This morning we slept until 10am. I think all of the excitement and walking finally took its toll. Thank you FOTL for letting me sleep in. It is amazing how less stressed the vacation has been knowing that no matter how crowded it gets you won't get stuck in long lines waiting for rides. I know when we went to Disney we vacationed commando style. Up early every morning to make that beeline for the most popular attractions. Secret maps outlining the quickest ways to the Fastpass machine. This really feels like vacation, being able to decide things on the spur of the moment.
We hit the breakfast buffet, because the only reservation I could get for Tschoup Choup was for 5:30pm (I booked 6 weeks prior). I want to go with a full appetite so we decide that we will just grab a quick snack for lunch later on.
Today we have decided to go back to Universal to do some of the rides we missed. The park is PACKED!!! It is the day before Easter and the crowds have started to arrive. We will see how FOTL works today. DS and I agree the first thing we are doing is going back on the Mummy. Turns out to be our longest FOTL...about 20 minutes. It would have been longer, but people started complaining how slow FOTL was moving so they started loading all available cars with FOTL. We love the Mummy. We also realized that some of the effects must not have been working the first time, because around the first corner a giant and scary mummy pops out of the sarcophagus. The first few times we rode, the sarcophagus just lit up...nothing popped out. We also got to ride in the front for the first time which definetely is a different perspective. It was the first time that I noticed that not only are bugs projected on the wall, but they actually start spilling out of a hole. I don't know how I missed that the first time through.
After Mummy we make our way over to Earthquake. Enjoyable, but after the Mummy everything else pales in comparison. Next my son agreed to do ET. I was dismayed to find out that my DS had never seen the movie. He recognized ET but that was about it. Told him that we will rent the DVD when we get home and watch it. I thought this ride was really fun. The theming is excellent. When the bikes fly over the cityscape you really feel like you are up in the air looking down. Nostalgia probably had alot to do with it, but I really enjoyed this ride. Ceratinly not a thrill ride, but certainly worth one trip.
It is starting to get hot and even with the FOTL some of the lines for the Universal attractions are looking long so we decide to head over to IOA/US to do some of the water rides. It is a short walk to change parks (unlike Disney)
and before we know it we are on line for Ripsaw falls. I had fun watching the old cartoons in the line and explaining to my son who Dudley Dorightwas. I started to feel old wondering whatever happened to those good old Saturday morning cartoons. The flume ride is awesome!! We got drenched, but it felt great as the temp had climbed to 85 degrees. We decided to ride one more time. Wait time was averaging 15 minutes. Not bad considering the regular line had a posted wait of 75 minutes. Because we were already wet, we decided to Popeye's bilge barges. We laughed so hard watching other people on the ride getting soaked, especially when a well dressed woman about my age announced as she sat down "I hope I don't get too wet." ( Boy did she pick the wrong ride!) Wouldn't you know she got the lucky seat and had buckets of water dumped on her at every turn. Hysterical! The ride is very much like Kali at Disney, but I found the ride alot more exciting, the rapids were better and you literally got wet at every turn. Lots of fun!!
It is now around 3pm and DS is itching to go back to RPH pool. You forget how much fun it is for kids to swim. Especially a Jersey boy that just left 7 inches of snow. I have to drag DS out of the pool 2 hours later to get ready for dinner. Good thing Tschoup Choup is on the grounds of the hotel. We arrive for the dinner of a lifetime at 5:30pm. See my dining review for details of this phenomenal meal.
Tonight is Saturday which means Mardi Gras at Universal. We head over to see the parade which we thought started at 8pm. (it actually started at 9pm)
We arrived around 7:15, which gave us a chance to ride Mummy 2X before we scoped out a parade spot in front of Mel's Drive In. They had Cajun music piped in and it was really starting to feel like Mardi Gras. The streets filled quickly and our spot turned out to be primo. I have never been to Mardi Gras, but my understanding is that the floats are actually brought up from New Orlaens. At any rate the floats were awesome and we had a blast catching beads. My son won the contest with 27, I got 22. Decked out in our beads we headed over to the free concert. KC and the Sunshine Band. That's the way I like it
My son allowed me to stay for about 30 minutes. I know that he was probably bored, but I think he enjoyed me and some of my contemporaries dancing around to Boogie Shoes. The concert was actually quite good and the crowd was certainly into it. We ended up leaving the park around 10:30pm. We waited for a water taxi and didn't get back to the room until almost 11:30pm. We decided to sleep in again as tomorrow would be our last day in Orlando
We hit the breakfast buffet, because the only reservation I could get for Tschoup Choup was for 5:30pm (I booked 6 weeks prior). I want to go with a full appetite so we decide that we will just grab a quick snack for lunch later on.
