Disney Holiday Firsts At Last! - Final Thoughts Finally!

[mnmrmustard]

Soon lights were dimming, the wind was picking up and sparks started to fly

Now mayhem really ensues!

Kaboom!

More explosions and flames for the ending!

In the gift shop they had the drive-in movie theater prop from the movie itself

When we were done in there do you think we would move forward? NOPE! The girls wanted to ride the Rockit coaster so we doubled back and off they went while Roxy and I found a good spot of shade.

The girls going up

And going down  you can only see their arms but they were in the first row

They came down off of the ride

..but Bean wanted to ride again so off she went!

Shes front row of course

Next up Bean finished on Rockit and we catch the afternoon parade!


Click here for the next Chapter: Day 6 Part 7 - Rockits and Super Stars!

 

[mnmrmustard]

Bean keeps zooming on Rockit

She actually saw me on this last one ..along with some guy with stellar mutton chops

We got off just as the Universal Super Star Parade was about to start so we wandered on down

Minions!

Gru and family

You can see Vector getting down in the background there

The Lorax made an appearance

On came Gru and the crew

Hot on his tail was Vector

Behind them was Patrick Starfish and an empty boat, I assumed which was supposed to have Sandy on it

Dancing fish

Next up we finish the parade and find some random adventures on the streets of the Universal lot


Click here for the next Chapter: Day 6 Part 8 - The Parade Ends and We Go on Random Adventures

 

[mnmrmustard]

Here comes SpongeBobs Pineapple house on wheels

Of course we remember our last encounter with SpongeBob 10 years back

Following SpongeBob was Squidward

And then the commando bunnies from Hop

And then the Hop stars themselves

He was actually playing those drums!

I dont know who those guys were

A live band accompanying the rabbit

Nice rides  very Easter-ish

Bringing up the rear was Dora the Explorer

Overall it was a pretty cute parade. After they cleared out I got a shot of the girls by an old classic yellow cab

And then got a passer-by to take a shot of us in front of the big Christmas tree

Looking at this picture it made me realize I forgot a plot point of our little adventure. Even since our first park day at DHS I had been after an Indiana Jones hat, partially for style and partially for shade. I knew we wouldnt be back at DHS until our second to last day so on our first Universal day (the day before this) I bought a Panama Jack hat in the IA marketplace as soon as we walked into the park.

There just werent any pictures with me wearing it up until now because the only pics I was in the day before I was soaked and the hat was in the basket of Roxys ECV. It was a great purchase in that it was a straw hat which breathed much better than the Indy hat wouldve, it was $20 cheaper, and it still looked good. It was the brown safari style

And now back to our story

We strolled down the street, making a bee-line for The Mummy ride. Roxy decided to sit it out and window shop so the girls and I headed in. We made it to the last landing when the ride broke down. A bunch of people left until we were actually in the gates of the front row of the line. They kept sending cars through empty and were saying it would be back up any minute. We probably burned 15 minutes total before finally giving up. They did give us the secret phrase to go through the fastlane line when we came back though, so that was good.

We came back out in time to catch part of The Blues Brothers Christmas show

Last trip I got out and danced with them

Not this time though, we were off to more adventures! We headed down the street with me taking shots along the way.

First looking back the way we had come from

Bean with the Cat in the Hat balloon

Next up we find Disasters and Musical Monsters


Click here for the next Chapter: Day 6 Part 9 - Disasters and Musical Monsters!

 

[mnmrmustard]

And PumpkinGirl in front of Christmas Scooby

Our next stop was Disaster! Looks dangerous!

Blown-up plane

Crazy cyborg shark from some German film

Once we got in we were near the front and I found myself volunteered by my caring family to play the part of the "Fearless Guy"

We went through some acting dynamics and then I was brought into the filming area. They had me get in a big dumpster full of green balls

..and I did a big aaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!! on cue

What a ham I am

The production piece was fun and I loved that they had Christopher Walken as the director  he was a kick. We went onto the ride part of it and experienced the explosions and water and such. In the movie on the ride I was shown as going down a raging river (sorry, we missed getting a shot of that).

We moved on out and checked times for stuff around us and saw that The Beetlejuices Rock and Roll Graveyard Revue would be starting in less than a half hour. This was a must-see as it is Roxys favorite show and the girls had never seen it. We were in line early and got pretty good seats. I handed the camera over to PumpkinGirl for this one as she was supposed to write reviews of the live shows she watched as part of her drama class. Now you can see my other daughters photography skills!

