Hi, I tried to make this short but obviously failed, LOL, sorry.
It was me, dh and our foster-to-adopt son who just turned 5, (can't post pictures because the adoption is not finalized yet and he's in all 100+ pics, LOL) but we're your average 30 somethings, pony-tailed mom, goateed dad, but our fearless and energetic Spidy Jr has the most amazing sense of humor, best attitude, beautiful big sparkly brown eyes, long lashes and gorgeous smile you've ever seen! I'd love to show him off, hopefully soon.
We rented a nice large villa with extended family. They spent their park days at Disney but we got together for meals and pool time and a day in Daytona Beach. All together there were 6 adults and 4 kids under the age of 5, and everyone had a fantastic time.
Universal for our first park per your advice...thank you!
We stayed up too late playing in the pool, so we didn't get to the park super early like I had planned. As we waited in traffic, I could just hear you all saying "we told you so" LOL. Thankfully once we got to the park the crowds were light (in my opinion), so the following is not in any particular order, and we never waited more than 20-30 minutes for anything, although we weren't doing the bigger attractions.
My first impression and please forgive me for the comparisons to Disney (it took me a while to stop doing that, LOL) was how wonderful the parking was...quick, easy, covered, and those moving sidewalks I was so terrified of, were great!..no parking a thousand miles away and then crowding onto the tram and then the monorail hoping you're on the right one, going the right direction, didn't leave anyone behind, etc. (Not impressed with the express pass system compared to Disney, but we only used them twice, so it wasn't a big deal)
Couldn't find the kiosk to print out our will call APs, but walked up to the shortest line at the windows with my credit card and confirmation number ready and got the paper passes in no time at all. There was a huge line to get the pass pictures taken so we went later in the day, which wasn't a problem, well accept for the way I looked, LOL.
I knew my commando tour plan was a waste of time as soon as dh and ds took off to the Jimmy Neutron ride along with the rest of the people entering the park, LOL. This ride was awesome, but it took awhile for the queeziness to go away, still worth it though.
We were in the front row for Twister and ds loved it despite his crashing back into me so hard that my sunglasses went flying off the top of my head. A very nice CM helped me quickly find them with a flashlight afterwards. DS loved telling everyone, "he survived a twister" and insisted I take a picture of him standing in front of the cool wreckage outside of it.
I loved Shrek 4D the best, and we had a great time getting their autographs afterwards. Shrek gave ds a huge hug, and it was pretty funny when Fiona got smart with the photographer because she wasn't ready.
Men in Black was a blast, but we all agreed that we like Buzz a little better, sorry guys.
Dh is a huge fan of Jaws, so I was afraid he'd be disappointed in the ride, but he loved it. I overheard some of the others on the boat say that we had a great captain and that made all the difference. We can't wait to go back and ride it at night like you all suggested.
Animal Planet seemed as if it was cut short, not sure though. The volunteer from Australia who was called up to hold the snake said it "felt like a purse." Naturally the trainer and the audience audibly cringed, so I don't think it was part of the show??? I didn't realize it until afterwards, but ds was expecting to see Jeff Corwin, we both would have loved that, LOL.
Since none of us had seen E.T., I borrowed it for us to watch before going, but never had time. Ds watched it when we got back to our villa that night and loved it. It was fun even though it broke down in the middle and we had to wait about 10 minutes for it to restart. We played with our glow-in-the-dark sticks and enjoyed the cool darkness.
As soon as we got to the water area to let ds get wet, they closed it down because there was lightning in the area. They closed the Woody Woodpecker rollercoaster too, and ds was quite disappointed, but was easily consoled with the opportunity to see Dora, Scooby and Shaggy. I think they may have been sent to this area at that time for just this reason, which I thought was pretty wonderful. Shaggy acted as his own handler, which was funny, but good, made the line go fast.
I was worried that Terminator was too intense for ds and kept touching his arm, asking him if he was scared and reminding him that it wasn't real. Dh fell asleep, so obviously it wasn't too intense for him, LOL.
Ds asked about seeing Barney after the last show had started so we missed it. I was surprised he didnt feel too old for it. I hope he still wants to see it when we go back in the fall.
