I-fer? What in the World is an I-fer? Universal/Legoland/Sea World Feb 2015 Updated 5/26x3! The End!

[missangelalexis]

So many great pictures! The shops look so cool, even though you're right that they are pretty small!

The water with the flavoring to put in it sounds like an interesting concept!

Love the owl you picked out

YES what a great shot of the fire!!!

 

[rteetz]

Diagon alley looks fantastic. I am not a huge HP fan I've seen a few of the movies and read a view of the book as well. But as a theme park fan diagon alley is intriguing and makes me want to go see it in person. That dragon picture at the end is definitely 'the shot'! Couldn't get a much better one than that.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

I LOVE all your pictures of Diagon Alley! Your shot of the dragon breathing fire is FANTASTIC!

Your owl is quite adorable - I've been known to purchase a few stuffed animals on my vacations, too!

Although I'm very excited to see Diagon Alley, I'm also pretty excited to see Knockturn Alley and Borgin and Burkes. I promise I'm not a Slytherin... (at least according to Potttermore! ).

You mentioned you sent your packages to the front of the park - where do you pick those up? Does it take a while for them to get there? It's nice to know that that's an option!

 

[Chicago Mo]

Nailed the fire shot!!! Great job..

oh so you know we are looking into two days here.. ALL because of your awesome reporting!!!

 

[KatMark]

Great pictures (of things I know nothing about ). You really got some great shots.

I saw that dragon breathing fire in Rob's TR...very cool!

 

[Pluto0809]

So many great pictures! The shops look so cool, even though you're right that they are pretty small!

The water with the flavoring to put in it sounds like an interesting concept!

Love the owl you picked out

YES what a great shot of the fire!!!

The stores were small but there were a lot of them to explore!

I think the water was just a great way to get you to spend some money. I think Jim paid $8 for both items!

I love my little owl and was pretty pleased with the fire shot.

Diagon alley looks fantastic. I am not a huge HP fan I've seen a few of the movies and read a view of the book as well. But as a theme park fan diagon alley is intriguing and makes me want to go see it in person. That dragon picture at the end is definitely 'the shot'! Couldn't get a much better one than that.

It is a fantastic area to explore but it definitely helps if you have watched all the movies. A lot of the stuff in those areas is based on things in the movies.

I LOVE all your pictures of Diagon Alley! Your shot of the dragon breathing fire is FANTASTIC!

Your owl is quite adorable - I've been known to purchase a few stuffed animals on my vacations, too!

Although I'm very excited to see Diagon Alley, I'm also pretty excited to see Knockturn Alley and Borgin and Burkes. I promise I'm not a Slytherin... (at least according to Potttermore! ).

You mentioned you sent your packages to the front of the park - where do you pick those up? Does it take a while for them to get there? It's nice to know that that's an option!

I was quite pleased with the dragon shot.

I have no problem if you are a Slytherin. I'm a Gryffindor according to Pottermore but Jim is a Slytherin!

Pick up was right before you went through the exit. There was a little store there that we stopped at. We were told it would take about an hour for the package to get to the front and we knew we would be in the park for more than an hour.

Nailed the fire shot!!! Great job..

oh so you know we are looking into two days here.. ALL because of your awesome reporting!!!

Thanks, I do love that shot of the dragon! If you have any questions I haven't answered, let me know! And of course you haven't seen my Legoland stuff yet.......

Great pictures (of things I know nothing about ). You really got some great shots.

I saw that dragon breathing fire in Rob's TR...very cool!

It does help a little to know something about the movies in that area. The dragon is a very cool feature to that area!

 

[Pluto0809]

Jim is an Evil Scientist and Gets Killed by Rocks

We headed out of Diagon Alley into the San Francisco area of US.



The only ride/show (it’s a little of both) in this area is Disaster. Jim participated in this last time we were at Universal and he really wanted to do it again.



We got in line which was right across from Lombard’s Seafood Grille. We ate there in 2012 and it was very good.







It was about this time that Jim informed me that he had lost his park ticket somewhere along the way. Well that sucked for my evening plans. I had planned on heading back to the room at about 4 pm for a break and then coming back to US for dinner at Finnegan’s Bar and Grill. Guess we would either have to stay in the park or have dinner at City Walk again. US also has an evening show but it was not running while we were there or we would have been staying no matter what.

