silverspark
LSU TIGERS
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2002
- Messages
- 231
It is so sad to be back home where no one will turn my bed down or leave chocolates on my pillow!! But alas - all good things must come to an end...
Well, we (meaning my mom and dad, sister13, boyfriend17 and myself17) just returned from USO/IOA about 2 hours ago. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay. We left New Orleans at about 5:30 pm central on friday feb 20. we arrived in tallahassee at about midnight and slept at the Howard Johnson Express <img src="http://www.disboards.com/images/icons/icon13.gif"> not impressed at ALL.....i found a silverfish (a big one) in my boyfriend's roll away bed... we left tallahassee saturday feb 21 (don't remember the time, but i was reluctant to wake up). we arrived at the Hard Rock Hotel at about 1pm (orlando time) and headed straight to Universal.
we headed straight for ET (my mom's favorite ride) and it was a walk on. of course, we were using our front of the line (god bless the creator of this genius idea). now, my boyfriend had been to IOA the summer before on his college tour (he rode very few rides because of summer heat and lines). he was expecting Universal to be much better than Islands, and was let down....especially when we rode ET first. He kept waiting for it to get better...but it didnt! LOL...the best part was when the bikes fly over the cop car...and the ride is on a steep decline....he thought we would swoop down over the car and the ride would finally pick up speed....but instead the ride just inched its was through the end. my dad, being the 40 year old child that he is, said that elliott was his name.....so ET waved goodbye to elliott at the end....
Next we went to Animal Planet Live....it was ok....predictable but cute none the less. my mom loved it because she is obsessed with monkeys...
on our way to back to the future.....mom got pooped on my a low flying seagull!!!
look out below!!! 
We walked on to Back to the Future.....was just as great as I remembered it...but it was very bumpy....in fact my fanny pack broke...
We worked out way over to Men In Black, and as a first timer I got 162,000!!!!
I was very excited. I got the highest in the car! 
We each bought a hot dog and scarfed them down while in a cloud of love bugs before going on jaws.....literally a walk on...no wait at ALL! all the other people who had been waiting were giving us nasty looks....hey buddy....stay onsite next time!!!
Next we went to the Beetlejuice show. We all found that the show was a little risque but still cute.....my boyfriend felt the show was torturous because it had no point and because it was a bunch of dead guys dancing and singing (plus he felt that wolfman was a little on the girly side)
We then split up - mom and dad went back to the hotel to wait for the luggage to arrive while me, matt (boyfriend) and devan (sister) continued to explore universal
we went on twister...well, we watched twister. i was under the impression that it was a rollercoaster type ride, but it isnt....its similar to the backlot tour at MGM where you stand there and watch everything happen around you...still i was impressed
Devan wanted to go check out the nickelodeon part of universal, so we took a few photos and watched the slime go off....then we got stamped and walked around citywalk. we ventured over the islands of adventure but watched outside the gate at the hulk....waiting feverishly to ride it (we would have to wait until sunday...)
then we met back up wth mom and dad for the parade. we went on twister again, but with the parents and then we went on shrek....cute.
Mel's was out quick fix to the hunger problem....but mel's is just overpriced McDonald's....and it isn't even as good as McD's....i was disappointed.
We then walked over and stood opposite Twister to catch the parade. A local guy (local to me) named Blaine Kern did all the floats. he does all of the big name parades in new orleans. so the floats were definetly authentic looking. but in comparison to normal mardi gras....the parades are usually three to five times as long; the crowd is usually 4xs as large and EVERYONE in the crowd leaves the parade with BAGS and BAGS of beads. the universal parade did not even throw a fraction of what new orleans throws. and the beads they threw were the kind of beads that would be left on the ground in new orleans....they are the "cheap" beads. i still had tons of fun, and i gave most of the beads i caught away (i saved a few for scrapbooking purposes).
when we were exiting the park, a staffer stopped us to fill out a questionaire about the parade.
she aked my mom "how was the quantity of beads?" my mom replied "poor - there werent enough" and then the girl asks "well what about the quantity made it poor?" and my mom then restated "there werent enough beads" the girl and my mom went back and forth over the quantity of beads thrown...and the best part was that after the questionaire was finished....the girl asks my mom if she wants some beads!!! she totally missed the point...
after that we went back to the hotel where my little sister immediately headed for the pool and matthew and i headed for the club level lounge. mmmmm....double chocolate chip cookies, oreos, hot chocolate.......i loved club level.....no matter what anyone else says....i found that the food was abundant and delicious....
after our snackings.....we all headed to bed
AWESOME VACATION - Day 2 coming soon....
