silverhaze269
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2006
- Messages
- 944
Hi everybody! This is my first trip report and I'm sorry because it's really long. I just got back from yet another amazing trip to USO. I got home really late Friday night, or really early Saturday morning depending on how you look at it, and then I had to work all day yesterday, so this is the first chance I got to make this. I traveled with my family and my brothers partner. It was his first time since USF opened so there were lots of new rides and stuff for him to do. IOA hadnt even been built back then. So far I've only got the first 3 days typed up, so hopefully I'll have the rest soon. I've got lots of pictures too, but I have to sort through them and make them small enough to post here.
Day 1
After a very last minute scramble to get everything together (I was literally out buying last minute things a few hours before we had to leave) we got on our way very early Sunday morning (the 10th). The flights were all great, nothing went missing and there was very little turbulence. It was our first time flying with West Jet and the satellite TVs in the seat backs were a huge bonus. I flipped between Animal Planet and Much More Music most of the time
We got in to Orlando about half an hour early, which was really nice. There were no problems with the baggage, and as soon as we collected everything we called the car rental place. We rented a van from Payless, and while its nice to have a vehicle, we would NEVER do it again from a company that was offsite from the airport. We had to wait about 20 minutes for the shuttle and then when we got there we had to wait in a HUGE line about another 25-30 minutes. When we got our van it was in working condition, which is nice, but when I was waiting outside with a few other members of our party there was a family who tried to rent a PT Cruiser. When they got in something was off so they switched cars. The next person to come out got assigned that car. Hopefully it was ok. I cant see them renting out vehicles that have problems, but you never know. Our van was fine the whole time we had it, but our biggest beef was that, on top of waiting around for about an hour to get our car, we had to pay $60 more a day for an upgrade so we could have a van that would hold all of our stuff. Plus we had to have the van back to the rental place by 10 am (even though we said wed be using it until 12) but our flight out wasnt until 2:10 pm.
If anyone out there is planning on renting a vehicle in Orlando I highly recommend going on expedia or travelocity or a similar website and finding the cheapest rental company that has cars onsite at the airport. Weve used Alamo and National in the past, and both were great. There was no line; you get to choose your car when you get to the parkade, and you return it right there too; its fast and easy. And there were no problems whatsoever. With Payless we wasted lots of time and had to pay more than we planned.
After that was all settled out we were off to Downtown Disney. I know this sounds odd but when we did our Disney trip a few years back we stayed in the Downtown Disney area and fell in love with The Earl of Sandwich. It has by far the best sandwiches Ive ever had! I mean it. Maybe its a little odd, but I was looking forward to going there as much as I was to going back to the Hard Rock. After our absolutely fantastic lunch we shopped for a bit and then headed to the Hard Rock, our home away from home.
Our check in was pretty smooth. Again I wasnt right up there with my mom because I thought Id just be in the way. She was up there for about 5 minutes, but it seemed to me that it was the best check-in weve ever had. We were assigned the same room weve always stayed in (on the Club level), 7132.
After dropping our bags off in our room (which was very clean, and the upgrades are really nice) and having a quick rest, we headed over to USF to get our tickets and do a ride or two. It didnt take us long to get our tickets, and since we were there just over an hour before close we didnt have much time to do rides. I headed straight for Back to the Future, which is just as awesome as I remembered. It was bumpy, but I dont mind. I remember it being just as bumpy as the last time. The only problem was that the smoke/mist/fog machine effect wasnt working on our car. The next ride I ran for was Men In Black. I only got about 79,000 points because I didnt press the red button at the right time, and it had been a while since Id ridden it. After those two rides it was time to go as the park was closing. I was really glad I got at least one ride in on my two favourites.
When we got back to the hotel we had some food (chicken wings and pigs in a blanket) and got even more settled in. We were all exhausted from traveling and the really early morning we had, so it was time for a well-deserved rest.
