Too steep for me! That looks like you really get wet. Dh didn't want to ride so we kept walking toward Jurassic park.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4345.jpg

Again, I was thorougly surprised at the lush vegetation and themeing in this section. It was pretty cool.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4346.jpg

So, I promised more Bro drama and this is where it comes!

We got to the Jurrassic Park river adventure and DH wanted to ride so he told Bro to get on with him but Bro chickened out and said he didn't want to. DH got a little upset because Bro told him in advance before even going on the trip that he would do all the thrill rides with DH which is why we brought Bro along in the first place. DH wanted Bro to get on the rides with him because he hates riding alone and says its no fun and Bro agreed until now. So, here we are on a pathway in the middle of Jurrassic Park and Bro and DH now refuse to get on any ride at all because Bro doesn't want to and DH doesn't want to ride alone. Of course, I won't go because I can't trust Bro with DD after what happened earlier and I'm too scared anyway, but DH has known me for 10 years and we went there knowing I wouln't do any crazy rides.
I was starting to get upset because we hadn't really done anything in IOA yet, it was DH's birthday and he wasn't happy and we only had a little 3 hours left!!! :sad1:
DH decided to sit down on the floor and rest while Bro looked at the map trying to decide what he would actually go on and not back out of. Time was going on and on and I was mad!!!:mad:

Eventually, after everyone getting a few minutes to rest and calm down, and get a snack, DH convinced Bro to get on Jurrassic Park river adventure! Everything was back to normal and everyone was in a better mood. :woohoo:
I went to the viewing area where the boats come down to watch with DD.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4347.jpg

Finally, their boat came down!

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4348.jpg

DH is the one with his hand up waving at me and Bro is sitting next to him yelling at DH!

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4349.jpg

Both of them were laughing and Bro was yelling something at DH. DD and I waved and then watched them go out of sight again.

They finally came out of the shop and DH told me he was actually the one who got really scared at the top of the big drop but said it was tons of fun!

Coming up...............Dueling Dragons. Will Bro get on?

[mickeysgirl17]

As promised, here are a few pics from Halloween Horror nights from last year. Keep in mind that I didn't attend, it was just DH, Bro and 2 friends of his so he didn't do so great with pictures. These were some of the better ones he got:

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/100_3674.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/100_3669.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/100_3663.jpg

During this night, DH said it was extrememly crowded and they only got to do 3 haunted houses and 3 rides. He went on a Saturday night though so this may have had something to do with it.

The waits for the houses were over 2 hours long and that the lines were actually scarier than the attractions. :scared1: First they went to IOA and rode the Hulk and Dr. Doom and then they went to Universal for the Houses and they rode Jaws.

[bellebud]

glad you're back! enjoying... popcorn::

[mickeysgirl17]

glad you're back! enjoying... popcorn::

Thanks. Glad your still with me!

[ChrisFL]

The waits for the houses were over 2 hours long and that the lines were actually scarier than the attractions. :scared1:

Yeah that's normal for HHN

[mickeysgirl17]

Yeah that's normal for HHN

:scared1:

[MassMom94]

This was back on page 2 (I think), but since you asked - the guy directing traffic was the cartoon character Bullwinkle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullwinkle_J._Moose), who was in a great animated TV show back in the '60s. And yes, I'm old enough to remember!

[mickeysgirl17]

So after DH and Bro got off of Jurrassic Park River Adventure, we headed over to Dueling Dragons. DH really really wanted to ride this because he loves these types of crazy roller coaster rides:crazy2: and he's never been on Dueling dragons before. He would probably pay Island of Adventure admission just to ride the Hulk alone so we knew he would enjoy this.

The whole way there, DH kept asking Bro if he was gonna go on with him since DH hates going on these rides alone because he thinks its much more fun when you go on with someone you know. Bro kept saying he wasn't sure and he would have to see the ride first.

We finally got over there and I snapped a few pics:

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4352.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4353.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4351.jpg

DH wanted to ride fire. The wait said 25 minutes. This is normally a long wait for us since we are used to Disney waits of only 15 minutes or less. (Yes, I do my research and use fastpass a lot so we never wait too long at disney:cheer2: )
Even though the wait was 25 minutes, in our experience, we have noticed that the posted wait time is usually longer than the actual wait time so we didn't think it would really be that long anyway.

