You can take the girl out of Disney, BUT

[superme80]

Loving this update! Making me want to go to Universal now! One day.

 

[jenseib]

Back to the Future! One of my favorite movies John said he still wants a Dolorean!

Is there a ride or show about it?


US is definity poking fun at Disney with those posters! Tick room! Makes my skin crawl

There used to be. It now houses the Simpson ride. The back to future ride...as well as the Simpsons now , was a simulator ride, but 100 times better than star tours.
I would have to say it was one of my all time favorite rides anywhere. It was just so cool. The first time I rode it I waited 3 HOURS!!!

Great update. I agree though, I think the tracks coming out like that tends to ruin the theming.

I am surprised, as they really have great themeing all through the park...and this just was not right.

Loving this update! Making me want to go to Universal now! One day.

It is a fun place...give it a try!

 

[MyMuse]

Hi!

Doing a quick drive-by to say I got to page 8! woot!!

and thank you!

 

[jenseib]

Hi!

Doing a quick drive-by to say I got to page 8! woot!!

and thank you!

HI!!!!

 

[brookelizabeth]

I didn’t like how the tracks came out here. It ruins the theming.

Did you find this sort of thing a lot at Uni/IOA, or just small instances of it? WDW is really good about theme, but DLR is a bit rougher--not THIS rough though!

 

[Tinkermom76]

Well I didn't know you were doing a TR (but then again I didn't know you had this trip planned so apparently I am not paying attention)

So now that I have read all your updates I just have to say Thanks a lot Jen now I want to go to IOA on my Oct trip

Was showing the kids the pics and looks like we will need to add a day to our trip

We have never been to Universal so I will have a lot of planning to do

 

[jenseib]

Well I didn't know you were doing a TR (but then again I didn't know you had this trip planned so apparently I am not paying attention)

So now that I have read all your updates I just have to say Thanks a lot Jen now I want to go to IOA on my Oct trip

Was showing the kids the pics and looks like we will need to add a day to our trip

We have never been to Universal so I will have a lot of planning to do

It is a fun place. I say go for it! (insert evil laugh!)

It was a pretty last minute trip, but I am happy we went. Lots of fun...and I am going pretty slow on the TR right now. Lots of things happening and I'm also planning our Nov trip too.

Did you find this sort of thing a lot at Uni/IOA, or just small instances of it? WDW is really good about theme, but DLR is a bit rougher--not THIS rough though!

For the most part it stayed pretty good with theming, but not quite as strict as disney and you can see. I just didn't like the rollar coasters looping through, but I guess they only have so much land too.

 

[Tinkermom76]

It is a fun place. I say go for it! (insert evil laugh!)

Will I get a lot done at IOA in one day?

 

[jenseib]

Will I get a lot done at IOA in one day?

Yes. If you can get there early that would be best and go to Harry Potter first and knock that out of the way. Then go on to the other spots. I hear Harry Potter area gets better befor closing too, but we never were there tha late to see. And remember I was there over Spring break, so hopefully when you go it will be a bit slower too.

 

[Woth2982]

Finally caught up! I swear you leave the country for a few days and everything gets away from you! Those Nachos looked so good I went out and got some last night. Sadly they were mediocre at best

 

[jenseib]

Finally caught up! I swear you leave the country for a few days and everything gets away from you! Those Nachos looked so good I went out and got some last night. Sadly they were mediocre at best

I hope you had a fun time!

I could go for a plate to magical appear right now...because I sure don't feel like cooking supper.

 

[rndmr2]

Don't worry about going slow on the TR, I thought I would be so much more behind than I am, so I'm happy
Love the Shrek posters!

I remember that Back to the Future ride! It was a really great ride.

I agree, those tracks from that coaster do NOT look right in that area, I somewhat remember that area from when I was there years ago and they just don't fit in.

 

[MEK]

I am not completely caught up, but your pictures are wonderful and I love the way you are catching all the details. I am really enjoying seeing Universal studios and IOA in such a great way! Definitely increasing my desire to go there.

Cute pictures of Claire with Thing 1 & 2. That outfit definitely did the trick!

 

[jenseib]

Don't worry about going slow on the TR, I thought I would be so much more behind than I am, so I'm happy
Love the Shrek posters!

I remember that Back to the Future ride! It was a really great ride.

I agree, those tracks from that coaster do NOT look right in that area, I somewhat remember that area from when I was there years ago and they just don't fit in.

Back to the Future was such an awesome ride....but the Simpsons is just as great now.

I forgot to mention that when we came out of Shrek, in the gift shop, they had a bunch of princess dresses in there too. They were so close to looking like what Disney has, it kind of cracked me up.

I am not completely caught up, but your pictures are wonderful and I love the way you are catching all the details. I am really enjoying seeing Universal studios and IOA in such a great way! Definitely increasing my desire to go there.