Day 2
The next morning after breakfast we headed over to USF again. I usually like to go there first simply because its closer to the HRH. The first ride of the day was Shrek. I love that ride. I forgot just how awesome it was. I was in the row two or three from the back of the auditorium and my seat didnt move very much.
Next it was over to Jimmy Neutron. That is such an awesome ride! I grew up watching the Rugrats, and I LOVE Invader Zim. I didnt realize he has a cameo in the ride until I rode it that time. I also didnt realize that in the end the Dali Lama comes up when Carl takes Cosmos wand and makes the llamas appear. After this ride we met up with some other members of our group and went to Terminator 3D. This was only the second time I did this ride despite all the times Ive been to USF. Im just not a huge terminator fan. It is pretty good all in all though. The Horror Make-Up Show was about to start when we got out of the Terminator so we did that next. It really is a great show. I thought they would have changed the Van Helsing thing since we were there last year, but it was still the same. Its a great movie, but I think they should think about putting something else in there. After that we went to the Bettlejuice show because that was about to start once we got out of the Make up show. It seemed shorter than the old show for some reason, but its still good. (Dracula was mighty fine) I loved how they had Christmas music playing before the show started. I think it was the Crypt Keepers Christmas or something, but it was awesome. Is there a CD out there somewhere that has those songs on it? I liked the 12 days of Cryptmas. 5 mortal wounds!
Anyway, once that fantastic show was over it was off to Earthquake. It was slightly different than I remember. I thought that before you could see the other train coming at you, but perhaps it jus depends on what car youre in. It was on to Jaws after that one. I wish I could have done that more than once, but thats the only time I rode it. It seemed to me that a few of the jaws didnt work. Between the boathouse and the final electric fence part after the gas station or whatever it is blows up, isnt there supposed to be a jaws that comes up on the right side of the boat? Maybe not, I dunno. It had been a while since I was on it.
We saw the Fear Factor Live show after Jaws. It was ok, but I wouldnt miss it if it were gone. Then it was another round on MIB. I think I got around 299,000 points that time. We went to ET next because someone we were with didnt think they could handle Back to the Future again. ET is my third favourite ride at USF. I LOVE walking through the forest, and the smell it has. I dont think it smells good or bad but its just distinct. I had never been on the far left bike and its so much better than sitting anywhere else because you get to see the city so well. The last ride of the day for us was the Animal Actors show. It used to be Animal Planet Live but they changed the name and I dont remember exactly was it is. It was worth seeing for sure, and I think it was a good way to end the day. From there we went to meet with the other members of our party that broke off after we did Earthquake to watch the parade. On our way we stopped and went in to the magic shop thats across the street from the Horror Make up Show. I cant remember the guys name that was doing the magic tricks, but he was pretty good! I ended up getting The Levitator. I cant wait to watch the video so I can start levitating things.
Anyway, once we were done there we met up for the parade. I took a bunch of pictures and I hope they came out ok. I didnt have time to look at them yet. I just took them off my camera and put them on my computer. It was a really great parade though! I wasnt expecting much, but I was pleasantly surprised. I think after the parade we did ET again, with all the people in our group, and then went back to the hotel for some food. They had chicken kabobs and spring rolls, and then later that evening for the snack time they had mini canolies, brownies, and these really awesome cake-like squares. We decided to drive over to the other hotels just to see what they looked like after the snacks. Both resorts looked AMAZING! We were all tired though, and decided to explore them later on, so back to the hotel it was for another night of well-deserved rest.
