A long report of our short Halloween WDW Trip- aka Pregnant in the World

[Ginamarie]

Thanks guys

I had a daughter, Olivia Marie, and she weighed in at 6 lbs 9 oz and 19.5 inches. She's a complete sweetheart! We had a little scare with jaundice, but the doctor cleared her this morning, so all is well. I was actually in labor from 11 pm until 1:53 pm, but it wasn't TOO bad. The worst part was the last 90 minutes or so, because the epidural ran out and I had to get through the most painful parts drug-free. Olivia was well worth the pain though!!!

She's been sleeping for awhile now, so I can finally post a new segment of the trip report.


DAY 2 (PART 1)

I can’t believe we’re only up to day two, but day one was REALLY long. DH and I always talk about how we’re going to take things easier and at a slower pace NEXT time we’re in WDW. I have a very hard time sleeping in when there are too many fun things to do.

So we got up around 8 am, checked out the weather report and got ready for our second day at Universal. I figured that there would be more things for me to do in Universal Studios than there were in Islands of Adventure. The boys were hungry, as usual, so we drove over to Universal and shelled out some cash for the preferred parking again. Then, we walked over to the Citywalk area to get the boys some breakfast and wait for our friends to arrive.

There are actually very few breakfast options in the Citywalk area compared to the number of eateries open at lunch/dinner. We wound up at Pastamore, which had some pastries and breakfast options. DH got a breakfast platter with eggs and hash browns and bacon, which was pretty good. He also got a big container of Tropicana orange juice, which I promptly devoured. The biggest downside to our breakfast was that the seating was outdoors, and there were a lot of birds around looking for bites of your food. I know some people like eating around the birds, but I had a really bad experience with some birds at a picnic area in Georgia once, and so they totally skeeve me out when I’m trying to eat.

In any case, our friends were running late, and I was starting to get antsy. We sat for awhile watching people stream into the parks and debated just telling them to meet us inside of the gates when a couple of people arrived. Unfortunately, they hadn’t eaten yet either, so now we had to wait until they bought and ate some Cinnabon stuffs. We got into the park much later than I wanted to once again.

Getting into the park at Universal is interesting. They have the same finger scanning mechanisms that WDW is using now, but for some reason the ones at Universal are always having problems, so the entrance lines move slowly. Also, they have the entranceway personnel sitting on the opposite side of the turnstile from the finger scanner.. so every time there’s an issue, the employee has to reach over across the turnstile and the entrant to futz with the machine or show the person what they’re doing wrong. I know this seems really trivial, but it seemed like such a STUPID oversight by whomever came up with this system, and it wasted a lot of time.

Woohoo! We’re finally in the park, and the boys are itching to get onto the Mummy ride. So, immediately we head to the back of the park. Unlike Islands of Adventure, I find a really easy time locating a seat while the rest of the group is riding things at Universal. I got a great seat in the simulated Central Park area. Finally, things were shifting our way, because the Mummy was just reopening after being broken.

Not only that, but after sitting for a few minutes in the quiet park area, I heard the Blues Brothers show starting up over on the next block. I remember seeing the Blues Brothers act the last time we were in Universal (around 1992), and for some reason I find the Blues Brothers incredibly entertaining. So I found a spot on the nearby curb and watched the show. I think the show is exactly the same as it was last time, but it was still pretty good. The guys they had performing did some decent impressions of Belushi and Ackroyd, and the saxophonist was pretty good. The crazy dance maneuvers still make me laugh, and I got to sing along hidden in a crowd of people. This is going to sound pretty lame, but of all the time we spend in Universal, watching the Blues Brothers show was probably my favorite moment of our October 2005 trip.

Everyone came back with good reviews of the Mummy ride. We met up with the rest of our friends, who had finally made it into the park and went on Earthquake (finally something I could do with the rest of the group). I remembered going on this ride the last time we were in Universal too. Earthquake is pretty lame these days.. it was pretty good back in the 90s, but now it seems behind the times (a lot like the Backstage Tour at Disney Studios). I was hoping to get onto Jaws next, since I’d never been on it before, but apparently Jaws was under repair.

