themepark
Wanted: Your trip reports!<br><font color=00cc22>I
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2003
- Messages
- 1,469
Cast of Characters:
My Family
Me - Grinch admirer, Universal Vacation Planner and bargain hunter
DH - Thrill ride fan and people watcher. Lover of all things that are scary
DD age 10 - Banana Split Dippin Dots lover and roller coaster rider
DS age 8 - Flying Unicorn fanatic who would never take a bath or comb his hair unless under force
Our Friends
LL - (those are her initials) - shopper and napper, hater of water rides
K - (LL's husband) - Goes with the flow. Mummy and Bilge Rat Barges fan
C - (LL and K's son, age 8) - Dr. Doom and Hulk riding maniac
Day 2 - Wednesday, May 26
I have already written this report once, but lost it due to a power outage. So here goes again...I am saving it along the way this time!
We awoke late. I dont remember the time because I did not write it down. We ate breakfast in the room. We brought along fruit, poptarts, cereal and such to eat for breakfast each day. No one in my family is a big breakfast eater so this suits us just fine. We headed out for USF at a time I dont remember because I didnt write it down. We rode the water taxi to Citywalk and began our walk across the bridge. I insisted that LL, K, and C let me take their photo with the Universal globe in the background. Thats a must have picture IMO. We then walked on trying to be careful not to step in front of anyone else who was taking the same photo. Upon entering the park, we were greeted by Lucy. Thats the first time I had seen her at the front gate. I looked around for a show schedule before realizing that they are now printing the show times on the park map. That makes sense. I always hated trying to keep up with 2 different things. Not that I really need a map anymore since I know where everything is. Anwyay, I thought this was a nice change.
Now heres where things get strange. We did something we have never done before. We were bold and daring and ignored our children (ok the ignoring the children part we have done before) AND we walked right past Shrek and Jimmy Neutron! We only had eyes for the Mummy! DH and I led the pack walking at record pace. When we got there, we made sure we had not left the children behind. Whew! LL and I were turned away with our small bags and I saw them turning away people with the tiniest fanny packs too. LL and I went to get a locker, but the lines were long and everyone seemed to be having trouble using them. The men and kids were getting anxious so LL decided to hold the bags and do a little shopping while we rode. I scampered off to join the others. We waited for about 15 minutes to board. I was seated on the right outside seat on row 2. After I got situated, I noticed a CM staring me down. I tried to ignore him but he kept getting closer and closer and closer to my face. Finally his face was right up in mine and he gave me an evil little wave as the train started to move. Oh boy! I am already scared!! As we entered the first scenes, DH gave out his best Whaaahahahaha evil laugh. Everyone in the train cracked up. Hes such a nut. We all LOVED the ride and thought it was quite a thrill. I had read about the ride and what to expect online but doing that in no way spoiled anything about it for me. It was awesome. We exited, cracked up looking at our picture and quickly got back in line. LL joined us this time. DH sat it out with the bags. This time we waited less than 10 minutes and the ride was just as fun. We laughed at our pictures again. I always have the most comical expressions on my face and the kids simply looked terrified! Whaaaahahahaha!
Next we headed to Earthquake. LL was chosen as a volunteer. She was one of the captains on the boat. She looked pretty darn funny up there in all that rain gear. Who better to be decked out in rain gear and expecting 100 gallons of water to be dumped on them than someone who hates water rides and getting wet! Whaaahahahaha! I tried to get some photos, but they turned out a little dark. If I knew how to use my digital camera, maybe I could fix that. After surviving the earthquake, we were all hungry. We spotted Richter Burger and headed back there. DD and DS shared a burger and fries. Everyone else had their own. At the time of ordering I wished they had a kids burger on the menu, but it really worked out better as the half burger and half fries were more than enough for them. After lunch, we got in line for Jaws. Actually there wasnt a line at all in Express. We were loaded right on. I made sure C got a seat on the far left side of the boat. I wanted him to have a great first experience on Jaws...Whaaahahaha! Everyone enjoyed the ride. We had an awesome skipper whose name I dont remember because I didnt have anything to write it down on. I asked LL if she remembered and she said Captain Jake which of course was wrong.
Next we were off to MIB. I rode with LL and DD. The boys rode together in another car. Before leaving home, I had gone over all the MIB tips once again. This helped me not one bit. I guess I have terrible aim or am simply a doofus.