Day 3
We started off the next day with yet another wonderful breakfast from the HRH club. I was planning on going straight over to Islands, but the rest of my family talked me into finishing off USF, so we went back. My brother and his partner were a bit slow to start, so my parents and I headed over to Islands to look around in the Port of Entry shops before we had to meet up with them at Twister in USF. We didnt get to see much at Islands because I had to stop in at the Hard Rock Café shop to see what they had, and because there was a lot of wonderful things I wanted I took a bit longer than usual (meaning that once we got to Islands we only went in the Christmas shop and had to go). Once back in USF we looked around in the Macys balloon exhibit before heading to Twister. It was pretty neat, I must say; definitely worth a look. Twister was just as I remembered it. I was in the back row so I couldnt see the wires as much, which gave it a better effect that way, but it was a bit harder to see some things because of other peoples heads. After Twister we did Shrek and Jimmy Neutron because my brother and his partner didnt get to do that the day before. Unfortunately my brothers partner doesnt do rides that well, so he was feeling a bit woozy after Jimmy Neutron and had to sit for a while until it passed. Once that was dealt with we went over to Islands. We went straight for the Mythos restaurant because it was that time. It was our first time there despite my constant nagging during other trips. Its not hard to see why it was voted number one theme park restaurant in the world for so many years in a row. Their dessert shots are such a good idea! (I had the seasonal pumpkin pie and eggnog one; it was awesome!) From there we went back to Seuss Landing and started off with the new High in the Sky Seuss Trolley. I think its a great ride. Its a bit short, and its a bit hard for me to believe it took 7 years for such a short ride to get done, but I still like it. I realize there were a few bumps along the road during construction, but I think it was worth it as a great ride was the result. We did the Caro-Seuss-el after the Trolley, and worked our way around to the Cat in the Hat and One Fish, Two Fish. The Cat in the Hat was a bit jerker than I remembered, and the up in our fish on One Fish, Two Fish wouldnt work properly. After that we walked around and almost did Poseidons Fury, but the wait was half an hour, so we decided to shop around in the Lost Continent and do that another day. The next ride I went on was Popeye, only because large drops dont go over that well with me.
The torches on the Jurassic Park gates werent working, and neither were the ones that the creature has on the statue for The Lost Continent. There were many little food stalls closed all over the park, but the majority of them were in Jurassic Park. Thunder Falls Terrace was also closed there. There were a lot of shops closed as well.
Anyway, Popeye was great. I noticed the spinach scene was there this time, but I didnt get as nearly as soaked as I have in the past, which I guess is a good thing seeing as how its cooler than when I was there before (but not cold by any means). I basically headed back to the hotel after that so I could get a shower. I think I may have gone back to Universal that evening to do one more ride on MIB and Back to the Future. I think the food at the Hard Rock that night was the same as what was there the night we got there, and there were cookies for the snack.
Day 1
After a very last minute scramble to get everything together (I was literally out buying last minute things a few hours before we had to leave) we got on our way very early Sunday morning (the 10th). The flights were all great, nothing went missing and there was very little turbulence. It was our first time flying with West Jet and the satellite TVs in the seat backs were a huge bonus. I flipped between Animal Planet and Much More Music most of the time
We got in to Orlando about half an hour early, which was really nice. There were no problems with the baggage, and as soon as we collected everything we called the car rental place. We rented a van from Payless, and while its nice to have a vehicle, we would NEVER do it again from a company that was offsite from the airport. We had to wait about 20 minutes for the shuttle and then when we got there we had to wait in a HUGE line about another 25-30 minutes. When we got our van it was in working condition, which is nice, but when I was waiting outside with a few other members of our party there was a family who tried to rent a PT Cruiser. When they got in something was off so they switched cars. The next person to come out got assigned that car. Hopefully it was ok. I cant see them renting out vehicles that have problems, but you never know. Our van was fine the whole time we had it, but our biggest beef was that, on top of waiting around for about an hour to get our car, we had to pay $60 more a day for an upgrade so we could have a van that would hold all of our stuff. Plus we had to have the van back to the rental place by 10 am (even though we said wed be using it until 12) but our flight out wasnt until 2:10 pm.
If anyone out there is planning on renting a vehicle in Orlando I highly recommend going on expedia or travelocity or a similar website and finding the cheapest rental company that has cars onsite at the airport. Weve used Alamo and National in the past, and both were great. There was no line; you get to choose your car when you get to the parkade, and you return it right there too; its fast and easy. And there were no problems whatsoever. With Payless we wasted lots of time and had to pay more than we planned.
