Ditching DH - our July Universal Trip Report

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

This is our Universal do-over trip. We went to Universal in April 2006 and between the crowds and a grumpy DH, we ended up cutting our trip short and coming home earlier than planned.

I knew that the next time we went to Universal we would be staying on-site. I figured it would be a few years – like 5 or so since that’s what DH said in between words I sure can’t repeat here.

Fast forward to Feb. 2008. DH informs me that he’ll be gone for 5 days in July 2008 for business. The last time he was out of town, I took the kids to the beach and we had a great time. So I figured the kids and I could take a mini-vacation without him. He only knows one speed at theme parks - commando - and drives us nuts.

So I talked it over with DD8 (Drama Queen) and DS12 (Dude) and we chose SeaWorld since DH doesn’t like it and it had been 6 years since we’ve been there. Then I thought while we are in Orlando, the kids and I can have a do-over of our failed April 2006 Universal Vacation. And so the trip was decided.

It would be myself- the Fabulous Mom. – DD8 alias Drama Queen and DS12 alias Dude. And we were not carrying any bags into the parks to avoid the lockers. If it didn’t fit into cargo pockets, it was staying in the hotel room.

We would be at SeaWorld on July 17 and part of July 18, Universal part of Friday July 18, Saturday July 19, Sunday July 20 and part of the day on Monday July 21 before we drive home.

I chose not to do the Universal Meal Deal since the plan is to eat supper one night at NBA City for Dude and the other night at Jake’s Bar and Grill at RPR and maybe sneak in a Margaritaville meal.

This trip report is the Universal portion and there’ll be pictures. I’m still learning how to load pictures so please bear with me on that part. I’ve put the SeaWorld portion on the SeaWorld Board.

The hotel at Universal:
I was thinking of staying at the Hard Rock Hotel until DH said he’d be mad if we stayed there without him because he’s always wanted to stay there. Then I saw the prices. No way was I paying those prices this trip even with a discount (cause who pays full price? Not me. ) so of course I told DH we wouldn’t stay there just for him. Brownie points for me.
So that left me with the Royal Pacific since I didn’t like the prices of the Portofino Bay Resort either. Plus I loved the look of the décor at Royal Pacific – anything that’s tropical or beach is for me. After joining Lowes First, I pulled out my handy AAA card and made my reservation. I requested no smoking, no pets, high floor, theme park view.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I don't want to bore everyone with the rest of the planning details - other than to say, I practiced fitting everything we were carrying into the park by stuffing my cargo shorts pockets and then figuring out what I could possible remove since they were overflowing. I did it a couple of times before I finalized our packing and Drama Queen thought it was hilarious. Silly Girl.

And now - on to the report:

After spending part of the day on Friday, July 18 at SeaWorld and getting drenched during the latest Florida Thunderstorm, it was so nice to drive up to the Royal Pacific and hear the first “Aloha” from the Bellperson. She unloaded the luggage which included water and snacks minus the diet coke I forgot to bring with us – oops - and directed us to the self parking area. We got the last open parking space in the self parking section of the lot. Phew.

We checked in at the Lowes desk and got our room number – 3551. Tower 3, 5th floor. No pets, no smoking and higher floor. We didn’t get our Theme park view but that was fine. When lying on our beds we still had a nice view.

We had booked a standard room with 2 queen size beds.

I did notice the bathroom sink area was teeny tiny. There was hardly any space there at all. So it’s something to be prepared for. I put my hanging shoe holder with all the bathroom goodies in the closet that was just across from it. Also with the sink area being outside the main bathroom if there had been 2 adults it would have been easy for one to finish getting ready (as long as you were dressed before you used the sink) while the other took their shower.

There was no privacy curtain between the sink area and the rest of the room. There was a wall partially blocking the sink area but in the upper portion of that wall was a brown carved decoration that you could see through so there wasn’t privacy to get dressed in that area. I was thinking a short kitchen curtain with an adjustable tension curtain rod could solve that problem if you really needed the space for dressing as long as the rest of the group stayed in the main part of the room. I wish I’d taken a picture of it but didn’t think about it at the time.

The room seemed small to me but that just might have been because of the huge armoire thing that held the clothes drawers and refrigerator with all the extra expensive snack food in it and had the TV on top. That thing took up a ton of space. There is also a small table and 2 chairs. I hid the key to the fridge by the way so the kids couldn’t sneak anything out whenever I left the room.

