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

[mickeysgirl17]

I'm still reading. Your daughter looks so cute and tiny with the Simpsons.

I hope you set up a meeting point with your brother for the next time he decides to walk off. Maybe one of those children's harnesses would work.

Keep reading.........more crazy bro stuff later on in the trip report!

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Sorry I've been gone for a while. My computer actually crashed and we had to get it fixed, but its better now, so I'll be updating really soon!

 

[mickeysgirl17]

I'm back!!!!

So, we left Universal Studios around 3:30 and finally headed over to Islands of Adventure. I really wasn't too excited about this park because I know it had a lot of thrill rides that I won't do. Plus, DD was too young for most of the thrill rides anyway. I felt like Universal was probably our best bet for the most fun, but I know DH would really love Islands of Adventure because he loves thrill rides. So, we made the long walk past citywalk and got to the entrance which is when I noticed this:

Can you see the crowds?!

Oh my. Not good. We didn't have much time in this park and I knew DH wanted to do a few things here so I was worried. Universal had no line whatsoever to get in and the park wasn't crowded much, but this looked pretty bad. In the end, it took us about 15 minutes just to get inside.

Right away, I noticed that this park was beautiful. I quickly changed my mind about probably not liking it much and decided that the theming was better than Universal.

The look was sort of a spanish caribbean feel and I thought it was gorgeous.

We soon got our map/guide and proceeded on our way.

I loved that we passed under this bridge thingy that said "The Adventure begins"

The first obvious thing I noticed was the Hulk Coaster. Wow! I was in awe at that thing. Just amazing. Of course, I'm too chicken to get on it though!

I couldn't believe people actually rode that thing including DH who rode it on Universal's Halloween Horror nights last year! (By the way, I will post some pics from HHN after this installment for those who are interested) It was so fast and the upside down turns made me cringe just watching.

We made our way into Marvel Superhero Island which looked like we were inside a comic book. Pretty neat!

DH wanted to ride Spiderman but the wait was over an hour so we just decided we would try to come back later.

We made our way to the water section and saw this ride:

Too steep for me! That looks like you really get wet. Dh didn't want to ride so we kept walking toward Jurassic park.

Again, I was thorougly surprised at the lush vegetation and themeing in this section. It was pretty cool.

So, I promised more Bro drama and this is where it comes!

We got to the Jurrassic Park river adventure and DH wanted to ride so he told Bro to get on with him but Bro chickened out and said he didn't want to. DH got a little upset because Bro told him in advance before even going on the trip that he would do all the thrill rides with DH which is why we brought Bro along in the first place. DH wanted Bro to get on the rides with him because he hates riding alone and says its no fun and Bro agreed until now. So, here we are on a pathway in the middle of Jurrassic Park and Bro and DH now refuse to get on any ride at all because Bro doesn't want to and DH doesn't want to ride alone. Of course, I won't go because I can't trust Bro with DD after what happened earlier and I'm too scared anyway, but DH has known me for 10 years and we went there knowing I wouln't do any crazy rides.
I was starting to get upset because we hadn't really done anything in IOA yet, it was DH's birthday and he wasn't happy and we only had a little 3 hours left!!!
DH decided to sit down on the floor and rest while Bro looked at the map trying to decide what he would actually go on and not back out of. Time was going on and on and I was mad!!!

Eventually, after everyone getting a few minutes to rest and calm down, and get a snack, DH convinced Bro to get on Jurrassic Park river adventure! Everything was back to normal and everyone was in a better mood.
I went to the viewing area where the boats come down to watch with DD.

Finally, their boat came down!

DH is the one with his hand up waving at me and Bro is sitting next to him yelling at DH!

Both of them were laughing and Bro was yelling something at DH. DD and I waved and then watched them go out of sight again.

They finally came out of the shop and DH told me he was actually the one who got really scared at the top of the big drop but said it was tons of fun!

Coming up...............Dueling Dragons. Will Bro get on?

