DISWolves
Dreams really can come true !!!!
- Joined
- May 26, 2007
- Messages
- 1,750
DAY 2 ~ Universal Studios - Wizzarding World of Harry Potter
Woke up at around 4am, so I took my netbook down to the lobby to use the free wifi and I made a phone call home using the Skype app on my iPhone, I was greeted by the bellboy, who although a very nice person, insisted on giving me his life story for the next half hour!.
I went back to the room at 6:30 to wake Sue & Emma, ready for our visit to WWHP. We walked to IOA, arriving at around 7:40. We were allowed straight in and after showing our room key a few more times, we finally arrived. The attention to detail is fantastic. The queue took around 25 minutes, passing through corridors and various rooms. Only one thing to say about the ride A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!.
I will not describe the ride as it will spoil it for anyone who has it planned for the future. I feel that Disney has lost out big time to this attraction, and it takes the number one spot for my favourite simulation ride, easily beating Soarin.
Next we decided to make use of FOTL room key and headed off to Hulk. This was Emmas first time riding it, as she had always declined my offer in the previous visits.
She loved the ride and this was another of her firsts. Last year she rode Duelling Dragons for the first time.
Next, onto Storm Force, although this was half empty we still enjoyed it. Sue decided to sit this one out. Spiderman was next, again the FOTL pass proved good as we were on the ride within 5 minutes. The sun was quite fierce now as we made our way over to Jurassic Park. Standby queue time was 20 minutes, but again we were riding in less than 5 minutes. We made our way back to WWHP and the queue for the ride and to enter the shops were huge!. We went to Dragon Challenge (Duelling Dragons) and this was the longest wait about 10 minutes. This time we rode ICE. Next was the small roller coaster outside WWHP (was previously called Flight of Pegasus), this was good for getting some high vantage photos of Harry Potter.
We decided to move across to Universal and made our way to The Mummy. This was very busy but good old FOTL got us on the ride within 10 minutes. As we came out, the Blues Brothers show was just starting, so we stayed for this one.
A stroll around the corner and it was time for the encounter with the shark! I always try to sit on the left hand side of the boat for the end pictures, although you do tend to get fried just before!.
Carrying on, we got to MIB and this ride was very quiet. I managed my best score yet of over 146,000.
Onto the Simpsons and again this is another of my favourite rides. We managed to have a few pics taken with Bart outside the Kwik-E-Mart.
We could not leave the park without a visit to E.T. The queue was extremely long for this, so we were again grateful for the FOTL passes. On our way out, we managed to catch the Horror make up show, just as it was about to start. For those of you who have already seen this, does the compare ever wear anything other than jeans and jacket?. We must have seen this 10 or more times and he is always dressed the same!.
Time was moving on so we made our way to the exit and caught the boat back to the hotel.
After a quick shower and change, we headed off to one of our favourite offsite eating places, Mannys Chophouse, located around 30 minutes away on US27 near Haines City. This place is used by locals, which is a good sign and is always quite busy. Quite a large collection of British car number plates are fixed to the wall. I chose a large Bud light with a T-bone steak, Sue had raspberry Daiquiri with Teriyaki Salmon and Emma had diet coke with chicken tenders. Before your meal is served, you are presented with what I can only describe as a washing up bowl size of mixed salad with a lovely dressing. I could quite easily dine on this alone, but have learned from past experience to pace myself.
We made our way back to the hotel and I sent Martin (burt) a text to see if he had arrived. I met his gang on their way to catch the boat to City Walk. We went back to our room, to call it a day.
RETURN TO TRIP INDEX
Woke up at around 4am, so I took my netbook down to the lobby to use the free wifi and I made a phone call home using the Skype app on my iPhone, I was greeted by the bellboy, who although a very nice person, insisted on giving me his life story for the next half hour!.
I went back to the room at 6:30 to wake Sue & Emma, ready for our visit to WWHP. We walked to IOA, arriving at around 7:40. We were allowed straight in and after showing our room key a few more times, we finally arrived. The attention to detail is fantastic. The queue took around 25 minutes, passing through corridors and various rooms. Only one thing to say about the ride A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!.
I will not describe the ride as it will spoil it for anyone who has it planned for the future. I feel that Disney has lost out big time to this attraction, and it takes the number one spot for my favourite simulation ride, easily beating Soarin.
Next we decided to make use of FOTL room key and headed off to Hulk. This was Emmas first time riding it, as she had always declined my offer in the previous visits.
She loved the ride and this was another of her firsts. Last year she rode Duelling Dragons for the first time.
EMMAS HAS CONQUERED THE HULK - AT LAST!
Next, onto Storm Force, although this was half empty we still enjoyed it. Sue decided to sit this one out. Spiderman was next, again the FOTL pass proved good as we were on the ride within 5 minutes. The sun was quite fierce now as we made our way over to Jurassic Park. Standby queue time was 20 minutes, but again we were riding in less than 5 minutes. We made our way back to WWHP and the queue for the ride and to enter the shops were huge!. We went to Dragon Challenge (Duelling Dragons) and this was the longest wait about 10 minutes. This time we rode ICE. Next was the small roller coaster outside WWHP (was previously called Flight of Pegasus), this was good for getting some high vantage photos of Harry Potter.
We decided to move across to Universal and made our way to The Mummy. This was very busy but good old FOTL got us on the ride within 10 minutes. As we came out, the Blues Brothers show was just starting, so we stayed for this one.
BLUES BROTHERS SHOW
A stroll around the corner and it was time for the encounter with the shark! I always try to sit on the left hand side of the boat for the end pictures, although you do tend to get fried just before!.
Carrying on, we got to MIB and this ride was very quiet. I managed my best score yet of over 146,000.
Onto the Simpsons and again this is another of my favourite rides. We managed to have a few pics taken with Bart outside the Kwik-E-Mart.
We could not leave the park without a visit to E.T. The queue was extremely long for this, so we were again grateful for the FOTL passes. On our way out, we managed to catch the Horror make up show, just as it was about to start. For those of you who have already seen this, does the compare ever wear anything other than jeans and jacket?. We must have seen this 10 or more times and he is always dressed the same!.
Time was moving on so we made our way to the exit and caught the boat back to the hotel.
After a quick shower and change, we headed off to one of our favourite offsite eating places, Mannys Chophouse, located around 30 minutes away on US27 near Haines City. This place is used by locals, which is a good sign and is always quite busy. Quite a large collection of British car number plates are fixed to the wall. I chose a large Bud light with a T-bone steak, Sue had raspberry Daiquiri with Teriyaki Salmon and Emma had diet coke with chicken tenders. Before your meal is served, you are presented with what I can only describe as a washing up bowl size of mixed salad with a lovely dressing. I could quite easily dine on this alone, but have learned from past experience to pace myself.
We made our way back to the hotel and I sent Martin (burt) a text to see if he had arrived. I met his gang on their way to catch the boat to City Walk. We went back to our room, to call it a day.
RETURN TO TRIP INDEX
