A little of everything WDW YES MNSSHP US/IOA Seaworld Legoland and more FINISHED

[khertz]

Great Universal pics!! You just can't beat that onsite Express Pass. We always loved that perk of staying at their resorts. Luckily we were there last in December and weren't staying onsite, but we didn't need it because there were no lines. Looks like you made a good choice on getting the room for the night instead! It has been SO long since we have been to Universal...really hoping we can work it into our next trip! I'm a Harry Potter freak, and it just kills me that I haven't seen Wizarding World yet!

 

[reelmom]

I am loving your TR. We stayed onsite at Universal for the first time this past summer. It is awesome to have unlimited express pass. I am looking forward to more of your trip, especially Harry Potter.

 

[Joyciemc]

I don't get the preshow of this one. It talks about how we're going to be tortured in the dungeon, but then the actual show has NOTHING to do about torture chambers or dungeons or anything. All their other pre-shows set up the actual ride, but this one doesn't.

Get out of my brain cells!! I am preeeeety sure I wrote almost this exact same thing in a TR from a couple years ago. Great minds and all that

Love your Universal updates- I agree, never go without Express Pass!

 

[Chelley00]

I'm a Harry Potter freak, and it just kills me that I haven't seen Wizarding World yet!

I am looking forward to more of your trip, especially Harry Potter.

Harry Potter review coming up soon!

Get out of my brain cells!! I am preeeeety sure I wrote almost this exact same thing in a TR from a couple years ago. Great minds and all that

No way. Seriously? I kept waiting for the torture, and there was no torture!



October 15th
Universal Studios
"I'm not buying you a puppy"


DS is finally tall enough to ride The Mummy. He's also a chicken and master negotiator.

DD rode The Mummy on our last Universal trip when she barely squeezed under the height. And it traumatized her.

And she passed on that trauma to her brother. Multiple times. So naturally, he was too scared to ride it. So the bargaining began.

"What's it going to take? Candy? Toys? Pool time?"

"A puppy."

Yeah, not happening. I left him in a gift shop with my mom and drug (and yes, drug) DD on The Mummy.

"But, I hate this ride".

"Yeah, well, Miss Thang, I hate Rockin Roller Coaster, but I rode it FOURTEEN times with you on your birthday trip. Seven times in a row one day. PLUS, I gave birth to you. Eleven hours of labor. You OWE me"


I have no shame when it comes to making them do things for me. Especially on a ride as great as The Mummy.

After The Mummy I tried to get her to ride Rip Ride Rockit, but she declined politely. It was time for dinner reservations anyhow, so we headed out to CityWalk.

My mom and stepdad are big Nascar fans (ick) so I thought she'd enjoy Nascar Grille. It was horrible bar food, and they screwed up my order and our waiter was a bomb so it's firmly on our "Skip it" list next time.

I asked if anyone wanted to head back to Universal to reride anything, or to try something we had missed, but I got an all around "no" and "can we swim?" We took the water taxi back to RPH

and then went to the car and drove back to WBC. We took the kids down to the pool for awhile and I spent some time in the hot tub. I kept forgetting to put money in my bag and we didn't put charging privileges on our room keys, so I never got a pool bar drink

We headed back upstairs to get the kids in fast showers and then out on the balcony to watch fireworks. Tonight we were thrilled to see we could see both Illuminations (left) and Wishes (right)

We went to bed directly after the fireworks because we had an early morning ahead of us.

 

[Chelley00]

October 16th
Islands of Adventure
"We're off to see the wizards. And not the ones in Oz."


The alarm went off early. Blech. It's vacation, and I actually am getting up earlier than I do when I'm going to work. Seriously? There aren't many things that will get me up this early, but finally getting to see Wizarding World of Harry Potter is one of those things.

Our last trip my Brother and SIL went but we stayed behind to give them a date day and we spent another day at Disney. I didn't want to spend the money on tickets, and DS wasn't tall enough for Forbidden Journey.