A pic of the large armoire:

If DH had been with us, the room would’ve been too small. He takes up a lot of space and he’d have hogged the table with his laptop so there would not have been enough room just for stuff in the room. But since he wasn’t with us, it worked great.

We immediately called Bell Services to bring up our bags and had them in 20 minutes. We wanted to get changed and I wanted to redo my hair since we were soaked from the storm at SeaWorld before heading over to Universal. We wore dollar ponchos which kept our clothes dry but the hood kept blowing off my head so my hair was drenched.

At this point the kids let me see their soaked tennis shoes. Ugh – since Drama Queen had decided that she could only wear tennis shoes for a long time and be comfortable - Dude was fine to wear his flip flops - I had to hit the laundry room to dry Drama Queens shoes.

While I was there I did a quick load of laundry. It was 2.50 to wash and 2.50 to dry. The dryer runs for 90 minutes which is way longer than I needed so I just pulled the stuff out when it was dry.

After this we decided we were hungry and wanted to hit Universal to enjoy our Hotel Express Tickets. At this point Drama Queen decided she could handle her crocs for a few hours (so I had a fun wasted hour in the laundry room. ) and we headed out.

 

[happymommy]

Hi! I'm enjoying this immensely so far! My DH has been Disney-ed out since we've been there so many times, so I have taken my kids (now 9 and 11) there without him a few times as well. It is so much fun - only having one adult and letting the kids say what they want to do! The first time they were only 4 and 6, and we stayed at the AKL, standard 2 queen bed room. It was similar to you - would have been too small for our taste for the 4 of us (spoiled I know) but fine for the 3 of us. I hope you had fun! We're all (including DH) going to US in 2 weeks - first time for us ever and staying at the PBH. A bit more expensive, but the room is bigger and DH should enjoy it.

I'm anxious to hear if you actually didn't bring anything into the parks! I always have a small bagallini backpack with me into the Disney parks (DS needs to have epipen, benedryl, and inhaler with him at all times).

 

[LITTLEKID58]

Subscribing.. TFS

 

[macraven]

i leave my family at home.
i never hear complaints then...

sounds like you will/had a great trip...looking forwards to more!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Hi! I'm enjoying this immensely so far! My DH has been Disney-ed out since we've been there so many times, so I have taken my kids (now 9 and 11) there without him a few times as well. It is so much fun - only having one adult and letting the kids say what they want to do! The first time they were only 4 and 6, and we stayed at the AKL, standard 2 queen bed room. It was similar to you - would have been too small for our taste for the 4 of us (spoiled I know) but fine for the 3 of us. I hope you had fun! We're all (including DH) going to US in 2 weeks - first time for us ever and staying at the PBH. A bit more expensive, but the room is bigger and DH should enjoy it.

I'm anxious to hear if you actually didn't bring anything into the parks! I always have a small bagallini backpack with me into the Disney parks (DS needs to have epipen, benedryl, and inhaler with him at all times).

I don't have to worry about any medical issues so I'm lucky I can try going bagless.
You could wear a fanny pack in US/IOA. I heard they don't make you put those in lockers. (Well they did make me once but I'm just unlucky.
I need a 4 leaf clover or something. )

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

i leave my family at home.
i never hear complaints then...

sounds like you will/had a great trip...looking forwards to more!

No fair. I'm jealous. I want to do a solo trip so badly. I'm just trying to hang in there until the kids are old enough to take care of themselves.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

So here we go. The next installment - Saturday, July 19. Part 1

We chose to go back to Universal Studios today since that’s our favorite of the 2 parks. The kids and I aren’t roller coaster fans so while IOA is fun, it’s not our favorite.

I grabbed my neck Passporter, loaded up my cargo shorts pockets with camera, 2 ponchos, a plastic baggie with a few medicines and my little travel samples of advil, another baggie with my spare camera battery, my lip gloss (why I bothered I’ll never know, I hardly put it on), a small M&M container filled with coins for the penny press machine, a tiny battery operated fan for me, a couple of spare small baggies, my tiny notebook and 2 dry neck coolers.

My cell phone didn’t fit in my pockets though so I did something that embarrassed Dude. Gee, what else is new? It doesn’t take much to embarrass a 12 year old boy. I had considered leaving it in the room but DH always called me every afternoon so I didn’t want to do that. I was wearing a moisture wicking sports bra with my tank top so I tucked it in there. Dude hated that. He thought it was horrible and I was being gross.