No big descriptions for individual shots here as it is hard to remember it from a sequence point of view. I can tell you that it is a fun show which takes some modern and some classic rock-n-roll songs and twists them in a way only Beetlejuice and a cast of monsters can.

They come out as classic monsters

Beetlejuice doesnt like that and gives them a makeover

He is then joined by two Transylvania cheerleaders called Hip and Hop

Each monster gets to be lead in a song and the Wolf Man was up first

Next up was the Bride of Frankenstein

Beetlejuice was entertained

Now it was Dracs turn

Next up more Monstrous Musical Moments!


Click here for the next Chapter: Day 6 Part 10 - The Monstrous Show Continues!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

very nice photo tour...the parade looks really cool with the despicable me characters in it.

 

[mnmrmustard]

very nice photo tour...the parade looks really cool with the despicable me characters in it.

Thanks much Dan! The Despicable Me characters were great, you'll see more pics of them with Bean and I on day 3 - and more parade pics with the Macy's Christmas parade

 

[mnmrmustard]

Go Drac!

Using his vampire mojo on Franks girl

Beetlejuice was very entertained now!

Eat your heart out Christian Bale  you dont have cape moves like this guy!

Good doggie!

The cheerleaders get their moment

All together now

Next up Music, Mummies, and MiB


Click here for the next Chapter: Day 6 Part 11 - Music, Mummies, and MiB

 

[mnmrmustard]

The group is rockin now!

He got a treat!

Beetlejuice then comes out into the audience with his guitar

Meanwhile theyre still belting it out on stage

Beetlejuice came back down front with the group

Jammin with Frank and Drac

Big Finale!

They all go to their spots and say goodbye

Great shots from PumpkinGirl, aye?

We left there and went back up the street to The Mummy ..and Garfield.

We used the code word scarabs to get into the fast lane. It is a fun ride, if a bit short. But what do you expect when it took over the space used by the King Kong attraction?

Now where to go? We had thoroughly covered the big L of going down the main street and taking a left. We decided to double back yet again and move on past the Beetlejuice theater and through what used to Amity village and is now a bunch of walls. Roxy and I had been lucky enough to ride JAWS one last time when we were there in April of 2011. Heres a panorama from that trip to commemorate what was

In a couple of years it will be the home of Diagon Alley and the long-awaited expansion of Harry Potter at Universal. Personally Im looking forward to the Hogwarts Express train ride experience that is supposed to take you between the parks. The information that has been leaked makes it sound very cool.

Our next stop was Men in Black Alien Attack. It took us a good 15 minutes to get from the Mummy to it. Here we are coming up on the entrance area

The guys in the coffee room

The main floor with Agent J giving us our briefing

The last time we were in this area with the girls PumpkinGirl encountered these characters

When we come back we move on to the Simpsons, E.T., Dinner and a Show!


Click here for the next Chapter: Day 6 Part 12 - Simpsons, E.T., Dinner and a Show!

 

[Trentmom]

WOW, you were on a roll today

I remmeber twister from the 90s. That is always a fun attraction.

Rip it Roller Coaster looks skeery. That steep incline and hill


Looks like Bean had good time riding that over and over again

The parade looked really cool and like a lot of fun with all those neat characters in it

Like the pic of your hamming it up in the Disaster green screen

Pumpkin girl did great job taking pics at Beetlejuice.


I really enjoyed this update

 

[mnmrmustard]

WOW, you were on a roll today

I remmeber twister from the 90s. That is always a fun attraction.

Rip it Roller Coaster looks skeery. That steep incline and hill


Looks like Bean had good time riding that over and over again

The parade looked really cool and like a lot of fun with all those neat characters in it

Like the pic of your hamming it up in the Disaster green screen

Pumpkin girl did great job taking pics at Beetlejuice.


I really enjoyed this update

Hey Kelly!

Yup, I knocked out the TR posts as e-mail drafts and finished the day. I'll do another mega-post after this reply And I'm already done sorting the pics from day 3, just have to do some clean-up on them and do the auto-resizing in PS and do the rename utility so I can upload them to the web server.

Twister was fun and it doesn't take much time and never has much of a line.

