Feeling Hot Hot Hot! The Rain Curse is Broken! Two Weeks of Fun in the Sun! COMPLETE

[KatMark]

Lessa, I've realized that some people in life just like to be miserable and it isn't worth the time to think about them.

I wondered what they were putting in the Back to the Future area (see how long it has been since we've been to Universal). We LOVED Men in Black; the last time we were there, we rode it four times in a row because there was literally no one waiting to get on. Mark and I had a blast.

You captured some great pictures of the area.

 

[GeminiAngel]

The lady making faces and gestures, I'm sorry but.
Some people are just idiots.

I LOVE the themeing on the Simpsons area. Duff, awesome!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Lessa, I've realized that some people in life just like to be miserable and it isn't worth the time to think about them.

I wondered what they were putting in the Back to the Future area (see how long it has been since we've been to Universal). We LOVED Men in Black; the last time we were there, we rode it four times in a row because there was literally no one waiting to get on. Mark and I had a blast.

You captured some great pictures of the area.

I kinda wish we had had the chance to ride Back to the Future BUT Simpsons was awesome so I didn't feel too bad about it.

The lady making faces and gestures, I'm sorry but.
Some people are just idiots.

I LOVE the themeing on the Simpsons area. Duff, awesome!

The Simpsons area was really well done and entertaining.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

May 18th continued

We only had a small part of the park left to explore. Next up was the Kidzone, home of E.T.

E.T. is a Universal classic, we couldn't visit and not ride!

Mom decided not to go on it, she just wasn't feeling well, I think the heat was really getting to her.

There was no line and we walked right on. The ride was fun although a little creepy! I know E.T. is well loved but he has always kinda creeped me out so being surrounded by a bunch of E.T.'s was extra creepy! I can see why kids would love the ride. I wouldn't wait in a long line for it but it is a must do at least once if you have never visited Universal before.

While we were on the ride Mom got to watch a character dance party with Scooby and Shaggy, Woody Woodpecker, Curious George and The Man With The Yellow Hat. She took video, I like the music they were dancing to, old school 80's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4HsMkT0la4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLMg1ZBVOnE

After the dance party the characters came down for pictures and Mom got her picture taken with Curious George.

When we came out from the ride the characters were still out for pictures so Alek opted to get his picture with Curious George as well. He took the opportunity to ask The Man With The Yellow Hat what his "real" name was. If you want to know you will have to watch the video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UaryGGYHIw

Some random pictures from the area

The last part of the park to explore was the Los Angeles/Beverly Hills section. The only thing of interest here for us was Terminator. Unfortunately we would have had to wait an hour for the next show and we didn't feel like hanging around for that. I still had my headache so going back to ride Revenge of The Mummy was also out, I was really sad about that.

We did see Homer out for pictures as we made our way back towards the front of the park so we stopped for a picture. Not sure why he was here and not back in The Simpsons section.

With that we had reached the front of the park again. We stopped for a minute to make sure that we were ready to leave, we were! We were hot, hungry and tired. So with that we left Universal Studios and made our way to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. It is kinda sad but we left the park just after 1pm that day. Did we do everything in the park? No, but we got a good chunk of it done. I think part of our problem was that we were also a little underwhelmed by the Studios. Islands of Adventure had been AWESOME and the Studios just didn't compare. Perhaps we would have felt differently about it if we had visited it first rather than IOA. Don't get me wrong, we liked the Studios just fine, just not as much as we liked Islands of Adventure. Also, our exhaustion probably played a role. We had been on vacation for over a week at that point without a "break day".

[post=43488815]Click here to continue[/post]

 

[GeminiAngel]

I love ET!!!!

You guys look hot and tired. It starts showing in your faces.
Yup, break time.