I did manage to get the high score in our car. DD stole my bonus once again. Why did I teach her that? I vow once again to print and bring the tips with me to study when I next return. Upon exiting we stopped to look at our photos. In the MIB photos I always look very serious. Ok, so I might be a tad competitive. I wonder how I can distract DD from pressing the red button next time... We all rode again except for DH. I cant remember why he sat that one out. My score was much lower this time. I would tell you all about it but I was neuralized and just cant remember. 
Next up...BTTF. I immediately found a shady spot and sat down. The last time I rode BTTF I vowed to never set foot in there again. Great ride concept. Loved the movies. But the ride does me in. Last time I rode it, my head was banged around and something on that back seat pulled and pulled on my hair. I came out with a pounding headache and a bald sore spot on the back of my head. It did seriously leave my head very sore. I sat happily in my shady spot talking on my cell phone to a friend who was keeping our pet back home. When my crew exited the ride, LL looked a little green. She said it was awful and really needed to sit down and rest somewhere. The kids were asking her why she had her hand over her mouth for most of the ride. She said she was trying to think of some graceful way to puke while the ride was still moving. Fortunately it didnt come to that.
We headed over to Woody Woodpeckers Nuthouse Coaster and found a nice shady spot to rest. The kids rode it 7 times using the new express line. When we were there in March, they were only using the ride exit for hotel guests and didnt have an express line so I assume this is fairly new. LL said she would prefer we do something air conditioned next so I checked my handy show schedule and saw that the 3:45 Horror Make Up Show would be starting in 20 minutes. We rounded the kids up and headed that way. We got seats in the first row on the far left of the stage. Awesome! The two actors were ones I had never seen before. The man playing Mark James was a large fellow with glasses. Alex (who we will see later doing something else) had dark hair and a beard. They were funny but were probably my least favorite of all the actors I have seen at the show. The lady Mark James picked on when he walked out asking for help did not find any humor in it at all. She just sat there with her arms folded, never cracking a smile. Cmon! Lighten up! When he squirted her later in the show, she sat there looking sullen with her arms folded again and never once laughed or cracked a smile. How can anyone be so unhappy when they are on vacation? Of course, it was all very funny to us. I noticed Alex looking for a volunteer longer than they usually do. I guess he couldnt find any Asian women or ones who looked like they might not speak English. Thats what weve always seen in the past and everyone here reports pretty much the same. He chose a woman who was leaned over on her husband half asleep. She didnt scream when she was supposed to or act surprised or anything. Maybe she was a veteran of the show who knows. She was not about to go stand next to Eddie to have her picture taken at the end. So she ended up taking a picture of Mark James with Eddie. I thought the addition of the Van Helsing material was good. Eddie was pretty funny too although I do miss Edgar. The best part for us was when Alex peeks behind Eddies curtain and Mark James asks him what he is doing. Alex says he was looking for something a kid threw up on the stage. When Mark asked him who threw it, he points at DS and says that kid. Mark came up to DS and asked, Did you throw something on the stage? DS quickly responded, No, he did and pointed at C! LOL! Thats my boy! Pass the blame to someone else! That even cracked the actors up. After that Mark James kept stopping and giving DS the evil eye telling him Im watching you.
Next up: Shrek. We walked right into Lord Farquads dungeon. LL got nervous when she read the warning about motion sickness. I assured her it would be ok. Our friends loved it. I do love this attraction. I think I can quote most of the preshow and the movie now. After this, the men took the kids to Jimmy Neutron while LL and I went to the Beverly Hills Boulangerie to use the buy one dessert get one free coupon I got off a coke cup at IOA the day before. I had a piece of oreo cheesecake. LL had some caramel apple cheesecake. They had cute names but naturally I cant remember them because I didnt write them down. I know there was one called Lets Get Ready to Crumble and that may be the one I had. Mine was delicious. LL said hers was just ok. She offered me a bite, but since she didnt rave about it I passed it up. We finished up quickly when we saw the men and kids coming. Quick! Hide the evidence!
