They Should Really Put a Bar in Here - Closing Thoughts - 4/1

Aww, it looks like the kids had a blast at the dance party! I think if we go to any of the hard ticket parties next year, we will spend a lot of time in those with Paxton. He loves to dance!



I was just pushing the stroller and trying not to run over anyone and I walked right past a lady that looked kind of familiar... Then it hit me...

HOLY CRAP!!! That was Whoopi Goldberg!!!

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http://youtu.be/ztzRFTvaQoU
 
Joining in..

They added trees to the Gingerbread house Wow:goodvibes

Your DS has grown alot since your last trip and your DD is so cute
 
All caught up! If only I'd known that FastPass holders have special privileges to get into closed rides...maybe I'd have been able to get into the new Fantasyland! :rotfl2::lmao:

Glad to see the kids were having so much fun. I'm always wowed by the Osborne Lights whenever I see pictures. One day I will see these in person...one day.

Nobody liked Star Tours? (except you, I mean) What's up with that? :confused3

:rotfl2: on the ET comment. You could have said it was down while they add Harry Potter world to Hollywood Studios.
 
Following along! We were there the same time as you (actually even down to MK during the day on 12/2 and DHS in the evening!), its neat to see such a completely different perspective on the same day! Your kids are adorable.
I just hopped over to your TR to check it out! Very interesting that we were in the same parks, but on totally different schedules!

I guess around 1pm might have been the best time to try BoG... your wait was much shorter than it seemed to be anytime we checked it out!

Aww, it looks like the kids had a blast at the dance party! I think if we go to any of the hard ticket parties next year, we will spend a lot of time in those with Paxton. He loves to dance!
I'm sure he will love them! DS is ready to dance anytime the music starts. And DD manages to bounce to the beat even though she can't stand yet! :lmao:

:lmao::rotfl2::rotfl: Great find! I haven't seen that movie in years!!!

Joining in..
:welcome:

They added trees to the Gingerbread house Wow:goodvibes
I was interested to see if they actually changed it or pretty much kept it the same, so at least I got my question answered! :rotfl:

Your DS has grown alot since your last trip and your DD is so cute
He sure has. Both seem to be growing up fast!!

All caught up! If only I'd known that FastPass holders have special privileges to get into closed rides...maybe I'd have been able to get into the new Fantasyland! :rotfl2::lmao:
I'm sorry, this area of the park is closed to guests.

It's ok. I have a Fastpass!!! :thumbsup2

Glad to see the kids were having so much fun. I'm always wowed by the Osborne Lights whenever I see pictures. One day I will see these in person...one day.
I really hope you can. They are truly amazing. It puts Clark Griswold to shame.

Nobody liked Star Tours? (except you, I mean) What's up with that? :confused3
Sometimes I wonder if I was adopted. :confused3

:rotfl2: on the ET comment. You could have said it was down while they add Harry Potter world to Hollywood Studios.
You obviously don't know my sister. I can already hear her response if I used that response.

... Huh????? Wait, Harry Potter is at Universal isn't it??? :confused3

:rotfl::lmao::rotfl2:
 


With New Years Day being tomorrow, we'll have a couple of busy days back at work this week, so it might be a bit crazy. I wanted to get an update posted beforehand, and I'll be back with replies whenever I can!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year's celebration this evening!!!


Hey, we found E.T.!

Monday, Dec 3


Today was a morning like most others. I awoke early and headed to Rix to grab some breakfast and drinks. We all finished getting ready and planned to be in the parking lot to leave by about 7:45 am. We headed out the door and DS quickly found BiL. Those 2 have a lot of fun picking on each other. For about a year, DS would only call him Monster. I have no idea why, but he wouldn’t call him by his real name. BiL arrived at the resort at around midnight. Sis had already checked into their room, so he just had to catch the ME bus and make his way to CSR when his plane landed.

We all said hi to each other and loaded up the vehicles. We were going to be committing an act of treason today. Well, technically, 2 of the best rides here are based on characters that are now owned by Disney so are we really being traitors? Anyway, we were headed off property to “that other place” in Orlando. We arrived plenty early and decided we’d start our day at Islands of Adventure. Mom had ordered 1 Day, 2 Park tickets ahead of time from Undercover Tourist, so we headed straight to the lines to get through the turnstiles.

Once we got into the park, we made a right turn and headed straight back to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I’m going to start out by saying that I have never read any of the books or seen any of the movies. I really haven’t had any interest in them, so I was kind of on the fence about this part of the park. My mom was excited about it and my sisters wanted to see it, but DW and I didn’t really care either way.

