A disney fan goes to US/IOA and has a blast! tons of pics. Updated 3/11

[Our2Girls&Disney]

I am enjoying your TR. I would agree with your comments about the circus. Last year a supplier of mine bought my family tickets for the circus in Boston. It was really good, plus the kids enjoyed going into the city for the day. This year he gave me tickets to the circus in Manchster NH and what a let down. Boston was so much better. The rink was huge in Boston and in Manchester it was very small. Sure we had better seats in Manchester, but the show stunk. I agree, the best part was the motorcycles in the metal ball (but they did that last year). Anyway, on to more exciting things, Universal.

 

[CPanther95]

Unless you were joking about not knowing, I believe that is a picture of Bullwinkle kissing your daughter in her stroller.

I could be wrong, but either way, I now feel old.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Thanks you guys. I'm glad to know people are still reading.

and ChrisFL and Cpanther95, thanks for letting me know which character it was. (By the way, I wasn't joking. lol.)

 

[phamton]

I remember reading about the horrible experience you had at the Pirate and Princesss party. I sure hope that the weather wasn't as bad for your visit to Universal.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

I remember reading about the horrible experience you had at the Pirate and Princesss party. I sure hope that the weather wasn't as bad for your visit to Universal.

Wow. I can't believe you remembered that! Thank Goodness it wasn't as bad for most of the day and we did get to do everything without being soaked! It did get a little worse at night but you have to keep reading to find out about it!

 

[mickeysgirl17]

When I left off, we were heading towards shrek 4D. Well, when we arrived, the line looked very long. We debated on whether we should get express passes, but we were on a budget and crowds didn't look too bad especially with the misty rain so we opted to forget them and we would just buy them later on if necessary.
We got on line and DH was hesitant because he didn't want to wait too long and I assured him that this wasn't a ride, and that it was a show so when they opened the doors, most of the line would dissappear into the theater.
In the end, we only had to wait through one performance and then it was our turn.
I wasn't sure what to expect since I had never seen this before and I didn't know if it would be too much for DD. She does really well with phillharmagic in Magic Kingdom , but she did really bad with tough to be a bug in Animal Kingdom , so I didn't know how this compared, but I was hoping for the best.
We finally made it into the preshow which I thought was a bit long and I don't do well in the middle of a crowd (I start to have anxiety ) and I was a little uncomfortable, but thankfully I made it and we were shown our way into the theater.
We all thought the show was great! Even DD did really well with the moving seats. DH and I thought she would be scared, but it turned out well.
From here, we decided to go see Twister, but it was shut down.

Then we were walking towards mummy and I spotted this so I took a pic:

We saw the really cool NY Street sets which was awesome to me because I'm from NYC and it reminded me of back home I miss it so much!
Anyway, here are some pics. This one has DH's head in the way.....

We finally reached the Mummy. DH wanted to ride this and my Bro went with him. I had no intention of riding this because I don't like dark or scary rides much and I was going to stay with DD anyway.
DH and Bro went into the ride while DD and I stood outside waiting. I met this nice lady who was also waiting for her husband and she was explaining that it seemed really deserted today in the park.
I told her this was my first time there and I wouldn't know since I don't know how it usually is..............so I guess it crowds were lower than usual which was great to hear!
A few minutes later, I saw Bro looking for me so I went up to him and asked where DH was?
He told me he was just getting on the ride. I was confused.
"Why aren't you on the ride with him?"
"Because we went on the single riders line and we couldn't sit together"
I told my Bro he was a big chicken and that's what single rider lines are for, but he said he didn't want to ride alone so he left.

DH finally came out and we proceeded to the San fransisco/Amity area. He said he really liked the ride and thought I would probably like it too, but we decided to move on.

Everyone wanted to do Jaws, even DD although I don't think she knew what it was so we got into line. We had to wait about 30 minutes and we finally got into the boat.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Before actually departing, I tried to explain to DD that the shark looked very real and very scary but he was fake. She told me she understood, but once we were actually going through it, she was terrified. She didn't want to look at all and kept her eyes closed shut the whole time while I held her and kept telling her it was fake.
I really don't recommend this to anyone under age 6 or 7 because the shark looks real. We also got pretty wet which I didn't like since we were already sort of wet and uncomfortable.
Next, we went to eat some lunch because we were starving and because we felt DD needed a break after being terrified of Jaws.
We opted to go back the way we came to this burger place. I'm not sure what it was called, but it was in the Jaws area and was by the water.
DH loves burgers so this was a perfect choice for him.
The 4 of us each got a burger and a small portion of fries and 1 small drink each. The lady at the register told us our total and I about passed out in shock!
Even at Disney, we are able to eat at a counter service for around $30 total including drinks.
Our total at Universal was $44 and change!!! I didn't believe it so I stood there and added up the prices myself but it was true. I couldn't believe that a simple burger could cost $8. It was just plain ridiculous.
We found a table and ate every single bite because I didn't want any of it to be thrown out for that price.
I should have taken pics, but I was too mad to remember. Sorry.
After lunch, Dh and Bro thought it would be funny to start feeding the birds outside. In the end, the birds kept coming back for more and people were literally afraid to walk by because there was so many birds and they kept getting too close. I told them to stop their immaturity and that we should spend our time doing better things, but they thought it was fun.
If this is what would make DH happy, I should have just brought him to the park and saved the $200 I spent on Universal tickets!
When I finally got them to realize how immature they looked, we went to Men In Black. DD was too short for this so I stayed outside again (you'll see this happen all day) while DH and Bro went in to ride.