We then left the park and rode the water taxi back to RPR. It was time to hit the pool. LL opted to stay in the room as she never quite recovered from BTTF. She actually declared she was done for the day and would not be going back out. At the pool, we saw the Torch Lighting Ceremony which I thought was fun and entertaining. We enjoyed the band that was playing poolside. K said he thought if we gave LL enough time to catch a quick nap she would be ready to go back out. We wandered back to the rooms at different times to get cleaned up. LL did get up and we decided to go to Nascar Café for dinner. None of us are Nascar fans but we had purchased the half price GCs. I cant pass up a bargain. We waited about 10 minutes to be seated only because we were a party of 7. Smaller parties were being seated immediately. DH had ribs which he said were good. They came with baked beans which he declared great. I had the fried chicken salad which was...well it was a salad with chicken tenders...it hit the spot. LL had a turkey wrap which she said was ok. K had grilled shrimp with rice and vegetables which was all very good. The kids had a burger, chicken tenders, and a pizza. The $5.95 kids pizza was really quite ridiculous. It was smaller than the 49 cent frozen pizza I buy at Kroger. DD didnt care much for it, but she was hungry so she ate the whole thing but was still hungry. We didnt care for the atmosphere of this restaurant. It was too loud and annoying. Remember though...we are not Nascar fans. The whole gentlemen start your engines deal and the tires on the cars overhead smoking and spinning was just too much for us. Even the boys were not impressed. But to Nascar fans, it might be great. Our server wasnt the brightest bulb in the chandelier either. It took him forever to bring us our check. Then he was gone a long time again after we gave him the Gcs. He ended up charging my familys meal on Ks credit card. I took the restless kids downstairs to play some games while they got it all straightened out. Afterwards, we did a little shopping. LL and I fell in love with the flip flop t-shirts at Fresh Produce. DH fell in love with an autographed Joe Namath jersey at Sports Collections. He was telling everyone that if I really loved him, I would buy it for him. It was only $699.00.
I will give him credit for trying though. He tried to appeal to my bargain hunting nature by reminding me that we could get it for less since we would get the AP discount. Nice try.
We rode the water taxi back and quickly fell asleep. DS who slept in our friends room most nights actually spent the night with us. C was afraid he was going to have bad dreams about earthquakes and wanted to sleep with his mom. Here I tried to scare him on Jaws and DH tried on Mummy, but it was Earthquake that got to him. Poor guy.
Stay tuned for Day 3 - PBH Beach Pool and IOA!
My Family
Me - Grinch admirer, Universal Vacation Planner and bargain hunter
DH - Thrill ride fan and people watcher. Lover of all things that are scary
DD age 10 - Banana Split Dippin Dots lover and roller coaster rider
DS age 8 - Flying Unicorn fanatic who would never take a bath or comb his hair unless under force
Our Friends
LL - (those are her initials) - shopper and napper, hater of water rides
K - (LL's husband) - Goes with the flow. Mummy and Bilge Rat Barges fan
C - (LL and K's son, age 8) - Dr. Doom and Hulk riding maniac
Day 2 - Wednesday, May 26
I have already written this report once, but lost it due to a power outage. So here goes again...I am saving it along the way this time!
We awoke late. I dont remember the time because I did not write it down. We ate breakfast in the room. We brought along fruit, poptarts, cereal and such to eat for breakfast each day. No one in my family is a big breakfast eater so this suits us just fine. We headed out for USF at a time I dont remember because I didnt write it down. We rode the water taxi to Citywalk and began our walk across the bridge. I insisted that LL, K, and C let me take their photo with the Universal globe in the background. Thats a must have picture IMO. We then walked on trying to be careful not to step in front of anyone else who was taking the same photo. Upon entering the park, we were greeted by Lucy. Thats the first time I had seen her at the front gate. I looked around for a show schedule before realizing that they are now printing the show times on the park map. That makes sense. I always hated trying to keep up with 2 different things. Not that I really need a map anymore since I know where everything is. Anwyay, I thought this was a nice change.
