Thanks for the update, I enjoyed reading it. We usually stay onsite at universal fir the holidays and are still trying all the restaurants at Citywalk. We will try the LatinQuarter in June if we can. We did try Bubba and Margaritaville this year. Both served delicious meals.
Thanks for Reading! We tried Bubba's for lunch, it was so delicious and fun!
So for the next update -
our day at Universal Studios! Thurs 22nd Oct. 2009
We were up early again this morning - we wanted to get to Universal Studios before it opened to hit the rip ride rockit rollercoaster first to try and avoid any big wait.
Generally most days we got to a park before or for opening - especially for Disney and Universal parks. It was one of the main tips I got from the DIS and even though it can feel very early when you first get up, it is SO worth it for
1. the quiet park and
2. making the most of your time in the park - especially in October where many of the parks are closed fairly early! Im definately another ambassidor supporting getting to the parks before they open!
Anyway, this was the first day we tried the hotel complementary breakfast which was basic but it was ok to grab some toast and cereal which was enough for us most days really - but it was a bit of a hassle getting a table / squeezing through the tiny room.
We were in the line at Universal ten mins before park opening - success!
That walk from the car park to the park seems so long with the long walk-way - but it was nice to see City Walk during the day as it had been so dark the previous evening - and it was a totally different atmosphere!
We definately picked the wrong queue to wait in to get into the park, it went sooo slow in comparison to everybody else
We finally got in and were so excited to get on RRR but as we were heading towards their, I spotted Scooby Doo! We made a little detour over to Scooby, but rather than just stopping to get some pics - Scooby Doo took my hand and stole me away!
It was so funny - but quite handy in that we 'skipped' along to the entrance of RRR!
so we got our photos (and some with Woody Woodpecker and Curious George who was there too!) before heading in the queue at last!
In the queue we all (apart from Scott) began to get quite nervous! Apart from EE yesterday we hadn't done any big coasters yet! Well we were just about two from the front before they move you from the queue section to the loading section when the ride breaks down.
I've heard alot about the teething problems of the ride and I suppose I was kinda worried this would happen. So we waited and waited and waited some more. Until it was nearly an hour since we'd entered the park. They were advising people to go elsewhere but we decided to just wait and see what happened. Well there was probably only about 20 of us waiting now when they admitted defeat that the ride wasn't going to be open soon and gave us all FOTL passes for that ride later in the day (they didn't actually sign the passes for valid for RRR at first - and as we got our stuff from the locker i noticed the pass said 'no entry for RRR'
but others had noticed and a member of staff were signing and validating the passes for the ride).
So, where first?! The Mummy - we needed a thrill and cheered up.
There was a very little 10 minute queue which went by so fast - I LOVED the queue area for this ride. although some point (i can't remember which) gave me SUCH a fright, I screamed so loud!
The ride was great as well! so from here we headed to Kidzone to see if ET was opened admiring the Delorian from Back to the Future
ET wasn't open and as it turned out many of these attractions didn't actually open til 11am
but we did get to see Barney hanging out here.
So we mozyed on over to The Simpsons which was just amazing - who doesnt love the simpsons! I was so blown away by everything in this area. First i saw the Kwik E Mart and ran towards it - so excited
Then round the corner was Homer - there was no chance of us calming down anytime soon, the bother at RRR had slipped our minds and we were just happy to be here and knowing that when RRR opened again we would have 0 wait!
After the Simpsons ride we went on MIB - really great queue area, horrible ride! I don't know what it was but we were so underwhelmed! We actually joked about it for the rest of the trip because it was so bad for us.
We then walked a little closer to RRR cause they were putting round some empty cars but no, it was still closed. So we rode Shrek and Nickelodeon 3D. Shrek 3D was alright, as was the Nickelodeon ride - but the part on that ride where they make you dance was so funny!
Leaving this ride (in the back of its gift shop) i met one of my favourite cartoon characters - Spongebob
and then we made a 'build your own spongebob' toy - which is essentially just a spongebob Mr Potato head - such a cute and fun idea!
From here we were all a little hungry and decided to have some lunch sitting outside the Simpsons ride to take it all in. The guys had Turkey Legs and the girls had hot dogs.
I really wanted a Squishee too but they weren't selling them that day. Those Turkey Legs are hillarious though - they are just
soo big!
We noticed as we were waiting that RRR was open again and people were on it
So even though I'd just had far too much fizzy juice to be on a rollercoaster off we went - the nervous feeling was back - even though i knew i'd love it. We got there and got to go in through the back AND were given the front 2 rows! which sure sounds great but the thought of front row was a little scary but I knew i'd regret not doing it. So i picked my song (i selected this SO fast! i was so worried the big lap bar thing wasnt on right an kept pushing it down - of course it was safely on, but i was just nervous!) I chose MC Hammer can't touch this
and I really really liked this ride! So much people have slated it online but i personally don't agree with the criticism I thought it was fun!
The queue for the ride by this point was about 90 mins
no way we were waiting for a reride.
Then (I think) we headed on ET, another great ride. Then we rode The Simpsons again, and then worked our way from Jaws to the exit.
We got SO much wetter on Jaws than we expected! It was also a little scarier than I'd expected too but so awesome!
And the queue for Disaster should have a warning - not worth the wait! ok maybe thats a little harsh... it was ok - but we did have a very long wait for it.
Twister was a little TOO packed with long, pre - 'main event' videos for what it was worth. Or it felt this way anyway as our feet were all a little sore.
In hindsight i wish we'd used this time to see one or two of the shows at this park - I really regret not seeing the horror make up show in particular.
It was then that the park was closing - U.Studios was closing a bit earlier when we were there due to
HHN. but IOA was open a couple hours after U.Studios closed which we weren't expecting as we assumed they both would close at the same time or if anything IOA would close earlier!
This was great as we had hoped we would have time to go there to ride the Hulk at least once as it would be a few days til we would be back here and this was one of our main rides we were all looking forward to. Around late afternoon we had accepted we probably wouldn't have time to visit IOA so discovering it was open later was very exciting and none of us really believed it til we walked through IOA gates!
We all headed straight for the Hulk which had NO queue atall! we went on it about 3 times that evening, as well as going on Storm Force Acceletron and Spider man.
The Hulk - WOW one of our favourite coasters and was worth the hype, but it did throw your head around a little at times which hurt! but it was worth it!
Spider man - it has to be another WOW. I was not expecting this type of ride at all, its difficult to even describe what this ride is like - but the effects and everything are so unique and amazing. I'm not a particular superhero fan or anything but I loved the themeing too!
So IOA was closing now and we were all Thrilled-Out!!
We managed to get a table at Pastamore as we left the park. I didn't take any pictures here but the meal was alright, nothing spectacular to write home about - there was no atmosphere and the service was ok - nothing bad by any means but not as impressive compared to the other places we visited during this trip. I had a sea food pasta which i expected to be creamy and it really wasn't so perhaps this would affect my judgement on the food - again it wasn't bad just not amazing, which many places on offer are in City Walk and in Florida overall! Although they did serve a really good Rose Wine which finished off our day perfectly
After the meal we just walked about for a little bit then headed back to the hotel. Another AMAZING day - and we were all just so tired out! So we needed our sleep for the next day, one of the parks I was most looking forward to:
Coming Up Next: Day 3, Disney Hollywood Studios