They said they really liked it and it reminded them of Buzz in MK.
DD kept asking when it would be her turn to do kid rides, so since we were close by, we went to Woody's kidzone.

Stay tuned for our big surprise!

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

Your bro cracked me up with the single rider thing.

Ok, I made note of lunches, bring in sandwiches, check.

Keep going, I need more.

 

[lindalinda]

I like your report! I had just noticed that they raised the price of the meal deal to 25$ and I was waffling on whether to get it for the boys (teenagers) but looking at your lunch prices has made it clear that thats a good deal!

 

[tlinus]

enjoying your report.....keep up the good work!!

 

[RockinDisney]

I like your report, I laughed at your Brother, but only becasue I could see mine being the same way
Can't wait to read the rest

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Thanks you guys.

LindaLinda- yes, I would do the meal plan. We didn't even eat dinner there either because lunch was too expensive. We ate at PizzaHut after we left the park and only spent $15.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

So we walked into Woody's kidzone right after Men In Black. I think by now I have a general idea of the park layout so I don't think we're missing anything because apparently we were going around in a circle from land to land according to the map which was good.
We knew we HAD to do E.T. because not only was I really looking forward to it, but DH has a nickname and its E.T.
Don't ask me why. His family always called him that so I just went along with it. I have no idea why they think he is alien from outer space or wait a minute......maybe I do. I guess he can be kinda wierd or alien like now and then like when he just throws all his clothes on the floor instead of putting them in the hamper which is about a foot away from where he threw the clothes on the floor! That's wierd isn't it?
Well, moving on...............
So we found E.T. and we realized right away that the line was extremely long. The wait said 20 minutes. But do you think this is 20 minutes?

Actually, you can't tell from the picture, but there was a lot more people than what it looks like.
We decided to line up anyway. While waiting, I took this pic.

After winding around and around in the queue area, we finally made it inside where we had to give our name. Then it looked like another line, but thank goodness it wasn't. We boarded our "bikes" right away and took off. First of all, I just wanted to mention how AMAZING I thought the themeing was in the forest area on the way to board the ride. It was really really cool.
The ride itself was awesome. I loved the scene where your "flying" over the city and your passing by the moon. It was just magical and I can't believe I'm saying this, but its better than similar rides in Disney. Oh my........did I really just say that?

After E.T. we found this playground area which DD thought was so much fun.
Unfortuately, some stuff was closed because it was wet from the rain.

Mommy, you have to get on this with me!!!!!
NO!
DH: Do you want to make your DD upset?

The sun was peeking out and it got really warm so we went into the water park area. I had no intention of any of us getting wet, so we were just gonna browse through.

Now, I did notice the big bucket of water at the top:

Can you see it on the left top?
Well, from my little bit of research, I knew it contained lots and lots of water that dropped down onto the street below or anyone standing under it for that matter every so often.
Being the little evil person I am, I got this crazy idea. I pulled DH over to side and explained about the big bucket of water and told him we should try to get Bro to stand under that bucket! DH agreed of course and since poor Bro had no idea, he went right under it. I know.......I'm bad.
Anyway, we thought it wasn't working because we had him stand there for a while but nothing happened so DD wanted to take a tour of the play area and building inside. All of us went up the stairs and we started to walk around. We ended up right below the bucket but in a covered area where we found a bunch of ropes and things to pull to make water squirt out and stuff. As we're standing there, I hear this bell ringing type of thing and I'm thinking to myself, I wonder if that's the warning about the bucket falling over and spilling the water, but we're covered right under this big awning thing, so its okay? I think. I start to panic that we may get a little damp anyway so I start to tell DH that maybe we should leave this area just incase the water gets us a little damp and I really didn't want to get wet. Of course, being the alien that he is he ignores me and that's when we're hit with the big surprise!
The big bucket pours over and under the awning and all, we get drenched. and I mean drenched!
We might as well have gone swimming in all our clothes and everything because we got really really wet. So, my tip: Don't think your safe anywhere in the water area!
And.............I guess that's what they mean when they say "What goes around comes around" but it never went around anyway when we put my Bro under the bucket.
See that little balcony thing under the bucket (white gate)? Well, that's where we were standing and even though it doesn't look like in the picture, that area gets poured on!