Dude carried his own poncho, cell phone and his wallet. Drama Queen wore her fan around her neck.

We ate breakfast at the Islands Dining Room Buffet. They had different kinds of eggs, fruit, oatmeal, practically anything you would like for breakfast, they had it. Service was fast too so we were in and out of there in 40 minutes. It was delicious and I forgot to take any pictures there. Ooops.

We were headed right towards the water taxi after breakfast when I realized my shorts were slipping down. The quarters and pennies were so heavy they started to pull my shorts down. We hurried back to the room with me holding up my shorts. I really didn’t want to flash anyone. I might scar someone for life. Luckily I had brought a belt with me just in case this happened.

We got the next water taxi and there were a couple of other families on it. I wanted to strike up a conversation with another family but Dude said I’d embarrass him more so I didn’t. I just got a huge kick out of everything that embarrassed Dude this trip. I told him that’s what Mom’s are for – embarrassing him and disciplining him – which did he prefer? After that he quit saying I was embarrassing him all the time.

I took these pics on the way to the Water Taxi:

I told Drama Queen we would be riding the water taxi to and from US but when we go to IOA she was walking. She wasn’t happy about that at all. If you get the driver who asks where you are from, don’t say Georgia. He’ll go on and on and on about how great the peaches are in Georgia. His daughter had sent him some, he said. We saw him twice so I got to hear this twice during our trip.

We got into the park by 9am easily. I looked for the person scanning tickets with the PDA which took no time at all. We stopped at E.T. but it wasn’t running yet. I was told they had technical difficulties. So we headed to the Simpsons since that’s what Dude wanted to do. By 9:15am the non express wait for the Simpsons was already 30 minutes. I took a few pictures after we rode:

As usual neither of the kids would do a fun pose here:

Then we hit MIB. Then back to the Simpsons. Then back to MIB.

I was getting a bit dizzy at that point so we headed over to Jaws. The kids wanted to play a couple of carnival games but I didn’t want to deal with lockers so I gave them a big no. Jaws was fun. We got the front seat. I was really wishing I had some bad shark jokes to share with the skipper (who did a great job by the way) but I’d forgotten to memorize some before we left home. So here's one for you -
Q: What do you get when you cross Flipper with Jaws?

A: A fish that will bite you in half then save you from drowning.

I was on the left side and got a bit wet but not drenched like the woman sitting on the left side 3 seats back. She was the one who had been saying she didn’t want to get wet while we were standing in line. The folks with her told her she wouldn’t get wet. I’m sure she wasn’t happy with them! I’d forgotten the Aquapack for my camera so I put it in the plastic baggy in my pocket and didn’t take any pictures.

We were all ready for a snack at that point so we stopped at the San Francisco Pastry Co. and I got a delicious vanilla éclair and the kids each got a giant chocolate chip cookie. We were so hungry we ate them before I could get pictures. There was no one in line at the shop. I think it was about 10:30 at that point. Everyone there rode Jaws and left the area.

I tried to get the kids pictures with the shark but neither of them were interested. So I stuck my head in and had Dude take the picture. That shark is stinky inside.

I saw the Pearl Factory and had to get one. I ended up with this 6.5mm beauty. I wish I could get a close up picture but every one I’ve taken so far is blurry.

We walked by Disaster but neither of the kids wanted to check that out. In April 2006 we had to bail out of Earthquake and Twister because both of the kids thought they were too real and freaked out. I think the Twister one was partially my fault because I’d told them about my seeing a tornado across a lake when I was a girl and watching it rip up trees before it disappeared. I’d hoped they’d be willing to try them this time but they weren’t ready yet.

We decided to go check out the Back to the Future Train and the Delorean. While we were looking at them, the Blues Brothers pulled up and parked their car while they were waiting for the introduction for their show. I waved at them, they waved back, and I finished taking pictures and headed to their area. They pulled up and for the first time ever in 4 trips, I got to see the Blues Brothers. The kids and I had a blast dancing to the music. The people around us thought we were nuts but hey, it’s good stuff.

Once the Blues Brothers finished we walked by the Mummy and saw these guys out

The kids didn’t want their picture taken with them (a theme on this trip) so I snapped a quick picture as we went by.

Drama Queen decided that she was getting really hot and the neck cooler wasn’t too cold anymore (we had soaked it in cold water for her earlier in the morning) so she started to get her whine on. I told her if she could hang on for a couple of more minutes, we would go to Shrek 4-D and she could have a break in the AC. So she agreed and all was back to normal.

