Welcome, Foolish Muggles! IoA/US/MK/SW *July 2013 Trip Report Link*

[natebenma]

You mentioned on Rip Saw Falls how you were told to put the camera away. I was totally shocked when I saw your photos from Jaws. We had the camera nazi on our boat when we rode. The boat operator asked that all cameras be put away and when one rider kept filming, he stopped the boat and said we wouldn't move until the camera was put away. It made me nuts how they wouldn't allow camera's.

This also happened to me in August I was sad not to have any pics.

Feel free to borrow any of my pics.

I have been know to, ahem, copy off photos from the DIS if I don't have decent ones. A few years back, I actually printed some off and put them in my photo albums (like decent Haunted Mansion or Pirates photos). Really annoyed my friends. They would say "GREAT picture" "Yeah, it's not mine"

But I never post them here unless I have permission from the photographer.

 

[ddluvsdisney]

Feel free to borrow any of my pics.

I have been know to, ahem, copy off photos from the DIS if I don't have decent ones. A few years back, I actually printed some off and put them in my photo albums (like decent Haunted Mansion or Pirates photos). Really annoyed my friends. They would say "GREAT picture" "Yeah, it's not mine"

But I never post them here unless I have permission from the photographer.

Thanks Dee!! That's a great idea I would never feel comfortable doing that unless you said it was ok.

 

[jmskinner]

Feel free to borrow any of my pics.

I have been know to, ahem, copy off photos from the DIS if I don't have decent ones. A few years back, I actually printed some off and put them in my photo albums (like decent Haunted Mansion or Pirates photos). Really annoyed my friends. They would say "GREAT picture" "Yeah, it's not mine"

But I never post them here unless I have permission from the photographer.

At least you admit to them not being yours.

 

[jmskinner]

I rode Jaws twice, and Ben/Mark rode it a couple more times- we weren't told to put away our cameras on this ride, but I have seen the comment on a few TRs lately (mmmrmustard), specifically with Jaws. I don't know if the camera restriction thing is new. I personally experienced it on Jurassic Park and Ripsaw Falls.

We were there two years ago.

 

[natebenma]

We were there two years ago.

You know, I have never checked out your Universal (and other) park TR- I'll have to go back and take a look.

 

[natebenma]

Two opted for adrenaline. Two went for wet.

We split up again, this time carefully making sure everyone had the right tickets and room keys!

Mark and Nate ended their time at Marvel Superhero Island with Spiderman and a couple more rides on Hulk.

Ben and I took a ride on Jurassic Park River Adventure and one more turn on Ripsaw Falls.

I have already used all of my Jurassic Park River Adventure pictures earlier in my report. After our ride, Ben asked if we could go into the standby line. But he didn’t want to ride. He wanted to look at the miniature mock-up of Isla Nublar. Ben loves these little models:

The ride attendant who saw us taking the pictures asked if we wanted a picture of us together:

There was time for a little splashing here:

Then we rode on Ripsaw Falls again.

My camera was stowed for most of the ride, but of course it had to come out for the final drop!

As we were leaving, I asked someone to take our picture. I love this one!

A couple more pictures in Toon Lagoon:

As we were headed out of the park, we made a stop in the large shop near the entrance/exit. We looked at the wands and a few other things, but I was able to convince Ben that we didn’t need to buy anything.

One last look at the closed Lone Palm Airport Bar- I guess it is not “Five O’Clock Somewhere” We never did make it there.

I don’t have many pictures of people dressed for the Wizarding World, but here is one:

A boat to Portofino was just pulling out as we arrived at the City Walk dock (10:06), but we got on the next one (10:10). An exchange of texts revealed that Mark and Nate were on the boat ahead of us.

We met up again in the concierge lounge for breakfast. When we finished, we returned to our room, checked out at the desk and left our bags with Bell Services.

Next Up: Horror at the Studios! ( or not)

 

[bubba's mom]

hhhmmm....so THAT is what the stand-by line looks like in JP?