 

[mickeysgirl17]

As promised, here are a few pics from Halloween Horror nights from last year. Keep in mind that I didn't attend, it was just DH, Bro and 2 friends of his so he didn't do so great with pictures. These were some of the better ones he got:

During this night, DH said it was extrememly crowded and they only got to do 3 haunted houses and 3 rides. He went on a Saturday night though so this may have had something to do with it.

The waits for the houses were over 2 hours long and that the lines were actually scarier than the attractions. First they went to IOA and rode the Hulk and Dr. Doom and then they went to Universal for the Houses and they rode Jaws.

 

[bellebud]

glad you're back! enjoying...

 

[mickeysgirl17]

glad you're back! enjoying...

Thanks. Glad your still with me!

 

[ChrisFL]

The waits for the houses were over 2 hours long and that the lines were actually scarier than the attractions.

Yeah that's normal for HHN

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Yeah that's normal for HHN

 

[MassMom94]

This was back on page 2 (I think), but since you asked - the guy directing traffic was the cartoon character Bullwinkle, who was in a great animated TV show back in the '60s. And yes, I'm old enough to remember!

 

[mickeysgirl17]

So after DH and Bro got off of Jurrassic Park River Adventure, we headed over to Dueling Dragons. DH really really wanted to ride this because he loves these types of crazy roller coaster rides and he's never been on Dueling dragons before. He would probably pay Island of Adventure admission just to ride the Hulk alone so we knew he would enjoy this.

The whole way there, DH kept asking Bro if he was gonna go on with him since DH hates going on these rides alone because he thinks its much more fun when you go on with someone you know. Bro kept saying he wasn't sure and he would have to see the ride first.

We finally got over there and I snapped a few pics:

DH wanted to ride fire. The wait said 25 minutes. This is normally a long wait for us since we are used to Disney waits of only 15 minutes or less. (Yes, I do my research and use fastpass a lot so we never wait too long at disney )
Even though the wait was 25 minutes, in our experience, we have noticed that the posted wait time is usually longer than the actual wait time so we didn't think it would really be that long anyway.

DH and Bro went off to ride and I stood behind with DD waiting for them. I noticed that this park was getting really crowded. The whole area at dueling dragons was packed with people, so DD and I just found a small area to sit down and wait..................and wait....................and wait. After about 20 minutes, Bro came out. I don't know where he came from because there was so many people around but he saw me and came over. I didn't see DH and I knew it wasn't even 25 minutes yet, so I knew he chickened out.

At first, he tried to play it off and said he already finished the ride and that DH was riding again and was on line again, but he had a smirk on his face and I knew he was too scared to ride so he got off the line.

DD had to use the bathroom so I told Bro to keep our spot and I took her to the bathroom. We were in there at least 5 minutes. Then we went back to sit down and wait...............and wait....................and wait. 45 minutes had passed and I was wondering what was keeping DH.
After about an hour and 20 minutes (Yes, that long) DH finally came out and told us it was a really awesome ride. I asked him if he rode both Ice and Fire and he told me only fire. He said the line was very long and a lot longer than 25 minutes.

DUH! I think I noticed.

We moved on to the kids area because we only had a little while left before IOA would close and DD and I really didn't get to do much in this park at all.

First, we wanted to do the high in the sky suess trolley train ride. We got on line which would wind up a ramp. The wait was about 20 minutes but it seemed a lot longer.

This wierd thing was in the middle of the winding queue:

I don't know this guy. I just wanted a pic of the train:

We finally made it onto the train and fastened our lap bar thing. I sat with DD and DH and Bro were right behind us in the last seat of our train. The lap bar thing was too tight on DD and they had already locked it in place. Poor DD looked like she couldn't breathe so when the lady came by to check if we were secure, I asked her if she could loosen her lap bar a bit before we took off and luckily she did.

Of course, DH being his silly self decided to embarrass me by yelling "tooot toooot" to everyone in the queue line as the ride started....and I don't mean a yell where only the next group of riders would hear, I mean the whole queue down to the people on the very bottom heard!

The ride itself was very nice with some great views of the park. Sorrry for the blurriness:

After this, DD decided she wanted to go on the carousel, so we got on the very short line. For some wierd reason, Bro was acting very childish and wierd saying that the carousel looks like it was going fast and would make him dizzy and these two young girls infront of us kept looking at him and laughing.