Today we have decided to go back to Universal to do some of the rides we missed. The park is PACKED!!! It is the day before Easter and the crowds have started to arrive. We will see how FOTL works today. DS and I agree the first thing we are doing is going back on the Mummy. Turns out to be our longest FOTL...about 20 minutes. It would have been longer, but people started complaining how slow FOTL was moving so they started loading all available cars with FOTL. We love the Mummy. We also realized that some of the effects must not have been working the first time, because around the first corner a giant and scary mummy pops out of the sarcophagus. The first few times we rode, the sarcophagus just lit up...nothing popped out. We also got to ride in the front for the first time which definetely is a different perspective. It was the first time that I noticed that not only are bugs projected on the wall, but they actually start spilling out of a hole. I don't know how I missed that the first time through.
After Mummy we make our way over to Earthquake. Enjoyable, but after the Mummy everything else pales in comparison. Next my son agreed to do ET. I was dismayed to find out that my DS had never seen the movie. He recognized ET but that was about it. Told him that we will rent the DVD when we get home and watch it. I thought this ride was really fun. The theming is excellent. When the bikes fly over the cityscape you really feel like you are up in the air looking down. Nostalgia probably had alot to do with it, but I really enjoyed this ride. Ceratinly not a thrill ride, but certainly worth one trip.
It is starting to get hot and even with the FOTL some of the lines for the Universal attractions are looking long so we decide to head over to IOA/US to do some of the water rides. It is a short walk to change parks (unlike Disney)
and before we know it we are on line for Ripsaw falls. I had fun watching the old cartoons in the line and explaining to my son who Dudley Dorightwas. I started to feel old wondering whatever happened to those good old Saturday morning cartoons. The flume ride is awesome!! We got drenched, but it felt great as the temp had climbed to 85 degrees. We decided to ride one more time. Wait time was averaging 15 minutes. Not bad considering the regular line had a posted wait of 75 minutes. Because we were already wet, we decided to Popeye's bilge barges. We laughed so hard watching other people on the ride getting soaked, especially when a well dressed woman about my age announced as she sat down "I hope I don't get too wet." ( Boy did she pick the wrong ride!) Wouldn't you know she got the lucky seat and had buckets of water dumped on her at every turn. Hysterical! The ride is very much like Kali at Disney, but I found the ride alot more exciting, the rapids were better and you literally got wet at every turn. Lots of fun!!
It is now around 3pm and DS is itching to go back to RPH pool. You forget how much fun it is for kids to swim. Especially a Jersey boy that just left 7 inches of snow. I have to drag DS out of the pool 2 hours later to get ready for dinner. Good thing Tschoup Choup is on the grounds of the hotel. We arrive for the dinner of a lifetime at 5:30pm. See my dining review for details of this phenomenal meal.
Tonight is Saturday which means Mardi Gras at Universal. We head over to see the parade which we thought started at 8pm. (it actually started at 9pm)
We arrived around 7:15, which gave us a chance to ride Mummy 2X before we scoped out a parade spot in front of Mel's Drive In. They had Cajun music piped in and it was really starting to feel like Mardi Gras. The streets filled quickly and our spot turned out to be primo. I have never been to Mardi Gras, but my understanding is that the floats are actually brought up from New Orlaens. At any rate the floats were awesome and we had a blast catching beads. My son won the contest with 27, I got 22. Decked out in our beads we headed over to the free concert. KC and the Sunshine Band. That's the way I like it
My son allowed me to stay for about 30 minutes. I know that he was probably bored, but I think he enjoyed me and some of my contemporaries dancing around to Boogie Shoes. The concert was actually quite good and the crowd was certainly into it. We ended up leaving the park around 10:30pm. We waited for a water taxi and didn't get back to the room until almost 11:30pm. We decided to sleep in again as tomorrow would be our last day in Orlando
Its a well themed ride and I love the sound effects!
