Both parks Sat. April 16th

[tweetylori]

Last weekend was a BIG birthday for my husband. I told him on Valentine's Day that I was taking him to Universal for his big birthday, since he's a huge Harry Potter fan, and we hadn't been since that was built.
Thanks to this board, I learned of the 3-day two-park passes that Costco was selling, so I had purchased two of those. (am not a Costco member, but one is not hard to find ) The plan was to do Universal/IOA Saturday, then either go back the next day or do a Disney park on Sunday, April 17th, his actual birthday. The passes we bought are good for a few years, so we can use the other days in the future.
We flew into Orlando Friday evening, grabbed the Budget rental car we scored off Priceline, and drove to the Peabody Hotel for our three nights there. Had "won" this 4-star on Priceline for just $75 per night. Hotel is AWESOME. We absolutely loved it, and for that price, it couldn't be beat!
Saturday morning, we asked how much a cab would cost to Universal and when we heard it was around $14, we decided to splurge, so we wouldn't have to worry about getting our car out of valet, parking, and paying the $15 to park at Universal anyway. That way too, if we decided to have a few
celebration drinks, we wouldn't have to worry about driving.
Sure enough, it was an inexpensive and quick cab ride. We headed straight to Harry Potter, of course! Dumb us, took the long way around, heading to the left instead of right through Seuss Landing. So, it took us a few minutes to work our way there. As we walked into that area, we heard singing, which was really cool. FJ had a 30 or 40 minute wait at that point, so we opted for single rider, which maybe took 10-15 minutes. I was a bit nervous, because I'm a big chicken when it comes to anything that might be roller coaster like, so I didn't know if this was going to move me around too much. I'm sorry to say I kept my eyes shut for way too much of the ride, due to my stupid fears. Also, the ride stopped part way through which made me nervous.
It was strange when the ride stopped, because four of us (all total strangers) found ourselves let out in an isolated area, where we were told to take an elevator up to the third floor and follow the path. It was so odd, and never having ridden it before, I had no idea that this wasn't normal. It was confusing, because there was no one else around, except for a few people who went past going in the opposite direction. Fortunately, one gal had ridden it before and explained to us that they had pulled our car off for some reason, and that this wasn't normal for getting off it. Finally, we worked our way back to the crowds of civilization. Found my husband who was wondering where I had disappeared to. He said he'd liked the ride, although he didn't like the spider. Big, bad birthday boy who rides roller coasters, was scared of a spider? Please!
We decided to go in search of a little something to eat, but found ourselves in front of Dueling Dragons with a 5 minute wait instead. So I encouraged him to go on it, while I kept my feet safely on the ground outside the shops. Wandered into the candy store. Everything was so crowded, it was hard to move, let alone see anything. Went back to waiting near the exit to DD. It didn't take long for him to come out...he loved it! Again, we looked for a place to get a little something to eat, but somehow missed Three Broomsticks entirely. We hadn't had anything to eat or drink all morning. We also had 4:30 Mythos reservations, so we didn't want to eat too late and mess up our dinner at Mythos. So we walked through Seuss landing. Cat In the Hat was a quick walk-on, so we did that. We really like this cute ride! Ended up back at City Walk, and Margaritaville. There didn't appear to be many people there, yet it was a 5-10 minute wait for a table, so we went to the bar. So, it seemed only natural that our "breakfast" drinks should be something like these:

(Me): Rum Runner: "A Florida Key's favorite made with Margaritaville Premium Jamaican Silver Rum, Bols Creme de Banana, Bols Blackberry Brandy, orange juice and sour mix. Shaken and served over ice. Topped with Premium Jamaican dark rum. $8.25

(Bday Boy): Tropical Hurricane: "This frozen cocktail blends Appleton Estate V/X Rum with Island Oasis guava, papaya and mango mixes. $8.00

We decided to share a blackened fish sandwich. I got some iced water, and he got iced tea also, so we would get some other fluids in us besides alcohol. This turned out to be perfect! I'm not a rum drinker, but this was so refreshing and felt so, well, Florida-I'm-on-vacation-like, ya know? Husband liked his hurricane, but I tried it and mine was much better, but I'm not big on frozen drinks. He liked it, that's all that counts. And we got some good breakfast juice in us.