Wait to go Bro!

Well, Bro survived and we moved on to One Fish, Two fish, Red fish, Blue fish. While on line, we noticed people were getting wet. I knew the ride made you wet, but that's not what I mean. Actually, it was starting to rain. It was only a drizzle so we just stayed in line.

While waiting in line, bro got very nervous and said he didn't want to ride. DH and I looked at each other and couldn't figure this out.

A funny story, more craziness with Bro and the weather, and the end of our day at IOA coming up!

 

[Hollywoodhaha]

Your bro sounds like me..
I say that I am going to ride things, I see it, then back out.

Jurassic Park Ride- Rode it twice..NEVER AGAIN.
Mummy- rode it once, maybe again I have no idea..
Dudley Do-Right [aka- too steep ] is my favorite ride & I HATE drops.
It is amazing..maybe because I prefer outside drops to in the dark-inside rides..

 

[bellebud]

still with you... great report!! I'm enjoying it very much!

thanks for taking the time to write it and sharing your pics! It's getting me VERY excited for our trip (which is 3 weeks from TODAY!)

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Thanks for keeping up with me you guys! Update coming soon.

 

[Metro West]

The waits for the houses were over 2 hours long and that the lines were actually scarier than the attractions.

Yup...Friday and Saturday nights are not a good time to go and the Express Pass is a MUST for anytime at HHN.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Unfortunately, they couldn't get express passes because 3 of the 4 who went to HHN were in school and only working part time so they were on a budget. They actually waited on those long lines.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Ok........I'm back.

So when I left off we were in line for One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish at IOA. It was starting to rain and Bro was nervous for some reason. Bro kept saying he wasn't sure if he wanted to ride. When Dh and I asked why, he said he didn't like the heights.
WHAT?????
Okay. So I promised a story and here is where it begins: ( I will get back to 1 fish, 2 fish in a sec)
Last year, we went to the Magic Kingdom at Disney. It was me, Dh, DD and we treated my mom and Bro since they had never been to disney at all, ever.
Bro got on Space MT, Splash Mt, Big thunder mountain, Pirates of the caribbean, and the Barnstormer to mention the "thrills".
Now, the strangest part of all of this is that after he did all of this, we got on Aladdin's carpets and he totally freaked out!

Since the carpet could fit all 5 of us in one, my mom, myself and DD sat in the front. DD would control the height and Dh and Bro sat in the back. Dh would control the tipping forward and backward.
For those of you who never rode this, it's just like Dumbo or 1 Fish, 2 fish except the carpets very gently tip forward and backward but you can control it and its very small movements.
Well, the whole time in the air, Bro was so terrified of falling out of the carpet. He kept yelling at us to bring it down lower and for Dh to stop the tipping back and forth.
The whole time, my DD who was 3 was yelling "WWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
But my grown brother who was 20 had his eyes wide shut and was holding on for dear life on a kiddie ride! DH, DD, my Mom and I were all laughing so hard, we didn't even notice the view while up in the air!
We just don't get it! Even Splash mountain is very high up for the drop and he handled it okay.
Here is the pic of him on Aladdin's carpets and you can tell by his face that he is scared and can't wait to get off:

So, this leads us back to 1 fish, 2 fish...............Bro was too scared to ride because he remembered the carpets and now even after riding Jurrassic Park River adventure, he was questionning this kiddie ride! Makes no sense.
Here is a pic of bro trying to make sense of all this even to himself while waiting on line for 1 fish, 2 fish:

When it was almost our turn to ride, Bro decided he was going to get off the line and not face his fear so Bro told him to wait at the exit of the ride and not to get lost because we were not gonna go look for him this time.

We got in our fish and what was that?
OH DEAR!!
I just saw lightning!