Not this time.

We drove back to RPH and parked in the parking lot, then took the water taxi to Citywalk.

We walked over to IOA and were in line at 7:30 for the 8am early entry. I was surprised by the line, but it didn't get much longer behind us which was nice.

They opened the doors at 7:45 and we were off. Well, almost

My mom can't find her ticket.

Are you kidding me? She tried to use her Express pass to get in, and of course that didn't work. I love her, but for this, I'd leave her behind

She finally dug in the bottom of her bag and came up with it. Yay.

And this is when I urge them into a near jog.

"I swear, this is the only time today I will ask you to walk like this. There are only a couple times on vacation you need to hoof it....today and at DHS for Toy Story Mania fastpasses. I promise once we are there we will slow down. If you let anyone pass you, no dessert for a week."

And finally.

It's beautiful. You really feel like you step into the books and movies. It's too small though. The shops and everything should be so much bigger, including the walkways. I just couldn't get over the whole atmosphere and you really just felt there.

I knew we wanted to do Olivander's first. We got right in line and were the second group to go in. The guy standing out talking with us was amazing. He asked DD what had happened to her arm and she automatically quipped "Quidditch injury"

I think DD was pretty disappointed that she didn't get picked. The girl they did pick was totally not into it too, which rubbed salt in the wounds a little.

Once we got out of there (without buying anything, DD and DS have wands that my brother and SIL bought on their trip last time) we headed back for Forbidden Journey.

And DS starts the negotiating...............

 

[Chelley00]

October 16
Islands of Adventure
"You only have to ride it once. Or maybe twice"

One thing that you can't tell from anyone's pictures is how amazingly crazy huge Hogwarts is. It takes up so much space and is so tall.

Mom decides she'll walk through the que with us and then duck off with our bags. We get to the entrance and......

DS puts on the brakes.


"I can't ride it"
"yes, you can. And you are"

Then he launches into 1,000 questions. He's like this. He has to know everything that's going to happen before it happens. He likes advanced information.

"Is it scary? Is it high? Are there loops? Is there fire?"

Here's my answer:


"I have no frigging clue. I've never ridden it. Let's go find out together You know the rule. You have to try everything at least once. If you hate it, you'll never have to ride it again"

And somehow, that, and a promise that I wouldn't let go of his hand, was enough

Mom ducks off with our bags and DS is in mini-panic attack mode. This is when I pull out the bribes. $5 of candy from Honeydukes. For sister too. That's the ticket. He walks right on, grabs my hand and holds on for dear life.

It was fabulous. I mean crazy. And scary. And amazing. It's nothing like anything we've ever ridden before.

We get off and DD and I are going on and on about how great it was and DS says "I didn't like it."


We find Granny on a nice cushy bench in the shade and we're gushing about the ride. Well, DD and I are. My mom suggests we ride it again before the crowds get back there and the line gets long. Well, yeah! So we turn to go again, dragging DS with me.

"But it's so cool. And so fun"

"But you said I only had to ride it once and if I hated it, I didn't have to do it again".

"Well, in all fairness, you didn't say you hated it. You said you didn't like it."

Now, before you call CPS on me, had he started freaking out or crying or something, I would have left him with my mom. However, he was willingly walking through the que with me again, no tears or dragging of feet, so apparently he wasn't too traumatized. He walked right on and buckled in and grabbed my hand and never uttered a sound through the ride, so I'm not feeling too guilty about making him ride it twice

 

[Madzac]

This is awesome!!! We have never been to Universal. I always have a hard time thinking of less time at disney since we never are able to go more than a week. Plus we have a very adventurous 5 yr old not yet tall enough for much. We are HUGE HP fans so wow, that looks amazing!

The hotel looks lovely too... I wish they had onsite rooms for a family of 6! Even for one night to get the passes!

Cant wait to read more!!!!