DH and Bro went off to ride and I stood behind with DD waiting for them. I noticed that this park was getting really crowded. The whole area at dueling dragons was packed with people, so DD and I just found a small area to sit down and wait..................and wait....................and wait. After about 20 minutes, Bro came out. I don't know where he came from because there was so many people around but he saw me and came over. I didn't see DH and I knew it wasn't even 25 minutes yet, so I knew he chickened out.

At first, he tried to play it off and said he already finished the ride and that DH was riding again and was on line again, but he had a smirk on his face :rolleyes: and I knew he was too scared to ride so he got off the line. :sad2:

DD had to use the bathroom so I told Bro to keep our spot and I took her to the bathroom. We were in there at least 5 minutes. Then we went back to sit down and wait...............and wait....................and wait. 45 minutes had passed and I was wondering what was keeping DH. :confused3
After about an hour and 20 minutes (Yes, that long) DH finally came out and told us it was a really awesome ride. I asked him if he rode both Ice and Fire and he told me only fire. He said the line was very long and a lot longer than 25 minutes.

DUH! I think I noticed. :rotfl:

We moved on to the kids area because we only had a little while left before IOA would close and DD and I really didn't get to do much in this park at all.

First, we wanted to do the high in the sky suess trolley train ride. We got on line which would wind up a ramp. The wait was about 20 minutes but it seemed a lot longer.

This wierd thing was in the middle of the winding queue:

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4356.jpg

I don't know this guy. I just wanted a pic of the train:

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4360.jpg

We finally made it onto the train and fastened our lap bar thing. I sat with DD and DH and Bro were right behind us in the last seat of our train. The lap bar thing was too tight on DD and they had already locked it in place. Poor DD looked like she couldn't breathe so when the lady came by to check if we were secure, I asked her if she could loosen her lap bar a bit before we took off and luckily she did.

Of course, DH being his silly self decided to embarrass me by yelling "tooot toooot" to everyone in the queue line as the ride started....and I don't mean a yell where only the next group of riders would hear, I mean the whole queue down to the people on the very bottom heard! :blush:

The ride itself was very nice with some great views of the park. Sorrry for the blurriness:


http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4355.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4366.jpg

After this, DD decided she wanted to go on the carousel, so we got on the very short line. For some wierd reason, Bro was acting very childish and wierd saying that the carousel looks like it was going fast and would make him dizzy and these two young girls infront of us kept looking at him and laughing. :rotfl2:

Wait to go Bro! :thumbsup2

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4370.jpg

Well, Bro survived and we moved on to One Fish, Two fish, Red fish, Blue fish. While on line, we noticed people were getting wet. I knew the ride made you wet, but that's not what I mean. Actually, it was starting to rain. It was only a drizzle so we just stayed in line.

While waiting in line, bro got very nervous and said he didn't want to ride. DH and I looked at each other and couldn't figure this out. :confused3

A funny story, more craziness with Bro and the weather, and the end of our day at IOA coming up!

[Hollywoodhaha]

Your bro sounds like me.. :rolleyes1
I say that I am going to ride things, I see it, then back out.

Jurassic Park Ride- Rode it twice..NEVER AGAIN.
Mummy- rode it once, maybe again I have no idea..
Dudley Do-Right [aka- too steep ] is my favorite ride & I HATE drops.
It is amazing..maybe because I prefer outside drops to in the dark-inside rides..:wizard:

[bellebud]

still with you... great report!! I'm enjoying it very much! :)

thanks for taking the time to write it and sharing your pics! It's getting me VERY excited for our trip (which is 3 weeks from TODAY!)

[mickeysgirl17]

Thanks for keeping up with me you guys! Update coming soon.

[Metro West]

The waits for the houses were over 2 hours long and that the lines were actually scarier than the attractions.Yup...Friday and Saturday nights are not a good time to go and the Express Pass is a MUST for anytime at HHN.