As far as meals, we were too hot to eat much, so we had some appetizers at the bar at Finnegan's (I thought to myself, we're definitely not at Disney, LOL), good food and excellent friendly service. We had a great time watching people interact with the guys on stilts in front of the Mummy ride. One walked right over ds without him realizing it. We also met some really nice people from Belfast, and reminisced about our two trips to Ireland. They laughed at us for thinking it was so perfect there in the cold November rain and we made fun of them for loving the summer time Florida heat, LOL.
We stopped for some more appetizers at the Nascar Cafe on our way out, just ok and way overpriced as expected, plus ds fell asleep in my lap, ouch! he sure is getting big and bony, so in hind sight, we should have kept on walking and gotten take out from Babbalous as I had planned.
(We did make it to Babbalous on our off day and it was fantastic just as everyone said it would be. Thanks for the recommendation.)
IOA
Again we arrived later than I planned, not worth it to rush and make everyone cranky. We got to Confiscos for the Spiderman breakfast just in time for our reservation. I ran to get express passes for the Spiderman ride while ds and dh were being seated. When I came back, they both were on their second glasses of large chocolate milks and there was a huge glass of orange juice waiting for me. I knew drinks werent included and I thought to myself, hmmm, wonder what these cost, but then before I could ask dh, Thing One and Thing Two were at our table. DS grabbed a whole handful of sugar packs and threw them at them, and as soon as I started to freak out and wonder what the heck was wrong with ds, I noticed that the photographer and everyone around us were pointing and laughing hysterically. I had missed the part where Thing 1 and Thing 2 were throwing packs of butter at each other earlier. Whew, a horrible Magic Kingdom day with a terrible two year old with anger issues flashed before my eyes, LOL.
I was extremely impressed with the amount of time the characters took with each table. Spiderman came to ours twice and spent at least 5 minutes talking to ds each time. A super nice CM came around and asked us if we had seen the Cat yet, which we had not, and he came out shortly after that. It was a fantastic time! The food wasnt anything special. We hardly ate, because we were so busy with the characters, and yes, dh just about died when he got the bill and saw that the chocolate milks were 3.75 each. Every so often throughout the day, hed blurt out in protest, I didnt know I was drinking 15 dollars worth of chocolate milk LOL, it would instantly crack us up when we were getting a bit tired.
As we walked out of the restaurant, I was in awe of everything the music, the themed buildings and walkways, the bridge over and under Incredible Hulk, the giant colorful super heros, the water and face on Mythos, hearing dinosaurs running towards us, just loved the whole fun vibe. I was a little disappointed in Universal in this way, but IOA definitely made up for it.
We rode Cat twice, loved it and Caro-Seuss-el and the fish ride.
Spiderman was definitely our favorite, along with the whole Marvel Island area and the ATV characters.
It rained off and on most of the day, so thinking back on it we didnt do much. The Flying Unicorn was closed, so again ds didnt get to ride the roller coaster.
The CM at the beginning of Pteranadon Flyers said the wait was a short one, so we made the mistake of waiting 45+ minutes for it in the pouring rain, but everything else was shut down anyway.
Sinbad was stopped half way through because they cant do the pyrotechnics in the rain, but it had been entertaining up until then and we had great seats.
After all the rain and doing Popeye, which we loved, I dont think we could have gotten any soggier. I brought ponchos but none of us felt like being a walking green house.
One of the highlights of our day was simply watching ds climb the rock wall. The wall was slippery and wet, but he was determined to make it to the top. There was no one else waiting to do it, so the guide let him try for as long as he wanted, and then when ds got about 4 feet from the top, he went up along side of him to help him make it all the way. Ds was so proud of himself, and I thanked the guide profusely. I thought that was one of the nicest things Ive seen a CM do.
Some things I noticed about both parks is that there were very few strollers, which I never realized would be so nice. Did not encounter any groups of rude teenagers like we had heard about, only a few adults trying to take pictures. Parks were very clean and every CM was professional and friendly except for one at the express machines, but he was holding a broom, so I imagine he was just trying to help and got sucked into the frustrated group of people trying to work the machines. Do not regret buying annual passes in the least.
We happily traded rain for crowds and heat even though we missed a lot, but well going back for a few short trips within the year.
Sorry to ramble so long, hope it helps others going for the first time, especially those with smaller kids.
We ate off site at Chevys, Joes Crab Shack, Shells and Babbalous, and we also went to Gator Land and Daytona Beach, so let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks to everyone for all your patience with my questions and I really appreciate all the great advice that made our trip so smooth and fun.