 

[pascalstongue]

I'm joining the party late but am enjoying your TR so far.
We are going for 14 nights next May and I haven't been back to Florida for 9 years so I'm looking forward to seeing what's new.
I can't wait to get to WWOHP. It looks amazing!!

 

[reelmom]

I'm glad you talked your son into riding Forbidden Journey. That ride is so amazing. There is no explaining it, just simply amazing.

 

[Chelley00]

Plus we have a very adventurous 5 yr old not yet tall enough for much. We are HUGE HP fans so wow, that looks amazing!

Honestly, I'd wait until your 5 year old is taller. We went in 2008 and the little kids were so bored. There wasn't anything next to the big rides that the little kids could so, so we did a lot of sitting. It was nice this year because they could pretty much ride everything they wanted.

I can't wait to get to WWOHP. It looks amazing!!

It's amazing. I've seen so many pictures, including ones my brother took on our last trip when they went without us, and you just can't describe it until you see it.

I'm glad you talked your son into riding Forbidden Journey. That ride is so amazing. There is no explaining it, just simply amazing.

It so is! I tried to describe it to DH and just couldn't get it across how so very crazy it was.



October 16
Islands of Adventure
Can we talk DS into one more ride??



I knew I'd never get DS back on Forbidden Journey, and there was more fun to be had, so we moved on to Flight of the Hippogriff. Mom was happy on her shaded bench and not willing to try it, so the kids and I went and rode it twice

I asked DD if she wanted to ride Dueling Dragons, but she quickly said no. We collected Granny from her bench and headed out to shop.

First we had to go to Honeydukes to let DS and DD pick out their bribe from riding Forbidden Journey

Then to Zonkos (puking pastilles - snicker)

and then we had to try some Butterbeer.

and then over to Hogwarts Express. We always tease my mother about her photography skills. Can you see why? Before I post it, let me just say this is the best of 9 shots

At this point, it's still only 8:50. We still have 10 minutes before official park opening and we have pretty much done everything in WWOHP except Dueling Dragons. DD is still a no go (and I won't ride it unless I have to ride it with her) so I look at DD and say "one more go on Forbidden Journey while there is no line?" and she says "Well, yeah". DS opted to hang with Granny. No amount of bribery worked. At one point my bid was up to $20! And he still said no. Surprised??

We came out a little after 9 and saw the masses pouring in to WWOHP, so we decided to make our exit and let DS take the lead to what he's been waiting for "his whole long life"!

 

[melifeld]

Subbing

 

[Chelley00]

Subbing

Thank you and welcome!


well, after taking a really long hiatus, I've had a couple of people ask me to finish my trip report considering we did so many different parks. Thankfully I still have notes so it should be pretty easy to do.




October 16th
Island of Adventure
"I finally get to ride it!"


DS was just a few days shy of 3 the last time we went to Universal and, even though he is a HUGE dino fan, was way too small to ride Jurassic Park. He was so excited to find out that he could finally ride it. We were seated in the middle, with no one else on the ride with us. Too early to get wet I suppose. We didn't get too wet, which was nice since it sort of cool.

Okay, so we didn't get wet, but DS decided that wasn't good enough so he had to check out the Splash Zone

And of course, the required "Oh no it's a dinosaur" picture

We spent a few minutes exploring the Discovery Center.

You have to watch a dino egg hatch. So lame, but DS thinks it's cool, and he got to pick the name...the ever original "Rex"

DD checking out the fossils

I'm mixed on the Discovery Center. It's a good idea, but there is just so much more they could do with it to make it more fun and interesting. For me, it has benches, so Mom and I had a chance to sit down and take a break for awhile.

After that DD and DS took a turn on Pteradon Flyers. He wanted to ride again, but she didn't, so we took advantage of them being walk ons and I went with DS instead. Last trip it was a ridiculously long wait so we didn't go. They load so slow and the ride is very short, so I wouldn't wait long for it.

Granny took a picture of us

and we took a picture of them

We finally convinced DS to leave Jurassic Park and head towards the next land with the promise that we'd let him get soaked because it was starting to get really warm. I should know better than to make promises........

