Dr. Jones and the Spitting Camel - Link to Alaska Cruise TR 9/18

[eandesmom]

Great pictures of the "dark side" Cynthia. As I mentioned previously, the last time we were there was 2004 and we did Univeral and the kids did IOA. Therefore, we've never seen any of that stuff in IOA (I think I went to IOA in 2000 with Andy and his friend and the baseball coach as I remember the dueling dragon coaster). Unfortunately, we can't handle those types of "thrill rides" anymore, but I'm glald you guys had a great time.

I LOVE Whack a Mole! I always beat Mark and it really fries his you know what.

That's a riot Kathy! Jeff was definitely on a mission to beat Kathy. There is a lot to see without going on any rides in Hosgsmeade, they really did a beautiful job with it.

i love a good game of whack a mole, did you know that at chuckee cheese they now have electronic whack a mole, where you hit a video screen easier for the kids but really not as fun.

maybe if he had a whip to go with his dr jones hat, he would have got those moles better than a whacker.

this is why I avoid Chuck E Cheeses!

on the whip, that would have been a riot! I'm just glad he didn't lose that hat on the drop at Splash or Jurassic, that would have been BAD.

Another fun update Cynthia. I personally LOVE spiderman!!!!! It's one of my all time favorite rides. And the Hulk - love that big green machine. So much fun! Can't wait to hear what you thought of the Simpsons!

There really area some seriously great rides in both parks.

Cynthia, you had me playing around on the Universal website yesterday looking at hotel prices and tickets. I had never even been over there before to look at the options.

They don't release package prices till Jan which is a bit annoying but it does pay to keep your eyes on things and look for them. For our dates were able to get a buy more save more package that really made a difference. All 3 resorts are really lovely, I will have pictures of the others coming up as we did visit them all.

It has been 4 years for us since our last show. We took our oldest son, Nate, when he was 9. His first concert!

What a great concert! My kids love Jimmy too

 

[englishrose47]

I am soo hoping we get that FREE trip to the Dark Side next year !!!

 

[eandesmom]

I am soo hoping we get that FREE trip to the Dark Side next year !!!

I hope you do too Rosie!

 

[eandesmom]

Arriving at Mythos, we checked in. Apparently a “reservation” at Mythos really isn’t that. At check in, I was told it would be about 20 minutes. A reservation means “priority seating” or I guess in this case, a 20 minute wait, instead of an hour. Is it worth it to make reservations ahead of time at Universal? Not sure. We were a big group and so I did, everywhere. Great at some places, not so at others. Word on the street (aka the “dark side” board) is that they aren’t really needed. I, of course, was too paranoid to go that route so had made them.

So we waited. And took the time to use the facilities, try to dry off, sit in the sun. Apparently this kept me so occupied I took NO pictures. Finally seated, for some reason, this was the first picture I took.

I think part of might have been that I was having a hard time getting anything that really showed the restaurant, to turn out. Which is unfortunate as the décor is supremely cool. Apparently this was the best my camera could do

We actually needed a table for 9, not 8. We’d gained an addition at Whack a Mole.

Meet Holy Moly. He was thirsty and probably happy to no longer be hanging from a post.

Eric looked like he needed a nap more than food but clearly Evan was weighing his options

You could see Toon Lagoon from inside, that might be Popeye’s boat

Soon, our food arrived. Fish tacos for me.

Someone’s burger

A Chinese chicken salad? I don’t have the menu in front of me

Some kind of sandwich, it was definitely Evan's and isn't portobello, looks like steak maybe. LOL. I really should look at the menu.

Whatever he’d eaten, he clearly liked

It was a nice lunch. I wouldn't say BEST THEME PARK RESTAURANT EVER as they billed it, but it was very very tasty and a very cool atmosphere. Service was just ok. Lunch over, bellies full and satisfied, we debated what to do next and headed towards the front.

Kendall, and Holy Moley (she’d creamed her dad) were busy texting her BFF.