Cindy
It was me, dh and our foster-to-adopt son who just turned 5, (can't post pictures because the adoption is not finalized yet and he's in all 100+ pics, LOL) but we're your average 30 somethings, pony-tailed mom, goateed dad, but our fearless and energetic Spidy Jr has the most amazing sense of humor, best attitude, beautiful big sparkly brown eyes, long lashes and gorgeous smile you've ever seen! I'd love to show him off, hopefully soon.
We rented a nice large villa with extended family. They spent their park days at Disney but we got together for meals and pool time and a day in Daytona Beach. All together there were 6 adults and 4 kids under the age of 5, and everyone had a fantastic time.
Universal for our first park per your advice...thank you!
We stayed up too late playing in the pool, so we didn't get to the park super early like I had planned. As we waited in traffic, I could just hear you all saying "we told you so" LOL. Thankfully once we got to the park the crowds were light (in my opinion), so the following is not in any particular order, and we never waited more than 20-30 minutes for anything, although we weren't doing the bigger attractions.
My first impression and please forgive me for the comparisons to Disney (it took me a while to stop doing that, LOL) was how wonderful the parking was...quick, easy, covered, and those moving sidewalks I was so terrified of, were great!..no parking a thousand miles away and then crowding onto the tram and then the monorail hoping you're on the right one, going the right direction, didn't leave anyone behind, etc. (Not impressed with the express pass system compared to Disney, but we only used them twice, so it wasn't a big deal)
Couldn't find the kiosk to print out our will call APs, but walked up to the shortest line at the windows with my credit card and confirmation number ready and got the paper passes in no time at all. There was a huge line to get the pass pictures taken so we went later in the day, which wasn't a problem, well accept for the way I looked, LOL.
I knew my commando tour plan was a waste of time as soon as dh and ds took off to the Jimmy Neutron ride along with the rest of the people entering the park, LOL. This ride was awesome, but it took awhile for the queeziness to go away, still worth it though.
We were in the front row for Twister and ds loved it despite his crashing back into me so hard that my sunglasses went flying off the top of my head. A very nice CM helped me quickly find them with a flashlight afterwards. DS loved telling everyone, "he survived a twister" and insisted I take a picture of him standing in front of the cool wreckage outside of it.
I loved Shrek 4D the best, and we had a great time getting their autographs afterwards. Shrek gave ds a huge hug, and it was pretty funny when Fiona got smart with the photographer because she wasn't ready.
Men in Black was a blast, but we all agreed that we like Buzz a little better, sorry guys.
Dh is a huge fan of Jaws, so I was afraid he'd be disappointed in the ride, but he loved it. I overheard some of the others on the boat say that we had a great captain and that made all the difference. We can't wait to go back and ride it at night like you all suggested.
Animal Planet seemed as if it was cut short, not sure though. The volunteer from Australia who was called up to hold the snake said it "felt like a purse." Naturally the trainer and the audience audibly cringed, so I don't think it was part of the show??? I didn't realize it until afterwards, but ds was expecting to see Jeff Corwin, we both would have loved that, LOL.
Since none of us had seen E.T., I borrowed it for us to watch before going, but never had time. Ds watched it when we got back to our villa that night and loved it. It was fun even though it broke down in the middle and we had to wait about 10 minutes for it to restart. We played with our glow-in-the-dark sticks and enjoyed the cool darkness.
As soon as we got to the water area to let ds get wet, they closed it down because there was lightning in the area. They closed the Woody Woodpecker rollercoaster too, and ds was quite disappointed, but was easily consoled with the opportunity to see Dora, Scooby and Shaggy. I think they may have been sent to this area at that time for just this reason, which I thought was pretty wonderful. Shaggy acted as his own handler, which was funny, but good, made the line go fast.
I was worried that Terminator was too intense for ds and kept touching his arm, asking him if he was scared and reminding him that it wasn't real. Dh fell asleep, so obviously it wasn't too intense for him, LOL.
Ds asked about seeing Barney after the last show had started so we missed it. I was surprised he didnt feel too old for it. I hope he still wants to see it when we go back in the fall.