Now for someone who had never seen the movies, and had really no interest in it, once I got there I was blown away. The level of detail is incredible. Once you enter, you really can’t see anything in other areas of the park and it really feels like you’re in some faraway place. I think it really feels about 20 degrees cooler there, just because of the snow on the roofs. Now with that, the obligatory pictures…

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Our first order of business was to ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. I tried to take pictures as we went through the queue, but we left the cameras behind and the pictures I took with my phone looked something like this…

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Believe me when I say that there is a whole lot of detail in that picture. The level of detail in this queue rivals anything I’ve seen at Disney World, and it kind of made me wish I’d seen some of the movies so I’d actually understand more of it.

The ride itself was a lot of fun. It moves you through scenes in a somewhat typical dark ride fashion, but you move up, down side to side and pitch forward and backward as you go. On top of that, there are rooms where you stop in front of a screen where you then pitch and roll as you follow Harry Potter in chase scenes flying on a broom.

Remember my comments in the last update about motion sickness when I’m in a moving seat watching a screen? Yeah, this one is pretty bad. I enjoyed the ride and it really was amazing, but I didn’t feel so great when I got off. After the second chase scene, I dreaded seeing another one of those screens from that point on. Anyway, we rode it and I enjoyed the experience, but I sure wasn’t in a big hurry to jump back in line and do it again.

After we finished there, we headed across the path to the Flight of the Hippogriff. After DS’s excitement about Goofy’s Rollie Coaster, we thought he’d enjoy this one too… and we were right! It was a walk on so we jumped right back in line, but as we approached the station it broke down. We waited about 5 minutes and decided to bail. We didn’t want to waste valuable early morning time standing around waiting on a ride that may or may not be fixed soon.

One thing to note, we didn’t ride Dragon Challenge, because it was closed that morning. It was shown on the map as opening at 11 am that day. I’m not sure if this is typical or if something was going on that day, but it didn’t really fit into our schedule so we never rode it. I’d ridden it before, but I was kind of looking forward to seeing if they’d changed the theming of it since it was now part of WWoHP.

I did start to notice one thing at the Flight of the Hippogriff though. Universal Studios is anal about hats. I have a Cincinnati Reds hat that I’ve had for probably 10 or 12 years. It is the hat that I always wear at theme parks because it fits me very well and I can wear it on any type of ride and not worry about it coming off. I’ve ridden all kinds of rollercoasters with it on, including all of them at Disney World and the Hulk at IoA several times. Now, Universal makes you take your hat off on everything, including a little kid’s rollercoaster that goes maybe 20 mph… I wasn’t crazy about being scolded by TM’s to take my hat off but whatever. Not that big of a deal, just a little bit annoying.

We headed on around the loop, and since this was going to be a hardcore commando touring day, we rode Jurassic Park even though it was early and we’d get wet. It was the next thing in line so we went for it. Dad actually ended up riding this one with us and Mom stayed with the kids. I of course, was asked to put my hat in my pocket before we could go. This is one of my favorite rides, just because I loved the movies and I really like the animatronic dinosaurs they have, so it is always a must do for me.

After we finished there, Mom and DW took DS over to the Pteradon Flyers and the play area while the rest of us sat with DD and I fed her. We went on around to the cartoon area, but decided to pass on Ripsaw Falls and the Bilge Rat Barges. Now I love both of those water rides, and I didn’t mind getting a little wet like we did on Jurassic Park, but I had no interest in being soaked to the bone all day long, nor did anyone else.

We made our way over to Super Hero Island and BiL and I were the only 2 really interested in that area. Nobody else had the stomach to attempt Spider-Man so we sent them on over to Seuss Landing while we rode it. As always it was a fun ride. I mentioned in the intros that BiL had never been to Disney World, and he’d never been to Universal Studios either. He was blown away by this ride, and as skeptical as he seemed about going on this trip, he really seemed to be impressed by a lot of things. There was a bit of a line for this one, so we talked about some of the rides and he basically said he was open to trying anything and everything at least once just to see what it is all about. Thankfully, he didn’t just go along with Sis and skip the rides she didn’t want to do, because some of those would end up being his favorites.

DW told us she wanted to ride the Hulk, so BiL and I checked the wait as we passed. It was only about 5 minutes, but we headed over to Seuss Landing to find her. When we got there, we quickly spotted everyone over at the Caro-Seussel

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After they finished there, DW, BiL and I headed back over to ride Hulk. This is a ride that I can’t get enough of. Even though it was posted at 5 minutes, it was a walk on. BiL and I could have gotten right back in line, but one ride was enough for DW, so we headed back to Seuss Landing.

As we were leaving the Hulk, someone stepped on the back of my foot. I was wearing Croc flip flops and they stepped on it hard enough that it took the shoe off of my foot. It didn’t break the flip flop, so I was at least able to put it back on, but I was in some serious pain. I’m pretty sure it damaged a ligament or something in my foot because for the rest of the week I was limping around and every step hurt from my big toe to the ball of my foot. I was in a hurry to get my flip flop back on and get out of the way before I was trampled by everyone else trying to get off of the ride so I didn’t really look around to see who did it, but nobody even offered an apology. I understand it wasn’t intentional, but come on, at least have the courtesy to apologize.