Clearly we were waiting on someone

Jeff thought Holy Moley needed a ride in someone else’s chair (I did NOT endorse this)

Finally all together we headed towards the front of the park. A shopping stop had been requested and into Suessville we went. Eric was a bit big for this room.

I considered getting one of these

My who’s were a bit too big to ride through Whoville, or at least they thought so.

The shopping request had been from Kendall. She wanted a couple of these, for herself and her BFF

We then headed over to guest services. At lunch I’d remembered that AAA gave us a discount on everything, but I’d forgotten to pull out my card for the 2 purchases back in the WWOHP. I’d remembered at lunch but was hoping they could credit me on the 2 other purchases. Eventually they did but they were a bit crabby about it and it seemed to take forever. Still, it was worth it. 10% off on everything really added up and I made sure to use the card everywhere we went. It worked on food and merchandise, but not alcohol. LOL.

High on discounts, we headed into Margaritaville for Jeff to pick up a shirt for himself, Sandie and Paul some items and Evan a shirt, flashing my AAA card as we went. Cha-Ching! The rest of us looked and eyed some things for later.

Mission accomplished at least it really was time to head back for a pool break, it was almost 3:30!



Continued in next post

 

[eandesmom]

Except someone wanted to stop here

The Lone Palm Airport. Home of the Hemisphere Dancer. Which just happens to be a rather famous old seaplane, 1956 Grumman HU-16 Albatross, owned by Jimmy Buffet. It had “landed” at the Lone Palm airport, directly across from Margaritaville at Universal City Walk and is an outdoor tiki bar. Jeff loves loves loves this plane. Which just so happens to have a great happy hour deal on margarita’s. Happy hour started at 3.

We decided to split up. Jeff, Taylor and I would stay at the Lone Palm and enjoy happy hour while the rest went straight to the pool. Which was good because this one didn’t want to move. He does love that plane!

I went for some distance shots

And a close up, you can never have to many pictures of the Hemisphere Dancer

Now at least he has a margarita to drink next to the plane

I admit, I’m a sucker for the theming here to. Definitely a parrothead.

While we were sipping our margarita’s, Taylor realized that a show he’d noticed inside the park would be starting soon. I guess it’s in the old Toon Lagoon theater.

Mat Hoffman’s Aggro-Circus, a show of extreme sports.

They have the stage and surrounding area filled with ramps, half pipes and even a motorcycle cage. Top inline skaters, motocross riders and skaters perform cool tricks and feats.

So we went back in!

Definitely up a teenage boys alley (though a bit hard to get pictures of). I mean, who doesn’t want to race a motorcycle around inside a cage?

Taylor was definitely the target audience. For me it was just ok. Very very random if you ask me, doesn’t fit with the theming of the area or the park but whatever. We didn’t much care as it was nice for Tay to request to go to something. However…it was MISERABLY hot in there. Right up there with our Fantasmic Melt. No air movement, lots of flames, UGH. Unbearable really.

I did do some shopping on the way out. I’d noticed racks and racks of sundresses near the port of entry. It might seem like an odd souvenir purchase and heaven knows they were everywhere at both parks and the resort. I’d seen some at WDW but nothing like this and we’d all gotten one from the YC gift shop. But cute sundresses for next to nothing don’t really exist in Seattle. I quickly grabbed the one I’d spotted earlier, whipped out that AAA card, and we left the park, done with IOA for this day.

Continued in next post

 

[eandesmom]

Having melted, we needed to make another stop on the way out

Hey, it was still happy hour and you just can’t beat a half price house margarita! Besides, we were walking right past it to go back to the hotel. We poked our heads into the main Margaritaville first though to see if they had happy hour, since I hadn’t seen it the night before

Music was playing

But the bar was a little quiet

The parrots were hanging

Red neck parrot picture

No happy hour in the bar so back to the Lone Palm for our margaritas. They really hit the spot after getting so overheated at the Agro Circus. Dinner wasn’t until 8:20 so even though it was now 4:30 we still had time for a swim and shower. We would have had time to take the E’s back to the park if they really wanted but everyone had had enough for that day, knowing we still had two more days of parks and preferring to spend our last evening with Sandie and Paul just enjoying each other at the pool and at dinner. And so we did. I didn’t take any pictures of the pool time but recall it as being absolutely perfect. refreshing and not rushed at all

Dinner was at the Hard Rock Café. I did buy the token souvie picture as we didn’t have much of the entire group.