 

[Chelley00]

We continued on the circle and made it to the next area Toon Lagoon.

I love looking around Toon Lagoon, it's so colorful and fun. Our first stop was going to be Dudley Do Right. DS loves log flumes and it was warm enough to get wet. We get to the bridge looking overlooking the flume ride and there is no water running. DS was heartbroken!

It's okay, we'll head over to Popeye's ride. Only they have that entire section roped off!

Apparently we aren't supposed to get wet today!

We finished our walk around Toon Lagoon

Well, Toon Lagoon totally turns out to be a bust. It's still early, so we should have time to make another circle through if everyone is up to it, so we once again promise DS a ride to get wet later, and keep on our merry way towards the Super Heroes.

Where, DD chickens out......

 

[Chelley00]

I'm starting to feel like I'm talking to myself


October 16th
Islands of Adventure
DD the chicken?

Our first stop in Super Hero Island was a quick ride on Spiderman. Mom was a little nervous about having her head bounced around, so she waited. We rode it once and then went back and got her and told her it really wasn't that bad and I thought she would be fine riding it. She liked it so much we did it twice

After our marathon trips on Spiderman, where the loading attendant knew us by sight at that point, we headed across the street to meet Spidey himself.

He wanted to know how DD had hurt her "web slinger"

Now, this is where DD surprises me. She turns into a total chicken.

DD is our daredevil. Always has been. This girl made me ride RNR 14 times in 2 days. She's ridden every coaster we've ever put in front of her. She's already skipped Dueling Dragons. Now she won't go on Dr Doom Fearfall OR The Hulk. I'm willing to ride them with her once. She won't budge. No matter what bribe I offer. She doesn't give.

And so we take a quick picture of Dr Doom (without DS who decides he's too scary looking)

and then we continue on our way to Seuss Landing and (a grossly terrible) lunch

 

[Chelley00]

October 16th
IOA
We should have eaten green eggs and ham

As we started making our way to Seuss Landing, we ran across this guy

Now, I'm not sure why they don't park him back by his roller coaster, but I'm not a theme park planner My mom was thrilled to see him. "I didn't know this place was going to have characters too!"

How can you not love Seuss

First up was lunch. We skip over Green Eggs and Ham because, well, I'm allergic to eggs and ham just wasn't going to cut it. Huge mistake. We went to Circus McGurkus instead and it was a total disaster. Huge long wait, terrible workers with bad attitudes and they had NOTHING I could eat. NOTHING. I had pretzels I had brought with me and everyone else had cold greasy food. Blech. However the kids enjoyed waving at people on the trolley above our table.

So, bellies full of barely edible stuff, let's go ride

Thankfully, the rides here are kiddie rides and pretty tame so there was no chance of barfing.

We backtracked to the entrance of the land and started our way back around on rides. First up, Cat in the Hat. The kids like it so much we had to do it twice. I heart Express Pass! We walked past everyone.

Now, a quick proud "mommy" moment. Not of my kids, but of my mom. My mom has a desperate fear of heights, which is funny for someone who is 6 foot tall She doesn't do ladders, and honestly, I'm surprised our 8th floor condo wasn't giving her hives (just don't look down) Our last trip we did convince her to ride BTMR, but that's ALL she rode that could be "high". When we got to One Fish Two Fish, she got right into line with us. She was determined not to let her fear keep her off of everything this time.

I sent this picture to my step-dad. His response "That's not your mom".

Um, yes it is!


While we were in the air we see a very bored because no one is in line Sam I Am and "Guy" fighting. They were punching each other, giving each other noogies and everything. It was a hoot. As soon as our ride was done we went over there to play.

Poor DS

When we told them we had watched them fighting, they grabbed each other for a hug

The Grinch was next in line. He signed there stuff, sighed, took a picture, then pretended to pick his nose and flick it at DS.