We made our way back over to Seuss Landing and found Dad sitting in the shade with DD. We joined them for a bit and then BiL decided he wanted to go back to WWoHP and try the Butterbeer. I had nothing better to do, and a cold drink sounded like a great idea, so off we went. We came back with 4 drinks and 2 of the souvenir mugs, one for my mom and one for his mom. I had a frozen one. It was an interesting drink, with a butterscotch flavor to it. I’m glad I tried it, but I'm not sure I'd get another one next time.

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By the time we got back, DW had spotted the rest of the family and they were off exploring the attractions of Seuss Landing. I really don’t know what rides they did or in what order, because I was just relaxing in the shade with this view.

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We saw the residents of Whoville out and about. I thought I had a picture of some of them, but apparently not. They were really a nice touch as they were walking around Seuss Landing decked out for the holidays and carrying shopping bags. It really helped sell the Grinchmas theme they had going. I did find a few pictures on my Mom’s camera of DS. Apparently he didn’t want to cooperate for them to get a good picture.

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I think BiL, Dad and I sat there for about an hour with DD. I took some time to check in on the Disboards, and I posted the Butterbeer picture on my PTR. By the time they finished with Suess Landing and found us, it was after 11 am so we decided the next 2 steps would be to grab some lunch and head to the Universal Studios park.

We ended up choosing to go to Margaritaville, because they have a good gluten free menu, so Sis would be able to eat there without any problems and the rest of us would be happy eating there too.

One thing we discovered there that we really liked was that their distraction with the kids menu isn't the typical crayons. They have Wiki Sticks that are basically strings covered in wax that you can bend and shape. DS had a blast with these things. He enjoyed them so much that they made their way into the park bag so that they could be used as a distraction later if needed.

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We enjoyed our meal, and DW and Sis2 enjoyed a couple of adult beverages. DW joked that she wanted to get another margarita to go. She thought I was joking when I told her to go to the bar and ask for one to go. That is my favorite thing about Citywalk. I love being able to stop at a bar, grab a drink and start walking to the next destination.

We headed into Universal Studios and looked at the map. It really does leave something to be desired when you're there with smaller children. Nearly everything there has a height requirement. We kind of wanted to do the Despicable Me attraction, but DS wasn’t even tall enough for it, so we moved on. Our first attraction was Shrek. I’d seen it before, but I didn’t remember how jerky the seats were. It was a 4D movie, but the seats move, and honestly, the mechanization of the seats is almost a distraction. You hear the seats over the movie every time they move.

We finished in there and I looked down the street and saw something that had been calling my name all morning. As excited as my mom was about WWoHP, I had been looking forward to riding a rollercoaster that I’d never been on before. All morning, BiL and I had been looking over from IoA talking about how incredible Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit looked with that 90 degree lift hill. We were just nervous that by the time we’d get there in the afternoon, we’d have to wait in a ridiculous line. My sisters and DW were all up for a coaster ride too, so we left the kids with Mom and Dad and headed over to ride it. We were shocked to see a posted time of 5 minutes, but we never stopped walking until we were climbing into a car.

As much as I love Hulk, this one gives it a run for its money. As you sit down, you get to pick a music genre and a song that you want to listen to. The ride is themed to be that you’re making a music video and the ride is filmed. I never watched it, because I cared more about riding than buying an overpriced video, but that’s beside the point. The lift hill is straight up. You aren’t even really sitting in your seat until it starts down the other side. The coaster is very smooth with some inversions and it is very quiet on the tracks too, unlike the Hulk, which you can hear running halfway across the park. One of the features that BiL and I loved about it was the sudden drops. It was designed so that you’d hit points where you’d slow down and then all of a sudden you’d drop straight down and pick up speed again. It really is a unique coaster and one that called for a second ride.

We walked on a second time and as we were climbing off, BiL proposed the idea that we jump back in line again and keep riding until someone decides they can’t take anymore. I said I was in, but DW and my sisters were already throwing in the towel. Oh well, it appears that my adventurous little sisters that love rollercoasters as much as I do are losing some of their edge. Thank goodness BiL is just about as crazy as I am! :lmao::rotfl2:

We found Mom and Dad and DS was starting to get restless. He really needed a nap, but was making sure to keep moving and fight sleep. Sis really wanted to see Twister, so for some crazy reason, we decided to take a 2 year old who needs a nap and hates the dark and loud noises into a loud, dark attraction.

He was scared from the moment we walked in and was clinging to his Grandma. Then he wanted Mommy. Then he wanted Daddy. Then he wanted Mommy again. I just held onto him and wouldn’t let him move. I held his right ear against my left shoulder and put my right hand over his left ear. By the time we made it into the main show room, he was sound asleep. I thought about just skipping by everyone and going straight to the exit, but it was crowded enough that it was easier to just try to keep his ears covered and ride out the storm.