And I tried to take some pictures inside but the lighting and my camera…well, you can see the results

We were seated in here

Kendall got a fancy dinner

And I’ve no idea whose this is

Dinner was fine, about what I expected. Nothing earth shattering, just overpriced for what it is, just like every hard rock café I’ve ever been to. It is VERY cool inside though, supposedly the biggest HRC (maybe in the US? I forget) but it's really really cool, I mean just the suspened pink cadillac was cool!. Though overpriced for what it is, we did have a secret weapon, the All Access Card and that did give us a 10% discount on our entire dinner and then in the store. We eyed items in the store and considered what we might come back later and get, but wanted to see what was at the hotel store first.

After that, I gave up photo taking for the day, save for this last night shot, walking back, our hotel glowing and lighting our way “home”.

Highlights of the day were definitely the WWOHP, Spiderman, Hulk, getting soaked on Jurassic and the Lone Palm Airport.

Lowlights were the Agro show, Posiedon’s Fury and having to wait that long for our lunch reservation. Not to mention the WWOHP crowds, though I’d expected those.

Tomorrow we’d say goodbye to Sandie and Paul and hit Universal Studios. As I mentioned before, none of us had been to the FL version and CA was so long ago that we remembered bits and pieces but that’s about it. We were going into it almost completely clueless, which was weird, but oddly exciting at the same time. And I think, smart. If you have no expectations, it’s much harder to be disappointed!

next, Where are my shorts?

 

[englishrose47]

Loved the Update !!I want to try Mythos for the Decor !!The menu doesn't look that great , but the Theming is worth it !!Afraid if the Family ever goes the Motorcycle show will be a MUST for Kyle !!

 

[englishrose47]

Loved the second update too!!! Judy would LOVE HRC as she is HUGE fan of PH!! She usually spends most of the time walking around looking up !!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

gotta love the margaritaville...and good pics of the plane

never had fish tacos, but yours look pretty good...might have to try them sometime.

 

[MEK]

Love margaritaville! I have th cutest pictures of Nick and Brian in there when they were about 7 and 8. Pre digital and I'm not into scanning, but take my word for it.

to 1/2 price margaritas.

Well, you know I'll be back to look at the pictures. Can't wait.

Sounds like a pretty perfect, very full day. Sounds like the pool was glorious and yeah to all the 10% off discounts!!! Just think how many ritas that will buy!

 

[tinacaplan]

Wow! You got a lot done that day. The Lone Palm looks cool, even if I don't quite "get" Jimmy Buffet. It was also kind of cool that you all got some time for Taylor to do something he really wanted to do, even if it wasn't as much fun for you. Sounds like a super successful day and I'm looking forward to hearing more. Also, beautiful dress you wore for you HRC dinner picture. Beautiful colors.

 

[natebenma]

OK- I just LOVED this update!!! Mythos- yum and intriguing. And Jeff's adoration of the Hemisphere Dancer cracked me up! Awesome family photo at the Hard Rock!

What a great afternoon and evening!

We will be at US/IoA in 3 weeks!

 

[KatMark]

Great updates, Cynthia. Love Holy Moly - he is adorable.

Evan sure did look like he enjoyed his meal (too bad about the wait though).

You guys sure accomplilshed quite a bit during the day.

I always find my sundresses in Florida...I have a hard time finding them cheap in Chicago.

 

[MEK]

Great pix. Love the pix of.....

Kendal & Holy Moly - too cute!
The Boys at lunch
The inside of Mythos
Jeff and the plane
The group shot - especially Taylor with the guitar.

Great pix!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Okay, hands down my favorite part of your afternoon was hanging out at the Lone Palm Airport and drinking margaritas! That's the perfect way to spend a hot afternoon!!!

 

[Poolrat]

Nice way to get out of the heat.