I started to wonder if Bro made the right decision by not riding since it was now lightning and we were gonna be up in the air, wet!
Now, I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I really really don't like lightning. I live in Jacksonville, FL and the storms can get pretty bad. We always have tornado warnings and such in the spring and summer and I'm always afraid that lightning which gets pretty bad where I live is gonna come right through the ceiling and strike us!
Plus, I lived through a nightmare at the Pirate and Princess party in August at MK with a terrible storm that lasted the whole night and ruined the party!
Well, it looked like it was off in the distance so I'm sure we'll be fine.

As we were up in the air, DD had a blast. She loves these types of rides, but then after a while, the rain started coming down harder and harder into a full downpour!
When we got off, we had to make a run for it to get to shelter. As we exited the gate, Bro was no where to be found.
Oh well. I have to get my DD under cover!
As we were running, we found The cat in the hat and since the wait was short and it was inside, we got in line.
I remembered reading that the couches spin and that you could ask for a stationary couch, but I didn't because I didn't think the spinning could be that bad since they allow small kids on this thing.
Well, the ride started and I really started to like it. These are my kind of rides. Nicely themed, calm rides.
We tried to grab some pics but then someone came on the loud speaker and said "To the family taking pictures, please put the camera away".
I was completly embarrassed. They must have cameras in the ride (so don't do anything your not supposed to....they're watching! )
But........we did manage to get these:

Again, I apologize for the blurriness.

As the ride progressed, the spinning got worse and worse to the point where I was uncomfortable and didn't like the rotating. I think a stationary couch would have been better even though I like a little spinning.

Do any of you remember The whip? It was a carnival ride I used to go on as a kid at my local church. It was the best ride ever to a kid! Cat in the hat was nothing like it though. The spinning was really too much.
At one point, the ride stopped and I started to wonder if the power went out because of the storm because we were sitting there for a good 5 minutes before we started up again. Thankgoodness, the lights were still on because DD would have flipped out in complete darkness.

Well, after the cat in the hat, the rain was still pouring down so DH offered to run and get DD's stroller and go back to 1 fish, 2 fish to get bro while we waited in the souvenir shop.
DH came back with the stroller, but no Bro!
I took a long shot and asked if Bro was in the restroom, but DH said no, he's lost again!

Unbelievable. Only to Bro can things like this happen. How can you get lost twice in one day? Good job Bro!
DH said we weren't gonna walk around in the park in the pouring rain, thunder, and lightning so we were gonna wait until the rain slowed down and make a run to the car.
Although the rain stopped, it was still thundering and lighning pretty badly and I'm talking ground lightining here people but DH said we should probably get going now and hope that Bro was smart enough to remember where we parked the car and meet us there.
Bro? Smart? Yeah right.
As we were walking, I was truly scared of getting struck by lightning and it was a pretty far walk too, but we eventually made it to the parking garage building and were under shelter. DD had fallen asleep in her stroller while we were walking back so DH told me he was gonna take the elevator up to the next level and for me to go up the escalator and meet him.
That's because DH knows I don't do elevators unless it's an emergency.
The crazy thing is that I have a reservation for the California Grill in the contemporary resort at Disney soon and the only way up is an elevator.
But I'm not worrying about that yet.........
I got to the top of the escalator and by some miracle, I'm telling you, it really is a miracle........I found Bro again! Don't forget, there are thousands and thousands of people exiting the park to there cars and I find him in the middle of all these people. It's just pure luck.
So, I spot him, and he's watching people go up the escalator including me but then I get to the top and he didn't even notice me. He kept watching the people come up the escalator!
HELLO! Earth to Bro. You just watched me come up, but acting like you didn't see me. You don't even recognize your own sister?!!!!!
Strange even for him.
So, we met up with DH who couldn't believe we were all together again and got to our car for an end to our day at Islands of Adventure.