Cute pictures of Claire with Thing 1 & 2. That outfit definitely did the trick!

Thanks. I am glad we took a trip to concentrate on these 2 parks more and not just trying to fit a day trip...a day trip is fine, but I got to experience more and not feel so rushed.

I love that outfit so much. I am going to have to see if that seller makes anything like that with a Christmas theme.

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Hey Jen!! OMG, those nachos!!! I have been eating nachos as a snack pretty much every night after dinner the past week or two. We've gone through like 3 bags of cheese. And I wonder why I've gained 10 pounds since my last Disney trip....

Anyway.....great update! It seems like Universal doesn't have any of the rides that I remember. Sad Back to the Future isn't there anymore but glad to see the car and train still!

I didn’t like how the tracks came out here. It ruins the theming.

You Disney snob! Haha, just kidding. I totally agree. Walt would NEVER!

 

[natebenma]

Thanks for the trip report links. Had to use the shortcuts to catch up after our Atlantis vacation and all of the things on the To-Do list last week.

I'll just give a generic "Fantastic pictures all around!!!"

Poseidens Adventure- we didn't see this show. Too bad about the long wait and the antsy guy behind you. I love the theming of the Lost Continent area. Did you interact with the fountain at all? It ignored my son when he tried to talk to it, then as he walked away, it sprayed him. And then laughed!

Back Through Hogsmeade- the window glare in the shop windows really does make it tough to take a decent picture. I had trouble with the Sirius Black Wanted poster, too.

Jurassic Park- JP is one of our family's favorite movies (one of my favorite books too- the novel is amazing). We enjoyed this area, but even my dino-loving son didn't spend too much time in the Discovery Center.

Toon Lagoon- This is a visually stunning area. I'm so glad your pack stayed dry, even if Claire didn't.

Lunch- nice choice on Lunch. I Jimmy Buffett, but we never did eat at Margaritaville during our trip.

Shrek - I loved that Universal was much less crowded than IoA. Shrek was ok for us. Oh yeah, BLECH on the tracks for Rip Ride Rockit running through the NYC scene. Seriously?

Phew! All caught up. Hope to do a better job keeping up now.

 

[Poolrat]

Great update. I have been on the back to the future ride, Alfred Hitchcock. Made it back for Shrek but not for the Simpsons. I am due but not sure when..

Those tracks really are in the way ...

 

[jenseib]

Hey Jen!! OMG, those nachos!!! I have been eating nachos as a snack pretty much every night after dinner the past week or two. We've gone through like 3 bags of cheese. And I wonder why I've gained 10 pounds since my last Disney trip....

Anyway.....great update! It seems like Universal doesn't have any of the rides that I remember. Sad Back to the Future isn't there anymore but glad to see the car and train still!

You Disney snob! Haha, just kidding. I totally agree. Walt would NEVER!

I could go for some nachos too. I don't have any chips though....darn. I need to get to the store and get some....mmmmm.

Back the Future was just a great ride and I was so sad to hear it was gone a few years back, but the Simpsons is a really good replacement.

I know Walt would have a fit seeing something like that. LOL

Thanks for the trip report links. Had to use the shortcuts to catch up after our Atlantis vacation and all of the things on the To-Do list last week.

I'll just give a generic "Fantastic pictures all around!!!"

Poseidens Adventure- we didn't see this show. Too bad about the long wait and the antsy guy behind you. I love the theming of the Lost Continent area. Did you interact with the fountain at all? It ignored my son when he tried to talk to it, then as he walked away, it sprayed him. And then laughed!

Back Through Hogsmeade- the window glare in the shop windows really does make it tough to take a decent picture. I had trouble with the Sirius Black Wanted poster, too.

Jurassic Park- JP is one of our family's favorite movies (one of my favorite books too- the novel is amazing). We enjoyed this area, but even my dino-loving son didn't spend too much time in the Discovery Center.

Toon Lagoon- This is a visually stunning area. I'm so glad your pack stayed dry, even if Claire didn't.

Lunch- nice choice on Lunch. I Jimmy Buffett, but we never did eat at Margaritaville during our trip.

Shrek - I loved that Universal was much less crowded than IoA. Shrek was ok for us. Oh yeah, BLECH on the tracks for Rip Ride Rockit running through the NYC scene. Seriously?

Phew! All caught up. Hope to do a better job keeping up now.

It looks like you had a wonderful trip too. I would love to go there and stay, but my HD never would do that. Which reminds me...I need to win the lottery.

I have read the Jurassic Park books too. They were sooo good! It's been a long time ago though, I should reread them. Did you ever read Congo? It's been years on that one (and I saw the movie too) but that was really good too.