We got out of there and loaded the kids into the stroller. We headed over by Mummy, and my sisters and DW had already said they didn’t want to ride it. BiL and I considered it, but the wait was 20 minutes. We hadn’t waited longer than 5 or 10 minutes for anything all day, and I could tell DW was pretty much over being at Universal Studios, so we moved on. We went around the lake in the middle and were over by Men In Black. DW said she’d wait with the kids, as did Mom and Dad so the rest of us headed in to fight some aliens. When we got done it was about 4:45 pm, so DW and I decided to leave. Dad’s back was hurting so he went with us. Mom, my sisters and BiL stayed to do a few more rides. Sis2 wasn’t about to leave without riding E.T.!!!


 
First, Happy New Year to you and your beautiful family.

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Second, great update. We've not done Universal since 2004...I just can't handle the coasters anymore and Potter holds no interest to me. It looks as if you all enjoyed yourselves, though. And I love the pictures of your DS in front of One Fish, Two Fish...very cute.
 
I was interested to see if they actually changed it or pretty much kept it the same, so at least I got my question answered! :rotfl:
I'm glad I helped :goodvibes The little trees with the fairy lights aren't in my pics from last year so I'm presuming they're new anyway. They rest looks the same.

Also luving the update. I think you have to be hungry for to appreciate Butterbeer it's almost like a dessert but frozen is the best imo :)

Luv the WWoHP pics and your DS's cool bendy glasses :)
 


Great update!

Looks like y'all really had a full, fun day at the Universal parks!

I love the WWoHP. Being a big Potter fan, it's so fun to see it all come to life. I have to say though that I'm not a fan of the Forbidden Journey ride. I don't get motion sickness easy on rides but that ones makes me :sick:!

And the Hulk.....:worship:! Love it so much. And the screen refurb on Spiderman really helped to refresh that ride. Glad your BIL was trying rides with you so that he didn't miss out on the cool stuff.

I have not been to Universal Studios since probably 2006 or maybe even a few years before that. Ed has really been wanting to try out that Rip Ride Rockit coaster since we've seen it from IoA. I don't know if I want to tell him how cool you think it is because then he may want us to go to Universal next December. :rotfl:

I really like the Men in Black ride. IMHO, it's better than the Buzz Lightyear ride.
 
First, Happy New Year to you and your beautiful family.

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Thanks!! I hope you had a happy new year as well!

Second, great update. We've not done Universal since 2004...I just can't handle the coasters anymore and Potter holds no interest to me. It looks as if you all enjoyed yourselves, though. And I love the pictures of your DS in front of One Fish, Two Fish...very cute.
Thanks... a bit wordy, and lacking pictures, but I don't think DW even took her camera that day. I actually love the coasters (obviously), but I have to say I was impressed by the Potter stuff. I really didn't want to be. :rotfl2:

I'm glad I helped :goodvibes The little trees with the fairy lights aren't in my pics from last year so I'm presuming they're new anyway. They rest looks the same.
Yeah, I thought they might have done more to make it different. Oh well, it is still amazing!

Also luving the update. I think you have to be hungry for to appreciate Butterbeer it's almost like a dessert but frozen is the best imo :)
It was interesting. It wasn't bad, but I guess the flavor isn't really something that is all that appealing to me.

Luv the WWoHP pics and your DS's cool bendy glasses :)
He had a blast playing with those things. And so did my sisters. :lmao:

Great update!

Looks like y'all really had a full, fun day at the Universal parks!
Thanks! We definitely had fun and made the most of our day there!

I love the WWoHP. Being a big Potter fan, it's so fun to see it all come to life. I have to say though that I'm not a fan of the Forbidden Journey ride. I don't get motion sickness easy on rides but that ones makes me :sick:!
It really is a neat area. I was really surprised by the action/chase scenes in that ride though. As technologically advanced as everything else is on that ride, you'd think that it would be a crystal clear, really smooth picture. It seemed a little bit blurry to me and I think that's why it bothered me so much.

And the Hulk.....:worship:! Love it so much. And the screen refurb on Spiderman really helped to refresh that ride. Glad your BIL was trying rides with you so that he didn't miss out on the cool stuff.
The Hulk and Spiderman have always been a couple of my favorite rides (and I mean anywhere in Florida, not just that park). I'm really glad he was open to trying some new rides. He is a Spiderman fan, so he was basically planning to ride it regardless, but his favorite ride on the whole trip would end up being one that Sis hates and refuses to ride. I'm really glad he was open to trying things, and I'm glad he went since DW and my sisters decided they didn't like the thrill rides so much anymore.