We made our way to the show and saw Fiona’s parents while we stood in line. Dude said the Queen kinda creeped him out.

The express line was still at 20 minute wait but the normal line was nearly an hour so we were happy. We also saw this fellow who I’m guessing was supposed to be Lord Farquat.

The show was fun as usual. We saw Shrek after the show but the kids didn’t want to stand in line for a picture with him. I didn’t even try to snap one since he was swamped. (pun intended. )

Coming next - part 2 of Saturday July 19th

 

[karatepamy]

I know that you posted so long ago, but just in case you plan on coming back to Universal, your kids can win those stuffed animals and you don't have to pay to store them. If you take them to Lost & Found at either park, they will hold onto them for the rest of the day, FREE OF CHARGE. It's called Gratuitious Bailment.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I really should be cleaning the house so I decided it's more fun to work on the Trip Report. Universal Studios con't:

Dude asked if we could have lunch at the Monster Café since he was hungry so that’s where we ended up. The line wasn’t too bad but it sure seemed to take awhile for people to decide what they wanted. I can never understand that. There aren’t that many choices and the food's nothing special. Oh well.

Since it was just before noon there were plenty of tables. I let the kids choose which room (they chose the Creature from the Black Lagoon) and we rested while we ate. I was getting worried about Drama Queen since it sure was heating up outside. I went around and took a few pictures before we left. Dude likes to eat there because of all the “cool” stuff.

DH called while we were eating and the looks I got while pulling the cell phone out of my bra were hilarious. I didn't have to dig, I just reached in a pulled it out but I guess Dude was right - it was just too weird judging by the looks I got.

After lunch, it was nearly break time so we stopped at Jimmy Neutron for a quick ride on our way out. This was the longest wait we had had. The ride had broken down earlier that day so both the express line and the normal line were backed up. The express line was still only 30 minutes to wait but the normal line was 90 minutes. I almost didn’t wait but the kids really wanted to do it so I figured why not.

After the ride, we went to the big Universal Store gift shop where the kids found the rest of their Universal Souvenirs. The funny thing was I carried a tiny notebook with me and listed the souvenirs they were interested in and where they were at so we could find them later when it came time to shop.

I pulled out the notebook and while the store did have those items, the kids picked totally different stuff. Drama Queen even found a tiny Spongebob Fan that she just had to have and used the rest of the trip. The notebook also came in handy for jotting down wait times for rides and the order we did them for this trip report.

After shopping we walked back to the water taxi and a nice break at the resort. There was only one other family on the water taxi with us so we sat up near the driver and I chatted with her.

It was about 1:30 and our room hadn’t been done yet, so we quickly changed into our swimsuits and then relaxed in the room for 30 minutes so Drama Queen’s feet would feel better. She said they were sore. I rubbed them with foot peppermint lotion and she loved that.

We suntan lotioned up and were heading out to swim when housekeeping showed up. The pool area of RPR was really nice. The kids liked the ship section as well as the pool itself. Dude did tell me that most of the water cannons were broken and I passed that info onto the front desk later on so they’d know if they didn’t already. I liked the pool bar.

This is the only picture of the pool that I have. 600 Pictures and only 1 of the pool.

It was really crowded when we were there. There were very few chairs available. And during the 2 hours we were there, I did have to show my room key once.
A lot of people were ordering food and drinks and then complaining about how long it took to get them so I just got my own drinks for the kids (water) and I (margarita) and settled down to read my book while the kids romped in the pool. A couple of times I hopped in the pool to cool off. It’s a zero entry pool. RPR also had games for kids to play. I didn’t really pay attention to what they were but they were listed near the pool.

I'd also like to add that some men shouldn't be wearing speedo swimwear. Don't they look at themselves in the mirror before leaving their rooms?

After pool time, we relaxed in our cleaned room for 30 minutes because the typical afternoon thunderstorm had arrived. I was glad we were in a convenient spot for this one. Since DH had called already, I left the cell phone in the room much to Dude's relief.

We left the room around 4:45pm and walked to NBA City for supper. The walk from RPR to Citywalk is a pretty one and it only took us 10 minutes. I enjoyed it even though it was very humid out due to the rain.