So we headed over to the Men in Black ride. I LOVED the Men in Black ride. It was similar to Buzz Lightyear in that you get to shoot at aliens as you’re riding, but there’s also an option to zap other participants and set their vehicle spinning around like a top. This was fun! The other cool part about this ride was the line area. You get to walk through some really authentic looking areas of the movie. We rode Men in Black twice before moving on, mostly because it was something I really enjoyed. Oh, also, you’re not allowed to bring any types of bags onto the Men in Black ride, so they have some “free” lockers for you to store your belongings. The lockers are linked to your fingerprint and are free unless you leave things in them for over 2 hours (I think it was 2 hours, but I’m not completely sure).

At this point, we were pretty hungry again, so we headed back towards the San Francisco area to get a hamburger at Richter’s Burger Co. We all got hamburgers, which we loaded up with fixings from the fixings bar. We also got some Spongebob souvenir cups that we could keep in the apartment for when we have our little siblings visit (they love cool looking cups, and I love that they have straws and are virtually spill-proof). The burgers were decent, though a little overcooked, but we were pretty hungry, so it didn’t matter too much.

 

[Ginamarie]

Day 2- Part 2

Our bellies are full and we’re ready to have some more fun! At this point, we decide to head back towards the entrance of the park and check out the Jimmy Neutron ride. My strategy was that most people (especially ones with kids) will go on the rides near the entrance when they first enter the park, so they would be less crowded in the afternoon. I don’t know if the strategy worked or not, but we had a short wait to get on Jimmy Neutron. I went on this ride when it was still Hanna Barberra, and actually it’s not so different, except that the graphics are better and that it features some of the current Nickalodeon lineup. It was cute, but relatively herky-jerky. I probably should have opted for the stationary seating they offer in the front of the theater, but it wound up being ok.

At this point, I’m filling and refilling the Spongebob travel cup at record speed, because it’s getting quite warm and I’m constantly thirsty. I’m also constantly looking for every ladies room in the park. So we visit the ladies room both before and after Mr. Neutron’s ride. Then, we head over to Shrek 4D. I was really looking forward to Shrek 4D, because it’s billed as a ride similar to Philharmagic, which I love. I also felt a little guilty, because my little brother is a GIGANTIC Shrek fan and I know how crazy he’d go to be on the ride.

To give you a sense of how popular Shrek is in our house, the little bro (who is 2) refuses to wear any socks without Shrek and/or Donkey featured on them. My mom found a package of Shrek socks at Walmart, and ever since, those are all he will wear. He walks around the house carrying his Shrek and Donkey dolls, and his favorite movies (you guessed it), Shrek, Shrek 2 and Shrek 3D. Little did I know that the Shrek 3D DVD that the little brother watches all the time is actually the same EXACT movie that they show on the Shrek 4D ride. This did not occur to me until 10 seconds into the ride I’m feeling some severe déjà vu. In any case, we had to wait on line for 20-30 minutes for the Shrek ride. Then when we got to the front of the line, the ride broke down. Ahhh, joyous! The day was starting to turn against me again. So yeah, another 10-20 minutes were spent waiting at the front of the line, while a lot of people decided not to wait. I just felt like the ride would be fixed as soon as we left, so we stuck it out. All in all, the ride is pretty good, but it would have been better if I hadn’t already memorized the story!

To get things back on track, we went BACK to the Men in Black Ride (I told you that I liked this one). For some reason, there was NO wait and we walked right onto the ride. Then, the boys wanted to ride Back to the Future. Under normal circumstances I would have gone along, but I know from prior experience just how violent that ride can jerk you around, so I skipped it. Thankfully, there were plenty of seats around for me to wait in. Of course there were also a whole lot of birds around eating disgarded popcorn. I can never get away from the birds! DH didn’t really care for Back to the Future, mostly because it was so herky jerky (I warned him!).