Well, we (meaning my mom and dad, sister13, boyfriend17 and myself17) just returned from USO/IOA about 2 hours ago. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay. We left New Orleans at about 5:30 pm central on friday feb 20. we arrived in tallahassee at about midnight and slept at the Howard Johnson Express <img src="http://www.disboards.com/images/icons/icon13.gif"> not impressed at ALL.....i found a silverfish (a big one) in my boyfriend's roll away bed... we left tallahassee saturday feb 21 (don't remember the time, but i was reluctant to wake up). we arrived at the Hard Rock Hotel at about 1pm (orlando time) and headed straight to Universal.
we headed straight for ET (my mom's favorite ride) and it was a walk on. of course, we were using our front of the line (god bless the creator of this genius idea). now, my boyfriend had been to IOA the summer before on his college tour (he rode very few rides because of summer heat and lines). he was expecting Universal to be much better than Islands, and was let down....especially when we rode ET first. He kept waiting for it to get better...but it didnt! LOL...the best part was when the bikes fly over the cop car...and the ride is on a steep decline....he thought we would swoop down over the car and the ride would finally pick up speed....but instead the ride just inched its was through the end. my dad, being the 40 year old child that he is, said that elliott was his name.....so ET waved goodbye to elliott at the end....
Next we went to Animal Planet Live....it was ok....predictable but cute none the less. my mom loved it because she is obsessed with monkeys...
on our way to back to the future.....mom got pooped on my a low flying seagull!!!
look out below!!! We walked on to Back to the Future.....was just as great as I remembered it...but it was very bumpy....in fact my fanny pack broke...
We worked out way over to Men In Black, and as a first timer I got 162,000!!!!
I was very excited. I got the highest in the car! We each bought a hot dog and scarfed them down while in a cloud of love bugs before going on jaws.....literally a walk on...no wait at ALL! all the other people who had been waiting were giving us nasty looks....hey buddy....stay onsite next time!!!
Next we went to the Beetlejuice show. We all found that the show was a little risque but still cute.....my boyfriend felt the show was torturous because it had no point and because it was a bunch of dead guys dancing and singing (plus he felt that wolfman was a little on the girly side)
We then split up - mom and dad went back to the hotel to wait for the luggage to arrive while me, matt (boyfriend) and devan (sister) continued to explore universal
we went on twister...well, we watched twister. i was under the impression that it was a rollercoaster type ride, but it isnt....its similar to the backlot tour at MGM where you stand there and watch everything happen around you...still i was impressed
Devan wanted to go check out the nickelodeon part of universal, so we took a few photos and watched the slime go off....then we got stamped and walked around citywalk. we ventured over the islands of adventure but watched outside the gate at the hulk....waiting feverishly to ride it (we would have to wait until sunday...)
then we met back up wth mom and dad for the parade. we went on twister again, but with the parents and then we went on shrek....cute.
Mel's was out quick fix to the hunger problem....but mel's is just overpriced McDonald's....and it isn't even as good as McD's....i was disappointed.
We then walked over and stood opposite Twister to catch the parade. A local guy (local to me) named Blaine Kern did all the floats. he does all of the big name parades in new orleans. so the floats were definetly authentic looking. but in comparison to normal mardi gras....the parades are usually three to five times as long; the crowd is usually 4xs as large and EVERYONE in the crowd leaves the parade with BAGS and BAGS of beads. the universal parade did not even throw a fraction of what new orleans throws. and the beads they threw were the kind of beads that would be left on the ground in new orleans....they are the "cheap" beads. i still had tons of fun, and i gave most of the beads i caught away (i saved a few for scrapbooking purposes).
when we were exiting the park, a staffer stopped us to fill out a questionaire about the parade.
she aked my mom "how was the quantity of beads?" my mom replied "poor - there werent enough" and then the girl asks "well what about the quantity made it poor?" and my mom then restated "there werent enough beads" the girl and my mom went back and forth over the quantity of beads thrown...and the best part was that after the questionaire was finished....the girl asks my mom if she wants some beads!!! she totally missed the point...after that we went back to the hotel where my little sister immediately headed for the pool and matthew and i headed for the club level lounge. mmmmm....double chocolate chip cookies, oreos, hot chocolate.......i loved club level.....no matter what anyone else says....i found that the food was abundant and delicious....
after our snackings.....we all headed to bed
AWESOME VACATION - Day 2 coming soon....
I could still smack the "interview" girl...HER: "What about the quantity of the beads was poor?" ME: "There just weren't enough throws to go around." HER: "What about them made them not enough to go around?" ...duh!!!!!!!!!