The Cat in the Hat was next in line. Some of the best character interaction we had all week came here

Their show was starting in a few minutes, but the kids opted to skip it in favor of more rides.

Caroseussel

While on the carousel we met a family getting ready to head to WWOHP. They were talking to our kids about riding it, and the daughter there with her teenagers and her mom were saying they were going to try and get grandma on Forbidden Journey, even though she hated roller coasters or heights or scary things (and she was significantly older than my mom). I had to laugh a little when she said she thought it was just a simulator ride like Despicable Me or something. Holy cow, no way. We finally convinced her to leave Grandma on a bench

And then the trolley. The guy loading people onto the trolley was great. He said he had the greatest job ever and had retired to work hanging out at Universal all day.

Just a hint. Don't pull the lap harness down too far. It sticks and you will not be able to move or breathe until the ride is over. DS did it, and they had to "release" his lap bar and have him pull it down a little slower this time.

 

[Chelley00]

October 16
IOA/Universal
Universal's own Characterpalooza


Next up in line was Poisedon's Fury. The wait time said 10 minutes so we hopped in line.

Now, I'm not sure how they calculate the wait time, but they were SO off. SO SO off. We waited in line in the dark cavern for at least 30. The kids were complaining and my mom's extra greasy lunch was causing her some issues. She ended up asking to leave the line. Not too long after they let us in a room, but we got shoved way in a back corner and it just wasn't worth it since neither kid could see anything around the football players in front of us, so we asked to be excused as well. What a disappointment, especially since it was closed on our last trip.

At this point we've done everything in IOA on our list, and it's only 1pm. This makes me a HUGE fan of Express Pass. It was pretty busy but we walked right onto everything.

So now I set forth the choice for everyone else. We have options:

1. Make another loop around IOA and ride things again
2. Head over to Universal to ride what we missed yesterday
3. Pool time

Mom and DD vote for Universal. DS votes for the pool, but he's a good sport about losing, so we make the hot trek over to Universal. Now, where to first. No one but my mom has a plan. She wants to ride Men in Black again.

Seriously? 3 times yesterday wasn't enough? And you are TERRIBLE at it. And it's all the way in the back! But we soldier through to make Granny happy and head towards MIB.

And much to the delight of my mom, we find lots of characters along the way.

And extremely puny Popeye

Doc was amazing. He sounded just like Christopher Lloyd

and then these guys. They were great. Very serious and very into their jobs. They kept asking the kids if there ID bracelets were alien communicators and then erased their memories before we left.

and then Bart

There were other characters out as well: Marilyn and Lucy who we had seen the day before and the Blues Brothers. We wanted to find Shaggy and Scooby but we never did run across them.

 

[Chelley00]

October 16th
Universal
Really, mother, again?

I'm not sure what it is about Men in Black that drew my mother in. It couldn't be the competition because we killed her score every time. It's a fun ride. But after the 6th time of so, you get pictures like this: Granny having the time of her life, and the kids and I, well, done.

Everytime I see that I laugh

Once we finally drug my mom away from MIB, we headed back towards my favorite ride

And along the way we ran into the tacky tourists

The funniest part of the tacky tourist was the one in the pink hat spent 15 minutes talking to DS about Disney pin trading

They also spent a good amount of time telling DS he should ride The Mummy. "anyone who can ride Forbidden Journey twice in a row can handle The Mummy!"

We made our way to The Mummy, trying to bribe DS along the way. He wasn't going to give in, so DD and I went without him.

It's such a good thing he didn't go with us, because our ride on Revenge of the Mummy turned out to be one of the most crazy things that has ever happened to us on any ride we've ever been on before.

 

[ProudMommyof2]

I am so excited to find this TR and I have read it all! We are doing a similar trip in April, so I hope you don't mind if I ask some questions.