 

[marvali]

Well, all caught up again! I thought I would be way further behind but thankfully your classes and Thanksgiving slowed you down for me! Love all the Universal updates and I'm thinking that our next trip to Orlando is going to have to at least include a trip there. Can't believe how empty US was though. The boys are huge Harry Potter fans, so I'm sure we will have to spend a lot of time there though.

Marv is always giving me the business !!!He has a degree in it !!

I have a third degree WOOD belt in it!

Lessa I remember Ford Anglia's .They were very common when I was still in England In fact the area I am from is called East Anglia

Rosie, you're from way further out there than just EAST Anglia........

is marvs business likes when a dog does his business?

Hey, I'm not the one who does his business and then pours it on his wife's foot!

And he has a spoon to stir it with

Yeah, well so do you!

you are on a roll lately rosie...

im thinking you are eating your wheaties in the morning.


because you got your game on girl

Oh, don't encourage her......

They could be worse!

Could be? Or HAVE BEEN???

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I love ET!!!!

You guys look hot and tired. It starts showing in your faces.
Yup, break time.

Yeah, it was definitely time for a break! Good thing we had a break scheduled for the next day!

Well, all caught up again! I thought I would be way further behind but thankfully your classes and Thanksgiving slowed you down for me! Love all the Universal updates and I'm thinking that our next trip to Orlando is going to have to at least include a trip there. Can't believe how empty US was though. The boys are huge Harry Potter fans, so I'm sure we will have to spend a lot of time there though.

Yeah, stupid school slowing me down! I probably shouldn't have even taken the time to update today as I have my pharmacology and microbiology exams on Thursday and Friday respectively. Pharmacology will be the death of me!

Yeah, it was crazy how empty the park was compared to WDW that was bursting at the seams!

 

[emmaca]

Wishing everyone Happy Holidays!

 

[GeminiAngel]

Wishing everyone Happy Holidays!

Aww. Very nice.

Merry Christmas to you too!!

 

[Mysteria]

Sorry you missed Mummy. It's a reason to go back! I can understand being underwhelmed by the Studios after IoA and I haven't been since WWoHP opened.

Beth what a nice pic! Merry Christmas to you all too!

 

[All7OfUs]

Still here, enjoying as I can It'll take a while to catch up, but I'm still on board with you. Hope you are well, Lessa!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Sorry you missed Mummy. It's a reason to go back! I can understand being underwhelmed by the Studios after IoA and I haven't been since WWoHP opened.

Beth what a nice pic! Merry Christmas to you all too!

Yeah, I was bummed about skipping Mummy but I knew it was best for my health to not ride at that point. You are right though, just a reason to go back!

Still here, enjoying as I can It'll take a while to catch up, but I'm still on board with you. Hope you are well, Lessa!

Don't worry about it Liesa, I know how busy you are!

 

[UGAFan0829]

Wow, I'm tired just from reading about your day! I can imagine that I would have been ready to leave to. Being tired, hot and hungry is not a good combination. I hope that a good rest and relaxation day is coming up soon. Y'all have been going at it pretty hard.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Wow, I'm tired just from reading about your day! I can imagine that I would have been ready to leave to. Being tired, hot and hungry is not a good combination. I hope that a good rest and relaxation day is coming up soon. Y'all have been going at it pretty hard.

Yep, the next day of the trip was very leisurely and relaxed. In fact, the next half of the trip was that way with a few exceptions.

 

[SharonK0527]

Wishing everyone Happy Holidays!

Great pic!!! Happy holidays to you guys too! Can't wait to read more about your trip

So sorry you missed The Mummy - it ended up being one of our favorite rides of the whole trip. But, as everyone else has said, a great reason to make plans to go back!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

So sorry you missed The Mummy - it ended up being one of our favorite rides of the whole trip. But, as everyone else has said, a great reason to make plans to go back!

Great! Rub it in about what an awesome ride we missed! Just kidding! You guys are all absolutely right, it is an excuse to go back.

 

[CandleontheWater]

Well, I was about a zillion updates behind, but I'm back now!