The basic premise of Disaster is that you are there to watch the filming of a cheesy Disaster movie. In the first room they cast several parts for the movie. This poster in that area cracked me up.



One of the roles calls for an “Evil Scientist” and they pick three guys for the role. Jim immediately threw up his hand and jumped up and down and was once again picked.





There’s a second room where the director comes out and talks to the audience about the film. He is supposedly a famous director of disaster movies. The actor playing the famous director was Christopher Walken. It was really dark in the second room and my pictures did not come out.

The third room is where they film the scenes for the movie.



Jim got to wear a lab coat, goggles and a hard hat. I was at a horrible angle for pictures so I didn’t get a lot of good ones.



I got his ear in this next one, LOL.



All the evil scientists had to do was rub their hands together and laugh evilly. Then a bunch of fake rocks fell out of the ceiling on their heads “killing” them.







I pretty much missed the rocks. You can sort of see some blurs at the top of this next photo.





After they filmed all of the scenes, the actors got to rejoin their families and then the load everyone into subway cars for the grand finale. No pictures were allowed from this part on but basically they drive the subway cars into an underground area where an earthquake shakes and rocks you around. Water floods in, a large truck comes through the ceiling at you, etc.

Finally, they back the cars out of the filming area and you get to watch the preview for the film which was called Mutha Nature. Each actor is in the film for about two seconds so even if I could have taken pictures I don’t think I could have captured Jim. We both wished that they sold the video after the ride.

We stopped at a stand outside of Disaster because I was hungry. Lunch had not filled me up at all. Like I said before, that chicken was small. I got a soft pretzel to munch on as we walked towards the New York section. Our next ride would be the Revenge of the Mummy.



Once again our Express Pass allowed us to walk right on the ride. I wish I had paid more attention to the stand by wait times at each ride so I could gauge how much time the pass saved us.









Revenge of the Mummy is a mild indoor coaster (no inversions or big hills) but it has some awesome theming. We both loved it.

It was now time to ride the two rides that were new since we were last at Universal. But first I took a few last shots of the New York area before we moved on.







Up Next: My Brain Screams “Enough!” and Shuts Down

 

[missangelalexis]

I love that Jim was so enthusiastic about being part of Disaster!

Ah I love the Mummy, such a great ride!

Bummer that Jim lost his ticket though

 

[rteetz]

That sucks that Jim lost his ticket.

That's so cool he got picked as an Evil Scientist.

 

[KatMark]

Wow...that first picture it looks like it was really crowded.

I'm sorry Jim lost his ticket.

I think it's awesome that Jim likes to volunteer for this (I think in the past this ride was called "Earthquake"...I remember riding a subway car). Does he do that at Disney for say Indiana Jones?

 

[DMGeurts]

I wish I had more to comment about all of the Diagon Alley pictures - but they are all just so cool! I enjoyed each and every one of them! It looks like such an awesome place - your photos really have me excited! (and yes, I would LOVE it if you could send me the email you had mentioned in my TR... My email is the same name as here at msn.com)

And yes, you did get an awesome dragon picture - it was worth the wait! And that is a cool dragon too! :

Bummer that Jim lost his ticket... IF only he had a magic band...

I love that Jim got involved in Disaster - that's awesome! Great job. Yah - it would have been cool if they sold the videos, it would be fun to see.

Loved your updates here! Thanks for letting me know that you'd done them.

D~

 

[Chicago Mo]

This looks like a LOT of fun. SO funny Jim was hopping around to be picked!!! HA HA HA

yeah i will be bothering you all about how to book!!!

Jim informed me that he had lost his park ticket somewhere along the way.

Couldn't you have gotten a new one?!?!

Christopher Walken.

Best actor ever!

 

[Pluto0809]

I love that Jim was so enthusiastic about being part of Disaster!

Ah I love the Mummy, such a great ride!

Bummer that Jim lost his ticket though

He's definitely much more of an extrovert than I am and loves being in that kind of stuff. As for me, I'm the one hiding in the back hoping to not be picked.

Mummy is a great ride and I loved that it was mild enough for Jim to enjoy also.