We decided to slow things down and go on the ET ride. Let me warn you now, the wait time for ET is a complete farce. It was listed as a 30 minute wait, but it took 30 minutes just to make it into the last queue and then we had another 20 or so minute wait! As you walk through the ET line, they ask you for your name (ET “thanks” you by name at the end of the ride). So we all made up goofy fake names (I was Marge, DH was Homer). Even though the line was long, we still entertained ourselves listening to the plea of ET’s relatives from his home planet. The figure actually tells you to bring ET back to his planet “on a spaceship, or … your bicycle.” We’re still laughing about that one. I tried to listen closely for a thank you to Marge at the end of the ride, but ET doesn’t sound quite as clear as he once did.

We took a break after ET, took a couple of pictures with the Madagascar penguins, and let DB call his girlfriend again. I, of course, took another trip to the ladies room.

Now, on the urging of our friends, we had purchased tickets to Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights. Personally, I’m not into scary things at all. I like things that are goofy scary, things that are Disney-scary. I do NOT want to be terrified. So we headed back to Islands of Adventure, and I just KNEW that I wasn’t going to like Halloween Horror Nights. It was SCARY! There were all kinds of monsters walking around, getting in people’s faces and brandishing fake chainsaws and swords. There were swamp monsters that blended in with the trees and would jump out at you unexpectedly. As soon as I realized just how scary everything was, I knew that I was not going to be interested in going into the haunted houses. This was a huge conflict for me, because we’d spent so much on the darned tickets and now I was too afraid to use them. So, I started out by sitting in the pizza place, where the monsters couldn’t go. I guess they don’t allow the monsters near where people are eating because they might get scared and choke. From my happy little seat, I heard a lot of people screaming and quite a few people ran into the restaurant seeking refuge from the chainsaw/motorcycle guys.

I was happy in the restaurant. I could have just sat there for the rest of the evening while everyone did haunted house things, reading my book and feeling relaxed. It was bright and cheery and there were people in there laughing and eating.. AND they had drinks and a bathroom right there!! My friends, however, were not satisfied with leaving me there. (This is where things get dicey). I told DH to test out the first haunted house and then to come back to the restaurant and let me know how scary it was. Truth be told, I was already pretty well decided that I wasn’t going into the haunted houses already (I had read all the descriptions of the houses, and just reading them was scary enough for me) but I was trying to appease everyone. However, DH didn’t come back to the restaurant for me, Dante came back to the restaurant and dragged me out to the rest of the group. Dante LOVES scary things, Dante wanted me to experience scary things, Dante got a huge kick out of watching everyone else become terrified. As an aside, Dante and I are no longer friends (for a number of reasons unrelated to this vacation).

So now I had to walk through all of the scary areas, trying to find a “safe zone” while everyone went into the haunted houses. It was dark outside, so I couldn’t read, and the monsters were constantly jumping out and scaring people, which in turn scared me a little. I tried to look disinterested so that they wouldn’t bother me. This seemed to work well, but I was still feeling scared! Some of my spots were better than others. At one point, I found an area that was kind of a modified eating spot, so the monsters were cautious of people sitting at the tables. It was outside though, so it was dark, and I was really the only person sitting in the area. Most of the monsters ignored me, and used it as a spot to hide and jump out at people.

Needless to say, I was glad when the group was done visiting haunted houses and we were on our way back to WDW for good. So, all in all I was not that impressed with Universal. They had a couple of good rides, sure, and some of the theming around the park was very well done. However, it’s missing the spark and the magic that you get at WDW. It seemed more like a glorified 6 Flags park than anything else, and we get 6 Flags tickets a lot cheaper! As for Halloween Horror Nights.. if you like to be scared, this is the place for you! The crowd at night was much different from what you’d see during the day, predominantly teenagers and college aged kids rather than families. The costumes were fantastically done (I must give credit where credit is due).

I won't be running back to Universal though, especially when you factor in the cost of getting there (either rental car with parking or taxi rides) and the cost of the tickets. If I'm going to Orlando, take me to WDW!

 

[MemoryMakers2669]

Great report Ginamarie and Congrats on Olivia (love the name)!