Yes, the Rockit coaster was a force to be reconed with for sure. I did my ride on it and am glad I did but probably will take a pass on it in the future. Bean had a blast on it though

It was a very fun and colorful parade. The funny thing is the girls had no interest in the parades at Disney - we didn't see a single one. But they wanted to see both of them at Universal. Go figure

The Diaster thing was fun, I'm a natural ham for stuff like that. Thank you for the compliment on the update!

 

[mnmrmustard]

The MiB arsenal

It was a fun ride as usual and I told the girls about hitting the light at the top of the competing car before we got in so in the two times we rode it we must have sent the other car spinning at least 10 times!

From there it was on to The Simpsons Ride

Here are the girls in the queue watching Sideshow Bob on the screen plotting his revenge

And here are the ladies in the chamber right before getting on the ride vehicle

It was also a fun one; the girls had a blast on it.

When we came out the sun had finished setting, giving us a beautiful view across the lagoon

I was tempted to PhotoShop out those cranes, but how else would you know that the Harry Potter expansion was really happening. Along the walkway they had just plopped the train from Back to the Future III

And the Delorean

I hadnt seen the car when we were there the year before so the last time I had laid eyes on it was when it was parked next to the Back to the Future Ride (now Simpsons)

I felt kind of sad for it just sitting on a random slab now. Ah well, time and tastes march on aye?

We continued up the walkway towards the front of the park to revisit a ride Bean rode more than any other when she was a wee little 3yr old. We were heading to E.T. On the way we came across a Macys Bear balloon

And a SpongeBob themed gift shop

We found our destination just to the left of it

Only a 15 minute wait for it but having rode it in 2011 I remembered how long the queuing areas were for the thing and decided to stay with the ECV while the ladies went in. About 35 minutes later they came out with Roxy and the girls both proclaiming how slow it was to get through the ride. Ah well, I guess the sheer wonder Bean had when she was 3 had officially been replaced by the thrill-ride junkie that she is now.

We were ready for dinner by now so we continued towards the front of the park, passing a Horton balloon along the way

Our destination was Mels Drive-In

It provided us with wonderful burgers, fries, and shakes. We came out very satisfied indeed. It was approaching time for the lagoon show Universal's Cinematic Spectacular: 100 Years of Movie Memories As we walked along the lagoon path I looked across and said hi to Grover

We moved down until we found spots on the rocks so we could sit reasonably comfortably for the show. I sat in a spot behind a trash can so I could set my camera on it for stability in catching the show.

A couple of test shots show theres a reason why I dont hold cameras for stuff like this

There we go

After another couple of minutes the show started. It starts with 3 water screens which can create some amazing imagery

Psycho

Bride of Frankenstein

E.T.

Then water sprays started up with movie shots projecting on them

Next up the show ramps up!


Click here for the next Chapter: Day 6 Part 13 - Universal's Cinematic Spectacular Continues

 

[mnmrmustard]

Next we have some fireworks kick in

The water screen also started having images projected on it

And last they added in fountains with color effects

And more fireworks

From there the show arced through different movie genres with effects to match each mood

Beautiful colors

The war sequence was especially stunning

Then they kicked up the lights a notch

Next up the visuals get even bigger


Click here for the next Chapter: Day 6 Part 14 - More Spectacular Cinematic Fun

 

[mnmrmustard]

Purdy lighting

Then we had multi-colored lasers in the mix

They kicked into a bigger volley of fireworks

Then they basically pulled out all of the stops

Loved the blue

Kind of like a Pink Floyd show

Here comes the fireworks finale

Next up we finish the finale, I shockingly take some more pictures, we do some shopping, and we start heading out.


Click here for the next Chapter: Day 6 Part 15 - Heading Out of the Studios

 

[mnmrmustard]

When the show finished they left the colored fountains on, which were very pretty indeed

We headed out, stopping to look at this perspective thing that is supposed to make it look like you are looking at the Hollywood skyline

From there it was the long walk back to the front. The crowds were very light so I got some great shots of the architecture

We worked our way to the Mecca of Universal Merchandising and spent a good deal of time and money in there

Before getting too embroiled in there I took a few night shots of the attractions that we had started our day with

20 minutes later we came out with my wallet lighter but us in a good mood overall. We walked out past the Harry Potter poster, knowing we would be hitting that ride again in the morning

And of course I had to take more shots of the Universal globe

Ye ole sports bar on steroids

One more shot of the globe and the entrance

 

[mnmrmustard]

Darn that pic limit, had to tag this last bit onto its own post. But then again, looking at my pic numbers I crossed the 1500 picture mark with the Universal show. I do warn people my TRs are pic intensive!