So awesome that the bros were picked for the disaster ride! I'm sure they went above and beyond

I actually was chosen to participate too, back when it was earthquake. I was on a high school band trip, so it was a LONG time ago, but I still remember how much fun it was!

Have you guys ever been to Hoop-de-do? I could see the bros getting involved in that show too!

The simpsons ride looks really cool! I was a fan of back to the future, but I love the simpsons, so I wasn't too upset about the refurb. Last time I went to Universal they were still working on switching it over, so I really need to get back and experience it for myself!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Well, I was about a zillion updates behind, but I'm back now!

So awesome that the bros were picked for the disaster ride! I'm sure they went above and beyond

I actually was chosen to participate too, back when it was earthquake. I was on a high school band trip, so it was a LONG time ago, but I still remember how much fun it was!

Have you guys ever been to Hoop-de-do? I could see the bros getting involved in that show too!

The simpsons ride looks really cool! I was a fan of back to the future, but I love the simpsons, so I wasn't too upset about the refurb. Last time I went to Universal they were still working on switching it over, so I really need to get back and experience it for myself!

Volunteering for this stuff always looks like so much fun, I wish I wasn't such a chicken when it comes to performing in public/speaking in front of people.

Nope,we have never done Hoop-de-doo. Thought about it but the price always scares us away.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

May 18th continued

Our stomachs growling we left Universal Studios and made our way over to Hard Rock Cafe. This was my choice for lunch as I absolutely love their Twisted Mac and Cheese.

The restaurant was not busy so they took our picture (which we ended up buying) and were promptly seated.

We ordered our meals and then they came by to show us the picture they had taken. In the picture Mom was holding the guitar and looked so happy that I just had to buy it. It wasn't a very good picture of me but it was an awesome photo of Mom.

Erich ordered the Twisted Mac and Cheese and Chicken Entree. DELICIOUS!

Alek's lunch, not sure what it is, sorry!

My meal. I ordered two side dishes. A side of the Twisted Mac and Cheese and a side of the White Cheddar Smashed Potatoes. Very filling and delicious and cheaper than ordering the Mac and Cheese as an entree like Erich had.

I think Mom may have also ordered the Mac and Cheese.

Our lunch was delicious and filling and helped rejuvenate us.

We decided to check out the main Universal Gift Shop in City Walk before leaving. They had a bunch of Harry Potter stuff there, some of which I didn't remember seeing in the Wizarding World the day before. The store was basically deserted so we were able to browse at our leisure.

I was so tempted by these Triwizard Cups but I resisted!

I ended up buying the Ravenclaw shirt, a Hogwarts mug and a wand. The wand I had seen the day before and I finally gave into the temptation and bought it. I got the replica of Hermione's wand, it was the only pretty one in my opinion other than one of the original wands that they only sell at Ollivander's in the Wizarding World.

Having once again spend more money than I should have we left Universal. This was it for our Universal time on the trip. We really loved it and will definitely go back at some point in the future.

Since it was still very early in the day and since we were out and about already we decided to make a trip to the Florida Mall.

On the way traffic was stopped to let this family cross the road.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Once at the mall we split up and arranged to meet at the M&M store. Mom and I went off to do our own shopping while Alek and Erich went to wander the mall and see what there was as they had never been there before.

Mom and I ended up beating them to M&M World which is an oddity, usually they complain about how long it takes for us to shop.

There were some M&M mascots outside the store dancing to music and posing for pictures.

The green M&M is my favourite, she is sassy!

I took the test to see what colour M&M I am.

Look at all the pretty colours!

I bought a bunch of M&M's, couldn't resist all the pretty colours!

Once Alek and Erich finally showed up we left the mall and made our way to our next stop, The World's Largest and Most Unique McDonald's! We weren't planning on eating there but it was on the same road as the mall so we decided to check it out.

They have their regular menu and then the Bistro Gourmet menu