DrewAlmighty's 2006 Universal Orlando Vacation

[DrewAlmighty]

First of all, I'd like to welcome you to my trip report of my annual visit to Universal Orlando. Secondly, I'd like to apoligize that I don't have as great video footage as I would've liked to of had. Bringing around a camcorder ended up being a hassle, and I wanted to enjoy my vacation. I did take lots of pics though, and with that... on with the trip report.

I visit Universal Orlando once a year. It's always a great time, and I usually bring a friend. This year was different... with college coming up, schedules were conflicting as well as funds. This trip was a gift from my family, so I wasn't worrying about the funds. My one friend was all set to come, but was moving to Upstate NY the 19th, so he couldn't go. My other friend was running low on cash and needed to save for College. Ok. The rest of my friends are cool, but I couldn't imagine spending a week with them. So this trip, I'm going with my Mother. Ok, I can do what I want when I'm there. It's all good.

The night before my trip was going to be a long one. My friends and I have been looking forward to the movie "Snakes on a Plane" for a long, long time. It was playing in Manhattan, Times Square, at 10pm Thursday night. We had to go see it. With that, I didn't get home from Manhattan until about 3am. I had to be up at 5 for my 8am flight due to all the new security measures. So, I got up, wasn't even tired, and with only an hour and a half of sleep, I got dressed, and got ready to head to JFK airport. We lucked out, absolutley no traffic. When we got to the airport, there was a gigantic line outside to check in. We were flying JetBlue, btw.

When we got into the airport, it seemed like security was initially pretty light. The airport was packed, and we had a full flight. On the way to the terminal, we saw that a man had snuck alcohol past the checkpoints, was drunk, and feel, and busted his head open on one of the metal arms rests on a chair. TSA was all over, security, etc. It wasn't a pretty sight, that's for sure. He was lying there motionless for a while and seemed to finally regain consciousness.

OK, so we make our way onto the plane, and have a long flight to Orlando. (it just seemed long because I haven't really slept.) I watched some SportsCenter. We arrived in Orlando at about 10:15. We then proceeded to baggage claim, and as soon as we got there, our luggage was on the carousel. Nice.

Make our way to the Mears shuttle, which anyone who has taken it knows, can be an insane situation. They take forever to pick you up at times, but I guess it's the cheapest way. We get there, and get this... get right on! I tell my mom that we have luck on our side today, and I say watch our room at the Hard Rock be ready, which would be awesome, seeing as how it's very, very rare. So we take a drive around Orlando in a little shuttle van, dropping off people at all different hotels. Passed SeaWorld and Discovery Cove. I'm determined to check out Discovery Cove one year.

Before our stop at the Hard Rock was the Royal Pacific. The Royal Pacific looks really cool, but I think it seems too "big" and I guess too "quiet" for my liking. That's why Hard Rock is the perfect choice.

We pull up to the hotel, get out, and are greeted by a bunch of employees taking our bags and welcoming us to the Hard Rock. Slow day, I guess. We get there at around 11:30 or so. We enter the lobby to the sounds of Keep Away by Godsmack. I'm home! We go to check in... and the room is ready! wow. Lots of luck today. We had room 2143, 2nd floor, a first for us. We take the elevators to the room, because we have no idea where the stairs are. The hike to the room from the elevators was pretty nuts. I wasn't expecting it to be that far. I guess we're just not use to it. Anyways, here are some pics of the room....

^I Alone by Live, heh^

So, we relaxed for a few minutes, got our crap together, and decided to head over to Universal Studios Florida. We decided to take the Water Taxi, which is a real relaxing ride. When we got off, we went onto CityWalk, and instead of going right into the Park, we went to Starbucks, where, let me tell you... they have the most amazing drink ever. The Ice Tea with Lemonade Shaken. It's absolutley incredible. I get it sweetened, and it's so amazing. I'm thirsty right now thinking of it. Take one down, and head off to the Studios.

....to be continued...

 

[Fan2CSkr]

You arent kidding about being lucky your first day! I hope the rest of your trip continued on that path. Good start, ready for more. I like the pictures with your report.

 

[DrewAlmighty]

...Continued...

We get to the gates of the Studios, and we have the 7 day Stay & Play ticket gizmo. When we get to the gate, they scan our finger, which I think is a stupid system, cause I'm sure it causes delays at the gates every day.

We get into the park, and we are hit with the age old question, what to do first? I opt for my favorite ride in the park, Men in Black. We make our way through Hollywood, and being from New York, we aren't use to this heat. It's sooo humid. I already shell out $2.50 for a bottle of water. Refreshing though.

Men in Black: Alien Attack

This is hands-down my favorite ride at Universal. I can go on it constantly, and for the most part, always have a different experience. I don't want to brag, but I'm also a member of the 999,999 club. Another reason why I enjoy this ride.