I have not been to Universal Studios since probably 2006 or maybe even a few years before that. Ed has really been wanting to try out that Rip Ride Rockit coaster since we've seen it from IoA. I don't know if I want to tell him how cool you think it is because then he may want us to go to Universal next December. :rotfl:
You know, we really didn't do much at Universal Studios. I've always liked the park, but it really seems to be a little bit "less" than it used to be. Granted, I love Mummy and the Simpsons ride is fun, but I miss the old classics like King Kong, Jaws and Back to the Future. I don't know if I appreciate it less than I used to now because I miss some of those old rides or because it really seems to be overshadowed by IoA.

Rip Ride Rockit is a great coaster though. It is almost worth going over there just to check it out. This may or may not help sway you one way or the other, but they are currently building a Transformers attraction there that is set to open this summer. :rolleyes1

I really like the Men in Black ride. IMHO, it's better than the Buzz Lightyear ride.
::yes:: I love the queue for this one too.
 
Followed your PTR, now jumping in (although a little late:rolleyes2) to your TR.

It's great that you didn't have to deal with long waits at IoA. I've heard horror stories about people standing in hour long lines for rides at WWoHP.
 
Followed your PTR, now jumping in (although a little late:rolleyes2) to your TR.

It's great that you didn't have to deal with long waits at IoA. I've heard horror stories about people standing in hour long lines for rides at WWoHP.
:welcome:

I know the feeling, so hard to keep up with everyone's TR's!

The waits weren't bad at all, but we definitely planned to hit WWoHP first thing for that very reason. When we went back for the Butterbeer, it was much more crowded in that area of the park than it was in the morning but I didn't think to check how long the lines were.

I will say though that in my pre-trip research, I found several sources saying that the week we went is the least busy week of the year at Universal Studios. I have to say I would tend to believe it. It just wasn't very crowded at all.
 
You guys really did a lot at Universal. When we went it was go busy and we barely went on anything because the lines were so long.

I love roller coasters and I would of been right there with you going on again & again & again...

The butter beer sounds interesting but by the way you described it, I'm not sure I've would of liked it. :confused3
 
For about a year, DS would only call him Monster. I have no idea why, but he wouldn’t call him by his real name.

I guess it all goes back to the time when he was bitten and turned into a werewolf.

We all said hi to each other and loaded up the vehicles. We were going to be committing an act of treason today. Well, technically, 2 of the best rides here are based on characters that are now owned by Disney so are we really being traitors?

::yes::

Now for someone who had never seen the movies, and had really no interest in it, once I got there I was blown away. The level of detail is incredible.

Uh oh. I haven't read the books (yet) and have only seen 1 movie in its entirety. My wife and daughter, however, are HP geeks and my daughter especially has been begging me to take here there. There's no way out of this, is there?

Believe me when I say that there is a whole lot of detail in that picture.

I found the lie! :rotfl2:

The ride itself was a lot of fun. It moves you through scenes in a somewhat typical dark ride fashion, but you move up, down side to side and pitch forward and backward as you go. On top of that, there are rooms where you stop in front of a screen where you then pitch and roll as you follow Harry Potter in chase scenes flying on a broom.

That sounds pretty awesome. :thumbsup2

I did start to notice one thing at the Flight of the Hippogriff though. Universal Studios is anal about hats. I have a Cincinnati Reds hat that I’ve had for probably 10 or 12 years. It is the hat that I always wear at theme parks because it fits me very well and I can wear it on any type of ride and not worry about it coming off. I’ve ridden all kinds of rollercoasters with it on, including all of them at Disney World and the Hulk at IoA several times. Now, Universal makes you take your hat off on everything, including a little kid’s rollercoaster that goes maybe 20 mph… I wasn’t crazy about being scolded by TM’s to take my hat off but whatever.

They just hate Cincinnati.

As we were leaving the Hulk, someone stepped on the back of my foot. I was wearing Croc flip flops and they stepped on it hard enough that it took the shoe off of my foot. It didn’t break the flip flop, so I was at least able to put it back on, but I was in some serious pain. I’m pretty sure it damaged a ligament or something in my foot because for the rest of the week I was limping around and every step hurt from my big toe to the ball of my foot. I was in a hurry to get my flip flop back on and get out of the way before I was trampled by everyone else trying to get off of the ride so I didn’t really look around to see who did it, but nobody even offered an apology. I understand it wasn’t intentional, but come on, at least have the courtesy to apologize.

That stinks. I'm guessing it was a Universal employee who saw your Reds hat.

It was an interesting drink, with a butterscotch flavor to it. I’m glad I tried it, but I'm not sure I'd get another one next time.

I'm not much of a fan of butterscotch, but I'm sure we'd all have to try it too. And we'd be coming home with the mug, for sure.

I really don’t know what rides they did or in what order, because I was just relaxing in the shade with this view.

It's this kind of detailed, incisive trip reporting that you just can't get anywhere else. :rotfl::rotfl2:

Apparently he didn’t want to cooperate for them to get a good picture.