After that was all settled out we were off to Downtown Disney. I know this sounds odd but when we did our Disney trip a few years back we stayed in the Downtown Disney area and fell in love with The Earl of Sandwich. It has by far the best sandwiches Ive ever had! I mean it. Maybe its a little odd, but I was looking forward to going there as much as I was to going back to the Hard Rock. After our absolutely fantastic lunch we shopped for a bit and then headed to the Hard Rock, our home away from home.
Our check in was pretty smooth. Again I wasnt right up there with my mom because I thought Id just be in the way. She was up there for about 5 minutes, but it seemed to me that it was the best check-in weve ever had. We were assigned the same room weve always stayed in (on the Club level), 7132.
After dropping our bags off in our room (which was very clean, and the upgrades are really nice) and having a quick rest, we headed over to USF to get our tickets and do a ride or two. It didnt take us long to get our tickets, and since we were there just over an hour before close we didnt have much time to do rides. I headed straight for Back to the Future, which is just as awesome as I remembered. It was bumpy, but I dont mind. I remember it being just as bumpy as the last time. The only problem was that the smoke/mist/fog machine effect wasnt working on our car. The next ride I ran for was Men In Black. I only got about 79,000 points because I didnt press the red button at the right time, and it had been a while since Id ridden it. After those two rides it was time to go as the park was closing. I was really glad I got at least one ride in on my two favourites.
When we got back to the hotel we had some food (chicken wings and pigs in a blanket) and got even more settled in. We were all exhausted from traveling and the really early morning we had, so it was time for a well-deserved rest.
Day 2
The next morning after breakfast we headed over to USF again. I usually like to go there first simply because its closer to the HRH. The first ride of the day was Shrek. I love that ride. I forgot just how awesome it was. I was in the row two or three from the back of the auditorium and my seat didnt move very much.
Next it was over to Jimmy Neutron. That is such an awesome ride! I grew up watching the Rugrats, and I LOVE Invader Zim. I didnt realize he has a cameo in the ride until I rode it that time. I also didnt realize that in the end the Dali Lama comes up when Carl takes Cosmos wand and makes the llamas appear. After this ride we met up with some other members of our group and went to Terminator 3D. This was only the second time I did this ride despite all the times Ive been to USF. Im just not a huge terminator fan. It is pretty good all in all though. The Horror Make-Up Show was about to start when we got out of the Terminator so we did that next. It really is a great show. I thought they would have changed the Van Helsing thing since we were there last year, but it was still the same. Its a great movie, but I think they should think about putting something else in there. After that we went to the Bettlejuice show because that was about to start once we got out of the Make up show. It seemed shorter than the old show for some reason, but its still good. (Dracula was mighty fine) I loved how they had Christmas music playing before the show started. I think it was the Crypt Keepers Christmas or something, but it was awesome. Is there a CD out there somewhere that has those songs on it? I liked the 12 days of Cryptmas. 5 mortal wounds!
Anyway, once that fantastic show was over it was off to Earthquake. It was slightly different than I remember. I thought that before you could see the other train coming at you, but perhaps it jus depends on what car youre in. It was on to Jaws after that one. I wish I could have done that more than once, but thats the only time I rode it. It seemed to me that a few of the jaws didnt work. Between the boathouse and the final electric fence part after the gas station or whatever it is blows up, isnt there supposed to be a jaws that comes up on the right side of the boat? Maybe not, I dunno. It had been a while since I was on it.
We saw the Fear Factor Live show after Jaws. It was ok, but I wouldnt miss it if it were gone. Then it was another round on MIB. I think I got around 299,000 points that time. We went to ET next because someone we were with didnt think they could handle Back to the Future again. ET is my third favourite ride at USF. I LOVE walking through the forest, and the smell it has. I dont think it smells good or bad but its just distinct. I had never been on the far left bike and its so much better than sitting anywhere else because you get to see the city so well. The last ride of the day for us was the Animal Actors show. It used to be Animal Planet Live but they changed the name and I dont remember exactly was it is. It was worth seeing for sure, and I think it was a good way to end the day. From there we went to meet with the other members of our party that broke off after we did Earthquake to watch the parade. On our way we stopped and went in to the magic shop thats across the street from the Horror Make up Show. I cant remember the guys name that was doing the magic tricks, but he was pretty good! I ended up getting The Levitator. I cant wait to watch the video so I can start levitating things.