As we get to the Queue, we flash our express keys and are directed into the part of the building that also houses the single riders line. Whoever did the air conditioning in this building is amazing. It's so cold in there, and for a quick break from the heat, you feel like a million bucks. OK, back to the ride.

We make it through and encounter no one on the express line, go ride down the stairs and board. We're given the back row, and to my suprise, I find the new single lap bars for everyone. It's alot easier then the whole seatbelt thing for some people cause they can't seem to find them.

We leave the station and enter the training area. I aim for the alien on the top-left as soon as we start, he's visible if you look up. After blasting away at him, I go for one of the ones directly in front of me, but aim for the sensor on his chin, or as I call it, his pimple.

In the 2nd training area, I immediately go for the alien on the bottom left, and quickly bring my attention to the moving alien that is about mid height next to you. after that, pick a simple one and fire away.

We get a message from Zed saying that "A Bunch of Alien bad-guys have landed smack dab in the middle of Manhattan. This is not a drill" We're put into action.

As we turn the corner to the crash site, I start shooting at the baby carriage to the left hoping it turns on early or is still running from the last car. I focus on the baby for a while and move to one of the aliens in the top windows above the store next to the baby. We head into the middle of the street and begin to spin. Before the spin I aim at windows taking in whoever I can.

After the spin, I aim for the weird looking "eye-alien" in the buildings guns. There are some sensors in there, and immediately go to the blue alien in the window by the ambush scene. Everytime you hit this bugger he makes this weird scream and the sound of an iron pressing. It's really, really weird. One of my favorite targets though.

Now to my least favorite part, the Ambush. This part can make or break your score. When they come out of trash cans, aim for the ones with guns. They are worth the most points I believe. But has anyone else noticed that the Ambush on the inside track is basically pointless? It seems impossible to rack up anypoints...

We approach the scanners, but before we get to them, there are 4 sets of eyes in the trees. Pick a pair, and keep shooting until you can't. The scanner gives your finger a break, and then you head right in for more. Look to the roof and take out the drop-down bugs. The sensors are on a Pipe/beam behind the alien. After that as Zed would say "Aim for the fusion exhaust!"

Keep firing at this bad boy, even if the other car isn't near you. Sometimes you can get a shot at the people behind you's exhaust. At this point, I usually have my 9's or I'm pretty close to it.

The bug seems to be on/off at times. I think some sensors may have been disabled. My advice, hold it and just take the 100,000 bonus. It's the most you'll get at this point.

We're then departed by Will Smith, comparing scores and telling us if we are MIB material. Seems that since I was there last, there have been a few touch ups, and at the very end where he "flashes" you, the scores now disappear. I think that's a pretty cool touch, seeing as how you're not supposed to remember anything.

and here's my score:

Anyway,

Rating - 10/10

Now, today was rumored to be the last day of Fear Factor Live! operation, so I figured I better check it out, just incase.

Fear Factor Live!

We got there about 20minutes early, and there were tons of people outside the arena. Seems like they don't let you in until about 5minutes before the show. We enter the express line and we are once again left out there in the sun, and hot as all hell. After a very uncomfortable 15minutes, we enter the arena and move all the way up top, hoping to catch a nice breeze, and catch a breeze we did. It was very relaxing.

The show was ok, it wasn't anything too special, but it does bring in crowds, so it looks like Universal did a very good job. That whole "There's one more thing!" drove me crazy after about 2 of them. The stunts werent too "extreme", but then again, it's a theme park, I wasn't expecting them to jump out of a helicopter or anything. The Fear Factor shake was absolutley disgusting, but given the chance to do it, I might of. One of the teams was doing great, and the other side only one guy was drinking. He finished his, and his partner wouldn't do it. The guy drank his friend's, and proceeded to drink 2 faster then the other group drinking one each.

The whole collapsing stage didn't work today, if they still do it. When the "rocket launcher" went off, it was just a big pyro, and the show was over.

Overall, it wasn't a great show, I think it honestly has no re-watchability, but it does what it should, bring people in to come and see it.

Overall - 5.5/10

So we leave the Fear Factor arena and head into Amity. Jaws has quickly became one of my favorite rides, I have no idea why, it's always just a very cool ride, and is different depending on your Skipper. So with that, we got a bottle of water (again), and headed to Jaws.

JAWS

(Didn't take a pic of this on the entire trip! Sorry!)

We headed into the "Shark Shanty" as it says now, and to absolutley no wait. (You haveta love the ol' Express). We board into the last row, Row 8. Now, the person who boarded me seemed really familiar. I wasn't sure at the time. I was thinking, and when I sat into my seat, I got a peek at the name tag.. "Nick". It was our own SkipperNick. (This was originally posted at IOACentral. SkipperNick is a moderator there.) I feel bad that I didn't get a chance to say something, but I would've rather of been sure then look like an ***.