Now heres where things get strange. We did something we have never done before. We were bold and daring and ignored our children (ok the ignoring the children part we have done before) AND we walked right past Shrek and Jimmy Neutron! We only had eyes for the Mummy! DH and I led the pack walking at record pace. When we got there, we made sure we had not left the children behind. Whew! LL and I were turned away with our small bags and I saw them turning away people with the tiniest fanny packs too. LL and I went to get a locker, but the lines were long and everyone seemed to be having trouble using them. The men and kids were getting anxious so LL decided to hold the bags and do a little shopping while we rode. I scampered off to join the others. We waited for about 15 minutes to board. I was seated on the right outside seat on row 2. After I got situated, I noticed a CM staring me down. I tried to ignore him but he kept getting closer and closer and closer to my face. Finally his face was right up in mine and he gave me an evil little wave as the train started to move. Oh boy! I am already scared!! As we entered the first scenes, DH gave out his best Whaaahahahaha evil laugh. Everyone in the train cracked up. Hes such a nut. We all LOVED the ride and thought it was quite a thrill. I had read about the ride and what to expect online but doing that in no way spoiled anything about it for me. It was awesome. We exited, cracked up looking at our picture and quickly got back in line. LL joined us this time. DH sat it out with the bags. This time we waited less than 10 minutes and the ride was just as fun. We laughed at our pictures again. I always have the most comical expressions on my face and the kids simply looked terrified! Whaaaahahahaha!
Next we headed to Earthquake. LL was chosen as a volunteer. She was one of the captains on the boat. She looked pretty darn funny up there in all that rain gear. Who better to be decked out in rain gear and expecting 100 gallons of water to be dumped on them than someone who hates water rides and getting wet! Whaaahahahaha! I tried to get some photos, but they turned out a little dark. If I knew how to use my digital camera, maybe I could fix that. After surviving the earthquake, we were all hungry. We spotted Richter Burger and headed back there. DD and DS shared a burger and fries. Everyone else had their own. At the time of ordering I wished they had a kids burger on the menu, but it really worked out better as the half burger and half fries were more than enough for them. After lunch, we got in line for Jaws. Actually there wasnt a line at all in Express. We were loaded right on. I made sure C got a seat on the far left side of the boat. I wanted him to have a great first experience on Jaws...Whaaahahaha! Everyone enjoyed the ride. We had an awesome skipper whose name I dont remember because I didnt have anything to write it down on. I asked LL if she remembered and she said Captain Jake which of course was wrong.
Next we were off to MIB. I rode with LL and DD. The boys rode together in another car. Before leaving home, I had gone over all the MIB tips once again. This helped me not one bit. I guess I have terrible aim or am simply a doofus.
I did manage to get the high score in our car. DD stole my bonus once again. Why did I teach her that? I vow once again to print and bring the tips with me to study when I next return. Upon exiting we stopped to look at our photos. In the MIB photos I always look very serious. Ok, so I might be a tad competitive. I wonder how I can distract DD from pressing the red button next time... We all rode again except for DH. I cant remember why he sat that one out. My score was much lower this time. I would tell you all about it but I was neuralized and just cant remember. Next up...BTTF. I immediately found a shady spot and sat down. The last time I rode BTTF I vowed to never set foot in there again. Great ride concept. Loved the movies. But the ride does me in. Last time I rode it, my head was banged around and something on that back seat pulled and pulled on my hair. I came out with a pounding headache and a bald sore spot on the back of my head. It did seriously leave my head very sore. I sat happily in my shady spot talking on my cell phone to a friend who was keeping our pet back home. When my crew exited the ride, LL looked a little green. She said it was awful and really needed to sit down and rest somewhere. The kids were asking her why she had her hand over her mouth for most of the ride. She said she was trying to think of some graceful way to puke while the ride was still moving. Fortunately it didnt come to that.