Anyway, once we were done there we met up for the parade. I took a bunch of pictures and I hope they came out ok. I didnt have time to look at them yet. I just took them off my camera and put them on my computer. It was a really great parade though! I wasnt expecting much, but I was pleasantly surprised. I think after the parade we did ET again, with all the people in our group, and then went back to the hotel for some food. They had chicken kabobs and spring rolls, and then later that evening for the snack time they had mini canolies, brownies, and these really awesome cake-like squares. We decided to drive over to the other hotels just to see what they looked like after the snacks. Both resorts looked AMAZING! We were all tired though, and decided to explore them later on, so back to the hotel it was for another night of well-deserved rest.
Day 3
We started off the next day with yet another wonderful breakfast from the HRH club. I was planning on going straight over to Islands, but the rest of my family talked me into finishing off USF, so we went back. My brother and his partner were a bit slow to start, so my parents and I headed over to Islands to look around in the Port of Entry shops before we had to meet up with them at Twister in USF. We didnt get to see much at Islands because I had to stop in at the Hard Rock Café shop to see what they had, and because there was a lot of wonderful things I wanted I took a bit longer than usual (meaning that once we got to Islands we only went in the Christmas shop and had to go). Once back in USF we looked around in the Macys balloon exhibit before heading to Twister. It was pretty neat, I must say; definitely worth a look. Twister was just as I remembered it. I was in the back row so I couldnt see the wires as much, which gave it a better effect that way, but it was a bit harder to see some things because of other peoples heads. After Twister we did Shrek and Jimmy Neutron because my brother and his partner didnt get to do that the day before. Unfortunately my brothers partner doesnt do rides that well, so he was feeling a bit woozy after Jimmy Neutron and had to sit for a while until it passed. Once that was dealt with we went over to Islands. We went straight for the Mythos restaurant because it was that time. It was our first time there despite my constant nagging during other trips. Its not hard to see why it was voted number one theme park restaurant in the world for so many years in a row. Their dessert shots are such a good idea! (I had the seasonal pumpkin pie and eggnog one; it was awesome!) From there we went back to Seuss Landing and started off with the new High in the Sky Seuss Trolley. I think its a great ride. Its a bit short, and its a bit hard for me to believe it took 7 years for such a short ride to get done, but I still like it. I realize there were a few bumps along the road during construction, but I think it was worth it as a great ride was the result. We did the Caro-Seuss-el after the Trolley, and worked our way around to the Cat in the Hat and One Fish, Two Fish. The Cat in the Hat was a bit jerker than I remembered, and the up in our fish on One Fish, Two Fish wouldnt work properly. After that we walked around and almost did Poseidons Fury, but the wait was half an hour, so we decided to shop around in the Lost Continent and do that another day. The next ride I went on was Popeye, only because large drops dont go over that well with me.
The torches on the Jurassic Park gates werent working, and neither were the ones that the creature has on the statue for The Lost Continent. There were many little food stalls closed all over the park, but the majority of them were in Jurassic Park. Thunder Falls Terrace was also closed there. There were a lot of shops closed as well.
Anyway, Popeye was great. I noticed the spinach scene was there this time, but I didnt get as nearly as soaked as I have in the past, which I guess is a good thing seeing as how its cooler than when I was there before (but not cold by any means). I basically headed back to the hotel after that so I could get a shower. I think I may have gone back to Universal that evening to do one more ride on MIB and Back to the Future. I think the food at the Hard Rock that night was the same as what was there the night we got there, and there were cookies for the snack.
Thank you!