On our tour, we had my new favorite Skipper, J.W.. He was hysterical. There were 2 times where he absolutley scared the crap out of some guy in the front by simply yelling right in his face. He had the element of it being a serious show, and then mixes it in with some comedy, which I liked.

When we got to the Gas Dock, the man in the front said something to effect of "WOW! THAT"s HOT!" J.W. replies with, "yes, it's hot. It's FIRE. It's REAL" It was so simple but had me laughing. And some girl put her arm to her face and he said "Oh yeah, cause that will stop the fire, good work". It was his sarcasm that I liked.

One of the cooler things he did was when picking up the greenade launcher at the high voltage barge he took it and spun it around like a bad ***. I got a laugh out of that too. When the ride was over and everyone was clapping. He went "Oh No! Not again!" and it got about 10 people.

Long story short: If you're on Jaws and get J.W. as your Skipper, you're in for a treat.

Rating - 8.5/10

So at this point, not only have we been up all day, and in my case, 2 days basically, we hadn't eaten either, so even though it was about 5 o'clock, we decided it was lunch time. We headed to Finegann's, which is a cool little spot in the New York area. I got Fish and Chips and it was quite delicious. After this, we decided that we had a week to do everything, so instead of rushing it, we would take our time doing the parks, because with front of the line, it can be done so quickly. With that, we headed out of the park.

We walked back to the Hotel, and basically hung out for a few hours. I was exhausted and almost fell asleep but I managed to stay with it for a few more hours. At about 8:30, we headed over to CityWalk, and took the Water Taxi. Everytime we go to Universal, the Hard Rock is always our first night dinner. It's just become tradition.

I was in the mood for some beef, and got a Legendary Burger. This thing was nuts. A Cheeseburger with Bacon and topped with an Onion ring. Sure, it wasn't a healthy choice, but it was DAMN good! We're on vacation, we're allowed to do this. After we ate, I was absolutley exhausted, and now with a full stomach I was ready to pass out. We made our way to the hotel and went up to the room and absolutley flopped.

That concludes day 1. Day 2 consists of Islands of Adventure, NBA City, and a movie.

Thanks for reading...


~Drew

 

[ATAfamily]

I am really enjoying your trip report. I can't wait to read more Keep it coming!

 

[DrewAlmighty]

Day 2

After a long 2 days, I decided that today, I would definitley sleep in. I ended up waking at about 10am, which if you know me, is early for me. The beds at the Hard Rock have seem to of gotten very uncomfortable. They feel too hard all the sudden. Anyways, woke up, showered, took care of everything that needed to be taken care of, and headed out to Islands of Adventure. This day was also very hot. Seemed like a good day for some Water rides.

We took the Water Taxi to CityWalk (No suprise there), and as we got there, I took some pics of NBA City and of the Boat itself.

We made our way onto CityWalk, past Emeril's and past Margaritaville. We eventually got to the bridge over to IOA. Islands is such a beautiful park. It's themed so elaborately, and even when you approach it, you know you're in for something special.

We get to the gates, and the finger scan. Oy, the finger scan. It took a while to get it to go today. After rubbing my finger on my shirt it finally went... ok so we're off, and

We go through Port Of Entry, which is done amazingly well. We get to the "Fork of Adventure" as I like to call it. You decide if you want to start with a bang in Marvel, or softly in Seuss. Since we haven't been up long, we opt for soft in Seuss.

Not the coolest of Islands, but very well done.

We started with a lap on the Cat in the Hat.

The Cat in the Hat

Ok, Ok. I know some people find this ride to be "lame" and "gay", but people that say that have to realize it's not there for them. Personally, I enjoy a spin on this, as long as it's not every day I'm there. I love the spinning on the ride, and I remember the story from when I was a youngin. It's always cool to revisit your childhood on your vacation, showing us we're all big kids.

I don't really want to go into a review for this because it's not really "reviewable". It's just a story and you follow along. Would I reccomend it? yes. It's a good time.

Rating - 7/10

After that, we end up in a gift shop, like every attraction in Central Florida, and proceed to our right and make our way to the High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride. (I love sayin' the name.)

The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride


Once again, not a very reviewable ride. It's not even a ride really, it's a nice stroll around the Island. We ended up on the left track and went through Circus McGurkus. The stories on the tracks can be quite annoying, but if you like the views, than all is good.

I don't even think I'm going to rate it, because I think it would end up being unfair.

Rating - N/A

So after this, we pause for a minute at the Moose Juice, Goose Juice stand, get a bottle of water and a pretzel, relax and figure that we are going to check out Poseidon's Fury next. Before I continue, let me tell you a story...