I was kind of mad at him for that one!

That sucks that Jim lost his ticket.

That's so cool he got picked as an Evil Scientist.

He loves doing stuff like that and was very happy to get picked again.

Wow...that first picture it looks like it was really crowded.

I'm sorry Jim lost his ticket.

I think it's awesome that Jim likes to volunteer for this (I think in the past this ride was called "Earthquake"...I remember riding a subway car). Does he do that at Disney for say Indiana Jones?

You know, it did feel a little crowded at times but we never had a problem thanks to our Express Passes. It was the first weekend of Mardi Gras so maybe that's why. There was nothing going on that day but people might have been there for the festivities which started on Saturday.

I was not happy with him for losing his ticket!

Jim loves to volunteer for stuff like that. I remember that he tried to get picked on our honeymoon in 1998 but wasn't chosen. We haven't seen the show since then (well I have but on a different trip without him) but I'm sure he would try to get in if we did go see it.

I wish I had more to comment about all of the Diagon Alley pictures - but they are all just so cool! I enjoyed each and every one of them! It looks like such an awesome place - your photos really have me excited! (and yes, I would LOVE it if you could send me the email you had mentioned in my TR... My email is the same name as here at msn.com)

And yes, you did get an awesome dragon picture - it was worth the wait! And that is a cool dragon too! :

Bummer that Jim lost his ticket... IF only he had a magic band...

I love that Jim got involved in Disaster - that's awesome! Great job. Yah - it would have been cool if they sold the videos, it would be fun to see.

Loved your updates here! Thanks for letting me know that you'd done them.

D~

Glad you enjoyed the Diagon Alley pictures. There was lots more to see that I didn't photograph and I'm sure you will enjoy the area.

The dragon was very cool! I think he breaths fire every 15 - 20 minutes, he starts roaring first so listen for that and you will see the fire.

I wouldn't put it past him to lose a Magic Band too! So far he hasn't done that but I could easily see it happening.

I do wish I had the video to share with you guys, it was so funny and cheesy!

This looks like a LOT of fun. SO funny Jim was hopping around to be picked!!! HA HA HA

yeah i will be bothering you all about how to book!!!



Couldn't you have gotten a new one?!?!


Best actor ever!

He is definitely an extrovert and loves that stuff unlike me!

I sent some e-mails to D~ that I put together for my brother and SIL when the went last year. If you would like them also, PM me your e-mail and I'll forward them.

We probably could have gotten him a new one but that would have been a trip to the front of the park to guest services. At this point in the day I wasn't all that worried since there are so many good places to eat at City Walk.

 

[Pluto0809]

My Brain Screams “Enough!” and Shuts Down Part 1

The Transformers ride was the first one that had not been there in 2012. I had heard this was similar to the Spiderman ride so I was looking forward to it because we really enjoyed Spiderman. Horrible, blurry pictures from the line.







My brain does not handle 3D very well. I cannot watch a full length movie in 3D without getting a splitting headache. But I can handle the short films and rides that you see in amusement parks these days. Well this was 3D ride #4 for the day and my brain had had enough. About halfway through the ride it just completely shut down on me. It was the weirdest feeling but I could no longer process the scenes that were coming at me at that moment. Then everything went silent and I thought, did I go deaf too? But no, the ride was just broken and we stopped and sat there for about 10 minutes. It was a bit of a relief but I still didn’t do very well processing the ride after it started back up again. I honestly could not tell you what I thought of the ride at all! My biggest fear at that moment was that they were going to send us through again since it broke down. But instead they just gave us a pass that was good for one trip through the Express line. This was of course useless to us since we already had an unlimited Express Pass.

We exited the ride and headed towards the next destination. But as we were walking, we saw that Optimus Prime was out for meet and greets and the line was very short. Well, why not, we got in line. This is really just a photo op, you aren’t even allowed to get near the Transformer. Boy, I can sure tell I was frazzled at this point.



The other ride we missed in 2012 because it didn’t open till a few months after we were there was the Despicable Me ride. Once again this was 3D but I didn’t want to miss it so we got in the Express Line. I did notice the wait time on this one, it was 45 minutes. We were in the door in less than 5 so there was at least 40 minutes saved. Some photos from the pre-show area.