Coming up............It's not over yet. Where we stayed the night, and Old towne plus medieval times.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

After finally making it out of IOA, we weren't sure exactly where we would be sleeping. I was really hoping that we could just drive around on US 192 where there are dozens of hotels with some great rates too and just find a room. As we were doing this, DH remembered that his cousin lives in Kissimmee but before we went barging in her house at 9pm without any prior notice, he wanted to find a payphone and call her to make sure it was okay.
I was against the idea.
I have no problem with his family, but I thought it might be very rude to just call her and ask her if we could spend the night that late and then with no prior notice. He thought she wouldn't mind at all.
After making our way through ridiculous traffic, we found a payphone and when DH got back in the car, he told me she said sure.
We got lost on the way to her house and it turns out she only lived about 15 min. from Disney.
Lucky girl!
We slept over and the next morning, I was talking to his cousin and she said she hadn't been to disney in over 10 years!!!!

Huh?
Is she serious? How could you live 15 min. from DW and not go there? This is very strange to me.

Well, we weren't too sure what we were going to do this day before our 7pm reservation at Medieval times but I defenetly wanted to do something.
We all took showers and got dressed and made our way out the door.
The last time we were in this area, we remembered passed this place called
Old Towne. I'm not sure if any of you are familiar with it, but we decided to give it a try.
Luckily, we found it without too much hassle.
For those of you who don't know what it is, Old Towne to me is a shopping district, with some street entertainment and also some rides.
It has an "old" back in the day feel to it.

We parked the car and basically just started to browse the shops. We found one shop that sold magic show items, and tricks so we went in to take a look and the store keeper even showed us some really awesome magic tricks. He was putting the pressure on a bit hard to buy some stuff, but we passed and quickly made a run for it.
After that, I found a small coffee shop that was just adorable. It looked like it came right out of the 50's.
DH asked if I wanted some coffee so we all went in and had hot chocolates. The hot chocolates weren't that sweet and we had to add our own sugar in.
Here are some pics of us as we were hanging around Old Towne.

We made our way down to the rides and DD became really happy and wanted to get on some rides so DH bought some ride tickets.
Here is DD with some little girl going up and down on this mini Dr.Doom.

These cars bounced up and down as they went around. DD loved the bouncing!

I don't do tea cups with DH, so DD and DH got on by themselves. Poor DD. She didn't know what she was getting into!

After she got off, she said she didn't feel too well.
There was a carousel, so that was next:

After this, we saw this spinning ride. It didn't look too bad, but it did look fun so Bro, DD and I got on one. DH wanted to skip out after the teacups.
While on it, DH got a pic of us. Look at my face!:

The ride was much worse than it looked. At first, it just barely spinned but towards the end, the spinning got to be way too much. It was fast too and we felt our backs being pushed into the back of the ride vehicle. It was very uncomfortable and I did not like it. I was super dizzy when we got off, but laughing.

Before leaving the ride area, DD wanted to go on this small roller coaster, so I went on with her and Bro was on behind us. DH opted to just be the camera guy. This small roller coaster was fun for DD but it didn't feel safe to me. It felt like the whole thing was going to fall off the track!

What you see in the back is not the roller coaster. That is for the older people. I would not let DD on that one. This one is much smaller but its hard to tell that its not the same one you see in the background.
Before leaving, we came upon bumper cars.
Bro, DD and I have never been on these ever, so DH said we had to do this.
We had so much fun!

After the bumper cars, we decided to leave and go look for some bargains in the flea markets in the area before heading over to medieval times.
We love flea markets and I can usually get some great things for good prices without DH complaing that I'm spending too much.

We found a huge place and I had to buy a souvenir so guess what I bought:

Yes, that is a watch with Mickey on it. I probably should have bought a souvenir that had something to do with universal, but I couldn't resist. I love watches and my last one broke so I had to get a new one.

Believe it or not, this watch was originally priced for $38, but after DH talking the guy down a bit, I got it for only $20. Not bad.

That is one thing DH is very good at. He can talk people down pretty well and get some good bargains.

Well, I'm gonna stop here for now. Medieval times coming up!

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Oh no!!!!!!!!!!

Did everyone give up on my TR?

 

[dmthoma76]

I just found your report, enjoying it very much. My son and I are going in May to Universal and Sea World for the first time, he is eight years old, he has been to Disney the last two years. So this is going to be very different for us.

Thanks for posting,

~Donna

 

[Metro West]

Still love reading your trip reports.

Sounds like Bro needs some serious therapy.