I took a last perspective shot of the Universal globe and the lagoon

Again not much going on at Citywalk as it was a sleepy Tuesday night

We got back to POP and did the obligatory stops at the food court for snacks and the gift shop for pin trading. We found a very cool Mulan pin for PumpkinGirl that she was very happy to get and Bean found yet another Stitch pin and bought an outfit for her Stitch stuffy. It was technically a Duffy outfit but a smart CM had dressed up a Stitch in an outfit and Bean flipped when she saw it and had to have it. When we were done we packed it in and headed back to the room. It was a reasonably early day for us with us back to the room before 9pm.

We had our 3rd Universal day coming up. I asked the fam what time they wanted to leave for the park and they wanted to do the 8:25am bus so I set it up. Tomorrow would be a mix of both Universal parks to hit anything we missed and re ride the stuff we wanted another go at. We did the evening routine and were all easily asleep by 10pm.


Click here for the next Chapter: Day 7 Part 1 - Back to Universal One More Time!

 

[Trentmom]

I remember riding on ET years and years ago and thought it was so cool how it said your name on it

Simpson ride sounds like a lot of fun. Does it move around a lot like Star Tours?


Mels Diner sounds like perfect food, nice and simple and tasty

100 years of movies looks like a very cool show. It looked like hardly anyone was there to watch it.

The parks looked so bare.

Great update

 

[mnmrmustard]

I remember riding on ET years and years ago and thought it was so cool how it said your name on it

Simpson ride sounds like a lot of fun. Does it move around a lot like Star Tours?


Mels Diner sounds like perfect food, nice and simple and tasty

100 years of movies looks like a very cool show. It looked like hardly anyone was there to watch it.

The parks looked so bare.

Great update

They still say your name on it, the theming hasn't changed a bit since it opened.

The Simpsons ride is kind of a hybrid between Star Tours and Soarin'. You go into a room and board a ride vehicle which is set up like a big convertable car (re-themed back to the future car). Once everyone is strapped in your vehicle is raised up on hydraulics into a rounded projection chamber along with several other ride vehicles. You are more fully immersed in the action than you are on Star Tours and the vehicles moves around a bit more.

The visuals take you on a ride through a twisted amusement park and also through parts of Springfield. It is a pretty good ride overall, very action packed.

Yes, Mel's was great. We enjoyed both it and the Monster Cafe. There is one other restaurant there on the meal plan but we didn't get a chance to try it.

As far as the show, it was a good one. And crowd levels for all 3 days we were there were 1 out of 10 so there was never a crush of people

I should have the pics all sorted tomorrow (today is focused on Valentine's Day) and start posting day 3 sometime on Friday/Saturday.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE!!!​

 

[mnmrmustard]

Universal Day 3 dawns a bit cloudy and muggy. It is actually the most humid day we saw the whole trip and it wasnt that bad. We were set for a 8:25am MEARS pickup and were all feeling pretty good other than PumpkinGirl still not having a voice. We all got up, got ourselves ready, and headed down to the food court for breakfast.

On the way out the door I snapped a pic of our window, custom decorated by Bean with her Pirate Stitch and her dragon collection from the Shrek gift shop.

After eating and pin trading Bean dropped off our lanyards and we settled in out front for the bus. Each of the girls picked a decade to relax in while we waited.

PumpkinGirl settled into the 90s

And Bean settled into the 80s

You can see just a hint of the green shirt Bean is wearing. We were all wearing matching green Grinch face t-shirts. We were pretty easy to spot in the park I can tell you that! While we waited we talked to this CM, he was a very nice guy and had fun using those Mickey hands

The bus was on time but it had to make a stop on property and another stop at an off property resort so it was around 9:30am by the time we were walking down Citiwalk. We were starting our day back at Islands of Adventure with WWoHP as our destination.