Dude wanted to eat at NBA City because he’s a basketball fan so I figured we could try it. Since it was early, we had no wait at all. We were seated on the top level. It was still happy hour, so I was able to buy 1 beer, get another free. Dude loved looking at all the pictures on the wall and at the 2 giant TV screens right in front of us. One had basketball on and the other baseball. We decided not to get an appetizer since we had snacked in the room.

Dude chose the lasagna and I chose the pork chop. Drama Queen went for the kids hamburger. Dude ate about ½ of his lasagna before he tired of it. He said it had some strange spices. I know I make mine pretty bland so that may be why he wasn’t fond of it.
I enjoyed the pork chop. I can’t remember the name but it wasn’t fatty and the fruit that was on top went nicely with it. The green beans and potatoes that came with it were yummy.
Drama Queen loved her kids hamburger. I didn’t bother with a picture of that because it was just like every other hamburger out there.

Warning - Food Porn coming Up. Yumm.

He'd starting eating before I got the picture. Guess Dude was hungry.

After eating we chose to go back to Universal again. We rode E.T., the Simpsons, MIB and then went over to see Beetlejuice. On the way we stopped at Mel's Diner for some fun pics with the cars. Most of them turned out funky but this one wasn't too horrible.

I really wanted Dude to see Beetlejuice since I thought he’d get a kick out of it. Luckily all the sexual innuendo (I’d forgotten about that) went over both the kids heads and they had a ton of fun with the dancing and music.

The kids were tired so we skipped the last T2 show for the day and rode the Simpsons one more time and headed back to the resort.

We caught the Water Taxi at 9:30pm and were back in our room before Universal 360 started. The kids were worn out so instead of extra pool time, they actually wanted to go to bed.

The next installment: Islands of Adventure or Will Mom puke after Spiderman?

 

[vhylka]

I'm enjoying your trip report. We leave in 6 days!

What is a "neck passporter" you referred to?

 

[macraven]

i can remember taking my 3 boys to UO and they hated it when i took pictures.

each year i would take their pics individually and all together by the entance of the studios side by the plants.

both grew each year.


it is a very relaxing vacation now that i leave them all at home.
when yours get older, try it. it is a different type of vacation.

and no one looks when you use your bra to hold items.
i do that all the time now.


looking forward to more of your trippie.
let the housework go to pot.
do the trippie!!!!

 

[tlinus]

really enjoying the trippie!!

dh would die if we went without him......even though he says he needs a "break" from Orlando for now.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I'm enjoying your trip report. We leave in 6 days!

What is a "neck passporter" you referred to?

It's actually called a passporter. I got mine at passporter.com. I call it a neck thingy so I think of differently from my passporter book.

Now I have to think - do laundry or trip report? Hmmmm...

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Laundry won since DD said she was out of clean clothes. I also had to walk to the bus stop to meet her bus. I can't believe school has started already this year.

Back to the trip report:

July 20, 2008 – our last full day

We headed to Islands of Adventure after breakfast in the Islands Dining Room this morning.

We knew this was our big water ride day so Drama Queen was wearing quick dry shorts and Dude and I wore mens swimsuits. I had to put my belt around me so the swimsuite bottom wouldn't fall down. Serves me right for buying it without trying it on.

Dude wore his slip on shoes, I wore my Keen Venice H2’s and Drama Queen wouldn’t wear her water sandals so she still wore her tennis shoes. I warned her they were going to get wet and she said she was fine with that.

We walked from the resort and got to IOA right at 9am. The turnstiles were backed up but we found the person with the PDA and were in within 5 minutes. Unlike the other poor saps who were stuck in the fingerscan line.

We already had our start up plan in place for the morning. Both kids wanted to ride Spiderman first so that’s where we went. The standby line was only 10 minutes but we still did the express line anyway. Why wait 10 minutes when we could get in with no wait? So that’s what we did. We did linger in Peter Parker’s office looking it over for a couple of minutes but other than that we just walked on. The kids love that ride too.
Dude asked if we could ride it again so I said sure. The second time wasn’t a good idea. I felt .

Dude hurried me over to the nearest garbage can all the while telling me not to embarrass him by losing my big breakfast. That big breakfast wasn’t such a good idea on my part. Drama Queen was since she’d never known me to get sick from a ride before.

I pulled out my handy medicine baggie once I was sure I wasn't going to throw up right then and downed a couple of chewable pepto tablets. Luckily I didn’t embarrass Dude but I knew we wouldn’t be riding Spiderman a 3rd time without me having a break from it.