No idea what that's like.:rolleyes1

All morning, BiL and I had been looking over from IoA talking about how incredible Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit looked with that 90 degree lift hill.

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We were shocked to see a posted time of 5 minutes, but we never stopped walking until we were climbing into a car.

I'm not. There just aren't as many suicidal people as you think out there.

Sis really wanted to see Twister, so for some crazy reason, we decided to take a 2 year old who needs a nap and hates the dark and loud noises into a loud, dark attraction.

See the suicidal thing above.
 
We got out of there and loaded the kids into the stroller. We headed over by Mummy, and my sisters and DW had already said they didn’t want to ride it. BiL and I considered it, but the wait was 20 minutes. We hadn’t waited longer than 5 or 10 minutes for anything all day, and I could tell DW was pretty much over being at Universal Studios, so we moved on. We went around the lake in the middle and were over by Men In Black. DW said she’d wait with the kids, as did Mom and Dad so the rest of us headed in to fight some aliens. When we got done it was about 4:45 pm, so DW and I decided to leave. Dad’s back was hurting so he went with us. Mom, my sisters and BiL stayed to do a few more rides. Sis2 wasn’t about to leave without riding E.T.!!!



Sounds like a ton of fun at Universal! This is how we're starting our trip in February, so your insight is certainly helpful. I noticed you didn't you on Mummy... but from the sounds of it, you've done it before? How was this ride on a quesy-ness level? We have some adventurous kids in the group, and some skeptical adults... who don't like riding backwards on coasters - is this one pretty disorienting? I know I'll like it... but want to give a proper warning to those who may be affected by it.
 
You guys really did a lot at Universal. When we went it was go busy and we barely went on anything because the lines were so long.
I remember reading those updates. It had to have been ridiculously crowded that day! We were lucky though, I've never seen such a small crowd there. Easily the least crowded day at any park the entire trip.

I love roller coasters and I would of been right there with you going on again & again & again...
I could have ridden any of them a few more times (and taken a ride or 2 on Mummy), but let's just say it wouldn't have been good for my marriage...

The butter beer sounds interesting but by the way you described it, I'm not sure I've would of liked it. :confused3
I can't say that I liked it. It was definitely a different, and interesting drink. I'm glad I tried it, but now that I have, I think I'm good! :thumbsup2 :rotfl2:

I guess it all goes back to the time when he was bitten and turned into a werewolf.
Please tell me you don't watch those crap movies my wife likes! :rotfl2::lmao::rotfl:

I appreciate the support.

Uh oh. I haven't read the books (yet) and have only seen 1 movie in its entirety. My wife and daughter, however, are HP geeks and my daughter especially has been begging me to take here there. There's no way out of this, is there?
Go for it! I really like the other attractions around the park, so I think it is worth spending a day there. But I also like Tower of Terror.

I found the lie! :rotfl2:
:rotfl2:
+10:thumbsup2

That sounds pretty awesome. :thumbsup2
It was, except for giving me the feeling that I had my contacts in the wrong eyes or something. :sick::lmao:

They just hate Cincinnati.
That explains it... :faint:

That stinks. I'm guessing it was a Universal employee who saw your Reds hat.
:furious:

I'm not much of a fan of butterscotch, but I'm sure we'd all have to try it too. And we'd be coming home with the mug, for sure.
I didn't mention this, but we bought 2 frozen butterbeers and 2 that weren't frozen. Mine was frozen and I didn't taste the other, but DW and my sisters both said the frozen one tasted a lot better.

It's this kind of detailed, incisive trip reporting that you just can't get anywhere else. :rotfl::rotfl2:
Hey, I wrote about what I was doing and gave a breif summary of what they did while I was somewhere else!!! I could have just lied about it like someone else.

No idea what that's like.:rolleyes1
I can only imagine what will be in store for me a few years down the road. :rotfl2:

Hey, don't knock it till you try it. Truthfully it isn't really that intense. The lift hill is 90 degrees up, so you're laid all the way back as you climb, but the drop is more typical to what most other rollercoasters are. It doesn't go straight down, or pull you towards the Earth at a speed faster than gravity or anything!

It really is a fun ride, and even if someone is scared of heights, it shoudln't be bad, because the only really high part is the lift hill and because of the angle, you really can't tell how high you are anyway.

I'm not. There just aren't as many suicidal people as you think out there.
:rotfl2::lmao::rotfl: This ride is so smooth, it makes Space Mountain feel suicidal by comparison. I'm telling you, you should try it!