I've been going to Universal annually for years now, since 2002. I've been there for almost a week or more everytime, and never once have we experience Poseidon's Fury. We figured we'd give it a try, and after hearing negative reviews, I was hesitant, but figured I had to give it a try.

Poseidon's Fury

We flash the express cards and immediately go into Poseidon's temple and see people from the Express line turning back. We shake it off and continue. We get in and we're put into switchback queues with other guests and we will be in the next show.

We are then let into a room, Poseidon's chamber, with a student of a professor who is in charge of the whole operations of exploring. We get a transmission via radio and things don't sound to great for the professor. We then hear all kinds of rumblings, and our guide reads writing along the walls, and it awakens the great Poseidon. He then tells us to follow in the footsteps of the Professor, and with that, a door opens and leads us into the next room.

In the next room, Poseidon further toys with us, and says we must retrieve his Trident. The trident is in this room, but we have to bring it to him. One more room we go, and our guide puts Poseidon's trident against the wall, and the doors open to a vortex of spinning water. This effect is awesome. There is nothing else to describe it.

We make it into the final room, where after the lights go off, we are put into the middle of a battle between Poseidon and some other guy (I have no clue what his name is, haha) Darkanon, I think. The fight was cool, and water and fire goes flying everywhere.


Overall, we loved it. I guess it's the no expectations that helped out alot. But we enjoyed it.

Rating - 8/10

At this point it was HOT. (Milk was definitley a bad choice) It was time for some water rides. We passed Dueling Dragons and made our way into Jurassic Park..

We headed towards the River Adventure.

Jurassic Park: River Adventure

This ride is quickly rising on my list of favorites.

We made our way through the virtual no-line, gotta love this friggin' express. We get boarded into the last row. We make our way up the first little hill and are dropped to a tiny splash, and the dialogue...

"Time, the everflowing river..."

Heh. We then go through the gates and we are in Jurassic Park. This ride is truely a work of art. We enter to see all kinds of Dinosaurs. While they all don't look completely real, it's still a fantastic achievement. We have our long necked friend to the left, and make our way to the rock cave, and I took a picture. Ohh bad me.

We then see all kinds of nice, friendly dinosaurs until a Dinosaur who's nickname I cannot say here.. knocks us off course to the Jurrasic Park Animal Control center. That means BAD DINOS.

We see bushes moving and the roar and snickers of Raptors around us. We see Compies chewing away on an employee's shirt, and finally, my personal favorite effect on the ride... the box. This thing scared the crap out of me the first time I saw it done, cause I wasn't expecting it.

We then begin the long lift up into the Animal Control main building. We see shadows of raptors to our left and then a raptor charges against the fence to our right. As we reach the top and take a little dip, a Raptor jumps onto a desk and roars, and a dinosaur rips side of the building. We're doomed. Face it.

We then pass two spitters who I still find very disgusting. We then see the big daddy right in front of, T-Rex. He stands over us, roaring, throwing a hissy fit. I didn't realize how close he comes to the back of the boat at the drop. We then plunge to the water below, and although we didn't get that wet, it still felt pretty good.

Rating - 8.5/10

That's all I'm doing for today.

Part 2 of the day consists of Dudley, Popeye, a rain delay, Snakes on a Plane, NBA City, and exhaustion. Stay tuned!

~Drew

 

[MARY-IN-OH]

This is just the report I have been looking for! I am bringing my teens to US/IOA for the first time in Dec (son-17 and daughter-15). How's your Mom doing on the trip? Is she doing all the same rides and stuff with you? I am hoping to go on everything while we are there!
Thanks again for sharing your adventure with us!
-mary

 

[aztecgoods]

Good report dude, could use more pics, but still very good, looking forward to the next one.

 

[DrewAlmighty]

This is just the report I have been looking for! I am bringing my teens to US/IOA for the first time in Dec (son-17 and daughter-15). How's your Mom doing on the trip? Is she doing all the same rides and stuff with you? I am hoping to go on everything while we are there!
Thanks again for sharing your adventure with us!
-mary

She was doing fine at this point, but later in the trip she needed some R & R. I went to the parks by myself and ended up bumping into my dad's friend and family that I'm really close with, so I ended up with them.

But she's a trooper. She can't do simulators like BTTF or Jimmy Neutron though, not a fan of spinning either. But something like Hulk, Mummy, strap her in!

 

[highlander447]

Sounds like a great vacation so far, love the pics

 

[jtimmons]

I would have to agree with you Drew, that J.W. is one of the best skippers on the Jaws ride. When we got back to the dock, another one of the employee's said, "What was all of that fire, what happened?" and J.W. said," well, he farted, and the guy behind him struck a match" I thought that was a great impromptu comedy.

 

[Adz1984]

Great trip report so far, but what happened to the rest of it?

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your reports ~ Thanx for sharing.