Our next area was Seuss Landing. We wanted to go through that section before it got packed with little kids. The first thing Drama Queen saw was the carousel. So Dude and Drama Queen rode that. I finally got smart and decided I didn’t need to ride it at that moment.

Then we walked through the Onceler area and listened for the Onceler. At least I think that’s the name of the area. It has the Lorax statue just outside of it and it's near the carousel. Dude just loves that area because it was his favorite book when he was younger.

We headed to the Cat in the Hat next – no wait at all. I can now say I’ve ridden it but I’m not sure if I really liked it. It seemed really jerky to me but maybe that’s the carryover from getting motion sick on Spiderman. Drama Queen did though which is what counts.

Drama Queen and Dude wanted to ride One Fish, Two Fish so off we went. The line was all messed up though – A lot of non express folks were in the wrong line and it took some time for the Team Member to get it all straightened out. There was no team member at the beginning of the express line so everyone was entering that way. The kids loved this ride and asked if they could do it again. Of course I let them. Dude purposely got them wet since it was such a hot morning.

We rode the High in the Sky Trolley and it was so cool seeing Seuss Landing from the air. We were on the side that stayed outside. Despite the fact that the sign said No Pictures, I took a few.

We wandered around Seuss Landing afterwards enjoying all the little details. I’m sure glad we did because we ran into The Cat in the Hat. We had the photo person snap our picture so all 3 of us were in it. I did forget to have her take one with my camera.

Drama Queen started getting hungry so we decided to eat at Circus McGurkus. Ugh. We were there about 11:30am and there was a slow moving line already. I had the kids find us a table while I got the food. We did enjoy the decorations and when the kids saw the High in the Sky Trolley come through they wanted to ride on that side of the track.

Sooooo – back we went to the High in the Sky Trolley to request the Circus McGurkus track. I don’t know if that’s how you are supposed to request it but that’s what I did and the Team Member knew what I meant. The kids were happy waving at everyone eating in the Circus.

I had hoped we would see Thing 1 and 2 and the Grinch but I didn’t want to wait around forever so we left Seuss Landing afterwards.

Oh wait, we did decide to shop at bit in Seuss Landing since we weren’t riding any rides that needed lockers today. Drama Queen wanted a Christmas Grinch so we got a small one that she plans on tucking into our Christmas Tree this year. Dude just wanted some candy so I bought him some.

Time to give DD8 a snack so I'll have to finish this installment later.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I was scanning my report so far to see if I missed anything and I sure did.

On Saturday, July 19th when we got back to our room after Universal 360 this was waiting for us:

I was surprised since we are blue. I had chosen the local gift and wasn't expecting to get anything since the Lowes program had changed.

The kids enjoyed the fruit and I enjoyed the water.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Here's the next installment of IOA:

The Lost Continent was next with our focus on seeing the Eighth Voyage of Sinbad show. Dude pointed out the Pearl Factory in the area and since we had time, I got this 6mm pearl that I had mounted into a gold ring. It’s really pretty. Too bad I can’t take a better picture of it than this. I tried and tried too. So here is the ring:

As we were walking by the Mystic Fountain, it turned on. It startled both kids. Dude kept sticking his tongue out and doing the nanananana, you can’t get me and jumping out of the way of the spraying. It was pretty funny.
I knew the kids would love the Sinbad Show and I was right. They loved all the action in the show.

We saw the Mystical Metals store that had cool dragonclaw necklaces and the kids wanted one. I let them each chose one. I kinda wanted one but I’d spent way too much money on my pearl ring so I decided not to get one.

Then Dude spied the carnival games. I let him and Drama Queen play the water squirt one since I’d said no to the ones by Jaws at US. I didn’t expect him to win since there were quite a few kids playing. Of course he did. He let Drama Queen pick the prize and gave it to her. What a great big brother. He must’ve been in a good mood that day.

After the show, it was our normal breaktime but the way IOA is setup, we would’ve had to walk a long way to the front so I gave the kids a choice. We could head out for a break by walking the way we had come or keep going and take a break later in the day after we had made one full round. The kids chose to keep going as long as we could rest at the Jurassic Discovery Center. So on we went.