 

[fizz13]

WELCOME OLIVIA MARIE​

glad that you are both safe and sound. Great reports, and I agree about the Halloween Horror Nights, way too hardcore for me, give me MNSSHP any day
Claire xx

 

[Ginamarie]

Thanks for all the good wishes Olivia just got back from the doctor this morning, and is doing well, even after getting her first immunization shot. Now, for another installment:

Happy Halloween!

I think I mentioned earlier about how much DH loves breakfast. On our first date, we went to IHOP for breakfast. DH made fun of the way I ate my pancakes, complimented me on my glasses (of all things!) and it was love almost instantaneously. I have never been a breakfast person. Give me a croissant or a granola bar and that’s more than enough for me in the morning. However, big breakfasts made DH happy, and when he’s happy, so am I.. plus when you’re pregnant, you’re supposed to eat all day long. Hence, we were off to Boma for breakfast at 7:30 am.

We had a short wait to get a table, but nothing too bad since there were just three of us (DH, DB and myself). We try to get to Boma for breakfast at least once on each WDW vacation since we found it. DH goes wild for it because it’s a giant buffet of his precious breakfast food. I’m just happy with the tropical frunch juice, fresh pineapple, and the chocolate croissants. Between DB and I, we probably ate a tray of the croissants, but they are REALLY good. I also snuck over to the carving station, because it’s not breakfast food, so it’s unexplainably more appealing to me. DH had fried eggs, French toast, fruit, etc, etc, etc. He was very happy. We left breakfast feeling quite stuffed, spent a little time checking out the animals hanging out at the AKL, and found a pumpkin carving competition set up in the AKL lobby. Some of the participants had done really incredible things, making a replica of the AKL and a working carousel. It was a little tough of unexpected magic.

Then we piled into the car and drove over to Disney Studios. Park opening was at 9 am, so we had just enough time to pick up our cast member passes from guest services and get on line for the gate opening. They did a rope drop type opening, which is what I’ve seen them do most times we’ve gone to MGM, basically letting everyone into the Main Street area a little early and then at 9 am allowing us to race towards the Rock N Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. There would be no racing for me this time around though. The boys raced with the best of them, and I found myself a seat near the Tower of Terror until they were done with the roller coaster. I wound up befriending some nice families who were also waiting for loved ones to finish with the coaster (mostly women with babies). The guys rode the coaster twice and got fast passes for later and then found me waiting by the bathrooms. Then we all headed to the Tower of Terror.

I love Tower of Terror! To be honest, I skipped the ride a couple of times when it first opened because I’m a wimp, and I heard all the people screaming from the top of it. When my little sister came off of it smiling though, I decided to give it a try, and I’ve been hooked ever since. It’s clearly my favorite ride at Disney Studios, and I was thrilled that the OB/GYN said it was ok for me to ride. So, we rode it twice! This is the great part about getting to the park early on a day where the crowds are low. You can get a lot of riding in during the first hour. Meanwhile, our friends still hadn’t left their hotel!

We noticed that it was almost time for Who Wants to be a Millionaire, so we decided to head on over to the complete other side of the park. We wound up getting there JUST in time for the show. This is another attraction that I love. Of course the first fastest finger question was won by a woman I’ve seen at the attraction the last couple of years. She plays this game a LOT! In fact, she couldn’t go into the hot seat because she’d played within the last 30 days (no surprise). We noticed that she was writing down some of the questions and answers, presumably for the next show(s). The most heartbreaking part of the game, was that we ran out of time, and when they showed who was at the top of the leaders board if the game had continued, it would have been me!!! Mark my words, one day I’m going to make it into that hot seat… one day!

After the show, we checked our voicemail and found out that our friends were on their way to the park. So we headed towards the entrance again. We decided to try out the Sounds Dangerous attraction since this is something we normally never do. There were only a few other people who entered the ride with us, and really we found out that we haven’t been missing much. I’m surprised this ride is still around, because it’s pretty lame. The best part of the ride was that after the show is over, they dump you into this room with some stations to play at. Basically, you get to do voiceovers for some Disney movies, and then they’ll play it back for you. DH, DB and I spent a good deal of time doing some obscene voiceovers since we were the only people in the place! OK, it wasn’t my most mature moment, but it was a lot of fun.