See the suicidal thing above.
Ok, I'll give you that one! :rolleyes1
 
Sounds like a ton of fun at Universal! This is how we're starting our trip in February, so your insight is certainly helpful. I noticed you didn't you on Mummy... but from the sounds of it, you've done it before? How was this ride on a quesy-ness level? We have some adventurous kids in the group, and some skeptical adults... who don't like riding backwards on coasters - is this one pretty disorienting? I know I'll like it... but want to give a proper warning to those who may be affected by it.
Yes, I've ridden it a few times in the past. It has been a few years, so I don't remember it in detail, but I don't recall it being very disorienting. The backwards portion is probably less intense and considerably shorter than Everest, if I remember right. You come into a show room and see some life threatening effects and then you propel backwards into another show room before turning and going forward for the rest of the ride. This ride is really a nice combination of dark ride and rollercoaster, but I didn't really think it was too intense from a roller coaster standpoint. The mummy effects could definitely be intense for kids though.

As far as queasy-ness goes, I have a hard time saying anything about it. Rollercoasters typically don't effect me, so I don't know how to answer. I can say that my sisters and DW decided they weren't going to ride it this year because they thought it jerked them around too much last time. It didn't bother me, but I can't disagree, because it does make some abrupt accelerations and direction changes, so it definitely can jerk you around some if you're not ready for it.
 
Hey, we found E.T.!

So he finally got around to phoning home then?



Today was a morning like most others.

Having followed a dark and stormy night and proceeded a lazy afternoon…
That opening line is certain to get you nominated for a Pulitzer


For about a year, DS would only call him Monster. I have no idea why, but he wouldn’t call him by his real name.

:lmao: So it is written… so it shall be…



Monster arrived at the resort at around midnight...

There, I fixed that one. You take care of the rest of ‘em



We were going to be committing an act of treason today.

If you’re going to do it, either don’t get caught…
Or make sure you have a really photogenic fall guy.
(kids work well for this).



Now for someone who had never seen the movies, and had really no interest in it, once I got there I was blown away. The level of detail is incredible.

Almost Disney-esk would you say?



The ride itself was a lot of fun. It moves you through scenes in a somewhat typical dark ride fashion, but you move up, down side to side and pitch forward and backward as you go. On top of that, there are rooms where you stop in front of a screen where you then pitch and roll as you follow Harry Potter in chase scenes flying on a broom.

Sounds like a lot of fun. We haven’t been to the other place in forever. I don’t think IoA was even finished (or it had just opened) the last time we were there.



Remember my comments in the last update about motion sickness when I’m in a moving seat watching a screen? Yeah, this one is pretty bad. I enjoyed the ride and it really was amazing, but I didn’t feel so great when I got off.

You just needed to nibble on a bit of chocolate. It calms the senses after the odd encounter with Dementors of surviving random disorienting dark rides.


After we finished there, we headed across the path to the Flight of the Hippogriff. After DS’s excitement about Goofy’s Rollie Coaster, we thought he’d enjoy this one too… and we were right!

It’s good to be right.
It’s better to see your kids having the time of their lives.



I didn’t mind getting a little wet like we did on Jurassic Park, but I had no interest in being soaked to the bone all day long, nor did anyone else.

Especially not in December.
Now mid August would have been a different story I suspect.



As we were leaving the Hulk, someone stepped on the back of my foot…

…nobody even offered an apology. I understand it wasn’t intentional, but come on, at least have the courtesy to apologize.

The world would be a great place if it weren’t for all the other people in it.




Excellent!
That’s actually a rather good photo of your boy.
My, my but he’s getting’ big.




We enjoyed our meal, and DW and Sis2 enjoyed a couple of adult beverages.

Hhhhon-est Oss-i-fer…
I ain’t under the al-fluence of inc-a-hol…



We walked on a second time and as we were climbing off, BiL proposed the idea that we jump back in line again and keep riding until someone decides they can’t take anymore.

Sound like a good idea…


I said I was in, but DW and my sisters were already throwing in the towel.

So much for good ideas :rotfl2:



We found Mom and Dad and DS was starting to get restless. He really needed a nap, but was making sure to keep moving and fight sleep. Sis really wanted to see Twister, so for some crazy reason, we decided to take a 2 year old who needs a nap and hates the dark and loud noises into a loud, dark attraction.

This does not bode well


By the time we made it into the main show room, he was sound asleep.

But sometimes, even bad decisions can be saved by a little bit of providence.



Sis2 wasn’t about to leave without riding E.T.!!!

Well, it did take her a while to actually find the thing.
 
Now for someone who had never seen the movies, and had really no interest in it, once I got there I was blown away. The level of detail is incredible. Once you enter, you really can’t see anything in other areas of the park and it really feels like you’re in some faraway place. I think it really feels about 20 degrees cooler there, just because of the snow on the roofs. Now with that, the obligatory pictures…

Oh you really really should read the books. Or see the movies, or both! It means so much more and then you really appreciate the detail!

I'm a die hard Disney fan but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the dark side too.

OW on the shoe.