I don't think we went too close to the fountain, but watched others get wet. Claire might've went closer, but I can't remember off the top of my head now.

Great update. I have been on the back to the future ride, Alfred Hitchcock. Made it back for Shrek but not for the Simpsons. I am due but not sure when..

Those tracks really are in the way ...

You gotta get over there again. The Simpsons really is an awesome ride. Did you ride the Mummy yet? Another really cool ride.

 

[jenseib]

We kept moving along, just taking it in.

We came upon the mummy and we decided we wanted to do it…well “we” meaning Skip and I.

I figured this would be too intense for Claire so Skip headed off in the single riders line and Claire and I just roamed the immediate area.

We used the restroom and waited under an awning they had near here.

At some point in time Claire had asked me why no one had ever told her about Universal. I thought that was so funny……… Like we had been hiding this place from her for all these years. She really liked this place!

Soon Skip called and said he was out and we met up with him and I took a turn on the Mummy.
Again, this ride is just really cool, very different than Disney rides. It was a bit of a roller coaster, but it would stop here and there and show Mummy scenes. I loved it….BUT Claire would’ve hated it. It would’ve been too intense of a ride for her and too scary as well.

Skip and Claire were still sitting under the awning when I got off and we took off to find the Simpsons. Of course I took more pictures on the way.

I don’t know who this statue is, but he had a bird on his head with bird poo dripping down….poor guy.

Here is Richters burgers…the place I had been told was NOT very good. Skip said he was going to go and eat there, but he didn’t of course….

This bird was walking along with us and when I turned to take his picture he turned away, like he was pretending he wasn’t really walking with us.

We checked out Disaster, but the line was pretty long at this point. The last time I rode it, it was called Earthquake. It was pretty cool, one of the rides I clearly remember liking from previous trips.

Wait? Are we in Disney?

This area is where Jaws used to be. You could hear the construction going on behind the walls. This is a really bad picture, but they had people blowing bubbles in the walkway and they were just having a great time. Skip said that would be a great job to have.

They did leave the shark up!

Claire wasn’t too impressed with him, so we didn’t stop to get a picture there.

On the other hand…when I took Paige and Michael many years ago, they had no fear of the shark what’s so ever…they even got a little cozy with him.

 

[jenseib]

We passed Fear Factor…ICK. I hate this TV show, and was disappointed to hear they brought it back.

And there it is…..The Simpsons….

But wait! There’s Men in Black too. Let’s hit that one first.

We had to put our bags in a locker for this one. Again the process is fairly easy, but crowded. You have to use a computer screen to get your locker. I found that if you use your fingernail rather than you actual fingertip, the touch screen responds better. I did have to wait in a line to get to the screen, each locker section has one, and when you return, you have to go back to that screen to get your locker open. You need to remember your locker number and they also do a finger scan.

We got in line, which wasn’t too long, I think maybe a 40 minute wait was posted, but the time went much faster. I am guessing we waited 20-30 minutes. A lot of it was walk through. They had some really cute queue areas. It was like you were really walking through the MIB agency.

We joked a bit while waiting too. Early that morning while waiting for the wand show, there was a guy, an older lady and a couple of teen girls in front of us in line. We assumed that the lady was probably the Mother in law. They started talking about men and Black and the MIL had never seen the movies. The guy proceeded to tell her about it….in every detail possible. He started at the very beginning of the movie and gave her every scene…play by play. Skip was laughing and joking about it while we were behind him, and it was hard not to laugh. I could see the MIL’s eyes glaze over at one point. A little later a TM had come over and said that if people needed to use the restroom, they could get out of line as long as one person in the party stayed……the WHOLE family went, except for the guy. Skip found that hilarious. He figured they were happy to escape and was guessing they would never come back. They did, but just as the guy reached the front of the line, LOL!

So while waiting in the MIB line, we joked a bit, and pretended like we were giving each other a play by play of the movies, making up stuff of course!

I got some tips on this ride as well. First off I was told to hold my gun button down the whole time and it would score. (This ride is kind of like Buzz lightyear, where you shot at things for a score). I did this and scored a big fat zero. Now I haven’t relooked at my tip sheet, but maybe I had remembered wrong? But this didn’t work for me and I swore I had a faulty gun.
Then at one point you are told to hit a red button. Hit this button as soon as you hear him say it and keep holding it…and you will score big…this DID work for me. I hit it before the other 2 and I got the big score and took the lead and won….but only because I got mega points from the red button. Claire was mad because she didn’t even hear him say to hit it, so I told her next time I would help her. Skip only tapped his. I think only one person per car is awarded those points, so be quick to hit it…and blow your family away!