1. We are staying at WBC thru Vacation Strategies- any suggestions for requests?

2. DO you happen to know how much Express would have cost for your days? I have read that the price of Express Pass helps determine whether you will need it. We are also trying to decide on renting a room at RPH and not staying there. I would bring swim suits though to try their pool, but the $300 makes me want to choke when 5 nights in a 2bed/bath at WBC is a total of $475!

3. How long was the drive from WBC to Universal?

Thanks for the great TR!

 

[Chelley00]

1. We are staying at WBC thru Vacation Strategies- any suggestions for requests?

2. DO you happen to know how much Express would have cost for your days? I have read that the price of Express Pass helps determine whether you will need it. We are also trying to decide on renting a room at RPH and not staying there. I would bring swim suits though to try their pool, but the $300 makes me want to choke when 5 nights in a 2bed/bath at WBC is a total of $475!

3. How long was the drive from WBC to Universal?

Thanks for the great TR!

1. I just requested a view of the Tower of Terror. We were in building 4 and would request it again. It was close to the parking garage, main building and a short walk to the lazy river and the pirate pool.

2. Two days of express pass for 4 people was going to be $360. We got a room at RPH with a AAA discount for $260, plus we paid $17 for 2 days of parking. Parking at the parks would have been $30 for both days.

3. It was just about 20 minutes drive. We allotted 40 minutes so we had time to park at RPH and then water taxi or walk over.

 

[Chelley00]

I have two sick kids at home today, so I have quite a bit of time to sit and catch up on my trip report.

October 16th
Universal
"Maybe we shouldn't have done that"

I convinced DD to ride The Mummy with me one more time, promising I would ride RNR with her at DHS later in the week. DD and I left DS with my mom shopping and we headed for our last ride on Revenge of the Mummy. Since we were leaving for dinner after this ride, it would also be our last ride of US/IOA.

And it went out with a bang! Literally.


First we had to wait as a car came up with vomit in it and had to be sent off to be cleaned. Ick.

As we were waiting to board, we watched one of the workers. She would load everyone in, eye them creepily, give the ride operator a thumbs up, then slowly turn her thumb down and glare. Our car thought it would be funny to give her thumbs down as we went by.

So we did.

We got to the part where you stop at the screen before you go backwards and, well, we either didn't stop and we slammed into the barrier wall, or the brakes slammed on. Either way, everyone's head snapped forward and it kinda hurt when my stomach hit the lap bar. We really hit hard.

The power went off and it was pitch black in there. The recorded announcement came on to stay in our seat etc. People eventually started pulling out their phones so we could have some light in there.

DD, who is normally pretty quiet said "Guess we shouldn't have given her thumbs down, huh?"

She was seriously embarrassed because she was sitting next to a boy who looked to be her age or so and someone kept telling him he should get her phone number since they were going through this trauma together

This was in the pitch black with my phone, but you can see DD is thrilled to be stuck on the ride she hates the most, next to, ick, a boy.

After 10 or so minutes of nothing, the announcement changed to "our technicians have decided your ride cannot continue". Finally the lights came on, and this was RIGHT beside me

After quite a few more minutes of waiting, 3 people came out saying they had to place a metal bridge across and then they would evacuate us one at a time. Once you got to the bridge you realized we were up pretty far because you could look down between the track and the side and see a pretty big with a far drop down.

This is a behind the scenes shot. You can see the turntables where the "bugs" are

They took us down back steps, outside and through an employee walkway back to the front entrance. They made sure everyone was okay and not hurt and we were offered a place to sit down inside with air conditioning if we felt we needed it. We were all given an express pass for either Rip Ride Rockit or Forbidden Journey. Since we had no desire to ride RRR and we weren't about to make it back to WWOHP and we were ready for dinner, we decided to keep the Express Pass and give it to my brother for his trip later in the week.

It was an interesting experience and the first time I've ever had to be evacuated from a ride! We had quite the story to tell to my mom and DS, who thought we had decided to ride it multiple times in a row seeing as it took so long.

DD came off, looked at her little brother and said "be glad you didn't ride because the curse of the mummy is real".