Day 8-- Thur 11/6
Today was our last full day in Florida
. We were headed to Universal. Ironically, I did begin to feel alittle homesick. I really was having such a strong feeling of wanting to be home. Maybe it's because the "Disney" part of our trip was over. I really am not a huge Universal fan. But most of the troops really wanted to go-- so I fit it into the schedule. It has been a few years since we had been there-- so I figured what the heck.
Well, the whole day started off bad. We left almost 30 mintes late (we were all dragging from the night before). Then DH and I were the lead car-- and we took a wrong turn off the exit ramp. Then we get to Universal-- parking is $8.00. Then we go up and up and up some more in the parking ramp (I can't believe they have a preferred lot you can pay extra for-- they really are trying to milk you for your money). Then the parking guys sent us around in a huge circle twice. The rest of my group was already parked. On our 3rd time being waved beyond the parking cars---we stopped to ask the parking attendants what they were doing-- they got really nippy and told us to go around that the attendant over there would fill us into the misc free spots on the other side. We tried telling them that they just keep sending us back around. They were so nasty about it. Dh just pulled into the next empty spots. The parking guys were yelling at us-- we just walked away. I was really fustrated by this-- then we get to the ticket window. I knew they were alittle more than Disney. I pulled out my AAA card-- you are supposed to be able to show it at the window for a small discount. The guy there was so engrossed in his book-- he was snotty too. He told me in a very demeaning tone- it was only good on multi day passes. We were just buying the 1day 1 park ticket. The advertised price is not the price that printed up on the receipt-- the guy told me it was a handling charge. 3 adult tickets cost me almost $170.00-- I was shocked. So far I was really disliking Universal.
We walked in-- it was raining again. This time we got our ponchos on before we got soaked. We headed to Twister. Posted wait time said 10 min-- we waited 35. Then to Earthquake. Wait time said 5 min-- we waited 45 min. Then to Jaws-- wait time posted said 15 min-- one lady was complaining she had already been waiting 35 min. All the express pass machines were covered and out of order because of the rain.
It was this way all day long-- the wait times were ALWAYS-- 3-5 times longer than posted. I really dislike the way Universal heards you into a room before almost every ride and then shoves as many people in there as humanly possibly to make you wait another 15 minutes. I guess Disney does this too-- but only on a few things like Muppets. On rides like HM and ToT you are only in that room for a matter of 2 minutes. The other thing was it didn't feel like Universal had any air conditioning in these rooms. They were too hot and too steamy. We did get to do the new Shrek ride-- which was really cute. The dropping motion though is alittle jarring. We also seen the beetlejuice show--- that was the highlight of the whole day. We did MIB and seen the Blue's Brothers and the Horror Make-up show before leaving. During one of the shows-- one of the workers made a joke saying "hey kid this isn't Disney-- I don't have to be nice to you". It was meant to be a joke-- but I thought it was soo true. People here just weren't as nice.
DH and I decided to leave early because we were damp, hot, and sticky. We weren't really having a good time. DS stayed w/ my parents. All I could think about was all the packing I had to do-- and cleaning up our mess at the villa. I love my family-- but by today they were getting on my nerves. I think I was just really tired. On the way out of the park DH and I noticed a Cheesecake Store. We are both big fans of any cheesecake. We decided to stop. The girl serving us dropped both our pieces upside down, on the very edge of the plates. A perfect ending to a not so great day. Actually while we were eating we heard a loud crash. We got up to look and see what it was. Right outside the cafe's door a light post lamp cover had fallen to the ground. Luckily it didn't hit anyone. Some shards of the plastic hit a lady in the leg and foot. She was bending down to look at her foot. DH went to see if she was okay (playing Mr. EMT). She was-- just some plastic stuck to her-- but no cuts. She was just a bit shaken. Do you know that not one single Universal worker did anything more than say "are you okay?". Maintenence came and cleaned up the mess and that was that. I would of thought PR, Management, security-- someone would come talk to her. We left after that. I was just truly amazed by the way Universal treats it's customers. It's bad enough that everything cost's so much more-- then to treat everyone so rudely. I really had every intention of writing a letter. But then I decided what for. I don't want anything from them. I just couldn't believe the treatment we encountered all day. I figure, they don't really care what one person's opinion is-- It's okay if I don't come back because 1000's of people will.
We went home and began the endless task of packing. Of course now we have to fit the souvineers and all that stuff. Somehow-- I made it all fit. I then sent DH back out to the car (he had already packed the suitcases into the car). It had stopped raining and it was such a nice night-- I wanted to swim one last time this year . He and DS decided to join me. Everyone else was still packing. The water felt great-- I was starting to get sad about leaving. I was really missing home-- but I was already missing Florida.