After we walked through the ticket queues I snapped a pic of their version of express mail service

And then we headed under the arch

The Christmas Store was done up very nicely for the season

As I said our plan was to go straight to Harry Potter. But we came out of the marketplace and the girls realized they hadnt had a ride on Hulk yet so we made a quick left into Marvel Superhero Island

Roxy and I had rode it last year and really didnt want to give it a go so soon after breakfast so we sent the girls on while we waited on the bride. I did the 'take pictures of every coaster train' thing and then deleted the unnecessary pics once Roxy and I knew the girls werent on it. The girls wearing those Grinch shirts helped in spotting them, thats for sure.

Soon enough their train came into view ..they were in the front row of course

Going up!

Beans hair is flyin!

A couple more loops and they are heading back down to us. They were pretty much straight down through there

Now they're hitting the curve

They look pretty excited going into the tunnel!

They came out racing ..probably still pumped with adrenaline :-D

Next up we say hello to Olivander, go back stage at Hogwarts, and take another couple of rides with Harry and Friends


Click here for the next Chapter: Day 7 Part 2 - Hogwarts Here We Come!

 

[mnmrmustard]

The girls came out of the exit from Hulk and I was ready with the camera. PumpkinGirl spotted me right away

Then Bean gave me a wave

We zoomed through Seuss Landing, planning on coming back there later to check out the Grinchmas show. On into the Lost Continent we went. I immediately fell behind as I wanted to snap a quick panorama of the lagoon

Then I had to catch up to the ladies, who were making a bee-line for Hogsmeade Village

The girls wanted to check out Olivanders Wand Shop so we got in line. For anyone who has braved this one, it is the longest wait youll probably find in the Islands. The show takes 5-10 minutes and they can only fit around 15 people into the shop at a time. You can see how quickly that adds up. So the girls and I got in line around 10:30am while Roxy did some window shopping (the line is not ECV-friendly).

While in line Bean got bored and asked if she could ride Dragon Challenge as a single rider. I said fine, but if she missed Olivanders it was her problem. The line continued to move forward until we were going to be the last party let in for the current group. I sighed and let the family behind us in and we waited another 10 minutes outside the door to Olivanders. Bean showed up right after that so I waved Roxy over and we all went in. Overall wait was 40 minutes and was by far the longest line wait we had our entire trip.

Once you get in Olivander chooses a worthy subject to bestow a wand to. Both girls of course wanted to be chosen but another girl had a birthday so she was the lucky one. Here he is going through the wand choosing process

There are different effects for different wands, all of them problematic just like you saw in the first Harry Potter movie.

Finally the right wand is chosen and a warm light shines down on the girl

We stayed behind for a quick pic of Olivander and the girls.

Roxy and I both had pictures with him on our last trip so we moved on into the hustle and bustle of the shop. I must say this shop was not made for the level of traffic it sees. Even with a low volume day like this it was pretty crowded.

I stopped to snap a pic of the brooms

And then we met up with PumpkinGirl who chose two wands to take home ..Severus Snapes and Sirius Blacks. We headed outside and we looked at a couple more windows.

PumpkinGirl liked the way the Quidditch balls actually moved in the case

Now it was time to take on Hogwarts again. On the way up we ran into a photo op, this time with students from the different houses and the giant toads.

Again a bit of a bummer that they werent doing the actual shows with them.

When we went into Hogwarts castle this time we didnt immediately go to the ride queue. There is actually a self-guided castle tour separate from the queue that you can go on. It doesnt allow you to see all of the stuff you see in the ride queue, but you get a little look behind the scenes, you get to see a different talking painting room, and most importantly you can check out everything at your own pace.

For those with wheelchairs/ECVs you take the elevator up. How many people would want to check out the No Muggles floor? I know I wanted to ..but calmer heads prevailed and we went up to Express.

The first room we entered was the talking paintings room it was very cool

We then came into Dumbledors Office

It was cool to see him in a pretty unobstructed setting

You could also see the Pensieve among other artifacts

Next up we finish in Hogwarts, Lose a Daughter to Pumpkin Pasties, and make our way to Whoville!


Click here for the next Chapter: Day 7 Part 3 - From Hogwarts to Whoville

 

[Trentmom]

Love Grinch shirts

I went on Hulk way back in the day.

I remember literally staggering out of there and not being able to walk straight. That was the only time that ever happened to me after a roller coaster. Fun times

Whew...Glad Bean made it back in time for wand show


Great pics as usual


Pumpkin Pasties Not even going say what I thought when I wrote that as I have not had points since 2008 and don't want them now