cuterlt
<font color=green>DH will do the laundry...when no
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2000
We are...
me, 39, old as the hills, or feeling that way anyway.
DH - 46. hungry, driver extraordinare.
I decided that on Wednesday (Day 4) we would skip DL because it is not an early entry day. So we got tickets in our packet to Universal. I've been there before with DH and we enjoy it. Since we did ITTBB at DCA I wanted to do the Terminator 3D show.
Day starts off with our usual wake up call (none!) and we decide to use our free character breakfast. Since the Grand Californian is the closest hotel we went to the Storytellers Cafe. WOW! What a beautiful hotel.... I was so glad they had penny presses in the hotel. We had looked for one at DCA and couldn't find one. We did get a DCA penny from inside the GC. And what a great buffet! Lots of good food. Lots of fun things to watch. Chip and Dale and Pluto were there interacting with the kids. They didn't seem to go around to the tables, which was fine. The restaurant was packed. My DH got "stuck" in the conga line on the way back from the buffet. This is truly great food. I always enjoy buffets because you can try a little bit of everything. The coffee was great. The service was a little slow, but they were packed. Everyone was cheerful and happy there. I want to do another meal there someday. This meal was way over the top! I'm glad it was the closest one. =0) The bathrooms were gorgeous too. I wonder what the rooms look like?
After breakfast, we take a leisurely full stroll back to the hotel to get in our itty bitty rental car to drive to Universal. Now, my DH grew up in Southern California. He used to drive 2 hours each way to work. Now that he's moved to the "country" and drives 15 minutes to work, he gets a little (a lot) annoyed and impatient with traffic. Last time we went to Universal, we had difficulty finding the exit. This time, we missed the first exit - thankfully there were two. I saw the second one as my DH cursed mercilessly at the driver who wouldn't let us get in through the first exit.
Then we get to the ticket gate. Now, we have vouchers for our tickets. They say go to the ticket gate to redeem. I have to go to the restroom because I drank coffee, orange juice and milk for breakfast. When I get back, DH has a scowl on his face and says that they won't honor the vouchers. It doesn't take him long to give in and admit that he's pulling my leg. We get into the park. It's a little bit crowded. It's later than entry and I guess they have early entry for some hotel guests?
We head towards Back to the Future. They've changed the que a bit. It's got more going on in the first part - still boring just before you get in the car. It's a fun little ride. There was about a 15 minute wait. Not too bad considering how crowded it was and how few people can ride on it at a time. DH remarked that it is much like Soarin in that there is a screen and other cars at the same time watching the same screen. Kinda neat - I hadn't ever seen the other cars before.
After we finish that, we decide to stay up top and do the Backlot Tour. Not much of a wait there. I like to do this every time and had read on their website that they were featuring Mummy 2 on the Tour. The Tour had improved some, but still had the rickety bridge, the disappearing lake, the twirling tunnel, and king kong. It was still good though. After the tour, we head down the esclators and go on Jurassic Park. We had brought our ponchos and put them on for the ride. We ended up in the front row the first time and really didn't get very wet. They haven't changed the ride much at all, although the car was working and last time I was there it wasn't.
We stopped at the Jurassic Cove for some icky food. Burgers and fries, expensive and lousy. Certainly not of DLand quality. =0)
I dragged DH onto the ET ride. I have always been a big ET fan. I actually have a keychain which says "ET Lives". Anyway, I drag him on. There's about a 20 minute wait. The que is always kinda neat to go through. At the beginning of the que, a CM (do we call em CM's at Universal?) asks our names so ET can thank us at the end of the ride. Unfortunately I told DH that they do this and he covered my mouth so I couldn't tell the CM his name and he told them he was "Jose". We finally boarded our "bikes". I, of course, enjoyed the ride immensely. DH fought the whole way. At the end of the ride, Jose was the last to be thanked. We laughed for hours about that one.
After ET we hit Jurassic again. This time we braved it without the ponchos. BIG MISTAKE. We're sitting in the second row on the left and we got soaked...well, I got soaked. DH got a little wet. They had a great sale on sweatshirts, but decided to forgo. DH had a need for Marvel Mania shirts - we had bought him one last trip after eating at the Marvel Restaurant (which he loved and which is now gone, unfortunately). We actually found some of them on clearance at the "Ranch" thanks to a CM who called that store to check for us. So we head off to The Ranch to get a couple Ts for DH. I still wanted to go to the Terminator 3 D show. I liked the terminator movies for the special effects. We went - it was pretty neat. The only real problem is that there were some young kids who appeared to be drunk who were pretty rowdy. The show is actually pretty long. The only thing I didn't care for and found distracting was the real people who were interacting during the showing of the movie. It was a good show. Not as good as ITTBB.
After Terminator, we stopped for some snacks and saw 3 people being taken out by Security.
I really like Universal for the rides and shows. I don't like it because they sell alcohol. I saw lots of folks drinking - some carrying around cups of beer who didn't look a day past 18. There were lots of young people there, not as much family-oriented as DL. I was very disappointed in the choices for restaurants. Marvel Mania was great and I think was the only real sit down place. It was a "character meal" for boys. DH loved it. That was gone. It is a totally different atmosphere from the Disney parks.
We left Universal to go through horrible traffic again and have dinner with DH's uncle who he hasn't seen in years. We went to Tony Roma's which was a stone's throw from our hotel. Not the best food in the world. [Shoulda gone to Grand Californian!]
Stay tuned for our next adventure where DH and I both got teary eyed....
cuter - 39, works for and with abused children; DH 46 - school police detective.