[mickeysgirl17]

Unfortunately, they couldn't get express passes because 3 of the 4 who went to HHN were in school and only working part time so they were on a budget. They actually waited on those long lines.

[mickeysgirl17]

Ok........I'm back.

So when I left off we were in line for One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish at IOA. It was starting to rain and Bro was nervous for some reason. Bro kept saying he wasn't sure if he wanted to ride. When Dh and I asked why, he said he didn't like the heights. :confused3
WHAT?????
Okay. So I promised a story and here is where it begins: ( I will get back to 1 fish, 2 fish in a sec)
Last year, we went to the Magic Kingdom at Disney. It was me, Dh, DD and we treated my mom and Bro since they had never been to disney at all, ever.
Bro got on Space MT, Splash Mt, Big thunder mountain, Pirates of the caribbean, and the Barnstormer to mention the "thrills".
Now, the strangest part of all of this is that after he did all of this, we got on Aladdin's carpets and he totally freaked out! :scared1:
:confused:
Since the carpet could fit all 5 of us in one, my mom, myself and DD sat in the front. DD would control the height and Dh and Bro sat in the back. Dh would control the tipping forward and backward.
For those of you who never rode this, it's just like Dumbo or 1 Fish, 2 fish except the carpets very gently tip forward and backward but you can control it and its very small movements.
Well, the whole time in the air, Bro was so terrified of falling out of the carpet. He kept yelling at us to bring it down lower and for Dh to stop the tipping back and forth. popcorn::
The whole time, my DD who was 3 was yelling "WWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
But my grown brother who was 20 had his eyes wide shut and was holding on for dear life on a kiddie ride! DH, DD, my Mom and I were all laughing so hard, we didn't even notice the view while up in the air! :rotfl2:
We just don't get it! Even Splash mountain is very high up for the drop and he handled it okay.
Here is the pic of him on Aladdin's carpets and you can tell by his face that he is scared and can't wait to get off:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/disney%20may%202007/100_2727-1.jpg
So, this leads us back to 1 fish, 2 fish...............Bro was too scared to ride because he remembered the carpets and now even after riding Jurrassic Park River adventure, he was questionning this kiddie ride! Makes no sense.
Here is a pic of bro trying to make sense of all this even to himself while waiting on line for 1 fish, 2 fish:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4379.jpg
When it was almost our turn to ride, Bro decided he was going to get off the line and not face his fear :rotfl: so Bro told him to wait at the exit of the ride and not to get lost because we were not gonna go look for him this time.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4380.jpg
We got in our fish and what was that?
OH DEAR!!
I just saw lightning!
:scared1:
I started to wonder if Bro made the right decision by not riding since it was now lightning and we were gonna be up in the air, wet!
Now, I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I really really don't like lightning. I live in Jacksonville, FL and the storms can get pretty bad. We always have tornado warnings and such in the spring and summer and I'm always afraid that lightning which gets pretty bad where I live is gonna come right through the ceiling and strike us! :scared1:
Plus, I lived through a nightmare at the Pirate and Princess party in August at MK with a terrible storm that lasted the whole night and ruined the party!
Well, it looked like it was off in the distance so I'm sure we'll be fine.:scared:

As we were up in the air, DD had a blast. She loves these types of rides, but then after a while, the rain started coming down harder and harder into a full downpour!
When we got off, we had to make a run for it to get to shelter. As we exited the gate, Bro was no where to be found.
Oh well. I have to get my DD under cover!
As we were running, we found The cat in the hat and since the wait was short and it was inside, we got in line.
I remembered reading that the couches spin and that you could ask for a stationary couch, but I didn't because I didn't think the spinning could be that bad since they allow small kids on this thing.
Well, the ride started and I really started to like it. These are my kind of rides. Nicely themed, calm rides.
We tried to grab some pics but then someone came on the loud speaker and said "To the family taking pictures, please put the camera away".
I was completly embarrassed. They must have cameras in the ride (so don't do anything your not supposed to....they're watching!;) )
But........we did manage to get these:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4388.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/UniversalIOA/100_4389.jpg

Again, I apologize for the blurriness.