Can't beat a AAA discount and 10% from the pass.

Interesting show and yup just for the boys.

 

[eandesmom]

Loved the Update !!I want to try Mythos for the Decor !!The menu doesn't look that great , but the Theming is worth it !!Afraid if the Family ever goes the Motorcycle show will be a MUST for Kyle !!

The food was good, I think you will enjoy it. As long as you don't go in the summer, the show wouldn't be nearly so bad.

Loved the second update too!!! Judy would LOVE HRC as she is HUGE fan of PH!! She usually spends most of the time walking around looking up !!

gotta love the margaritaville...and good pics of the plane

you can't go wrong with Jimmy

never had fish tacos, but yours look pretty good...might have to try them sometime.

fish tacos!

Almost had them for lunch today but decided it was too messy to eat in front of a client.

Love margaritaville! I have th cutest pictures of Nick and Brian in there when they were about 7 and 8. Pre digital and I'm not into scanning, but take my word for it.

I believe you!!!

to 1/2 price margaritas.

I'd love one of those right now, just got back from getting a cast put on Evan's hand. Happy first day of summer!

Sounds like a pretty perfect, very full day. Sounds like the pool was glorious and yeah to all the 10% off discounts!!! Just think how many ritas that will buy!

It was wonderful all around (except for the melting at that agro circus show)

 

[cdotla]

Finally caught up! phew!

HP really does look cool. We probably won't be there for a couple years...we had a special family screening through work of the last HP film and I took Katie, even though neither of us had seen any of the other films. She didn't even last 15 minutes. We had to make a quick exit once the snake slithered onto the table to presumably eat the woman laying on it. After that, Katie has absolutely no interest in anything HP!

It is interesting seeing inside another Park. But do you keep comparing it in your head to Disney?

I really enjoyed seeing Sea World again in 2008, as I hadn't been there in about 20 years. However, the entire time I was there I just kept comparing it to Disney. Most of the times it came up short, except when comparing crowds.

 

[eandesmom]

Wow! You got a lot done that day. The Lone Palm looks cool, even if I don't quite "get" Jimmy Buffet. It was also kind of cool that you all got some time for Taylor to do something he really wanted to do, even if it wasn't as much fun for you. Sounds like a super successful day and I'm looking forward to hearing more. Also, beautiful dress you wore for you HRC dinner picture. Beautiful colors.

That's ok on Jimmy, I won't take it personally It's just fun fun summer music to me, like vacation in my mind when I hear it. Add a margarita and

Thanks on the dress, that's my cheap sundress I bought at the park

OK- I just LOVED this update!!! Mythos- yum and intriguing. And Jeff's adoration of the Hemisphere Dancer cracked me up! Awesome family photo at the Hard Rock!

What you may not have noticed is that in the plane pictures he is wearing a Hemsiphere Dancer Tshirt that I designed for him as an xmas present and then in the HRC dinenr picture, a different one that he bought the night before at Margaritaville. Evan's wearing a Buffet shirt too...which reminds me I've not seen that one, or his Hard Rock one in a while....hmmn.

Mythos was a fun lunch, I'd do it again.

What a great afternoon and evening!

We will be at US/IoA in 3 weeks!

It was a great day all around.

for 3 weeks! Hopefully I'll get through both parks and the other 2 hotels before you go!

Great updates, Cynthia. Love Holy Moly - he is adorable.

He was cute, the last one too.

Evan sure did look like he enjoyed his meal (too bad about the wait though).

You guys sure accomplilshed quite a bit during the day.

we did, it was a good day!

I always find my sundresses in Florida...I have a hard time finding them cheap in Chicago.

Makes me wish I'd bought a couple more

Great pix. Love the pix of.....

Kendal & Holy Moly - too cute!
The Boys at lunch
The inside of Mythos
Jeff and the plane
The group shot - especially Taylor with the guitar.

Great pix!

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[MEK]

A Cast?????? How LONG is that gonna be on? I hope it's off before cruise time....or at least changed to a water proof cast. I guess it could be worse - it could be a leg.

What happened?