As far as meals, we were too hot to eat much, so we had some appetizers at the bar at Finnegan's (I thought to myself, we're definitely not at Disney, LOL), good food and excellent friendly service. We had a great time watching people interact with the guys on stilts in front of the Mummy ride. One walked right over ds without him realizing it. We also met some really nice people from Belfast, and reminisced about our two trips to Ireland. They laughed at us for thinking it was so perfect there in the cold November rain and we made fun of them for loving the summer time Florida heat, LOL.
We stopped for some more appetizers at the Nascar Cafe on our way out, just ok and way overpriced as expected, plus ds fell asleep in my lap, ouch! he sure is getting big and bony, so in hind sight, we should have kept on walking and gotten take out from Babbalous as I had planned.
(We did make it to Babbalous on our off day and it was fantastic just as everyone said it would be. Thanks for the recommendation.)
IOA
Again we arrived later than I planned, not worth it to rush and make everyone cranky. We got to Confiscos for the Spiderman breakfast just in time for our reservation. I ran to get express passes for the Spiderman ride while ds and dh were being seated. When I came back, they both were on their second glasses of large chocolate milks and there was a huge glass of orange juice waiting for me. I knew drinks werent included and I thought to myself, hmmm, wonder what these cost, but then before I could ask dh, Thing One and Thing Two were at our table. DS grabbed a whole handful of sugar packs and threw them at them, and as soon as I started to freak out and wonder what the heck was wrong with ds, I noticed that the photographer and everyone around us were pointing and laughing hysterically. I had missed the part where Thing 1 and Thing 2 were throwing packs of butter at each other earlier. Whew, a horrible Magic Kingdom day with a terrible two year old with anger issues flashed before my eyes, LOL.
I was extremely impressed with the amount of time the characters took with each table. Spiderman came to ours twice and spent at least 5 minutes talking to ds each time. A super nice CM came around and asked us if we had seen the Cat yet, which we had not, and he came out shortly after that. It was a fantastic time! The food wasnt anything special. We hardly ate, because we were so busy with the characters, and yes, dh just about died when he got the bill and saw that the chocolate milks were 3.75 each. Every so often throughout the day, hed blurt out in protest, I didnt know I was drinking 15 dollars worth of chocolate milk LOL, it would instantly crack us up when we were getting a bit tired.
As we walked out of the restaurant, I was in awe of everything the music, the themed buildings and walkways, the bridge over and under Incredible Hulk, the giant colorful super heros, the water and face on Mythos, hearing dinosaurs running towards us, just loved the whole fun vibe. I was a little disappointed in Universal in this way, but IOA definitely made up for it.
We rode Cat twice, loved it and Caro-Seuss-el and the fish ride.
Spiderman was definitely our favorite, along with the whole Marvel Island area and the ATV characters.
It rained off and on most of the day, so thinking back on it we didnt do much. The Flying Unicorn was closed, so again ds didnt get to ride the roller coaster.
The CM at the beginning of Pteranadon Flyers said the wait was a short one, so we made the mistake of waiting 45+ minutes for it in the pouring rain, but everything else was shut down anyway.
Sinbad was stopped half way through because they cant do the pyrotechnics in the rain, but it had been entertaining up until then and we had great seats.
After all the rain and doing Popeye, which we loved, I dont think we could have gotten any soggier. I brought ponchos but none of us felt like being a walking green house.
One of the highlights of our day was simply watching ds climb the rock wall. The wall was slippery and wet, but he was determined to make it to the top. There was no one else waiting to do it, so the guide let him try for as long as he wanted, and then when ds got about 4 feet from the top, he went up along side of him to help him make it all the way. Ds was so proud of himself, and I thanked the guide profusely. I thought that was one of the nicest things Ive seen a CM do.
Some things I noticed about both parks is that there were very few strollers, which I never realized would be so nice. Did not encounter any groups of rude teenagers like we had heard about, only a few adults trying to take pictures. Parks were very clean and every CM was professional and friendly except for one at the express machines, but he was holding a broom, so I imagine he was just trying to help and got sucked into the frustrated group of people trying to work the machines. Do not regret buying annual passes in the least.
We happily traded rain for crowds and heat even though we missed a lot, but well going back for a few short trips within the year.
Sorry to ramble so long, hope it helps others going for the first time, especially those with smaller kids.
We ate off site at Chevys, Joes Crab Shack, Shells and Babbalous, and we also went to Gator Land and Daytona Beach, so let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks to everyone for all your patience with my questions and I really appreciate all the great advice that made our trip so smooth and fun.
Cindy
