8/22-27 Trip observations

[Cindy B]

So after the first ticket fiasco, we then make it to the parks. It is about 12 noon then, and pretty crowded.

We make it to MIB, and do fair. WE studied the tips and well, we get the suit, but not maxed out.

WE notice how great the express tickets are. After a few rounds, we then go on to Mummy. What a great ride! This turned out to be my daughters favorite ride.

We do most of studios that day... Sunday. I think we got to BTTF, Mummy, Jimmy Neutron (very cute!), Shrek, Terminator, Jaws, and I think Twister. The express was wonderful

The rest of the trip was great for express. We had one 20 minute wait once for Mummy for the remainder of the week. We walked on Shrek the five times we went on it. Jimmy Neutron wait was 5-7 minutes once. Jaws was walk on.

At IOA, the express was wonderful as well. We walked on Spidey, Hulk and DD. I got confused going on DD, and wound up at the wrong line.. but we still wound up in the right place. This trip was my sons first time on Hulk and DD. He liked them all. He preferred Ice over Fire, and Hulk over Ice.

We had no real wait for the water rides either the entire week (Sun- Friday) . ONe exception was one day Dudley was down, and the attendants forgot to open Express back up. The express crowd was backed up, so we just want back in to regular line. ..

The express line for Cat in the Hat is amazing.. basically walk right through. We walked on with a 5 minute wait for ONe Fish as well.

Posiedon was about a 10 minute wait. At least it was cool, waiting inside. All week Pterdon Flyers was at 45 -60 minute waits no matter what time we went by. Every time we went on JPRA we got soaked! Popeye is just great, but well, expect to be soaked.

We did not see that many characters out. We only saw Shrek once at his attraction exit, but his line was really long. Shaggy Scooby had really long lines as well. ONe time we just lucked out and Spongebob was in his area. We saw Grinch once and Sam I am once. We did wind up getting a pic of Princess Fiona on our last day. (she was excellent!) For three days, the kids didn't bring autograph books, and those three days we saw the most characters! We were at Guest Services and saw one character come in, and Fred and Barney come out! They waved high to my kids. I finally walked past Lucy and Ricky one day at opening. Lucy looked great but Ricky well. I guess I was expecting more. -- he didn't look right. We only saw Spidey and Grinch/Sam I am at IOA the whole trip.

 

[highlander447]

Sounds like u had a good trip

 

[Minniespal]

Great report ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[jnjusoioa]

Cindy B,
I am sorry to hear that you did not see many characters,that really concerns me as we are planning our first trip down next year and that is one of our main reasons is to see the characters, I feel like I get really jerked around because no one ever honestly answers about the characters.Were you actually looking for them,as in going to the locations and all??Just curious,were you at the parks early,they tell me the earlier you arrive the better??I amjust curious,any info helps when you are planning your trip.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!

 

[hftmrock]

We just came back and had no problems finding characters. We werent looking but we were always prepared. We saw Barney, Jimmy Neutron, SpongeBob, Olive Oyl, Popeye, Bluto, Bullwinkle, Lucy, Ricky, Grinch, Cat in the Hat, Thing one and thing 2, Sam I am, Dora, Angelica, Tommy, Captain America, Spiderman, Shrek, Fiona, 3 superheroes together (Dont know their names), Curious George, Wendy and woody woodpecker, Donnie Thornberry, Shaggy and scooby. That was about it.

 

[jnjusoioa]

Hey hftmrock,
Hey there,I sent you a PM in regards to the characters,had a few questions,so your help is greatly appreciated.Thanks!!

 

[Cindy B]

We may have been either back at the hotel or just in rides when the characters were out. They seemed to be more in the morning, and not in the afternoon. --toward closing time.

The two days we bring the autograph books, we only saw two characters. However the three days we didn't bring them, we saw the characters.

Some lines were really long.. so we didn't wait. Case in point would be Shaggy/Scooby.

WE did see Wolverine and Spiderman dashing across IOA together on the way to Confiscos.--they were chasing each other, and my son thought it was cool.

We did get to parks early at opening. ONe time we got there early and saw Lucy and Ricky.

In the afternoon, we did see Popeye Olive coming in and the Flintstones/Rubbles coming out of guest services buildings. They did stop and wave on the way out of the Guest services.

My kids got three autographs the whole trip! We didn't bring the autograph books everytime we walked in, so that was our fault per se. The autographs they got were Grinch, Spiderman, and Spongebob.

My kids are more ride oriented than character oriented. My son is getting older, so he'll pose for pictures, but the autographs are another matter. Neither child wanted to bring the autograph books everytime, so that was thier decision.

 

[hftmrock]

I know there is alot of pics but since you asked to see them....

They were all over. we did not plan anything. As we walked we saw them. Most of the time, the line was not too bad.

 

[Cindy B]

I didn't see most of those. We didn't see any at IOA besides Spidey and Grinch. BTW, I never asked to see them.

We may have just been at the resort in the mornings or swimming. We spent most of the time at Studios at MIB, and Mummy. At IOA, we toured all over.--we still only saw Wolverine running, Spidey at the store, and Grinch.

It sounds like you had better luckwith characters. We hardly saw any.

We did see Woody and the girl Woody Woodpecker as we left studios.

We never saw Curious George or any of the Thornberries, or the Rugrats.

 

[jnjusoioa]

No I had asked to see them,thank you for sharing those photos, they are all so wonderful and I hope we are just as lucky as you and get to run into that many on our trip,we will definately be looking though.Thanks Again!!!!!!!!!!

 

[hftmrock]

No problem. I love sharing pictures and glad I could help.