Dude wanted a new Dueling Dragons T-shirt so we headed that way. Near the Dueling Dragons was a cart that sold them. We fought our way through the tour group that was sitting and lying (or is it laying?) all around the ground there to get him one. The Team Member at that cart kept apologizing and told me she couldn’t get them to move. Well, they moved for us. A few accidental foot shoves and oops was that your legs? I’m sooooo sorry. And suddenly I had a path. While I was paying, the group settled back down but when we left, they automatically cleared us space to walk. There’s not a lot of space to move there with all the construction so it was extremely annoying that they were sprawled all over the ground.
I have to say that was the worst I’d seen them all day though. The rest of the time, the tour groups didn’t bother us. There were quite a few of them too.

I took a picture of the Harry Potter Construction while I was in the area. It looked like it was going well. I really wanted to climb the fence and look over it but there's no way to do it snice there's no benches or rocks there. Shucks.

It was so cool to see the gate of Jurassic Park. Jurassic Park is in my top 5 favorite movies so I love that area of the park. Dude took my picture at one of the jeeps and we headed to the Discovery Center.

We all sat down and rested for 30 minutes before the kids took off to play. They went all over that place. Dude said a few things weren’t working but he had fun. Drama Queen watched the egg hatch and tried to identify all the dinosaur noises. I got them all right which surprised her. Then while the kids wandered, I found a bench and relaxed. We were there for at least an hour, maybe even more.

My friend:

When we left, we saw these guys:

I was so pleased that Dude pet it and encouraged his sister to do the same. All the other kids around thought it was cool but didn’t want to pet it except for the girl whose arm you see in the photo. Dude also asked a couple of questions that the scientist answered.

I tried to talk Drama Queen into riding the Jurassic Park River Adventure but she said no way. Rats.

We headed to Toon Lagoon and saw another Jurassic Park jeep photo area. We beelined over and took a few pictures. I tried to get Drama Queen to act scared but she “wasn’t in the mood”. Yup, that’s my girl all right.

Toon Lagoon is another favorite part of the park to play in. First up, we saw Ripsaw Falls and Drama Queen informed me that she wasn’t riding that. Uh-oh. I had her watch a little bit and couldn’t get her to change her mind. Dude was a little frustrated with her at that point.

I offered to let the kids shoot any water guns we came across so I handed them both a bunch of quarters and away we went. They used up all the quarters I gave them between Me ship, The Olive and the other water cannons they found. I didn’t want to give them all the quarters I had since they were having fun doing pressed pennies so I saved some for those.

At this point it was really hot out and I led them over to Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges. At last, a water ride that Drama Queen would ride!
The non express wait was over an hour but we were on in less than 5 minutes. Unfortunately we got the handicapped boat and the fellow loading us on wouldn’t let Drama Queen take off her shoes. That annoyed me but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. I made sure everything electronic was out of my pockets and in our bags that he had us stick into a plastic bin that he closed up and kept off the ride.

We all loved it. That is a fun long raft ride. Everyone on board was laughing and enjoying themselves. When we got off, gathered our gear and stopped to wring out Drama Queens shoes and socks, both kids wanted to ride again.
So we went back through and rode it again! And again! Yup – 3 times in a row.

The first time was the best ride though because the 2nd and 3rd time had complainers on board who were worried about getting wet. They sure picked the wrong ride to stay dry.

We headed to Dip N’ Dots for ice cream afterwards and I reapplied sunscreen on all of us. IOA doesn’t seem to have much shade in Toon Lagoon and I didn’t want anyone to burn. There weren't any seats open so we sat near this guy:

We wandered in that area for awhile going in and out of shops and taken fun pictures. Dude really got into it.

Before we left the area, we rode P&BBRB again!

Drama Queen was a trooper with her wet shoes. I was so glad she handled it well. She’s 8 years old and I can never tell how she’ll be when her feet get wet.

Gotta run. The next installment will be up tomorrow!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I need to get cracking on finishing this up. I've got our next trip to plan. Yikes.

IOA fun Cont’d. July 20, 2008

We spotted Bullwinkle on the way out and the kids actually wanted their pic taken with him. Notice how soaked the kids are?

We made our way back to Marvel Superhero Island and the kids wanted to ride the Spiderman ride again. There was a large group of people arguing with the TM about getting to ride in the express pass line. It sounded like they had used their paid express pass for that ride already and wanted to ride again.

The kids were nervous because of the arguing but I had them trust me. I walked up, showed our hotel cards and in we went. I knew the people would be steamed but I wasn’t about to hold us up because they didn’t understand the system or were trying to sneak in an extra ride.