We found this building near the kids area and decided to go inside to see what it was about. Inside, they had these things that would shoot small balls out to hit targets and get points. This looked like a lot of fun and everyone really loved it. We spent at least 20 minutes in there!

You can see DD's wet hair in this pic:

You would load the balls in this thing:

and this was the target:

After a while, we started shooting the balls at people down below (there was 2 levels) and they would shoot back. DD also was able to run around since there was only 1 exit and she loved collecting as many balls as she could carry and shoot the targets.........and people.
I recommend making a stop here if you can.

Coming up.................Woody's coaster, the purple dinosaur and we meet the simpsons! All of them!

 

[ChrisFL]

Yes, the E.T. ride is a classic and is often overlooked, but is still one of the best themed attractions at Universal and compares very well with Disney rides.

Great trip report so far.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

I agree. Unfortunately the line was ridiculous. If it wasn't, I would have gone on again and again.

 

[JawsCPA]

Enjoying your trip report. Love the pictures.

 

[Metro West]

Great pictures and report...keep it coming!

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Thanks everyone. More coming soon.............

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Ok. So after the whole E.T. my DH is an alien thing, I thought I would post this pic to prove that he is an green alien. See his green face? lol.

Actually, my DH breaks out often so he has this green cream thing he wears overnight and I saw him wearing it a few nights ago which reminded me of the alien thing I posted in the previous post, so I snapped a pic when he wasn't paying attention and thought it would be funny to post.

When he asked why I took a pic of him, I explained it and he was like "You better not post that picture of me!"
Of course, I had to anyway though!

 

[mickeysgirl17]

After the really cool ball shooting place, we decided to get in line for Woody's nuthouse coaster. DD does really well with the barnstormer in MK, so this should be a piece of cake for her. I normally don't do coasters, but I like kiddie one's and the barnstormer or Big thunder Mountain at Disney is perfect for me. Of course, that doesn't mean that I don't scream.
We got on line which was about a 15 minute wait. At this point, I noticed my DD kept trying to hold her pants up and I asked what she was doing and she told me her pants were too big and she had to hold them or they would fall.
I knew this would happen.
She didn't appear to have been holding them earlier though.
Of course, this is DH"s fault.
That morning I had gotten her dressed and DH got up and told me he didn't like her outfit so I told him to dress her himself since I was too busy getting ready for the trip. I passed by her room when he was dressing her and I saw him holding up a pair of her pants that I knew were a little big so I told him "Don't put those on her" and he didn't listen of course. When I saw them on her in the morning, they looked fine so I thought she probably just gained some weight............but obviously that wasn't the case because now we were standing online for the coaster and poor DD was too scared to let her pants go. I so badly wanted to say "I told you so".
So, we found this strap that I usually keep on another one of my purses in my bag and DH just used it as a belt for her and it worked!
Anyway, here are some pics of the coaster before we got on:

The whole time, my Bro kept saying that it looked too high and it looked a little fast and scary. I'm pretty sure he was just joking though.
I told him to stop being a big baby and just keep moving along the line.
We finally got on. Bro and DH got on one and DD and I got on infront of them. Dh told me to hold on to DD which I did of course. I was holding on to her really tight the whole way and I was screaming my head off but it was fun. DD just kept laughing at me and didn't scream once.
Behind me, I could hear Dh making fun of me telling bro about how scared I was since I was screaming. He thinks he's so cool.

Since we were in the area, and Barney was going to start soon, we headed over to the theater to line up. There were only a few families there. We sat down while waiting and Bro decided he needed a cigarrette break. He told us he was going to find a water fountain because he was thirsty, but we really knew where he was really going.
Once he left, we realized that there was a water fountain right next to us but Bro had already left. He was gone about 15 minutes and then the pre show started so we had to go in. DH said that he was a grown man and he will find us when he get's back.
We had to stand in the preshow area and we watched this wierd man talk and get the kids hyped up for the show.

The whole time, I kept seeing more and more people come into the open preshow area, but no Bro. I figured he was probably just waiting outside and just didn't care if he missed the show or not because it was Barney and its for kids anyway.
They let us in the main theater area. Once everyone was seated, they started the show. I did notice how odd it was that the theater was dark for a bit longer than usual especially with so many toddlers and babies around.
Once it started though, it was a lot of fun especially for DD. Most of the songs were the popular ones they do on tv that most of the kids knew and could sing along with. Baby Bop and BJ also made an appearance. It even snowed, and bubbles came down from the sky!!

When the show was over, DD grabbed a piece of coffetti paper and we went outside to get Bro and move on to the next attraction. We went outside and guess what?
No Bro in sight!
Where oh where could he be?........................and how on earth are we going to find him?