I've only ever been in a couple of standby lines...and that wasn't one of them. Thanks for showing them!

and the huge store at the entrance/exit is Traders. Upon the masses entering the park (or leaving the park), we avoid the crowds by cutting thru that store. (insider tip)

Do you know, you coulda probably made it back to PBH at the same time as the guys on the boat ahead of you if you'd walked?

 

[natebenma]

hhhmmm....so THAT is what the stand-by line looks like in JP?





I've only ever been in a couple of standby lines...and that wasn't one of them. Thanks for showing them!

and the huge store at the entrance/exit is Traders. Upon the masses entering the park (or leaving the park), we avoid the crowds by cutting thru that store. (insider tip)

Do you know, you coulda probably made it back to PBH at the same time as the guys on the boat ahead of you if you'd walked?

We didn't do any standby lines either. Although I understand that the ones for Mummy, Spiderman and Men in Black are really interesting and give some cool backstory to the rides. Still not worth it, though!!!

Ben is the one who spotted the model. We only got into the line long enough to snap 10 or a dozen photos of the island. I only posted a few, though.

Yeah, walking. We'll see how that works out in a little bit.

 

[DrMomof3]

Once again, awesome pictures!
You really know how to maximize your fun time on these trips. We're starting to take a more relaxed approach to touring but that will probably change as our kids age a bit.

Amanda

 

[bubba's mom]

Although I understand that the ones for Mummy, Spiderman and Men in Black are really interesting and give some cool backstory to the rides. Still not worth it, though!!!

Out of those 3, I've only been thru MIB's regular line (it was an early entry day and that was the only reason we went ). Anyhow, the ONLY difference w/ the MIB line is-there is the "worms lunchroom". I have that pic in one of my TR's somewhere, but with that being the ONLY difference, would NOT be worth the wait in standby line.

 

[Marlton Mom]

Feel free to borrow any of my pics.

I have been know to, ahem, copy off photos from the DIS if I don't have decent ones. A few years back, I actually printed some off and put them in my photo albums (like decent Haunted Mansion or Pirates photos). Really annoyed my friends. They would say "GREAT picture" "Yeah, it's not mine"

But I never post them here unless I have permission from the photographer.

My favorite "borrow" of yours was the "TinkerBILL" picture!!!!!

Scale model loving Ben would love it at my house. For Christmas we do a killer train layout. He sounds like the type of kid who would really enjoy that. Do you guys do one at your house?

~MM

 

[natebenma]

My favorite "borrow" of yours was the "TinkerBILL" picture!!!!!

Scale model loving Ben would love it at my house. For Christmas we do a killer train layout. He sounds like the type of kid who would really enjoy that. Do you guys do one at your house?

~MM

And that pic, one of my favorites also, is "borrowed". Robo posts it whenever a question about Tinkerbell flying comes up.

We don't do an elaborate train set up. We have a bunch of those ceramic villages (Dept 56, Dickens) and lodge scenes.

And Legos. Oh the Legos!!! We literally call our living room "The Lego Room" We have bins and bins and we spent a significant part of our last Christmas school break sorting the pieces by color. Good times!

 

[natebenma]

Once again, awesome pictures!
You really know how to maximize your fun time on these trips. We're starting to take a more relaxed approach to touring but that will probably change as our kids age a bit.

Amanda

Thanks, again! The kids have only been exposed to aggressive touring. I don't know if they know there is another way! But I don't think they would like it, even if they knew.

Out of those 3, I've only been thru MIB's regular line (it was an early entry day and that was the only reason we went ). Anyhow, the ONLY difference w/ the MIB line is-there is the "worms lunchroom". I have that pic in one of my TR's somewhere, but with that being the ONLY difference, would NOT be worth the wait in standby line.

The worms lunchroom thing sounds interesting. Same deal with Disney. There are some really interesting queues, but if you can FP and avoid the wait, that's the way to do it. Toy Story is worth going through once a trip, though.