The show was in a theater similar to most 3D shows but it had little pods with four seats in each. We were unfortunately seated with a couple that was very Pooh sized. I was squished up against Jim the whole time because half my seat was taken by them. We still enjoyed this one a little more than Transformers. The 3D effects weren’t so fast paced so I was able to process a little better.

After the ride, there is a dance party with the Minions and then you can get a photo with them.



When we exited that area I realized we would have to hurry a bit to make the last Horror Make-Up Show. This was the only show that we saw in 2012 that we did not want to miss this time. We actually liked it so much that we saw it twice in 2012. The next show was at 3:45 and it was now a little after 3:30. We fast walked there and made it with no problem. There were a ton of displays in the lobby so we walked around and checked them out.







They let the Express Pass holders in first so we were able to get seats front and center.



This show is amazing. I didn’t take any photos during the show because I was so caught up in the action. The show consists of two actors who demonstrate how some of the effects from horror movies are accomplished. There is a lot of humor in the show and a few scary, make you jump moments. I highly recommend taking the time to see this one if you ever make it to Universal.

The dump store for this show has a bunch of movie and TV stuff including Star Wars so we spent some time looking around. I remember seeing Dr. Who stuff, Big Bang Theory and Terminator (the Terminator show also dumps into the same store). I know there was a bunch more that I can’t remember now. Jim ended up getting a Star Wars cup.





We had discussed going to see the Terminator show because we liked it in 2012 but it was once again in 3D. I told Jim I didn’t think I could handle one more 3D thing and he agreed so we headed towards the exit. I thought of Kathy and Mark when I saw this next store. I bet they would have a blast in here.



Universal Studios has an afternoon parade called the “Superstar Parade”. I had no plans on watching it because Jim strongly dislikes parades. But as we were exiting, the parade came around the corner and we were basically stuck because we had to cross the street to exit. So we ended up watching it any way. Unlike Disney, we had no problem at all finding a spot to watch. Up first was Despicable Me.













Continued in Next Post

 

[Pluto0809]

My Brain Screams “Enough!” and Shuts Down Part 2

Then it was time for a little Sponge Bob.









We got to see some more of the Hop float.









The final float was Dora the Explorer and it stopped right in front of us.





I was surprised to see that Universal had their own version of the Tumble Monkeys!



















Towards the end, I took out my phone so I could take a picture of the Monkey’s to post on Facebook. This one particular Monkey saw me taking pictures and started making faces at me. Sorry it’s a little blurry but I was using my phone at this point.



The parade was by no means up to Disney standard but it was cute and I did enjoy the Monkey’s on the Dora the Explorer float. I didn’t even bother to ask Jim what he thought.

Up Next: Finishing Off the Night

 

[missangelalexis]

I'm sorry you didn't have a good experience on Transformers

The Despicable Me line is always so long! Express Pass definitely comes in handy there. Glad you handled this one better. And yay for getting pics with the minions!

I definitely need to put the Makeup Show on my list for the next time I visit Universal!

Cute parade pictures!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

That's a bummer that the 3-D movies caught up with you! At least you weren't disappointed that the attraction broke down.

I've always been curious about the Horror Make-up Show - I think your glowing endorsement pushes it onto the "must-do" list!

 

[rteetz]

That sucks that the 3D caught up to you and that the ride broke down.

Despicable me looks like one thing I would want to do.

The make up show looks like fun.

 

[mrsabbott]

Lovely pictures! I didn't try the Transformers ride, but I did get woozy on the Despicable Me ride.. My brain also had a hard time processing it. Halfway through, I ended up taking the 3D glasses off.

 

[Chicago Mo]

It was the weirdest feeling but I could no longer process the scenes that were coming at me at that moment. Then everything went silent and I thought, did I go deaf too?

At first i was really scared for you.. Then i had to laugh! the ride stopped. i probably would have thought the same. "I'm dead. this is what death is"
you poor thing!

couple that was very Pooh sized.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

your killing me today!

I am NOT a dora fan.. she screams instead of talks.. But to have the tumble monkeys is cool! love your pictures as always and i do love your report.. I thought you had me email! sending now.