We headed over to Woody Woodpeckers Nuthouse Coaster and found a nice shady spot to rest. The kids rode it 7 times using the new express line. When we were there in March, they were only using the ride exit for hotel guests and didnt have an express line so I assume this is fairly new. LL said she would prefer we do something air conditioned next so I checked my handy show schedule and saw that the 3:45 Horror Make Up Show would be starting in 20 minutes. We rounded the kids up and headed that way. We got seats in the first row on the far left of the stage. Awesome! The two actors were ones I had never seen before. The man playing Mark James was a large fellow with glasses. Alex (who we will see later doing something else) had dark hair and a beard. They were funny but were probably my least favorite of all the actors I have seen at the show. The lady Mark James picked on when he walked out asking for help did not find any humor in it at all. She just sat there with her arms folded, never cracking a smile. Cmon! Lighten up! When he squirted her later in the show, she sat there looking sullen with her arms folded again and never once laughed or cracked a smile. How can anyone be so unhappy when they are on vacation? Of course, it was all very funny to us. I noticed Alex looking for a volunteer longer than they usually do. I guess he couldnt find any Asian women or ones who looked like they might not speak English. Thats what weve always seen in the past and everyone here reports pretty much the same. He chose a woman who was leaned over on her husband half asleep. She didnt scream when she was supposed to or act surprised or anything. Maybe she was a veteran of the show who knows. She was not about to go stand next to Eddie to have her picture taken at the end. So she ended up taking a picture of Mark James with Eddie. I thought the addition of the Van Helsing material was good. Eddie was pretty funny too although I do miss Edgar. The best part for us was when Alex peeks behind Eddies curtain and Mark James asks him what he is doing. Alex says he was looking for something a kid threw up on the stage. When Mark asked him who threw it, he points at DS and says that kid. Mark came up to DS and asked, Did you throw something on the stage? DS quickly responded, No, he did and pointed at C! LOL! Thats my boy! Pass the blame to someone else! That even cracked the actors up. After that Mark James kept stopping and giving DS the evil eye telling him Im watching you.
Next up: Shrek. We walked right into Lord Farquads dungeon. LL got nervous when she read the warning about motion sickness. I assured her it would be ok. Our friends loved it. I do love this attraction. I think I can quote most of the preshow and the movie now. After this, the men took the kids to Jimmy Neutron while LL and I went to the Beverly Hills Boulangerie to use the buy one dessert get one free coupon I got off a coke cup at IOA the day before. I had a piece of oreo cheesecake. LL had some caramel apple cheesecake. They had cute names but naturally I cant remember them because I didnt write them down. I know there was one called Lets Get Ready to Crumble and that may be the one I had. Mine was delicious. LL said hers was just ok. She offered me a bite, but since she didnt rave about it I passed it up. We finished up quickly when we saw the men and kids coming. Quick! Hide the evidence!
We then left the park and rode the water taxi back to RPR. It was time to hit the pool. LL opted to stay in the room as she never quite recovered from BTTF. She actually declared she was done for the day and would not be going back out. At the pool, we saw the Torch Lighting Ceremony which I thought was fun and entertaining. We enjoyed the band that was playing poolside. K said he thought if we gave LL enough time to catch a quick nap she would be ready to go back out. We wandered back to the rooms at different times to get cleaned up. LL did get up and we decided to go to Nascar Café for dinner. None of us are Nascar fans but we had purchased the half price GCs. I cant pass up a bargain. We waited about 10 minutes to be seated only because we were a party of 7. Smaller parties were being seated immediately. DH had ribs which he said were good. They came with baked beans which he declared great. I had the fried chicken salad which was...well it was a salad with chicken tenders...it hit the spot. LL had a turkey wrap which she said was ok. K had grilled shrimp with rice and vegetables which was all very good. The kids had a burger, chicken tenders, and a pizza. The $5.95 kids pizza was really quite ridiculous. It was smaller than the 49 cent frozen pizza I buy at Kroger. DD didnt care much for it, but she was hungry so she ate the whole thing but was still hungry. We didnt care for the atmosphere of this restaurant. It was too loud and annoying. Remember though...we are not Nascar fans. The whole gentlemen start your engines deal and the tires on the cars overhead smoking and spinning was just too much for us. Even the boys were not impressed. But to Nascar fans, it might be great. Our server wasnt the brightest bulb in the chandelier either. It took him forever to bring us our check. Then he was gone a long time again after we gave him the Gcs. He ended up charging my familys meal on Ks credit card. I took the restless kids downstairs to play some games while they got it all straightened out. Afterwards, we did a little shopping. LL and I fell in love with the flip flop t-shirts at Fresh Produce. DH fell in love with an autographed Joe Namath jersey at Sports Collections. He was telling everyone that if I really loved him, I would buy it for him. It was only $699.00.
I will give him credit for trying though. He tried to appeal to my bargain hunting nature by reminding me that we could get it for less since we would get the AP discount. Nice try. We rode the water taxi back and quickly fell asleep. DS who slept in our friends room most nights actually spent the night with us. C was afraid he was going to have bad dreams about earthquakes and wanted to sleep with his mom. Here I tried to scare him on Jaws and DH tried on Mummy, but it was Earthquake that got to him. Poor guy.
Stay tuned for Day 3 - PBH Beach Pool and IOA!