As the ride progressed, the spinning got worse and worse to the point where I was uncomfortable and didn't like the rotating. I think a stationary couch would have been better even though I like a little spinning.

Do any of you remember The whip? It was a carnival ride I used to go on as a kid at my local church. It was the best ride ever to a kid! Cat in the hat was nothing like it though. The spinning was really too much.
At one point, the ride stopped and I started to wonder if the power went out because of the storm because we were sitting there for a good 5 minutes before we started up again. Thankgoodness, the lights were still on because DD would have flipped out in complete darkness.

Well, after the cat in the hat, the rain was still pouring down so DH offered to run and get DD's stroller and go back to 1 fish, 2 fish to get bro while we waited in the souvenir shop.
DH came back with the stroller, but no Bro!
I took a long shot and asked if Bro was in the restroom, but DH said no, he's lost again!
:scared1:
Unbelievable. Only to Bro can things like this happen. How can you get lost twice in one day? Good job Bro!:thumbsup2
DH said we weren't gonna walk around in the park in the pouring rain, thunder, and lightning so we were gonna wait until the rain slowed down and make a run to the car.
Although the rain stopped, it was still thundering and lighning pretty badly and I'm talking ground lightining here people but DH said we should probably get going now and hope that Bro was smart enough to remember where we parked the car and meet us there.
Bro? Smart? Yeah right.;)
As we were walking, I was truly scared of getting struck by lightning and it was a pretty far walk too, but we eventually made it to the parking garage building and were under shelter. DD had fallen asleep in her stroller while we were walking back so DH told me he was gonna take the elevator up to the next level and for me to go up the escalator and meet him.
That's because DH knows I don't do elevators unless it's an emergency.
The crazy thing is that I have a reservation for the California Grill in the contemporary resort at Disney soon and the only way up is an elevator.
But I'm not worrying about that yet.........
I got to the top of the escalator and by some miracle, I'm telling you, it really is a miracle........I found Bro again! Don't forget, there are thousands and thousands of people exiting the park to there cars and I find him in the middle of all these people. It's just pure luck.
So, I spot him, and he's watching people go up the escalator including me but then I get to the top and he didn't even notice me. He kept watching the people come up the escalator!
HELLO! Earth to Bro. You just watched me come up, but acting like you didn't see me. You don't even recognize your own sister?!!!!!
Strange even for him.
So, we met up with DH who couldn't believe we were all together again and got to our car for an end to our day at Islands of Adventure.

Coming up............It's not over yet. Where we stayed the night, and Old towne plus medieval times.

[mickeysgirl17]