The fish sandwich arrived, looking nothing blackened-like, but we were so hungry, we didn't care. They had brought us an extra plate so we could easily share, which was nice. Sandwich had a big fresh piece of fish that was very good, although it would've been better blackened. Fries were decent. We were happy. Wolfed it down. Just what we needed to keep us going on this hot, crowded-park day!

Next, we decided to head into US. We had not gone on the Simpson's ride before, so we headed in that direction. There was a 30 minute wait, so we decided to wait in it. It seemed like we waited for quite a while, then finally got to the area right outside the ride. The gal working there, greeted us with a "Happy Birthday". (we had gotten lots of them already in this park, having gotten him a birthday button at Guest Services when we arrived). She then handed him two express passes, saying happy birthday again, and here's something you can use on another ride. How thoughtful!
Then, before we got on the ride, she said, "here's two more...have a great birthday!" How SWEET!

We got on the Simpson ride and first thing is the roller coaster part, so there went my eyes...SHUT. Darn it, why do I let this simulator stuff get to me? Silly me! Managed to open my eyes and enjoy the latter part of it, to some extent.

Got off just in time to catch the 1:30 Animal show. I love this show. It's cute. Very cute. A raccoon that came out decided to hide behind a plant, rather than do his part. The trainer had to come out. It was adorable! I'm lucky that my husband gets a kick out of my love of this kind of thing.

Next up, it was time to kick birthday boy's butt on Men In Black. We always always always do single-rider because we can get on, get off, and get right back on. LOVE IT. We meet in the gift shop (isn't it ironic how you always end up in a shop after a ride at all the parks? ) brag about our scores to each other. (I beat him three out of 4...hah!) Then it's: "you want to go again? sure! You? sure!" Seriously, we could do this ride over and over all day. We controlled ourselves with just 4 rides, before we headed over to...duh duh, duh duh...Jaws.

Oh my, there was a 60 minute wait for this ride! Having done Jaws once many many years ago, I knew that it wasn't worth a long wait. Husband had never been on it. Time to pull out two of those birthday-present express passes! Boy, were we glad we had 'em, because this really is a silly silly ride, ya know? Perhaps it's time to gut it and grow something new here? Just a suggestion. I can only imagine what someone feels like after waiting an hour in the hot crowded queue with all the warnings that you WILL get wet, "possibly from head to toe", then riding this very tame silly little ride? My suggestion would be to go on it only when there's not a wait. You can thank me later!

So, we decided we better start working our way toward Mythos for our 4:30 reservation. Time for Spiderman! We knew to do single rider for this ride as well, which was quick. We ended up together anyway. Toward the end of the ride, it messed up. There was no film in one area. It lost a bit of it's charm, as a result. We mentioned it to a few staff members on the way out, but they didn't react. My husband heard later that they had taken the drop part out due to people being scared? Come on...I'm not buying that! Next up was Hulk for my husband. It said a 30 minute wait, but he was going to do single rider. Turned out he got in the wrong line, so it really did take 30 minutes or more. An observation: People do not look happy coming off this ride! Now, I'm not the only one to notice this, as a woman waiting near me mentioned it, and I said, "I was just thinking the same thing!" Maybe they're all in shock?

...(to be continued)

 

[tweetylori]

So, husband finally comes off Hulk. He had been on it in the past, and enjoyed it again. Glad for him, and just as glad that I hadn't gone on it. I just can't do the roller coaster thing! It was about time to head over to our 4:30 reservations at Mytho's (which you can book on OpenTable.com, by the way).

By now, we had had all kinds of warm birthday greetings all over the parks. I had researched food choices and had determined that Mythos was our best bet. Went into this with high expectations. With such, we arrived at about 4:20. Were told we would be seated withing 5 to 10 minutes. Shortly thereafter, we were led to a sad-looking table on the outskirts of the restaurant, near a window, but it was a small table for two that just looked a bit, well, "worn". Anyway, we sat right down. Sometime later (and I do mean sometime LATER), a waiter appeared. Meanwhile, I was noticing that prices on the menu looked actually LOWER than they had looked online. Wow, when does that ever happen? I steered my husband to the signature beef dish, as it was his birthday we were celebrating. It sounded PERFECT for him, and it was only like $15.95 or something. I had the waiter describe the risotto of the day, which sounded really good to me. It was a spinach risotto with beef medallions and a red wine sauce. I ordered my risotto. Husband orders the signature beef dish and is informed they are OUT OF IT. At 4:30 on a BUSY Saturday afternoon. Seriously? How sad is this Uh, husband needs a few more minutes to digest this. Sometime later, waiter comes back, and husband has decided on the steak panini. (not too birthday-celebration-sounding is that, huh?). I feel BAD. Bread is brought. Rosemary bread that is good, but very doughy, chewy inside, like it's not quite done. Meanwhile, the main dining room is only partially full. A couple kids decide to go in and out the door next to our table. It's just not comfortable, ya know? Anyway, we were still hopeful. Entrees finally arrive. Mine looks pretty darn good, except I'm bad with beef. Big bite that is somewhat a bit too rare for me. Pass that bad boy to the birthday boy, who is sitting there with a dry-looking sandwich. It doesn't appear to be panini like...more like small-thin-dried out sub sandwich like. I'm feeling really bad because I was hoping for him to have a great birthday experience. He helped me eat my steak, and I do think the risotto was pretty good, although there was no detecting red wine in anything. Veggies with it were bland but okay.