After MIB, I ran back out to get our bag and had to wait in line for the computer so I could get the locker open. I had like 5 people in front of me, and then they all walked away…seriously, why does a group of 5 all have to stand in the crowded locker area AND all stare at the screen. It’s much easier if you send 1 (or in my case 2 because Claire is nosey) to the locker and just get in and out as fast as you can.

We made another pit stop at the bathrooms near there and walked over to the Simpsons.

I think it was posted as a 20 minute wait and we hopped right in line.
Look how tired someone is.

Another photobomb! And a very unflattering picture of me. I guess all those nachos puffed my tummy out, because it does NOT look like that…I swear!

Skip loved this queue because they play Simpson cartoons. It prepares you a bit for the theme of the ride. It shows different clips and commercials that relate to the ride and just general Simpson characters. There is also a part that pays tribute to the Back to the Future Ride. I shows how Doc got some loan to keep the building and a Simpsons character comes back in time to help Doc save it, but runs over the loan officer, so now Doc has to sell the building to Krusty. …(for those who don’t know, the outside queue has television screens all throughout the line and fans blowing as well)
I was happy to see that….as I said before, Back to the Future is one of my all-time favorite rides and movies.

Claire had watched the Youtube video over and over at home and talked how “this” was the ride she wanted to ride, but once we got there she was scared. She thought we would be taking big drops and we reassured her it would be fine, but she was EXTREMELY nervous through the whole queue. She never believes me when I tell her things will be fine, and she didn’t believe Skip because he never even watched the video or been on the old ride before.

Before we knew it we were walking into the prep room.

They had several screens around the room and each screen would take turns talking, some about the ride, some more like a commercial. Skip laughed so hard and watched Apu. He would just sit there and wait till it was his screens turn to talk, but he would blink and just kind of look around. Skip found this hilarious.

After this little show we were led into our preboarding rooms where it gave you a bit more of the story on a video screen.

It told you how Homer’s family won a chance to be the first to ride this crappy roller-coaster at Krustyland…Basically he was set up by Side-show Bob, who wants to kill the family.

Now I have a question before I go on for anyone who is a Universal expert. I read online that Back to the Future had two rooms with screens, one in front and one in back. I have rode Back to the Future two or 3 times and this trip we rode the Simpsons 3 times….I have never gone to the back of the building for a ride. I have gone to the upper level and the lower level, but always at the front of the building. Is it true there is a 2nd screen somewhere?

This is what it says on Wikipedia….”The buildings for Florida and California had completely different layouts. In Florida the two arenas were back to back. Designers found that this led to some operational problems so the California building was designed so that the arenas were on opposite ends of the building with the queue and pre-show in between them.”

Ok….. Back to our regularly scheduled Trip Report….
We entered the next room and got in our car, which is supposed to be like a roller-coaster car. You can set your bag off to the side on the floor. We were in the front seat this time around.

We were soon lifted up and enjoyed the ride. For those who don’t know, it’s kind of like Soarin’…in a way….. It’s a HUGE screen, bigger than Soarin’, and it has the feeling that you are actually riding what you see, but it’s a simulator. There are several other cars loaded (2 levels of them in fact) and viewing the same screen, but unless you are looking, you wouldn’t even realize it. You feel like you have this place all to your own.

This ride is AWESOME! It has a few scents floating around at appropriate times and it is great fun. I do caution that you may get motion sickness. I tend to and could feel it. I actually took a bonine pill while waiting in line to help ward off the sickness. I also found after riding it 3 times over the course of our trip that sitting in the front seats made me less queasy than sitting in the back. Skip even mentioned that sitting in the back seat made him a little queasy too and he never has motion problems.
Now don’t be scared off…Do ride this, but take the precautions prior to riding. I would suggest to actually take bonine earlier in the day.

We got off all smiles and Claire and Skip both declared this the best ride EVER!!!!! Claire said she was nervous for nothing and just loved the ride. Skip was amazed at how we felt like we were actually doing what we saw, yet were just in a car that was moving us around.

There is a part at the end of the ride where they say that this is the part you get your picture taken and a flash goes off. I wasn’t sure if they actually took your picture or if it was part of the story, but I have read online after I got home that they do take your picture….where this is displayed at, I never found.

We made a stop off after the ride for Claire to take a phone call.

The phone has someone talking, but I’m not sure what it said, but Claire was making faces.

We wandered over here to look at the fence.

I tried to get Claire to lean up against the fence and pretend she was in trouble too, but she refused. She did however pretend to be helping Bart use the spray can.

We then took another sit down break and Skip went off and refilled the mug.

I got up to join him after he came back and someone yelled at me to get my attention. They let me know I left my bag…..the bag that Skip was in charge of! Thanks goodness the kind person let me know, and I let him know my husband was supposed to be carrying that bag and if he had not said anything, it would’ve been left there for sure!