After finally making it out of IOA, we weren't sure exactly where we would be sleeping. I was really hoping that we could just drive around on US 192 where there are dozens of hotels with some great rates too and just find a room. As we were doing this, DH remembered that his cousin lives in Kissimmee but before we went barging in her house at 9pm without any prior notice, he wanted to find a payphone and call her to make sure it was okay.
I was against the idea.
I have no problem with his family, but I thought it might be very rude to just call her and ask her if we could spend the night that late and then with no prior notice. He thought she wouldn't mind at all.
After making our way through ridiculous traffic, we found a payphone and when DH got back in the car, he told me she said sure.
We got lost on the way to her house and it turns out she only lived about 15 min. from Disney.
Lucky girl!
We slept over and the next morning, I was talking to his cousin and she said she hadn't been to disney in over 10 years!!!!
:confused3
Huh?
Is she serious? How could you live 15 min. from DW and not go there? This is very strange to me. :confused:
:rotfl:
Well, we weren't too sure what we were going to do this day before our 7pm reservation at Medieval times but I defenetly wanted to do something.
We all took showers and got dressed and made our way out the door.
The last time we were in this area, we remembered passed this place called
Old Towne. I'm not sure if any of you are familiar with it, but we decided to give it a try.
Luckily, we found it without too much hassle.
For those of you who don't know what it is, Old Towne to me is a shopping district, with some street entertainment and also some rides.
It has an "old" back in the day feel to it.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/old%20town/100_4392.jpg
We parked the car and basically just started to browse the shops. We found one shop that sold magic show items, and tricks so we went in to take a look and the store keeper even showed us some really awesome magic tricks. He was putting the pressure on a bit hard to buy some stuff, but we passed and quickly made a run for it.
After that, I found a small coffee shop that was just adorable. It looked like it came right out of the 50's.
DH asked if I wanted some coffee so we all went in and had hot chocolates. The hot chocolates weren't that sweet and we had to add our own sugar in.
Here are some pics of us as we were hanging around Old Towne.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/old%20town/100_4394.jpg
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/old%20town/100_4395.jpg
We made our way down to the rides and DD became really happy and wanted to get on some rides so DH bought some ride tickets.
Here is DD with some little girl going up and down on this mini Dr.Doom.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/old%20town/100_4401.jpg
These cars bounced up and down as they went around. DD loved the bouncing!
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/old%20town/100_4414.jpg
I don't do tea cups with DH, so DD and DH got on by themselves. Poor DD. She didn't know what she was getting into!
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/old%20town/100_4406.jpg
After she got off, she said she didn't feel too well. :sick:
There was a carousel, so that was next:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/old%20town/100_4418.jpg
After this, we saw this spinning ride. It didn't look too bad, but it did look fun so Bro, DD and I got on one. DH wanted to skip out after the teacups.
While on it, DH got a pic of us. Look at my face!:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/old%20town/100_4428.jpg
The ride was much worse than it looked. At first, it just barely spinned but towards the end, the spinning got to be way too much. It was fast too and we felt our backs being pushed into the back of the ride vehicle. It was very uncomfortable and I did not like it. I was super dizzy when we got off, but laughing.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/old%20town/100_4431.jpg
Before leaving the ride area, DD wanted to go on this small roller coaster, so I went on with her and Bro was on behind us. DH opted to just be the camera guy. This small roller coaster was fun for DD but it didn't feel safe to me. It felt like the whole thing was going to fall off the track! :scared1:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/old%20town/100_4433.jpg
What you see in the back is not the roller coaster. That is for the older people. I would not let DD on that one. This one is much smaller but its hard to tell that its not the same one you see in the background.
Before leaving, we came upon bumper cars.
Bro, DD and I have never been on these ever, so DH said we had to do this.
We had so much fun!
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/old%20town/100_4439.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/old%20town/100_4440.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/old%20town/100_4441.jpg

After the bumper cars, we decided to leave and go look for some bargains in the flea markets in the area before heading over to medieval times.
We love flea markets and I can usually get some great things for good prices without DH complaing that I'm spending too much.

We found a huge place and I had to buy a souvenir so guess what I bought:

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/nybella17girl/old%20town/100_4553.jpg

Yes, that is a watch with Mickey on it. I probably should have bought a souvenir that had something to do with universal, but I couldn't resist. I love watches and my last one broke so I had to get a new one.

Believe it or not, this watch was originally priced for $38, but after DH talking the guy down a bit, I got it for only $20. Not bad.

That is one thing DH is very good at. He can talk people down pretty well and get some good bargains.

Well, I'm gonna stop here for now. Medieval times coming up!

[mickeysgirl17]

Oh no!!!!!!!!!!

Did everyone give up on my TR?

[dmthoma76]

I just found your report, enjoying it very much. My son and I are going in May to Universal and Sea World for the first time, he is eight years old, he has been to Disney the last two years. So this is going to be very different for us.

Thanks for posting,

~Donna

[Metro West]

Still love reading your trip reports. :thumbsup2

Sounds like Bro needs some serious therapy. :rotfl2:

[mickeysgirl17]

Thanks for reading dmthoma76.

Metro West...........I completely agree about the therapy.
Thanks for reading!

[Miz Diz]

enjoying your tr.

Is that green stuff on DHs face Tee Tree Mask from The Body Shop? I have some & my dh uses it sometimes.

[mickeysgirl17]

enjoying your tr.

Is that green stuff on DHs face Tee Tree Mask from The Body Shop? I have some & my dh uses it sometimes.

lol. No, I don't think that's it. Honestly, I have no idea what it is. I even tried looking for it so I could tell you the name of it, but I have no idea where he put it!!!

Thanks for reading.