Today was our last full day in Florida
. We were headed to Universal. Ironically, I did begin to feel alittle homesick. I really was having such a strong feeling of wanting to be home. Maybe it's because the "Disney" part of our trip was over. I really am not a huge Universal fan. But most of the troops really wanted to go-- so I fit it into the schedule. It has been a few years since we had been there-- so I figured what the heck.Well, the whole day started off bad. We left almost 30 mintes late (we were all dragging from the night before). Then DH and I were the lead car-- and we took a wrong turn off the exit ramp. Then we get to Universal-- parking is $8.00. Then we go up and up and up some more in the parking ramp (I can't believe they have a preferred lot you can pay extra for-- they really are trying to milk you for your money). Then the parking guys sent us around in a huge circle twice. The rest of my group was already parked. On our 3rd time being waved beyond the parking cars---we stopped to ask the parking attendants what they were doing-- they got really nippy and told us to go around that the attendant over there would fill us into the misc free spots on the other side. We tried telling them that they just keep sending us back around. They were so nasty about it. Dh just pulled into the next empty spots. The parking guys were yelling at us-- we just walked away. I was really fustrated by this-- then we get to the ticket window. I knew they were alittle more than Disney. I pulled out my AAA card-- you are supposed to be able to show it at the window for a small discount. The guy there was so engrossed in his book-- he was snotty too. He told me in a very demeaning tone- it was only good on multi day passes. We were just buying the 1day 1 park ticket. The advertised price is not the price that printed up on the receipt-- the guy told me it was a handling charge. 3 adult tickets cost me almost $170.00-- I was shocked. So far I was really disliking Universal.
We walked in-- it was raining again. This time we got our ponchos on before we got soaked. We headed to Twister. Posted wait time said 10 min-- we waited 35. Then to Earthquake. Wait time said 5 min-- we waited 45 min. Then to Jaws-- wait time posted said 15 min-- one lady was complaining she had already been waiting 35 min. All the express pass machines were covered and out of order because of the rain.
It was this way all day long-- the wait times were ALWAYS-- 3-5 times longer than posted. I really dislike the way Universal heards you into a room before almost every ride and then shoves as many people in there as humanly possibly to make you wait another 15 minutes. I guess Disney does this too-- but only on a few things like Muppets. On rides like HM and ToT you are only in that room for a matter of 2 minutes. The other thing was it didn't feel like Universal had any air conditioning in these rooms. They were too hot and too steamy. We did get to do the new Shrek ride-- which was really cute. The dropping motion though is alittle jarring. We also seen the beetlejuice show--- that was the highlight of the whole day. We did MIB and seen the Blue's Brothers and the Horror Make-up show before leaving. During one of the shows-- one of the workers made a joke saying "hey kid this isn't Disney-- I don't have to be nice to you". It was meant to be a joke-- but I thought it was soo true. People here just weren't as nice.
DH and I decided to leave early because we were damp, hot, and sticky. We weren't really having a good time. DS stayed w/ my parents. All I could think about was all the packing I had to do-- and cleaning up our mess at the villa. I love my family-- but by today they were getting on my nerves. I think I was just really tired. On the way out of the park DH and I noticed a Cheesecake Store. We are both big fans of any cheesecake. We decided to stop. The girl serving us dropped both our pieces upside down, on the very edge of the plates. A perfect ending to a not so great day. Actually while we were eating we heard a loud crash. We got up to look and see what it was. Right outside the cafe's door a light post lamp cover had fallen to the ground. Luckily it didn't hit anyone. Some shards of the plastic hit a lady in the leg and foot. She was bending down to look at her foot. DH went to see if she was okay (playing Mr. EMT). She was-- just some plastic stuck to her-- but no cuts. She was just a bit shaken. Do you know that not one single Universal worker did anything more than say "are you okay?". Maintenence came and cleaned up the mess and that was that. I would of thought PR, Management, security-- someone would come talk to her. We left after that. I was just truly amazed by the way Universal treats it's customers. It's bad enough that everything cost's so much more-- then to treat everyone so rudely. I really had every intention of writing a letter. But then I decided what for. I don't want anything from them. I just couldn't believe the treatment we encountered all day. I figure, they don't really care what one person's opinion is-- It's okay if I don't come back because 1000's of people will.
We went home and began the endless task of packing. Of course now we have to fit the souvineers and all that stuff. Somehow-- I made it all fit. I then sent DH back out to the car (he had already packed the suitcases into the car). It had stopped raining and it was such a nice night-- I wanted to swim one last time this year
. He and DS decided to join me. Everyone else was still packing. The water felt great-- I was starting to get sad about leaving. I was really missing home-- but I was already missing Florida.