Universal doesn't have much for really little ones, I agree with you there. IoA a lot more. We are huge Margaritaville fans, glad you enjoyed your meal!

Rip Ride Rockit is the one we haven't done. Line was simply WAY too long at the time we were there. Maybe next year.

Oh dear. Twister and a 2 year old. That show/ride whatever it is, is painful enough as an adult.
 
So he finally got around to phoning home then?
Apparently so... :lmao:

Having followed a dark and stormy night and proceeded a lazy afternoon…
That opening line is certain to get you nominated for a Pulitzer
Hey, I work hard to make sure this TR is full of generically written crap!

:lmao: So it is written… so it shall be…
Heck, he answered to it, so apparently it worked.

There, I fixed that one. You take care of the rest of ‘em
Thanks, but I'm too lazy, you'll just have to change it in your head as you read.

If you’re going to do it, either don’t get caught…
Or make sure you have a really photogenic fall guy.
(kids work well for this).
You think I haven't figured this out yet?

Almost Disney-esk would you say?
::yes::

Sounds like a lot of fun. We haven’t been to the other place in forever. I don’t think IoA was even finished (or it had just opened) the last time we were there.
It was definitely a fun ride, but I was definitely disappointed by the video scenes. Especially with how incredible the rest of it was.

You just needed to nibble on a bit of chocolate. It calms the senses after the odd encounter with Dementors of surviving random disorienting dark rides.
Mmmmmm... chocolate.

It’s good to be right.
It’s better to see your kids having the time of their lives.
Hard to say this, but I agree.

Especially not in December.
Now mid August would have been a different story I suspect.
Actually, it wasn't all that cold. The whole week, the coldest it got was about 57 one night. The only time I ever wore long sleeves was the last hour or so of MVMCP. That morning at IoA it was probably close to 70. Not too terribly cold, but those 2 rides absolutely soak you. Especially the Bilge Rat Barges. You know how on Kali River Rapids there's usually one person soaked and everyone else is just kind of wet? Well on this one, there might be one person on the raft with a dry area on their shirt about the size of a dime. Seriously, you might as well just jump in a pool with your clothes on. But it is one of my favorite raft rides ever. It is long and the Popeye/Bluto scenes are very well done.

The world would be a great place if it weren’t for all the other people in it.
Ain't that the truth!

Excellent!
That’s actually a rather good photo of your boy.
My, my but he’s getting’ big.
So is his sister...

Hhhhon-est Oss-i-fer…
I ain’t under the al-fluence of inc-a-hol…
It is obvious that you need to spend some time at City Walk. Not only is walking around with an open container allowed, it is encouraged.

Sound like a good idea…
I'm always in the mood for a few circuits on a good rollercoaster.

So much for good ideas :rotfl2:
They really disappointed me. Apparently my younger sisters are getting too old to have fun.

This does not bode well
:faint:

But sometimes, even bad decisions can be saved by a little bit of providence.
I could tell he was about ready to crash if he just stayed still for a little bit. I just wouldn't have thought it would happen in there with all that noise!

Well, it did take her a while to actually find the thing.
:magnify:

It just makes me wonder a little bit about my sisters. Of all the things there are to do at US/IoA, the 2 things that they were most adamant and excited about doing were Twister and E.T... :confused3:rotfl2:

Oh you really really should read the books. Or see the movies, or both! It means so much more and then you really appreciate the detail!
I actually thought about at least reading one of the books before we went. I just never got around to it. I definitely need to do it sometime now that I've seen the attraction.

I'm a die hard Disney fan but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the dark side too.
::yes:: I really do enjoy both. Disney for the nostalgia and family time and US/IoA for more of an intense more grown up experience.

OW on the shoe.
:headache:

Universal doesn't have much for really little ones, I agree with you there. IoA a lot more. We are huge Margaritaville fans, glad you enjoyed your meal!
We actually love Margaritaville too. I think I've eaten there the last 3 times I've been at CityWalk.

Rip Ride Rockit is the one we haven't done. Line was simply WAY too long at the time we were there. Maybe next year.
It really is a fun ride. Of all the rollercoasters I've ever ridden, it usually seems like I can compare a new one to one I've been on before. This one is definitely unique.

Oh dear. Twister and a 2 year old. That show/ride whatever it is, is painful enough as an adult.
You know, it was interesting to see the first time. It really is a bit dated now, especially since they've removed all the props outside the theater when they put in Rip Ride Rockit. I'd be fine with them making better use of that space...
 
Forgot to mention, there is some interesting backstory on the Universal/hat thing.

We just hired a mechanical/safety/human factors engineer who used to work for Universal and Disney.

Lets just say someone went to EXTREME lengths to retrieve a very special hat that had fallen off. Despite it clearly begin blocked off to the public in multiple ways and not easy to bypass.

It did not end well. Our engineer actually had to testify to the human factors aspect of why someone might do such a thing.
 

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