WE WENT TO DISNEYLAND! 3-11-01 to 3-15-01
me, 39, old as the hills, or feeling that way anyway.
DH - 46. hungry, driver extraordinare.
I decided that on Wednesday (Day 4) we would skip DL because it is not an early entry day. So we got tickets in our packet to Universal. I've been there before with DH and we enjoy it. Since we did ITTBB at DCA I wanted to do the Terminator 3D show.
Day starts off with our usual wake up call (none!) and we decide to use our free character breakfast. Since the Grand Californian is the closest hotel we went to the Storytellers Cafe. WOW! What a beautiful hotel.... I was so glad they had penny presses in the hotel. We had looked for one at DCA and couldn't find one. We did get a DCA penny from inside the GC. And what a great buffet! Lots of good food. Lots of fun things to watch. Chip and Dale and Pluto were there interacting with the kids. They didn't seem to go around to the tables, which was fine. The restaurant was packed. My DH got "stuck" in the conga line on the way back from the buffet. This is truly great food. I always enjoy buffets because you can try a little bit of everything. The coffee was great. The service was a little slow, but they were packed. Everyone was cheerful and happy there. I want to do another meal there someday. This meal was way over the top! I'm glad it was the closest one. =0) The bathrooms were gorgeous too. I wonder what the rooms look like?
After breakfast, we take a leisurely full stroll back to the hotel to get in our itty bitty rental car to drive to Universal. Now, my DH grew up in Southern California. He used to drive 2 hours each way to work. Now that he's moved to the "country" and drives 15 minutes to work, he gets a little (a lot) annoyed and impatient with traffic. Last time we went to Universal, we had difficulty finding the exit. This time, we missed the first exit - thankfully there were two. I saw the second one as my DH cursed mercilessly at the driver who wouldn't let us get in through the first exit.
Then we get to the ticket gate. Now, we have vouchers for our tickets. They say go to the ticket gate to redeem. I have to go to the restroom because I drank coffee, orange juice and milk for breakfast. When I get back, DH has a scowl on his face and says that they won't honor the vouchers. It doesn't take him long to give in and admit that he's pulling my leg. We get into the park. It's a little bit crowded. It's later than entry and I guess they have early entry for some hotel guests?
We head towards Back to the Future. They've changed the que a bit. It's got more going on in the first part - still boring just before you get in the car. It's a fun little ride. There was about a 15 minute wait. Not too bad considering how crowded it was and how few people can ride on it at a time. DH remarked that it is much like Soarin in that there is a screen and other cars at the same time watching the same screen. Kinda neat - I hadn't ever seen the other cars before.
After we finish that, we decide to stay up top and do the Backlot Tour. Not much of a wait there. I like to do this every time and had read on their website that they were featuring Mummy 2 on the Tour. The Tour had improved some, but still had the rickety bridge, the disappearing lake, the twirling tunnel, and king kong. It was still good though. After the tour, we head down the esclators and go on Jurassic Park. We had brought our ponchos and put them on for the ride. We ended up in the front row the first time and really didn't get very wet. They haven't changed the ride much at all, although the car was working and last time I was there it wasn't.
We stopped at the Jurassic Cove for some icky food. Burgers and fries, expensive and lousy. Certainly not of DLand quality. =0)
I dragged DH onto the ET ride. I have always been a big ET fan. I actually have a keychain which says "ET Lives". Anyway, I drag him on. There's about a 20 minute wait. The que is always kinda neat to go through. At the beginning of the que, a CM (do we call em CM's at Universal?) asks our names so ET can thank us at the end of the ride. Unfortunately I told DH that they do this and he covered my mouth so I couldn't tell the CM his name and he told them he was "Jose". We finally boarded our "bikes". I, of course, enjoyed the ride immensely. DH fought the whole way. At the end of the ride, Jose was the last to be thanked. We laughed for hours about that one.
After ET we hit Jurassic again. This time we braved it without the ponchos. BIG MISTAKE. We're sitting in the second row on the left and we got soaked...well, I got soaked. DH got a little wet. They had a great sale on sweatshirts, but decided to forgo. DH had a need for Marvel Mania shirts - we had bought him one last trip after eating at the Marvel Restaurant (which he loved and which is now gone, unfortunately). We actually found some of them on clearance at the "Ranch" thanks to a CM who called that store to check for us. So we head off to The Ranch to get a couple Ts for DH. I still wanted to go to the Terminator 3 D show. I liked the terminator movies for the special effects. We went - it was pretty neat. The only real problem is that there were some young kids who appeared to be drunk who were pretty rowdy. The show is actually pretty long. The only thing I didn't care for and found distracting was the real people who were interacting during the showing of the movie. It was a good show. Not as good as ITTBB.
After Terminator, we stopped for some snacks and saw 3 people being taken out by Security.
I really like Universal for the rides and shows. I don't like it because they sell alcohol. I saw lots of folks drinking - some carrying around cups of beer who didn't look a day past 18. There were lots of young people there, not as much family-oriented as DL. I was very disappointed in the choices for restaurants. Marvel Mania was great and I think was the only real sit down place. It was a "character meal" for boys. DH loved it. That was gone. It is a totally different atmosphere from the Disney parks.
We left Universal to go through horrible traffic again and have dinner with DH's uncle who he hasn't seen in years. We went to Tony Roma's which was a stone's throw from our hotel. Not the best food in the world. [Shoulda gone to Grand Californian!]
Stay tuned for our next adventure where DH and I both got teary eyed....
cuter - 39, works for and with abused children; DH 46 - school police detective.
WE WENT TO DISNEYLAND! 3-11-01 to 3-15-01