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Found your TR from following bubba's mom trippie (yes I know - I'm always late to the party LOL) ... I am thoroughly enjoying reading along and can't wait to read the remaining installments

B

 

[natebenma]

Found your TR from following bubba's mom trippie (yes I know - I'm always late to the party LOL) ... I am thoroughly enjoying reading along and can't wait to read the remaining installments

B

Glad to have you here!

Bubba'smom is here too, helping to fill in the gaps!

 

[eandesmom]

One last look at the closed Lone Palm Airport Bar- I guess it is not “Five O’Clock Somewhere” We never did make it there.

[/B]

You guys did a good job of getting soaked!!!

So weird about the Lone Palm, I never saw it closed when we were there (or at least after 11? I imagine it was at 7am. )

I've never seen the JP stuff either

 

[natebenma]

You guys did a good job of getting soaked!!!

So weird about the Lone Palm, I never saw it closed when we were there (or at least after 11? I imagine it was at 7am. )

I've never seen the JP stuff either

We could have gotten even more soaked if we did the Popeye ride again, but that was a bit much, even for me!

It was a little after 10 when we went by the Lone Palm, so I'm sure it was going to open up soon.

I was pretty impressed that Ben had spotted the model of the JP Island. It was worth a closer look and about a dozen photos!

 

[natebenma]

It was time to make our final visit to a park. Since it was around 11 am, and very hot, we got in line for the boat. It filled pretty quickly and there was no room for us, so we decided to walk instead. I’m not sure it was the right choice. We were pretty hot and uncomfortable by the time we arrived at the Studios.

The boys wanted to go to the Simpsons’ attraction and Men in Black. I wanted to see the Hollywood Horror Makeup show at 12:30. The reviews I had heard about this show said that this hilarious show is a must-do.

Unfortunately, shows are pretty low on the priority list for everyone else in my family.

We hoofed it pretty quickly through Hollywood to the Simpsons.

We did not have a very long wait for the ride. I think it was around noon when we headed towards MIB, and I knew that riding this would cut it very close for being able to see the show.

We formulated a plan. We would ride Men in Black, then Ben and I would go to the show while Mark and Nate did their own thing, which consisted of riding Men in Black again and a couple more rides on Mummy. We would meet in front of Macy’s in NYC.

After riding Men in Black, I looked at my watch. It was 12:17- Ben and I rushed to our goal- past the Simpsons ride, past the Kwik-E-Mart towards the theater, past the outskirts of Woody Woodpecker’s Kid Zone

And between us and the theater was this:

We had to wait for the parade to pass us before we could dash to the lobby, where we found a couple of Team Members sweeping the floor. The doors to the theatre were closed and we couldn’t get in. Missed it by that much!

I was, and am disappointed that I didn’t see the show. Especially since getting back and reading a several reviews raving about how good it is!

Our backup plan was to ride ET, which we did.

We encountered the Delorean and train from the Back to the Future movie series on our way to meet the other guys.

After reuniting, Nate and I took a final ride on the Mummy.

Nate considered riding Rip Ride Rocket, but this attraction does not have an Express Line. Wait time was listed at 40 minutes.

We decided we were

So we made the journey back to the Portofino for some lunch and to wait for our ride to the airport.


Next up: A Not-So-Magical-Express to the Airport

 

[ddluvsdisney]

Too bad you didn't get to the show. We didn't see that either probably for the same reason-not high on priority list. My kids loved MIB too went on that quite a few times. I liked E.T. thought it was cute.

hey Dee I have a question you might be able to answer if not I'll post it somewhere- We are renting a car in April b/c we're staying in my parents timeshare. We were going to rent a minivan but have my parents drop us off at the parks a couple of days so they could do their own thing and visit a friend. How can we do this without them having to pay for parking?? Where can we just get dropped off?

 

[bubba's mom]

uh-oh...comin to an end


Looks like a funfilled, packed morning tho! GOTTA go out with a bang

I'm sorry you missed the show...it is a decent one to catch. Maybe next time??








oh...and I guess I shouldn't mention the shortcut around the parade?