After Spiderman, which I didn’t get sick on this time , we headed out for a break. We walked back to RPR and relaxed in the room.

The kids didn’t feel like going to the pool. It was about 4:30pm and I think they were worn out. Drama Queen and I took a nap while Dude watched a movie. When we woke up, it was storming outside.

I asked the kids if they wanted to eat at Jake’s American Bar or the Islands Dining Room but got a no. Dude wanted to eat at Magaritaville. Okedokee.

Well, it’s still storming and the kids don’t want to go out in it so we waited for the weather to clear up. It was 6:30pm when it finally did so we headed over to Margaritaville.

There was an hour wait but I’d hoped to be able to get in sooner. I put showed our room key, put my name in and got our beeper. Fifteen minutes later we still weren’t called. The kids started fidgeting and complaining they were starving.

So we gave up waiting, turned in the beeper, removed our name from the list and went to Islands of Adventure where we ended up at Captain America’s Café . This is one day that we would have saved money by doing the Universal Meal Deal. But I hadn’t planned on eating 2 fast food meals that day so I didn’t get it. Lesson learned – just make a reservation next time.

After eating, we went right to Spiderman. Surprisingly it didn’t bug my stomach this time even though we had just eaten.

Then we walked back to Toon Lagoon but the kids didn’t want to ride the Bilge Rat Barges but they did soak a few other folks with the water cannons.

We wandered to Jurassic Park and took this cool night shot of the entry gate.

Dude wanted a souvenier at the Discovery Center so we hurried in there and bought it. The play area was closed – just the souvenier shop was open.

Then we walked over to The Lost Continent where we walked in a couple of stores and I let the kids play a couple of more games. They didn’t win anything but I wasn’t surprised.

Then we ended our day at Suess Landing where we rode the High in the Sky Trolley again, the kids rode the Carousel again.

We took pics by the Lorax and then Drama Queen had enough and wanted to go back to the resort.

We started walking back and came across a bike taxi which we promptly took back to our resort. We got back early and I tried to talk the kids into going to the pool but they didn’t want to.

Instead we played games at the arcade until Drama Queen managed to cut her finger on something in there – what I’ve no idea – so we took her up to the room to disinfect her and patch her up.

And so ends our fun Islands of Adventure Day. It may not be our favorite of the 2 parks but we sure had a blast.

Up next: Our final morning.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Our final morning, Monday July 21:

Since we were leaving this afternoon and wanted to have more park time, I’d already loaded some of the luggage into the car the night before. I got the kids up early and we finished packing and loading the car. Dude didn’t want a big breakfast so Drama Queen and I picked up a quick continental one and off we went.

We began at IOA with a quick ride on Spiderman.

Then we walked over to US and saw T2 since we had missed it on our US day. T2 is such a great show. We always enjoy it. After T2, we headed to the Simpsons. On the way to Simpsons we saw the lion from Madagascar but the kids weren’t interested.

We also stopped to take a picture at the trick Hollywood Hills picture spot. I should’ve looked at it then since Dude took the pic but I didn’t. It was a horrible one and I didn’t know it until after we got home.

We passed the area where the Simspons breakfast was and there were Team Members out trying to get people to eat breakfast there. I guess it wasn’t very popular. If we hadn’t already eaten, I would’ve loved to have done it.

Then we rode MIB. Then back to the Simpsons. I was feeling dizzy and the kids were saying they were hungry so we headed out to lunch. The kids chose Mel’s Diner again. They are so predictable.

After our lunch, we stopped in the T2 gift shop for a final look.

On the way out Scooby Doo and the gang were pulling up. Drama Queen and I love Scooby Doo. So I got in line.
At the last second Drama Queen decides to be shy, gets out of line and sits on a nearby bench. My turn comes up and I tell them my daughter is sitting on the bench being shy but really wants her picture with them.

Daphne, Thelma, Shaggy and Fred go over to her and bring her back so we can take her picture with them. Daphne sees Drama Queens Spongebob Fan with the light up words and asks to use it.

Dude didn’t want to be in the picture so he took it. It came out pretty good considering a 12 year old took it. You can see Daphne using Drama Queens fan.

I’m happy to have a pic with one of my favorite characters and a fun story about it. I just had it enlarged to an 8x10 for our living room.

After that, we headed out for the long drive home.

Next up, I’ll have some final thoughts about our trip.

 

[macraven]

sounds like you all had fun.
even drama queen was smiling in your last picture.