Dessert options were brought. Husband looked like he wanted to flee, but I suggested we do a couple of the small shot desserts instead. I went with the caramel creme, and husband went for raspberry keylime. They were both just okay. Anyway, the good thing is the waiter told us the dessert shots were free for his birthday, when he brought the bill. A very nice, $4 touch, which helped somewhat in this otherwise disappointing experience.

Would we go back to this restaurant that supposedly is the best theme park restaurant? Sadly, probably not. I say RUN to City Walk, and find something better.

Afterwards, we did the Seuss trolley where my husband was given special birthday greetings. We also tried to use our other express passes here, as the wait was a little long. They were kind enough to say "hang onto those for another ride, go ahead"...How sweet was that? Again, more magical birthday greetings! And, what a cute little ride!

We went back to Harry Potter and did FJ again. Word to the wise: If you do single rider here, do know you're NOT in single rider unless you go UP THE STAIRS. If you don't, and just go to the left, you will find yourself in the long, regular line. But if you do, you'll at least get to see all of the wait. We did FJ several more times. Walked around the shops. Still very crowded. By this point, we were getting tired. Wanted to hit the City Walk nightclubs, but because husband was now a BIG new age (LOL, I'm older, so this is so not the real reason), we were getting tired.

Did Spiderman again on the way out, and am GLAD to report that it is not true that they've taken away certain sequences. It was BACK for this ride for us. So, if something malfunctions on your ride, you might try doing it again and seeing if it's a fluke!

Luckily, we had our awesome hotel waiting for us, which we had no problem getting a cab to. The cab thing is a really easy way to get to and from the park...can highly recommend it!

In conclusion...almost everyone at US and IOA went out of their way to make my husband feel special for his birthday. This was even more appreciated after a day at the Magic Kingdom the next day. THANK YOU staff of US/IOA for helping me make my husband's BIG birthday very special!

 

[Metro West]

Great report...thanks for sharing.

 

[tweetylori]

Great report...thanks for sharing.

Thanks Metro West!

 

[sassyredhead]

Awesome report! Thanks for sharing. I loved hearing about the birthday express passes.

 

[tweetylori]

Awesome report! Thanks for sharing. I loved hearing about the birthday express passes.

Thank you...they were very much a welcome surprise!

 

[Harry Potter]

Haha, so I can tell you're not a big fan of Jaws? I have never been on it, but even as a theme park aficianado, I still just cannot be bothered, you know? Same with E.T. (although you love that one ). I read somewhere some time ago that Spielberg is really digging his heels in and not allowing Universal to remove those two rides from Florida, after they removed them against his will from other Universal parks across the globe (Japan, Hollywood). Don't know how true that is

Did you do either of the water rides in Toon Lagoon?

 

[tweetylori]

Haha, so I can tell you're not a big fan of Jaws? I have never been on it, but even as a theme park aficianado, I still just cannot be bothered, you know? Same with E.T. (although you love that one ). I read somewhere some time ago that Spielberg is really digging his heels in and not allowing Universal to remove those two rides from Florida, after they removed them against his will from other Universal parks across the globe (Japan, Hollywood). Don't know how true that is

Did you do either of the water rides in Toon Lagoon?

Jaws is so in need of a revamp...I had not heard that about Spielberg...does he really have that kind of control over this? ET is such a pleasant ride, so even if you're not an ET fan, you can still enjoy it. (I think, I've always been an ET fan, so maybe I'm not a good judge of it). I didn't know they had removed them from the other parks either. Thanks for the info!